T/engineer &Jumpdrive probs & spies

[jodasi]

Im new at gming t20. 2 problems came up last night

1) T/engineering is not in the skill list on the master skill/for class table. its a 2 sided page showing skills on one side for core and skills on other side for service classes. Where is t/engineering? what is it? what are the modifiers.


2) the players were in a situation where they had to shut down the jump engines with in 2 minutes of a calculated jump.

Some alienesque thingy had clamped on to the jumpdrive, wired into the main computer and was rerouting the jump program.

We wanted to shut it down, but I didnt know if you could safely shut down the jump core with in 6 to 12 seconds of jump.

3)Last problem: I set up part of the scenario to have the players do some spy vs spy stuff. But in my infinate wisdom, i didnt know how to execute that. One of the NPC's is a double agent Soc:18 Do you guys have a spy class? what skills do the players use for spy vs spy?

Opinions?

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by jodasi:
Im new at gming t20. 2 problems came up last night

1) T/engineering is not in the skill list on the master skill/for class table. its a 2 sided page showing skills on one side for core and skills on other side for service classes. Where is t/engineering? what is it? what are the modifiers.

Read the section on Making Battlefield repairs in the combat chapter. This contains most of the modifiers required for using the T/Engineering skill.

2) the players were in a situation where they had to shut down the jump engines with in 2 minutes of a calculated jump.

Chapter 14 (Travelling) has a entire section on the process leading up to Jump, including misjumping and shutdown procedures. The ship probably ended up dumping most of the jump fuel into normal space, and now is stuck with the Jump Capaciters charged.

3)Last problem: I set up part of the scenario to have the players do some spy vs spy stuff. But in my infinate wisdom, i didnt know how to execute that. One of the NPC's is a double agent Soc:18 Do you guys have a spy class? what skills do the players use for spy vs spy?

Opinions? [/QB]

It depends upon what you mean by "Spy" as this covers a great deal of ground. There is the James Bond-style action spy. There is the Mission Impossible-style clever plans spy. There is the Mari Harti-style schmoosing the higher-up's spy.

 

[jodasi]

i think you were missing my point...

my point was that there is a section for most of the other T/ skills. Why should the reader be put thru the punishment of GLEANING out bits and piece of the engineering rules. They should have been put under their own subsection.

Know what I mean??

I read over all of chapter 14. Im reading the first T20 book not the reprint. IT doesnt really say what to do for an emergency shut down other than dumping fuel.

what does the engineer do for discharging the jump capacitor?

How close to actually jump can a crew make a safe abort?

There was an alien standing above the jump drive. I cant really explain how he got up there. What if the crew fired a pistol and missed the alien, but hit the casing of the jump engine with in 12 seconds a jump?

any opinions???

 

[MichaelL65]

Originally posted by jodasi:
i think you were missing my point...

my point was that there is a section for most of the other T/ skills. Why should the reader be put thru the punishment of GLEANING out bits and piece of the engineering rules. They should have been put under their own subsection.

I agree that the T/Engineering skill is not given the space it is due. Unfortunately, the reason for this is likely due to the fact that the entire physics that it involves is in the real world completely speculative at best if not outright fantacy. Traveller prides itself on being "Hard Science" and therefore can't go into too much detail as it would then become more space-opera. Even the hard science that makes the OTU is debatable, going into detail of a realm of physics that has yet to be discovered is sort of hard.

But it would ease the game mechanic somewhat.

Know what I mean??

I read over all of chapter 14. Im reading the first T20 book not the reprint. IT doesnt really say what to do for an emergency shut down other than dumping fuel.

what does the engineer do for discharging the jump capacitor?

How close to actually jump can a crew make a safe abort?

The fuel is not dumped, it is consumed by the jump drive before the abort procedure is done.

What the engineer has to do depends on YTU. Since your player doesn't know (unless he wrote the house rules) what his character needs to do, you simply have to make the die roll.

Refer to the jump procedure on page 354 (first printing). Stages 1-4 can safely abort, afterwards there is a risk. My best guess of what the DC should be is 20 at stage 5 and +5 for every stage after that. At Stage 8 it jumps to 40, and at stage 9 it's no longer possible.

There was an alien standing above the jump drive. I cant really explain how he got up there. What if the crew fired a pistol and missed the alien, but hit the casing of the jump engine with in 12 seconds a jump?

any opinions???

Since the book does not say how long any of these procedures take, that is up to you. Off hand, I'd say that 12 seconds before jump is probably at stage 7, maybe the end of 6.

BTW, Damage by a pistol should be pretty insignificant to the casing of the jump drive as it would be heavily shielded.

The rule of thumb for Traveller, and any other RGP really, is if the book doesn't say, make it up. As GM, you will often find a player wanting his character to do something that there is no hard and fast rule for. You have to come up with what to do in those cases (usually on the spot - best of luck to ya!).

 

[Shadowdancer]

Originally posted by jodasi:
Im new at gming t20. 2 problems came up last night

3)Last problem: I set up part of the scenario to have the players do some spy vs spy stuff. But in my infinate wisdom, i didnt know how to execute that. One of the NPC's is a double agent Soc:18 Do you guys have a spy class? what skills do the players use for spy vs spy?

Opinions?

In our game, we run a lot of espionage-type action. The best classes for this are Scout, Rogue and Traveller.

The skills used depend on the situation. For finding out stuff, there's Gather Information and Interrogation. For interaction with NPCs, we use a lot of Bluff vs. Sense Motive checks, as well as Bluff for seducing targets, and Intimidation for bullying. Bribery for buying your way out of trouble. For sneaking around, there is Hide and Move Silently vs. Spot and Listen. I suggest importing the Sleight of Hand skill from D&D 3.5 -- it is very handy when trying to lift something and pocket it without anyone noticing, and for hiding something on your person.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Also check out the current issue of Dragon magazine. It has several articles in it about espionage campaigns. Most are written for D&D and FRPG, but a lot of the information still applies for any d20 game, including T20.

One article in particular covers the different types of spies. The information on classes won't be applicable to Traveller, but the info on what skills, feats, and equipment needed to build these types of spies is.