Another fun session.
Two hours of roleplaying got the PCs back out on a mission.
I was very happy with this session. A number of good things happened. Before I get into specific great incidents of play, I want to say that all five players were doing smart things, interacting with the setting, asking the right questions, seeking out NPCs to talk to without my prompting, etc.
Since they were likely heading back to the planet Uetonah I had suggested they re-read the previous sessions on that planet, but David went beyond that. When his character, Flint, said he was going to seek out their newest frenemy, Alro Rupalian, and ask for help keeping an eye on the ship, I was delighted! I love seeing a player taking advantage of existing relationships with NPCs. That is just really good playing that is totally unrelated to character stats, yet it’s a powerful resource. Super, super good. It’s the kind of thing that is really only possible in long-form campaigns where an in-game history really develops.
In all the years of this campaign, and all my previous years of playing Traveller, I have never once use the rules for trading. Adding a bureaucrat to the mix of PCs has opened up a lot of possibilities in the game. I was reading the rules for trade and commerce and saw that the Admin skill can be used as a positive modifier when selling good. Well, Caliban has Admin-4, so that is a huge modifier on a 2d6 roll. I also like that he used his Recruit-1 skill not exactly to recruit dock workers into employment, but to sort of recruit them as allies. I always talk about how Traveller skills should be thought of as “big”. This was a great use of that skill.
Fardt, the alien Gluck NPC, has Streetwise-1. In the past he has used that skill to the party’s advantage, but in pretty obvious ways. “Locate a sketchy hacker to do some work for us? Sure.” Fardt was out with William’s character, Barney (the engineer). Barney suggested that Fardt go eavesdrop on the Samson mining recruiters. So that was a good use of the skill. Then Barney asked him to use his Streetwise to start a rumor in the city that the Samson guys were not being honest – that the mission they are recruiting for is certain death! I let William make the roll for Fardt. He made it. I decided on the fly that this brilliant and creative idea should bear fruit, so I had him roll 1d6 to find out what how long the Samson guys would be delayed due to the rumor creation. He rolled a 4. So that simple action set the Samson buys back four weeks, giving the PCs a massive lead on them. Awesome stuff.
The examples above, I think, demonstrate why Classic Traveller is simply a great system. It gives you just enough rules to make it work, but gives the Ref lots of room to work. It is flexible.
As usual, I used a flexible round-robin method of running the game. I make a list of the players, and I simply go through the list, in order, asking each player what they are doing. We can break out of it whenever we need, but I always go back to the round-robin to make sure each player is getting a chance to do stuff.
I’m finding that as each player does something inventive and fun it is spurring that same kind of play from the others. They are feeding off each other’s play in a way that’s improving everyone’s game.
I have to admit that this kind of game is a little harder to run than simpler stuff. And simple can be a hell of a lot of fun, but this is just really satisfying.
For the record, what is “going on” is really quite simple, but will take some time to sort out. It could involve action and fighting, but I can think of other ways to move forward. I have created a lot of the NPCs they may deal with, rough descriptions of places, and thought about possibilities, but the players will almost certain do something I’ve not thought of. I hope the players are having fun. They keep coming back.
I’ve been thinking a lot about a more “defined” way of letting them improve the characters through experience, but now I’m questioning if it is even necessary. I don’t think it will improve the game at all.
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