3/3 : How to establish NPCs with enough reach to keep up with the PCs?

[IanBruntlett]

3/3 : How to establish NPCs with enough reach to keep up with the PCs?

This is the final of 3 questions I have about running a Traveller campaign rather than disjointed one off adventures...

 

[Anstett]

They need similar types of resources depending on the type of campaign.

Remember to think of 'corporation are sophonts too'. The Travellers might move far enough away from system A that the division of the megacorp stationed there cannot do anything about them. But they will be able to spread the word through their internal channels to keep other divisions informed of things.

For both good and bad. No reason that the Travellers have to be on bad terms with Corp X. They do good things in system B, when they get to system C three weeks later and need assistance they get rewarded. Or the bounty hunters hired by Corp X now have a better fix on the group.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Most of the games that I have run have all occurred within a subsector-sized area, so the players were always circling back to different locations. Over time they develop Contacts and Aliies within this area, but their actions cause them to gain Rivals and Enemies as well. Some of these will be less capable than the PCs and may only be found on one planet, but others will be of similar capabilities to the PCs and may be encountered on other worlds, yet still others may have vastly more capabilities then the PCs and they will likely be able to be found anywhere the PCs travel within the subsector.

Also remember, the Contacts, Allies, Rivals, Enemies, and Patrons all can have Contacts and Allies as well which may extend their range of influence.

 

[Vormaerin]

It actually should be pretty easy to establish NPCs with the reach of PCs. Most PCs don't have special levels of resources. They mainly have special levels of 'willing to wander'. If you set up in a limited geographical area, either with literal boundaries (ooh, great rift, no jump 4? so sowwy) or story ones ("you have a subsidy agreement paying for your ship, so you have to operate within the Aramis Trace or become outlaws"), then its easy.

If your players are the sort to just run run away never coming back to the same place twice, then you'll have to create characters with similar sorts of motivations or membership in large organizations.

Ideally, you make it so the players want to find the NPCs, not ditch them. Whether because they are fun or hated or whatever.

 

[MasterGwydion]

It actually should be pretty easy to establish NPCs with the reach of PCs. Most PCs don't have special levels of resources. They mainly have special levels of 'willing to wander'. If you set up in a limited geographical area, either with literal boundaries (ooh, great rift, no jump 4? so sowwy) or story ones ("you have a subsidy agreement paying for your ship, so you have to operate within the Aramis Trace or become outlaws"), then its easy.

If your players are the sort to just run run away never coming back to the same place twice, then you'll have to create characters with similar sorts of motivations or membership in large organizations.

Ideally, you make it so the players want to find the NPCs, not ditch them. Whether because they are fun or hated or whatever.

and when PCs run away from their enemy's Area of Operations, they run away from their allies and contacts as well. Life gets hard in an uncaring universe where everyone else has friends and connections, but not you. lol

 

[Condottiere]

Localization could mean that your and the antagonist(s)' area of influences overlap.

 

[IanBruntlett]

Thank you for all of your replies. I've sent them off to get printed. Here is a little PDF I created years ago, chronicling some GM inspiration...

 

[IanBruntlett]

And here is the PDF referenced by my "gamemastering-inspiration.pdf"...