Which of these campaigns would you rather play in?

[kafka47]

Originally posted by Jamus:
Agreed Kafka... now which way to the frontier? reavers deep maybe? just seems like every sector is full.

The Marches are still relatively empty plus there is the sector of Foreven to be developed. Far Frontiers for the Zhodani & Imperium is a common frontier. The more Rimward one gets there are only scattered interstellar polities.

One of the Traveller's Digests had a table illustrating the relative population density of each sector. If memory serves me right, it is only the Rim, Massilia and the Rim which is very dense. So there is lots of room for a for a frontier type setting. Personally, I have always liked the Hinterworlds.

To add a bit to the story...

In stepped the meanest evil looking Virtusian, along with his muscle and he was heading in my direction. He pulls up and a chair and removes a twissle stick from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth.

"I've got an offer that you cannot refuse. Well, if you are just as good as dead." he says with the foulest smirk.

"No thanks, I don't deal in that stuff anymore" I said confidently. I get up and suddenly my head feels woosy... "Drugged..." then it all went blank.

 

[Straybow]

I came to in a fresher. The door latch was jammed. Just as well, I had Vargr fur to remove from my throat, or so it seemed. Second order of business was checking my pockets: empty. They could've left my playing cards, at least then I'd have something to pass the time waiting for my "employers" to show up.

 

[slyen2002]

I think a Scouts campgien right before the 5th frontier war would be nice. Alternitively a Rebellion Scouts campgien would more or less have the same effect.

 

[Michael Taylor]

"Soon there'll be Interstellar Wars or the 1248 setting, where most of the map is plain unknown to any given character in the setting..."

Is someone writing the interstellar wars setting at present?

 

[Liam Devlin]

Morte, gentlemen...
I take option 4...
My online/ pbem Gateway- Murphy's Law campaign resembles thisa with a twist--the patron crook turned out to a fairly decent chap, who managed to get knighted for his saving 60,000 folks on Hansen's World (after being blackmailed by an Imperial marshal to keep his neice outta da clink..) in the Cold Fuzion Adventure..

Up to 30% now...
back to Baghdad!
Slainte!

 

[Morte]

Originally posted by Michael Taylor:
"Soon there'll be Interstellar Wars or the 1248 setting, where most of the map is plain unknown to any given character in the setting..."

Is someone writing the interstellar wars setting at present?

Steve Jackson Games (for GURPS 4e). Specifically Jon Zeigler, Loren Wiseman and Paul Drye. On the JTAS forums, Jon said:

That will be very nearly a standalone, requiring nothing
but the new Basic Set (or the new GURPS Lite) to play.
There will be rules systems in this book for world design,
trade and economics, and starship design and combat - all
tailored for the Interstellar Wars era. There will also
be quite a pile of new back-story material - as much as
half the book will be brand new, including detailed looks
at the Vilani Imperium and the Terran Confederation.

The goal for that book is to sell not only to existing
Traveller players, but also to bring in new players who
are interested in the setting. That's why it's a standalone,
and while it creates a fair amount of new canon, it will
also summarize all of the old canon on the period - which
should be relatively easy, since there hasn't been that
much.

The Interstellar Wars book will be a big 256-page hardcover.
It should contain everything you need to play Traveller in
the Interstellar Wars era.

 

[propjockey]

I always loved the endless struggle to scrape up enough credits just to stay alive. Enough tech to stay competetive, but not toting the latest model of Kill-O-Zap gun or Starships of instantaneous transportation. If I got Cr10,000 for my services without having to fire off my last magazine, or escaped with only a few days recovery in sick bay, well, then it was a hell of a good job!
Give me the ragged edge of disaster every time!

 

[thorn]

Well...a month behind but better late than never I guess. I liked all the scenarios, but would choose #1 over the others IF if I were playing in a group of 3 players or more. The #2 scout setup could be and would be an intensely interesting campaign setting with 1 or 2 players. Small ship, middle of nowhere, only each other to rely on...etc etc....THAT SAID...hehe...3 or more players I would definitely go with #1, which is where my vote lay. I know...I know...old hat Traveller. Nothing new there right? IMHO...doesn't have to be new to be good. I've been playing RPGs for 26 years now, and still going strong. In D&D, I've fought everything there is to fight, at least a dozen times, but in Traveller, each planet can be new, each foe can be new, etc..

While scenario #1 might be old and tried and true, and done six ways from Sunday, it's the realistic drive to be under a gun and succeed at all costs, keeping your ship, making it all happen, and finding out at the end of the day that there's just a few more creds lining your pockets that sometimes just make it all worthwhile.

Thank you for my moment.

 

[Glen Allen Mcinnes]

Has anyone tried a bounty hunters campain (I have as both GM & player) their lots of fun and when your not taking down skum-bags you can do all thouse small team merc spec-opps jobs or trubbleshotter missions for a change of pace. all you need is a converted Type-S (see my addision to the fleet secrion) and you can go most places and have lots of fun. and their perfict for solo players or small groupes.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Speaking on behalf of the Skum-Bags, who needs all the authority? Only the weak-willed and those afraid to take known space for what its got on your own terms. Pirates, Lads... Pirates...

What's a Bounty Hunter but a Pirate with a Job, what?

 

[robject]

Heck, no. Never say never, and let him live in hope. Who knows, you might eventually change your mind and find some better use for him.

 

[Piper]

Oh no, don't tell him. In fact, keep building up his hopes:
"You see the flare of a maneuver drive. It appears to be closing with you."
Then have it turn out to be a naval vessel that uses the derelict for gunnery training.

 

[Quint]

I was torn between #2 and #4, ended up choosing #4.

D.

 

[Kilgs]

They're all good hooks but I think long-term campaigns need an overarching specific point/plot/purpose. So the detective one might be good, or the IISS detached duty.

 

[DonM]

I don't use any of the poll options.

I'm a "big picture guy". I want my players to be the movers and shakers.

For example, my 5FW opening campaign is almost always a group of rich kids on something like the King Richard, with unidentified attackers (Zhodani) who are trying to seize the ship in neutral space just before the start of the war. Their problem is 1) getting free, 2) having any real skills, 3) dealing with Zhodani and figuring out which NPCs have the skills to help save them all, 4) getting back to Regina, and 5) spreading the word that the Imperium is either under or about to be attacked.

Always fun, always at least one character with no relevant skills to do anything, lots of roleplay, and usually a much chagrined group of kids returns to Regina.

(One time that didn't happen -- the kids got everyone transferred to a smaller vessel, and rammed the King Richard into a Zhodani carrier while they misjumped and disappeared on an isolated world for several months; but the way the KR died made it known to everyone in-system that the Zhos had real military resources, and so there were a bunch of bugouts to Regina).

I've also had my players as the crew of a 5kton ship working the route along the border in Vilis sector prior to the 5FW, and seeing if they could piece together the details. That led to the captain directly asking me if he could do a "Surprise Reversed" attack, ala SFB. I responded that he could do anything the crew would let him get away with, but there'd be a board he'd report to on it.

I like my players being people who do things in the OTU. I'm not a "tramp freighter" guy...

 

[Ulsyus]

My current campaign is similar, though by freakish chance initially: the lowest Soc rolled was B.

So they're all mustered out military from very good families, reliable families, all decorated in the 5FW, who've signed on to assist the office of the Sector Duke's Office of Communication. A little couriering here, a little delivering there, a little speculative trade to cover their expenses and provide a cover story while they pick up or deliver the ex-SF types still in government service who get accused of shooting before thinking...

 

[aramis]

I cleaned up the tags in the poll questions. (Don't use HTML tags... BBCode is similar but different container characters.)

I also added a "none of the above" option for folks like Don.

 

[samuelvss]

2,1, then 4, REALLY close. 3 pretty close.

Hard choices, cause I like them all...

 

[DickNervous]

I have to be honest, I am running the Pirates of Drinax campaign and I love the whole concept of it. An over-arching story that allows you to insert as much side adventures into it as you want that takes a long as you want.

It's kind of like how most video game RPGs are now, like Skyrim. Here is your main quest line and 3,000 side quests you can do whenever you want.

 

[Orr]

It's kind of like how most video game RPGs are now, like Skyrim. Here is your main quest line and 3,000 side quests you can do whenever you want.

That's exactly why I don't like most video RPGs. It's not that I don't like the side quests, it's that those side quests too often don't impact the main quest in any meaningful way.

Putting it another way, you can act like Vlad the Impaler in the side quests without ruining your reputation as Ghandi in the main quest. All too often you can "lose" every side quest without suffering any ill effects to the main quest.

Actions should have consequences. Levels of accomplishment should have consequences. What happens in a side quest should effect the main quest.

This is why I'm greatly enjoying The One Ring. In it's campaigns, your actions and accomplishments in each scenario have real, lasting, and important carry over effects into the following scenarios.