Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I was contemplating @bjjones37's example that he posted in THIS THREAD.
How would I run that type of game?
Striker came to me, of course. But, Striker is so involved. I'm sure you could run it without minis and terrain and such. I think I could run Striker without using any maps--just describing the action in the player's mind.
But, with Striker, there's so much to know. The Ref had better know his stuff in terms of Striker, or I think he risks a boring game session.
Book 4: Mercenary.
Another thought was Book 4's abstract system decribed in that book's Battles chapter.
To be honest, I've never given that section of the Traveller rules a lot of love. Yeah, I've skimmed it, years and years and multiple moons ago. But, I barely remember it--knowing that it is fairly quick and abstract.
I read it again tonight.
Ya know. Using these rules could make for a damn interesting session or two of Traveller, on a large combat scale, and it wouldn't take much prep. The rules are nothing--a page or three--compared to Striker's three books of rules.
It could be done. And, I think it could be quite fun.
HOW I SEE IT.
What I'm thinking is that you use the abstract Book 4 rules as you would a narrative combat game. It's just the Ref, describing what happens to the players. No minis. No maps. Just cool description and imagination.
The only person that needs to know the combat rules in Book 4 is the Ref. Any dice rolls, he'll make behind his screen. The results inform him of his description to the players.
So, in that scenario example that I link above, there's a Lieutenant commanding officer leading a platoon of about 40 men down a road. I picture heavy foliage on the right flank in my mind's eye.
In a game, I describe this--probably from the PC LT character's point of view.
On the left, is less dense forest and shrubs--and it's not too far to the coast.
In the example, the VC has set up an ambush from the forest. Well, just for grins, I rolled using the Book 4 charts, and I ended up with a single VC sniper taking pop shots at a single squad.
It's obvious to me that there's a squad far out on the far right flank, close to the treeline.
SWITCHING FROM MACRO TO MICRO.
Here, I hand the players the four soldiers in the squad. I would have had this prepared knowing that something like this might be possible (as it could have been different--there could have been a VC element out there making an attack against the players' platoon.
But, that's not the case, so as we game, we can take the time to go in and actually see what happens on that right flank with those four soldiers and the single VC sniper.
Here, I go into regular Traveller combat mode, and we play out the encounter. The players play the four solders in the squad, and I'll play the VC sniper as an enemy.
Once we're done with that little encounter, we switch back to Macro mode, using again the Book 4 rules.
I've never done tis kind of think with Traveler, but I do think it would be fun--the switching back and forth--switching scales, so to speak.
How would I run that type of game?
Striker came to me, of course. But, Striker is so involved. I'm sure you could run it without minis and terrain and such. I think I could run Striker without using any maps--just describing the action in the player's mind.
But, with Striker, there's so much to know. The Ref had better know his stuff in terms of Striker, or I think he risks a boring game session.
Book 4: Mercenary.
Another thought was Book 4's abstract system decribed in that book's Battles chapter.
To be honest, I've never given that section of the Traveller rules a lot of love. Yeah, I've skimmed it, years and years and multiple moons ago. But, I barely remember it--knowing that it is fairly quick and abstract.
I read it again tonight.
Ya know. Using these rules could make for a damn interesting session or two of Traveller, on a large combat scale, and it wouldn't take much prep. The rules are nothing--a page or three--compared to Striker's three books of rules.
It could be done. And, I think it could be quite fun.
HOW I SEE IT.
What I'm thinking is that you use the abstract Book 4 rules as you would a narrative combat game. It's just the Ref, describing what happens to the players. No minis. No maps. Just cool description and imagination.
The only person that needs to know the combat rules in Book 4 is the Ref. Any dice rolls, he'll make behind his screen. The results inform him of his description to the players.
So, in that scenario example that I link above, there's a Lieutenant commanding officer leading a platoon of about 40 men down a road. I picture heavy foliage on the right flank in my mind's eye.
In a game, I describe this--probably from the PC LT character's point of view.
On the left, is less dense forest and shrubs--and it's not too far to the coast.
In the example, the VC has set up an ambush from the forest. Well, just for grins, I rolled using the Book 4 charts, and I ended up with a single VC sniper taking pop shots at a single squad.
It's obvious to me that there's a squad far out on the far right flank, close to the treeline.
SWITCHING FROM MACRO TO MICRO.
Here, I hand the players the four soldiers in the squad. I would have had this prepared knowing that something like this might be possible (as it could have been different--there could have been a VC element out there making an attack against the players' platoon.
But, that's not the case, so as we game, we can take the time to go in and actually see what happens on that right flank with those four soldiers and the single VC sniper.
Here, I go into regular Traveller combat mode, and we play out the encounter. The players play the four solders in the squad, and I'll play the VC sniper as an enemy.
Once we're done with that little encounter, we switch back to Macro mode, using again the Book 4 rules.
I've never done tis kind of think with Traveler, but I do think it would be fun--the switching back and forth--switching scales, so to speak.
