I recently inherited a bunch of old Judges Guild stuff, including Simba Safari. (I agree with the general assessment that JG stuff is "somewhat variable" in quality, btw.)
I'm working up SS for my players (in this case, my wife and two pre-teen kids) since it has what seems like a lot of potential even though it's maddeningly short on some details. I was looking for a few pointers from anyone familiar with the adventure, or "wilderness safari" adventures in general.
The world maps they give don't have a scale (km/hex), but it seems like I can use the UWP to find the diameter and multiply by PI to get the circumference, then divide by the number of hexes across the map's equator. Right?
It seems the ship's launch can be used to get the hunting party pretty much anywhere on the planet in a short period of time, but it can't carry the air/raft, so it makes sense to use the safari ship to land near where you want to hunt, after (possibly?) checking in at the starport.
So given that the crew (NPCs in my case) is "hosting" this expedition, how should they proceed? Here's what I'm thinking:
1 - Ship checks in at the starport, if any. Refuel and re-provision (if possible)
2 - Meanwhile, the hunting party sets out in the launch, which becomes a temporary base of action while waiting for the ship to be ready. (The ship will arrive after a few days, and will be available for holding specimens.)
3 - Each hex is some hundreds of kilometers across, so players will choose what type of terrain they wish to hunt in, and will land in an appropriate hex.
4 - I have no idea how often it's useful to roll for events. Each 1/2 day? Any less frequently might bore my players; any more frequently risks becoming too action-rich. On average, 7+ on 2D6 will cause some sort of encounter (animal or environmental). Each planet could have 1-3 weeks worth of hunting. Should I have a limit to events per hex? As in, "after X events, the hex is tapped out"?
5 - I see no reason not to let the players spend one "period" moving their base camp. I'll probably roll for an event during that period as well, and then decide if the players notice or are inconvenienced as necessary.
My players are partly new RP-ers (the young ones), so I don't expect to spend a whole lot of time in-character - they'll mostly be interested in the encounters. (In fact the youngest one will probably not be happy unless I break out miniatures - she's very visual.)
So, any other thoughts or ideas from the community on running this safari?
Thanks in advance.
I'm working up SS for my players (in this case, my wife and two pre-teen kids) since it has what seems like a lot of potential even though it's maddeningly short on some details. I was looking for a few pointers from anyone familiar with the adventure, or "wilderness safari" adventures in general.
The world maps they give don't have a scale (km/hex), but it seems like I can use the UWP to find the diameter and multiply by PI to get the circumference, then divide by the number of hexes across the map's equator. Right?
It seems the ship's launch can be used to get the hunting party pretty much anywhere on the planet in a short period of time, but it can't carry the air/raft, so it makes sense to use the safari ship to land near where you want to hunt, after (possibly?) checking in at the starport.
So given that the crew (NPCs in my case) is "hosting" this expedition, how should they proceed? Here's what I'm thinking:
1 - Ship checks in at the starport, if any. Refuel and re-provision (if possible)
2 - Meanwhile, the hunting party sets out in the launch, which becomes a temporary base of action while waiting for the ship to be ready. (The ship will arrive after a few days, and will be available for holding specimens.)
3 - Each hex is some hundreds of kilometers across, so players will choose what type of terrain they wish to hunt in, and will land in an appropriate hex.
4 - I have no idea how often it's useful to roll for events. Each 1/2 day? Any less frequently might bore my players; any more frequently risks becoming too action-rich. On average, 7+ on 2D6 will cause some sort of encounter (animal or environmental). Each planet could have 1-3 weeks worth of hunting. Should I have a limit to events per hex? As in, "after X events, the hex is tapped out"?
5 - I see no reason not to let the players spend one "period" moving their base camp. I'll probably roll for an event during that period as well, and then decide if the players notice or are inconvenienced as necessary.
My players are partly new RP-ers (the young ones), so I don't expect to spend a whole lot of time in-character - they'll mostly be interested in the encounters. (In fact the youngest one will probably not be happy unless I break out miniatures - she's very visual.)
So, any other thoughts or ideas from the community on running this safari?
Thanks in advance.
