MTU Reboot

[Jak Nazryth]

2 plus years ago I started a Mongoose game for friends who had never played Traveller before. After about half a year one of my parents died so I stopped running. A bit later I began a fantasy GURPS campaign. We have now come to a good point to pause my fantasy game and several players are chomping at the bit for me to run Traveller again. I will restart MTU next week. There are a couple of new guys, plus at least 1 guy isn't sure he even has his Traveller Character sheet anymore. When I left off, the party was hot on the trail of a major plot hook. Now that so much time has passed, and with new characters, I'm a bit conflcted. To other GM's out there... would you just reboot everything with new players, or find a way to insert the new players into the middle of the current (2+ year old) adventure. Just a note, the "owner" of the players "adventure class" ship is no longer playing... so I'm considering having his old character (No NPC) buying out the remaining ship shares, and let the few remaining character find a way to buy a new ship etc.. Or like I said, start from scratch. The game is next Tuesday. With new characters to make, and a brand new player who has never, but always wanted to, play Traveller... I don't have a whole lot of time to make my decision and prepare.
Not a whole lot to go on I know.. but any advice? Find a way to continue what was started, or just reboot from scratch?
BTW... IMTU I have a bit more Babylon 5 (when it comes to psionics) slant. Psions are no longer "illegal" but HIGHLY regulated by the Emperium. Anyone with Psi scores high enough to detect are either suppressed or collected into the Psi-corp, a highly regulated, and controlled government entity. Think of Alfred Bester played by Walter Koenig from B-5. Any unregulated, unauthorized "rogue Psions" are hunted down as ruthlessly as has always been the case within the Imperial boarders. Otherwise it's pretty much cannon.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Not a whole lot to go on I know.. but any advice?

I'll do what I can.

I will restart MTU next week. To other GM's out there... would you just reboot everything with new players, or find a way to insert the new players into the middle of the current (2+ year old) adventure.

It's all about having fun. As GM, I'd decide after discussing it with the others.

There are a couple of new guys, plus at least 1 guy isn't sure he even has his Traveller Character sheet anymore.

New players, new characters, this, to me, sounds like a reboot - but I don't know how many others may have characters already and want to start where they left off.

Just a note, the "owner" of the players "adventure class" ship is no longer playing... so I'm considering having his old character (No NPC) buying out the remaining ship shares...

You can treat it like part of the game. What would have happened if the guy died? Maybe new characters are distant relatives that inherit his shares? What would the rest of the crew do if the guy just disappeared? Perhaps this is the start of the adventure, before continuing on with the other plans.

Find a way to continue what was started, or just reboot from scratch?

Not knowing what you had planned and how "scripted" vs "sandbox" your games are makes it difficult to say. Perhaps a little of both? Reuse what you can but "freshen" it up for the new folks.

 

[phavoc]

A new PC could show up, as a relative of the previous ship-owner, and the ownership is transferred to him. Conversely, a NPC could be brought in as the owner and the game proceeds as normal. You could use the NPC to help nudge and guide your PC's on the path of the adventure as it's laid out.

Or, maybe the PC's need to take ownership and let the next owner try and track them down. Sort of a Weekend at Bernies...in SPAAAAACCCCCCEEEEEEEE! (cue echo).

To me these are relatively easily overcome plot points so you can get back ontrack with your adventure.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Most every campaign I run, be it fantasy, modern, or sci-fi, I use what I call a sandbox with a plot. I generally handle all my settings where there is one over-arching "theme" with a couple major plot lines, several medium plots, and a box full of minor "standard adventure" plot hooks. Meanwhile the game runs like a sandbox as far as the players are concerned. They get hints with bits and pieces in the news from "GNN" or rumors to the major plots, all in the back ground. Medium or regional plots might affect the players more directly, while the standard plot hook is a random "pick your adventure"... At the start of each session I give a hand full of plot hooks and adventure seeds. Some are passengers willing to pay a lot to "take me here.. it's an emergency.. which will lead to an adventure, or a stow away trying to escape the law, or... "you hear a rumor that is soooo cool you just HAVE to go investigate... etc... The whole time I'm using the typical encounter charts in the books for passenger/cargo etc... but sometime I just insert my plot hook as one of the passengers, or a cargo.
The players are free to chose what they want to do, and where they want to go. If they follow the correct trail of breadcrumbs they might find themselves involved in one of the major plot threads. I don't run my games to make them "the main characters" in a "novel" I'm creating in my head.. (one of my friends runs every single game like that and it gets old pretty quick...) but if they play their cards right, there is nothing preventing them from becoming embedded in a "main story line".

I'll give you a couple of examples... the "current date" of cannon mongoose... (read it somewhere in one of my books... still at work so I'm just not sure...) Is so close to the outbreak of the 5th frontier war, that's one of the major plot lines going on in the background. The news and other rumors just kicking up has the Zho's and the 3I in the very beginning of border skirmishes... Personally I "got over" the idea of the 5th F.W. in the late 80's, so I won't give it much thought as a GM.. it's just background noise for my players anyway. Another closer to home plot involves the Sword Worlds starting another skirmish/revolt, taking advantage of the 3I's sudden focus on the Zho's... which is in itself more background noise.. but imbedded in that background noise are several plot hooks the players can easily insert themselves into.
Another major plot hook is "there's something wrong with the xboat system" cutting off the core worlds temporarily from the marches. Some kind of super virus is disrupting the communication relays along the xboat route is what one player (corporate spy) has discovered. Is this the beginning of "The New Era" virus, or is it a Zhodani plot to disrupt important communications just at the right time? I myself as a GM haven't made up my mind. I'm not going to cause the cannon Universe to self destruct, but simply taking bits and parts from all the other Traveller themes over the years. Just enough to keep my players on their toes. In any case, a super virus wont have any effect on the players... just more background noise. And besides, they are currently in the Trojan Reaches anyway... But I'm leaning towards Zhodani hackers... or something similar.
But where my TU splinters off from cannon is in fact my main over arching theme. And I stole it off Babylon 5. "The ancients are returning" is my over arching theme. And I'm not talking about the Dryone. If there are currently 6 or so major species "today" why was there only one species "in ancient times"? Which is the blink of an eye in Galactic time. So I invented a revised past where the Dryone had a long struggle with another advanced race and eventually won, pushing this other race out of the picture. Now this other race is slowly coming back. They are generally hostile. In my rewritten history, the reason the Dryone transplanted humanity, was in fact to create uplifted, highly genetically altered cannon fodder. After many years of research, the ancient Dryone settled on ancient humans as the perfect spieces to be genetically manipulated. After the Dryone won the war they pretty much went the way of cannon. The surviving transplanted humans developed "as cannon". I simply invented my own "Why humans were transplanted in the first place". In any case this new race is hostile. There are no great armada's no massive armies, nothing you might see on the big screen... just small handfuls of a long forgotten yet powerful race slowly making it back to the scene. It is a very rough outline and the "final outcome" will take decades if not centuries in "real" time. So no real effect on my players or my game. But 3 out of the six players have already stumbled across and barely escaped the very first encounter with this new race. They assume they are the only surviving humans who are in fact aware that a "new race" even exists. And they have yet to tell anyone! :shock: lol. BUT they decided NOT to go down that plot hook trail, and kept going down their current path... tracking down the co-owner of a family run design/shipyard/manufacturing corporation called "The Winters Corp" located in Glisten. 15 years ago...Brother and sister fought for control after dad died. Sister wanted to push advanced development/cutting edge stuff, Brother wanted to focus on simple cheep "for the masses" designs. Brother tried to kill sister and make it look like an accident by causing a "navigation error" in her"advanced long range scout" into the waiting arms of a bad guy, an Aslan Slaver waiting for her ship to come out of jump where the brother's virus programmed her ship to jump. After the unfortunate "miss jump" with no sightings or signals, He declare her legally dead, but he has had to wait 10 years for the declaration to be "legally final"... in the off chance she might be found in deep space etc.. After the 10 years he can have full control. Enter the party with only 6 months to go... The players are following leads which may lead to her rescue... if they don't get killed or enslaved themselves... Anyway, the players go the final clue on where they think she might be. If they find her and return her safely to Glisten before the "10 year" window expires, she will get full control of her fathers corporation and her brother will be in prison. If not, he gets full control... If they succeed, they will get a nice reward, worth the risks. If not, they will get 6 new plot hooks / adventure seeds.
The players were heading deep into the Trojan Reach when the game was suspended.
It was only last night when I got the "We want to play Traveller again" vote, so today I'm in a bit of a spin. I have to have things ready to go my Tuesday night... no pressure... lol
Try to reinstall the current plot, with new players and the previous player "ship owner" long gone, or reboot with all new characters. :?
Sorry for the length... past time for me to head home...Thanks for your input guys.

 

[DickTurpin]

With new characters to make I think it would be best to reboot, but it does not have to be a complete reboot. You still have the main story arc to reveal, so just redo the lead-up adventures so that the old players don't get a strong feeling of déjà vu and let the story unfold.

You can also disguise the repeat adventures by scattering several short, unrelated adventures in among the redone ones. In two years, the players probably forgot some of the details of the story anyway so you should be able to sneak some hints into the new pieces without giving too much away.

If you need more time to recreate the opening adventures just make the first session character creation and a very short introductory adventure to introduce the game mechanics to the new players. Something they can do without leaving the current planet (at least at first) would do nicely.

Maybe the adventure can involve the group picking up a few more favors or the cash for the down payment on their spaceship, or it could be rumors of a derelict ship that they might be able to claim as salvage. Of course the ship will need extensive rebuilding and lots of money to make it flyable. Using Streetwise and Carouse to track down reliable information about the ship’s location, Admin and Advocate to process the salvage claim, Vacc Suit and Zero-G to salvage it, Mechanic and Engineering to repair it, and possibly a little combat as rivals try to swoop in and take it away from them will give a good overview of life as a traveller. That will also give you a bit more time to do the rewrites and have everyone already up to speed when you start your second session.

 

[Egil Skallagrimsson]

Some great story ideas here.

Have you asked the players, especially those involved 2 years ago, whether they want to continue with their existing characters? If so, then, fast forward game time by a few months, with a off stage story to explain the unfortunate departure of the important PC, and perhaps to introduce the new PCs.

If not, well, everyone rolls up different characters, and off you go.

Egil

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Looks like I'll be doing a simi-reboot.
The previous party ended the game getting ship repairs after a few battles with Aslan Slavers and pirate activity. The owner of the ship (wealthy Nobel and previous player) decided life outside the Emperium was too risky so he headed back to his home systems.

The two remaining original characters. A career marine and Agent/corporate spy.

They will get back their ship shares (bought back from the Noble) and the new players meet them, starting anew where my campaign originated; on Mertactor in District 268.
The original plot threads will still be in effect along with a few new ones. So the party can continue what the started 2 years ago, or simply go off in anther direction.
I'm also going to redo the ship share system. Discussed in older threads, I think I'm going to have each ship share worth 10% of a ship instead of 1%. I want my game to be a true sci-fi role-playing game and not a reality simulator. In previous threads this lead to the reality of the game revolving around trying to make ship payments instead of having fun. The party will still need to make ship payments and upkeep, but the monthly note will be much lower. I think the party might own 50%-60% of the ship. Financing 40% of a standard "adventure class" ship won't force the game into a "struggling to make the house payment" type of game, but not let them have "a free ship" either. Also, whatever ship they get will be used, older, and some interesting but not game hamstringing disadvantages.

Current plot is/was locating a long lost sister of a "smallish" Glisten Corporation. She was set up long ago by her twin brother long ago. He arranged to have her captured by Aslan Slavers and taken deep into the Trojan Reach and disappear forever so he could get full control of the family company. They can go back into the Reach if they want, because they have the final clue on where she might be. If not, here are the other plot hooks I currently have waiting for them Tuesday night.

1) A minor noble needs someone to track down his son. He took the family yacht for a planned short hop, but headed off on an extended and expensive party binge without permission. He got into trouble just outside the borders and now needs daddy's help. The Noble doesn't want this out in the public so he's looking for someone to go reign in his kid before he embarrass the family name. The hook is provided by the former player... "Baron Worthington", who knows the people involved.

2) Sword World sympathizer needs an morally neutral ship crew to smuggle advanced (TL 13) weapons into a hot zone... The official Sword World Government denies any involvement with a popular uprising and the activities of a violent pro-sword world terrorist organization called the Berserkers... The sympathizer is in fact a part of the Berzerkers. Plot hook is provided by a contact of the Agent/corporate spy, who's former company does business all over the Spinward Marches, including Sword World territory. (This will let me finally use some of the Sword World ships from the supplement)

3) The Kinunir adventure. Hook is provided by a buddy of the Career Marine. Rumors of "the lost cruiser" is a favorite yarn within the naval and marine family. I will change the location from Regina to just across the border into the Trojan Reach.


4) A new Player will be an Aslan. No idea what career though. But I would like an Aslan based hook. Other than Slaver hook, perhaps "family honor" hook. Any ideas?

5) Pirates/smuggler ring targeting 5 Sisters-bound Emperium traffic in district 286. Will the party investigate or avoid? Local governments will award money and other favors to locate "the nest". Stolen goods recovered from any pirates belong to the players as long as pirates are "dealt with"

6) My players LOVE refueling at gas giants, so while in route they pick up a distant distress call. The distress call originates from empty space 1-2 hexes away. Long lost freighter mis-jumped into empty space, and started beaming a distress call the the closet systems before their power ran out. How long ago? 3 years, 6 years, more? Any survivors? Any other deep space salvagers who also pick up the distress call and just happened to arrive around the same time? Fight over salvage rights? Anything valuable on board? Anything dangerous? Moral dilemma returning rightful property or does salvage law preempt. What if it's government property?


So that's 6 new plot hooks. Any other suggestions?

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Quick note... I always have a few "instant events" ready to go. I never fully develop any plot hook until I know which direction the players want to go. I always have something in my hip pocket ready to keep them busy for the night so that I can develop the adventure in more detail and have it ready for the next game night.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

First game of the reboot is in the can.
Two new players and characters. One of the guys who has heard about and wanted to play Traveller for a while finally got to see what the character creation was like. Initially he wanted to be an Engineer. Since it was his very first time I let him roll up several characters. He kept trying for the Navy to specialize in Engineering but the dice were just too unkind. He managed to enroll in the Naval academy for school, but flunked out. He got lots of misshaps along the way after spending time as a drifter. His second engineer tried the same route and fared no better. A couple of the other players showed up and the party realized they didn't have a starship pilot. So the new guys third character went through the navy again but tried to focus on piloting. He wasn't accepted in the accadamy so went right into crewman. He was never accepted as a bridge crew but got into engineering finally. His character ended in disaster when a few misshaps kicked him out, never getting a Pilot skill.
I suggested the book Scout, or Merchant Prince so that he could get pilot from the start, when somebody handed him the Scoundrel book...
The game WANTED him to become a pirate. He rolled AMAZINGLY on all his qualification rolls, survival rolls, advancement rolls, event rolls etc... plus he decided to play a Vargr... go figure... He rolled "Pirate ship" twice an the mustering out tables, plus another ship share roll!

So here is the make up of the new crew.

A Vargr pirate with Pilot 2, Mechanic 2, Astrogation, Engineering, Gunnery... along with other "pirate" skills.

An Aslan Warrior that had a horrible mishap his very last term which lowered his Social Standing to 2 withing Aslan society so now he is considered an outcast there... but he has a 15 Strength and good combat skills! (his original SS was 6, so would it still be a 6 within non-Alsan territory?)

A Human (Vilani) Marine (original character from 2 years ago) that has great armor and weaponry with the skills to use them.

A Human (Vilani) who used the Agent book to become a corporate spy (Original Character from 2 years ago) with nice stealth, hacking, small craft pilot, and other "spy" skills

One last player could not make it, and because of soccer season (he coaches highschool soccer) it will be near the end of march before he can join the group. BUT he will create his new character this weekend anyway and he'll just be an NPC crewman until he can play the character himself.

They had one small fight, just to get everyone used to the game mechanics again... and it sounds like they are going for the Kinunir plot hook.