Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
There's an article in JTAS 3 that has always intrigued me: Mining the Asteroids by Marc Miller.
If you've never read it, it's really a flow chart for an adventure! You know how Marc will write adventures sometimes that have a large dicing component to them, based on character skills? Like Exit Visa, in TTB, or Zilan Wine, in TTA, or even Stranded on Arden that Marc wrote for Traveller published by Starquest Games. Mining The Asteroids is akin to these adventures, displayed in a flow chart style.
What I think would be interesting would be to sit down and flesh out some details on this adventure. Come up with some NPCs. Set it somewhere--a belt in a system somewhere. Design or use a ship or two.
I'd set the player down at the table, and on gaming night one, we'd roll up characters--but I'd use the character generation system like a short hand way of adventuring.
"OK, you were born on Aramis...." I'd describe Arams, how it's the subsector Captial....how it has the one city of Leedor...how the characters are subjects of the Marquis...speak about the Naval and Scout bases...and the busy Class A starport.
I'd tell the players how they've never been off-world--how they've never breathed real air or even been "outside" on a world with a Standard Atmosphere before.
The characters' background, including their families, are up to the players to generate. They can be orphans, wards of the fief, or the characters can have large families on Aramis. It's up to them.
I'd have every player roll stats and then say, "OK. You're 18 years old. What do you want to do?"
Then, I'd go through the character generation process.
I'd follow chargen by the book, too. They get one chance at a LBB1 career, and if they fail enlistment, then they have to submit to the draft. I'd probably allow Supp4 careers, too.
But...since what I have in mind is running the Mining adventure, I may subtly try to nudge the players away from Marine or Army careers, instead favoring the Merchants, Scouts, Navy, or even the Others. I'd figure some way to make Belters, from Supp 4, shine too (one way might be to suggest and work this into a PC's background).
I'd also use the hard survival rule, which both gives players a way to get out of playing a character that they do not like and gives me, the Ref, some ready-to-go NPCs.
When done with chargen--basically the rolling up of a backstory for the characters--I'd describe how they were mustered out on Aramis, their homeworld. Some will have still never left the world, but those who where in the Scouts or Navy and the like might have vast experience with other worlds in the area.
"So...what do you want to do?"
That's what I'd ask next. We'd have already figured out who knows who and how. Maybe all the PCs know each other at this point. Maybe none of them know of the others. And, maybe it's a mix. Whatever fits the story that we've created with chargen.
I'd have a pull planted somewhere around here--something to get the PCs interested in asteroid mining. Maybe it's a link to some PC's background and/or family. Maybe it's a news story they see in the starport, when they're deciding what to do. Maybe it's a rumor they hear from an old NPC bartender when carousing in a starport bar.
Maybe one of the PCs mustered out with a ship. If this is so, he'll need to take delivery--and that would be an opportune time to plant the idea that the PCs could strike it rich in asteroid mining.
If the players go off in a direction other than that of the Asteroid Mining Adventure, then I'll be prepared for that with a contingency encounter--something that will be fun and eat up game time so that I can end the night and develop something appropriate for the next game.
Once I find a good hook, though, that the players will bite, we're off to the races with the Mining adventure.
I'd run the Mining Adventure almost as it is presented, except that I will drop into regular roleplaying scenes when appropriate. I might roll over several weeks, out prospecting in the belt, then pop into an encounter...
"What is this, week three that you've been out here in Vacc Suits looking over the large pieces or rock? Sweat runs down the side of your cheek, and you adjust your suit's humidifier using the panel on your left arm. Just then, something catches your eye..."
After a neat little encounter designed to give the players a feel for prospecting, I'd go back to the dicing, in and out of roleplaying scenes (like the Danger box--definitely roleplay that and get specific about what the danger is).
At the end of this, the players will either have found a strike or not. If they do, there's potential for them to get exceptionally rich--like over a Cr Million each.
If this is the case, the next step will be to get the PCs to pool their resources and buy a ship--or put down a downpayment for a ship. We can do a custom vessel, using Book 2 rules, or they can buy a standard design--even a used ship.
Which will take us into the regular game--having played out years of personal background through the chargen rules and weeks to years prospecting with the other PC in the Aramis belt.
If the characters end the Mining adventure broke, well, that's OK too. They'll have a strong background for their characters and how they know each other. Maybe they can't make the payments on the ship that they were using for the prospecting, and they've got to skip the system. Maybe their ship is repo-ed. Hell, maybe the law is after them.
In which case, we play the game with the players not having a ship. Use up those travel vouchers. And see how the players will eventually get a ship--or what they do.
I think this would be a lot of fun.
Adventure - making it up as we go.
If you've never read it, it's really a flow chart for an adventure! You know how Marc will write adventures sometimes that have a large dicing component to them, based on character skills? Like Exit Visa, in TTB, or Zilan Wine, in TTA, or even Stranded on Arden that Marc wrote for Traveller published by Starquest Games. Mining The Asteroids is akin to these adventures, displayed in a flow chart style.
What I think would be interesting would be to sit down and flesh out some details on this adventure. Come up with some NPCs. Set it somewhere--a belt in a system somewhere. Design or use a ship or two.
I'd set the player down at the table, and on gaming night one, we'd roll up characters--but I'd use the character generation system like a short hand way of adventuring.
"OK, you were born on Aramis...." I'd describe Arams, how it's the subsector Captial....how it has the one city of Leedor...how the characters are subjects of the Marquis...speak about the Naval and Scout bases...and the busy Class A starport.
I'd tell the players how they've never been off-world--how they've never breathed real air or even been "outside" on a world with a Standard Atmosphere before.
The characters' background, including their families, are up to the players to generate. They can be orphans, wards of the fief, or the characters can have large families on Aramis. It's up to them.
I'd have every player roll stats and then say, "OK. You're 18 years old. What do you want to do?"
Then, I'd go through the character generation process.
I'd follow chargen by the book, too. They get one chance at a LBB1 career, and if they fail enlistment, then they have to submit to the draft. I'd probably allow Supp4 careers, too.
But...since what I have in mind is running the Mining adventure, I may subtly try to nudge the players away from Marine or Army careers, instead favoring the Merchants, Scouts, Navy, or even the Others. I'd figure some way to make Belters, from Supp 4, shine too (one way might be to suggest and work this into a PC's background).
I'd also use the hard survival rule, which both gives players a way to get out of playing a character that they do not like and gives me, the Ref, some ready-to-go NPCs.
When done with chargen--basically the rolling up of a backstory for the characters--I'd describe how they were mustered out on Aramis, their homeworld. Some will have still never left the world, but those who where in the Scouts or Navy and the like might have vast experience with other worlds in the area.
"So...what do you want to do?"
That's what I'd ask next. We'd have already figured out who knows who and how. Maybe all the PCs know each other at this point. Maybe none of them know of the others. And, maybe it's a mix. Whatever fits the story that we've created with chargen.
I'd have a pull planted somewhere around here--something to get the PCs interested in asteroid mining. Maybe it's a link to some PC's background and/or family. Maybe it's a news story they see in the starport, when they're deciding what to do. Maybe it's a rumor they hear from an old NPC bartender when carousing in a starport bar.
Maybe one of the PCs mustered out with a ship. If this is so, he'll need to take delivery--and that would be an opportune time to plant the idea that the PCs could strike it rich in asteroid mining.
If the players go off in a direction other than that of the Asteroid Mining Adventure, then I'll be prepared for that with a contingency encounter--something that will be fun and eat up game time so that I can end the night and develop something appropriate for the next game.
Once I find a good hook, though, that the players will bite, we're off to the races with the Mining adventure.
I'd run the Mining Adventure almost as it is presented, except that I will drop into regular roleplaying scenes when appropriate. I might roll over several weeks, out prospecting in the belt, then pop into an encounter...
"What is this, week three that you've been out here in Vacc Suits looking over the large pieces or rock? Sweat runs down the side of your cheek, and you adjust your suit's humidifier using the panel on your left arm. Just then, something catches your eye..."
After a neat little encounter designed to give the players a feel for prospecting, I'd go back to the dicing, in and out of roleplaying scenes (like the Danger box--definitely roleplay that and get specific about what the danger is).
At the end of this, the players will either have found a strike or not. If they do, there's potential for them to get exceptionally rich--like over a Cr Million each.
If this is the case, the next step will be to get the PCs to pool their resources and buy a ship--or put down a downpayment for a ship. We can do a custom vessel, using Book 2 rules, or they can buy a standard design--even a used ship.
Which will take us into the regular game--having played out years of personal background through the chargen rules and weeks to years prospecting with the other PC in the Aramis belt.
If the characters end the Mining adventure broke, well, that's OK too. They'll have a strong background for their characters and how they know each other. Maybe they can't make the payments on the ship that they were using for the prospecting, and they've got to skip the system. Maybe their ship is repo-ed. Hell, maybe the law is after them.
In which case, we play the game with the players not having a ship. Use up those travel vouchers. And see how the players will eventually get a ship--or what they do.
I think this would be a lot of fun.
Adventure - making it up as we go.
