Looking for a good Traveller one-shot adventure

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

What the subject line says. I want to inflict Traveller on a newb and am looking to get hold of a suitable adventure that can be played out in a session or two. It should be characteristic--an intro into what Traveller is all about. (I.e., NOT Exit Visa!)

I have all the early CT adventures (GDW and FASA), but they're in storage on another continent, and I don't want to buy a duplicate.

So, what's more recent and great? Preferably in PDF, because time is a factor. I would get Cold Dark Grave, but it takes too long to ship from the UK.

CT stats would be nice, but system-free or post-CT stats are fine. No post-CT TU metaplot elements, though, if at all possible.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BeRKA]

Maybe You can find something useful on my amber zone page.

 

[Garyius2003]

One Crowded Hour

 

[robject]

Maybe You can find something useful on my amber zone page.

Twilight Shadows is nice.


I'd also suggest pinging Kurt Willer, i.e. Kurega Gikur, for ideas. And search COTI for plotlines... I know we did one on plotlines...

 

[kafka47]

"Delta 3 is Down" is quite nice.
"The Chamax Horde" is also quite good.
and there used to be free adventures off this site...and Odyssey is also not bad.

 

[Gadrin]

Here's a freebie from the original CT adventure. It's pretty good.

http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG37-1150

 

[jappel]

You might also want to check out the "Active Measures" section on Freelance Traveller:

http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/advents/index.html

 

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

Here's a freebie from the original CT adventure. It's pretty good.

http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG37-1150

Well now... I just looked at the preview, and it sounds awesome. Just the right thing to throw at a newb.

"As you enter the HUGE ALIEN SHIP DRIFTING RUDDERLESS IN SPACE, the airlock behind you closes with a thud and its control panel goes dead.

"Just as dead, really, as the shredded corpses of aliens drifting through the hallways at zero G.

What if anything do you care to do?"

 

[Gadrin]

Yeah, it's also a great mini-campaign, as you can intro the players to the setting by describing them at their home base (or whichever port you have them operating out of nearby) and as a GM you can "help them pack" by knowing what's coming up. Then it's up to them to utilize the equipment
during the adventure.

The idea that they're traders doing essentially a scouting mission is a key to help out during player roll-up (choosing a character class) as well as giving some buildup that they're ultimately going to be on their own.

I'd probably have them jump into a nearby system where another ship in their company (or an ally) has placed a cache. They rendezvous with them,
load up and then head for parts-void. It's almost like the Milieu-Zero book in some ways, and how the fledgling Imperium is contacting new worlds, but with a much more lonely/dangerous slant.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I'm not sure if this is the same that robject suggested, but Shadows from The Traveller Book is good if your player is used to dungeon crawls....

 

[atpollard]

The newest Signs & Portents (free magazine on the Mongoose web site) has a good Traveller adventure that looks like it could be easily ported into any space game - Traveller or non-traveller

 

[robject]

I'm not sure if this is the same that robject suggested, but Shadows from The Traveller Book is good if your player is used to dungeon crawls....

Nah, different one, from Berka's site.

Y'know, as much nostalgia as a I feel for Shadows, it's really quite an uneventful little adventure, isn't it? I mean, the only excitement I recall it originally generating was that it gave me a chance to play Traveller. Most of Marc's own adventures are more playtest- or concept-oriented than really adventure-oriented.

I guess you could dress it up with some action, though. Make it a current Vargr pirate encampment, or have it crawling with large, fast, violent native lifeforms (i.e. Chamax meets Shadows?), or give it a squad of operational security bots.

 

[Supplement Four]

Y'know, as much nostalgia as a I feel for Shadows, it's really quite an uneventful little adventure, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a fixer-upper. I like Shadows too. There's just something about it. It's got an "atmosphere"...(pardon the pun).

But, it's really just the set-up and floor plans for an adventure. If you want any type of story, you've got to put it together for yourself.

I look at Research Station Gamma that way too. They're similar adventures. No real story--just a few cool things, some floor plans, and some robots to fight.

Anytime I've attempted to run either Shadows or RSG, I always spend a lot of time customizing it.

Those two adventures are really just detailed "Adventure Seeds", I think.

 

[Rhialto the Marvelous]

This one sounds pretty good as well, BTW--

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=1482&it=1

Does anyone have it, and do they like it?

 

[Spinward Scout]

I always thought Shadows seemed exciting. An 8 hour time limit for the vacc suits from the atmosphere, always with a chance of ripping or puncture. The adventure says the animals are more aggressive than the original ones - how aggressive is up to the Ref. The tremors can work some confusion and maybe fear, plus throwing them around for more chance of damaging the suits. And then to deactivate the energy beam. It also says that the descendants of the original inhabitants might still be around outside the structure - possibly in a savage form. I'd run it as an 8 hour real-time session, with time running out as you go. Or even more exciting to make it a 4 hour real-time time limit from the moment they walk outside the ship. But you're right, there's nothing to walk away from it with, except success. It needs some treasure, er, alien tech or something as a reward - not just to deactivate the beam so the ship can take off again.

This one sounds pretty good as well, BTW--

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=1482&it=1

Does anyone have it, and do they like it?

Looks interesting!

 

[robject]

Yeah, it's a fixer-upper. I like Shadows too. There's just something about it. It's got an "atmosphere"...(pardon the pun).
[...]
Those two adventures are really just detailed "Adventure Seeds", I think.

That's the right way to look at them, I think. As I said, many of Marc's adventures were like this...

...Annic Nova... ...Safari Ship...

...yes, lots of atmosphere. Nice pun, but it's true, they're more like resources than adventures. Perhaps "Across the Bright Face" gave enough action to feel complete.

Whereas the Keith brothers consistently gave you action and plot.

 

[Agemegos]

I'm not sure if this is the same that robject suggested, but Shadows from The Traveller Book is good if your player is used to dungeon crawls....

My advice to GMs who are trying to interest players in a change of mechanics, genre, or setting is not to go for the "ease them in" approach. I always suggest going for the "Wow! You'd never do that in D&D!" reaction. So if a play is used to dungeon crawls, don't make him learn new mechanics and a new setting just to do another dungeon crawl. Try to run something that he could only possibly do in an SF RPG.

 

[joesk]

My advice to GMs who are trying to interest players in a change of mechanics, genre, or setting is not to go for the "ease them in" approach. I always suggest going for the "Wow! You'd never do that in D&D!" reaction. So if a play is used to dungeon crawls, don't make him learn new mechanics and a new setting just to do another dungeon crawl. Try to run something that he could only possibly do in an SF RPG.

Thats just what I did. Years ago I had some military buddies that wanted try out something different. I had played Traveller a few times and also ran some. So one nite when we got together to play some star fleet battles (you know the Star Trek tactical game) one player couldn't stay long enough to play a round (the game is notoriously long) so I asked if they wanted to try a RPG called Traveller (There was no mega or TNE. It wasn't called classic yet). The SFB scenario we were to play was the "Battle of the Hood". Well to keep it short, they made characters. I conveniently had them all on a ship that was traveling in deep space that also happened to have a major miss jump. The rest is written in our own starfleet log books as to how the hood defeated 3 klingon ships. Once I introduced them to the differences between the 2 types of games the rest was easy.
With that group we played for 3 years before we all got stationed to other bases.

 

[aramis]

I think probably the best "one-shot" for me is Twilight's Peak, followed closely by Mission on Mithril and Across the Bright Face. Shadows and Exit Visa are the next tier...

 

[merlin]

"One Crowded Hour" - by Avenger Enterprises.

It's self contained and can be completed in a single session - availible on .pdf and has CT pregens included.

I have run it multiple times at conventions with players both new and old.

Otherwise, If you're just looking a the "classic" adventures then the finale of "Twilight's Peak" is hard to beat.