T5 Adventure Arc

[parmasson]

I would still prefer the stapled LBB design - I think it's sturdier than many of the perfect-bound books I have. Definitely more resistant ot heat and humidity. These might sit in my car in the summer, or I might take them to the desert on a deployment....

So there needs to be a military edition? Black matte finish Kevlar cover, lamented pages. Water/sand proof heavy duty carrying case. Camouflage dice too?

 

[daltoncalford]

Originally posted by Kurega Gikur:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> I would still prefer the stapled LBB design - I think it's sturdier than many of the perfect-bound books I have. Definitely more resistant ot heat and humidity. These might sit in my car in the summer, or I might take them to the desert on a deployment....

So there needs to be a military edition? Black matte finish Kevlar cover, lamented pages. Water/sand proof heavy duty carrying case. Camouflage dice too? </font>[/QUOTE]All I know about the LBB edition is that it still survives some 20 years of abuse, where my AD&D hardcovers are falling apart.

There is somthing about the LBB format that just survives. I know that I have thumbed through the LBB's far more often than the AD&D books, but they just last and last.

best regards

Dalton

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Camouflage dice?! Oh no! When they fell on the ground, you'd never find them again! (Heck, even if they just got loose in your kit, you'd never find them - most everything in there is camouflage....

 

[parmasson]

Perhaps the pips are only visible in the infrared spectrum?

 

[aramis]

For anything less than 6x9, perfect-binding really bites. I've seen some that really have held up, but not many below that size.

I prefer stapled for 5x8's up to about 96pp. after that, go to spiral or comb, or saddle-stich it. I've seen some multi-folio books where the books are stitched folios glued into the cover; these last just about forever...

 

[aramis]

For anything less than 6x9, perfect-binding really bites. I've seen some that really have held up, but not many below that size.

I prefer stapled for 5x8's up to about 96pp. after that, go to spiral or comb, or saddle-stich it. I've seen some multi-folio books where the books are stitched folios glued into the cover; these last just about forever...

 

[Berg]

Originally posted by Dalton:

I have a local traveller gaming group, and, due to the nature of the company I work for, some friends from other places in Canada who want to play with us once they visited and saw what the games were like.

Always interested in how others play online

Do you have links?

 

[robject]

Come to think of it, all the LBBs I own are holding together fine. The part that's in the best shape is almost always the staples.

 

[jfetters]

Originally posted by robject:
Come to think of it, all the LBBs I own are holding together fine. The part that's in the best shape is almost always the staples.

You guys have had better luck than me. I don't have any of my originals, but the spines on mine pretty much disappeared within a year or two and the covers disappearing.

 

[jfetters]

Originally posted by Berg:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Dalton:

I have a local traveller gaming group, and, due to the nature of the company I work for, some friends from other places in Canada who want to play with us once they visited and saw what the games were like.

Always interested in how others play online

Do you have links? </font>[/QUOTE]It would be great if there was a web-services based online RPG system. PBEM is fine, but a thin client interface would be pretty cool as well.

 

[aramis]

Jim:
webrpg.com
donation supported, free java-in-browser virtual tabletop.
Haven't tried it myself, but it's an option for a thin interface.

 

[daltoncalford]

Originally posted by Berg:
Always interested in how others play online

Do you have links?

I am using the nbos screenmonkey software as it does not require any java/flash on the client as it is strickly browser based.

I have tried it with opera, firefox, konquorer and ie. Works and looks the same for each browser.

All aspects of the user interface is configurable, including the users hot keys.

One of the guys on the Screenmonkey forums (Zeek is his handle) has created a whole series of extensions to the program using vb script. This allows me to have help pages and or pictures/scenes pop up on the players screens. I am using my own voip software that I wrote to have all the players conference call together for free.
You guys can always use skype to do the same.

Since the entire set of mechanics are modifiable, I was not hobbled by D20 assumptions or missing features.

Since the game server is on my laptop, I plug into my DSL connection, notify my players of my ip address and we get into the game.

I am right now testing the interfaces, and have played some T&T using the interface. I am right now finishing up all the maps for the online traveller game using dungeonforge and graphics I have striped from the worldworks games pdf files that I have purchased.

I have played some online space combat using the system and I have been able to create some pop-up files for starports and systems for the game.

If anyone else wants to go down that path, I am willing to help where I can.

best regards

Dalton

 

[Berg]

I use GRiP personally but, this is coming along nicely for Free!...

RPTools

Back to the subject (bad hijackers are we )

It was mentioned before that new RPG's should come with a disc of some software that in the least contains a character gen program.
I wonder if it could also contain files of adventures, and if those adventures should have a certain "Arc" and/or be designed for online play.
This maybe a bit much, but may be the future and affect the design of adventures.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Ooooh! It should also come with a 1-yr subscription to the Moot! (Maybe with some limits to encourage folks to upgrade to Knight or something.)

 

[robject]

Originally posted by Jim Fetters:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by robject:
I've thought a little about it. Would a Civil War milieu (year 600 or so) be good or boring? [...]

Eh. Not too sure about it. After all, we did have the Rebellion in MT. We all know how that ended.

The story ultimately needs to enable the characters to affect change in thier universe. Twilight's Peak and Secret of the Ancients did this well. Most of the other LBB adventures, not so much, as fun as they may have been. MegaTraveller always held that promise, but it never delivered until the release of Hard Times and Arrival: Vengeance, which was the end of the line. TNE did it very well, IMO.

Regardless, I think that ultimately the issue is support. What adventures/sourcebooks will be released concurrently with the rules book? Or even within the rule book.

[...]
</font>[/QUOTE]You're right. Support is key.

[Note: Seems to me that SOTA didn't change a thing, while TP let the players play a scripted part in the already-decided FFW. But it was fun.]

I've thought about it, and decided that a Civil War setting does allow characters to change things. The only thing that they might not be able to change is the eventual family which sits on the throne when the whole thing's played out. Yes, the sketches of history show who was emperor for which weeks of which year, and that Arbellatra came out on top, but that doesn't mean the OTU has to honor it. We've stomped canon before. We can do it again.

First, we know nothing about who else fought these wars: no names, no places, no deciding victories or crushing defeats. All of these are waiting to be filled in... just like Fifth Frontier War. T5 could do the filling in, using a string of adventures to plot the timeline out.

Second, the printed timeline might be bunk. Nonsense that made it into the official books. Since noone is really affected by the actual names involved, Traveller is free to rewrite them, based on the outcomes of adventures, as "what really happened". When the timeline is finally filled out, the result will be the replacement canon.

Pretty? No. Lets players change the timeline? Yes. Significantly? Well, no, but then we knew how the Fifth Frontier War was likely to end in general. Change a little canon and people might wonder how sweeping the changes might really end up being.

Does it matter? Maybe.

 

[robject]

So what I'm seeing are organization along these lines:

</font>

• Introductory Mini-Adventure 1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 2 linked to MA1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 3 linked to MA1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 4 linked to MA1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 5 linked to MA1,2,3,4</font>

Potential Era

Civil War
</font>

• Navy = fast track to assassination</font>
• fleet consolidation battles</font>
• naval bases are red zones</font>
• forced enlistment...</font>
• forced commissioning of merchant vessels to military purposes...</font>
• black market boom</font>
• piracy -- er, "free trade" -- boom</font>

Recurring NPCs

The Informant
The Illegal Weapons Guy
The Goods Fence
The Local Police Commander
The Assistant Starport Administrator
The Hot Dog Guy

A Few Key Worlds

Spinward Marches?
Deneb?
Corridor?
?

Simple Plotlines

"stop the invaders/saboteurs"
"privateer for a day"
"be the Duke's personal, hunted courier"
"bug hunt"
"dungeon crawl (space)"
"dungeon crawl (planet)"
"marooned and pursued"
"track down the bad trader"
"shipboard catastrophe"

Gimmicks

</font>

• Android as PC/NPC</font>
• Adventure-worthy starship, of course</font>

 

[Arthur Denger]

Originally posted by robject:

So what I'm seeing are organization along these lines:

</font>

• Introductory Mini-Adventure 1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 2 linked to MA1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 3 linked to MA1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 4 linked to MA1</font>
• Mini-Adventure 5 linked to MA1,2,3,4</font>

...

Simple Plotlines

"stop the invaders/saboteurs"
"privateer for a day"
"be the Duke's personal, hunted courier" Okay, you want my autobiography now?
"bug hunt"
"dungeon crawl (space)"
"dungeon crawl (planet)"
"marooned and pursued"
"track down the bad trader"

In my experience, the 'dungeon crawl' was always equally hard on referee and player alike: creative players will always try to find a way to defeat or circumvent a preprogrammed adventure sequence, or try to go off on a tangent, to the detriment of plot development. The ref then reacts either by steering or coercing the players back into line. "What? we're lost/trapped like rats in a maze? Okay, I put on my grav belt and rise above the walls to scope out the nearest exit.." Frustrating for both players and referee alike.

I prefer the short adventure format; IMTU these always grow into springboards for something broader, and they are easily woven into the ongoing campaign. I think linking is fine so long as each link is strong enough to stand alone on its own merits; it is key that the adventure not give away too many details. The Amber Zone feature in the old JTAS was also good in this way, although many of them needed a great deal more development by the referee before being player-ready.

I think it's always interesting to see an adventure which attempts something new, like Signal GK did. Maybe an adventure dealing solely with character exploration/movement/combat in zero-g/zero atmo? Or one featuring robots/androids (not Virus!) as prominent characters/antagonists, a la Saberhagen's Berserkers or Blade Runner . I think it could really be cool to have the characters cope with a potentially catastrophic shipboard emergency: if handled properly this can be far more harrowing than combat with bug-eyed monsters! The Argon Gambit was another good example of an unorthodox plot; the characters must really act 'in character' yet think beyond the box. Sure, these cases make the ref stretch a little more, but if they're organized and well written, the results are very rewarding.

(As a Scout, I'd love to see a campaign take place in the Imperial Fringe or Outrim Void, as Leviathan did.)

 

[kafka47]

As stated elsewhere, I think the perfect adventure is Operation Repo. It has space action, it has strange aliens (your "animal" companions), a wilderness component, computer skills, a pseudo dungeon crawl and a clear objective.

Renaming the Vargr with the forces of the black would help. With the players being the forces of the white makes the adventure generic enough.

It has room for the provision for piracy/civil war settings without the setting taking over. Different skill sets, hence, different characters can be used to generate characters. It lends itself to military/paramilitary but there is no reason why you cannot have a Merchant pilot or a Computer Scientist (Academic).

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by Arthur hault-Denger:
In my experience, the 'dungeon crawl' was always equally hard on referee and player alike: creative players will always try to find a way to defeat or circumvent a preprogrammed adventure sequence, or try to go off on a tangent, to the detriment of plot development. The ref then reacts either by steering or coercing the players back into line. "What? we're lost/trapped like rats in a maze? Okay, I put on my grav belt and rise above the walls to scope out the nearest exit.." Frustrating for both players and referee alike.

The key to a successful "dungeon crawl" adventure is to keep it interesting, and allow non-linear exploration. Design the "dungeon" (derelict ship/derelict station/infested colony/abandoned alien ruin and so on) beforehand, place the various events and plot-pieces (such as written logs, computer files and so on) on the map, and let the players explore the structure as they desire. Also, allow the players to effect the "dungeon" - hackable security computers in derelict ships, for example.

Also, have a good reason for the PCs to go on the "dungeon crawl" - and design the "dungeon" logically, that is, everything should be there for an in-game reason, not just to challenge the Pcs.

And, allow the PCs to aquire some information about the dungeon from outside - siesmic charges, deep radar and so on.

Linear dungeons in which the players are thrown at a preplanned encounter after a preplanned encounter is probably going to be somewhat boring, especially for players used to the "go anywhere" feel of Traveller.

 

[robject]

Following on your comments, the short adventure is the perfect introduction to Traveller. Most short adventures are, by nature, light on setting and heavy on fun, and generally have to stand on their own (at least that's how Traveller mini-adventures have been set up).

A repo adventure can be short or long; the short version is perfect for "throw away" characters, since it can also be tuned to meet the lethality expectations of the players.

And even a dungeon crawl would work out fine. Arthur's comment about players circumventing problems is actually a preferred playing style of many; in other words, a significant number want to feel clever by strategising and getting around traps.

This is why dungeon crawls can be useful. The adventure doesn't hinge on "one solution"; it's essentially a set of (possibly interlinked) rooms, each with something going on. Players may overcome obstacles in their preferred idiom, and if they're having fun, then that's half the battle.

I also like the ideas of featuring androids (a gimmick perhaps), and the "shipboard catastrophe" scenario could be very fun.