Finish This Adventure...

[Spinward Scout]

I should have probably saved this for Hallowe'en but it popped into my head.

aragraph:Sensors pick up a drifting X-Boat in a backwater system not served by the X-Boat routes.

aragraph:From the outside, the Comm system looks to have been hit by something, possibly a meteor. After docking with the X-Boat, you check the ship's log and find that it misjumped 27 years ago. The Pilot is dead, mostly a skeleton, and there's no fuel in the tanks. When power is restored, the computer shows X-Mail still in the system with very little or no corruption, along with a final message and Will & Testament from the long-dead Pilot. The X-Mail and other data the X-Boat carries may be useless now, or there may be something of importance. The Imperium would most likely give a reward for the return of an X-Boat, even one 27 years missing. The Pilot's family may also be interested in knowing what happened to the Pilot.

aragraph:27 years ago would put it around the beginning of the Fourth Frontier War.

mega:

How would you finish fleshing out this adventure?

(I could swear we used to have a subforum for posting adventures and such.)

 

[Spinward Scout]

Nobody wanted to give it a shot?

Use or modify for your game if you'd like.

Also, I forgot to mention that it's found in 1109.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

In the xBoat network or not, backwater system or not.
Questions to ask to set up situation better:

Why was xboat not detected before?
xBoats do not have maneuver drive so it could not have drifted. So when it came out of jump, it just stayed there drifting only pulled by grav wells in the area.

Backwater system?
Make it low enough that system does not have radio, even the starport is somewhat limited (TL 3 or less, Starport E,X or maybe even D), but good enough to go to sometimes or else why is the group there in the first place. This also makes sure the xBoat was doomed.

Messages, maybe something else?
It is a sort of simple adventure if the crew finds the ship, turns it over, gets a reward. The lost boat would have had its messages resent on another boat once this one was lost. To add drama, there must be something "special" on this boat and only this boat. Contraband, physical documents concerning 4FW that would somehow be embarrassing, etc.

 

[CosmicGamer]

How would you finish fleshing out this adventure?

Nobody wanted to give it a shot?

Not much info to spark the imagination for me.

The Imperium would most likely give a reward for the return of an X-Boat, even one 27 years missing.

That pretty much sums it up.

the computer shows X-Mail still in the system with very little or no corruption

27 years ago would put it around the beginning of the Fourth Frontier War.

I guess you wanted some sort of intrigue based on data found on the xboat but IMTU you'd find yourself in chains instead of getting a reward if you hacked into the xboats systems.

 

[Vladika]

You mentioned Halloween? Why not a second dead body? A deep cover spy or defector carrying physical documents as above?

Then again, one could possibly have survived a lot longer than the other. Sings of anthropophagy? A little vampire suspense (just some questionable findings, no walking undead! Just some drama?

 

[Sifu Blackirish]

...I guess you wanted some sort of intrigue based on data found on the xboat but IMTU you'd find yourself in chains instead of getting a reward if you hacked into the xboats systems.

For what you can do with that avalanche of data, examine this...

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=29335

 

[Carlobrand]

Only thought that comes to mind is something in the database is something someone doesn't want revealed. The meteor impact was sabotage: traditional x-boat has no drives - someone with inside information contrived to have a high-speed mass intersect the ship's position just before jump. After reporting the find, you hear news that the tender sent to recover the x-boat never made it back to port, then strange things start happening around you.

From there I need to give it some thought. The tie-in with the 4th Frontier War suggests espionage, but figuring out the specifics of the who, why, what resources they have available to mess with your life without making it a deathtrap, and what clues and opportunities to open up to you to reveal the plot and defeat them are going to require some thinking. Hard to figure something in the database that still matters to someone after 27 years, but the scout on the Zho payroll who set up the original sabotage may have risen quite high in the Scout Service ranks by now and may simply be eager to cover his tracks.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Can't have the X-boat tender go missing. That would draw to much attention to the missing X-boat. Think of what happen after Flight-19 disappear and the seaplane exploded, there was a massive naval search off Florida coast and it was ingrained into the lore of the Berumda Triangle legend.

 

[GRNDL]

Seems like a good excuse for the X-boat to be doing a mission similar to Pheidippides at Marathon. Bringing news of the war, or opening moves of the war, only to be crippled in transit and the news undelivered. "The Zhos are coming! The Zhos are coming..."

But now, the extra information casts light on some aspect of the event, leading to some devastating revelation that I have no clue about.

I do like the set up, though, but I have a bit of a fetish for hidden mysteries and "last log" type scenarios.

 

[CosmicGamer]

For what you can do with that avalanche of data, examine this...

I'm sorry, I don't understand why you quoted me and provided a link to that other post.

Or perhaps you missed my point. IMTU, unless the GM provides a big push, even characters not concerned with breaking the law would be more likely to try and get a payday by returning the xboat untampered than attempt accessing any 27 year old outdated information which would be encrypted and illegal to access.

I'm not saying it isn't pertinent to the overall topic, but since you quoted me it seams you are trying to make a point in relation to my post but I don't get it. Can you please elaborate?

 

[mike wightman]

Do you want a horror story or general adventure conclusion?

If horror do you want it based on suspense or supernatural?

 

[Blue Ghost]

I should have probably saved this for Hallowe'en but it popped into my head.

aragraph:Sensors pick up a drifting X-Boat in a backwater system not served by the X-Boat routes.

aragraph:From the outside, the Comm system looks to have been hit by something, possibly a meteor. After docking with the X-Boat, you check the ship's log and find that it misjumped 27 years ago. The Pilot is dead, mostly a skeleton, and there's no fuel in the tanks. When power is restored, the computer shows X-Mail still in the system with very little or no corruption, along with a final message and Will & Testament from the long-dead Pilot. The X-Mail and other data the X-Boat carries may be useless now, or there may be something of importance. The Imperium would most likely give a reward for the return of an X-Boat, even one 27 years missing. The Pilot's family may also be interested in knowing what happened to the Pilot.

aragraph:27 years ago would put it around the beginning of the Fourth Frontier War.

mega:

How would you finish fleshing out this adventure?

(I could swear we used to have a subforum for posting adventures and such.)

It's both a treasure hunt and a mystery. Something caused the X-boat to miss picking up the asteroid. A malfunction or deliberate sabotage to make it look like an accident.

One of the pieces of mail, seemingly innocuous at first, carries vital intel on a plot that has since long since gone. But the ramifications of the operation are still being felt through the Spinward Marches, and word will reach back to Core/Capitol.

The intel regards a black ops Zho fleet that's been penetrating Imp space. Maybe it's for an Ancient site, maybe it's to establish a base, maybe it's to test Imperial defenses. Something like that.

But, maybe the Zhos have fired up their ops again. This boat could give clues to the next Zho incursion.

 

[Sifu Blackirish]

I'm not saying it isn't pertinent to the overall topic, but since you quoted me it seams you are trying to make a point in relation to my post but I don't get it. Can you please elaborate?

I was just trying to supply additional input for anyone thinking hard about the scenario. If you haven't read that other thread, I stated that there were things to consider if one happened to encounter myriad access codes. Your crippled x-boat may be carrying such information.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Do you want a horror story or general adventure conclusion?

If horror do you want it based on suspense or supernatural?

Whichever you like. It's more an exercise in adventure building. I like what everyone has posted. I think I might have put out too much detail, tho.

 

[rancke]

Whichever you like. It's more an exercise in adventure building. I like what everyone has posted. I think I might have put out too much detail, tho.

You happened to chose a situation with fairly little scope for imagination. The only real possibilities I can see is that the X-boat was carrying a mcguffin or that the location of the boat is a mcguffin in its own right. I can't think of any way to use the X-boatness in itself. Any lost ship would do equally well.


Hans

 

[Rigel Stardin]

1. What if the PC's discover that there is something speically about the Jump drive? AKA Jump-6.

2. A search of Imp records show the ship was destroyed during the war. A. The ship's transponder's code has been changed and the ship is newer than used during the 4th FW. Returning the ship causes Imp agents to investigate the crew. B. You've just become the proud owner of untraceable X-boat with no strings attached. C. It's a corporate X-boat carrying info on dealings with Zho's just before the 4th FW. Nasty public image problem if the ship the Imp authority find out about it.

 

[Ran Targas]

Here's a slight curve, the impactor has an artificial core; most likely a projectile similar to those used by the IN during the war for point defense. This implies it was fired at the ship by a rail gun but no one is supposed to know that.

Which brings us to why he's there in an X-Boat in the first place. Maybe the info onboard is bogus and was meant to be captured. Maybe there's a virus imbedded in the data that is now crawling its way through our player's Mod II. Maybe there is a communique from a double agent that needed some extra flavor for believability. Regardless, the IN doesn't want too much revealed and will take an obvious interest in the players' movements for a while.

When things quiet down, then they are approached by a third party looking for more information. Maybe the double agent or a Zho operative following up on a rumor. In the long term this could be quite interesting.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

Seems like a good excuse for the X-boat to be doing a mission similar to Pheidippides at Marathon. Bringing news of the war, or opening moves of the war, only to be crippled in transit and the news undelivered. "The Zhos are coming! The Zhos are coming..."

But now, the extra information casts light on some aspect of the event, leading to some devastating revelation that I have no clue about.

I do like the set up, though, but I have a bit of a fetish for hidden mysteries and "last log" type scenarios.

taking this and running with it:

the X boat was trying to warn a small navy fleet that was supposed to be at that system. however, due to the self serving actions of the junior admiral in charge, the fleet was not in system where it was supposed to be, dooming the x boat (and almost compromising the imperial defensive line).

that same admiral is now a senior aide to the Sector admiral, and desperate to stop word of his actions getting out and destroying his career.

 

[Whipsnade]

Instead of the players finding something aboard the X-boat, how about having the players not find something aboard that was supposed to be aboard? It's often forgotten that the classic X-boat has 1dTon of cargo space...

All the official records, scholarly books, sensationalist tri-vee programs, and barroom tales say that twenty seven years ago as war loomed something priceless was put aboard that X-boat only to be lost in the misjump. The players may know the story or they may not but, once they informed the authorities of the boat's location, you can be sure those authorities checked the cargo bay before they checked the 27-years-out-of-date message banks.

Just what was supposed to be aboard? Here's a link listing lost artworks and another listing lost treasures that might spark some ideas.

Something priceless is missing. Was it aboard when the players boarded? Was it ever aboard the X-boat? If it was never aboard, why was it said to be? And where is it now?

I focused on this missing cargo angle because I really don't see the player-characters accessing IISS message banks all that easily. There may be indications that the "mail" is still intact but I believe the safeguards preventing access to that "mail" won't/can't be defeated unless the player-characters have unique backgrounds.

You know, I might just write this one up. That is if you don't mind, Spinward Scout?

 

[Carlobrand]

Can't have the X-boat tender go missing. That would draw to much attention to the missing X-boat. ...

Yes indeed, it would. Mark of someone very desperate and in a hurry, no time to come up with a better plan. Also means he's likely to be in whatever system launched the tender, since the time-in-jump issue would otherwise make it difficult to impossible for him to intervene before the x-boat was returned to the base. However, from his point of view a suspicious disappearance and subsequent investigation are preferable to being caught outright. Who could possibly tie him to a virus in the tender's jump program once the tender had disappeared?

On the other hand, if he'd had time to plan then the players would be pretty well doomed. A high official has pretty impressive resources to deal with troublesome peasants. This way, with the guy reacting rather than planning, and with Imperial authorities made alert and curious by the suspicious disappearance, the gamemaster has avenues for delivering useful clues or even well-timed assistance if the evil official's agents manage to put the players in an impossible spot.

I might point out that the players do not need to access the x-boat's files in order for them to be suspected of accessing the x-boat's files, at least not from the perspective of the bad guy. He's obliged to assume the worst if he's going to preserve his skin. Played right, the players never need to know what was in the x-boat files - they can chase down the people that hired the ne'er-do-wells who went after them, follow that thread up, maybe find some other indirect evidence along the way that in combination with the official investigation will take the man down.