Completely new to Traveller - Which simple adventure to start with and advices

[Grummore]

Greetings everyone!

I'm completely new to Traveller (as my players). I am currently reading many posts, threads, sites, etc. about this setting. I am currently leaving Fading Suns in which I had invested a significant amount of time in hope the setting would grow in the last 10 years or so, but nothing and my expectations just died.

So hi!

I'm interested in giving the very few of my very short spare times to learn and be the "referee" of a Traveller Campaign. yeah! :mrgreen:

I will be using Traveller Mongoose 2nd with 1st as a backup for what I may need.

Now, what I am actually looking for is a short adventure that includes some of the main sci-fi topics in the traveller universe: FTL, communication problems and political intrigues. I want an adventure, where the players have to use their brains more than their brawn and where they won't have their own ship in the beginning.

AND I would like something that doesn't require adjustment, modification or conversion in order to run it.
AND Something that is not a dead-end. I'd like to use this adventure for a more complex campaign (or another short adventure). I would like to move to Pirates of Drinax, but not before I feel like a competent Referee (or GM).
I have VERY experienced players, but none, me included know about Traveller.

Another request : I don't have much time on my hand and I like to be prep. Sometimes (usually ), players decide something that isn't expected. Where can I find a good load of pre-generated NPCs. Can be generic like Police, Marines, Political peoples, Bounty hunter, mercenaries, etc. even Janitor!

Thank you!

 

[Old School]

Welcome!

Quick advice:
- Practice combat, both personal and ship based, before playing an actual adventure or starting a campaign. Try a dry run, then re-read that chapter of the rules to see what you missed.
- discuss expectations with players before starting. Traveller is very open ended, and a mismatch in expectations can end a game quickly.
- the first Trojan reach adventure, Marooned on Marduk, and the first Spinward Marches adventure, High and Dry, are good intro adventures to the game. High and Dry ends with the Travellers in possession of a scout ship.

 

[MongooseMatt]

High and Dry has our seal of approval

 

[Grummore]

True, Old School, since I'm not much of a numbers cruncher GM (Referee), it's a bit of good advice to stage a few combats for my understanding. I like when a game is fluid and hate when we have a fight that drain a whole game session.

Thanks msprange, I will look into it.

Any info on pre-generated NPCs?

 

[Anonymous]

The rules lack complexity so it won't like a day to resolve a combat like some pathfinder fights might.

However if a group is experienced, it's actually quicker to look things up in PF due to their combined digital index, and in this case the extended combat time will come from tactical options. One does not, for example, simply walk into a wizard's tower or tech-lord's star-fortress and therefore any assault must be carefully prepared, to the result that they'll take just as long.

Random encounters will be quicker under Mongoose Traveller.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Death Station.

It was in a Signs and Portents issue or you could just get the CT version.

Mongoose should re-release it as part of a free quickstart - you would need a trimmed down version of the rules and some pregens.

 

[esmdev]

I would add to High & Dry as an excellent starter. It is very interactive with people and environment in the gaming area. While you can run it without modification I did find myself adding people and some extra objectives because I planned the campaign to return from time to time so I wanted it to be more alive than it already is. It runs pretty smooth without any fiddling but there are some areas that you might find ways for creative characters to move more easily through. I can say my players and I had a great time. Mission on Mithril is also a good one too, after some custom games that was the next module I threw in and it also worked out really well.

Mithril has enormous potential if your are in the mood to really expand on the module as it is basically a trek across an ice world in a moderately slow moving ATV/snow plow. I found myself adding things here and there to advance part of a long term discovery plot buried in my campaign on a world that has been mostly ignored for pretty much as long as humans have been in that part of space.

Mission on Marduk is okay but I felt like it needed a whole lot of help to make it last longer than a day. It's very much a game on rails that doesn't leave a lot of options. It does create potential for more after the module so it is a good prelude to something if you want to make that something.

Fall of Tinath is another module that has a lot of options, thinking and action. It has the disadvantage of being in a distant (like super distant) part of the galaxy so doesn't really lead to much support but has the advantage of being far from the established game area so you can do whatever you want. It also was created specifically as a starter module so it has lots of things built in to help learn the game.

Really I do think High & Dry is the best launching point for a campaign of the modules I've read/run/played, each of the others having their strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Grummore]

Excellent information peoples.

I will take a look at High and Dry and Death Station particularly.

As for NPCs, I found information on several sourcebooks: 1001 peoples, 760 patrons and such. Seems there are plenty of pre-generated NPCs, but I will have to verify.

I found this too: https://travellermap.com/

This is incredible! What a tooo much source of information! My eyes are bleeding and my brain is melting!

Do you know of any existing "Cheat sheets" with compact information for skills, combats turns and such?

 

[Old School]

There are a couple referee’s screens out there, and of course character sheets. Nothing else compact that I’m aware of.