Ihatei, Aslan and Zhodani in Pirates of Drinax Campaign

[PsiTraveller]

Mt players are starting the Ihatei module in the Pirates of Drinax campaign. I have a feeling this module is going to be a little Genocidal and apocalyptic. The group is looking at the Aslan threat and asking questions about nuclear missiles, suitcase bombs, Ortillery and plague bombs. (They have the Treasure of Sindal so that is an option).

I was wondering if any other groups running the game approached it in the same 'kill em all' attitude?

Also: I am having a little more Zhodani involvement in things and realized that the Suggestion power (described in 2nd edition, but used in the Drinax series to explain the actions of a marine onboard a treasure ship). I realized that a Telepath could seriously influence a gathering of Aslan by suggesting certain actions amongst the leaders.

Anyone else use this idea, and if so, can you offer any suggestions I can use to increase the paranoia level amongst my players?

 

[Synther]

You want to increase their paranoia? Is there something better than nukes, suitcase bombs, ortillery and plague bombs? Sign me up! I'm getting around this by having one of the players play an Aslan character. Feuding between the clans is one thing, complete genocidal murder is usually not on the plate though. This allows the party to have a "voice of reason," in their midst. Or at least a voice of contention. But ya...I like the way your players think.

 

[PsiTraveller]

Well they have reports of 5000 Aslans looking for a leader a single Jump from Drinax. Easiest way to NOT have Drinax become Aslan territory is to wipe out the Aslan camp. They are not above pinning it on someone else and keeping their own names clean. Staring a clan war is being discussed. I was just looking for other options that other GM's have experienced.

And the more I look at it, Zhodani agents, any Telepath really, could seriously impact the scenario in the module. Changing destinations, allegiances during an important speech. All are possibilities with the Suggestion power from 2nd Edition.

 

[Askold]

Seeing as the existence of telepaths is a known fact in Traveller, even though they are rare, you would think that people take precautions if they have reason to suspect that a telepath may be nearby.

Our GM decided that since people know that the privateers have a Zhodani officer (who was usually walking around in a Zhodan-battledress so anyone who recognized the armour would know guess that the person wearing it is a Zhodani) the kinds of people who could afford protection would start using it while dealing with the player characters. One powerful person who wanted to buy services from the privateers while keeping their identity secret used middlemen who simply did not know who they were working for.

As for the genocide plans, the players can also find other groups willing to use/provide weapons of mass destruction (Particularly when the Aslan are the intended target. The players might even get a discount on nukes and biological weapons that target Aslan.)

 

[Juums]

If the PCs are both paranoid and already cool with commission of straight-up atrocities, you might want to approach this from another direction. Play on their paranoia from the perspective of what'll happen if they get exactly what they want.

Have someone familiar with the Aslan culture catch wind of what they're up to and wants to have a little pow-wow with them about it. Have them remind your Travellers that for all of the imagery of the landless conqueror, most ihatei are children of privilege seeking only to secure their station by undertaking a racial rite of passage. Turn the above fact into something in human terms: For instance, glassing an ihatei war-camp that's not actually done anything yet would, socially, be akin to glassing a university because of drunken rowdiness emanating Greek Row. Or a packed soccer stadium because of the fear of hooliganism. It's the kind of crime that will be remembered by the families of the dead and, as so many of the dead are the children of Important People who're also extremely well-armed monster space lions, there'll be no shortage of people out for the party's heads. To say nothing of the political knock-on effects in terms of stirring up anti-human and -- if the connection was ever made -- anti-Drinax sentiments.

And as someone's already caught wind of what they're up to...well, who's to say that the Aslan won't? Bonus points if it's the Syoisuis that're having the conversation with the Travellers in the first place.