Teleporting

[JustinInOz]

I have recently seen teleporting as the worst power to kill the plot of a game.

Quote:

Teleport has to be one of the most boring elements in fantasy fiction. "We must return the ring to Mount Doom!"

::blink::

"Done! Next quest!"

End Quote

How do you guys stop/modify/channel possession of starship by players so that they do not become plot killing planetary teleport devices?

What is the point of having an ATV if you are just going to cruise around in your ship? I think you get my meaning.

 

[far-trader]

Lots of ways...

"I'm sorry but your request for a landing beyond SPA controlled areas is denied. Failure to comply with the proper flight path will result in armed fighters to escort you directly to the secure SPA pad for inspection, or shoot you down. The fine for failing to comply immediately is Cr10,000. The fine for complying after the fighters are launched includes the cost of their action and starts at Cr100,000." (and if you're feeling a bit sadistically humorous... ) "The fine for being shot down starts at MCr1 and 10 years in an Imperial Prison if you survive."

Or...

You look for a landing site but the natural terrain is too inhospitable. (if the players insist on landing anyway, something breaks and the ship can't lift again without assistance)

Or...

...whatever torture you can think to impose on the characters :devil:

If they are smart you will only have to do it once. If you have to do it again, make it worse.

Or...

...simply set it up so the required trip by (insert tedious method) can't be done by the ship in the first place.

 

[Trent]

Let them know the general location of X, but not the exact location. Their ship can get them to the general area of X, but finding it involves the air/raft, the ATV or a foot search as the ships sensors can't find it.

Old spacer npc on deathbed: "Yep. sonny, the entrance to that underground cavern full of ancient technology...is somewhere..in the pinkpeak mountains on Diaspar. I'll never forget the horrors we found there...."

PC: "Where in the mountains, exactly? They cover 80 square miles, give or take."

NPC: "Hell, I don't remember exactly! I wuz being chased by a dozen ancient warbots with disintegrators! I barely got out alive and kept runnin' till I dropped from exhaustion, an when I came to I started runnin' agin! I didn't stop to mark it on a GPS!

 

[Icosahedron]

A few more ideas:

Maybe the ship is unstreamlined and you need one of those air-rafts that Far Trader doesn't like to get down to the surface.

Maybe the place you want to get to is in the middle of a thousand square miles of virgin rainforest.

Maybe you need to sneak in - a starship is not difficult to spot.

Maybe you need a local guide who can't work from an aerial view.

Maybe you don't want anyone to know where you're going, or that you're going at all.

Maybe your quest target has a substantial A-A defence (no point going on a 200k quest and suffering 5M damages).

Maybe the captain's up to his eyes in starport commerce and can spare an ATV but needs the ship where it can be checked, repaired, fuelled, loaded.

Maybe you don't own the ship.

 

[kafka47]

One also assumes that the teleport actually works like it should...maybe it is like the good Doctor's TARDIS but rather than Time just focus on Space...players get it right...say 10% of the time.

Yes, you can go to Mount Doom but who is to say you arrive in the Heart of the Mountain...why not where the thousands of Orcs are lined up in to fight the Elves. I assure you the elves will not take pity for the fellowship when they have to fight orcs. Similar plot devices can naturally be used in Traveller.

 

[robject]

Maybe you can't find suitably stable terrain on which to set your technological monstrosity. Hate to hit a sinkhole, or crack that slab of shale, or sprain a lander, or dump the ship into a swamp.

 

[Icosahedron]

Biggins turns around to see a huge black cloud sporting a single, roving eye.

A voice booms in his head. "AH, BIGGINS. SO YOU 'THOUGHT' YOU'D TELEPORT TO MY FORGE, DID YOU? TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME!"

::BLINK::

Nine horsemen in black robes surround the Habbit, flaming swords drawn...



Never p**s the GM off - it's a safe bet that he has more power than you. :smirk:

 

[chshrkt]

Biggins turns around to see a huge black cloud sporting a single, roving eye.

A voice booms in his head. "AH, BIGGINS. SO YOU 'THOUGHT' YOU'D TELEPORT TO MY FORGE, DID YOU? TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME!"

::BLINK::

Nine horsemen in black robes surround the Habbit, flaming swords drawn...



Never p**s the GM off - it's a safe bet that he has more power than you. :smirk:

I do believe his name was actually "Baggins"... Sorry to be pedantic.

 

[far-trader]

I do believe his name was actually "Baggins"... Sorry to be pedantic.

I think he was avoiding drawing the attention of the mighty Sorerun lest he cast his evil eye on the trademark names of Biggins and the Habbits.



Note: No trees were killed in the posting of this message, but a large number of Ents were terribly inconvenienced.

 

[JustinInOz]

Thanks

You guys have stirred the pot that is my mind.

A lot of what you have suggested are great examples of what the world throws up in between A, where you start, and B, where you want to be.

Thanks, I knew i could turn the the millennia of accumulated bgaming experience that this board holds to solve what I thought was not a unique problem.

Thanks again,

Justin.

 

[Icosahedron]

I think he was avoiding drawing the attention of the mighty Sorerun lest he cast his evil eye on the trademark names of Biggins and the Habbits.



Note: No trees were killed in the posting of this message, but a large number of Ents were terribly inconvenienced.

Thanks, FT, but shouldn't that be 'Ants'?

 

[far-trader]

Thanks, FT, but shouldn't that be 'Ants'?

Probably But I couldn't think of a good Entish substitue, Ants ain't bad. Habbits made me chuckle