Death Station as a starter set.

[Sigtrygg]

Something struck me, to pull off the nostalgia angle then the Traveller starter set should be based around Adventure 1 Kinunir...



Four linked adventures. Deckpplans for a warship and the other ships, vehicles and locations that crop up in the adventures, Rumours for worlds in the immediate vicinity...

 

[Sigtrygg]

Deconstructing A:1 into its component parts and the additional swag to go in the starter box:

The Regina subsector ... rumours of events in the subsector
... the scrap heap - regina, would need starport details and general shipyards
... the hunting expedition - knorbs, ministry of conservation reserve, animal encounters, vehicles
... the gash - prisoners of the Imperium, technothriller jailbreak
... the lost ship - details of an asteroid belt mainworld, interdiction, antimatter mining, the Kinunir itself

I would of course modify the lost ship - the Kinunir CI has control of drones, maintainance robots, and can remote control the marine battledress

imagine if the PCs do a deal with the Kinunir and get to use it as a base ship for their continuing adventures...

 

[Endie]

And so opinions on what people believe WotC has done right for their game and whether similar models should be used in the case of Traveller are relevant to the discussion. We cannot divorce opinions on what are good ideas without exploring whether people would want to play the game that results from those ideas.

D&D 5th for example has completely diluted the fundamental dynamic of abilities being limited to specific classes. Basic D&D for example had only the basic classes, Elf was a class not a racial choice, AD&D 2nd allowed more variation in character ability but they were still tied to the basic class choice. Traveller used to have limited careers (and very few skills) now it has more careers and a much larger skill list. Some of those skills however are of marginal value in a game (Astrogation and Pilot for example).

D&D 5th allows every character to be a magic using, bow wielding, armour wearing ninja and the choice can be overwhelming for new players as they can feel compelled to be good at everything and as a result no character shines in a particular area. Working together becomes everyone doing the same thing rather than each supporting the others and allowing them their moment to shine when the story moves into their wheelhouse. Since Traveller careers mirror the classes of D&D to a degree, this slide into increasingly generic characters would cause the same issue. I am already seeing players brought over from 5th edition D&D play that are more focussed on what their character can do than what the party can do working together. I don't see this as a good trend.

I also do not like re-treading old adventures for new editions of the rules unless those adventures are re-imagined rather than simply converted. This is entirely applicable to Traveller since we do see classic adventures such as Death Station being re-imagined. I am not convinced a call to nostalgia is a strong market, especially for Traveller as those old editions are still in publication.

If you consider posts are off topic or objectionable for any other reason you can report them for moderators to remove. By commenting that I shouldn't be posting about a subject that was raised by the OP, you have compelled me to write an even longer post in response. You are not required to comment on posts if they don't interest you.

That monster answer, the weird defensiveness (report you?!? What?) and the risk of a derail for various pages about opinions on wotc are exactly why I pointed out that we are discussing the marketing approach and new player hose for WotC, and not our opinions on their shitty game.

On the paragraph that was on-topic, I said previously that I referred to the original Phandelver starter set. That was in no way a “retread”. It was original content and even folks like Justin Alexander point out its great design and success in bringing in new players by the million.

 

[swordtart]

Deconstructing A:1 into its component parts and the additional swag to go in the starter box:

The Regina subsector ... rumours of events in the subsector
... the scrap heap - regina, would need starport details and general shipyards
... the hunting expedition - knorbs, ministry of conservation reserve, animal encounters, vehicles
... the gash - prisoners of the Imperium, technothriller jailbreak
... the lost ship - details of an asteroid belt mainworld, interdiction, antimatter mining, the Kinunir itself

I would of course modify the lost ship - the Kinunir CI has control of drones, maintainance robots, and can remote control the marine battledress

imagine if the PCs do a deal with the Kinunir and get to use it as a base ship for their continuing adventures...

You could also leverage the novel "Fate of the Kinunir".

This linking of adventures would be worth doing as it would have value for those who already had the individual adventures in its various iterations. Setting things around Regina also allows a neat segue into the Traveller Adventure and thence on to the Spinward Marches Campaign.

Creating more continuity adds value, and building the universe larger with each step also provides scope without removing immersion.

 

[Sigtrygg]

That book is one of the worst bits of fan fiction I have ever read.

 

[shirgall]

The after play report for the Pioneer scenario got me thinking, what if the Death Station adventure were expanded to a full starter set...

This is a good idea. Death Station itself is already free on DriveThru, the author even has a video on YouTube talking in depth about the adventure and even my guide on how to 3d Print the station is free. Expanding the options would be great and the Lab Ship itself is an iconic reward for the Scholar career.

 

[Anstett]

This is a good idea. Death Station itself is already free on DriveThru, the author even has a video on YouTube talking in depth about the adventure and even my guide on how to 3d Print the station is free. Expanding the options would be great and the Lab Ship itself is an iconic reward for the Scholar career.

This is a key point for any adventure included as part of a starter package.
I have no use for miniatures or dead tree products. But many people will want that option.
Having the .stl files on the Mongoose site as part of an easy to find/link to package along with the Explorer ruleset, an adventure, and a carefully selected TAS product to highlight the versatility and breadth of possibilities.

Then FG, Foundry, Roll20 packages for those sites.

 

[shirgall]

Having the .stl files on the Mongoose site as part of an easy to find/link to package along with the Explorer ruleset, an adventure, and a carefully selected TAS product to highlight the versatility and breadth of possibilities.

Then FG, Foundry, Roll20 packages for those sites.

Don't get me wrong, the STLs needed to print it aren't free but the build guide is in TAS and is free:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/511131/building-the-calendula

 

[swordtart]

Expanding the options would be great and the Lab Ship itself is an iconic reward for the Scholar career.

Now that would be a good hook. You muster out with a lab ship, all you need do is collect the Calendula from the team who last leased it. No legal complications as the least expired and has not been renewed. It is in orbit on a backwater world. Only one slight issue...

 

[shirgall]

Now that would be a good hook. You muster out with a lab ship, all you need do is collect the Calendula from the team who last leased it. No legal complications as the least expired and has not been renewed. It is in orbit on a backwater world. Only one slight issue...

That was very similar to the hook I used for Death Station at my table. The group's scholar had a share of a lab ship but the crew had been tooling around in a detached Scout's ship. So she joined with other NPC scholars to lease Calendula out to Lysani Labs for enough to cover the mortgage and upgrades Lysani wanted...

...but the lab ship has not checked in for three months, so "go find it and get the reports or we are canceling the payments."