Planning my first Traveller campaign

Stjarnvik

Mongoose
Hello everyone,

I started making some plans for my first Traveller campaign. I opted to locate it in the classic Spinward Marches sector and see where we get from there.
As a referee with limited preparation time, I plan on linking pre-written scenarios with occasional custom adventures whenever prompted by the Travellers' actions.

Thus my starting plan is
1. Flatlined: but relocated to Gunn, right by the Sword Worlds. A close friend of the Travellers (let's call him Jack) tells them of an incredible opportunity to get their own starship for free from the Scouts Services. Being low on cash, they book low berth passage to the Flammarion system. Here the scenario kicks in with the skill-jacking ring drugging them, etc... but Jack is missing...
I think Gunn could make a good replacement for Neon as it is Amber zone, probably due to the presence of the Creepers. After a night of horror, they should be able to reach the following day a mining camp but with low resources there is no choice but to work for a very meager salary with hope of eventually leaving this place.

2. Follow up with Death Station as per the recommendation at the start of the new version. The Calendula is in orbit around Gunn and Dalglee Hahsh offers a small and a free meal to investigate a communication problem. Scenario is as described but additionally, in a cryo-pod in one of the ship's laboratory, they can find the body of their friend Jack. Once the problem is solved and they get back planet side, Hahsh pays their passage out of the system hoping to buy their silence.

3. Getting to Flammarion we can conclude with High & Dry. If they have survived this far, the Travellers now have their own startship and a galaxy to explore. Who knows where that will lead them but I'd like to plug Daggers at Efate at some point.

What do you think? Does this makes sense? Any comments or tips?

Thanks a lot for any feedback.
 
Looks like a great adventure path to me. You might toss Mission to Mithril in there for good measure. Please check back and let us know how it goes!
 
If your players are new to Traveller, get up a good sized list of rumors they can pick up, whether while carousing or through contacts/patrons/vendors that have general lore about the area. Behind the Claw, Sword Worlds etc. source books have details on worlds that can be twisted into things to spark interest or warn against dangers, like the Abyss Rift. Then if they insist on going there anyway, there's free or almost free adventures on DTRPG concerning the Rift and/or Things that go Bump in the Jump or Hostile Sit Rep 3, Repellant. Stories about the best places to shop, like the tailored vacc suits on Pallique. Stories of a city-folk turned rancher who tries everything to get milk from an Ouroch... False leads that sound real. Real leads that sound false.

22. (Sword Worlds) Did you hear about the city slicker turned greenhorn rancher who bought himself a big ol’ Ouroch from Tyrfing? They say those things produce enough milk to feed a man for a day. He figured, who needs a wife to fix supper if he can get the milk for free, right? Well, after a week, he came back into town and went to screaming at the man what told him about the Ourochs in the first place. So, he asked him if he knew how to milk a cow. The greenhorn starts pawing at the air, mimicking what he’d seen on movie vids. This guy shakes his head and jokes that he’d be better off just sucking the teat direct if he wasn’t going to use it for anything but feeding himself anyway. The man goes off, right, but comes back the next day, this time with the Ouroch in tow pulling a cart behind him. He says, “Mister, I sucked that teat until I was blue in the face and hardly got any milk out of it, but now this Ouroch follows me everywhere I go.” The man looks at the Ouroch and says, “Why didn’t you tell me you bought a bull?”

25. You can get anything you want at the free port of Quiru … for a price. Except Jump Drives. Oh, they’ll sell you the jump drive. It comes in about 50 crates, with an instruction manual, if you pay extra. They don’t have the facilities to properly install and calibrate them there…

29. (Overheard) I finally got the video I ordered of this year’s Grand Tournament at Lunion’s “Fighting Chance Dinner Theater” in latest interstellar mail drop. I can’t wait to relax on the couch and fire up the holo! I’ve been shutting off the entertainment feed every time they show a commercial for it for over two months, so I don’t get any spoilers. <passing @$$#073> Yeah, last year’s champion, Eric the Butcher, got his throat cut in the Arena of Blood semi-final. They had to refund the whole front row after he sprayed blood in their meals!”
 
Nice tip about the rumours. I was thinking about starting another thread on the subject but while we're at it.

Seems there are many supplements to aid the Referee in giving colour to his world.
Second edition has the Going Portside ebook, while first edition has 760 Patrons, Supplement 9 Campaign Guide, Supplement 16 Adventure Seeds, Supplement 13 Starport Encounters and the Spinward Encounters ebook.

First question, is the second edition Going Portside overlaps with any of the first edition books like Startport Encounters?
Of those (and others I surely have missed), which would you recommend the most? I know when I was looking at first edition back in the mid 2000s, 760 patrons seems really well regarded.
 
Won't be much help here... all of the above. I like all of the Referee Briefings, as well as the starport one.

The Traveller map has some flavor as well in the planet descriptions. Will be using one of them as a major clue as to the identity of a skill jacking conspiracy.
 
Stjarnvik said:
2. Follow up with Death Station as per the recommendation at the start of the new version. The Calendula is in orbit around Gunn and Dalglee Hahsh offers a small and a free meal to investigate a communication problem. Scenario is as described but additionally, in a cryo-pod in one of the ship's laboratory, they can find the body of their friend Jack. Once the problem is solved and they get back planet side, Hahsh pays their passage out of the system hoping to buy their silence.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

After Deadlined, I had the mine send a rescue vehicle. They apologized for the lack of space, but could only carry four survivors, since someone had stolen and then crashed their other vehicle the previous night. The others had to ride with Corey in the bin of the work robot they repaired.
Two were injured, so went with Kat and Anson in the cushy ride. As they were heading to the medical bay, they saw Hahsh offering Anson passage to the starport in a pinnance on the landing pad (I have the Deadlined planet in the La'Belle system on the warm end of the habitable zone.) The rest of the group went after the crashed vehicle, which was just stuck in a ditch, and they went through Zozer Games' Sit Rep 4, Psychosis. After a that and a total of a little more than a week of further earning their keep at the mining station, they were sent to the Calendula to investigate. Good rolls on the ship's computer. They found video of Anson being "escorted" on board. Noticed that the docked pinnance was identical to the one she went on, and eventually found her in the room at the back of the food prep area.
Between the memory goo, the psi-plant and the combat drugs, this planet is a cornucopia from Hell.
 
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