CT Only: A Good Introductory Adventure to CT?
- Thread starter Golan2072
- Start date
To make Shadows a little more D&D-ish, how about a reward from the Imperium or from the government of Yorbund (or both) for finding and investigating the pyramid site? Mutate the 'food' creatures a little bit and they become monsters. Have them attack the crew at some point and there's a possibility of a VACC suit breach.
I think Shadows is very exciting if played right.
I've never found a group that found Shadows boring. I've had groups that found it too hard, groups that hated being under the time clock before the suits fail, and it's TPK'd 3 parties without suit failure... (well, the fall down the shaft would have been fatal without accounting for the suit failure upon impact.)
I found the DGP-CT/MT Task system being used really adds a lot to this adventure. (I've been using it with CT since I discovered TD, which was with issue 8.) Why? Mishaps. Things going wrong, and rules for fixing them. And the real threat that any mishap is lethal on the world in question.
I found the DGP-CT/MT Task system being used really adds a lot to this adventure. (I've been using it with CT since I discovered TD, which was with issue 8.) Why? Mishaps. Things going wrong, and rules for fixing them. And the real threat that any mishap is lethal on the world in question.
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
Interesting point about the task system, Wil. I've never considered that.
Bob Weaver
SOC-12
My gaming group just finished up Death Station last night. I moved it over to my TU, and changed the nature of the station to an illegal drug lab. One of the people aboard the station set off the bomb as revenge for the death of a loved one killed by the drugs. The PCs came upon the station while conducting a survey mission. My players were duly grossed out by what they found, but intrigued to know what happened, which kept them from saying "oh, well" and just leaving. The enigma motivated the 'dungeon crawl' of exploring the ship room by room. In the end, they reported the station to the local authorities who came and cleaned up, but the multinational criminal gang that was running it got wind of who tipped off the cops; so now the PCs have a recurring villain group to fight.
Best Regards,
Bob W
Bob Weaver
SOC-12
How did Shadows become a killer scenario? I remember playing it pretty strait back in the 80's and it was ok, but not that dangerous. Maybe I was missing something important. Did all the PCs die from mishaps on task rolls?
Cheers,
Bob W
all page numbers from the DA1 version
1) The atmosphere is insidious - defeats all personal protective measures in 8 hours. (p.4)
2) the beam has an 80% chance of destroying the ship if not shut down before attempting to leave the complex (p.4)
3) Yoribund is highly seismically active.
3.1) Falls are highly likely to breach the vacc suit (p.19) (Even when errata'd, most PC's are going to have a significant risk).
3.2) there is a 15/216 chance of earthquake per room entered, presuming the party stays together. that's roughly 7% (p.18)
4) life in the complex is toothed except for the juveniles, but the juveniles have serrated lips! (pp.18-19)
4.1) In other words, all three types have potential to kill with a single bite due to breach of suit integrity. See the CT rules for chances of holing the suits. In TTB p28, that's 10+ DM+4/level - which means 6+ for average vacc suit skill, and automatic for highly skilled (2+).
4.2) half the encounters are aggressive (attacking 40% of the time or more)
5) there are several spots where party members can fall 20+ meters - a potentially lethal fall on its own.
5.1) a snag on the way down is as lethal as an impact. Just a different kind of greasy smear.
That's before adding in the DGP-CT/MT task system's mishap rolls.
One interesting side effect is that the avoidance of issues roll from doing athletic or acrobatic actions is that the odds improve for skill 1 stat 5-9... from 10+ with a DM+4 (for net 6+) to Routine (7+) with a DM+1 (1ea from stat and skill, or from the skill doubled, depending upon how the GM translates it; doubled is a better fit to the CT description of things.
Unlike vacuum, an insidious atmosphere leak is quickly lethal. The CT rules don't state the damage from exposure, nor does shadows, so the presumption must be that it's rather damaging. This is best represented by the mishap rules - superficial mishaps doing 1d to stats, minor 2d, severe 4d, and destroyed killing outright.
I'll it admit, it wasn't great the first time I ran it - it was still tense because I was an ass about the vacc suit rolls, and my party lacked Vacc Suit skills. It was a time limited dungeon crawl with death looming large from any failure - and a TPK.
But, adding the DGP task system, and a few years more subtlety, and a healthy dose of Alien/Aliens for the atmospheric descriptions... and it becomes a tense and thematic game.
Done right, it rocks. But it requires some prep - mostly knowing what all is in it.
Also, the hook isn't good.
I've had groups that I knew weren't big on investigation - so for them, weather and passengers motivate them to fly out under a high-altitude storm... and they get shot down because nobody knew. Sometimes, it's a major solar storm - one that obligest them to retain the shielding of the atmosphere until the dark side... where the world shields them long enough to jump. But they don't make it.
They could be very boring. When I ran both Shadows and Annic Nova they became more like haunted houses. All it takes is a random die roll, a look at a hidden chart, a shocked look on the referee's face as he grabs a LBB and quickly leafs through it...then announcing to the players, "You don't notice anything." Hey, all it may take is a mysterious red blinking light, described dramatically, to change a boring adventure.
When it comes to boring, Mission to Mithril was boring...until the giant yeti started stalking the party. (And if you're familiar with the adventure as written you know there is no giant yeti, yet.)
Baltech Budapest
SOC-12
I made the big mistake of not preparing an adventure I ran over the Christmas holidays. It was Mission On Mithril and I ran it 'as written'. Needless to say that it was very boring and I could sense that, after 2 hours, the players were bored so I stopped it once the PCs reached the first survey point.
Some in-character questions were asked as they reached the survey point so I will be adding some extra things into the adventure once we resume.
The same thing happened a few years ago when I ran Across The Bright Face. I added some side adventures into it and the players loved it.
My approach to those adventures was wrong, as people have been referring to above. I was looking at them from the eyes of a modern rpg adventure module rather than a supplement to use as a framework.
Once we have completed Mission On Mithril I want to play all the other Double Adventures so I will adopt this 'framework' approach.
Two words; "Death Station".
To be honest, a lot of the classic adventures lean towards the boring side, which is why I always threw in a few additional adversaries / monkey wrenches / road blocks.
If you take a step back and look at the classic adventures, and strip away the "futuristic setting", you'll note that a lot of them are essentially law enforcement scenarios dolled up as a space adventure game. Thinking of my history with the game over the decades, I don't think that's too far from the mark, but even so, this means that you have to note the distinct lack of things like giant monsters, time travel, slipping through to an alternate universe and/or dimension, or other sci-fi tropes found in books and movies.
I threw that stuff and more into my gaming sessions. Did it work? I think my players had fun.
I think with Mission on Mithril you have to be inventive with the weather table. Instead of saying something like "there's a storm" or "you run into a bunch of seaweed", add some flavor to it; i.e. "The ATV starts to sway and violently bob in the growing swells. Stuff is flying all over the place inside your ATV...roll for damage." or "the ocean is calm, but your treads or wheels begin to creak, and screech to a halt as you see plumes of air and water shoot up from the surface several hundred meters away...something hits your ATV..."
Just me.
To be honest, a lot of the classic adventures lean towards the boring side, which is why I always threw in a few additional adversaries / monkey wrenches / road blocks.
If you take a step back and look at the classic adventures, and strip away the "futuristic setting", you'll note that a lot of them are essentially law enforcement scenarios dolled up as a space adventure game. Thinking of my history with the game over the decades, I don't think that's too far from the mark, but even so, this means that you have to note the distinct lack of things like giant monsters, time travel, slipping through to an alternate universe and/or dimension, or other sci-fi tropes found in books and movies.
I threw that stuff and more into my gaming sessions. Did it work? I think my players had fun.
I think with Mission on Mithril you have to be inventive with the weather table. Instead of saying something like "there's a storm" or "you run into a bunch of seaweed", add some flavor to it; i.e. "The ATV starts to sway and violently bob in the growing swells. Stuff is flying all over the place inside your ATV...roll for damage." or "the ocean is calm, but your treads or wheels begin to creak, and screech to a halt as you see plumes of air and water shoot up from the surface several hundred meters away...something hits your ATV..."
Just me.
Bob Weaver
SOC-12
Ghost, I think you are right about the basic tenor of the published CT adventures, and that's not a bad thing. It makes the answer to the players question "What do we do here?" very easy to answer, because the situation is familiar.
I have read sci-fi with giant monsters and time travel (Doctor Who!) but my favorite author is Piper, who centered his stories around humans and their very familiar struggles. The sci-fi trappings were just that, trappings to give the story flavor while keeping the focus on the human element. Any of the CT adventures can be made exciting by adding sci-fi tropes, or by adding a human element that gets the players attention.
My game group just finished Death Station recently, and I only changed some of the background (illegal street drug lab instead of research station). The enigma of a deserted space station kept my players searching and asking 'why'? The drugged-out survivors scared them and were an additional motivator to solve the mystery.
I read recently on a blog somewhere that the published CT adventures were intended to be a setting/framework for the referee to build upon and make their own. So whether you add slimy aliens, or human adversaries, or a harsh and hostile environment, give the players something that makes them care about the adventure, and everyone wins.
Enoff
SOC-13
"Exit Visa" could be worked as a starter adventure. The players are stuck at the Alell spaceport waiting for a clearance visa for their ship. This introduces the starship Free Trader Beowulf. Since its just a jump away from Efate which is a stronghold of the Ine Givar they could become involved with Patron #2 from 76 patrons who is an agent of the Ine Givar. This could lead into an extended campaign with the Zhodani and the Imperial Intelligence service which I think the Duke of Regina is somehow connected with.
"Stranded on Arden" reworked this adventure and introduced the Empress Marava Far Trader class.
"Stranded on Arden" reworked this adventure and introduced the Empress Marava Far Trader class.
Stranded on Arden came first and was reused twice, once as Exit Visa (on Alell) in The Traveller Book and again as Zilan Wine (on Zila) in The Traveller Adventure.
(This gave rise to the rather unbelievable detail that Alell, the Imperial member world, had the authority to give or withhold permission for a ship standing in the starport on the Imperial side of the extrality fence to depart. )
I ran that adventure once, transposing it to a naval base where the PCs had to requisition a spare part for a broken thingamajig (I was running a naval campaign at the time). I didn't do at all well; when it was over one of my players told me earnestly that I must never ever run an adventure like that again.
Hans
I can't see "Exit Visa" as a starter adventure. More like something to be thrown into the middle of a campaign for a change of pace.
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I could, if you ran it straight out of character generation.
Many times, I role play through character generation. The chargen rolls are like task rolls. I describe the situation and ask the player what he wants to do.
"You've spent your entire life on Aramis, living in Leedor, a city grown in the cavern of a large mining operation. The surface is negative three hundred degrees. You've never seen the surface of a human compatible world. But, there is a lot of opportunity here. The Scouts. The Navy. The Army. The Marines. All have bases here. You can try to sign on with a Merchant ship, or you can go into what is called the "Other" career as a type of grifter, con-man, thief. What do you want to do?"
Make the throws. Keep playing through character generation. Then go right into Exit Visa.
I supposed you'd have to use a different homeworld than Aramis, unless the character musters out on the world where Exit Visa takes place.
Finish chargen, then Exit Visa, then "normal" gaming begins, giving the character a hell of a background.
Enoff
SOC-13
Yes Sup'4 thats what I was thinking, basically it just gives you a background spaceport to start from and a ship. What's nice is it gives you an idea of some of the people working at the spaceport. I was thinking of Andre Norton's Solar Queen stories where they have several adventures and problems at spaceports. Much like a D&D adventure that starts in a tavern. The write up gives several seeds ideas besides the bureaucratic problem of obtaining the visa. That's also why I mentioned Patron #2, with the player's ship impounded at the moment they could be recruited for the adventure seed that is given with this patron. And thinking of the smuggling thread, Alell is the right planet to smuggle stuff to Efate.
I've got folders filled with stuff where I've forgotten where I got them. My folder on starports has stuff about StarTown and some starport layouts etc. I've forgotten where I got this Supplement STP-002: Starports! but its awesome and has a lot of good information in it.
I've got folders filled with stuff where I've forgotten where I got them. My folder on starports has stuff about StarTown and some starport layouts etc. I've forgotten where I got this Supplement STP-002: Starports! but its awesome and has a lot of good information in it.
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