Starting a new campaign...

[DonM]

I'm a big fan of D&D's N4 Treasure Hunt module...

Since my new players will either not have played Traveller in years, or ever...

I'm thinking of starting at the very beginning, prior to career selection, and having them from the same homeworld.

Anyone ever do anything like this?

 

[kaijupanda]

I never thought of doing anything like that. That could be a grand adventure, seeing what the players get themselves caught up in and how their lives turn out.

Are you going to decide their homeworld, or let the players create it?

 

[Hemdian]

I’ve thought about it but never actual tried it ... yet.

The way I was thinking was to have the PCs go to a naval academy together and game out key episodes during their time there (from arrival to graduation). There was an article in Challenge 26 that could serve as the basis for the academy (or run as is), as well fleshing out the PC’s pre-academy backgrounds with an article about childhood in Digest 15.

But what I really wanted to add was the style of ‘tests’ from an obscure RPG called West Point Extra Planetary Academy. I say RPG but it’s really more of a dinner party game with an RPG system bolted on. That game was mainly just a series of simulator dilemmas modelled after Star Trek DS9 with the all the names changed to avoid copyright issues. The book itself isn’t much to write about but the designer (Oscar) used to run sessions at GenconUK that were just awesome. Anyway, I always wanted to do a Traveller version.

 

[DonM]

Here's where I am with this concept so far...

Basically, the adventure is one where the various actions the players make for their characters earn "brownie points" for specific careers, and then I'll highly encourage them to start in the career they have the most points towards after the adventure.

Then we'll run through the careers, and muster out. The real adventure will start when the last character musters out and returns home.

I know the starting homeworld will be in the Marches, but haven't made a final decision yet. I tend to focus on Glisten (my traditional campaign home in the past), but this time I'm looking around a bit more.

 

[saundby]

I've not only done that, but run an introductory adventure with the PCs as children that know each other and play together. I first did this with a group of new players with the idea that I'd run a sort of "whiffle ball" adventure to let them learn the mechanics of playing the game.

The results were such that, as often as possible, I try to do this with each new campaign now if time permits. The party cohesion was better, there were strong connections between the characters that acted as a strong basis for excellent role-playing, and the overall narrative felt much deeper through the rest of the campaign.

The introductory adventures I run tend to be something like a "Three Investigators" mystery of some sort, good for about 5-6 hours of play time. I try to make sure the characters have access to some special resources for transport, items, and such that allows them some freedom of action. Sometimes I'll also introduce some characters that I've got plans for in the adult adventure as well--you can never introduce a villain too early.

For Traveller, I modify the characteristics for whatever age the characters will be. Strength and Edu are obvious. I give them some homeworld skills at 0 that seem logical from what they'd have in normal chargen.

Basically, I highly encourage having "pre-campaign" or young adventures.

I've had my group request starting characters at 10-12 years old and running the campaign continuously through to adulthood. I haven't done that yet, but the idea is appealing. Presently I usually can't run a single campaign long enough to have that much material in one campaign. I usually plan about 50-60 hours of play into each campaign. If I ever get a group I can pretty well expect to run an open-ended game again, then I think it'd be fun to start the characters out young and see what happens.

 

[FreeTrav]

I've not only done that, but run an introductory adventure with the PCs as children that know each other and play together. I first did this with a group of new players with the idea that I'd run a sort of "whiffle ball" adventure to let them learn the mechanics of playing the game.

The results were such that, as often as possible, I try to do this with each new campaign now if time permits. The party cohesion was better, there were strong connections between the characters that acted as a strong basis for excellent role-playing, and the overall narrative felt much deeper through the rest of the campaign.

The introductory adventures I run tend to be something like a "Three Investigators" mystery of some sort, good for about 5-6 hours of play time. I try to make sure the characters have access to some special resources for transport, items, and such that allows them some freedom of action. Sometimes I'll also introduce some characters that I've got plans for in the adult adventure as well--you can never introduce a villain too early.

For Traveller, I modify the characteristics for whatever age the characters will be. Strength and Edu are obvious. I give them some homeworld skills at 0 that seem logical from what they'd have in normal chargen.

Basically, I highly encourage having "pre-campaign" or young adventures.

I've had my group request starting characters at 10-12 years old and running the campaign continuously through to adulthood. I haven't done that yet, but the idea is appealing. Presently I usually can't run a single campaign long enough to have that much material in one campaign. I usually plan about 50-60 hours of play into each campaign. If I ever get a group I can pretty well expect to run an open-ended game again, then I think it'd be fun to start the characters out young and see what happens.

Saundby, give some thought to an article discussion how you do this, and what sort of accommodations, changes, and so on you need to make to make it work. Something like this would definitely be Added Value for Freelance Traveller...

 

[kaijupanda]

So, it's like running a prelude. How the characters got to where they are at the start of the grand adventure?

When I ran World of Darkness games, I forced the players to create human characters that would be embraced at some point during a few sessions I set aside to set up and introduce the players to the world. They hated it at first, feeling like they didn't have any choices, but by the end of it, they demanded it every time.

I never thought of applying this sort of thing to any other system or campaign of mine. You've got a great idea, there. The events that they've had to play through during their early years is bound to have more of an impact on the development of their characters than something they sat down and wrote up for their personal history. Plus, this discussion has stoked a fire under me rump to see about giving something like this a go.

 

[saundby]

Originally, the intro adventure had no connection to the campaign. It was just a way to build some background for the characters and get the players acquainted with the game in a non-threatening way (they were guaranteed their characters couldn't die--they'd already rolled up the adult characters so they *must* have survived childhood.)

Later, I found parallels between the characters in the campaign and the intro adventure, so just for fun I brought the earlier character into the parallel role in the campaign. This worked so well (who would have known pulling a gun on someone who treated you poorly as a child could be so satisfying? ) that I started doing it on purpose.

Jeff-I'll do that. I should pull my scattered notes and organize them anyway--might as well do a proper write up while I'm at it.

 

[kaijupanda]

Later, I found parallels between the characters in the campaign and the intro adventure, so just for fun I brought the earlier character into the parallel role in the campaign. This worked so well (who would have known pulling a gun on someone who treated you poorly as a child could be so satisfying? ) that I started doing it on purpose.

That sounds awesome. Granted you ran a short adventure in their past, I just really like it when GMs actually give a darn about the lives and background of their characters. I usually give some sort of bonus to my players who take the time to submit background information to me. I do this, because I will ALWAYS pull something from it and do something mean, and that little bonus becomes more of a future apology.

"Yeah. Sorry I had to kill your sister like that. Who knew that when you abandoned her after your parents were brutally murdered, her life tanked and she spent her days on the streets selling herself in any way that could pay for her drug habit? Feel free to blame yourself, now. It is totally your fault. How could it not be?"

I like to do snowball/paintball to introduce players to combat, but overall, I really like how you handle the intro with a short adventure. It's really cool that things fell into place for you, also. *sigh* So inspiring! *foaming at the mouth to get her own game going.*

I also really like DonM's idea of awarding points that will determine career choice by the end of it. It makes me feel like the actions the characters are doing through play have a stronger affect on who/what they become. When I ran WoD preludes, a lot of the times, the players ended up with something different than what they were going for. One character who wanted to be a Gangrel, decided remaining human was far more in his character's nature. Are specs playing into these point rewards as well?