Tips on Running a Pirate Campaign

[Mithras]

My two boys want to have a go at piracy in District 268. Any tips? I've not run a pirates game before, I don't want masses of lethality and killing civillians, how can I go about this?

How do they sell their loot? How do they remain undetected or do they require false transponder codes? Will they need to do alot of pre-pirate legwork before they can set themselves up??

Questions!

D268 will be great for this because Trexalon is a supporter of (anti-Imperial) piracy. Even better I have angry, embittered Navy officers led by discharged Sector Admiral Santanochhev helping, if not, masterminding, if not even leading these pirates in a revenge campaign against the Imperial Navy.

My players include a Vagry pirate hanging with a discharged Knight and Army General with a scout/courier. I envisage them trying to find pirate contacts for advice, weapons, new transponders etc. Maybe a small colony of resettled Vargr pirates who can help them. Maybe even bust a pirate out of Mithras Imperial prison?

Later on they will met Santanochhev who may recruit them himself. Into his corsair fleet.

And then I can move on to double-crosses, spies and secret-agents from Collace and the IISS and Naval intelligence.

But my questions still remain, how do you run day to day pirate operations????

 

[spinwardpirate]

My two boys want to have a go at piracy in District 268. Any tips? I've not run a pirates game before, I don't want masses of lethality and killing civillians, how can I go about this?

How old are your boys? Depending on their ages, you may want to throw out the technical difficulties surrounding pirate operations and make it all about swashbuckling in space and feats of daring-do.

How do they sell their loot? How do they remain undetected or do they require false transponder codes? Will they need to do alot of pre-pirate legwork before they can set themselves up??

If going the daring-do route, they sell the loot to some guy like Badger in Firefly. Some of it they trade for needed equipment. Some stuff, like military transponders, they pillage from local law enforcement.

But my questions still remain, how do you run day to day pirate operations????

It's really about having connections, a safe haven, and/or being small enough to not be worth the bother of hunting down.

 

[zero]

For more honourable Pirates (I give this advice because my Pirate is a goodguy themselves), look to Captain Harlock.

Basically have their homeworld taken over by some baddies, you can figure that out, then have your boys decide to turn their back on this new regime and become Pirates to combat them - they never pirate the innocent but take jobs that bring down the baddies a peg (think of them forming a little La Resistance to regain their former good government).

I'd think doing the above is something that you could run for any age, just simplify or add more detail to taste.
It also gets rid of the worry about your boys potentially attacking the innocent.

My own character, even named Harlock, follows this old story, where their small moon homeworld is pretty much run and over-populated by Space Nazis and their is a great wish to get off-world. Eventually after saving he gets a ship built and tries to become a freight trader with a friend but his anti-establishment past is chasing him... :shock:

 

[spinwardpirate]

How's this for a base of operations? Captive government. TL C. Could be some freedom fighting pirates want to throw out the Imperial overlords?

Mille Falcs B9A2469 C 2 Non-industrial. G

 

[spinwardpirate]

Patagon has potential as a great place to sell things. At TL4 it's a lower tech planet, but it is a rich world, and has a balkanized government, so finding new friends willing to look the other way when buying cheap hi-tech goods that they can use against their numbers is a possibility.

 

[SSWarlock]

Some of the most successful pirates are those who run/use a legitimate business as a front for their operations. The use of a planetary noble who's willing to provide some start-up funding while looking the other way if he gets a decent cut of the profits can be of great use. That way, the pirates can easily hide behind a screen of respectability if things get a little too hot for comfort.

Or so I've heard. *innocent look*

 

[Mithras]

Ah yes, Pagaton would work well, though my Mille Falcs write-up of that world is all but a military garrison world...

EDITed from ipod garbled text to legibility!

 

[spinwardpirate]

in MIlle Falcs write-up thatworld is all but a military garrison world...

Ahh... sorry, I don't have Mongoose's Spinward Marches book. I was going by UPPs from the old GDW Supplement 3.

 

[SSWarlock]

Ahh... sorry, I don't have Mongoose's Spinward Marches book. I was going by UPPs from the old GDW Supplement 3.

Hmm. If you're considering picking up a MongTrav supplement and don't have it already, "Book 6: Scoundrel" would be of great help since it deals with the details of living on the seedier side of life with specific chapters covering piracy, smuggling, and the fencing of illegal goods, all in Mongoose Traveller terms of course.

(Go away, Homeland Security, this is a game.) :lol:

 

[hdan]

Hmm. If you're considering picking up a MongTrav supplement and don't have it already, "Book 6: Scoundrel" would be of great help...

Seconded - "Scoundrel" also has a nice abstract "heist" system that lets you run "Leverage" (the TV show) style capers without the players themselves actually having to know how to run break-ins, or the Ref having to be an expert in security to have a fun game.

 

[spinwardpirate]

Cool! Thanks for the info. I'll add it to my list of games to buy.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

Ah yes, Pagaton would work well, though in MIlle Falcs write-up thatworld is all but a military garrison world...

So change it. It is your game. Re-image the world however you want.

Depending on which side of the Trexalon/Collace battle the characters are on, they might even get some help from the Imperium. 5 Sisters is a bit isolated from the rest of the Imperium, basically run by the Navy... Lots of backroom politicing could be going on there. Certainly one faction of the Navy would be willing to support an Anti-Trexalon group.

 

[Mithras]

The boys are 12 and 15, and have played a summer season of Traveller before. They definately prefer the faster-paced, action-orientated type of game, so the fencing of goods and dodgy dealings will be a side thing, and planning will also be second to getting on with exciting space combats and boarding actions of one type or another.

They can be sneaky and clever, and I'd like them to run with that.

 

[GamerDude]

The boys are 12 and 15, and have played a summer season of Traveller before. They definately prefer the faster-paced, action-orientated type of game, so the fencing of goods and dodgy dealings will be a side thing, and planning will also be second to getting on with exciting space combats and boarding actions of one type or another.

They can be sneaky and clever, and I'd like them to run with that.

This brings to mind every dodgy deal being done in a back ally or fence's place of business all clandestine like... no matter how big or small time is a huge factor. Longer it takes, the greater the chance of something going wrong or being caught.

 

[Mithras]

I'm trying to think of viable tactics for them to use, and so far the best I've come up with is an ambush from a gas giant moon, in a poorly defended system used by traders who have to visit due to their j1 limitations.

No need for the matching of very high speed vectors, the trader will be slowing down to enter orbit, the pirate can accelerate away from cover to intercept, carry out a warning shot and board. Or the pirate can wait for the trader to refuel then emerge slowly back up to its GG orbit. Then the pirates can lift off and strike. They should be invisible to the traders sensors due to the background clutter of the moon's surface, and lifting off and reaching orbit should take minutes on most GG moons. Perfect lair.

Any defences on the main world will struggle to respond in time, if the trader gets a mayday out. Plus the trader can't jump, he's in the 100D of the GG.

 

[locarno24]

My two boys want to have a go at piracy in District 268. Any tips? I've not run a pirates game before, I don't want masses of lethality and killing civillians, how can I go about this?

For the most part, not a problem - provided they don't have a reputation for shooting the escape pods, most civilian ships will surrender when faced with anything resembling a warship that they can't evade.

This goes doubly true for big corporate vessels that can insure themselves against the loss of cargo.

They definately prefer the faster-paced, action-orientated type of game, so the fencing of goods and dodgy dealings will be a side thing, and planning will also be second to getting on with exciting space combats and boarding actions of one type or another.

In which case, the key trick will probably be picking a suitable patron. With the right patron, who should be a 'deniable' government/megacorporate figure or agency, the 'pirates' become 'privateers' - this gives them (a) some legal protection, (b) a garuanteed safe port, (c) someone with suitable access to contacts and intelligence to do some degree of the planning and fencing of goods for them, (d) sufficient tacit support to defray the costs of running a capable warship, and (e) gives you, as GM, the ability to direct what the players do.

I'm trying to think of viable tactics for them to use, and so far the best I've come up with is an ambush from a gas giant moon, in a poorly defended system used by traders who have to visit due to their j1 limitations.

No need for the matching of very high speed vectors, the trader will be slowing down to enter orbit, the pirate can accelerate away from cover to intercept, carry out a warning shot and board. Or the pirate can wait for the trader to refuel then emerge slowly back up to its GG orbit. Then the pirates can lift off and strike. They should be invisible to the traders sensors due to the background clutter of the moon's surface, and lifting off and reaching orbit should take minutes on most GG moons. Perfect lair.

Yes, the fuelling ambush is one of the best workable tactics. You can track a ship inbound whilst hiding in the pretty dense magnetic, gravetic and IR environment in low orbit around a gas giant, and once they drop into the atmosphere they won't be able to see you until they surface. Line yourself up and there you go. One warning - basing yourself on the same gas giant may cause problems because sooner or later the system fleet is going to come looking for you...

This again leads to the question of getting your loot out - shuttling cargo from the gas giant to the mainworld is a suspicious activity unless you have other business. You could be a refinery running fuel there, but if the mainworld supplies processed fuel then traders can jump out directly and you've shot yourself in the foot!

By comparison, if you have a secret ally with trading ships passing through the system, then you can (secretly) sneak up to an allied ship in low GG orbit and transfer your swag aboard as they process fuel - they jump out, looted property is sold several systems away by a respectable corporation.

Note that (assuming you don't, in the words of Yatzhee, want to murder tons of dudes) you'll need to leave the ship intact but disabled, as many ships won't have escape pods. Ship's Boats, cutters, etc, however, should be taken at the first opportunity - one such capture can defray operating expenses for months.... Also, some salvage gear to cut away any weapon mounts might be useful.

Any defences on the main world will struggle to respond in time, if the trader gets a mayday out. Plus the trader can't jump, he's in the 100D of the GG.

Not only is he inside the 100D limit (several hours inside!) but if he's just done a fuel scoop dive, he's going to be 24 hours from having useable fuel in his tanks...


Equipment wise:

One of the most important things you can probably have at your disposal is pop-up turret mounts and high TL drives that occupy the same volume (more or less) as a lower thrust drive of the same TL - the aim is to meander up to a ship without it realizing you are some fiendishly evil pirates. A ship that looks like a fellow merchant ship is good.

For that matter, a ship that looks like a sanctioned customs patrol vessel (which is legally entitled to stop and search) is probably even better!

The third option is a big freighter with one hold converted to act as a baby carrier (secretly, of course). A few light fighters and a few boarding assault shuttles are sufficient for any prey that's not got its own escort. The advantage of this approach is that the base ship can be provably somewhere else at the time the attack was going on.

 

[spinwardpirate]

Mithras, I don't know if you've ever seen this, but I recall when it all happened on the old Traveller Mail List.

http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Piracy

While I don't believe rule 1 is always the case, I think these are fairly decent rules of thumb.

 

[Mithras]

Thanks sp, that's a good set of guidelines.

I've been reading extensively some excellent archived threads on piracy on CotI, trying to piece together piracy that works for me. Can ships remain stealthy? How fast are response times? Are there dedicated pirate warships? Is it worth stealing starships or cargo? etc.

All has to be decided.

 

[Mithras]

Patron = Great idea! I'll run the first mission just like any other patron encounter, but it will be prep for a pirate run. Next mission will be the pirate attack. The patron will provide a liner which will transfer the goods, enabling the PCs to slip back into anonymity. The patron will even provide a date/time/place of attack. Of course, there will be complications ...

If successful he can offer similar jobs, giving them more choice, more latitude, perhaps sending them off to meet other pirates that work for him, assisting other pirate attacks. Hopefully they will feel they are part of a network (which they are, Admiral Santanochhev's pro-Trexalon anti-imperial pirate fleet).

I'm getting quite excited about this now.

The gas giant attack I can refer to as the High Guard Tactic, but to provide the PCs with some variability, I will have to create/find/ask you guys for some more viable pirate attack techniques that the patron can teach the PCs.

In which case, the key trick will probably be picking a suitable patron. With the right patron, who should be a 'deniable' government/megacorporate figure or agency, the 'pirates' become 'privateers' - this gives them (a) some legal protection, (b) a garuanteed safe port, (c) someone with suitable access to contacts and intelligence to do some degree of the planning and fencing of goods for them, (d) sufficient tacit support to defray the costs of running a capable warship, and (e) gives you, as GM, the ability to direct what the players do.

 

[locarno24]

Admiral Santanochhev's pro-Trexalon anti-imperial pirate fleet

Which just slips off the tongue
Might I suggest an organisational nickname?

Can ships remain stealthy?

Yes and no.
A lump of inert metal is pretty hard to spot but also pretty useless. If you are under power (and that includes life support) then you are generating power from the reactor, which means you have to dump that heat. You cannot be in 'stealth mode' indefinitely from all angles because that radiated IR has to go somewhere, and any heat is fairly easy to spot against space.

Being stealthy from one specific aspect is easier - you can cool one face provided you then reject additional heat from another - and one can be fitted with suitable diffractive surface coatings to deal with RADAR and LIDAR (i.e. bought stealth coating).

there's not a lot you can do about a densitometer but one assumes they have a fairly short range (they're meant for telling you what something looks like inside rather than detecting it in the first place).

Since they are part of the whole mass/gravity/spacetime suite of technologies, I suppose it's possible they'd 'spike' from the gravetic shenanigans if you've got a gravetic manouvre drive running.

Being stealthy when you're hidden against something else is the easiest. At long range, spotting a ship coming out of the sun is going to be next to impossible without military- or scientific-grade gear. A ship in front of a planet might be easier to spot visually, but its thermal signature is not going to stand out like it would against the void.

The last thing of note (in High Guard) is the stealth jump drive, which produces a far lower jump signature, and is far harder for an enemy to pick up.



Essentially - if you're flying through a star system, you will be spotted by naval-grade forces if the system has any. Civilian ships will only pick you up on closer approach - they generally won't buy expensive sensors. Stealth is feasible in a 'crowded' environment but not in open space - surprise is only really possible where a ship 'appears' around the orbit of a small moon, or suddenly runs out pop-up weapons. Stealth is mostly there to reduce the chances of locking on to a ship during combat.