Started a T20 game!

[Psion]

Well, I finally got a T20 game going!

My players LOVED the character generation's random aspect, the way it helped illustrate the character's background.

Odd group -- the whole party graduate college. Even the rogue.

I've been out of the saddle for a while, so it should be interesting getting back into the Traveller swing of things again.

What will be really odd for me is that the setting isn't my own. In past Traveller games, I have almost always run using my own spin on the Reaver's Deep. This time, I'll be using the Gateway to Destiny book.

The "bait" for my players was a discussion about Farscape. It reminded me of some old Traveller games and I threw out "hey, we ought to play Traveller."

So what I am thinking is starting the game in the Imperium so I can familiarize them with some classic Traveller flavor. But then, move the game into the extra-imperial regions and have lots of villains and alienness, with K'kree and Kafoe as my villainous Scarren style aliens and Solomani as my Farscape-style Peacekeepers villains. Doublecrossing, being on the run, and playing different factions against one another will be the rule of the day.

The players don't have a ship to start out, but I hope to eventually get them something like a Far Trader, or perhaps even something with a bit better jump to get them where I want them faster.

 

[Morte]

Is there going to be a story hour?

 

[Psion]

Heh... I'd like to, but I doubt I'll have enough time. I have that reviews thing, that ennies thing, three kids, a lawn to put in, a basement to finish, etc.

 

[jasper]

you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.
you will do a campaign log.

 

[Psion]

(drools with blank stare)

Yes master...

 

[Psion]

Hmmm... initial PCs:

Ralko Greyn - Male Vargr Merchant 2/Rogue 7 - Pilot and smuggler - Homeworld Kiikedia (Ley 1235)

Brooke Forrest - Female Human (Vilani) Marine 4 / Academic 7 - Doctor - Homeworld Kiikedia (Ley 1235)

D'nala - Female Human Navy 7 - Astrogator and people-person - Homeworld Dugam (Ley 0505)

Jeffen Santher - Male Human (Solomani) Marine 9 - Gun Bunny - Homeworld Shikirmi (Ley 1730)

Alex Thomson - Male Human (Solomani) Merchant 7/Navy 1 - Engineer/Miracle Worker - Homeworld Ohasset (Ley 1435)


A few observations from chargen --

The trade code rules in chargen use Trade Codes introduced in MegaTraveller. NOT that I have a problem with that, since it's still my favorite version.

The random trade codes for characters aren't any better than MT at producing a world you can actually look up. We had to go with closest fit, matching TL and Pop first, and matching as many trade codes as possible after that.

Chargen took a LONG time with only one book. I am thinking about finishing out the characters I had planned for pregen for my T20 games for GenCon and ENWorld gameday and making them available for backup if anyone dies.

 

[Psion]

World notes -
In an effort to make some more usable background for the PCs, I used World Builder's Guide to generate additional details for Kiikedia and Dugam. Only after that did I find out that Objects of the Mind had notes on Kiikedia, and I am going to have to reconcile them.

For Dugam, I ended up with a picture of a world with most inhabitants in a single large city. The taint ended up as a disease/microbial presence in the atmosphere. I figure it's something like a persistant Anthrax like nuisance. It could be in the water, too. This may explain why the world never became a Luriani colony despite being a water world close to the Luriani cultural region and on the same jump-1 main as the Luriani main world.

For Kiikedia, I ended up with a picture of a world that dispenses with the concept of "discrimination" as we know it. Law level is high, and there are differences of law on a personal level. The world laws, though greatly concerned with industrial development, often express themselves in requiring licenses and certificates for everything, with very personal criteria for the licenses. E.G., there might be several grades of vehicle handling licenses determined by vision and reflex speed measured, alcohol and other legal diversions where they exist are strictly metered by body weight and blood type, etc.

 

[Psion]

Adventure ideas -

I want to run Cold Fuzion and Objects of the Mind, and after that run the players into the Glimmer Drift for some of the Epic Adventures, and then into Crucis Margin for some things I have planned there. I am interested in exploring the Church of Stellar Divinity/Free of Holy Federation of Amil, the Kafoe Dominate, the Solomani commerce raiders, and hiver manipulations as plot points.

I told the players I was starting them on a Survey Cruiser as crew. I was thinking about coming up with some exploration plot and then having the cruiser recalled to Ohasset for refit as "every ship available" is pulled for commerce patrol duty. Along the way, they get pulled into the Cold Fuzion plotline and after they get dropped of at Ohasset, they go to Kiikkedia for some reason and get drawn into objects of the mind. Somewhere along the way I am thinking of making an opportunity for them to get a far trader and get pulled into the EA adventures.

I was going to kick this off with a scientific/exploration thriller type adventure aboard the survey cruiser, but so far I don't have any ideas. I may have to jump striaght into Cold Fuzion.

Of course, I am thinking if I want to start Hiver involvement, I should start it right off, since there is a Hiver trade colony right next door to Shammus, where Cold Fuzion starts.

 

[Pyske]

Perhaps the Hivers have created a set of social taboos, which the PCs, as outsiders, won't feel as bound to. The scientific exploration portion would be figuring out what these taboos conceal, and possibly disrupting them.

In fact, you could theme the campaign around the clearer perspective that outsiders bring to a variety of societies (thus, thematically addressing why having Travellers is a good thing).

In this particular case, the secret should be something physical, since if it were social, the Hivers could engineer it away. Perhaps the gravitation of this planet is interfering with some Hiver project. They plan to take advantage of the fact that the planet has unusually large veins of Lathanum (?) to construct a Jump 0.01 engine for the entire planet (see the planetoid ships rules). They have begun socially engineering the inhabitants to withstand the rigors of the journey and the new stellar location.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[eclipse]

Good job & good luck!
I've been running a PBEM T20 game for a while now.

It's been a blast! I've been lucky and had great players, which helps a lot.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Psion:
Well, I finally got a T20 game going!

My players LOVED the character generation's random aspect, the way it helped illustrate the character's background.
...
The players don't have a ship to start out, but I hope to eventually get them something like a Far Trader, or perhaps even something with a bit better jump to get them where I want them faster.

Yes T20's Prior History is good at that, though not everyone likes it and it can take some time. For Starship Endeavor / Tainted Angel we offered players the choice of just "spending" 28,000 XP as they saw fit.

The Tainted Angel is a old patched Far Trader. Been a blast to co-gm.

Originally posted by Psion:
The random trade codes for characters aren't any better than MT at producing a world you can actually look up. We had to go with closest fit, matching TL and Pop first, and matching as many trade codes as possible after that.

Chargen took a LONG time with only one book. I am thinking about finishing out the characters I had planned for pregen for my T20 games for GenCon and ENWorld gameday and making them available for backup if anyone dies.

A list of suitable homeworlds in Gateway (preferably two choices) that matches the possible results on the random chart in the THB would be most useful I think. Usually what we do is either have a homeworld in mind or adjust the results from the random chart to an existing world which is still a pain.

As for having backup characters you may want to take a look at the Tell me about your Character thread which has several T20 characters.

Originally posted by Psion:
Adventure ideas -

I told the players I was starting them on a Survey Cruiser as crew.
I was going to kick this off with a scientific/exploration thriller type adventure aboard the survey cruiser, but so far I don't have any ideas. I may have to jump striaght into Cold Fuzion.
...
Of course, I am thinking if I want to start Hiver involvement, I should start it right off, since there is a Hiver trade colony right next door to Shammus, where Cold Fuzion starts.

I routinely have CSD types at starports handing out pamphlets, getting in the way, showing up at odd moments. Great fun.

Starship Endeavor / Tainted Angel originally started off a survey ship co funded by the University of Annapabar, IISS, and GaSBg but the adventure fizzled due to RL player situations. The nanite attack (those dirty rotten Solomani types!) was fun though. It was set up fairly open-ended though the first mission was to investigate what happened to a base on Endless Blue.

The campaign switched to a more personal small ship campaign using a Far Trader (the Tainted Angel). There are still dirty rotten Solomani types. ^_^

Gashuki! Arbitrator Nim sends greetings and a blue soccer ball.

Running a Hiver outpost so close to the Imperium was *fun*. The party got in a bar fight (Brubek's no less) and the bar burnt down. Arbitrator Nim was sent in to "question" them. Being a low law level world there was no reason to keep them but that never stops a Hiver from doing its thing.

http://groups.msn.com/StarshipEndeavor
has transcripts and house rules along with graphics and such though the documents are member only. Lurkers are welcome though!

As for Crucis Margin I have some NPC's from that area so have some thoughts/notes on it. Main thing is treating the Mercantile Concord as very Firefly like.

Casey

 

[Psion]

Originally posted by Casey:

Originally posted by Psion:
[qb]A list of suitable homeworlds in Gateway (preferably two choices) that matches the possible results on the random chart in the THB would be most useful I think.

Now that I have my little spreadsheet with filters thanks to Flynn, it should be easy to fish such worlds out, or make such a list.

Heck, I'd make one right now if I didn't have to go home soon.

 

[Morte]

This is why I parsed the lot into an Access database as soon as I got the PDF...

 

[Psion]

T20 conversion of the survey cruiser from adventure class ships volume II:

T20 Starship Design Sheet Output

Lewis & Clark - Explorer Class Survey Cruiser
Designed by: Psion, based on deckplans by FASA

Statistics:
800-ton Hull (Flattened Sphere) - Streamlined
AC: 10 (8 vs. Meson Guns) AR: 0 SI: 205 Initiative: 0
Starship Size: Medium Cost: 637.832 MCr (797.29 MCr without discount)
Model/5 Fib (PP: 49/13) Computer Avionics: Less than 1,000-ton Sensors: Very Long Range Communications: Short Range (Maser, Meson)
Cargo: 59.0-tons
Annual Maintenance = 63.783 KCr (31.892 KCr if routinely maintained)
Routine Maintenance = 15.946 KCr/Month (159.458 KCr per year)

Performance:
Jump-3 (enough fuel for 1x Jump-3)
Acceleration: 1-G Agility: 0
Power Plant: TL-14 Fusion (43 EP output, enough fuel for 4 weeks)
Fuel Scoops, Fuel Purification Plant (TL-14, 6hrs per 200 tons of fuel)
Atmospheric Speeds: NOE = 875kph Cruising = 2,625kph Maximum = 3,500kph

Weapons:
Hardpoints: 8
8x Double Beam Laser Turret TL-14, +3 To Hit, 3d8 (20/x1), Range: 30,000km

Ship's Vehicles:
2x 5-ton vehicle hangar
2x 50-ton small craft (Internal Hangar)
Launch facilities for 1 Craft per turn

Accomodations & Fittings:
6x Single Occupancy Stateroom (6 People)
Small Cabin (41 People)
4x Low Berth (4 People)
1x Standalone Fresher
7x Laboratory (14 Scientists)
2x Sickbay (4 Patients)
1x Autodoc
3x Airlocks

Crew Details:
1x Pilot
1x Astrogator
3x Engineer
8x Gunner

The ship has accomodations for up to 20 scientists and/or troops and 13 crew + 8 troops/gunners.

Description:
The Explorer class survey cruiser is a common sight in frontier regions of imperium such as the Spinward Marches, Reaver's Deep, and Ley Sector. The ship was originally conceived as a variant of the Broadsword class mercenary cruiser. Design specifications resulted in a different final form different from the broadsword, but the ships share many common design features, which simplifies the logistics of acquiring and replacing components for the ship.
Two areas of the ship are not shown on the deckplans: the cutter docking bay underneath the ship, and the twin fuel pods on either side of the ship.
By default, the ship is provided with 8 twin laser turrets. Four are located on the upper deck, and are directly accessible from certain staterooms (normally assigned to gunners), two amidships on the lower deck, and two at the bow of the cutter docking bay.

Explorer class vessels are normally named for famous explorers. Examples ships operating in the Ley Sector include Admiral Cheng Ho, Adrew Dewitt, Jaques Cousteau, Deiter Ingram, Gigadii Gininga, Giigiluki Uushlirrem, Irgam Lankagnashun, Jacob Allman, Joyce Tifier, Katrina Cuyler, Lara Suvorov, Lauren Wilson, Leif Erikson, Lewis & Clark, Pablo Barcena, Scylax, Shugum Muushdur, Tasha Diplarakos, Thor Heyerdahl, and Yves Thibodaux.

 

[Psion]

So, where would I put a campaign log? I don't think it's going to be as detailed as the Bray Keaven and Morte's Kursis charter stuff, so I'm not sure ENworlds's story hour board is the right place.

 

[Morte]

I'd go with the "Lone Star".

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Psion:
So, where would I put a campaign log? I don't think it's going to be as detailed as the Bray Keaven and Morte's Kursis charter stuff, so I'm not sure ENworlds's story hour board is the right place.

Campaign Logs are somewhat similar to Active Games conducted directly in a Topic on a Forum.

Over at dumpshock.com (a Shadowrun site), an entire Forum is dedicated to games conducted directly on the site. Each game creates two Topics, one for In-Character (IC) discussions and one for Out-Of-Character (OoC) discussions. Personally, after a while, I think they get a bit lengthy, and should probably be organized into a topic named, "IC: CampaignName: Part 1", and so on.

We could create a separate Forum Group here on CotI, with two Forums, one for Campaign Logs, and one for Active Games played right here. That way, they don't get lost among the other Random Traveller-related Topics found in The Lone Star.

 

[Psion]

For now, I have put my campaign log in Lone Star:
http://www.travellerrpg.com/cgi-bin/Trav/CotI/Discuss/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001145