Any "Adventure Paths" ideas for a newbie ref...

[Blustar15]

Hey guys,

If you haven't already guessed it I come from a D&Dish(many fantasy RPG's) background with a little Call of Cthulhu. I have extensive experience as DM but for some reason feel really intimidated by the lack of structure in a Sci-fi setting, I've read a lot of Sci-fi in my day so I want to do this. I've owned Traveler products for years just never played. The basic structure for a session seems alien to me. When do I roll for random encounters? What happens when the PC's scan the planet? Just read off the numbers?

I've been looking at adventures to get me started and most seem to be missing something.

1. The Traveller Adventure seems awfully scripted and rail-roady, also the pay-off/story doesn't seem mysterious enough for my tastes. I like ancient alien artifact kind of stuff, like the RAMA stuff.

2. Shadows scenario from the Traveller Book seems kind of cool but after reading it, there doesn't seem to be any "backstory" for the aliens and if the pyramid structures has any lasting significance.

3. I didn't like Starchild too much, it just doesn't feel right for some reason.

4. I've read a lot of S-type by Comstar games and it's good but a very short scenario, maybe I can combine this with Project Steel.

I do have the CT and MT cd so have access to most of the early adventures and also own lots of T4 stuff.

5.From what I've read about Long Way Home and Gateway looks very exciting but I think it might be too much for a newbie ref. Are they easy to put into the Spinward Marches and the 1105 OTU timeline. ( they are 0 milieu right?) Or are they hard to translate?

6. Is the Kinunir trilogy any good? Exactly which modules are they?


thanks

 

[shield]

Kinuir is a one off derelict ship adventure. Perhaps the best ones are Twilight's peak (for general mystery and wandering around, but it isn't very structured). Argon gambit / death station are nice with some mystery but they are set in the solomani rim.

If you can get hold of the traveller adventure that is an excellent campaign with both structed and freeform bits as well as several underlying mysteries.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Gadrin]

Well, do yourself a favor and conduct your Traveller like D&D -- unless
following the piper is what you want -- then just do it until you've got
the Traveller Tune down

Loren Wiseman once said that certain Traveller adventures were
written a certain way "because that's how our D&D games went" so...
you get the picture.

Some of the Classic Adventures are good, some aren't, don't feel
obligated to kneel before them. My favorite tactic is to take what I
like and discard the rest.

The Traveller Adventure is pretty good, however don't feel you have
to follow it every step of the way. You might find it useful to reduce
the gnarling details into general terms and dress it up to fit something
that fits your own ideas better.

So the players get introduced to the gaming area, find out about
megacorps and how they play with each other and what happens
happens...in your own terms, at your own speed. Especially since
the players might go off on tangents.

>

 

[jappel]

One thing you'll find is that a lot of the CT-era adventures are basically frameworks, sketching out the broad scope of the adventure and the key encounters and situations. Referees of that era were expected to fill in the details. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, just to point out that compared to the level of detail often found in D&D modules, you'll have a bit of legwork to do.

That said, there's some really good ones in there. Twilight's Peak finds the characters making their way down the Spinward Main, picking up clues regarding a ship lost during the 3rd Frontier War, eventually discovering a secret Zhodani base inside Imperial territory along with an Ancient site. Kinunir actually predates much of the 3I setting so there's some oddities in the text, but there's a number of mysteries there to solve as well, eventually taking the party into deep space. The Tarsus boxed set is included in the CDs as well and gets high marks by most people; I'm getting ready to run that in MGT myself.

There are tons of other nuggets, odd anecdotes and the like one can use as jumping off points for adventures scattered throughout the CT material. Don't neglect to look at the Azhanti High Lightning game booklet, as there's things to mine in the backgrounds of the tactical scenarios.

Lastly, no need to limit yourself to the published Traveller material! Classic space opera SF was a major inspiration for Traveller, and there's lots of sources of inspiration to be found there. Let me just toss out two short series that I've enjoyed over the years that one could easily mine or adapt: Joe Clifford Faust's Angel's Luck series, and the late Brian Daley's Hobart Floytt and Alacrity Fitzhugh adventures.

Good luck and happy Travelling!

 

[Blustar15]

I'll check into the Tarsus set in my CD, how about the Sky Raider's Trilogy? What sub-sector in the Spinward Marches would you set that in?

I guess I'm just used to using modules in D&D and then taking out and adding stuff. In the Traveller stuff, you pretty much have to add everything in so there's never any examples of play so to speak. So, since no one plays Traveller in my area, I've never seen or heard of how the game flows, so to speak.

Do people just handwave the space combat/travel part and go straight to the planets and adventure?

Do most veteran Ref's seed planets in a sector with adventures and then let the players bump into them? OR do you lead a bit more?

lol, I guess we're being to anal about it...we have our first session next weekend, so I have a lot of reading to do...

 

[rancke]

I've been looking at adventures to get me started and most seem to be missing something.

You're not the first one to say so. Some years ago someone on the SJG Traveller board complained that there wasn't really any campaigns aimed at beginners. So a few of us wrote a string of articles for JTAS Online that were designed to work together as a beginner campaign. I'm biased, of course, but I think that if you get a JTAS subscription ($20 for a two year subscription with ~150 articles plus access to the archives with more than 1000 articles) and do a search for 'Regina Startown', I think you'd find something useful. And there are a lot more adventures, NPCs, etc. in the rest of the archives.

Here's a link: http://jtas.sjgames.com/login/


Hans

 

[flykiller]

I've been looking at adventures to get me started and most seem to be missing something.

yep. they're missing you. you have to make each adventure fit into your idea of what the traveller universe is, and then make it your own.

click on the "referee advice" link in my sig for some ideas.

 

[jappel]

I'll check into the Tarsus set in my CD, how about the Sky Raider's Trilogy? What sub-sector in the Spinward Marches would you set that in?

Sweet baby Unklar, I can't believe I forgot about the Sky Raiders triology! It's been a while since I've played in that one - I'd have to think about where to set it in the Marches.

So, since no one plays Traveller in my area, I've never seen or heard of how the game flows, so to speak.

Understandable. If it helps, I'll be kicking up a online game using Skype and Maptools in August, you'd be welcome to sit in and get an idea of how things work. Meanwhile, I suggest heading over to Freelance Traveller and checking out some of the recaps of games in the "Raconteur's Rest" section. http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/stories/index.html For that matter, check out the "Active Measures" section there as well, which has a number of adventure ideas.

You might also want to start small, with some sort of one-shot adventure just to help everyone get used to the rules. If necessary, declare it an "alternate universe" game - "this never really happened!" Then start your regular campaign.

Do people just handwave the space combat/travel part and go straight to the planets and adventure?

Some groups fast forward through jumps, but in my experience in-system travel is played out, sometimes in considerable detail, especially combat. Many adventures have happened almost entirely aboard ship or in-space!

Do most veteran Ref's seed planets in a sector with adventures and then let the players bump into them? OR do you lead a bit more?

First - don't try to tackle a whole sector! Start with one or two worlds in a subsector. One of the points of the Tarsus set is that there's lots of potential for adventure on a single world or in a single system!

As far as leading the group vs. letting them find their own path - well, that's varied depending on the group in my experience. Some have been self-starters while others wanted to have at least some goals set for them. Since you've played with this group before, do you have a sense of what they prefer?

Also, has there been any discussion about what kind of campaign the group would like to play, or what kind of characters they're interested in making? Or is it going to be a mish-mash of characters off for general trouble-making? (Which can be great fun!) That can give you a hint about what kind of things you need to prepare for.

lol, I guess we're being to anal about it...we have our first session next weekend, so I have a lot of reading to do...

Being a gamemaster always requires a lot of preparation!

 

[Blustar15]

In Twilight's Peak it says that it's an extension of Research Gama and Shadows ( I guess there's my trilogy!) Which one of these came first?

I don't see any connection between these two mods ( Research Gamma and Shadows), unless the aliens in Shadows are supposed to be Droyne (ancients). Are they?

The 2 planets are really far apart too...how come they are so far apart? The lead-in into RSG is a bit weird too. I'll probably just move RSG to a planet closer by or in their path.

How is Shadows part of the trilogy when the planets are so far away and the Pyramids have nothing to do with the ancients...

thanks

 

[Gadrin]

I'll check into the Tarsus set in my CD, how about the Sky Raider's Trilogy? What sub-sector in the Spinward Marches would you set that in?

I guess I'm just used to using modules in D&D and then taking out and adding stuff. In the Traveller stuff, you pretty much have to add everything in so there's never any examples of play so to speak. So, since no one plays Traveller in my area, I've never seen or heard of how the game flows, so to speak.

Do people just handwave the space combat/travel part and go straight to the planets and adventure?

Do most veteran Ref's seed planets in a sector with adventures and then let the players bump into them? OR do you lead a bit more?

lol, I guess we're being to anal about it...we have our first session next weekend, so I have a lot of reading to do...

Here's a very handy URL for traveller
http://www.travellermap.com

For specific Sectors you can use
http://www.travellermap.com/sector.htm?sector=Far+Frontiers

The web site has an API page that'll explain how to use it and
what you can get from it. I use the J-6 map quite a bit, once I
decide where an adventure is going to take place.

Which is where the Sky Raiders took place. For experienced Traveller
GMs, you'll get used to finding maps and then scouring them for worlds
and routes that are "close" to what you need. Feel free to alter them
to fit your games.

You can handwave anything you feel you should. Time in jump is
usually pretty boring, unless your players like to roleplay getting
to know people they don't on the trip, or have massive work they
need to get done, like bookkeeping (which can really be part of an
adventure, depending on how you game). Feel free to fast-forward
when your players get bored.

As you get to know a section of space well, be it a Sector or a
subsector, or several subsectors, you'll be able to come up with more
and more ideas to "populate" that area with for games. So while
your players are moving from A to B, other groups will be engaged in
having things happen too.

The TNS entries from the Fifth Frontier War are great seeds to show
you what's going on in that area of space during that time. You can
use them to spark your own, such that the are can "come alive" with
action even though the players are elsewhere.


>

 

[Gadrin]

BTW here's something I did a couple of weeks back.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?p=325974#post325974

I have the Far Frontiers data around someplace and I'll
see about adding it to the file.

In the meantime, enjoy.

>

 

[sabredog]

Start small and let it grow as your's and your players' interests/abilities/and tastes grow with the game system.

Don't be afraid to experiment and try something that might not sound "hard sci-fi" enough...its a big universe out there and anything can and probably can happen at least once - if it doesn't work just try something else. I've reread my old notes from years of games many times and wow, the wince factor in some of those early games when I was just a kid is high but we still played and some are still playing with my universe now over 30 years later.

As for a really good method for coming up with a Traveller adventure here's an excellent link to an article called The Adventure Funnel. You might have heard of it, or used a similar method yourself, but this article is written with Traveller in mind so here it is just in case:

http://xbowvsbuddha.blogspot.com/2006/10/adventure-funnel.html

A good published adventure to get the ball rolling as a one-off that could come back and haunt the players again later is Chamax Plague/Horde. Read the thread about it in The Bestiary section here. The players could be the ones doing the rescue, or, as I ran it...I reversed the plot and had them first encounter the beasts on Raschev ...then after a long time later when they had several years between them and that nightmare I ran the rescue scenario and let them find the Shaarin on Chamax.....they freaked out when they realized what they had landed on but it was a lot of fun.

Just a good old fashioned bug hunt always gets players in the mood and you never know what it could spin off into: "Say, I like what you boys did on Raschev and I have a little job for someone who can handle themselves....."

 

[jappel]

Not directly related to choosing and setting adventures, but something you'll need to do - or get someone in the group to do - is keep track of the myriad NPCs you'll wind up creating. (This is a problem in fantasy games too, but the populations and travel distances are much larger in a star-spanning SF game!) It's a good idea to generate a list of random names and keep it handy. As the players encounter someone who they're likely to meet again (say, a starport customs officer) just grab a name off the list, scratch it off, and voila, you now have a potential recurring character. Who could turn out to be a contact, or patron, or even opponent (or minion of an opponent) of the players down the road.

I keep mine on index cards but have as a back-burner project throwing them into some kind of single-user wiki document. If you've got a player so inclined, you might be able to farm out some of the book-keeping to them.

 

[ThunderChilde]

I second Sabredogs catch, and I cannot strongly enough recommend Flykillers 7 essential rules of GMing.

 

[Icosahedron]

The most important thing is to figure what sort of game you and your players want to play. Mercenaries? Pirates? Explorers? Hackers? Mobsters? Investigators? etc, etc.
What is the preferred game style, shoot em up or problem solving?

Then think about some movies on a similar theme - movie plots can often be adapted for a game, especially for a rookie GM who maybe needs a more railroady plot. Look at Kelly's Heroes, Escape from Colditz, Silence of the Lambs, Jurassic Park, etc. Keep it small and tight to start with. It can be a bit intimidating if your players suddenly decide to steal a starship and explore the universe - don't let them. And don't give them a ship until you are confident. Keep them as crewmen - or groundhuggers. Additionally, whatever you decide on will become canon for your universe, so make your first few games about something that has no bearing on the wider stage, that way you don't trip over early mistakes later. You don't want your players bringing peace to the universe in your first game.

Roll for whatever you want whenever you want. If your plot calls for your characters encountering a pirate ship when they enter the system, there's no need to roll for it. In a tight, railroady adventure you might not need to roll any random encounters, you might have already decided who the players will meet and when. You only need random encounters when your players are doing something you haven't prepared for. Of course you should pretend to roll, so you dont give the clue 'he's rolling, that means we're off the plot', but as an experienced GM you'll know that.

Some of the best games simply hint at the wider universe. Look at Bladerunner - the movie action takes place in a single city on a single world, but we still get a hint of what might be waiting 'off the shoulder of Orion'.

Or maybe a variation of Snakes on a Plane, with some alien critters being shipped on a hijacked vessel. When you're in Jump Space, your players are pretty much stuck with the adventure you give them, but you can hint at alien worlds and the technology of starships.

My best game (if I say so myself) was one where the characters were a group of dissidents on a TL7 totalitarian world. Their aim was to make contacts with people who could get them off world without contacting anyone who would shop them to the authorities. They had to keep their meetings secret, make sure they weren't followed, check for surveillance, be very careful what they said to whom... Very Harry Palmer. The atmosphere in that game was electric.

I'd steer clear of planet-hopping Star Warsy games initially, and don't teach your players too much too soon about your universe, or they'll get bored with it. Let them discover it slowly.
KISS is good advice.