OTU Only: How Far in the Far Future?

[Supplement Four]

When I look back on all the Traveller campaigns I've run throughout the years, I notice that all of my campaigns have been confined to either one subsector, or mainly one sub-sector with possibly a crossover into a few bordering subsectors.

I've never run a campaign that included an entire sector, much less different parts of Known Space.

One time, I had dreams of taking my Spinward Marches based campaign and taking it to Solomani Space. But, the players didn't bite, and the campaign never went that way.

That time I was just going to load the PCs into low berths and wake them up a year or two later when they finally reached Solomani Space.

Unlike Star Wars, where hyperdrive can put you across the galaxy in a matter of days or even hours, we all know how comparatively limited Traveller's Jump Drives are.

So, I'm curious. Have any of you successfully ran campaigns that spanned to different parts of Known Space?

If so, how'd you do it? How successful did it play out in your game?

 

[Blue Ghost]

I did. The key is to just have a good plot and story, and a good setting helps. My first group when I was boy we stuck pretty much with a generic sector that might have been the Marches, but was nondescript. My second and third groups stuck with the Marches, but being tired of the Marches, I began to propel them beyond.

It was just really a matter of being inventive.

It may be harder now because you can't really get official source material for anything else. Now that Hunter's gone the possibilities are fairly narrow in scope. But, then again, it is only one RPG. You could import stuff from other settings and what not.

 

[aramis]

I have had Campaigns that Spanned fears the Marches to Alpha Crucis & Ley sector. Nobles en route to the Moot, agents of the emperor, and Megacorp BOD agents were the Methods used.

 

[Hyphen]

In a session or two's time, I'll be the next referee in rotation. I'll be taking them on DGP's "Grand Tour" - wish me luck!

 

[mike wightman]

I have run a couple of very memorable campaigns that may interest you.

One was set during the war of the Ancients, with the players (whose characters included an uplifted neanderthal and a sentient robot in the group) having to warn Grandfather of the corruption of some of his offspring.

The second was set at the fall of the second Imperium and involved a group trying to get back to their own system from a far flung posting/merchant run as the chaos begins around them.

Campaigns I have on the drawing board:

expedition to the galactic rim

the opening of the black curtain and the war between the RC and the dark Imperium (TNE setting endgame inspired by Dave Nilsen's posts of what was intended rather than the 1248 version)

 

[McPerth]

The more extensive campaign I refereed (MT) began with the Imperial Research Station Beta (Challenge 42), in Solomani Rim early 1117, and the characters took an abandoned Scout to try reaching their homes, in Spinward Marches, across the Shattering Imperium (not yet fully shatered when they began the trip, so seeing how it was disintegrating as they moved on).

We obviated most of the jumps, of course, just telling the players: so much time has passed and you arrive XXX system, in YYY sector....

We also assumed they made some speculative trade along the trip, just to obviate the finances, assuming that they just made enough money on it to keep running, begining each adventure with the same money they ended the last one (this was agreed with the players when they realized they had to cross the whole Imperium to return home).

 

[BlackBat242]

The longest trip a group of PCs ever made was in my last campaign.

They started in the Old Expanses sector and ended up in the Reaver's Deep sector.


However, another PC (and an NPC) ended up even further from home... I took a PC I had run in a convention Traveller tournament* and made her an NPC, and had her and one of the player's PCs (who he had run in that same Con tournament session) pop into an alternate universe (my normal Traveller game universe, which is not the OTU).




* The one with the station in orbit around a Black Hole... some of you will know that one.

Our two PCs were the ones left behind to guard the Scout while the rest hunted down the aliens. One of those others threw a couple of grenades into the control room for the drives keeping the station out of the BH, and by the time we realized the station was losing orbit it was too late. We jumped in the scout and took off, abandoning the rest of the party there, but the Ref ended the session by describing both the station turning into a smear of light as it fell below the event horizon, and our realization that even at emergency power the scout was not increasing its distance from the BH.

I simply ruled that our efforts to escape had allowed us to "shift universes" to one where the BH was not as big, allowing us to escape in the thoroughly wrecked type S (wedge) scout ship. The other player's PC just happened to be knocked out of jump by the side-effects of our ship's materialization in the new alternate universe, and he rescued them to start the adventure.

 

[Spartan159]

All it takes is inspiration and or imagination, I was once in a convention game where we played Imperial Marines at a planet based Research Station near the Zh border at the start of the 5FW, We were the inside squad, I was the commander. As the perimeter was falling I noted that researchers were disappearing... inside the station deeper underground.
When we investigated we found no researchers, but a still active cargo pad and controls set on delay... They had been working on matter transportation it seems. Working as fast as possible, we went to the armory, piled *everything* onto grav sleds (we were in full TL F BD) and set demo all around anything and everything, then with the group and sleds on the platform, activated the controls with the same settings the researchers had used. So of course we did not come out the same place the researchers had gone. What we did encounter was a military unit on the move, say TL 6/7ish on the move in a driving snow storm on a world obviously much different than the one we had just left, and we were in the way. They attacked, we responded.
Not knowing what the hell was going on, we quickly decimated the lead group, but apparently the GM had expected us (or me anyway) to be a more bloodthirsty type, as instead of continuing the slaughter I had everyone regroup, pull back and try and find someplace we could hole up and figure out what was what. That was pretty much the session.

It turns out that we had stalled a German counter attack at the Battle of the Bulge, 1944, Earth. Time and Space distortion of epic proportions.

Oh, and I kept all my squad alive

Vince

 

[Supplement Four]

Barring a mishap with the Jump Drive, or the GM just saying, "Ok, it's X amount of months later, and you guys have made it through 12 subsectors, and now....", it seems that it would take quite a while to play through every jump to every planet. Even if you were dicing most of it and only having an adventure here and there.

 

[whartung]

Put the players in cold sleep and check them through like luggage.

 

[GamingGlen]

Put the players in cold sleep and check them through like luggage.

But they may not all make it to the same place, or of they do, at the same time. :smirk:

 

[Supplement Four]

Put the players in cold sleep and check them through like luggage.

But they may not all make it to the same place, or of they do, at the same time. :smirk:

And if your characters happen to be unlucky enough to be in the CT universe, it's likely that not all of them will wake up from the trip!

But, look at the bright side. You comrades may win a few credits in the Low Lottery.

 

[Spartan159]

I've wondered why there does not seem to be improved cold sleep chambers as TL advances, but aside from that the most common method I've seen has been x time and y distance later, you arrive at Z.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Barring a mishap with the Jump Drive, or the GM just saying, "Ok, it's X amount of months later, and you guys have made it through 12 subsectors, and now....", it seems that it would take quite a while to play through every jump to every planet. Even if you were dicing most of it and only having an adventure here and there.

Have had far reaching campaigns. Transporting diplomats. Getting home after being transported a long distance by advanced aliens.

No cold sleep - we were the crew. Each system could be anything from a one line statement "you refuel at the gas giant and jump out without incident" to an adventure that spans several gaming sessions. Lots of variety in the adventures from just checking out a local festival, helping a lost child, getting mistaken as a criminal, helping with a natural disaster, issues with overbearing local government, pirate activity, and so on.

On some of these trips characters have fallen in love, gotten married, had children...

Not sure how long "quite a while" is to you.

 

[Frankymole]

The Grand Tour campaign in the Traveller's Digest magazine back in the 1980s took players from Mora all round via Core and Terra and Kusyu in a big loop. Granted not every interim jump destination was explored, just the most interesting ones.

 

[Supplement Four]

On some of these trips characters have fallen in love, gotten married, had children...

Not sure how long "quite a while" is to you.

I think you nailed it.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Campaign in TNE

Creating a campaign in TNE was simple
The Characters needed bigger and better ships and had to travelle to get them.
I created a scenario where they had to go from Old Expanses to the depots in Solomani Rim and then Diaspora to find the better ships.
They simply rolled dice as they came out of jump, refueled and hit jump space again.
They travelled 6 to 8 months total out and back to RC headquarters. It took about one sesion to play the trip out, one for the adventure of finding and repairing the ship (or fighting the enemies then preparing the ship) and one session back.
They only got paid after their return and the more stuff they brought back unused and undamaged the better their payday... which turned out to be the best incentive for them to think rather than fight their way through.

 

[HG_B]

So, I'm curious. Have any of you successfully ran campaigns that spanned to different parts of Known Space?

My game takes place, A long time from now in a galactic arm far, far away...

So, I don't have to worry about it. It spans a few sectors.

 

[Dragoner]

Mine is OTU as written, but in the future - 1323 and in a corner of charted space:

 

[Blue Ghost]

I'm hopeful that when T5 addon guidelines get squared away, that literally the universe will be the limit.