New Campaign Ideas

[AlHazred]

So, due to my regular weekend campaign becoming irregular for Real Life reasons, I've started up a Tuesday evening game over Discord for that group. I call it "One Damn Thing After Another." I felt particularly inspired by Seth Skorkowski's videos, and plan the following track:

1. Flatlined: Campaign starter scenario. I've moved it to Ator (Spinward Marches 0729) in Darrian subsector, just outside of Darrian space and outside of the Imperium proper.
2. Death Station: It will turn out the Bwap Dalglee Hahsh was behind the skilljacking of the PCs. He won't have much in the way of lootable resources (I mean, Ator is a backwater's backwater of a planet), but the PCs' memories will return enough to tell them they were kidnapped on the way to Flammarion (Spinward Marches 0930), and there will be resources available for them to score passages there (it's jump-2 away).
3. High and Dry: Anders Casarii has a job for this group of Travellers, and for it they'll need a scout ship. He hasn't got any available, except for one on Walston; the Detached Duty office recently learned the previous crew is in prison. The PCs will have to go to Walston to retrieve it. He supplies them some repair parts to get it spaceworthy, but the records indicate it's long overdue for maintenance. Once they retrieve it, they need to bring it back to Flammarion for inspection and repair.
4. Search and Rescue: The ship turns out to be in incredibly poor repair. It will be a few months before the ship is regulation again (the Scout shipyard is extremely busy, and many ships have higher priority). He has a short-term (six month) contract for them to fill out the Search & Rescue team at Gorram (Spinward Marches 2322) in Lunion subsector.

The upshot of all of this is that Anders Casarii has a mission for the PCs, and this is all just for the setup to the mission. I'm currently cogitating several different missions as possibilities, but my specialty is Classic Traveller material; the Mongoose 2E Traveller adventures were all recent purchases for me. I would appreciate it if people could chime in to suggest adventures to use as the mission Anders Casarii ultimately needs the PCs to go on. They're the typical eclectic bunch: an ex-Scout, ex-Navy, Doctor, Scientist, etc.

It may seem like the campaign involves a lot of messing around with the PCs. That's correct. The name is, "One Damn Thing After Another," after all!

 

[AlHazred]

I'm not terribly happy with the detour to Gorram. It's only 14 parsecs from Flammarion, which is 10 jump-2 hops, but that's still 10 weeks one way which seems a lot for a detour.

I'm also considering using something slightly beefier for the HighnDry, with jump-2 capability—my rationale of "that's the only ship available" seems a little flimsy given the ubiquity of Scout/Couriers in the setting.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Since you're in the neighborhood ...

You could send the PCs to 567-908/District 268 ... to find ... pretty rocks .
Specifically ... Denuli Crystals.

Alternatively, if the PCs are "too hard up for cash to pay for Stuffs™" you could have a patron offer them a contract ... supporting a safari expedition to Debarre/Darrian that's going to be going HUNTING. Referee's option as to how "legal" (and above board) this safari ought to be. Would certainly get your crew of PCs out of their starship for a bit (if that's a good thing).

The asteroid belts at Bowman/District 268 and Caliburn/District 268 would be "en route" to the Lunion subsector.
Be interesting if the PCs had a (broken down) Type-S that they're dragging away from Flammarion to the Lunion subsector, so as to get repairs/maintenance at a scout base that isn't as backed up as Flammarion is (Search and Rescue hook above) and Caladbolg is the "best option" if jumping to trailing. The PCs get tasked with carrying some communications (that need to be delivered "by hand" rather than by XBoat) and they need to stop at Bowman first before moving on to Caladbolg. However, at Bowman, someone hears a rumor about something (Referee's discretion on what) that might have been found in the Caliburn system.

my rationale of "that's the only ship available" seems a little flimsy given the ubiquity of Scout/Couriers in the setting.

The old trope of "we're the only ship in the quadrant" works for original series Star Trek ... but not so much for Traveller.

 

[AlHazred]

The asteroid belts at Bowman/District 268 and Caliburn/District 268 would be "en route" to the Lunion subsector.

I understand Mongoose has done some Bowman Belt adventures. Are they good?

 

[Spinward Flow]

I understand Mongoose has done some Bowman Belt adventures. Are they good?

I would not be a good source for that information. I have no Mongoose materials.

 

[AlHazred]

I would not be a good source for that information. I have no Mongoose materials.

I'd love if someone familiar with it can chime in. Perhaps @MongooseMatt ?

 

[AlHazred]

For visual references for this campaign, I'm going with magmagmag here, and Fabien Daubet (/u/yetanotherpenguin on Reddit). That's my image of classic Traveller in two flavors of graphics.

 

[Daidoji Dave]

...Anders Casarii has a mission for the PCs, and this is all just for the setup to the mission. ... my specialty is Classic Traveller material ...

I don't know the whole Classic catalog, but I had success running Divine Intervention in Mongoose 1e once. It's a good solid heist adventure once you're into it.

The premise feels a little thin to me (is a corrupt theocrat who lives in a floating palace powered by offworld tech really going to fall for a holographic projector?), but is easily changed to planting or picking up a bug, or even a bomb.

I also don't know Anders Casarii so I don't know what his connection would be beyond fixer/Mr. Johnson, but again, I liked the adventure.

 

[AlHazred]

I don't know the whole Classic catalog, but I had success running Divine Intervention in Mongoose 1e once. It's a good solid heist adventure once you're into it.

I've thought of it. I'm not sure the TTC would be willing to mess with the Scout Service, but they might.

I also don't know Anders Casarii so I don't know what his connection would be beyond fixer/Mr. Johnson, but again, I liked the adventure.

He's the Scout contact Mr. Johnson for the adventure, but can be substituted for Scout Administrators in other scenarios if need be.

 

[TamsinP]

I'd love if someone familiar with it can chime in. Perhaps @MongooseMatt ?

There is this from MgT2e: https://www.mongoosepublishing.com/products/spinward-marches-1-the-bowman-arm-ebook

I don't have it, so have no idea what it's like. The reviews/discussions on DTRPG might help:

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[AlHazred]

Last night before falling asleep, it occurred to me the best structure is, Anders needs the PCs to fly somewhere in the HighnDry which is why he needs them to get it. It would make sense if it's been on the route before, and he needs his intelligence assets to "fly under the radar," so to speak. So, that seems to me like he has a Sword Worlds mission in mind. It's right there, the HighnDry probably did a bunch of stuff there, it won't raise any eyebrows in the runup to the Fifth Frontier War if it's flying in the Sword Worlds again, even if it has a new crew -- "That last crew was pretty flaky, not surprised they ended up in jail. No honor among them."

After the mission, I'm considering having Anders offer them a Donosev Survey Scout on Detached Duty for their own use. Something with a little more oomph.

 

[Spinward Flow]

After the mission, I'm considering having Anders offer them a Donosev Survey Scout on Detached Duty for their own use. Something with a little more oomph.

I'm not sure that's a "reasonable expectation" type of thing.
There are certain ... logistical problems ... associated with that plan.

First and foremost is that the Donosev class was specified in LBB S9 as being TL=15 ... which is "fine" when you've got the backing of an interstellar concern (such as the IISS) for a starship in active service, but there are going to be problems once the starship becomes surplus and handed over to private concerns. Even on Detached Duty, the maximalist high tech (see: TL=15) is going to be "hard to maintain" out in the field for a private party.

Even if you go the extra step of saying "just return to any scout base for free parts, spares, maintenance and overhauls, because you're on Detached Duty" (just like you can with Type-S Scout/Couriers) ... you're still going to run into the problem of the Donosev class being TL=15 and the logistics tail needed for the manufacturing and expertise involved is not going to be ... ubiquitous ... like the TL=9-10 needed for Scout/Couriers and XBoats/Tenders. Is EVERY scout base on the map going to have TL=15 Donosev parts and spares just lying around occupying warehouse volume on the off chance that a party of Travellers on Detached Duty with a Donosev MIGHT show up someday, unannounced?

My guess would be: NO.
And even more to the point, even if there ARE Donosev parts and spares pre-positioned at a scout base, they're going to be located there to support an ACTIVE duty mission that has been scheduled in advance ... rather than as a remote chance contingency plan that a party of PCs on Detached Duty might show up unexpectedly and be in need of logistical servicing.

Part of the reason why the whole Detached Duty thing works as well as it does with Scout/Couriers is that the Type-S is CHEAP and ubiquitous. There's probably THOUSANDS of them (if not tens of thousands!) per sector, so the Type-S is basically "everywhere" while also being "low tech" enough to be supported (and supportable) using supply chains back to the nearest TL=9+ star system. This means that it's operationally better to just have "stuff" on hand for Type-S support, no extensive pre-planning/pre-positioning necessary. Just keep the stockpiles topped up to reasonable quantities on hand and order more as they get depleted.

You can't do that with the Donosev, because the class is EXPENSIVE and bleeding edge high tech for the Third Imperium @ TL=15.

Consider that in the region of space you're talking about (Darrian, Five Sisters, Sword Worlds, District 268 subsectors) the closest TL=15 world is Glisten/Glisten ... ~1.5 subsectors distant.



So while it SOUNDS like an upgrade from a Scout/Courier ... it actually wouldn't be, once you start factoring in the fact that the Donosev class would have extremely limited opportunities to "pay for itself" (maintenance, upkeep, overhead expenses, etc.) in private hands, due to a lack of "revenue tonnage" that can be used to generate cash to sustain operations. Add on top the complication of trying to keep a surplus ship of the class maintained (logistics tail needs to tie back to TL=15 somehow) and that if anything breaks, it's going to be wicked expensive to get it fixed ... the Donosev feels more like a "trap" than a "reward" in terms of what you can DO with it (and what it's going to cost you).

Even with a lot of the day to day concerns getting hand waved away as being "free" because of Detached Duty and getting free fuel and maintenance from scout bases ... it's still going to be hard to justify trying to operate a Donosev class as a "private tramp" starship to go and have adventures with.

My personal sense is that a Donosev class ship is the "wrong type of upgrade" from a Scout/Courier for a party of adventuring Travellers.
Why?
Too many "strings" attached to it ... unlike with a Type-S Scout/Courier.

 

[McPerth]

After the mission, I'm considering having Anders offer them a Donosev Survey Scout on Detached Duty for their own use. Something with a little more oomph.

Neither I would think on a Donosev as a good ship for a player's team, but for different reasons than Spinward Flow.

My main issue is the crew size. Unless your group is larger tahn the ones I use to play with, a 10 person crew must rely on NPCs, and while one or two may be good (I use to favor having one in my playing teams, so that I can give suggestions, though they aren't always good ones), for the typical 3-6 players team the crew is too large, IMHO (YMMV).

If you want to give them a better ship (and you're using MgT1), I can offer you my own (already published here) designs IISS Intelligence Courrier or Mediation Ship. The former one is for small teams (up to 6, if they don't mind to be a little cramped) and J4, but is TL 15 (with the logistic problems Spinward Flow talks about, though I guess they are more likely to have spares in IISS bases), while de latter one has larger crew (though as 6 are stewards, it could go with only 4 person crew, if you don't mind leaving weaponry to computer) and J3. While assumed TL 15 (as it is an IISS ship) in fact it could be quite lower (I guess TL 12 could build it), and so I guess it would have less logistical problems... No internal maps for them, though...

And excuse me for the shameless propaganda of my own designs ...

 

[AlHazred]

I'm not sure that's a "reasonable expectation" type of thing.
There are certain ... logistical problems ... associated with that plan.

So while it SOUNDS like an upgrade from a Scout/Courier ... it actually wouldn't be, once you start factoring in the fact that the Donosev class would have extremely limited opportunities to "pay for itself" (maintenance, upkeep, overhead expenses, etc.) in private hands, due to a lack of "revenue tonnage" that can be used to generate cash to sustain operations. Add on top the complication of trying to keep a surplus ship of the class maintained (logistics tail needs to tie back to TL=15 somehow) and that if anything breaks, it's going to be wicked expensive to get it fixed ... the Donosev feels more like a "trap" than a "reward" in terms of what you can DO with it (and what it's going to cost you).

Neither I would think on a Donosev as a good ship for a player's team, but for different reasons than Spinward Flow.

My main issue is the crew size.

Yes. I'm aware of all of that.

I'm not doing them a favor. I'm giving them yet another thing that will give them more problems than it solves. The name of the game is, "One Damn Thing After Another," after all!

The name vessel for the class, the Donosev itself, was constructed in the late 900s. I'd assume it was Laid down in 993 (I'm using 150-993 IMTU), so it was ready for use in 995 when the Second Survey started. That makes the ship almost 110 years old in 1100 when my campaign starts. That's enough time for the Scout Service to have amortized the >MCr200 cost, making the ship ripe for Detached Duty.

NO ex-Scout will want this ship. They know all of the stuff you said above. So, it's probably sitting in the Scout Base, taking up docking space in orbit, mothballed. Embarrassing, even, since it's got some fame going on.

Anders will be ECSTATIC to get this thing out of his hair...

I know my players. They'll look at the cargo space (15 tons) and frown, but then look at the jump-3, 2G performance and be very, very tempted. And that gives me the opportunity to give it interesting Ship Quirks!

 

[Spinward Flow]

I'm not doing them a favor. I'm giving them yet another thing that will give them more problems than it solves.

There are ... limits ... to what Players will put up with, when the Referee is deliberately setting them up for failure.
That's what this sounds like to me ... the Referee is deliberately setting up the Players for failure.

I know my players. They'll look at the cargo space (15 tons) and frown, but then look at the jump-3, 2G performance and be very, very tempted. And that gives me the opportunity to give it interesting Ship Quirks!

And excuse me for the shameless propaganda of my own designs ...

Speaking of shameless propaganda of own designs ... I've got a J3/3G/PP3 400 ton TL=10 design that I've been working on for the past year (or so, by now) which is approximately the same price as a Donosev (slightly more, but not by much) that is more of a Modular Merchant type of ship which would prove far more useful to a campaign of Travellers. I haven't finalized everything for posting yet (I keep coming up with new wrinkles on details of getting distracted by other projects and pursuits) but it's MOSTLY finished.

Thing is, I'm thinking of changing one of the fundamental building blocks of the design (16 ton modules instead of 20 ton modules) in order to make the whole thing "backwards compatible" with a TL=9 precursor design that has lower performance (because, TL=9 instead of TL=10) but which retains the core features and business model context for the later TL=10+ upgrade path.

 

[Bartleby]

There are ... limits ... to what Players will put up with, when the Referee is deliberately setting them up for failure.
That's what this sounds like to me ... the Referee is deliberately setting up the Players for failure.

Hey don't be so quick to judge. What happens between a referee and the players behind closed doors is nobody's business. As long as they are all consenting adults. Who knows what these players are into.

 

[mike wightman]

They can get more cargo onboard thanks to the cutter modules, and will they really need all three air/rafts...

 

[AlHazred]

There are ... limits ... to what Players will put up with, when the Referee is deliberately setting them up for failure.
That's what this sounds like to me ... the Referee is deliberately setting up the Players for failure.

I don't set my guys up for failure, just like I don't set them up for success. They have seen, plenty of times, when their carefully laid plans have led to remarkably easy "boss fights," or even no boss fight at all -- if you've set your opponent up so he will lose and he's smart enough to see that, he'll probably just negotiate to avoid paying more than he's willing to lose.

They've also seen where something I mentioned a few times that they ignored has come back to bite them in the ass.

I've often said, I run consequences. Both for the players, based on their actions and inactions, and for the NPCs, based on the players actions and inactions. I try very hard to be fair. But this campaign is the idea of, you're starting out very much "behind the eight ball" -- how will you claw your way back? Will you decide the cost of revenge is too high, when there is the chance for more profit if you play along with your enemy's scheme?

I'm basically running a bunch of scenarios where the game starts with the players already having been done dirty by the NPCs. Flatlined, Death Station, eventually Murder on Arcturus Station... I'm not going to use it, but Expedition to Zhodane basically encourages the DM to enslave the PCs to a mining corporation at the beginning. Some of the scenario hooks for Prison Planet involve getting the PCs convicted of crimes. Traveller has a long history of exactly the sorts of shenanigans I plan!

 

[AlHazred]

I should note, it's going to be an option, not a requirement. I'll be making sure they're aware of the nature of Detached Duty ships -- during wartime, they're called back into service. Since the players (but not their characters) know about the Fifth Frontier War (potentially) coming up, they'll know they have a very good chance of being roped into Wartime shenanigans as well.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Will you decide the cost of revenge is too high, when there is the chance for more profit if you play along with your enemy's scheme?

I'm including this clip as a point of reference ... nothing more.