I just had to laugh ...

[dmccoy1693]

So last night was the first session of the campaign I'm running with this group. I wrote out a patron, a guy down on his luck trying to get off the planet any way he can. I mean I did a full writeup on him, everything all layed out. I figured he'd make a nice shady reoccurring character. The players decided to let him have a low berth and owe them the rest of the money. The ship's doc rolled the low berth roll and killed him.

So I had a good chuckle. Anyone else want to share a moment like this in their game?

 

[GhostWolf69]

I might have mentioned it elsewhere but here it goes:

I have three players, and they decided to name their charactgers after eachother. Now THAT is a real mind-job.

Player A = PC B
Player B = PC C
Player C = PC A

Total confusion and tons of giggeling later... I'm a wreck. Did I do something wrong? Have I really deserved players that mess with me on THIS level? I hope not... then again one of them is my wife...

/wolf

 

[Paladin]

Last session one of the PCs attempted a rescue via a lift hoist from cargo bay of a flying ship. Some goons showed up behind the PC carrying the "victim". The guy operating the winch hauling them up wanted to squeeze off a few shots at the goons. He has a minor penalty for limited LOS with the two guys on the rope dangling, spinning were blocking his view. Rolls a natural 2 on the To-Hit and pops the other PC. Thankfully, his flack jacket blocked most of the damage.

Ironically, later in the same night the character who got shot earlier manages to gutshot a 3rd PC in a moment of panic. Any potential for statements of "how could YOU shoot ME?!?" stopped.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I might have mentioned it elsewhere but here it goes:

I have three players, and they decided to name their charactgers after eachother. Now THAT is a real mind-job.

Player A = PC B
Player B = PC C
Player C = PC A

Total confusion and tons of giggeling later... I'm a wreck. Did I do something wrong? Have I really deserved players that mess with me on THIS level? I hope not... then again one of them is my wife...

/wolf

(quickly jots this down for the next time I am a player in a game!) :twisted:

 

[EDG]

So last night was the first session of the campaign I'm running with this group. I wrote out a patron, a guy down on his luck trying to get off the planet any way he can. I mean I did a full writeup on him, everything all layed out. I figured he'd make a nice shady reoccurring character. The players decided to let him have a low berth and owe them the rest of the money. The ship's doc rolled the low berth roll and killed him.

Silly question perhaps (because I really don't get this "everything must be random" mentality that Traveller tends to have)... but why did you not just fudge it and say it didn't kill him?

I mean, if you put all that work into him and had ideas about him being a recurring character, why the heck should you allow the dice to tell you to throw that away?

 

[dmccoy1693]

I mean, if you put all that work into him and had ideas about him being a recurring character, why the heck should you allow the dice to tell you to throw that away?

My GMing style. I let the players actions have an impact on the game. Besides, nothing says I can't just give him a new name on a different world and recycle all the work I put into him. :wink:

I've been in games where nothing we, the players, did mattered. No matter what, if the GM wanted him as a reoccurring character, he'd pull out a magic potion or alien tech device or etc that allowed him to escape. I always resented those games. I don't want to do the same to my players. Literally, if we nuked the guy from orbit, he would have found the one lead lined fridge that he could have crawled in to survive.

 

[Paladin]

So last night was the first session of the campaign I'm running with this group. I wrote out a patron, a guy down on his luck trying to get off the planet any way he can. I mean I did a full writeup on him, everything all layed out. I figured he'd make a nice shady reoccurring character. The players decided to let him have a low berth and owe them the rest of the money. The ship's doc rolled the low berth roll and killed him.

Silly question perhaps (because I really don't get this "everything must be random" mentality that Traveller tends to have)... but why did you not just fudge it and say it didn't kill him?

I mean, if you put all that work into him and had ideas about him being a recurring character, why the heck should you allow the dice to tell you to throw that away?

Because you can easily erase the name and tweak a few details and it's back in action. :wink:

 

[kafka]

Picture this...players are exploring a space station that has been abandoned for thousands of years. Blood stains the walls. Power to the lights reduces everything to a strobe light effect. They venture to an abandoned elevator shaft.

There they encounter....

It is a Luugiir...unfortunately, not your friendly neighbourhood Luugir but one that had turned feral (like the rest of its mates) after thousands of years. After throwing some corpses they decided to approach "Fido"...it was then that "Fido" showed it teeth. To make matters worse, they blew it away at close range using an ACR.

Later on roughly the same group playing a different party, on the same station encounter more tentacled friends...they also make the mistake of getting too close...this time using laser weapons. This group had more their eyebrows synged.

What is it said about history repeating itself...once as a tragedy and the second as a farce.

 

[Majestic7]

In my Bowman campaign the player group involves new Baron of Bowman and his troupe. Hmm, to put the background info short, someone was spreading ugly lies about them and visiting space nomads. The players thought that LSP must be behind it all. They tracked down one of the guys who paid other people to spread those rumors in a local bar. The brawlier guys decide to pay a visit.

They locate the guy sitting in a corner table. Instead of identifying themselves or anything, they just step up to the table, show that they are armed and tell the guy to come with them. The belter panics, thinking that they are local mafia or worse coming to get him. He whips out a gun. A full blown bar fight ensures, featuring iron bars and a few gunshots. The bartender lobs a stun grenade middle of the crowd when it seems like there might be fatalities otherwise. (Have to love blur.) Plenty of "good" PR for the Baron and his staff. Not to mention that all this would have been averted if they had just told who they are and who they are working for.

Edit - I thought of another one. In the previous campaign the players were investigating an office. The intrusion expert decides to just burn a safe open with a plasma torch instead of doing anything fancy, since leaving a mess does not matter. He has a critical fumble in his skill check. The safe happens to be full of cash... and the result is a lot of once valuable ash.

My Conan campaign has features several shows of creative (or just stupid) insanity, but I suppose those anecdotes would be Off-Topic...

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

Picture this...players are exploring a space station that has been abandoned for thousands of years. Blood stains the walls. Power to the lights reduces everything to a strobe light effect. They venture to an abandoned elevator shaft.

There they encounter....

It is a Luugiir...unfortunately, not your friendly neighbourhood Luugir but one that had turned feral (like the rest of its mates) after thousands of years. After throwing some corpses they decided to approach "Fido"...it was then that "Fido" showed it teeth. To make matters worse, they blew it away at close range using an ACR.

Later on roughly the same group playing a different party, on the same station encounter more tentacled friends...they also make the mistake of getting too close...this time using laser weapons. This group had more their eyebrows synged.

What is it said about history repeating itself...once as a tragedy and the second as a farce.

"Marines! We are leaving!" <drrrrrr!drrrrrrr!drrrrrr!>"

Oh yeah! take off and nuke 'em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure

 

[kafka]

Picture this...players are exploring a space station that has been abandoned for thousands of years. Blood stains the walls. Power to the lights reduces everything to a strobe light effect. They venture to an abandoned elevator shaft.

There they encounter....
quote]"Marines! We are leaving!" <drrrrrr!drrrrrrr!drrrrrr!>"

Oh yeah! take off and nuke 'em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure

You forget Luugiir are just like domestic dogs...maybe feral they might reach the size of decent size helium balloon...you see that is where the comedy kicks in...it is Hydrogen that keeps them afloat...children with energy weapons should never play near any Luugiir. :roll:

However, can't nuke them...not only don't they have nukes...their ship was grounded and the only way to refuel it was to get past things...

 

[Gruffty the Hiver]

Dems h-ugly tings.

 

[Shiloh]

I've been in games where nothing we, the players, did mattered. No matter what, if the GM wanted him as a reoccurring character, he'd pull out a magic potion or alien tech device or etc that allowed him to escape. I always resented those games. I don't want to do the same to my players. Literally, if we nuked the guy from orbit, he would have found the one lead lined fridge that he could have crawled in to survive.

I see your point, but I think the chances of dying in low berth are susceptible to being grossly overestimated in the default rules, and they're one of those things that aren't really in the players' control. I'd've been inclined to let him survive, but with *consequences* - they have to get him through the aftermath of the glitch and he's either more or less indebted to them or starts to harbour grudges against the doctor.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I ran a game where the PCs woke up from Cryo with no memories of where they were or who they were or anything.

As they moved around exploring the ship they were on, they would suddenly come across something that would spark a response in some of them.

They found a computer terminal and several of the PCs could operate it while others couldn't (they had Computer skill).

In one scene the PCs are hiding in a closet from the patrolling bad guys (they assumed they were bad guys anyway) and they found a monkey wrench. So the group passed the wrench around, while hiding in the closet, to see if they had Mechanic skill.

That image of a group of people hiding in a dark, crowded closet passing around a wrench sticks with me to this day.

 

[dmccoy1693]

I see your point, but I think the chances of dying in low berth are susceptible to being grossly overestimated in the default rules, and they're one of those things that aren't really in the players' control. I'd've been inclined to let him survive, but with *consequences* - they have to get him through the aftermath of the glitch and he's either more or less indebted to them or starts to harbour grudges against the doctor.

If the roll was close, I'd be inclined to agree. It wasn't close. His surviving family can always hate the crew though.

 

[Loz]

I mean, if you put all that work into him and had ideas about him being a recurring character, why the heck should you allow the dice to tell you to throw that away?

My GMing style. I let the players actions have an impact on the game. Besides, nothing says I can't just give him a new name on a different world and recycle all the work I put into him. :wink:

I've been in games where nothing we, the players, did mattered. No matter what, if the GM wanted him as a reoccurring character, he'd pull out a magic potion or alien tech device or etc that allowed him to escape. I always resented those games. I don't want to do the same to my players. Literally, if we nuked the guy from orbit, he would have found the one lead lined fridge that he could have crawled in to survive.

Events like this can prove to be far more fun and interesting than if everything all panned-out. Perhaps the frozen patron has powerful friends and family who come looking for him... when they find out the truth, perhaps they exact a long, cold revenge... perhaps the doc who tended the low berth starts getting feelings of guilt and remorse and turns to stimulants to keep the nightmares at bay...

Lots of opportunities. Even though your crafted patron has kicked the bucket and gone to join the choir invisible, his presence can still be the recurring thing you'd envisaged - just not in the same way.

Curveballs and cruel dice rolls can often be fun and should sometimes be embraced...

 

[EDG]

Events like this can prove to be far more fun and interesting than if everything all panned-out.

Sometimes they can, but I strongly believe that the dice are just a guide and shouldn't override what a human GM wants to do.

Perhaps the frozen patron has powerful friends and family who come looking for him... when they find out the truth, perhaps they exact a long, cold revenge... perhaps the doc who tended the low berth starts getting feelings of guilt and remorse and turns to stimulants to keep the nightmares at bay...

Or they could think he was a dumbass for travelling in a way that everyone in the OTU knows has pretty high risk of death, and accept that sometimes people die and that it's nobody's fault. Seriously, nobody is going to be pissed off at a low berth death - it's like being surprised that a formula one driver dies in a car crash in a race, it's part of the risk of doing it. Do you think people will be pissed off and will plot revenge if a passenger ship suffers a catastrophic misjump due to random happenstance?

Curveballs and cruel dice rolls can often be fun and should sometimes be embraced...

I think that the ones that could be fun are more "oops, you fluffed your diplomacy/bluff roll" or something else that causes inconvenience. Things that result in character death on the other hand shouldn't be down to the roll of a dice (which is why I loathed the CT chargen system, and think dying from low berths is stupid (both from a game perspective and from an in-setting one), and why misjumps should only be planned by the GM and certainly shouldn't be catastrophic). That sort of thing is an anathema to me.

Heck, IIRC in the old Spacemaster game there was a fixed chance of a spacecraft hitting a rock and being destroyed in an asteroid field. That was that - if you travelled through an asteroid field, you rolled the % dice and if you got unlucky you were dead. Utterly ridiculous, IMO.

 

[captainjack23]

Curveballs and cruel dice rolls can often be fun and should sometimes be embraced...

I think that the ones that could be fun are more "oops, you fluffed your diplomacy/bluff roll" or something else that causes inconvenience. Things that result in character death on the other hand shouldn't be down to the roll of a dice (which is why I loathed the CT chargen system, and think dying from low berths is stupid (both from a game perspective and from an in-setting one), and why misjumps should only be planned by the GM and certainly shouldn't be catastrophic). That sort of thing is an anathema to me.

Is there any chance you could provide a droll and or humorous story as per the topic and intent of the thread? possibly one that illlustrates your point ? I'm not 100% sure that straightforwardly using the posters story to criticise the poster's GM style and getting in a complaint about CT* is the point here.....

 

[EDG]

Is there any chance you could provide a droll and or humorous story as per the topic and intent of the thread? possibly one that illlustrates your point ? I'm not 100% sure that straightforwardly using the posters story to criticise the poster's GM style and getting in a complaint about CT* is the point here.....

Tell you what - how about you just let people talk about things how they want to? And don't make out like I'm threadcrapping, I'm just commenting civilly on a couple of things relating to the OP so don't blow this up into anything bigger than what it actually is. (and sorry, I wasn't aware that commenting about CT was against your rules now).

If you really have a problem with it then talk to a mod. But considering that you haven't posted anything here except a comment about my posts, I think perhaps you're just trying to start an argument with me again. So please don't.

 

[TrippyHippy]

The first session I ran resembled Paranoia, more that Traveller.

What happened was that I started the game off with an Imperial ship requesting docking rights to enter the characters ship, as they approached the planet they were aiming to land on.

It was supposed to be a routine check (with the idea that I would use the Imperial Captain as a patron to set in motion an on-planet investigation). However, the players just leapt to 101 assumptions about why the Imperium would want to dock their ship, and manically ran around like headless chickens for about an hour of gameplay, trying to find different ways to stop the captain from entering! Then they started to fight each other, and two characters had been shot and killed before the adventure had even begun.