GM seeking constructive help with adventure

[Falkayn]

Dear Travellers,

I have been surprised by my players and the next game in our T20 campaign will be this Saturday, rather than in April (when I had expected it). Being the sort to leave preparation to the last minute I don't have everything worked out, and as last session was really about rolling up the PCs, this is my first real chance to get the guys interested in Traveller. I would like some constructive feedback with regards to what I've worked out so far ...

PCs (a Star Legion/Farguard Intelligence team):
Tactician James Bodine (Scout-2/Rogue-2/Traveller-1), a mixed Human
- A confident espionage type, has the best training for the role, but the least experience, officially the owner's representative, and unofficially the gunner (professional?).

Semi-Tactician Sadius Agamemnon (Traveller-1/Marine-4/Navy-2), a mixed Human
- Very cautious, but an experienced engineer, has the best combat skills, but the least likely to start a firefight (scared?).

Leader Conan Bradbey (Belter-3/Traveller-2/Navy-1), a mixed Human
- A bit of a wildcard, the team pilot and general lazybones (unstable?).

The PCs are all locals to Kupid subsector in the Mendan sector, and are 'officially' all ex-Star Legion (the Julian Protectorate's military arm). But of course the reality is they are all working for intelligence branch of the Star Legion's Farguard (think IISS). Their cover is that they are a professional racing crew for a young noble's racing yacht, and are currently moving the yacht to the site of the next race.

The team has been sent on a mission to investigate whether the Summit system deserves to have an Amber rating slapped on it (again), in the Kupid subsector. The rating had been recently removed in response to the local government's attempts to counter blatant anti-Vargr racism, and provide official support for equal rights and opportunities for Vargr and Humans.

So far the PCs have arrived on Summit, enjoyed some of the local sports and tried to get the locals opening up about possible anti-Vargr sentiment ... so far they have gotten nowhere, mostly because the session was due to end. They have realised that sports are often segregated, and that middle-class Humans know very little about their lower-class Vargr neighbours.

The adventure I plan to run this time involves the following plot, which is where I need some help:

1. PCs investigations bear fruit; someone mentions a political movement that is anti-Vargr, but clams up and runs away when the PCs push for more info.

2. PCs realise they need to file a progress report with the local Farguard station, and meet the local intelligence officer, Leader Maxwell Daniigi (Vilani).

3. The intelligence officer puts the PCs in touch with a local contact called Wulf Maguire (mixed Human). Unbeknownst to the Farguard, this guys is actually a senior Gashikan* operative working in Kupid subsector to forment unrest between Vargr and Humans.

* The Third Empire of Gashikan is a rabid anti-Vargr empire, neighbouring the Julian Protectorate, hell-bent on recovering the systems that once belonged to the old Second Empire, and on exterminating the Vargr race.

4. Wulf uses his 'contacts' to get the PCs into an anti-Vargr rally where its important that two events happen:
i) They spot a local politician, Representative Karl Nguyen.
ii) They get chased out by the local security, and are rescued by the 'quick thinking' of Wulf.

Non-linear events that could/should happen are:
- They rescue a local Vargr from a gang of thugs (despite Wulf thinking its a bad idea), only to find that the Vargr is puzzled as to the sudden violent nature of the local Humans ...
- They hear a media report of local Vargr making it good in one of the cities that has received a fair bit of Julian Protectorate aid.
- They meet local Humans who are not so much anti-Vargr, as merely puzzled by a race that is still quite alien to them.
- They receive several Farguard Bulletins during the adventure that wanr of Gashikan military buildups along their border with the JP.
- Eventually (but not just yet), I want Wulf to betray them to the Gashikans, or perhaps just one of the local groups of anti-Vargr thugs. He will pop up later as a recurring bad guy, and will eventually lead them (I hope) to uncover a Gashikan traitor in the senior ranks of the Star Legion Navy.
- They should eventually realise that Summit is basically OK, and that the Vargr/Human problems have been stirred up by Gashikan agents, and that the worst thing that could happen is the restating of the Amber Zone. Of course, being PCs, they might get this totally wrong ...

So what can I do to tighten the plot and perhaps make it less scripted?

Thanks,

 

[Falkayn]

Hey guys! Someone must be able to give me a few tips! Remember I've only got till Friday night to prepare this (and that's in Aussie time!).

 

[Jame]

I don't know, but I don't have much campaign-drafting experience. Do your players - or you - prefer a tighter or a looser style of play?

 

[manley_t]

My Traveller GMing style is a very hands off approach. I generally let the players make their own way and follow their lead.

One thing that I have always done, however, is to have events occur irrespective of the players. Generally I create a calendar and have major NPC's that each have goals and plans. The palyers may or may not be involved with these, depends on them.

If you're short on ideas -- roll up some patron encounters and just keep them handy. I usually have a stack of them on index cards just in case their in a spacer's bar and I'm out of ideas......

 

[Liam Devlin]

Originally posted by Falkayn:
Dear Travellers,
..need help...
(what needs to happen):

1. PCs investigations bear fruit; someone mentions a political movement that is anti-Vargr, but clams up and runs away when the PCs push for more info.
_________________________________________________
You need this on a 3x5 card ready to go when you're ready to drop the info on them.
__________________________________________________

2. PCs realise they need to file a progress report with the local Farguard station, and meet the local intelligence officer, Leader Maxwell Daniigi (Vilani).
_________________________________________________
Again, a Gm nudge, and you need to be ready to insert this data to them at appropriate time. THEY MIGHT not go tho...(lead the horse to water, but not make him drink)
_________________________________________________
3. The intelligence officer puts the PCs in touch with a local contact called Wulf Maguire (mixed Human). Unbeknownst to the Farguard, this guys is actually a senior Gashikan* operative working in Kupid subsector to forment unrest between Vargr and Humans.
_________________________________________________
Again, sounds like a 3x 5 card quickie. And sequential after the meeting the above Maxwell.
_________________________________________________
* The Third Empire of Gashikan is a rabid anti-Vargr empire, neighbouring the Julian Protectorate, hell-bent on recovering the systems that once belonged to the old Second Empire, and on exterminating the Vargr race.

4. Wulf uses his 'contacts' to get the PCs into an anti-Vargr rally where its important that two events happen:
i) They spot a local politician, Representative Karl Nguyen.
ii) They get chased out by the local security, and are rescued by the 'quick thinking' of Wulf.
__________________________________________________
Again, sequential to the above meetings. I see no problem here. Players might blow their ID checks for the Pol tho...
__________________________________________________
Non-linear events that could/should happen are:
- They rescue a local Vargr from a gang of thugs (despite Wulf thinking its a bad idea), only to find that the Vargr is puzzled as to the sudden violent nature of the local Humans ...
- They hear a media report of local Vargr making it good in one of the cities that has received a fair bit of Julian Protectorate aid.
- They meet local Humans who are not so much anti-Vargr, as merely puzzled by a race that is still quite alien to them.
- They receive several Farguard Bulletins during the adventure that wanr of Gashikan military buildups along their border with the JP.
- Eventually (but not just yet), I want Wulf to betray them to the Gashikans, or perhaps just one of the local groups of anti-Vargr thugs. He will pop up later as a recurring bad guy, and will eventually lead them (I hope) to uncover a Gashikan traitor in the senior ranks of the Star Legion Navy.
- They should eventually realise that Summit is basically OK, and that the Vargr/Human problems have been stirred up by Gashikan agents, and that the worst thing that could happen is the restating of the Amber Zone. Of course, being PCs, they might get this totally wrong ...
_________________________________________________
All of these are like Tim sez, stuff ya can jot down on a 3x5 card. The last premise..well, if their rolls are bad, and their roleplaying results in bad reactions, they might not get the info you want them to...
________________________________________________
So what can I do to tighten the plot and perhaps make it less scripted? Thanks,

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Like Tim, My style is situational: Here it is.
The players decide thru their actions/ reactions whether they do it or not, interested or not, ignore it or not.
Pace yourself. If you wish to speed things up, an element of time needs to be inserted (something that motivates them- deadline, etc, bomb ticking...etc...)

good luck angus!

 

[Falkayn]

Guys,

Thanks for the great ideas. I like Big Tim's idea of setting up a schedule that happens whether the PCs do their thing or not, might end up involving them later than otherwise, but that could be fund if I'm prepared ...

... and I like Liam's ideas for 3x5 cards. One of the things I hate is trying to find notes as they are never where I last left them, this might help!

Jame's question is a good one, I think the guys like it somewhat looser, and I like it tighter. Their background is hack-n-slash D&D, so I'm pushing them a little with T20.

I think I ned to be prepared for them confronting people, and I need to give them lots of reasons to get involved, and more than one way to get each clue (because they will miss the first one!).

 

[Merchant Reaper]

On the 3x5 card idea, keep them in a 3x5 box or staple them together. Otherwise you will still be spending time looking for them.

Your plot sounds pretty solid to me. When designing an adventure I find it is always best ot have only a very loose out line of what I want to happen. What the players actually do is what fills it in and tightens up the story.

Just identify the people and places you know they have to go and write them up, which it sounds like you have already done.

Then write up a variety of NPC's that you might need, ie police types, thug types, merchant types, informant types, other spy types. If you don't use them in this adventure, you will eventually.

Make up, or find a good map of the Starport, and a media center(news agency), government building(s), police station(s). they don't have to be comprehensive (ie every room and every floor) but doing rooms/offices that are somewhat standardized works fine. Since a lot of these worlds are colony worlds, standardized buildings and room dimension would actually be very common, even from world to world, especially in the same system.

Hope I have helped.

Bob

 

[sandman]

Originally posted by Falkayn:
Guys,

Thanks for the great ideas. I like Big Tim's idea of setting up a schedule that happens whether the PCs do their thing or not, might end up involving them later than otherwise, but that could be fund if I'm prepared ...

Also, it makes them realize that they *COULD* have made a difference in that assassination yesterday. They SAW someone with a gun on a rooftop around that time but NOOOOO, they had to go get refreshment in the bar and wait for a typical "What's the Mission, Bob!" type of shady persona.

Always make them regret passing by such adventures

 

[Falkayn]

Well, it's late Saturday night, and I survived the game session today!

Taking everyone's advice I ended up being reasonably prepared with a couple of different ways to hook the PCs into the plot I had worked out, and 3x5 cards of the main opposition in case of battle (which happened easily).

I also had each player give me the reaosn why their PC was in Farguard Intelligence. One of the players decided Bradbey had been offered jail or working for FI - so we sat down to work out why on Friday.

We ended up deciding that his stint as a Traveller (Corporate Troubleshooting) just after a Navy term, was when he worked for Mendan Main Cargoes (MMC), a large transport company, in their IT department (he has great T/Computer skill). A bit bored, he was approached by a friendly guy (Human), who offered him a lot of money to let him know about specific cargoes and their transport details. The PC does this for a while and enjoys the fruits of his minor seeming betrayal ... then the news of the first corsair hit comes back to him.

As each cargo gets hit it finally dawns on him that he's not been passing minor trade secrets, but in fact assisting a corsair group. He turned on the guy who paid him, but was told to put up, or he would go to jail too. He does so, but feels very guilty about it. In the end the FI cottons on, and confronts him with evidence of his wrongdoing. He is offered the chance to work with them to bring the crooks in or jail for life.

They bust a ring of Gashikan agents sponsoring Vargr corsairs (to increase Human/Vargr distrust), but the ringleader gets away. The PC is then told he can ether work for FI permanently or face a black mark on his resume for the rest of his life in the Julian Protectorate. So he agrees to become a lifelong FI guy.

I managed to weave that into the current plot - Wulf Maguire becomes the Gashikan agent that got away, and a number of clues are planted about him.

I also managed to give the other players their own unique sources of info. For Bodine it is FI protocol, so he knows what they're allowed to do and how to contact Fi when they need to. For Sadius it's a knowledge of the Gashikan military, and the sorts of strategies they are known to prefer. This allowed me to both drop hints for them, and lead them a little by giving them the right sort of info, that tied in with their backgrounds.

They ended up meeting some Truthkin, wearing green armbands, the local anti-Vargr militia group and got into a fight with them (one of the PCs got separated and was picked on by 3 of them, one of the other PCs then calls them dog-lovers VERY bad idea).

The fight was great, the PCs had left their weapons on the ship (Summit is Law Level A) and had to indulge in fisticuffs with one veteran Thug and two green Thugs (from 76 Gunmen!). They were doing OK until the verteran Thug pulled a billyclub out and started whacking the PCs roundly - when they disarmed him things got out of control and he pulled an auto-pistol, as did another Thug.

They all wrestled with the guns for a bit, before the PCs managed to knock them to the ground (they were smart enough not to pickup the guns themselves and leave their fingerprints all over them). The Thugs realised they were outclassed, and ended up running away before the cops arrived. Along the way the Thugs were soundly beat up, and all the PCs ended up with bullet wounds (in one case almost fatally). Much more satisfying than the usual D&D game we play when the bad guys must be killed at all costs. It was also interesting seeing them take 3 days to recover their lifeblood (using Medical drug) ... a nice balance between realism and sci-fi.

They then did a lot of web surfing (which I had prepared for with several news headlines - but not more detail than that). The headlines were a mix of real plot teasers, red herrings and guff ("Litter of Nine for Hecklesburg Frauline"). Along the way they got a better picture of local politics, law and economics. This led them to believe they needed more info on the green armband guys (the Truthkin) which in turn led them to ask the local FI guy for a local contact - which is Wulf Maguire!

Brilliant!!! Now everything is set for the next few sessions.

Thanks again for the help and encouragement!

 

[Merchant Reaper]

Awesome! Only wish I could be playing too!

Bob

 

[Liam Devlin]

Glad we could be of service, & thanks fer the update Angus!