[Traveller Renaissance] Run "Shadows" at your FLGS

[robject]

With some finishing touches, Shadows can be a very useful introductory scenario to lead newbies thru.

It's an Indiana Jones-like exploration thing. The set-up is provided, all you have to do is go in and look for treasure. It's got several levels, has sheer drops, for goodness' sake it's pyramidal -- classic Traveller (pun intended).

So here are some ideas I've got that may flesh out the game a bit.

0. Toxic atmosphere. Suits are safe, but they do inexorably corrode. Cause abrasions and debris to further shorten the lifetime of a suit.

1. Ambience. The artificial light should be intermittent, flickering, or missing at several locations.

2. Treasure. Twilight's Peak had treasure; Shadows should, too. And note how the treasure in TP were desirable and cool, but didn't upset game balance. So should Shadows treasure be. Some of them are unique souvenirs: then make them unique. Inscribe one. Give another an eternally glittering inset. Bevel another in an unusual but strangely ergonomic way. Describe them with rich adjectives and players will treasure them.

3. Monsters. If this were a dungeon, they would be monsters. As it is, they are now denizens of the planet. Add in strangler vines, carnivorous pack hunters, a large thing that is mostly teeth.

4. Obstacles. For example, part of the power plant is this thick beam of pure energy blocking access to the power plant's controls. Maybe a security setting that got tripped during one of the twenty million earthquakes? How you gonna turn that beastie off? Extra points for creative thinking.

5. Boss Fight. A final showdown with Bad Guys (pirates, or, for heroic characters, warriors in stasis pods).

 

[Supplement Four]

Back in the The Day, I really didn't like the GDW adventures. In my opinion, back then, they weren't adventures. They were just supplements--usually a location with bare details. Never a story--or even NPCs, in many of them.

But, that was when I was a D&D spoon-fed adventure brat. I didn't realize how cool--and really, useful, the generic GDW adventures are.

Unlike a TSR AD&D module, GDW provided the Ref with tools to create his own story.

You brought up Shadows. Let's look at it. Heck, it can be anything you need it to be. It's a pyramid on a bleak world with a few curiosities inside.

If the Ref needs it to be the setting of a Corsair base inside the old pyramid, boom, there it is.

If the Ref wants to introduce the Ancients to his group, it's a great way to do it.

If the Ref wants to populate the world with Aliens that have fallen from grace and blasted themselves back to bows & arrows, it could be a great way to show that the natives were once TL 16+.

It can be anything that the Ref needs. His imagination is his only limitation. And, like a lot of Solo Traveller, much of the enjoyment the Ref gets out of the game is creating the universe.

I wish I had the time to pull out one of these old GDW adventures that I've never run before and start tinkering away.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Yes, add treasure and all those other nasties.

I love this idea. My first group (two buddies of mine and myself) kind of waltzed through it not really understanding what was going on, other than this pyramid was keeping our ship from taking off. It didn't have much Indy-Jones flavor until we started taking the adventures into our own hands, and spicing them up

Great advice, S4 and Robject!

 

[Supplement Four]

THIS THREAD, from back in 2007, is a tribute to Shadows.

 

[robject]

Thanks S4! I took a few ideas from that old thread and plopped them into my OP.

 

[Spinward Scout]

A couple of things I'd add:

1) A countdown timer. The VACC suits become worthless after 8 hours - make it a race against time. Of course, if you want it shorter, just make it 1 or 2 hours.

2.) If you are artistic, make an infrared ink mural and give the players an infrared flashlight. Not as expensive as you'd think - there are kids books that have them.

3.) More incentive for the players - like there's a fine if you refuse to document the structure, or a reward from a university for finding it.

Here's another thread I made a while back to help.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=23974