Scout Detached Duty : Guidelines please

[Innskip]

After a fairly long break from almost any type of actual gaming I have been asked to run a Trav. campaign.

As it's been a while, and I've yet to reclaim all of my source books from their various storage locations I thought I'd call upon the experience of the forum members for some guidance/opinions.

So my first question:

If you leave the Scout service with the Scout ship benefit, and are thus on detached duty - just how much of a benefit is it.

For example:

Would you expect free refined fuel from scout bases, or would they sell you fuel at prefered rates unless you were carrying out a task for them?

Are you responsible for the maintenance of the ship in terms of costs, or because it's still a service ship would the IISS conduct free annual maintenace etc.

What obligations would you have to the service whilst on detached duty

All views welcome

 

[Valarian]

As I understand things, a scout can claim free fuel and servicing at any Scout waystation or base - but is on call to the IISS so has to undergo any assignments given to them by the IISS. But, what you do in your game is up to you.

 

[Black Globe Generator]

IMTU detached duty Scouts are debriefed and their logs and "black boxes" downloaded each time they call on a Scout base. They are subject to recall at any time, and may be offered assignments outside of recall which they may or may not accept at the detached duty Scout's discretion; refusal, however, may result in either immediate recall to duty or expulsion from the detached duty program - the latter means the Scout forfeits the scout/courier, so few Scouts IMTU ignore the bell when the Service comes a-callin'...

 

[mike wightman]

Quotes from LBB1 revised edition:

Fuel is free at scout bases. Maintenance is free at the scout bases at class B starports.

... and both the ship and its pilot are available for recall to duty when needed.

Great fun can be had with the definition of "when needed"

 

[Innskip]

I must admit years ago when I started running/playing Trav, Scouts could expect free fuel etc whilst on detached duty - obviosly with the risk of, 'Ah, Scout Johnson, we need you to deliver this specialist to a obs. station on planet x. Dangerous place?? No, not for someone with your experience'.
But some of the later incarnation of the game (and I have a few)had changed things e.g. GURPS which states that a scout is responsible for all costs of operations and maintenance.
Just wondered what I had missed during my absence from the game

 

[GypsyComet]

GURPS changed a number of things like that, since it needed to attach point values to this stuff for character G&M ("Generation & Maintenance").

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

In the Traveller game I'm in our pilot is a DD Scout and it led to us getting a ship (a wreck that we rebuilt).

We've been commendeered by the IISS to take 1d tons worth of data cores to the nearest mail nexus, and that is just fine since we're getting paid for it.

The big downside to DD Scout Ships is that when you show up at a world with a Scout Base, they routinely request to check your logs. From a PC's point of view this could be a Bad Thing...

 

[Father Fletch]

After a fairly long break from almost any type of actual gaming I have been asked to run a Trav. campaign.

Welcome back to GMing the best game universe ever!

As it's been a while, and I've yet to reclaim all of my source books from their various storage locations I thought I'd call upon the experience of the forum members for some guidance/opinions.

Gee, getting an opinion out of this group? That’s a tough nut to crack!

If you leave the Scout service with the Scout ship benefit, and are thus on detached duty - just how much of a benefit is it.

I think the question you need to ask yourself is how much of a benefit do you want it to be for your players?

Would you expect free refined fuel from scout bases, or would they sell you fuel at preferred rates unless you were carrying out a task for them?

This gets into the realm of both “how much money do I want them to have?” and "how much do I want to fuss with their money beyond pocket money?”

The first is about the “power-level” of the game and the other is purely about GM administrative time and how much you are willing to put into that?

Are you responsible for the maintenance of the ship in terms of costs, or because it's still a service ship would the IISS conduct free annual maintenance etc.

Again, refer to my above answer. You can certainly make it variable by scout base.

Base A has lots of parts, dockhands, budget, and you know a guy who served with you 10 years ago so scheduling repairs isn’t a big plastic hassle…

On the gripping hand…

Base B is a small backwater station that is short on everything, the staff are either drifters, grifters, losers, or half-lifes finishing a pension stint, and they were just audited last year. You have to pay for everything! Maybe you do still get a service discount, and you can park on that empty piece of tarmac, but this is only just cheaper than using the real port facilities.

Do be consistent once you have set something like this up, or if you are going to change it, have there be a reason for it; Base A gets audited, the PCs do a favor for Base B and catch a break, Base C opens up nearby and there is a new game in town…

What obligations would you have to the service whilst on detached duty

This is where it gets fun for the PCs. You have (regardless of what Game System you use) a built in patron/duty that you can pull on PCs whenever you like. Be careful not to play this too heavy or your Players will complain “why didn’t you say we were going to play Imperial Scout Errand Punks? If I wanted my character to take orders to do crappy stuff, I would’ve stayed in the Navy!”

Like fried foods, the IISS as a session or mission pull-me-push-you should be used in moderation.

Give them a bone once in awhile; an actual Non-Scout patron, real civilian low risk cargo, legal trouble they earned and have to get them selves out of.

Certainly, the IISS allowing PCs to use multimillion credit starships does allow them to expect some consideration. Just play it lightly. It can be both a carrot and a stick.

 

[Lochlaber]

Originally posted by Ganidiirsi O'Flynn:
In the Traveller game I'm in our pilot is a DD Scout and it led to us getting a ship (a wreck that we rebuilt).

We've been commendeered by the IISS to take 1d tons worth of data cores to the nearest mail nexus, and that is just fine since we're getting paid for it.

The big downside to DD Scout Ships is that when you show up at a world with a Scout Base, they routinely request to check your logs. From a PC's point of view this could be a Bad Thing...

Why would there be a downside. So you found a wreck and rebuilt it, it really shouldn't be a problem unless your GM decides it will be. Besides, your scout ship isn't recording everything you do inside and out, that would take too much time and storage space.

IMTU, a scout will report your course, report any astronomical data you might have collected, if you've fired your weapons, attempted to invade the sealed portions of the computer and other things. It won't care why you stopped in System A for 4 months or why you made 2 dozen jumps in and out of that system or what cargo you carried, etc.. Of course there is always what I call the hidden portion of the sensors that will report any INS transponder codes, specific radiation types (salvaged nuke missiles) and other similar things.

So ifyou are asked why you went to that system, just say 'private business', especially if not all of the players are Scouts.

 

[BetterThanLife]

My thoughts. (I've been running a DD Scout Campaign for 2 years now.)

Detached Duty doesn't necessarily mean you aren't still working for the Scout Service full time. The Detached Duty Office is also responsible for Intelligence Activities of the IISS.

It will also depend on your time frame. If it is during a war, most Scouts will be recalled or recall themselves.

The benefits of running a Campaign based around a Detached Duty Scout and Ship is you can pretty much ignore the nuts and bolts of the economics system and get down to adventuring. You also have a ready made Patron for when you want the campaign to take a different tack. (For example I decided I needed a change of scenery for my campaign, originally set in the Gateway Domain and gave the party a high speed courier ship to take an Ambasador's Son to his family after his father was assassinated. Unfortunately the son was a stuck up Aslan teenage boy, without tolerance and with a pair of bodyguards. Transiting from Ley Sector to Reaver's Deep during war time can get a might interesting with a pain in the butt aboard.

Once they arrived the high jump courier ship was replaced by their current ship, (well in all fairness I made them cool their heels for a little while.) a Covert Operations Insertion Ship. (And they are going to have some fun with that.

) Since this is during the Solomani Rim War, that ship is not going to be allowed to sit idle. (They turned down a Standard surplus Type-S to get it.

)

May your Scouts live in interesting times.