Need a world

[Daidoji Dave]

Campaign premise. Twenty years before play starts, planet-side in a short but heated border war, a small group of first-term Marines capture an enemy shipment of art, gems and precious metals. In the chaos they're on their own for this, and someone gets a bright idea. Rather than turn it in for a fractional prize share they hide it, bury it, and swear an oath to meet and return together in twenty years to retrieve it.

Idea is everyone starts as a Marine and makes a five term character, no more, no less. Ruleset allows switching careers, which they may want to do, as being able to crew a starship will be a very good idea. Play starts at Capital (probably - main point is it needs to be distant), and the first arc of the campaign is simply travelling to the treasure cache to retrieve it. I expect to rely heavily on the Traveller Map for world codes and let players pick their route, with adventures on the way.

Of course the destination world will now be inside the border of whatever power the war was with. I lean towards the Zhodani, but I'm open to other suggestions.

So, what's a good destination world? It looks like I need to look at Spinward Marches again, which I actually have, but I'm curious if anything leaps out at anyone.

And, dating. For the Zhodani, 1103, twenty years after the Fourth Frontier War?

 

[Bravesteel]

What if you had them be party of the Imperium vs Solamani conflict? You could either put it on a world that has been kept within the Imperium or have it on a world that has stayed under Solamani control?

 

[GypsyComet]

For the Zhodani, 1103, twenty years after the Fourth Frontier War?

If that's the start date on Capital, they'll be stepping into the Fifth Frontier War or its immediate aftermath by the time they get to the Marches.

There is also the reality that it is really hard to hide stuff on Zhodani worlds, what with all those Clairvoyants and Psychometers running around.

The Fourth Frontier War also wasn't particularly sweeping, was short, and, from the Imperial point of view, almost entirely defensive.

 

[flykiller]

So, what's a good destination world?

use the darrians. nobody uses them for anything, get that ball rolling.

try ansel(darrian) hrunting (swordie) and margesi (imperial) with vilis and its naval base nearby, and the zhodani forward naval base at querion not too far away. lots of fun there.

here's a map to help you pick a spot.

 

[whartung]

Don't forget to kill off one of them before you start, or have one disenfranchised that left. That way you always have one for them to consider "what would he have done/wanted" or "That Bob guy, he stabbed us in the back" or "he left early, and he's going to get their first!"

 

[McPerth]

Or pick any Vargr border (or near it) world and assume it was a raid against Vargr corsairs (the bounty might well be the pirates' one, recaptured by them).

I guess there's no lack of those raids in the Imperial history that go unnoticed in the news and history books, so it can be set whenever you need it...

 

[Whipsnade]

Campaign premise.

Nifty!

Idea is everyone starts as a Marine and makes a five term character, no more, no less. Ruleset allows switching careers, which they may want to do, as being able to crew a starship will be a very good idea.

Nifty again! Career Marines may have changed their minds over the ensuing years while "hostilities only" inductees may have not.

Play starts at Capital (probably - main point is it needs to be distant)

Capital? Absolutely not. Use Travellermap's route app. At jump2 you're looking at 83 jumps to get from Capital to Regina. That's 166 weeks/3+ years alone presuming a jump-refuel-jump-refuel-etc. routine.

Mora, capital of the marches, or Deneb, capital of that sector, are better choices.

Of course the destination world will now be inside the border of whatever power the war was with. I lean towards the Zhodani, but I'm open to other suggestions.

Using the Zhos, rather than a Zho ally, makes things much harder. The Zhos are going to be very interested in "deadheads" wandering around in their territory and, thanks to psionics, are going to "have ways of making you talk".

So, what's a good destination world?

I'd stay clear of Zho worlds for the reasons I stated above. I'd also stay clear of the Extents because I wouldn't want to run a Vargr-centric campaign with all that entails. Besides, regardless of the polity, humans wandering around the Extents are going to attract unwanted attention. That leaves all the "indies" in a belt of subsectors stretching from Querion to Egryn.

And, dating. For the Zhodani, 1103, twenty years after the Fourth Frontier War?

While the 4th FW is a nice hook, your border clash needn't be a direct part of that war. Instead, it the fighting could have occurred at the same time perhaps sparked by the fact the 4th FW was occurring but not actually linked to the larger war. Let me explain.

France and Thailand fought a war in Indochina between October of '40 and May of '41. France had surrendered to Germany and Italy in June, the Vichy regime had been set-up, and in September the Vichy regime had been bullied by Japan into allowing Japan to set up military bases in Indochina. Thailand thought it would be a good time to "adjust" the border between it and French Indochina regaining certain territories Thailand had ceded in the 1890s and 1900s. Japan forced a ceasefire in January of '41 and hosted a peace conference which resulted in a treaty in May which ceded territory in what is now Cambodia back to Thailand.

So we've a border that occurs during WW2 triggered by outside events in WW2 but is really not part of WW2.

I'd look for a world which has "shirtsleeve" biosphere, has a population in at least the tens of millions, and would have plausibly hosted Imperial bases during the period.

I'd also spice things up in various ways. If your group is experienced enough, I'd have one player acting as a "traitor". They want to recover the treasure for themselves or a 3rd party like the Imperium or one of the other governments involved. Taking a cue from Aces and Eights, I'd have no character alone know the exact location of the treasure. Instead, they all have individual clues which must be used together. Finally, I'd have the treasure located on a world different than the one on which the border clash took place.

Nonym looks good with the treasure actually being on nearby Zamine. Both would let you follow Fly's great advice to use the Darrians and, from a political/sociological standpoint, Zamine is a rather nasty place itself. Bularia looks good too as does Singer, Mewey, T'yana and Gollere.

Whatever you decide, 1) have fun and B) please let us know how things turn out!

 

[Daidoji Dave]

Thanks folks. I think you have talked me out of Zhodani, but that puts a lot back on the table. I'll look at Darrians, Solomani and Sword Worlds. I hadn't planned to bring in the Vargr but maybe something will leap out at me.

Capital? Absolutely not. Use Travellermap's route app. At jump2 you're looking at 83 jumps to get from Capital to Regina. That's 166 weeks/3+ years alone presuming a jump-refuel-jump-refuel-etc. routine.

Mora, capital of the marches, or Deneb, capital of that sector, are better choices.

I had not found the route calculator! That's very handy.

I was thinking the distance was not an absolute bar, since game play on the way will be part of the campaign. The money's really there*, but I want some normal game play before they get rich. On the other hand I don't want the campaign to end before they ever get there, so I suppose it depends on the ratio of adventure sessions to jumps. I'll reconsider once I settle on a world.

*I mean, I'm not saying I haven't seen Blue Streak, so that's an adventure in itself, but it's there.

Taking a cue from Aces and Eights, I'd have no character alone know the exact location of the treasure. Instead, they all have individual clues which must be used together.

This actually crossed my mind once, but I couldn't quite figure out how to express it. I mean, they were all there at the time. But perhaps they wrote out map coordinates and tore that in pieces. Or they each took a reading at a different scale or with a different instrument, have to figure out how to express that.

Nonym looks good with the treasure actually being on nearby Zamine. Both would let you follow Fly's great advice to use the Darrians and, from a political/sociological standpoint, Zamine is a rather nasty place itself. Bularia looks good too as does Singer, Mewey, T'yana and Gollere.

Whatever you decide, 1) have fun and B) please let us know how things turn out!

Now to read up on those. I will report back; I'm actually running something else now, so this is in development for a forthcoming campaign, but it's a thing I've wanted to do for a while and I think it's finally come to the top of the stack.

 

[Whipsnade]

Thanks folks. I think you have talked me out of Zhodani, but that puts a lot back on the table.

While using the Zhos does make things harder, sometimes making things harder is better!

I wouldn't use the Zhos, but I'm not normal.

I had not found the route calculator! That's very handy.

Traveller has several unsung heroes, people who quietly give the game and it's players wonderful ideas, tools, and whatnot. Joshua Bell/Inexorabletash is one of them.

I was thinking the distance was not an absolute bar, since game play on the way will be part of the campaign.

There's a lot of adventure in even "short" journeys because your players aren't going to make a "beeline" for the loot jumping and refueling without pause or care. Look at the Mora to Nonym route for example (not to suggest you should use those worlds).

The shortest jump2 route is 16 jumps through Imperial, Sword Worlds, and Darrian space. That route passes through Iron/Sword Worlds. Are the Swordies going to be happy with Imperials visiting one of their reserve worlds? The route also touches on Joyeuse and Tizon, major Sword Worlds where all sorts of shenanigans can occur. The route also touches Torment, a Darrian prison, exile camp, and Red Zone! The route through the Lunion subsector touches on backwater "pleasure spots" like Gandr, Carse, and Derchon.

Only 16 jumps but plenty of potential troubles.

This actually crossed my mind once, but I couldn't quite figure out how to express it. I mean, they were all there at the time.

They were all there when the loot was grabbed, but maybe they weren't all there when it was hidden?

Maybe a comrade hid it for them and, when he was caught or killed, managed to send each of them partial clues to it's location? Maybe they weren't supposed to wait 20 years to collect the loot, but knowledge of it's final location has been lost all that time - lost until fairly recently when some new piece of information surfaced?

Now to read up on those.

There's a bunch and Travellermap will find them for you. All I did was quickly pick out "shirtsleeve" worlds which were over the border and had populations above 10 million.

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

Guys, guys, guys ... I'm disapointed in you all. Nine posts into this thread and nobody has mentioned the obvious choice for this scenario: Esalin.

A former Imperial member, Imperial majority population shirtsleeve world situated right at the Imperial-Consulate frontier. Captured by the Zhos during the early, chaotic weeks of the Fourth Frontier War. Precariously held during the course of that war. Then placed under some kind of joint Imperial-Zhodani administration after the war, where it stands until the outbreak of the Fifth Frontier War. About 2 million citizens in all, including 800,000 Zhodani.*

It's 'behind' enemy lines, but not in some way that makes the Zhos automatically suspicious of your movements (at least officially). It has loads of vacant territory to hide a treasure in, a nice mixture of friendly and hostile types to work with or against, and probably a whole lot of Casablanca-style bureaucratic interplay to confuse, hinder and/or aid the players.

It's also no doubt one of the first worlds to fall to the Zhodani in the opening moves of the Fifth Frontier War. And since everybody with a brain already knew that would be the case, and since everybody with half a brain already knew that the FFW was pretty much an inevitability, that puts everything on a ticking clock.

*According to the Traveller Wiki. Yes, yes, I know ...

 

[Whipsnade]

Guys, guys, guys ... I'm disapointed in you all. Nine posts into this thread and nobody has mentioned the obvious choice for this scenario: Esalin.

Am I a dope... Esalin is perfect!

 

[Garnfellow]

Guys, guys, guys ... I'm disapointed in you all. Nine posts into this thread and nobody has mentioned the obvious choice for this scenario: Esalin.

Boom goes the dynamite.

 

[flykiller]

According to the Traveller Wiki. Yes, yes, I know ...

actually according to little black book "spinward marches" ....

the little corner I pointed out is better though.

 

[The Pakkrat]

My vote is for Menorb. It's got proximity to the Zhodani, adds Vargr for spice, has plenty of desert to bury hidden loot and other quirks to check out.

From Cartography, this is the Pakkrat for Net-7 News!