Traveller Prelude on Earth?

[Hopeless]

Okay so far this started off as a prelude to an existing game set far in the future and I wanted to see about setting another near enough that it could eventually explain how humanity reached the spinward marches in the first place.

Anyway the adventure i had planned evolved around a research program shelved last September which involved scientists from around the world in an effort to build the next generation spaceship intended for a manned mission to Mars.

Due to the recession and political infighting between the scientists involved as well a certain governments the project was shelved and most of the participants returned to their own research.
However unknown to most a recent addition to the program was busy perfecting a working cold fusion reactor, she managed to successfully test her invention in front of a group of the project backers much to the indignation of some of the remaining senior scientists who saw her success as a robbing them of their status since it should have been them demonstrating the invention as she had been a mere assistant of an ESA Astronomer who had recruited her over six years previously during an Antarctic mission to run tests on certain ideas to do with the project.

One used his former status to access her background files and forwarded them to his government who used the information to issue a warrant for her extradition to the US for questioning about her links to a suspected Serbian War Criminal.
Whilst the extradition was being fought her entire research team, the research materials and prototypes were illegally transferred to an American facility and apparently lost when the plane carrying them crashed just after crossing the east coast.

 

[dragoner]

Ever see the integrated timeline?


http://dmckinne.winterwar.org/pdfs/TravellerIntegratedTimeline.pdf

 

[Hopeless]

Ever see the integrated timeline?
http://dmckinne.winterwar.org/pdfs/TravellerIntegratedTimeline.pdf

So -2551 is the equivalent of 1969?

 

[Hopeless]

The game I have planned but won't be run for at least a few weeks yet was that a team sent by ESA to Canada to locate and bring back the missing research scientist as she's the only one left who has the knowledge to rebuild her project.
The US have sent a team to forcibly extract her after evidence suggested that the flight was deliberately sabotaged something that at the time the game starts is considered unsubstantiated.
Eventually the PCs will find out where Morgan (their missing colleague) has gone with her husband and infant son and in the process of contacting her end up in a fight with the American team.

I'm looking at expanding this into a potential campaign by revealing eventually that the research materials and prototypes were swapped over before the flight left Europe so when it crashed at most all it was carrying was enough materials to pass for the actual contents of what it was supposed to be carrying.

I was thinking of retricting this to exclude the research team who would be much harder to cover their survival so that leaves who, how and why?

So I figure one of the backers of the program witnessing the success arranges the exchange I figure they see the acquiring of a working cold fusion reactor would provide quite a boon but outside of the James Bond Universe how do you hide the fact he's effectively stiffed the world's space agencies let alone the world governments in the process?

So her research team given they should be loyal to her how likely they'd turn on her and steal her research having more of an idea what she was planning?

The way I was looking is that she had developed the reactor to power a new generation space drive that the research project couldn't get to work and she managed it however it was far from perfected.

I was planning on revealing she tumbled onto the secret of jump drive ala stutter drive but as per Traveller rules is seriously fuel intensive and the original idea for the game is that she had a modified Ariane rocket launch her probe to Mars to test the drives and only she knew about the jump capability so when it disappeared a rival claimed it crashed and the revelation of her past meant she returned home to celebrate christmas with her family back in Canada whilst waiting for confirmation it had reached Mars once it released the satellite it was carrying and started transmitting a week after it was launched.

Yes figure that was too much so looking at how to expand on the basic adventure.

 

[dragoner]

Ever see the integrated timeline?
http://dmckinne.winterwar.org/pdfs/TravellerIntegratedTimeline.pdf

So -2551 is the equivalent of 1969?

Yes, Traveller is basically set 3600 years in the future.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

For me, Traveller begins the moment the Humans learn of the Vilani.

 

[Greylond]

I've had a campaign idea knocking around in my head for several years in which a ship with an alien crew kidnaps a team of humans from Modern Earth and transports them in cold sleep(low berth) via a slower than light ship to another world. Still haven't decided on what rules system to use but it's on file in my head of "Cool Campaigns to Run Someday."

 

[dragoner]

Or do a metamorphosis alpha. 8)

 

[Hopeless]

Still looking at a game inspired by Space 1999 meets UFO so...

 

[Hopeless]

If I asked you to design a character for a present day Traveller game using the above introduction what would you go for?

Say if you got to choose which of the Space Agencies actually assigned you how would you explain your character's involvement in this mission?

 

[locarno24]

If you wanted someone with a not bad combat/investigation skill, I would suggest someone with INTERPOL background connected with the investigation/prosecution of the Serbian war criminal - he or she would want to check into this newly discovered 'accomplice' and would likely have the skills to detect the scent of Rattus Rattus about the 'evidence' - which might lead to him digging deeper, possibly coming across two contradictory cargo manifests for the same flight...

 

[Hopeless]

If you wanted someone with a not bad combat/investigation skill, I would suggest someone with INTERPOL background connected with the investigation/prosecution of the Serbian war criminal - he or she would want to check into this newly discovered 'accomplice' and would likely have the skills to detect the scent of Rattus Rattus about the 'evidence' - which might lead to him digging deeper, possibly coming across two contradictory cargo manifests for the same flight...

Good point, one of the pre-generated characters is an Interpol Agent so well worth considering, was looking at starting the game by letting them ask questions about what they actually know... with my luck they might not decide to run different characters to what I expected which would be interesting anyway!

Hmm maybe reveal Manuel Cortez is still alive and trying ala Goldeneye to remain "useful" to the bad guys but doesn't realise an important component was transferred with the rest of the research and Morgan took it with her as a safety precaution since its lets the cold fusion reactor to successfully separate the hydrogen from water and allows for them to fuse efficiently enough for her design to work whilst it currently will mostly just turn the water into oxygenated gas...

Still leaves the bad guys identity though...