Panic! at the Jump Point

[Adam Dray]

So, I'm attending TRAVELLERcon/USA this October, and I've volunteered to run an event. Usually, with small game conventions, you get to propose events till almost the last minute, and that's fine. This con needed event registration six months in advance.

Problem is, when I registered, I thought I'd be running Traveller at home a whole lot, but that hasn't come together. At this point, I have played CT once at a convention, read a bunch of Traveller books, thought a lot about it, and have run it exactly ZERO times.

I'm imagining facing a table full of Traveller grognards and not being able to provide them with a solid four hours of entertainment. I'm dreading Doing It Wrong.

The event I agreed to run is not even OTU. It's my Nova Roma thing that's only partially developed. That's less of a problem than my lack of experience running the game, I feel. I have thirty-some years of general GMing experience at home and at cons, so I'm not worried about the basics. I'm worried about Traveller.

So I'm trying to get a few solid sessions under my belt before October and maybe a good playtest of the scenario I want to run at the con. I'll be running Mongoose Traveller out of the core book and that's it, I think. Pregens. A pretty firm, focused (but not railroady) scenario.

Any advice?

 

[Adam Dray]

Here's scenario description:

In this Alternate Traveller Universe, the UN moved its headquarters to Rome and adopted old Roman ranks and ideas about colonization. Five Legionaries have been dispatched to explore a very distant system and hold it under New Rome's control until a governor is assigned. Characters provided.

I think I can avoid most of the starship rules for this, keep it focused on guns and diplomacy and intrigue. That helps.

 

[aramis]

Sounds workable, but be aware - a significant number of Traveller grogs equate "Traveller=OTU" not "Traveller=Rules"...

 

[Adam Dray]

Sounds workable, but be aware - a significant number of Traveller grogs equate "Traveller=OTU" not "Traveller=Rules"...

Hopefully me mentioning ATU in the event write-up will warn players sufficiently if they want OTU. Worst case is people showing up and being mad. Second worst case is I prep this and no one shows up. I can live with the latter.

 

[aramis]

Hopefully me mentioning ATU in the event write-up will warn players sufficiently if they want OTU.

It should.

 

[Orr]

Wish I was attending so I could play.

Will you be sharing the scenario here after the convention?

 

[Adam Dray]

I can do that. Maybe even before, to make it better.

 

[flykiller]

I'm imagining facing a table full of Traveller grognards and not being able to provide them with a solid four hours of entertainment. I'm dreading Doing It Wrong.

yer already doing it wrong. it's not your job to entertain them (unless that is your natural gift), you merely set the adventure stage and allow them to entertain themselves.

check out my referee advice link in my signature below.

 

[Frankymole]

Gorgnards do indeed entertain themselves. It is greenhorns who are challenging!

 

[Adam Dray]

Convention play is a little different than standard play, I think. There's more expectation that the GM has prepared sufficiently and brought something interesting to the table. Sure, ultimate success of any game is shared among all the players and the GM, but the GM always plays some part in that. Moreso in a convention game.

For starters, I'm providing pre-gens and if they suck, players won't enjoy the game as much as if the characters really move people.

This isn't a sandbox game, either. It's a focused scenario. "Here's a problem. Here are your constraints. What do you do about it?" I need to design interesting constraints and interesting problems, or the game will suffer.

My biggest worry is that I just don't have enough (okay, any) experience running Traveller, so I will Get It Wrong. My ego can take correction; that isn't the issue. I'm sure Grognards can help me through a sticky wicket, if it comes to that.

My ATU probably insulates me somewhat from a flurry of "it's not done this way in this universe" setting corrections. I mean, my ships use a "hackdrive" (a lot like stutterwarp) and "sun gates" (a lot like Sundiver) rather than the typical momentum-preserved sublight drive and distant outer-system jump distances.

Best thing I can do is run a game or two at home before the con.

 

[flykiller]

I'm providing pre-gens and if they suck, players won't enjoy the game

ok, here's what you do. each pre-gen character should have:

1) the basic mandatory skills required for the position
2) a choice between several other skills likely to be needed
3) "freebie" skill slots, whatever the player wants

for example:

pilot:
mandatory: pilot 2, navigation 1
choose two: computer 1, communications 1, engineering 1
optional: two level 1 skills or one level 2 skill, your choice

deckhand:
mandatory: gunnery 1, airraft 2
choose one: gunnery 2, ground vehicle 2
optional: two level 1 skills or one level 2 skill, your choice

this lets you cover what the adventure needs, and allows the players some control over what they play.

 

[Adam Dray]

Sure, I could do that. That isn't what I mean by making sure the characters don't suck though. I'm talking more about who the characters are in terms of the scenario.

This is about a bunch of green cadets being given a mission over their paygrade: basically going to a new, unexplored world and bringing it under the control of New Rome with no more than one (admittedly kick-ass) starship and a thousand New Roman Legionaries. To make things interesting, I'm thinking that their starship suffers serious problems during the jump and they have to crash-land.

 

[Spinward Scout]

This is about a bunch of green cadets being given a mission over their paygrade

So the characters already do suck, in a sense. You just have to make sure they have the minimum skills necessary to complete the game. Or J-o-T. It's up to the players to use those skills.

 

[flykiller]

So the characters already do suck

are you kidding? it sounds great! colonel argle-bargle is disgraced at court, this mission is his last chance to redeem himself. but he dies in the crash, leaving captain (O3) pc and his band of pc lieutenants in charge of a thousand enlisted men! maybe ... maybe they get dropped between two major civilizations about to go to war! they fight both! or get to negotiate peace! or get to pick sides! secret negotiations! romance and intrigue! ninja attacks! commando actions! secret weapons! open warfare! mutiny in the ranks!

geez, I wanna play. where is this convention?

It's up to the players to use those skills.

always is.

 

[Frankymole]

Yes, ninja-style raids, infiltration and secret negotiations in a war zone can be fun. I was just reading the last link on this page, a letter which probably should've been destroyed about one man's experiences of leading an intelligence team in WWII China, and some of the stuff - the drowning in a cess pit could be a nice night-time encounter hazard!

 

[Patron Zero]

Not generally required of a GM-referee but consider taking 'generic' paper stand-up figures if miniatures might enhance the game.

Also if using any deckplans in play, having such laminated will prevent any possible food-beverage damage.

 

[Garyius2003]

Are you using the enlisted as Pournell did in the Prince of Mercenaries? Robot like in effect cardboard forces guided by a few senior NCOs (Centurions in this case)? If so, you need details for the two cohort leaders and the other Centurions.

By Cadets, I assume these are new Military Tribunes who expected to be doing Jr staff roles, and deaths left them in charge.

In person testing is better, but given how little in person testing you will have, I suggest setting up a thread here for pregens, maps, scenarios, the PC's SNCOs, your background handouts, and so forth, so we can help, and you can get more out of the one or two test runs.

 

[flykiller]

a bit late, but any report on how the game went?