Interesting settings;

[Blue Ghost]

I had George Lucas's "THX-1138" runing in the background this afternoon, and a thought occured to me; what would it be like to have a band of adventurers caught inside a bleak work of shaved heads, concrete, fluorescent lights, and a drug controlled population with little to no freedom?

Pardon me if that strikes home with some of your work environments

But seriously, what would it be like to have a team of adventureers to have to break into one of those kinds of societies, and then break back out? A cakewalk, since the opposition has no guns (rather none were shown in the film, but they do have robot police), or a nightmare since it would just be too overwhelming?

Another interesting environment; this was talked about earlier this year, but years back, just for a lark, I took a band of Traveller types through the first module in the Dragon Lance series. It was interesting in a very odd sort of way. Very easy in some regards, but with some unexpected twists.

Thoughts?

 

[Icosahedron]

One of the most interesting and rewarding Traveller games I ever played (GMed) was back in the early eighties, set on a TL7 ultra-high Law Level Orwellian world where PCs and NPCs alike were suspected community spies, cameras and bugs were planted everywhere and no-one knew who to trust, or even where to talk safely. The characters started out with no weapons or equipment and were being hammered almost hourly by the authorities for various minor legal infringements. This served as a 'push' for them to improve their situation, and the story evolved around their bid to gain social freedom in a situation where finding a contact to provide a revolver with six bullets in it was a major undertaking. We all enjoyed it far more than games where the group had their own ship, millions of credits and were all armed with Battledress and FGMP15s.

 

[mike wightman]

Sounds like a typical high population, high law level world.
Offworlders may well face restrictions in travelling away from the starport, so they would have to find a way to enter the "city" and blend in.
If the PCs have a TL advantage that may help, but the fun will be when they try to get back into the starport.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Sounds like an Extreme High Law level world (LL D+)to me, population at least 6+. Crowded is a relative term, depending on world or the settlement size too now, don't ya know.

A world where movement is restricted, Government paramilitary police (or robots, or cameras, or all of the aforementioned) control, patrol, and watch everything. Where paranoia is rife, arrests & incarcerations happen for the least infraction with little to no explanation...

The trick would be how to convince your players to go there. Most folk I've gamed Traveller with try to avoid such authority bound hell-holes like the plague.

Now suggestions as to how to do so, might make another thread in this same vein, or another topic. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Maybe they're being paid to rescue someone from there.

 

[Othin]

Maybe the PCs are sent to the planet to assist the underground in starting a revolution. Their mysterious patron has provided them with weapons to arm people and seemingly endless amount of supplies. The only thing the PCs know is that the patron has said that every man and woman deserve the right to live their live how they choose.

The PCs would later find out that their patron wasn't really motivated by such selfless means and the "rebellion movement" was actually a front for one of the mega-corporations who was trying to open a new market into the mega-millions or billions of the planets inhabitants(by force no less).

 

[Sifu Blackirish]

Anyone here read Jerry Pournelle's Oath of Fealty?

After riots devastate Los Angeles, a corporation gets enough local support to build an arcology.

Interestingly, even though there is a lot of surveillance, it is benign, and everyone there WANTS to be there. They actively screen candidates for residency and business, giving subsidies to those they deem worthy. Also has a good explanation about computer implants and how they would work. A JTAS article about them was pretty good, too.

Dovetailing neatly with this is another novella, I believe And Then there were None by Eric Frank Russell (I think). On this world, people have adopted the Gandhi philosophy of passive resistance to extremes. There is no currency, just informal 'obligations' to others. the tag line from the story is 'Freedom--I won't'.

Anyone think about a scenario where things are so good that they have to force people away?

 

[flykiller]

Anyone here read Jerry Pournelle's Oath of Fealty?

...

Interestingly, even though there is a lot of surveillance, it is benign, and everyone there WANTS to be there.

yes, though I got the impression everyone wanted to be there because there was nowhere else to go. the arcology had absorbed for itself every benefit and service and talent available, leaving nothing but the costs and dregs for the community outside of it. sort of like when a mortgage company comes into a town and buys up every single available plot of property, then sits on all of it, forcing everyone to pay their artificial inflated price. no-one was left with any rights, or privacy, or independent means of survival - they were all effectively corporate property.

 

[aramis]

Oh, it's been too long since I read Oath of Fealty.

Yes, that could be a fun but grim place to play in...

Weirdest thing I've done in recent years was an all-gypsy game: yes, the PC's were all space gypsies, whose clan works family ships on the lanes of the marches...

Another bleak campaign was "Hold until relieved"... PC's were cadre of an IM regiment... dropped behind enemy lines... on a Taverschedl reeducation center. Fun, but grueling.

 

[mike wightman]

Originally posted by Dominion Loyalty Officer:
Anyone here read Jerry Pournelle's Oath of Fealty?

Yep, good book, and good inspiration for how a Traveller arcology works (I also borrow from the arcology descriptions in Peter F. Hamilton's Naked God novel).

Anyone think about a scenario where things are so good that they have to force people away?

I've had a scenario where the players got onto a rich, high TL planet that normally turns offworlders away (the culture was xenophobic and was red zoned).
They discovered a paradise, but couldn't stay (too boring after a while), and aren't allowed back.

 

[Plankowner]

Oath of Fealty was a great book about Arcologies and the effects on the surrounding society. In the book, N&P make the point that an Arcology cannot exist without a nearby city to tap the resources of. They needed the "dregs" to fill all of the niche jobs that were required...

"Think of it as Evolution in Action" was my signature for YEARS after I read that book!

 

[robject]

Originally posted by Aramis:

Weirdest thing I've done in recent years was an all-gypsy game: yes, the PC's were all space gypsies, whose clan works family ships on the lanes of the marches...

Shades of "Citizen of the Galaxy", another golden oldie.

Another bleak campaign was "Hold until relieved"... PC's were cadre of an IM regiment... dropped behind enemy lines... on a Taverschedl reeducation center. Fun, but grueling.

An excellent setting.

 

[aramis]

Yes, and it was actually "Take and Hold until Relieved" (I was tired...), and I put MT conglomerate rules to a strong workout.

A regiment with 6 companies: 1 Armor (trepidas x 20 + Astrin C and Astrin E), 1 BD/DT, 1 mixed, 2 line CA Infantry, plus a transport squadron (Astrins). The mixed company included a platoon of MP's, a platoon of recon, and a platoon of some other type. This was a drop infantry regiment of the "Not every marine is a BD Troop" flavor.

They also had a shuttle for supply center, hospital, and repairs.

It was "Just off map" from the marches. They started the drop, then the Joeys arrived to drive off the fleet... so they were without support.

PC's included the Commanding Colonel, some of the company commanders, Exec, Topkick (RSM), Supply Officer, Surgeon, and a few others. Everyone except the Colonel's player had two.

I generated using a basic program a wide variety of marines... the whole unit, to a man, had UPP, Skills, Hits, AV and morale.

I also used the data to generate (automatically) the Squad and platoon conglomerate data.

It ran about 12 weeks of play, plus a week of CG.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Another interesting setting; I always liked Ridley Scott's vision of Phillip K. Dick's "Blade Runner" book. Imagine a fully armed fireteam having to fight their way through one of those places.

Or, here's another bizzare take on the dystopic future; "ZARDOZ" Remember that one? The one with Sean Connery running around in a diaper? How would a tream of adventurers fare in a place where their motor functions could be controlled, and their minds probbed?

"Brave New World" also comes to mind.

More thoughts?

 

[kafka47]

I have always like the benign autocracy of Vanilla Sky or first part of Matrix whereby the normal is suddenly turned on its head. In the Traveller Universe, this is hard to accomplish but essentially get them out of the Startown and into the real world. This is best fleshed out various Cyberpunk 2020 supplements (sans the Noir) would make a very strange and surreal world that the players would have descended into.

 

[mike wightman]

A couple of other utopian settings in sci-fi - Logan's Run and The Island. Or how about the more big brother like world of Equilibrium.

 

[Blue Ghost]

"Logan's Run"; now THAT'S a setting.

I'm trying to imagine my fireteam taking on a bunch of Sandmen as they fight their way to "The Thinker" to plant some TDX.

How would this play out? Infiltration first, or just go in guns a blazing?

 

[su_liam]

Guns blazing!
I never was too impressed by the Sandmen. Good against the huddled masses is one thing, good against the Imperial Marines? Doubt it.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Zardoz... wow. That would be on bizzare Traveller setting.

 

[Valarian]

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
Or how about the more big brother like world of Equilibrium.

Hmmm ... Gun Kata. Would be one way of quickly removing the PCs from the universe. Zhodani influences as well to consider here - the psychics detecting emotions on the street. Maybe one of the border worlds. PCs given emotion suppression shots at the starport gates and told to report every day.

Could be interesting ....

[EDIT]
More Fahrenheit 451 I thought.