New Referee Looking For Ideas

[peteyfroggboy]

I'm putting together my first Traveller campaign, and I'm looking for some ideas and opinions from all you veterans out there. None of my players have played Traveller before. so here's the basic setup I have going on:

The characters:
1) An Academic/Noble/Traveller primarily focused on socal skills.
2) An Army/Mercenary special forces type, in the employ of an interstellar agribusiness corporation.
3) A hot-shot Army pilot, employed by the same corp.
4) A Marine combat medic.
5) A Belter turned Professional engineer, also in the employ of the corp.

After finally getting all the characters made, I decided that they would be working as independent contractors for the corporation most of them have been working for up until now. Basically, they would be working as a flexible team of troubleshooters.

Archon Corporation: The corporation has holdings across several systems (not sure how extensive yet). They are the primary government on some of the smaller-population worlds, and co-exist with local governments on others. I'm assuming that most of the problems that they will be send ing the PCs to deal with will be conflicts with those local governments, and possibly rival corporations.

The Ship: I want to ease into the system, since there's a lot to absorb. I don't want to start doing any starship combat until I'm comfortable with personal and vehicle combat. I'm planning to give them access to a company-owned modular cutter, equipped with an air/raft bay. They'll be shuttled around by Archon's shipping fleet. Eventually they'll probably end up with a jump-capable ship of their own.

Other Issues: The ex-belter ended up mustering out of her one term with a Seeker. I couldn't figure out what she would have been doing with it during the rest of her history, so we decided that she sold it off, ending up with about MCr4 in her pocket. i'll probably convince her to blow a chunk of it on TAS membership, but for all intents and purposes she won't ever be hurting for money. I'm not sure if this will be a game-breaking problem.

Anyway, most of what I'm looking for is plot ideas that would fit this sort of campaign, and any other things that I might be overlooking here.

 

[lightsenshi]

The first job? Okay, how about a salvage mission. The corporation wants the PCs to go find a certain ship (such as a yacht or a mining vessel or similar) and bring it back. Should they succeed, the ship will be assigned to them.

Potential catches: pirates, space vermin, rival corporations, etc.

 

[flykiller]

if the adventure team is to do troubleshooting work for the company, then it will work on the company's problems. these are defined by:

1) what does the company do? what are its goals? is it ethical?
2) what gets in the way of these goals, that might require an adventure team to solve? is the team on the public payroll, or is it covert?

once you work out these issues then adventures will tend to suggest themselves.

all kinds of subplots may be involved in the basic setup. "the company" is really the liaison with the adventure team, and he may have his own goals and problems and opportunities. a rival within the company may find out about the team and attempt to take control of it. etc.

general antagonists and main plots are not just governments but also unions, churches, competitors, other adventure teams, terrorists, saboteurs with an agenda, disgruntled or conscience-stricken scientists, wild animals, territorial aboriginals, natural disasters threatening company infrastructure, communist insurgencies, balkanized governments fighting over who gets the company contract, simple ordinary crime ... just read any newspaper for ideas.

too much money is a small problem. repairs or upgrades to a damaged ship, or just personal armor and weapons, can easily suck up 4MCr. a bigger problem is that the adventure team has access to company resources, which logically may be far more generous than 4MCr. perhaps bankrobbers steal her money - there's an adventure right there.

and yes, you're overlooking something. every time you start a game, in the middle of every game, and after every game, you'll be realizing how much you've overlooked. just gotta be flexible and deal with it.

 

[peteyfroggboy]

Originally posted by flykiller:
if the adventure team is to do troubleshooting work for the company, then it will work on the company's problems. these are defined by:

1) what does the company do?

They have a vertically integrated agricultural industry, from growing and harvesting crops, to shipping, to wholesale distribution.

what are its goals?

To make money, primarily. Also, to protect its monopoly in the cluster and, if possible, expand further.

is it ethical?

As ethical as any other megacorp.

There are segments of the company that are less ethical, particularly R&D and land acquisition. I'm almost expecting them to quit the company after a while, since it has very few (if any) noble goals.

2) what gets in the way of these goals, that might require an adventure team to solve? is the team on the public payroll, or is it covert?

They're hired as independent contractors by the corp, and not strictly employees. This provides a certain level of plausible deniability, should it become necessary.

all kinds of subplots may be involved in the basic setup. "the company" is really the liaison with the adventure team, and he may have his own goals and problems and opportunities. a rival within the company may find out about the team and attempt to take control of it. etc.

Both good ideas.

too much money is a small problem. repairs or upgrades to a damaged ship, or just personal armor and weapons, can easily suck up 4MCr. a bigger problem is that the adventure team has access to company resources, which logically may be far more generous than 4MCr.

I thought about that, but I decided that, since they're workin as contractors, they don't have direct access to corporate funds. They can bill for expenses, but there's no guarantee that they will get reimbursed for anything the company deems unnecessary. Hopefully that will keep them from going too crazy with the shopping.

perhaps bankrobbers steal her money - there's an adventure right there.

It's kind of cheesy to give something and then take it away in such an obvious fashion, but that's one of the first things I thought of. Without interstellar banking, She'll pretty much have to carry all that money around if she wants access to it.

and yes, you're overlooking something. every time you start a game, in the middle of every game, and after every game, you'll be realizing how much you've overlooked. just gotta be flexible and deal with it.

Too true.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Two words: Economic Servitude.

Corps suck. And they suck really bad when they are put in positions of absolute power (i.e. the primary government). They are greedy and corrupt. And then there's the one's that are just out to make money!

"What do you mean I can't leave the planet until I pay off all my debts? I don't remember any oxygen tax! 78,425Cr?!? But I was only here for 2 days!"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you'll have to come with us. If you can't pay, you'll have to work it off." At .75Cr per day...

Later,

Scout

 

[Shadowdancer]

Welcome, peteyfrogboy.

Your campaign sounds very similar to my Traveller campaign. In mine, the PCs are members of the Scouts Intelligence division, but they're "official" jobs are working as independent contractors and consultants for a front company.

The campaign is set in the Solomani Rim after the Solomani Rim War. There is a very heavy Cold War-element to the campaign as the PCs try to thwart the espionage missions of SolSec agents while carrying out their own espionage missions against SolSec and the Solomani Confederation.

Missions so far have involved sabotage against a SolSec front company's assets; infiltration of a SolSec facility, steal info, and plant a virus in the computer system; help a Solomani bioweapons researcher defect; running guns and other equipment to pro-Imperial and/or anti-Solomani guerrillas operating in Solomani space; tracking down and eliminating anti-Imperial and/or pro-Solomani guerrillas operating in Imperial space; assassinate a pro-Solomani politician who also was the head of a subsector-wide Solomani terrorist group; had a female PC seduce a married pro-Solomani politician, then blackmail him into helping track down the base of a group of SolSec operatives in Imperial space; break into a Swiss-type bank and transfer the funds being used to fund SolSec operations into an Imperial bank off world.

Any of these plots could work for your campaign. Just change the SolSec and Solomani elements to organizations and individuals supporting rival corporations/governments/political groups, and you have the basis for an adventure.