IanBruntlett
Emperor Mongoose
Now that I have got AM4 : Zhodani on my hands, I'd like to run a Zhodani Campaign. I've only ever run Spinward Marches stuff. Any hints?
Zhodani Campaign
- Thread starter IanBruntlett
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GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
There's a page in the back, IIRC, that talks about some options.
IanBruntlett
Emperor Mongoose
barnest2 said:Run it as a PBP?
Personally, despite an IT degree and programming career, I'm pretty much a pencil, highlighter pen and book person for RPGs.One of most difficult psi talents to manage for me as a GM is telepathy. A player with it will invariably wants to use it to discover what everyone is thinking, what the lowest price acceptable to a seller is on anything, motivations of everyone he's listening to or conversing with, etc.
How you handle it can make or break a campaign. What worked for me in the past was:
1) requiring the psionicist to focus on the telepathy use to the exclusion of all else (including seeing and listening) and
2) allow the target of the skill to be able to detect something "tickling the brain". When using MongTrav rules, I'll rule this side effect could be avoided if the psionicist rolled an Effect of a certain level (GM-dependent).
Other members of this forum may have better ways of dealing with it. All the rest of the psi talents never really caused any problems by their very nature in any of my campaigns.
One of the most innovative uses of Life Sense I've seen was when a psionicist was trapped on a low TL world in a wooden barn surrounded by a small group of people wanting to kill him. He use his skill and a rifle loaded with AP rounds to shoot the bad guys through the thin wooden barn walls.
How you handle it can make or break a campaign. What worked for me in the past was:
1) requiring the psionicist to focus on the telepathy use to the exclusion of all else (including seeing and listening) and
2) allow the target of the skill to be able to detect something "tickling the brain". When using MongTrav rules, I'll rule this side effect could be avoided if the psionicist rolled an Effect of a certain level (GM-dependent).
Other members of this forum may have better ways of dealing with it. All the rest of the psi talents never really caused any problems by their very nature in any of my campaigns.
One of the most innovative uses of Life Sense I've seen was when a psionicist was trapped on a low TL world in a wooden barn surrounded by a small group of people wanting to kill him. He use his skill and a rifle loaded with AP rounds to shoot the bad guys through the thin wooden barn walls.
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
SSWarlock said:
1. Expend one power point
2. Make stat roll using Psi
3. Use Effect of roll as modifier to Broker, Carouse, Streetwise, Admin, Stealth, etc.
4. Move on.
Your Life Sense example can be handled the same way mechanically, but obviously "move on" is a bit more tense. For the mundane "I'm a telepath and you are not" shenanigans, invoking the power too often is a sign of an attention whore. Effect. Mod. Roll. Move on.
Jak Nazryth
Mongoose
My Mongoose Zhodani book just arrived so I haven't had time to read through it. But I really like the GURPS version of Zhondani society... content and happy slaves. Every time a "normal" citizen feels stressed or unhappy about his lot in life he gets a visit from the friendly neighborood government thought police. After counciling the unhappy citizen realizes his lack of success isn't something to be worried about and he embraces his role in life as a prison bathroom janitor. Happy, controlled, enlsaved minds all toiling away for the greater good of society.
Might be too dark or simple, but that's the gist of things inside Zhodani society where political correctness is actually enforced by the body politic freely and without much notice. If you can control minds on the scale of an entire society, then you will have the happiest society ever created.
Throw your players into this nightmare and have fun!
Maybe they can be part of an illegal underground group call "The free thinkers society".
Just imagine if the good old eastern block of the 60's and 70's actually had psionic powers and used them on the people of eastern Europe from birth. I'm not talking normal "brainwashing" through media, programmed educational systems, and other propaganda etc... but actual psionic manipulation. Then you would get a good idea of Zhodani society.
Am I being to harsh? Perhaps. But to me the Zhodani has always been the Traveller version of the Soviet Union.
Every time a "normal" citizen feels stressed or unhappy about his lot in life he gets a visit from the friendly neighborood government thought police. After counciling the unhappy citizen realizes his lack of success isn't something to be worried about and he embraces his role in life as a prison bathroom janitor. Happy, controlled, enlsaved minds all toiling away for the greater good of society. Might be too dark or simple, but that's the gist of things inside Zhodani society where political correctness is actually enforced by the body politic freely and without much notice. If you can control minds on the scale of an entire society, then you will have the happiest society ever created.
Throw your players into this nightmare and have fun!
Maybe they can be part of an illegal underground group call "The free thinkers society".
Just imagine if the good old eastern block of the 60's and 70's actually had psionic powers and used them on the people of eastern Europe from birth. I'm not talking normal "brainwashing" through media, programmed educational systems, and other propaganda etc... but actual psionic manipulation. Then you would get a good idea of Zhodani society.
Am I being to harsh? Perhaps. But to me the Zhodani has always been the Traveller version of the Soviet Union.
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
Jak Nazryth said:
That is the intention, at least when viewed from the outside. The Consulate was intended to be the Soviet Union to the Imperium's USA, as a Cold War analog worked well for the relationship and helped set the tone for us Cold War Survivors.
The reality need not be so black and white. Traveller is good at doing that.
It takes very little to re-image the Imperium as a Dark Imperium, even using every bit of Canon published. It also takes very little to imagine the Zhodani as internally altruistic. Both polities also work as shades of grey, which is probably closer to the original "truth-behind-the-propaganda" intention.
Liam Devlin
Mongoose
GypsyComet said:
Indeed, Mssr Bruntlett,
There are suggestions for such things there. Depends on what your players like to do:
:arrow: Merchanting-small trader style roaming about making ends meet?
:arrow: Mercenary style work?
:arrow: Military styled adventures?
Also, whether or not you're players are all Non-Zho, a mixed crew, or totally Zho. In preparation for answering your post here, I took the time to read the entire Ziafprlaians sector material and found a LOT of hooks for all of the above.
I am currently using a mixed crew of humans & Vargr in a pbp campaign (They started off at Riverland, and are dealing with crooks on Condoyle right now, but are enroute to the Llanic-M Subsector to visit the Law 0 system of Aek Elakfough. Apparently somebody working there (AE) worked on a TL-E race specific biowar agent that a vessel was caught bearing in the Riverland system (and the crew was imprisoned for/ Ship was confiscated/ and the planetary Council of Riverland, along with the Subsector Council's approval, has sent these dupes out to *atone* for their insanity)
The players are acting as freelancers with a small team of Zho mercs aboard sent to "visit" the laboratory site (somewhere in the Asteroid system) where this nasty stuff was sent from/ developed at and end it. They are travelling with a small convoy of 3x Vargr Thirz Empire merchanters (Using some of Middenface's ships there).
You don't have to tweak much to make it fun there!
alex_greene
Guest
The Tvarchedle' Department of Inspirational Media thanks you for your future cooperation.Jak Nazryth said:My Mongoose Zhodani book just arrived so I haven't had time to read through it. But I really like the GURPS version of Zhondani society... content and happy citizens.
alex_greene
Guest
What they're not telling you is that this applies to Nobles, too. A Noble who gets bored with his lot in the Imperium starts going off the deep end, turning into Caligula, hiring men and women to entertain him, developing horrendous addictions, treating rehab like a holiday, and finally going lava surfing and prematurely ending up as part of the fossil record.
When a Noble gets bored managing a billion citizens in the Consulate, he gets a knock at the door. Transfer orders to the frontier, where he might be managing a somewhat more unruly world, but one which presents endless challenges that keep his mind occupied. Or perhaps to one of the Core expeditions, where he can explore genuinely new and exciting phenomena. And by "explore," I mean "run away from."
Never any time for a bored Noble to stay bored for long. Especially one whose boredom might get inadvertently broadcast across the planet, infecting a billion people with a crushing sense of Brechtian angst and crippling Proustian ennui.
That's the Tvarchedle''s job.
When a Noble gets bored managing a billion citizens in the Consulate, he gets a knock at the door. Transfer orders to the frontier, where he might be managing a somewhat more unruly world, but one which presents endless challenges that keep his mind occupied. Or perhaps to one of the Core expeditions, where he can explore genuinely new and exciting phenomena. And by "explore," I mean "run away from."
Never any time for a bored Noble to stay bored for long. Especially one whose boredom might get inadvertently broadcast across the planet, infecting a billion people with a crushing sense of Brechtian angst and crippling Proustian ennui.
That's the Tvarchedle''s job.
Liam Devlin
Mongoose
Stainless said:
Indispensable!
I do have a question about a certain planet in Ss-A DIAZHIENSH (A), called Devliensh :shock: :shock: & its Sector wide Corporation 'Vekbafia' that specializes in providing support to new (Zhodani) colonies... :roll: :twisted: :lol:
alex_greene
Guest
Which is why the Tvarchedle' learn cold reading, and they get very good at it.locarno24 said:
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
Liam Devlin said:
The Zhodani have been in space and developing continuously for thousands of years. "New" could mean anything founded since the Third Imperium showed up.
The Consulate made a decision to stop expanding their borders some 2000 years ago, but that doesn't preclude visiting or revisiting the empty worlds within their borders, helping smaller worlds expand, or providing materiel to the Core Expeditions.
GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
alex_greene said:
The CT module on the Zhodani had two skills for that sort of thing. MGT already has the Social Sciences cascade and the usual set of social skills, so aside from a little reminder that these skills are going to be really useful to the Tavrchedl', nothing need be added.
That looks suspiciously like you've been talking to someone I used to play Traveller with. She pronounced it "Tvar", too.
Liam Devlin
Mongoose
donm61873 said:
:lol: No questions of serious nature Mssr donm! I found my nom-de-plum in a planet's name, and the Sector wide corporation based there coincidentally funny--as thats my way of gearheading: World-building!
Devlin vs Devliensh
I am sure NOW, by way of your answer, that it was unintentional, and hit my vanity and funny bone simultaneously. :wink: Carry on...
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