Doing more with flashbacks & past history

[SJE]

So, this idea comes in two parts.

Part the First- more than nearly any other game, Traveller establishes a detailed back history for your character. Literally in any given year you know what term of service you were doing. So what I would love to see for the Third Imperium Spinward Marches (for example) is a detailed year by year timeline with major events listed for each of the Navy, Army, Marines, Diplomats, scouts, corporations, spies and criminals. So if the game starts in 1502 and you were a scoundrel 10 years ago, then maybe you had some part to play in the Mora Bank Heists. Or if were a Navy man who got promoted 7 years ago, then perhaps that was due to your actions in the 1455 Aslan Incursions into District 268. I'd love to see that level of detail in perhaps future Traveller settings.

Idea Part the Second. So once you know what you have been doing over your back history, how can that influence the present? Obviously the GM can always use it to hang plothooks off (a recently released prisoner comes looking for his share of the Mora Bank money etc.), but I'd love to see it have some sort of player mechanical effect- perhaps something as simple as a Lost-style narrative sequence allowing the to get a reroll or change a success into a failure (perhaps representing using their long experience to 'get it right' second time around - similar to 3:16's mechanic.). Or perhaps it could be a more complicated campaign set up with lots of jumping back and forth in viewpoint time, emphasizing the impact of past events and decisions on the current situation.

Thoughts? Someone must have done this before with Traveller?

SJE

 

[BP]

You could start with The Traveller News Service (example here)... JTAS articles and lots of other material are out there for TNS and OTU history.

Breaking down by branch is not needed - as even if an event doesn't 'directly' involve a branch, individuals can still be cross assigned.

Not really seeing a need or any real value in a 'mechanic', but I am a very RP centric referee. I've generally tied PC 'backstory' into adventures, and MgT offers up nice leaders for that with events and connections options...

 

[Solomani666]

In my campaigns I simply inject non linear (flashbacks) into the action. Thus gameplay takes a more "novel" approach. (pun intended).

Examples:

I recently started a campaign with the players freshly rolled and mustered out marine character.

The second we started playing he was in the midst of a major battle.
Flash back to mission briefing then flash back forward the battle in progress.
One of the NPC's saves the charachers life after he is wounded.
Flash forward to the present with a female steward waking him to fasten his safety harness because the shuttle from highport is about to start reentry.
The PC wakes clutching a telegram from the NPC to meet him on planet X for a cushy, high paying job that the NPC is the manager of.

You get the point...

 

[Bense]

One of the worst Living Spycraft adventures I ever experienced as a player played out as a flashback. Basically the module started as a gunfight on Airforce One, and then once a bomb had gone off and someone was blown out of the airplane you would flashback and the rest of the module led up to how you got there.

Sounds like an interesting idea, unless you were the player who was blown out of the airplane by a missed saving throw, and therefore knew that it didn't matter what you did over the next four hours - your character would not be able to do anything useful in the climax because you already know he was blown out of the plane before he could.
It was terrible.

 

[alex_greene]

One of the worst Living Spycraft adventures I ever experienced as a player played out as a flashback. Basically the module started as a gunfight on Airforce One, and then once a bomb had gone off and someone was blown out of the airplane you would flashback and the rest of the module led up to how you got there.

Sounds like an interesting idea, unless you were the player who was blown out of the airplane by a missed saving throw, and therefore knew that it didn't matter what you did over the next four hours - your character would not be able to do anything useful in the climax because you already know he was blown out of the plane before he could.
It was terrible.

The twisted Referee in me (and what Referee isn't?) would counteract this by slipping the guy a note at the start of the flashback. A note which reads "You are not the character you rolled up. You are playing the ringer agent the opposition sneaked into your life just 24 hours ago.
The character you rolled up is lying chained to a bed in the HQ the characters have been assigned to penetrate. You, the ringer, are supposed to sabotage this."

 

[Bense]

The twisted Referee in me (and what Referee isn't?) would counteract this by slipping the guy a note at the start of the flashback. A note which reads "You are not the character you rolled up. You are playing the ringer agent the opposition sneaked into your life just 24 hours ago.
The character you rolled up is lying chained to a bed in the HQ the characters have been assigned to penetrate. You, the ringer, are supposed to sabotage this."

It would have been more interesting, but would run into the same problem - I already know where I'm going to be at the climax, and I'm not doing anything fun.

 

[alex_greene]

The twisted Referee in me (and what Referee isn't?) would counteract this by slipping the guy a note at the start of the flashback. A note which reads "You are not the character you rolled up. You are playing the ringer agent the opposition sneaked into your life just 24 hours ago.
The character you rolled up is lying chained to a bed in the HQ the characters have been assigned to penetrate. You, the ringer, are supposed to sabotage this."

It would have been more interesting, but would run into the same problem - I already know where I'm going to be at the climax, and I'm not doing anything fun.

You mean you wouldn't have your jailed character attempt to spring himself from chokey by turning a piece of mattress spring into an improvised lockpick and stealing the uniform of the guard you overwhelmed with the old "throw the pillow cover over his head and brain him with the bedpan" trick?

 

[Bense]

You mean you wouldn't have your jailed character attempt to spring himself from chokey by turning a piece of mattress spring into an improvised lockpick and stealing the uniform of the guard you overwhelmed with the old "throw the pillow cover over his head and brain him with the bedpan" trick?

Sure, but while I'm maknig a jail break my buddies are all on Air Force One proving they are bad enough dudes to save the President.

In any case, Living scenarios don't let the GM make major changes to the scenario like saying "you're all playing evil duplicates instead of your original character".

 

[alex_greene]

How tiresome.

 

[Bense]

How tiresome.

Which is why I tend not to play or run Living games anymore.

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Sounds like a bad case of "show up, sit down, listen to the GM... roll some dice if you must, but don't - don't - do anything to upset the 'finely crafted' plot." :roll:

 

[Bense]

Sounds like a bad case of "show up, sit down, listen to the GM... roll some dice if you must, but don't - don't - do anything to upset the 'finely crafted' plot." :roll:

Well it has to be. In order to make sure everyone has the same general experience (which is one of their goals) a Living campaign has to do some pretty severe railroading.

 

[Rikr Strumpf]

I think your year by year idea for relevant background information is a great one. Thanks for the inspiration.

You can get a lot of year by year information from the Traveller Wikia which has an entry for many years of history. For example, type in 1104 or 1105 and get some events for that year. It's just a bare bones survey of events, but it's a good cut and paste start for the referee who wants to fill in other events for his 3I campaign.

I have long desired to run an historical campaign in the Marches in the exploration and colonization days and I might use your thought and cut and paste from the Wikia to get it going . . . .

 

[Nuclear Fridge Magnet]

Sounds like a bad case of "show up, sit down, listen to the GM... roll some dice if you must, but don't - don't - do anything to upset the 'finely crafted' plot." :roll:

Well it has to be. In order to make sure everyone has the same general experience (which is one of their goals) a Living campaign has to do some pretty severe railroading.

Which has convinced me I don't ever want to go near a Living campaign!