Need advice choosing a CT adventure

[zanwot]

I don't know if this is the right place for this thread, please move it elsewhere if more appropriate.

I am about to get 3 friends started with Mongoose Trav, i a little over a week. I intend to probably get them into the TripWire adventure when it comes out this summer, looks like my kind of stuff.

But right now I need to get them on a short adventure to get them into the feel fast.

The thing is the players are into nobles and diplomacy, very much more roleplay than rollplay, very keen on complexe intrigues, and will not have the initiative needed to go adventuring themselves. They have not made their characters yet, but I will need to get them playing straight after characters so I cannot react to their characters yet. So I need to get them on a small adventure right away, one where they are reasonably guided but not too linear or too combat orientated, and especially not one where they need to go planet exploring (they explicitly said they did not want that). I need the adventure to take place in the Spinward Marches.

I have the CT CD, but don't know the contents well, so I was wondering if someone could advise me on an appropriate adventure from the CD, or something else available online?

Typically Chamax plague won't do, to much planet exploring, combat, and not enough space travel. The published Mongoose adventures to date (Prison planet and Beltstrike) won't do either.

So, any advice?

 

[shield]

If they are keen on intrigue, the best one is probably Double Adventure 3 Argon Gambit. Another possibility is Adv 11 murder on arcturus station. Both of these are however on a single world over in the Solomani rim. Double adventure 6 Divine intervention is sneaky but more action filled and is set in the marches. The Bowman boxed set could be a good starting point.

I can recommend the traveller adventure which has a mixture of merchant stuff, several plots, gun / starship fights etc. but it is a major campagin rather than a short adventure.

Finally Double adventure 5 is great fun, but it is killing bug-eyed monsters.

Cheers
Richard

 

[fiat_knox]

I posted much the same thing on the Mongoose Traveller thread, apart from missing out Murder on Arcturus Station.

It seems to me that nobody ever created a story involving nobles and intrigue. May I recommend that you brush up on your Shakespeare for inspiration in that regard? I'd recommend Titus Andronicus. The climax is particularly ... enjoyable.

 

[shield]

There is some spy / intrigue stuff in the various JTAS amber zones. I remember one set pre-FFW with an old coin. Try Gurps Nobles - it gives loads of info and should spark some ideas. I think it might have some adventure seeds.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Supplement Four]

Nobles, Intrigue

If your player are into nobles, court intrigue, backstabbing, complicated and twisting plots, and that sort of thing, then I have just the adventure for you.

It's not Classic Traveller, as you requested. It's from the T4 line-up. But, it should be very easy to convert to either MGT or CT.

I recommend Missions of State. This is a published series of 9 short adventures, all of them focusing on nobles.

Just what the doctor ordered for your campaign kick-off? Seems so.

Amazon has some used paperbacks starting at $14.99: http://www.amazon.com/Missions-Stat...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241185232&sr=1-1. Check eBay and see how you can fair.

Drive Thru RPG has a downloadable copy for only $8.00 bucks: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=213&it=1



BITS put out an extended adventure based on the one (of the same name) included in Missions of State. This adventure is called: The Khiidkar Incident.

As I said, the abridged version is included in Missions of State. BITS published the full version separately.

Here's a review of the full version: http://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/reviews/khiidkar.html

And, since it's a BITS publication, it comes with the BITS task system, which is really a tool that aids the referee in converting Traveller game systems among each other. I'm not sure if the BITS system has been updated for MGT yet, though.

Warehouse 23 has the adventure for $10.00: https://secure.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=BITSADKI

Noble Knight Games has it for $8.95: http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductD..._-1309803073_A_CategoryID_E_0_A_GenreID_E_162

Again, check eBay and see what you can do. Or, check the BITS website (but you'll pay shipping from Britian if you're in the US).



Hope that helps.

 

[zanwot]

Thanks for these quick and usefull answers.

Unfortunately I don't have the time to receive stuff by post, and my local gaming store is very limited.

So the default solutions seems to be the Argon Gambit, transposed in the Spinward Marches. I am checking it out.
Divine Intervention could be interesting but tricky for several reasons, so I'll leave it for now I think.

Missions of state does seem interesting though, so I will check it out on Drivethru. And maybe i'll order The Khiidkar Incident for later.

Thanks all, just what I need.

 

[morfydd]

You have huge amount of material on the CT Cd ...enough to run several campaings..however I suggest picking up the JTAS CD at some point as it also has a lot of interestign stuff on it ..Check Drive thru RPG for Newer Material <most of MgT's stuff is up there thou not all> and reasonably priced <considering you have to print it yourself>

 

[Vargas]

You could try Nomands of the World ocean but concentrate more on the city ship politics and less on the evil metacorp plot.

 

[ravells]

lol...I hated Nomads of the world ocean....but that's just me!

 

[robject]

You could try Nomands of the World ocean but concentrate more on the city ship politics and less on the evil metacorp plot.

I'd suggest running Nomads of the World Ocean, Murder on Arcturus Station, and "The Gaesh" scenario from Adventure 1 simultaneously, having the players run "political messenger" missions between several worlds in the Regina subsector, leading up to the main elements of the adventures as they go.

Move Nomads and Adventure 11 to Roup, and you're good to go.

"The Gaesh" scenario from Adventure 1 involves rescuing a political prisoner from a small orbital prison hulk in the Regina subsector. Lots of hints of intrigue there. Who, what, where, why, when, how?

And of course you can squeeze in Argon Gambit as well.

If you have Best of JTAS, there's scenarios there which might entice. One in particular is "Geria Transfer" where a scientist is smuggling out some lethal biotoxin that gets loose in a maglev transport station...

 

[RKFM]

You could try Nomads of the World ocean but concentrate more on the city ship politics and less on the evil megacorp plot.

I think Nomads was one of the best CT adventures. Also, a favorite of mine was Prison Planet. You can port it anywhere, and gives you a reason to watch some episodes of Oz.

As others have said, Murder on Arcturus Station is another good one.

In my opinion, the first few CT adv's are stuck in the old RPG world of D&D/dungeon crawl format.

 

[zanwot]

Ok must check out Nomads of the World ocean then too, see how I like it.

Playing several adventures in parallel is good in general, but we will probably be playing small multiple sessions in a week then nothing for a month or two, etc, so it would just make it difficult to keep up in practice.

I am also considering doing a "lost memory" introduction as advised by someone at the Mongoose forum (fiat_knox?), if I can manage to make the players create their characters as they recover memory.


Concerning Missions of State: It is very variable! Some adventures seem decent, maybe even very good, but some are quests like in D&D, and one is even a dongeon in space!

 

[Whipsnade]

Ok must check out Nomads of the World ocean then too, see how I like it.

Zanwot,

You needn't run the actual adventure. You'll probably find you can steal the ideas and mechanisms used to influence politics aboard the city-ship and use them elsewhere. You could use the political influence model from Nomad of the World Ocean to handle a dirty tricks campaign against the Solomani Party in The Argon Gambit.

I am also considering doing a "lost memory" introduction...

That's a pretty tired trope, but an effective one in the hands of a good GM.

Concerning Missions of State: It is very variable!

Yes, the quality of T4's products did range from horrible to good. However, seeing as you're using MgT you should be used to variable quality already.


Regards,
Bill

 

[kaladorn]

a dirty tricks campaign against the Solomani Party

I can honestly say that is a phrase I never thought I would hear. The more usual conjugation would be *by* the Solomani Party.

Some other interesting ones (I'd have to dig them out to be sure they are applicable, but.... to go farther afield than the good advice already offered with which I agree):

FASA's Stazhlekh Report/The Harrensa Project, Starport Module 1 - Hotel Complex (as a prop/setting), ISCV: King Richard (big passenger liner, great for stuff that involves nobles).

Some of 76 Patron's patron hooks could get you going too.

Not sure if Expidition To Zhodane would work for Nobles, but it might be an interesting twist.

Some of the JTAS Casual Encounters might work well for adventure hooks for Nobles. There is one who is actually an fugitive rebel princess of sorts, one who was a con man (nobles could be the mark), and some others that could work.

Grenadier's Disappearance on Aramat might have been a workable story for Nobles, but I'm fuzzy on the details (must dig it out).

Some of the scenarios from JG's Darthanon Queen could work for nobles.

Marischal's Folio Adventure "Trading Team" could probably be tweaked to include Nobles. I think Seeker may have republished this.

There's some useful stuff in Traveller's Digest, but you'd have to dig through them to find some of the workable adventures. I think the main campaign arc always was a waste (unfortunately) of space.

I do like Murder on Arctarus Station and Argon Gambit.

Anyway, good luck. I remember how one character's insistence on being a noble (Marquis who ended up in the pre-retcon Glimmerdrift Reaches just before the Assassination of Strephon) rooted an entire multi-year campaign (and an incredibly memorable one). One suddenly had to consider relationships of Nobles and planetary governments, the rights of Nobles, social codes and mores, Code Duello if there is one, and how the Noble would inter-relate to the other characters since he's the anchor. On the good side, he became a background NPC for several post-campaign Traveller games I ran at conventions including assassination plots against him, people trying to save him or curry favour with him, etc.

Have fun, but keep a good dueling pistol handy. Those blue-bloods can be dangerous.

 

[zanwot]

Zanwot,
You could use the political influence model from Nomad of the World Ocean to handle a dirty tricks campaign against the Solomani Party in The Argon Gambit.

I'll be adapting in any case as I want them to play in the Spinward Marches, so exit Solomanis in the Argon Gambit.

Am I a good enough GM to make a good lost memory introduction? Dunno, but if I get them to generate a term of their character creation each time they remember something, working forwards in time revealing a plot that scales over many years, it has the advantage of getting them to play immediatly (the players initially wanted me to hand them premade chars, but I just cannot). The thing is it may be too ambitious, I'll see if I can do it, I have in mind of including in the mix the Argon gambit and ideas from Princess Clone, scaling over several systems, and if I can just get the right angle I think the plot could be pretty good.

Yes, the quality of T4's products did range from horrible to good. However, seeing as you're using MgT you should be used to variable quality already.

Well in my view the bad parts of Mongoose Trav are essentially linked to missprints and not having the courage (or the time/work/money) of going the full way in bringing Trav to the 21st century. But you have a point.

 

[zanwot]

a dirty tricks campaign against the Solomani Party

I can honestly say that is a phrase I never thought I would hear. The more usual conjugation would be *by* the Solomani Party.

Good point

Some of 76 Patron's patron hooks could get you going too.

Yup must not forget that one, thanks.

Anyway, good luck. I remember how one character's insistence on being a noble

Actually they won't necessarily want to play nobles, but given their habits I am considering it a probable option, say just as probable as the whole lot of the military careers... I could get anything really, let's say one player is probably a good candidate for high influence career (Navy,Merchant,Noble), another for anything with more fluff than anything else (Barbarian/Drifter, Entertainer,Noble), and a third one semi classic RPG stuff (Scout, Agent, Rogue).

 

[Whipsnade]

I'll be adapting in any case as I want them to play in the Spinward Marches, so exit Solomanis in the Argon Gambit.

Zanwot,

So make it a political party on one of the Border Worlds.

Am I a good enough GM to make a good lost memory introduction?

I didn't say you weren't.

Dunno, but if I get them to generate a term of their character creation each time they remember something, working forwards in time revealing a plot that scales over many years, it has the advantage of getting them to play immediatly

That's an interesting idea.

(the players initially wanted me to hand them premade chars, but I just cannot).

Why not? You can roll up a batch of PCs, but don't roll the life story stuff. The players can then chose which ones they'd like to play and roll/create their own back stories as you go along. This way they know what skills they have while also not knowing who they are.

Having their skills known in advance will help them play better and you plan better.

The thing is it may be too ambitious, I'll see if I can do it, I have in mind of including in the mix the Argon gambit and ideas from Princess Clone, scaling over several systems, and if I can just get the right angle I think the plot could be pretty good.

That's rather ambitious, but such a campaign will be wonderful when you pull it off.

Well in my view the bad parts of Mongoose Trav are essentially linked to missprints and not having the courage (or the time/work/money) of going the full way in bringing Trav to the 21st century. But you have a point.

Typos, shoddy proofreading, and laughable research aside, what they didn't have was the courage, patience, industry, or skills necessary to take the Traveller rules and fashion a truly setting-free, generic, rules set they could then use for their various settings. They should have released a generic sci-fi rules set and then a Traveller setting book. Instead they just tarted up the old rules and plan on cramming in a host of specific details from wildly divergent setting as they go along.

Canon's consistency is pretty bad off now and it's going to be impossibly tangled once Mongoose is finished.


Regards,
Bill

 

[Supplement Four]

Concerning Missions of State: It is very variable! Some adventures seem decent, maybe even very good, but some are quests like in D&D, and one is even a dongeon in space!

I've never run or read Missions of State, although I do own it. But, what you've said here...isn't that good? You get a variety? A dungeon in space isn't bad--if they're not all like that.

 

[Supplement Four]

Also...

There's an interesting article in one of the later JTAS issues (I think after it went into Challenge, so that'd be issue 25+) that covered duels and nobles. If memory serves, it was an article about the Naval Academy? Or, maybe I'm thinking of two different articles?

Heck, I'll have to look it up.

But, it's in JTAS, if you have the reprints or the CD-ROM.

 

[Mithras]

I moved NOmads of the World Ocean to Moughas - higher TL more fitting Bellerophon