I'm a referee again!

[robject]

Finally, I get to run Traveller again.

For one night. Maybe more, but one for sure.

And I'm running it in the Spinward Marches, classic timeframe.

I can run a twist on Shadows, or something with the Kinunir, or something related to Death Station, or Annic Nova, or a mix of all four. Or not! But what? Should it be noir? Cowboy-Bebop-like (i.e. bounty hunter)? Firefly-esque (smugglers on the Vargr outback)? Corporate espionage? Bourne Identity?


Plot Synopsis

Two detached-duty scouts stumble upon a derelict in space, being scavenged by a poorly-maintained corsair. A short space battle ensues.

Failure leads to capture and being sold into slavery by the corsair crew. They face a short life in the arena as gladiator-slaves to a minor planetary noble on a border world, then through skill and luck they secure passage offworld and back into the Imperium, finding a small encrypted message cube as they leave.

Success leads to a pair of low-value salvage claims and a military-encrypted message cube.

Delivery of the encrypted message gets them assigned a job by the IISS, and assigned a "liaison" crew member, who has a lead on a small-potatoes "businessman" in Luck Gibson Startown, a Mr. Graft-Larceny. He in turn gives them a lead on a piece of data in a corporate database.

A short database hack later they turn up a target planet, resulting in some wilderness exploration, a submerged wreck off the coast of a remote island, and a lone survivor living on that island.

The wreck is unsalvageable, but contains (1) the unusable remains of several million paper Imperial credits, and (2) a couple of sealed "odd lot" cargo containers marked "BioFuel - handle with care". The survivor -- who calls himself a passenger -- remembers the pilot talking about speculative cargo, and displays gratitude for being rescued by giving them the goods to sell on the market.

 

[beowulf2044]

Congratulations! Now don't make us look bad.

 

[boomslang]

Aiiigh! Too... many... options...

1. What is the size and gaming-experience level of your player group?

2. What are their particular character background/goal preferences?

3. Adjust accordingly...

 

[robject]

Yeah yeah. Well basically the sky's the limit. Two other fogeys my age, one with extensive Traveller experience, the other some D&D but really just a tabletop gamer who's completely willing to play RPGs.

As for characters, one's a confirmed "Ranger"-type character who likes light puzzles and riding in to save the day. The other has yet to develop his personal style.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Firefly/Kinunir sounds good.

 

[PathfinderAP]

Congratulations! Now don't make us look bad.

Be Good

 

[boomslang]

Yeah yeah. Well basically the sky's the limit. Two other fogeys my age, one with extensive Traveller experience, the other some D&D but really just a tabletop gamer who's completely willing to play RPGs.

As for characters, one's a confirmed "Ranger"-type character who likes light puzzles and riding in to save the day. The other has yet to develop his personal style.

Consider a small active/detached duty IISS crew with a Type S at their disposal and (Dean Venture voice) "a mystery to solve!"

 

[robject]

Consider a small active/detached duty IISS crew with a Type S at their disposal and (Dean Venture voice) "a mystery to solve!"

Wheels within wheels.

I think I'll avoid District 268 this time.

 

[boomslang]

Wheels within wheels.

I think I'll avoid District 268 this time.

You don't have to go into that level of complexity.

An intriguing clue to a decades-old unsolved ship disappearance, for example -- you do not have to go off the deep end with a Kinunir and/or Annic Nova goldmine -- which, after some combination of startown/university/space investigating, leads to a corsair band that sells unransomable captives into slavery on an interdicted world...

For example. Possibilities: high-tech hands-on, low-tech hands-on, subterfuge, bribery, carousing, database hacking, vacc suit ops, space combat, bar fights, wilderness tracking, opportunistic looting, incidental repo fees, et cetera.

 

[rancke]

Wheels within wheels.

I think I'll avoid District 268 this time.

How about Regina Startown?


Hans

 

[fiat_knox]

Be Good

And if you can't, don't get caught!

 

[fiat_knox]

Well, I've come up with a couple of interesting Patrons in the past few months in the articles I wrote for Signs & Portents (I'm alex_greene on the Mongoose fora), so I can recommend a few ideas to get you started.

- Your Patron is the Traveller version of Carter Burke. There's an expedition on a world with a corrosive atmosphere that's gone missing (the expedition's missing, not the world or the corrosive atmosphere!). Your characters are just the kind of grunts he needs to go in and look for them: using all of the muscles, except the one that matters on top of their shoulders.

If you've seen the movie Aliens, you'll mostly know what to expect next. Mostly. Don't forget to bring those nukes. It's the only way to be sure.

- The Patron wants you to crew this vessel he's bought. It's a war surplus Saint-class hospice ship (from MGT's Traders & Gunboats supplement, IIRC, though you can use a refitted Type-R if you wish) that he's converted into a flying hospital. He wants to go all over the Marches, helping out kids on Poor worlds who need surgery and who can't afford it or who don't have the tech.

Play this one straight. (One of the options I included in my Medic! article was the Referee option of having the mission be a front, covering a flying brothel, but I'm recommending you run this one at face value at first).

- War! The Sword Worlds are claiming a system that the Darrians have got their eye on. Sabres are rattling on both sides, and the balloon is about to go up. The characters are caught in the middle, with information vital to one side or the other. Can they get out of this alive?

- Take Point: (this being the first Traveller adventure I ever ran as Referee) The characters are door guards for one night only. There's a warehouse just outside Startown, on the outskirts of the Starport, and the guys' job is to watch the door and let in the desirables whilst keeping out the undesirables.

A lot of the desirables look like some very unsavoury types: all of them look like local Dons, drug barons, arms merchant types in merc dress uniforms and representatives of various "banana republic" clients. Money, brocade, immaculate suits and hands steeped in blood to the shoulders.

The characters quickly twig, by the large valises stuffed with credits, that something inside is being auctioned. But they're not there to answer questions. Just watch the doors.

Until they hear a hideous alien screech that seems to jar their souls: a scream made by no human throat that sounds like Death unleashed, and a thump that carries through the ground, up the soles of their feet to shake them by the spine. Some human screams accompany this inhuman cry. Briefly. They sound pitiful.

Then there's a funny crunching sound, that sounds like the entire back wall of the warehouse being wadded up like tinfoil; and then there is silence from within. Silence, and a smell.

Burning. Everything's burning.

Something is on the loose. Something big and nasty, fast and hungry, old - so old - and lethal.

And the worst thing is, the money's charred remains, like the Patron and everyone inside. And the characters haven't been paid. Better not stay watching those doors too long: whatever that is, it might catch the characters' fear scent and come round the front for dessert ...

Have fun.

 

[Icosahedron]

Hmm. Depends on your group. I've had a couple of groups these wouldn't work on...

- The Patron wants you to crew this vessel he's bought. It's a war surplus Saint-class hospice ship (from MGT's Traders & Gunboats supplement, IIRC, though you can use a refitted Type-R if you wish) that he's converted into a flying hospital. He wants to go all over the Marches, helping out kids on Poor worlds who need surgery and who can't afford it or who don't have the tech.

Play this one straight. (One of the options I included in my Medic! article was the Referee option of having the mission be a front, covering a flying brothel, but I'm recommending you run this one at face value at first).

One of my groups would have started yawning two minutes into this and decided to turn a healthy profit by converting the enterprise into an organ-legging shop...

- Take Point: (this being the first Traveller adventure I ever ran as Referee) The characters are door guards for one night only. There's a warehouse just outside Startown, on the outskirts of the Starport, and the guys' job is to watch the door and let in the desirables whilst keeping out the undesirables.

A lot of the desirables look like some very unsavoury types: all of them look like local Dons, drug barons, arms merchant types in merc dress uniforms and representatives of various "banana republic" clients. Money, brocade, immaculate suits and hands steeped in blood to the shoulders.

The characters quickly twig, by the large valises stuffed with credits, that something inside is being auctioned. But they're not there to answer questions. Just watch the doors.

Until they hear a hideous alien screech that seems to jar their souls: a scream made by no human throat that sounds like Death unleashed, and a thump that carries through the ground, up the soles of their feet to shake them by the spine. Some human screams accompany this inhuman cry. Briefly. They sound pitiful.

Then there's a funny crunching sound, that sounds like the entire back wall of the warehouse being wadded up like tinfoil; and then there is silence from within. Silence, and a smell.

Burning. Everything's burning.

Something is on the loose. Something big and nasty, fast and hungry, old - so old - and lethal.

And the worst thing is, the money's charred remains, like the Patron and everyone inside. And the characters haven't been paid. Better not stay watching those doors too long: whatever that is, it might catch the characters' fear scent and come round the front for dessert ...

Have fun.

...and with this one, they'd have walked away into the night, whistling a casual tune and then gone for a beer. "We ain't lookin for that sorta trouble - let some f***er else sort it out."

 

[fiat_knox]

Ah. Cynics. The very people that railroading and shoehorning were invented for.

 

[Jame]

Just a thought... If there are any low-tech worlds nearby, don't be afraid to inflict low tech Traveller on them for a time...:devil:

 

[Blue Ghost]

Ah. Cynics. The very people that railroading and shoehorning were invented for.

Been there, done that. You wouldn't believe how cynical my group's alter egos were. One guy, very god-fareing and church-oriented, became the most money-hungry mercenary you can imagine when he put on his traveller costume.

The hospital ship thing would make another good front for some kind of intel operation.

 

[robject]

Firefly/Kinunir sounds good.

How about Regina Startown?

An intriguing clue to a decades-old unsolved ship disappearance, for example -- you do not have to go off the deep end with a Kinunir and/or Annic Nova goldmine [...]

For example. Possibilities: high-tech hands-on, low-tech hands-on, subterfuge, bribery, carousing, database hacking, vacc suit ops, space combat, bar fights, wilderness tracking, opportunistic looting, incidental repo fees, et cetera.

I agree with all three of these. Chad, as usual you've primed the pump, and I can take that and run with it. Andrew, those are the settings that tend to impress me the most -- a lot of lonely space, mixed with some trepidation and a derelict. Hans, I think Regina Startown is the perfect place to begin, because there's a lot of places to go and people to meet there.

Bribery and carousing (and bar fights and database hacking) for gathering information and tracking down leads.

Wilderness tracking for finding a hidden or lost person, place, or thing. A final resting place, for example, or a hideout, or something to opportunistically loot.

Vacc suit ops for exploration, incidental repair, infiltration, opportunistic looting, or space combat.

Incidental repo fees mean that an unserviceable or superfluous piece of equipment, through the course of the adventure, falls into their hands.

 

[robject]

The Characters

The experienced Traveller player wants to play a Scout, which suits him very well.

The other guy may not have a preference, so I'm free to suggest some careers to him. Scouts are very playable and flexible, in my opinion, so I'm tempted to take that route.

 

[boomslang]

The experienced Traveller player wants to play a Scout, which suits him very well.

The other guy may not have a preference, so I'm free to suggest some careers to him. Scouts are very playable and flexible, in my opinion, so I'm tempted to take that route.

A pair of Scouts, either on Detached Duty or else pretending to be on Detached Duty while on Active Duty for the IB gives you flexibility and a reason for them to be adventuring together.

The other possibility is to make them siblings or cousins; that will keep the two of them together naturally.

With a two-man team, depending on the skillset of the Ranger-cum-Scout PC, you should consider complimenting him with a) a Combat Monster, b) a Tech Whiz, or c) a Smooth Talker -- the actual choice shaped by the style of scenario you and the players would most like to pursue in the investigation (or whatever)... if the pair are relatives, then you have an excuse to mix-and-match Prior Career services, if necessary to get the appropriately-complimentary skillsets.

 

[robject]

The Short Plot

Suggestions welcome.

The characters are reactivated on evidence leading to a Serpent-class scout ship, lost five years ago with its disposition marked "D" (destroyed).

They are assigned a third character by the IISS to fill in whatever skill gaps may turn up -- essentially a Bishop-like character ("I prefer the term 'synthetic person' myself").

A derelict in space, and a short clash with a piece-of-junk corsair, leads to reactivation by the IISS. The trail leads to Luck Gibson Startown, where the characters schmooze their way to a "small businessman", which in turn leads to some corporate database hacking, which turns up a location on a target planet, resulting in some wilderness exploration, a lone survivor, and a submerged wreck... with the unusable remains of several million paper Imperial credits.