Free Epic Campaign - The Pirates of Drinax

[BFalcon]

Alex, for that joke, you shall be strung from the yardarm... when we can find one to fit to a Beowulf class trader... :lol:

 

[gloomhound]

My goodness! This is some good stuff!

 

[JRoss]

I found King Oleb and his Hawk Warriors.

 

[alex_greene]

I found King Oleb and his Hawk Warriors.

Now you can totally imagine them bursting into song:-

"I am the very model of an interstellar Traveller,
A murderer for hire and virginity unraveller ..."

 

[JRoss]

I want to clarify that I don't want to seem rude by posting that picture of Brian Blessed from Flash Gordon. I mean it more as a compliment, in that Gareth really got me to visualize Oleb and his crew. Brian Blessed is exactly the image I have in my head of the good king. A close second would be Ian McNeice.

Truly, this is by far the greatest Traveller product that Mongoose has yet made. Not to disrespect the other products, which were fantastic. I am merely speaking to the wonderfulness of this campaign. It reminds me of the video game Sid Meier's Pirates!.

 

[alex_greene]

I don't need to point out the tongue firmly planted in my cheek when I make comments about operas.

Although, with that in mind, if you find inspiration from operas, musicals and the works of Shakespeare, you can use those inspirations to bring this setting to vivid life. Deadly intrigues in the Palace one minute, high-octane action and thrills in space the next, and bawdy comic interludes liberally scattered everywhere.

Consider the following Shakespeare comedies as inspirations for the goings-on in the Palace:-

The Merchant of Venice (put the Prince from this adventure into Shylock's shoes; Princess Rao in Portia's socks; PCs as Antonio, Bassanio and the loose-tongued lackwit Gratiano)
The Comedy of Errors (identical twins, separated at birth, keep getting mistaken for each other)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (you know all those psionically-aware characters you rolled up?)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (themes of friendship and infidelity, the conflict between friendship and love, the foolish behaviour of people in love, a heroine disguising herself as a boy - think of that Blackadder episode)
Much Ado About Nothing (courting couples and scheming intrigues)
and lastly, The Taming of The Shrew (Back to Verona, with one character in the boots of Petruchio and the versatile plot device NPC Princess Rao as Kate ... and a plot to woo her heart on a bet)

 

[Hans Rancke]

High Guard Errata, Page 47: "Only one particle beam may be fitted to a turret, but this must be a triple turret."

Unless I've missed something (which is certainly possible, as I don't have High Guard[*]), this is arrant nonsense. As I've always understoood it, the difference between a single, double, and triple turret was the number of weapons you could mount in it. Some waepons were too big to mount in double and triple turrets; you could mount a big weapon or a medium weapon or a small weapon in a single turret; you could mount one or two medium weapons or one or two small weapons in a double turret; and you could mount one, two or three small weapons in a triple turret. If you mount a big weapon in a turret, it would quite automatically have to be a single turret.

[*] MGT:High Guard, that is (I wish Mongoose hadn't duplicated the CT names for their books).


Hans

 

[tneva82]

High Guard Errata, Page 47: "Only one particle beam may be fitted to a turret, but this must be a triple turret."

Unless I've missed something (which is certainly possible, as I don't have High Guard[*]), this is arrant nonsense. As I've always understoood it, the difference between a single, double, and triple turret was the number of weapons you could mount in it. Some waepons were too big to mount in double and triple turrets; you could mount a big weapon or a medium weapon or a small weapon in a single turret; you could mount one or two medium weapons or one or two small weapons in a double turret; and you could mount one, two or three small weapons in a triple turret. If you mount a big weapon in a turret, it would quite automatically have to be a single turret.

[*] MGT:High Guard, that is (I wish Mongoose hadn't duplicated the CT names for their books).


Hans

Consider this additional drawback to particle beams. Not only are they expensive but they limit number of guns you can fit into weapon AND make it pricier to boot due to triple turret being more expensive than single turret.

 

[rust]

High Guard Errata, Page 47: "Only one particle beam may be fitted to a turret, but this must be a triple turret."

Unless I've missed something (which is certainly possible, as I don't have High Guard[*]), this is arrant nonsense.

It simply means that the kind of turret required for a particle beam
weapon becomes available at TL 9 and costs 1.0 MCr (see Mongoose
Traveller core rules, page 111, on the different types of turrets).

 

[Hans Rancke]

Consider this additional drawback to particle beams. Not only are they expensive but they limit number of guns you can fit into weapon AND make it pricier to boot due to triple turret being more expensive than single turret.

Ah, that's the bit that I've missed. Double turrets cost more than single turrets and triple turrets cost more again. And upon checking I see that this goes back to Book 2, so I can't even hide behind Mongoose changing things while I wasn't looking.

I think I would have called them small, medium and big turrets instead when there are some weapons that can't be fitted three to a triple turret. It sounds paradoxical. Anyway, I withdraw my comment about the arrant nonsense. It just sounds like nonsense! :wink:


Hans

 

[tneva82]

I think I would have called them small, medium and big turrets instead when there are some weapons that can't be fitted three to a triple turret. It sounds paradoxical. Anyway, I withdraw my comment about the arrant nonsense. It just sounds like nonsense! :wink:


Hans

Well yeh. Guess there needs to be SOME limit on destructiviness players can get their hands on We all know players are going to be fitting biggest meanest guns aplenty to their ships

"Diplomacy? Isn't that the thing where you shoot first, ask second?"

 

[locarno24]

I think I would have called them small, medium and big turrets instead when there are some weapons that can't be fitted three to a triple turret. It sounds paradoxical. Anyway, I withdraw my comment about the arrant nonsense. It just sounds like nonsense!

I think it's at least partly trying to reign in the 'go-go-gadget particle beam' as the only weapon worth putting on fighting ships.

Seriously, it becomes available at TL8, it has no flight time and can't be shot down (unlike missiles), ignores sand (unlike lasers), has no real ammo restriction (unlike autofire railguns), has the highest punch of any weapon type and does radiation hits just to top it off.

"Diplomacy? Isn't that the thing where you shoot first, ask second?"

I always liked one of the quotes from Space Captain Smith; "We are commencing intensive orbital...ah...diplomacy."

 

[Jame Rowe]

So far it looks good.

But I would really like a Scouts-based aventure path.

 

[dreamingbadger]

fantastic! many thanks looking forward to the next installment!

 

[GypsyComet]

I want to clarify that I don't want to seem rude by posting that picture of Brian Blessed...

My understanding is that you've misspelled his name. There is supposed to be an exclamation point at the end of each part, and all caps are not incorrect.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Diplomacy: Asking for something "BEFORE" you start firing.

Negotiation: Asking for something "WHILE" firing

Looting: Taking something “AFTER” you finish firing :twisted:

 

[Putraack]

This looks really cool! And there's even a princess to woo!

A few questions: where might I find more on the Trojan Reach? Specifically, how would I arrange the subsector maps that I could make up from the "Key ports" file?

Second, how would one carry out recruiting? I see that worlds can have a chance to successfully recruit, but what determines the number and quality of potential recruits?

 

[AndrewW]

A few questions: where might I find more on the Trojan Reach? Specifically, how would I arrange the subsector maps that I could make up from the "Key ports" file?

Alien Module 1: Aslan covers the Trojan Reaches:

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/traveller/the-third-imperium/alien-module-1-aslan.html

There is also the Trojan Reaches Map Pack:

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/traveller/the-third-imperium/trojan-reaches-map-pack.html

Alternately you could try Traveller Map:

http://www.travellermap.com/?x=-0.433&y=0.5&scale=2&options=1015&style=poster

 

[Elrick]

Third Imperium fanzine also covered Trojan Reach: http://www.travellermap.com/thirdimperium/

You can also get some rather nice subsector maps from the Traveller Wikia:

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Pax_Rulin_Subsector

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Sindal_Subsector

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Tlaiowaha_Subsector

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/The_Borderland_Subsector

 

[Putraack]

Very nice, thank you! I missed those subsector maps when I skimmed the wikia last night.

As for recruiting, I may scavenge the rules from Mercenary (which I have). I wonder if there is more in Scoundrel?