Preparing for newbie game

[IanBruntlett]

Hi,

I'm going to surprise some roleplaying game friends of mine with a sudden, brief, Traveller scenario, The scenario I selected was from Signs & Portents No 55, "The Rescue".

I'd like feedback on things like :-

1) things to be aware of while running the scenario

2) which parts of the core rules are absolutely necessary for me to learn before running the game.

TIA


Ian

 

[Infojunky]

I'm going to surprise some roleplaying game friends of mine with a sudden, brief, Traveller scenario, The scenario I selected was from Signs & Portents No 55, "The Rescue".

I'd like feedback on things like :-

1) things to be aware of while running the scenario

Keep it moving, time is the enemy in that one. IF they stop for 5 minutes to argue/plan throw something at em.

2) which parts of the core rules are absolutely necessary for me to learn before running the game.

Depends, are you gonna do character generation? if yes, then Character Gen, Skill system, and Basic combat. If no drop character Gen.

 

[Xoph]

I am running a new group through this scenario too... Be warned Character creation can take a long time... a whole 6 hour session to do together with one book for a 7 player group.
What sort of things should I throw at them? I don’t exactly want to make a combat session. I could have a lot of Comm calls or collapsing rooms, any other ideas?
Also what did you guys do about a map… it seems like I need a map of some sort.

 

[tneva82]

What sort of things should I throw at them? I don’t exactly want to make a combat session. I could have a lot of Comm calls or collapsing rooms, any other ideas?

Panicked citisens? Requests for help?

Also depending on size of group be prepared to try to keep multiple threads going on. Our group decided to split in three parts in name of efficiency. 2 persons headed for dome, 3 for that rather annoying noble(I had lots of fun making up silliest complains you could think about ) and one person went alone toward tunnels. Otherwise not a problem except you need to keep 3 stories going on at the same time.

 

[Xoph]

That sounds good.. the pilot in my party has an Air Raft... I'm hoping that is will seem better if they all fly in it. besides they only have one medic and one engineer and one good fighter... i doubt the our two nobles or the pilot would want to out alone.

 

[tneva82]

i doubt the nobles or the pilot would want to out alone.

True. Though it's seller's market out there. PC's can "blackmail" quite nicely simply because a) there's not much of people who can provide escort there and b) noble is the one who called pretty much pointing out he needs PC's more than PC's need him.

Something our group took advantage of when it came down to PAYMENT of their service :twisted:

 

[Xoph]

We're playing tomorrow and I'm almost ready... I just need a map of these domes... part of the reason I don't make the whole thing up is most modules come with maps... Unless someone has an idea where to find one I guess I'll just sit and make one. thanks all

 

[GypsyComet]

Depending on how big the domes are you may find something with a Google search for "Geodesic floorplan". There are some surprisingly large structures built that way already...

 

[Xoph]

So we played our first session of traveller, running The Rescue, yesterday and it went pretty well:

The only thing I change was to start things out with the PCs unthawing from low berth on the deck of the hanger right after the accident.

My PCs split up too and I think I know why. They are given several options all on time scale right off the bat. If I was to do it again I would present each mission differently. I would have the security chief/comm. officer ask them to go to Morning side dome then once they are almost there they’ll get the call from the Mansion. Then once they are done with one of these then have the miner’s mission come up. I mentioned the Life support being down and gave the players this option right away, you could just say it is down and allow your players to come up with the brilliant idea to fix it on their own, but likely they’ll do it first.

The Mansion mission turned out to be easy for my group; no one even fired a shot. They went to the Mansion last as they didn’t believe the old guy and found him being tortured for his safe codes. The players snuck up all sneaky and ready for battle, got initiative, threw in a stun grenade and then that was it; the NPCs all failed their Endurance throws.

The miner thing went worse... our pilot/robot operator and our noble failed to keep silent and had their Endurance and a good chunk of their strength damaged by falling rocks. I let them walk around all gibbled like that... According to the rules this seemed to be right, this was before the mansion so if they had gotten into a real battle they would have probably died.

My suggestions:
1. Have something interesting to do in the Hanger for any medically inclined characters. This might be a good place for social stuff for your social characters.
2. Make the Life support more challenging, perhaps a puzzle where they have to patch multiple power lines all at the same time or something.

After the missions are done the players expected a reward from Oculus city, I ended giving them a 10% discount on the ship they are buying from the ship yard they are heading to... It seems too good to be true I’m sure... I’m sure there will be some fine print. Maybe a mission, contract, or maybe the deal only covers certain ships.