New GM Adventure Question

[Rauthik]

Okay... I've played Classic Traveller a couple of times years ago and just recently have gotten back into it. I'm running a game for my group (all but one had never played before but they love it.. how could they not? It's Traveller).
Here's my problem. The mission was to go down to this backwater planet where the situation is basically local warlords (think parts of Africa today). A corporation had found that there is a rare crystal in the area of this one warlord that they want for industrial reasons. The PCs were hired to go and spark a revolution so that the corp could go in and set up exclusive mining rights in the area. Of course it cannot be known that the revolution was started by anyone but the natives or else the corp would look real bad and face sanctions (because of this, the PCs were not even told the name of the corp and were told that they would even deny knowing the PCs if things went bad).
So, what do they do? They go down and work on a plan to contact natives they were told would be sympathetic/leaders of a revolution. And then one guy goes in to talk to a missionary there dressed in his fully Imperial Navy dress blues. Everyone else was low key and keeping under the radar. Sure enough the warlord's men come to collect this guy and give him an audience with the head honcho... he goes along with out violence (mostly because he's out numbered). The warlord asks him who sent him, leading him to say stupid things that provoke the guy and it gets violent.
Meanwhile, the others seem to have lost heads as well and using their higher tech, stage an assault on the warlord's palace to get their idiotic friend (they know this guy has a terrible habit of putting most of his rpg characters into situations that get them killed).
My question is this: Since they have clearly failed to keep things quiet... how do I let them know that they botched the mission completely? What would you do to either turn this around or end the adventure? Their plan of assault is well done and the dice rolls are aiding them exquisitely but even if they kill the warlord, the cat is out of the bag and they failed.

 

[Dragoner]

Sounds a lot like the dogs of war:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dogs_of_War_(novel)


Have them either fight to a ship and escape or get to a radio and call for extraction? Maybe do an "across the bright face" or another type of grueling run for the border type scenario.

 

[sabredog]

The corporation that hired them has its own agents in deep cover on the planet to keep and eye on the players to make sure they don't blow the company's cover, and were to help close any contract deals when the players set up the puppet leader after negotiations.

Now that the players have blown their cover and ratted out the corporation's involvement the company agents will need to switch to cleaner mode and contain the situation so the Imperials don't hear about it. The way that will happen is that the players, warlord they talked to, and everyone else involved will have to be killed. Quickly.

Set the players up with a meeting (probably as scheduled in advance or they can be contacted by one of the agents and told about it) with the company agents to arrange help getting off the planet. The agents can even offer to help get the first player out of the warlord's place.

You'll have to tip off the players to what will happen if they actually go to the meeting so they get that they are now between a rock and a hard place: they are trapped by the warlord and now between his forces and company's they are dead meat. They can't side with the company since it just wants to clean up and cover up the mess....and the warlord might be a tough sell unless they can provide info that will give leverage against the company.

They could maybe use a third option of finding a more (or more likely, equally and more popular) powerful warlord faction and offering to help him become the ruler if he helps get their friend out alive and protects them against the company agents. If they do this then they A) get their buddy out, hopefully alive, B) establish a better ruler in place that is popular enough with the people that the company dares not supplant him, C) protect themselves from the company agents because if they move against the players the ruler will have information to release to the Imperials about the company's dealings there.

This is kind of the Dogs of War scenario but it will provide the players with a dramatic rescue, a world they can go to once in a while as a friendly base, and maybe a useful nemesis for you to throw at them once in a while in the form of the company guy who may seek revenge if the opportunity arises. It sounds like it will all take some work for you to pull it off, and to a certain degree it means railroading the players, but they are new and this will give them plenty of excitement and action without killing them all off in their first adventure.

You can have a thrilling rescue, a fighting retreat to the starport (or wherever they left their ship (or the company agents left theirs :devil, some politics, and maybe a space battle if things go really south with everyone and they have to shoot it out with the company agents in space.

 

[Carlobrand]

PCs don't even know the name of the corp they're working for. Corp denies everything, destroys any records associating it with them, reassigns any staff who had direct contact with them to other posts, sends in new staff with the information that there's this merc group trying to pull a "Man who would be King" bit, orders the new staff to assist the locals in any way necessary, reports the PCs to Imperial Authorities. Only people on the ground now who know the corp is linked are a few deep agents in the corp's clandestine services branch - and their orders are quite clear.

Sabredog's script is excellent. Have a few things happen behind the PCs, on their backtrail, that they get wind of to clue them in: an attack on a place they were staying in the previous day, assassination of folk they'd had contact with. Make them feel like someone clever and nasty's on their heels and closing in, and make it clear that some of the operations are just too perfectly executed to be the locals.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Warlords may start working together against the outsiders.

Whoever did hire the PCs certainly won't be paying them or helping them.

 

[Dragoner]

Following the corporation theme, unknown by the players or anybody else, the corp. is fronted by a noble who is fact working for the Imperium, and this is how they want it done; intervention without actual intervening in the affairs of the world. After a particularly brutal slog/fight to the starport, they find that Imperial Marines have dropped/landed and that the players are either a) under arrest and to be sent to the Gaesh or some prison world or b) told to drop their weapons and board a shuttle for a subsidized liner, don't ever come back.

I thought of this surfing the links for the various mercenaries from the dogs of war wiki, it seems various countries did do this kind of stuff from the 50's through the 70's.

 

[Rauthik]

Thank you all for the replies and advice!

I knew the adventure idea wasn't original, but wow did I ever rip off Dogs of War. Looks like I have something to add to my reading list now too. Thanx!

As for the rest of the advice... I left off with them in mid assault on the Warlord's palace/compound. Like I said, they were taking the place by storm and doing well. The guy who was captured earlier, he could have talked his way out of things but instead he pushed a violent warlord (known for having death squads) to be...well, violent. So he got smacked up pretty bad and frankly, the kind of situation he's in makes it unlikely they will let him live. Especially now that there is an all out attack on. Also, the warlord has been in talks recently with other offworlders and has some technology that the PCs are unaware of. The planet is tech 5 but the PCs are tech 8 and some of this guy's new toys are on par with them. Lastly, I had planted some Aslan mercs in the town and they were in talks with the warlord. Looks like I have to have them now come into the fray (they were planted to be a possible ally of the PCs if they played their cards right). Should I make them now the deep agents of corp instead? The PCs were only on the ground for 24 hours before they went beserk. All the role playing that 4 of them did, undone by the blundering of 1 which caused them to go all cowboy. It's crazy too because the one guy who mucked everything up is the only one in the group who is still new to RPGs.
Again, thank you everyone for the responses and ideas. They are a great help.

 

[Dragoner]

You are welcome, glad to be of help, sounds like a fun adventure.

 

[sabredog]

The Aslan could be played as a "Plan B" by the corporation....or....they could be a rival company's effort that got there just behind the players.

If they are the rival company's team then they are trying to influence things in similar to the scenario I outlined: they were to contact another warlord who is more popular among the masses, but less powerful militarily - hence the Aslan as muscle. This warlord is better in the diplomatic way of conflict and can get a popular uprising going once he is able to show his face in public without having it shot off...so the rival company brought in Aslan mercs to act as his bodyguard and cadre for his personal native forces.

So this would give the players another out: they could offer to provide intel and help in overthrowing the current warlord in exchange for help with dealing with the company (and its agents) they were working for so they don't get killed off in the clean-up efforts. This gets them A) all the previously mentioned things plus, B) a useful corporate contact for future patronage, B) possibly useful contacts with some Aslan, C) maybe even some money out of the whole mess if they play it right and help the rival company stage a coup in their favor.

 

[sabredog]

I knew the adventure idea wasn't original, but wow did I ever rip off Dogs of War. Looks like I have something to add to my reading list now too. Thanx!

The "mercs just looking to get ahead end up betrayed by their employer and then fix things so they get revenge after good buddies die and nobody gets paid" plot is as old as mercenary armies and makes an excellent beginning (or side) adventure to introduce new players to Traveller. I can't tell you how many times I've run variations on that theme for over 35 years of running this game and in many others.

For further inspiration you can read up on Mike Hoare, who's career in South Africa as a mercenary in the 60's inspired the movie The Wild Geese. That movie can be run as a script for an adventure with no real modification needed.

Also, the book by David Drake (best known for the Hammer's Slammers books) called, The Forlorn Hope, is one of the best of the "mercs get betrayed and fight to freedom" type stories in science fiction. IMHO it makes an excellent mercenary adventure for Traveller. The merc company in it is more like what players would belong to, or form themselves, and isn't full of heavy blower tanks and elite troops nobody can defeat, so the plot is easier to integrate into a game.

 

[Dragoner]

I also have a feeling like going back to re-read Dogs of War, it's only been 20 years or so (or maybe 30 eeeeee), that and Day of the Jackal.

 

[Carlobrand]

... The guy who was captured earlier, he could have talked his way out of things but instead he pushed a violent warlord (known for having death squads) to be...well, violent. So he got smacked up pretty bad and frankly, the kind of situation he's in makes it unlikely they will let him live. Especially now that there is an all out attack on. ... All the role playing that 4 of them did, undone by the blundering of 1 which caused them to go all cowboy. It's crazy too because the one guy who mucked everything up is the only one in the group who is still new to RPGs.
Again, thank you everyone for the responses and ideas. They are a great help.

Dilemma - new to RPG, mucked it up, if you bail him out he may do it again, if you don't he may get burned on the genre.

 

[sabredog]

Dilemma - new to RPG, mucked it up, if you bail him out he may do it again, if you don't he may get burned on the genre.

Give him a hero's death. He can be tasked with protecting somebody important to keep alive during the adventure and let him catch a bullet (or laser). He saves the day, saves face, and since his death will not be in vain he shouldn't be all that put off the genre. Have an NPC or two die with him as he makes his stand and keeps the bad guys at bay while everyone else gets away - it will be even better and less likely to look like spite.

If he does get mad just tell him what I always tell my players: you can be a hero, but don't expect to be Superman, and don't expect the other guy won't sometimes be just as good or better than you sometimes - it's what makes the game challenging instead of some Monty Haul dungeon. A challenging game is a fun one, if there weren't challenges there'd be no need for heroes…and if the hero can't die then he isn't being a hero - he's just an action figure.

 

[snrdg082102]

Howdy Rauthik,

Nice scenario worthy of nasty and evil Game Masters everywhere.

A couple of questions not necessarily important to the original question:

1. Why is the Imperial Navy sending a missioanry to the backwater planet?

2. If the missionary is Imperial Navy why would the person report to the local warlord first and not nearest Imperium authority?

Back to the original question of
How do you let the party know they failed the mission, are in deep manure, and get out to expose for their own sakes the corporation that hired them to clear their names?

I think everybody else has just about covered this one, but here are my ideas.

The mission has failed when the party storms the local leader's compound to free their idiot.

Their local contacts begin to avoid the party and/or disappear between meetings.

The party gets wind that the starport authorities are looking for them.

Best bet to escape with their lives, in my opinion, is to contact Imperial authority and hope they can clear them.

 

[Rauthik]

Everybody has had such great input that I don't know where to start...
As for the reading suggestions... well, my list of books to read just keeps growing (and the fact that I'm a librarian means it's growing exponentially at this point!)

First, I want to clarify for Tom Rux: The PCs were hired to spark a revolution on this world (specifically just this area where the mine is). The missionary is a member of the imperium but not imperial navy... more like a peace corp thing with a little side dish of religion. It was the player that walked into the town in full Imperial Navy dress blues in order to "make an impression and get noticed". Well, it worked. The other players tried to warn him, but he had turned off his communicator before heading in to town (they were already in their observation positions around the town).

Now, here's a little twist to the whole messed up scenario.... I was talking to one of my friends last night and when I had said that they had basically failed their mission he responded with "well, no because once we fight our way out with Anthony's character, the locals will see that warlord can be fought. Then we can arm and train them and it'll still look like no offworlders were involved. Right now no one knows that it's off worlders attacking and after the war is over the natives can deny it and say whatever they want".
Now, he's got a little bit of a point. However, as the situation stands they are in full combat with the warlord's forces in the dead of night... a brazen attack on the warlord's compound. Also, there is a stone tower with 2 autocanno turrets on it coming to bear on the PC's air/raft. The cannons are way above the world's tech level, which is to show that the warlord is getting some offworld help.
I've decided that the Aslan (K'zinn as I refer to them, a throwback to the people who taught me traveller a long time ago) are working for another corpation and were in talking to this warlord to scope out his power. Meanwhile, they are planning to back another warlord's attack to take control of the area. When the PCs went to scope out the compound, before the bullets started flying, I had already decided that one of the Aslan was at the compound talking to the warlord. Original thought was to allow the captured PC to perhaps make a connection with the head of the mercs. However, he chose to piss off the warlord instead of smooth talk his way to saftey and then the cowboys came charging in. The other mercs are in town just up the road and do have an ATV at their disposal - with mounted machine gun.

This brings me to a question... how do I handle shooting at the air/raft? I have recently picked up a reprint of the striker rules and while I haven't had time to look at it in depth, I do not see stats for a standard air/raft. I do also have the mongoose traveller core book (of which we found the events part of character creation to be a nice addition) and that says to treat damage from weapons as normal and then subtract the armor rating (armor is listed as 8 for the air/raft). Then the excess gets applied to hull and structure fo the vehicle (a rating of 2 for each on the air/raft). This would mean that the autocannos will shred them to pieces in one shot. I almost feel it's unfair and mean of me to have the autocannons fire on them, but then they saw them when they flew by at high altitude and scoped the compound real quick. I'd hate to have a tpk in their first adventure, but then they are also a good group who would probably bounce back from that and just make new characters. Even the numbskull who mucked the whole thing up.

 

[Dragoner]

An air/raft being a flying jeep, auto-cannon versus air/raft will always go badly. I would say depends on how they are flying, fast and trying to avoid getting hit, give them a DM on 8+ of the gun operator's skill to avoid getting hit, then tell them to get to ground or die flying. If hit, the air/raft is damaged but they still get to ground, if you kill them all, end game pretty much...

Vehicle combat in CT I often use starship combat, then use the non-starship table for damage and adjust accordingly.

Cheers,
Robert

 

[snrdg082102]

First, I want to clarify for Tom Rux: The PCs were hired to spark a revolution on this world (specifically just this area where the mine is). The missionary is a member of the Imperium but not imperial navy... more like a peace corp thing with a little side dish of religion. It was the player that walked into the town in full Imperial Navy dress blues in order to "make an impression and get noticed". Well, it worked. The other players tried to warn him, but he had turned off his communicator before heading in to town (they were already in their observation positions around the town).

Thanks for the clarification that the party's bad luck magnet was the one that went into town in an Imperial Naval uniform.

I'm not very good with the combat mechanics, but there is a way that could save the party's collective bacon. The autocannon, if I've read the story right, is a higher tech level. The autocannon has been maintained but not up to the required standards which allows for a malfunction jamming the gun, hopefully, long enough for the party to get out of the kill zone.

If I recall Aslan have an honor system and probably wouldn't help a rival party unless there was a connection to the particular Aslan clan.

You are really an evil Game Master, to bad I'm not in the same neighborhood that I could be a player. Of course most my characters fall into the Star Trek Red Shirt category

 

[Rauthik]

He's more of a bad luck creator than magnet... oh well.

The jamming autocannons might work, maybe make them work like the light machine guns firing more than 2 bursts a round. On one hand I always like my players to succeed and have a great time (I'm not a "it's me against the players" type of GM) but on the ohter hand I want to challenge them and not let them walk through things and get away with the impossible. Obviously there should be consequences to poor decisions.

I'm thinking that if the head of the Alsan mercs is at the base, the rest of his group will come running when they heard the first shots (or he could have contacted them) and they'll bust on to the scene to grab their commander out of danger. Knowing my group though, I can totally see them firing on the Aslan ATV first and asking questions later. The know the Aslan are tough customers and well armed (one character had a brief chat with one of them and noticed some of the gear they were packing). I wouldn't put it past them to open fire at first sight of the Aslan coming. A death warrant for sure, but interesting none the less.

 

[Dragoner]

I would have the pc's roll int or lower to have some prior knowledge such as "these Aslan are tough customers" or something to give them a save against getting killed by the Aslan.

Also losing the air/raft to ground fire and letting them be on foot, seems to punish them some but not too much like dying.

 

[snrdg082102]

I was being nice.

He's more of a bad luck creator than magnet... oh well.

The jamming autocannons might work, maybe make them work like the light machine guns firing more than 2 bursts a round. On one hand I always like my players to succeed and have a great time (I'm not a "it's me against the players" type of GM) but on the ohter hand I want to challenge them and not let them walk through things and get away with the impossible. Obviously there should be consequences to poor decisions.

I'm thinking that if the head of the Alsan mercs is at the base, the rest of his group will come running when they heard the first shots (or he could have contacted them) and they'll bust on to the scene to grab their commander out of danger. Knowing my group though, I can totally see them firing on the Aslan ATV first and asking questions later. The know the Aslan are tough customers and well armed (one character had a brief chat with one of them and noticed some of the gear they were packing). I wouldn't put it past them to open fire at first sight of the Aslan coming. A death warrant for sure, but interesting none the less.