Traveller campaign continued…
After character gen and basic game related chatter, there was only an hour or so of game time left that first night. There was still a lot of setting info to dole out here and there, including giving them an idea of the current planet was about…
“Weber-Cornfield” – though carrying the name of a major food corporation, the planet was not completely owned by the corp. But they had so much stock in the cornfields, other interests in the few townships that served farmers and workers, and company personnel permanently stationed at the planets sole starport, they may as well own it. I also assumed the promoted the single-crop growing presence on the planet in the first place (it will come to light in the following game that the planet in former centuries had a major canine”puppy farm” operation).
With one hemisphere taken up by a shallow ocean, the other is prime for growing such a crop. Abundant sunshine, no harsh winters or winds, mostly flatlands, and only a weed and a beetle as natural enemies of the crop. And those are kept in check by the “Tri-Lobed Hare,” a native mammal to the planet who eats such beetles and weeds and leaves the corn stalks alone. Note – already having planed a wild dog hunt in the next game I was sort of winging all this, with notices that harming crops or the hares carried major fines being abundant (especially after one player declared he was going to later go on a “hare hunt”).
So besides the starport, there would be highways leading off to farming communities and the townships for hundreds of miles in all directions, for general travel but especially for trucks hauling crops to the ‘port. Townships would be town-like affairs, with the closest one to the starport having a few modesl office buildings to serve officials, corp offices, law firms, and brokerages.
So…only 20 minutes or so left in the session after all that got explored a bit. Still staying at the starport in modest accommodations, the players were approached by the captain who asked if they wanted to make quick cash. He introduced him to the CEO of a loading company. Seems his assistant (and mistress) ran off with one of his loader operators and had 22,000 creds in petty cash with them. CEO wanted three things; the money back, his assistant back, and all but the mistress dead in a discreet manner. CEO had been contacted by his assistant who had second thoughts, so he knew they were hiding in the hallow of a hill until a ship was to arrive that would get them off planet.
With no time to really play that all out, I decided to give the players a taste of combat by just assuming they found the culprits. Just lined up both sides 30 feet from each other, and let them go to town. Even though mostly not experts in weapons, the party got lucky roles and made quick work of it. Especially with Jack blasting away with his revolver skill, and Katana rushing in through the hail of gunfire to take one guy down with a mighty sword stroke. Fast and furious. Not the fairest way to set up a combat, but I usually won’t kill a character in the first game of a campaign anyway. They did good.
CEO not only paid them the modest sum he promised (plus they got to keep the rifles of the bad guys), but also offered a couple weeks use of his family vacation condo on the other side of the recreational lake from the township.
It was a nifty little game, and it was fun winging it with just a little bit of notes on the planet. It all seemed to come flowing out. The system maybe supports that, but again good players help.
Speaking of that, in our second session a couple weeks later, it was pretty much all role-play. The characters hit the township to go to CEO’s office for the condo keys, and also while there hit a gunshop (that is very restricted at the starport but more open at the townships) for some extra ammo. The condo was a blocky affair on the lake (no real frills on this planet. Everything is eco friendly and non-polluting for the sake of the harvest). But with plenty of amenities like great kitchen, patio on the water, and a wide screen TV in each room. The players really took to it. While Katana and Travellyn (remember, both distinguished naval officers) went shopping at the local food jobber, then preparing a sumptuous meal, Jack and Cassie bought poles, fishing license, and took CEO’s boat out for some nice relaxing fishing. I made a little mini game out of it, hitting 8 or better on two dice several times with mods depending on both luck and INT choice of spot. They actually had a lot of fun with such a minor thing. Great players can make fun out of anything you give them, and I was happy for that because I wasn’t really throwing any action at them this game. Still easing them into the system.
OK, next I’ll lay out what happened in session three, with more condo vacay including cocktail party, and a hunting/camping trip that gave the characters more than they bargained for…
