Guest Post - The Tale of Diluc Mack, Traveller

Today's post was written by my son, telling the tale of the Traveller I described in this post. 

Diluc was born in the slums of his home planet in the Talaveran Empire. Growing up hating the nobles and upper class, he began using has last name, Mack, as an alias for petty thievery, stealing silverware and pinching other valuables. When Mack was 12, he was caught trying to break into the house of a Marquis.

He was sentenced to 5 years in juvenile prison, where Mack would pick up skills that soon get him aboard ship. Having served his sentence, Mack was left listless at the starport, until a certain ship came by. That ship was crewed by pirates and was called the Swinging Hammer. Mack immediately signed on with the pirates as a deck hand and started his life among the stars. Across is 20 years as a pirate, Mack would rise to the captain and command his own ship the High Victorian. He had an interesting way of handling boarding actions, insisting that his men do not, in any way harm the passenger unless it was necessary.

When Mack was about 38, his crew was about to board a ship when he suddenly felt the urge to join them, despite usually handing off command to his lieutenants. Once aboard the star liner, he heard is name being called, though no one else did. Mack soon found himself wandering through the halls of the ship, until he came across a small chapel, where a priest was praying the akathist to Saint Lawrence the Wonderworker (of Dekalb) known for his protection against cabin pressure loss. When Mack tried to enter the chapel though, he was thrown back against the far wall. The priest then stood up, walked over to the doorway of the chapel and explained that Christ would not allowed Mack to enter as he was. The two of them proceeded to speak for over forty minutes, wherein Mack was convinced of Christianity and pledged to renounced his piratical ways. He returned to his crew and they moved on to their home base.

Once there, Mack prepared to take his ship and leave, but was surprised when one of his lieutenants decided to join him. Together, they stole the High Victorian as their last act of piracy, and got out as quick as the could. After a year of somewhat listless sailing, helping little pockets of Christians where they could, the two of them were picked up by a certain baron who decided to be a sponsor of sorts for them. Mack was brought to a church, where a bishop gave him a four year penance to the church, meaning that he would run supplies, missionaries, monks, and settlers to wherever they needed to go. After a year in the Baron's service, Mack left to focus solely on his penance.

When he was finished, he was brought into the Church by baptism as Brendan. He continued his work for the Church, but only a year after his baptism, his old pirate crew found him. In order to defend his passengers, Brendan, who still went by Mack most of the time, offered up his life in exchange for his passengers safety. He was martyred on the spot, with one of his old lieutenants putting a bullet right between his eyes. But, true to their promise, the pirates left the ship alone and went their way. Then, something incredible happened: the High Victorian, despite having no captain, piloted itself home to port, through hyperspace, and docked at Holtzmann. Brendan was buried on Holtzmann with the highest honor possible, and the question of whether or not the ship's miraculous return was due to him or not is still debated by the fathers of the Church years later.

 

 

image credit: Pixabay 

Take to the Skies! Personal Flight Gear

 "Break out the Rocket Belts, Boys!"

• Dr. Benton Quest, in The Invisible Monster

That's probably my favorite quote from the Jonny Quest show. What adventure-seeking kid hasn't wanted to take to the skies with pounds of highly flammable fuel strapped to their backs?

The Traveller Book's vehicle chapter gives us the Grav Belt at TL12:

Grav Belt (12) Cr100,000, negligible weight if on; 10 kg if turned off. Personal anti-gravity transportation using a single null-gravity module and a personal harness. Performance is similar in speed and range to the air/raft.

But what other devices have appeared in fact or fiction to give somebody a lift? Turns out there have been quite a few.

TL-1 the Wings of Icarus Cost: 20 Cr Speed: 15kph Range 5km

More About High Level Play - Paths to Get There

From the Traveller Book, Introduction chapter, “Adventuring in Traveller”

Traveller is a set of detailed rules covering how the universe operates. These rules govern day-to-day activities to be expected for any individual. Against this background of basic information, players can work, earn money, travel to distant worlds, and lead exciting lives of daring and adventure.

But Traveller does much more. The characters have an opportunity to undertake genuine adventures as they search for their own self-appointed goals. Some adventures happen as a result of day-to-day activity. Some occur as players use pre-written adventures . . . (m)ost Traveller adventures come from the referee's own imagination. Each new world is an opportunity for the referee to present a new situation to the players, who must cope with this scenario if they are to progress in their own adventures. (emphasis mine)

What's the win condition? What you (the player) decide it's going to be.

When you start playing Traveller, you look for patrons, NPCs who tell you what to do. Your PC uses skills and equipment to accomplish the mission. As a player you learn how Traveller 'does' as a game. Marc Miller states in the Experience chapter that real experience in Traveller is in the realm of the player. “Experience gained as the character travels and adventures is, in a very real sense, an increased ability to play the role which he or she has assumed.” That role is a person in a setting who interacts with other people in that setting. That person will develop goals of their own in the setting, beyond what the patron of the adventure wants. (See above)

The End State or Goal in Traveller is the same for everyone.

Alternate Random Encounter Tables for Traveller

Somebody's about to have a Random Encounter.

The Traveller Book makes it plain that Referees can and should create their own custom encounter tables for their game. These custom tables will reflect the specific situations on the planets the Travellers visit. 

From the Encounters chapter:

"The list provided is only an example, and other lists may be generated for specific adventures or situations. For example, if the adventuring group is on a world embroiled in a civil war, the random encounter list might be full of troops, refugees, guerrillas, war profiteers, petty warlords, and members of various factions."

"Reactions are an important part of random encounters. Once the encounter occurs, the referee should consult the reaction table to determine the specific response to the encounter by the other side."

Here are two that I've done, to get you started. While still 'generic', they have elements distinct enough from the baseline table to keep your players guessing. 

Urban Encounter Table, sample:

31	Drunks (roll for SOC)	-	1D
32	Noble with retinue	L, G	2D
33	Street food vendor	-	1-2
34	Tourists	+1 TL	3D
35	Street gear vendor	-	1D
36	Police Patrol	GA	2D
41	Fugitives	G	2D
42	Fugitives	L	3D
43	Criminals fleeing pursuit	L, G	1D
44	Vigilantes	L, G	2D
45	Muggers	G	1D
46	Purveyor of Vices	L, G	1D

More Patron Saints in the Far Future

It is the season of Advent once again, and I have a new group of stories to share about Saints of Holtzmann's Corridor. 

• for Diplomats: St. Arthur the Peacemaker
• for Colonists: St. Titus of Icemont
• for (Reformed) Pirates: St. Felix the Tabrazian
• for Belters: St. Cassian of Ferrocore

This has nothing to do with the content of this post, but it's still a cool pic.

Saint Arthur the Peacemaker

Arthur (of Mavramorn) was part of the negotiation team sent to Stavanger to bring an end to the Stavanger-Mavramorn war that had raged for several years. During the many heated meetings, he was always the voice persuading for forgiveness and contrition. “Mutual repentance” was his constant refrain. A radical faction of the Stavangerian military attempted to disrupt the negotiations and kill a Stavanger diplomat whom they felt was betraying their cause. St. Arthur sacrificed himself to protect this man from a shooting attack. He died to save an enemy from that enemies' own allies. Shocked both by the betrayal and the sacrifice, the two sides confirmed the treaty and honored Arthur's sacrifice by signing the peace treaty in Arthur's name.

Another Benefit of playing a Noble PC

I realize that I have overlooked something about what it means to play a Noble PC in Traveller. Having high status confers more benefits than just money.

Elites Know People. They go to the same schools, they belong to the same clubs and Orders of Knighthood. They go on vacation to the same places. They Know Each Other. Think about how many European royalty used to be in fact related to one another back in the day. They met at diplomatic functions and at exclusive resort spots. 

I work in higher education. It is common knowledge that the quality of education is not necessarily better at an Ivy League school. What the Ivys offer is connections. Mention that you went to Harvard and all kinds of doors will open that would not otherwise. This confers advantages that people will pay top dollar to acquire.

I translate that into contacts for Traveller Nobles. Whenever a PC Noble arrives on a new planet, they can check if there's anyone that they know on planet. Such people might lend direct aid. Contacts can provide information to assist the PCs in their endeavors. Starports will have records of off-world visitors. A simple Admin throw (6+) will get the PC access to the records.

When the player announces that his PC is looking for Contacts, the player gets a number of throws equal to SOC-10. For each success there is one Noble Contact on the planet.

As you walk into the Starport Lounge, you recognize this man from that time with the Thing and the Guy in the Place. Good Times.

Benefits of playing a Noble PC

For years as a Referee I beat my head against a metaphorical and game-mechanical wall trying to resolve a conundrum. Traveller allows PCs to be high ranking members of interstellar society. But there are exactly no rules or directions on how playing a Noble confers any advantage.

High Status in the Far Future

 

Much of my thinking about his amounted to “how much money should I give a Noble PC? Is this too much? Is this too little?" I used to think the cash handouts from the Robe & Blaster article were tiny and pointless. I have revised my thinking on this somewhat. Nobles in Traveller have their money tied up in land, properties, investments and ships. The benefits given below are the dividends, the residual free cash.

I now also see these dividends as small enough to not break the game. If a PC gets rich by adventuring, great! Travellers can and should seek High Level play. That should happen in the game, not because of meta-game artifacts like huge cash grants. Eventually Nobles will have connections with all sorts of VIPs, own ships and direct large-scale ventures. But beginning Noble PCs don't have all that. Not yet, anyway.

Below are the likely benefits from the R&B article.

Definition of Nobility Benefits 

These are the ones available to Knights and Barons:

• Pension: Same as standard additional service pension. Roll ld6 X 1,000 Cr./Pt.
• Merchant House Holdings: Stock/bond portfolios yielding annual value of ld6 X 1,000 Cr. dividends. May be sold at market value.
• Space Lane Carrier Holdings: As per merchant holdings, except player rolls 2d6 X 10,000 Cr.
• Court Influence: Used as a+DM on Reaction Rolls as allowed by Referee. May also be used as a DM in dispensing patronage.
• Ancestral Lands: Planetary holdings held by player in perpetuity. Roll 3d6 X 10,000 Cr. for value. Lands yield 10-60% total value (1d6) annually in revenues and cost 10-60% of value for maintenance once every four years.
• Immediate Inheritance: As per Ancestral Lands but player additionally rolls 3d6 X 10,000 Cr. For immediately available cash.

Instead of cash, the Referee can use other already available force multipliers. I mean, of course, henchmen and vehicles. A PC with a Noble title enters play with one or more loyal retainers, one of whom can operate the vehicle they may own.

Set the Heads'l! It's the Sailors Career

This time out we are looking at the Sailor career from COTI. 

Sailors: Members of the Nautical Force Command (the wet navy) of a world.

Naval Force Command is informally called the Wet Navy, to distinguish them from their space-faring counterparts. The descriptive text gives us nothing else about the service.

Any world with a Hydrographic rating above 1 could have a Wet Navy, and above Hydro-5 is likely to do so. Worlds technology levels at or below contra-gravity would still make use of sailing vessels. The conventional wisdom is that a new settlement will go next to a body of water. Transport of people and especially goods by water is an order-of-magnitude less expensive than by road, rail or air. even in the Far Future, sailing the ocean blue will be a thing. And we all know that sailing the seas can lead to Adventure.

Career Figures

Enlistment throw is 6+ with DMs for END and STR. Not a difficult career to get into. Survival is 5+ like the Flyers, with an END DM. Not too dangerous, but more risky than Doctors.

Getting a Position/Commission is also 5+ with a DM for INT 9+. Promotion is at 6+ with a DM for EDU 8+. These numbers are not high.

First observation: of 40 pregen characters, there is only one Admiral (rank 6) and three Captains (rank 5). Odd. 22 of the list are unrated ordinary seamen, including several with four or five terms.

Time and Traveller

No, this post is not about time-travel.

Time is a scarce resource.

The passage of time matters, as it affects all of the above in-game mechanics and more. The setting of Traveller, whether OTU or homemade (like my Church and Empire setting), is in motion. Things happen, polities and VIPs are making and executing plans. The PCs exist within and as part of that setting. The setting exists for the players, not the PCs. Even after the players achieve High Level Play the setting is still independent of the PCs.

Keeping track of time creates urgency, and encourages planning. Time spent is always a trade-off. If you’re doing this, you can’t do that.

The more I read from other bloggers about the importance of time in TTRPGs, the more I am persuaded that it’s an important aspect that I have neglected.

Time=Money

Take to the Skies! the Flyer Career

Clear the Flight Decks! 

Flyers: Members of the Close Orbit and Airspace Control Command (the air force) of a world. The description text includes this suggestion:

“Each character is assumed to have undergone the mustering-out procedure, although the Referee may elect to use them as if they are still employed in some form of flight activity.”

I know these days we're all about Unmanned and Remotely Piloted vehicles. In the Far Future, however, it is contrary to the spirit of Adventure to let the drones do all the work. Strap into your cockpit and let's examine this career choice.

The Army and Marines are two of the Original Six careers, so the inclusion of the Air Force in COTI is not a surprise.

Unless you have a copy of Striker, Classic Traveller gives you very little direction on how to employ aircraft, especially combat aircraft, in adventures.

The MegaTraveller supplement COACC has design tables for aircraft at several tech levels, and these can be easily back-converted into Classic.

In the OTU and in my Church and Empire setting, there are many worlds with the right atmosphere & tech level combinations for aircraft to be a common mode of transportation. Having Travellers familiar with aircraft operation can be very handy.

Session Report Heirloom Heist!

Holtzmann, week 9 of year SA 929

At this week's session we had three Travellers: Graham Clark, Dietrich Smith and a fellow known only as C-418 or C4.

Clark and C4 are senior staff in the motor pool in the household of Count Murietta, one of the Contenders. They are usually serving the Count's son, Lord Francisco, a Naval officer.

Some while back, Carter and C4 made an impression on Lord Francisco when they were instrumental in recovering a data device which someone had stolen from Murietta's estate.

When Lady Elise Kindrick, a friend of Lord Francisco (not his fiancee) came to him with a problem, he knew just the guys to help resolve it. Lady Elise had accepted a marriage proposal from the son of Marquis Tellez, a prominent nobleman. Her fiancee gave her a piece of heirloom jewelry which she would wear publicly at the party when they announced the engagement. The party was a week away.

I bet you can guess where this is going.

Sure enough, somebody had pinched the heirloom. Lady Elise hadn't told her fiancee, as the news would certainly end the engagement and cause a big scandal. She went to Francisco, instead, who promised to help.

Play Report: The Return of the Star Walker

The Star Walker (see this post) limped out of jump space in an unknown system far to the galactic South of Holtzmann's Corridor. Fortunately for them, the system was inhabited. They found out the locals called their world Saorsumma. In the undefined subsector it is in hex 0303.

On Saorsumma, Mac and Carter, along with the crew & passengers, were taken into captivity by the local government. Saorsumma it seems has starships, but they have lost the knowledge of how to construct or repair them. Jump drives are now to them a Black Box technology. The locals were excited to say the least to get their hands on another functioning J-drive. They wanted to know how to get more. Mac and Carter wanted to get back home.

After a few weeks in (relatively comfortable) captivity, a few of the Walker's passengers made a break for it with some local separatists. They disappeared into the world's back country. Maybe some day we'll play out what became of them.

Mac and Carter came up with a plan. The locals weren't thrilled but it sounded like the best option. They have waited four months for the local shipyard to finish the “refit” of their ship the Star Walker. (and we've waited three months to play out the next part of this adventure) I took what the players wanted and checked in Trillion Credit Squadron. By the book, it would take sixteen weeks to complete.

Farewell, Baron Namsos. Hello . . . ???

 In an earlier post I described the chaotic events on Schamel that led to the death of Baron Namsos of Stavanger, and narrowly avoided the nuclear death of several thousand people at Count Murietta's mining camp. The players have not been able to move this conflict forward for several weeks, owing to real-world commitments. 

The situation remains volatile. Within two weeks of the Affair's conclusion, the following official statement was released by the Baron's Council. It went to Schamel, Holtzmann, and every Embassy and Consulate Stavanger maintains.

The Government of Stavanger has made it known that as of week 22 year 929 SA, a state of Feud has existed between the House of Namsos of Stavanger and the House of Murietta of Holtzmann. Namsos holds Murietta personally responsible for the death of Baron Dominic Namsos of Stavanger. Therefore, all vessels, persons and institutions bearing allegiance to Murietta or operating under his banner or colors are subject to attack, seizure or destruction wherever they may be found.

The Government of Stavanger recognizes the right of House Namsos to take such actions as it deems necessary to exact retribution including the death of Count Murietta. No other Imperial vessels, persons, or institutions are legitimate targets of this Feud. The Feud will be ended when Namsos is satisfied that Murietta has made adequate restitution and compensation for his offenses against the House.

Letters of Marque have been issued, all Stavangerian diplomatic outposts have been notified, and all allied and friendly governments will receive customary notice of the State of Feud.

For the Barons of Stavanger

signed Allan Hokksen, First Baron of Stavanger 

Count Murietta replied:

A Statement Regarding the Declaration of Feud Between House Namsos and House Murietta

Why there are no Aliens in my Traveller Setting

 Simple answer: I don't need them. What purpose do aliens serve? To produce other-worldliness? To remind the players that they aren't in New Jersey? To give PCs cool new powers & abilities? To be a faceless enemy that Travellers can slaughter without qualm?

Rubber Forehead Aliens, now with AI!

I don't need aliens to do those things. Note this is not me saying that aliens are badwrongthink. The Traveller Book does mention aliens in passing, and says that any character can be of any race. Beyond that is up to the Referee and the players.

As a human and a Christian, I believe that God became Man in the person Jesus Christ. By his literal physical death and Resurrection He provided mankind salvation, the way back to Paradise, communion with God. He healed and restored the Image of God in man. That man bears the image and likeness of God is part of the Christian creed. This makes us distinct from animals, plants and rocks.

Does that make mankind unique in the universe? I don't know. The Church does not claim to know whether there are other image-bearers in the cosmos. So here, in my fictional future setting we find no other image-bearing races. I have chosen to leave that question unanswered.

Yes, I have the Ursas and neo-dogs. Both of these arose from Terran animals. We know that they do not bear the Image. The Church views them as living beings worthy of respect, but not as potential members of the Church. Also, the Ursas and Neo's don't see the point; they are materialists.

I have read many sci-fi pulp stories, the kind of literature that inspired Traveller. The ones set in our solar system often have native races from Venus, Mars and Mercury, and sometimes the outer planets too. Every author has a different vision of what a Martian looks like.

What they have in common is this: they are different cultures from the Terrans. Language, dress, and social practice set them apart. For the sake of story-telling they all can communicate with Terrans. There is some form of common language that all the planets have and know. 

The Schamel Affair: A Traveller Braunstein

It all started in week 16 of year 929 of the Space Age when Tyrian von Stolberg arrived on Schamel. He was under orders from Count Murietta to explore for ways to boost the Schamelian economy. this was meant to get into the local's good graces and allow Murietta room to negotiate with them for mutual economic benefit. Two weeks later, von Stolberg's prospecting team hit the jackpot - a lode of gadolinium, possibly as much as a million tons of it. In-game, gadolinium is an important component of jump drives, so it's in demand by the ship-building powers: Lanzhou, Stavanger, Dekalb, and the Empire.

On the Traveller Trade tables, metals/alloys go for 10,000 credits a ton, so this mine was billions of credits waiting to be dug up.

What Happened?

Six Factions showed up on Schamel to negotiate and deal for access to the gadolinium mine.

• Count Murietta
• Baron Namsos of Stavanger
• The Lycosky Trade Protectorate Director of Operations, Corridor Region
• The Dekalbian business director for Thetford Aerospace
• Mr. Tarpov, Assistant Secretary for Trade at the Talaveran Consulate (a Boss for the ICO, the Sakamoto Ring)
• Baron de Quintero, another Contender who has a lot of money in mining already, and might see Murietta as competition.

and the Governor of the Schamel Habitation, Gov. Castberg, played by the Referee. In retrospect, it should have been a player running Castberg. The Referee had too much to keep track of to play him effectively.

The Referee assigned each faction a primary and a secondary objective. this front-loaded some conflict into the game. Each faction would, at the end, be assessed on how well those objectives were accomplished. 

Each turn, the players handed to the Referee a card explaining their plans for the following turn. Then they had 20 minutes to interact with the other players in negotiation, argument or whatever. The time limit kept things from bogging down, but we could have made it 30. We only had the afternoon to play it out, and we wanted to get through as many turns as we could, to get to some kind of resolution. We did. See below. 

'I think I did a TARDIS' - a First at the Gaming Table

 Huh?*

This past weekend, we had two firsts at the table while playing Traveller. This despite that I've played this game since about 1982.

First, the simple one. My older son was playing a new character, Dismas, an ex-Flyer. He was on Narok, a non-Imperial world in the Corridor. While there he found himself in the middle of a public protest against the Empire and its various evils. Remember that from the Empire's POV, everyone in the Corridor are barbarians. 

Dismas was minding his own business but stumbled into the midst of the protest anyway. Some protesters noticed him and moved to attack. As is typical at the start of combat, we rolled for Surprise. Neither side gained surprise. I asked if Dismas wanted to fight or escape.

Escape and Avoidance: Encountering parties may attempt to escape from, or avoid contact with, an encounter. A party which has achieved surprise may always avoid an encounter by so stating. Non-player character parties which have surprise and are outnumbered will avoid an encounter on a throw of 7+ (no DMs). If two parties encounter without surprise, either may attempt to escape immediately (before any combat or contact occurs). Roll

9+ to escape (DM allowed based on range: -1 if close or short range, +I if medium range, +2 if long range, +3 if very long range).

Update for the Table Group

 I received a request for the status of all PCs that are/have been in play at the table. 

To the best of my record-keeping knowledge, this is all correct. Week 24 of year 929 of the Space Age began on August 9th. I continue in my quest to keep the game clock running. 

Player                      Character                  Location              Week, Year

Drew	Logan	Holtzmann	9 929
	Gen. Chen	Holtzmann	9 929
	Chuck	Dekalb	18 929
Aidan	vonStolberg	Holtzmann	9 929
	Rudolph	Dekalb	18 929
Genevieve	Boss	Holtzmann	9 929
	Vicky	Holtzmann	9 929
Katherine	Demo	Holtzmann	9 929
	Sharkey	Holtzmann	9 929
Caleb	Cal	Holtzmann	9 929
	Victor	Worosha	18 929
Sam	Nathaniel	Holtzmann	9 929
Michael M.	Count Murietta	Schamel	23 929
Joel	Mac	Holtzmann	9 929
	Trevor	Dekalb	18 929
Zach	George	Worosha	18 929
David M.	Turpov	Schamel	23 929
Gabi	Dr. Vivian	Holtzmann	09 929
Marius	Carter	Holtzmann	27 928

I strongly recommend that this Friday we pick up some of the PCs on Holtzmann back in week 9, so that they can begin to catch up. The Schamel Affair (which I will post about one of these days) went from week 16 to week 22. Your PCs who have yet to catch up to week 16 will learn about those events as the calendar indicates. Remember that in space, news travels at the speed of Jump.  Imperial news moves at Jump-4, most Corridor powers move at Jump-2 or 3. 

This is complicated, but not as bad as it may seem. The game calendar will keep moving. Players can run multiple characters provided that they don't interact with each other out of time order. Players cannot impart to characters in the past information their other characters further in the future already know. The two PCs must be at the same week in time, and the same planet in space at minimum to share intel. 

Abstract Combat - Battle at PetroPlas!

 My son's Mercenary outfit got its first big battle yesterday.

On the war-torn banana republic world of Faldor, the Wolfpack is protecting a town. The populace are called the Gath, genetically modified Very Tall humans. Many of them work in a factory for a company called PetroPlas (guess what they make?)

Earlier, the Wolfpack had tangled with a local Armed Group called the People's Popular Development Front. The PPDF attacked the factory to gain control of resources and a labor supply.

The Pack sprang into action to defend the factory and the Gath from town.

I have written before about the Abstract Battle system in Book 4, Mercenary. It works fine for streamlining large battles. I have added on a few factors, nothing changing the mini-game, elaborating a bit.

Manpower is the key value, and their weapons/armor/gear is all folded into the Equipment Tech Level.

A unit, whether PC or NPC, squad or Battalion needs to note only a few things:

Manpower and the 'preservation level'. Preservation is the point at which casualties cause the unit to surrender or withdraw. I decided that the NPCs who hit this level will surrender on a 1-3, and flee on a 4-6.

Unit Efficiency is a comparative value. This affects the nature of any round of an engagement. Are the PC forces attacking, defending, surprised? The Referee determines this by a die throw, modified by size and efficiency ratings.

Tech Level of their loadout. This is a static value, and compared against the opposing forces' TL. Advantage to the side with higher TL gear.

Mission: is this unit committed to attacking an enemy force? Defending a position? Conducting a commando raid? This also influences the resolution of a battle round.

This information fits in a box on a sheet of paper, like this:

Adventures in Resource Discovery

This is an addendum to the previous post on the Class-E starport. I'm looking outside of my usual lane of politics-influenced adventures for more pulp-style endeavors.

Everyone who's played CT knows about Animal Encounters, right? And as a component of this, from TTB, page 96 we find “In addition to animals, the referee may include one or more events in his encounter tables.” And “An event's purpose is to add interest, atmosphere and perhaps a bit of danger to the adventurers' travels.”

The party of adventurers have set up their Class E starport as the base point for a new colony. They venture out to explore the wilderness around the base camp. What do they find? The Referee should prep an animal encounter table. That table should include Event encounters.

What kinds of events should there be? Well, there has to be a reason that the PCs parked their ship where they did. A new planet has plenty of room to select from, so why that particular spot?

Abstract Combat with Book 4

My older son wanted to try his hand at running a mercenary unit. He's got a six month contract on Faldor, defending a town as unrest and civil war swirls around them. He's got about a platoon worth of troops and light vehicles.

His PC is the owner of the PMC “Wolfpack Security Corp.”, while an NPC is the field commander. His patron is the King of Pampati. A contingent of Pampatian Gath emigrated to Faldor to find work. The King is concerned about anti-Gath prejudice among the competing factions. Gath are genetically modified humans, standing 2.7 to 3.3 meters tall. Sounds like they could take care of themselves, but they moved there to work, not fight. Wrong place at the wrong time, you might say.

I've run most of his time so far as a set of random encounters as detailed in the Encounters chapter of TTB. A mix of hostiles and friendlies, government and rebels. A week or so back, a scout group from another PMC came snooping around their town. They exchanged shots before the scouts broke contact and retreated. They took one prisoner, who identified the group.

The People's Popular Development Front (PPDF) worked for the government, bolstering its forces. Then the PPDF leadership decided to renege on the contract. They saw an opportunity to establish themselves as a local power.

Last night we played out the next encounter with the PPDF. Three squads rolled into town to do “recon-in-force”.

We've been working from a sketch map of the town,

and I drew up a second hex map. The battle map noted important features like the HQ building and town gates. We both laid out counters for our units. My son's PMC is divided into about a dozen teams and squads. We did not worry about scale of the hexes, or length of turns. This is abstract, to resolve the battle quickly but without 'GM fiat'.

I added on a few simple rules to the abstract battle system in Book 4. Each turn both sides roll 1D and add the leader's Tactics skill. This is the number of counters that can move on a given turn. Each unit that moves can go one hex in any direction. This became an important factor for one side, later on. Neither side had Leadership skill on the board, but a Leader can make a throw to move a unit 2 hexes instead of one. (We'll see another time if that rule works well or not)

In the Avalon Hill game Antietam (part of the Blue & Gray series) the Union side can move only 6 of its 40+ counters per turn. This reflects McClellan's dithering during the actual battle. The movement throw added a variable to the game. It reflects the difficulties of command & control over a spread out force.

By the Numbers