Which adventure format do you prefer?

[Blue Ghost]

I think for a game like Traveller, at least for a short adventure, that is the appropriate format. The EPIC format seemed a little .. well ... "epic". One of the PDF Epic adventures that I purchased was well written, but for the life of me I couldn't see myself adjusting to it to run it. I think that's more of an age thing on my part than an actual preference, but, having said that, my main critique of the EPIC format is that it seemed awfully sprawling in scope, and despite its claim that the adventurers aren't required to go from A to B to C it certainly had that vibe to it. But maybe I'm being over critical.

All I know is that the LBB classic format seemed to work. My critique of that format is that the LBBs seemed heavy on huge block paragraphs, and read like engineering reports or state department briefs at times. But, the offset there was that you and your fellow players got to use stuff like LASER rifles, fly in starships, explore alien worlds, etc. etc. etc. Still, the LBB format could've used a little sprucing up. Not much, but some.

And you're right about other games being overly cumbersome with lots of charts, character details, this-that-and-the-other-thing. Which, like you say, was just another feather in the LBB classic format's cap.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

Another useful format is derived from old-school news reporting.

Who: A list of NPCs, their motivations, their goals and their methods of operation. Ready-made PCs that already have their basic history laid out.

What: A concise description of relevant events; some major, some minor, and some that hook to other adventures. Equipment is also noted. What's the weather like outside?

When: Milieu, backstory and order of events. Time-of-day. Holiday or working day.

Where: Empire, region, sector, subsector, world, et cetera. Ships with deckplans, buildings with floor plans, and outdoor areas with maps and terrain markers.

How: A plan for handling whatever means the PCs will use to accomplish their goals -- infiltration, manipulation, negotiation, or all-out assault.

Why: What is the payoff? Is it material or spiritual? Both? Something else ... ? Why is this adventure significant in the first place?

Commentary: This is where the writer elaborates and embellishes on the essential facts. Perhaps even involving a little fabrication, improvisation and rumor-mongering. May include a rambling dissertation involving "What-ifs", emotional reactions and "eyewitness" accounts.

Of course, this "Mini-Adventure Format" -- being in scope somewhere between the "Nugget" and the "Epic" formats -- requires some creativity on the part of the referee.

It works for me because I can take any news story off the wire, translate it into 57th century terms (1105 Imperial ~ 5623 C.E. Terrestrial), and provide my players with an evening's entertainment.

 

[jatay3]

One hard part is avoiding reflecting your own ideological instincts on to a future culture. It is reasonable to assume some things won't change because some things about humans haven't changed much sense Ancient Athens, either. However a lot of the specific quarrels are transitory. Today we would find the Filioque, something for scholarly friends to jabber about at a coffeeshop, and people in the Middle Ages would have thought Gender Studies an amusing thing to put in a comic play. What will be important in the future? What will not? And what will ALWAYS be important?

 

[jatay3]

One hard part is avoiding reflecting your own ideological instincts on to a future culture. It is reasonable to assume some things won't change because some things about humans haven't changed much sense Ancient Athens, either. However a lot of the specific quarrels are transitory. Today we would find the Filioque, something for scholarly friends to jabber about at a coffeeshop, and people in the Middle Ages would have thought Gender Studies an amusing thing to put in a comic play. What will be important in the future? What will not? And what will ALWAYS be important?

Here's an amusing exchange I thought of that is a glimpse into the hypothetical values of the future. They are plausible customs but many today would find them odd:

A trader makes an unusual landing at an oasis outside the Enos Starport to deliver irrigation equipment. Their gravs are down, and the only settlement that produces equipment is several days away through bandit-infested desert.

Evening was coming on. The camp was surrounded by foes. Rachel saw a shadow, raised her rifle and fired. She heard a cry, then silence.
"Johnathan, my dear", she said to the captain, "I'm afraid we'll have to sleep in separate tents tonight."
The captain grinned,"I fast with pride my warrior-wife."
Hans(the Sword-worlder comms officer) said, "Huh..."
Dr Aaron explained,"She's a killer woman-she's unclean for the night."
Hans replied,"Just women?"
Aaron said,"No, doctors too, but I'm single, so it doesn't matter anyway."
Hans then asked,"Is that for everyone you kill?"
Rachel then said,"No the rest are all freebies fortunately."
Hans then grinned,"Unless perhaps they are all mortally wounded and arrange to die at 23 hour intervals out of spite?"
Rachel said,"Even bandits aren't that vicious."

 

[Blue Ghost]

Ah, but this is where Traveller shines above some of the older RPG systems (not sure about present ones), and that is the milieux isn't culture specific, other than most of the adventures take place in the Third Imperium. Each world has its own set of unique (perhaps bizzare) social codes and taboos. Ergo that scoffing by the masculine nobility at feminine values could very well take place on Planet-X. To be fair Planet-Y might have an Amazonian culture of sorts.

Other worlds might be dominated by machines, or caretakers, or be a repressive or enlightened corporate run world. My recollection is that the world generation tables are created as such because it's up to the referee to negotiate the results of dice throwing. So that vaccum world with 100% water, that's barbaric, might be hard to explain, but a creative Ref will be able to pull those factors together for the players. Maybe it's a frozen world where the population somehow manages life under the steel hard ice, with enough sunlight to provide some strange algae that's both a food source and atmospheric scrubber.

Just my take.

But yeah, trying not to inject your personal politics into a story of any kind is a challenge for most authors.

 

[jatay3]

Ah, but this is where Traveller shines above some of the older RPG systems (not sure about present ones), and that is the milieux isn't culture specific, other than most of the adventures take place in the Third Imperium. Each world has its own set of unique (perhaps bizzare) social codes and taboos. Ergo that scoffing by the masculine nobility at feminine values could very well take place on Planet-X. To be fair Planet-Y might have an Amazonian culture of sorts.

Other worlds might be dominated by machines, or caretakers, or be a repressive or enlightened corporate run world. My recollection is that the world generation tables are created as such because it's up to the referee to negotiate the results of dice throwing. So that vaccum world with 100% water, that's barbaric, might be hard to explain, but a creative Ref will be able to pull those factors together for the players. Maybe it's a frozen world where the population somehow manages life under the steel hard ice, with enough sunlight to provide some strange algae that's both a food source and atmospheric scrubber.

Just my take.

But yeah, trying not to inject your personal politics into a story of any kind is a challenge for most authors.

That IS one good thing about Traveller. There is plenty of room. Though in the instance above it is not so much meant as masculine scoffing at feminine values as such, and more like everyone joking about the awkwardness of some of their own customs. I've heard of Jews joking about kosherness, and I know I've joked about the difficulty of keeping awake in Church.

 

[jatay3]

Here's an amusing exchange I thought of that is a glimpse into the hypothetical values of the future. They are plausible customs but many today would find them odd:

A trader makes an unusual landing at an oasis outside the Enos Starport to deliver irrigation equipment. Their gravs are down, and the only settlement that produces equipment is several days away through bandit-infested desert.

Evening was coming on. The camp was surrounded by foes. Rachel saw a shadow, raised her rifle and fired. She heard a cry, then silence.
"Johnathan, my dear", she said to the captain, "I'm afraid we'll have to sleep in separate tents tonight."
The captain grinned,"I fast with pride my warrior-wife."
Hans(the Sword-worlder comms officer) said, "Huh..."
Dr Aaron explained,"She's a killer woman-she's unclean for the night."
Hans replied,"Just women?"
Aaron said,"No, doctors too, but I'm single, so it doesn't matter anyway."
Hans then asked,"Is that for everyone you kill?"
Rachel then said,"No the rest are all freebies fortunately."
Hans then grinned,"Unless perhaps they are all mortally wounded and arrange to die at 23 hour intervals out of spite?"
Rachel said,"Even bandits aren't that vicious."

The point of all this is that in this society(Hans is a visitor), putting life-giving and life-taking to close together without ritual apology is considered kind of a desecretion; taint lucky and nothing good'll come of it. Which is why medics are included. But it is just a ritual and no one is particularly shocked.

The other point is that what I am imagining isn't a socially androgynous society but neither is it a grossly patriarchal one and a woman fighting beside her husband and comrades to defend their livelihood is simply interesting rather then shocking, and they are praising Rachel for scoring a just kill as well as joking about the awkwardness.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Sure, I got all that. And I think that's an excellent use of flavoring your adventures. I think here you seasoned yours with the GURPS Sword World's write up. Good stuff.

Do you prefer the classic LBB format? Or are you partial to GT, EPIC or one of the other published adventures?

 

[jatay3]

Sure, I got all that. And I think that's an excellent use of flavoring your adventures. I think here you seasoned yours with the GURPS Sword World's write up. Good stuff.

Do you prefer the classic LBB format? Or are you partial to GT, EPIC or one of the other published adventures?

Actually I usually use Gurps.

 

[jatay3]

Actually I usually use Gurps.

I like the sword-worlders a lot, with their curmudgeonly nature, tribalism, and old-fashioned customs.