Category: Traveller

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Into the Void Ref’s Notes Session 40

First and foremost, SESSION 40! We have gotten to 40 sessions. It is now mid-September, and I hope to get to session 50 by the end of 2025!

This session was delayed by two or three weeks due to me finally getting Covid. After all these years the virus finally caught up with me. I wasn’t that sick, but I had ZERO energy for a couple of weeks. Though I honestly was tired last night I was more tired of not playing. So we played, and as always it was glorious because our group is glorious.

I didn’t have to do a massive amount of prep for this session as I had created maps, NPCS, situations, and “what is going on” weeks ago. Using the iPad to make maps for Roll20 is getting really easy. I love it. It’s actually fun.

desk with RPG gaming stuff and computerMy online GM setup has become are real mix of stuff. MacBook, two external monitors, iPad (I keep the Ref’s versions of the maps on the iPad), actual physical 6-sided dice  for doing quick rolls, and index cards. Yes, I’ve started using index cards to for NPCs, creatures, and general notes, even for online play. They are easy to handle, don’t get in the way at my desk, and frankly using them is easier than dicking around with flipping a bunch of screens around on the computer. My one recent addition to my gaming tech is some wireless bluetooth and outrageously expensive Apple AirPod Max headphones. I was just to tired of having the wire from my old headphones in my way all the time. We were at the Apple Store getting my wife a new computer and I tried them. They sound incredible and are of a very very high build-quality. So there – I am no officially a modern person.

So the PCs are on a journey through the jungle on grav bikes. A hex crawl. I had already prepared random encounter tables weeks ago, but realized as we were playing I’d not accounted for the confusion of traveling through the jungle in twisting, turning tunnels through the thick vegetation with lots of side paths and whatnot. Easy to get lost. Getting across a 5 km hex will take 3 or 4 times what it would normally. Impossible to even approximate a straight line. So quickly — the grav bikes have navigation and radar and a compass. One of the PCs has Navigation. So they agreed that he would take the lead (along with the tough guy, riding side by side) and use his Nav skill to guid them. So in each hex they enter, I have him make a Nav roll of 8+. If he makes the roll, they get one random encounter roll. A 1-in-6 chance of encountering something. If he misses the roll, that means it takes them twice as long to get through that hex, and I make two 1-in-6 random encounter rolls. Well, as luck would have it, he missed the roll in the first hex, got two random encounter rolls, and one resulted in the encounter with the three MegaBeetles and a fight. FUN!

I could have cobbled together a more complex way of handling all this, but that would get really old really fast. I am honestly kind of proud of myself for sorting this out in about 30 seconds as we played. I think I’m getting better at this. This is a lot easier than trying to map out hundreds of kilometers of crazy tunnels, and I think does a good job of representing the experience very simply.

I was also very happy they had a situation in which I could use the surprise rules and the PC Flint’s Leader and Tactics skills, and military experience, would be used to modify the rolls, as well as a negative modifier for the fact they were using vehicles. Another example of the simply elegance of Classic Traveller, the greatest RPG ever created.

Another small victory – we got the automatic fire rules right for the auto rifles and submachine gun first try, from memory!

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ITV Session 40: Beetle Battle

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SAFCO is on Uetonah. After some discussion of how to proceed, they meet the spaceport worker who Barney encountered  at Irma’s Imported Mooch Emporium, after chatting up a local about what’s happening on the planet. He suggests they meet again later at their ship (the Fortunate Son) as they might be watched here at the bar. Later they meet him at the ship.

The man says he recognizes them from their previous visit to the planet, when he fought alongside them in their last battle on the planet. He tells them he’s been unable to get a message to the Sophont Liberation Front rebels to warn them of the Samson Mining’s plans to wipe them out with mercenaries. Caliban asks him if he has proof the Pachyderms are sentient. He tells them that he rebel leader, Jason, has been studying them for well over a year and would likely have data. Barney is of course interested in this as well.

He has the latitude and longitude of one of the four rebel hideouts, about 40km away. SAFCO agrees to deliver his warning message to the rebels, as it will get them closer to Jason Slimjack, the leader, and perhaps they can help in some way to uncover the truth of the Pachyderms. He asks the PCs if they had EVER heard of the Pachyderms (amazing beings) before coming here? Especially the scouts! The would normally be aware of most major lifeforms. They admit they had never heard of them, and posit that knowledge of the Pachyderms has been intentionally kept secret.

The next day the team sets out to collect some supplies for the expedition. Flint tells Silvonius Janks they are going to scout out plants/herbs that perhaps would make good cargo, and they’ll be gone about five days. Fardt agrees to stay with Janks. Caliban goes to the rental shop where the team rented grav bikes on their previous trip. He finds them looking to sell ten grav bikes, as business is very slow due to the mine shutdown. He knows that they should probably sell for about 20,000cr each in good shape (he has Grav-1 and can evaluate them). He uses his Admin-4 skill to bargain, getting the price down to 11,000cr each, and convinces Silvonius Janks to bring them on as spec cargo. They should be able to sell them much higher elsewhere. Lucky, Barney, Roger, and Flint buy some insecticide spray bombs to deal with big bugs in the jungle. Barney and Lucky, together, use the day to build a flamethrower.  The group has brought 4 hand grenades each from their stash.

They will be ready to go the next morning.

Their contact gave them latitude and longitude, and said if they go there they’ll likely be found by patrols. This issue is that travel on Uetonah is difficult. The Jungle is so thick that the only good way to move through it is through the twisting and turning tunnels smashed through the jungle over the aeons by the Pachyderms. So traveling five kilometers in one direction as the crow flies is impossible. Flying over the jungle is possible, but the trees are 600-800 meters tall and form a dense canopy. In fact, there are multiple layers of canopy down to the ground, each its own ecosystem. So finding the rebels from the air would be impossible.

SAFCO leaves town, entering the jungle via one of the jungle tunnel entrances by the strip mine. As they enter the tunnel they again find it would be dark of not of the colorful bioluminescence the permeates the jungle.

Roger and Flint fly their bikes side by side in front, with Caliban in the middle, and Lucky and Barney side by side in the rear. Roger uses his skill as a Navigator along with his bike’s onboard radar and compass to weave them in the right general direction. In the first five kilometer hex he misses his Nav roll, which means they’ll spend twice as much time in that hex, resulting in two, rather than one, random encounter rolls.

As they fly through the twisting, glowing path, Flint signals to the group to come to a stop. Using his Tactics and Leader skill, as well as military experience, he has used his onboard radar and good old combat awareness to gain surprise against three MegaBeetles that are blocking the tunnel. The team knows from a previous encounter that these creatures are very tough and very dangerous, and aggressive. Flint and Lucky each throw a hand grenade, doing a lot of damage to the beasts – enough to make them mad. The rest of the team take gun shots at them. They manage to kill one of the beetles, but one rushes Flint on the ground and the one that was hanging from overhead rushes, upside down, to Roger. Both monsters attack and miss! The team blasts with autopistols, auto rifles, and Flint uses his submachine gun. After a couple of rounds they luck out and don’t get bitten or crushed and they kill the beetles.

WHEW! Uetonah is dangerous!

End of session
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Elapsed time: 454 game days (1 year 80 days)

 

 

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Into the Void Ref’s Notes Session 39

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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Into the Void Ref’s Notes Session 37

I keep saying this with every new session, but I am really amazed we just finished Session 37. My D&D game is on session 36 in just over a year. Both of these campaigns are now much longer both in real time and in game sessions than anything I’ve done before.

I’ve been talking to people about the benefits of long-form campaigns, as well as listening to some podcasts about it. I am not averse to a good one-shot game. They can be super fun. But the stuff we’re doing in these two long-form campaigns with no defined end points is just so fun and so great, and really couldn’t happen in a shorter format.

Session 37 was perhaps the closest to a no-roll roleplaying session I’ve run. Most of the two hours was spent with the characters in conversation with each other or interacting with NPCs. Other than a few Gunnery rolls practicing with the laser turrets on the ship and two Admin rolls, it was all talk and roleplaying. I feel like the players are getting better at the in-character roleplaying part of the game. No, they aren’t acting like voice actors or entertainers. They are just playing their characters. Maybe I’m affording them more opportunities for this? I’m not sure, but it was fun.

This was still a very busy 2-hour session. I had considered throwing some action into it, or working in the start of a new adventure, but decided not to rush it. Everyone seemed engaged, so I decided to take my time and let things play out. The game will be better for it.

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ITV Session 37: Sharp Dressed Man

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SAFCO and Caliban Tisk have made it back to the Rambler-II. A few of the alien bug fur balls were blown out into space. Everyone is feeling the need for some revenge on the ugly bastards, so the team takes turns locating the 4 fur balls on the turret scanners and frying them with the ship’s lasers. Even Caliban takes a turn, and his Jack-of-all-trades skill comes in handy. He fries one!

After a brief discussion, SAFCO decides it is time to return to Mylor. Not a hard decision, really. Barney informs the team that the ship is overdue for annual maintenance. As a miracle-worker he’s kept them safe, but it is getting too sketchy. Among other things, the ship needs a new Jump Drive B modulator as well as a replacement for the Jump Field Control Matrix. This will likely have to be brought in from a Type-A starport a subsector away. They are looking at 7 weeks downtime and about $400,000 credits. Luckily the company has enough in the bank to cover it. A course is set and they jump, managing to avoid a mis-jump.

During jump they discuss plans going forward.

Caliban prepares insurance claim documents for SAFCO, as well as forms to reinstate life insurance on each member (owed them by the Scouts). He also files on Lucky’s behalf for compensation from the Scout Service for the disfigurement and trauma he underwent during his service (this one will be had to justify. Being a Scout is inherently dangerous!). Caliban also prepares instructions for his tailor on Mylor for a new suit, as well as instructions for fabriation of new field clothing and dress duds for SAFCO. He also prepare the proper forms, to be submitted to the Scout base on Mylor, suggesting that Chamax be immediately quaranteened. Caliban make a couple of Admin-4 rolls to start the process on a couple of these projects.

SAFCO and Caliban prepare a suggested plan for dealing with any other Chamax colony ships that might float into an inhabited parsec.

The Rambler-II arrives back on Mylor. The various claim transmissions are made.

The entire group heads to the Scout base once Caliban has picked up and donned his sweet new suit. He’ll be taken seriously wearing this!  Walking in, the Scouts and Flint see some familiar faces. Caliban tries to take charge, barking orders at a scout. The man asks Lucky “Hey who is this guy”. After a response from Caliban, the scout says “You should settle down, Slick.” Barney smooths things over, and they meet with Scout Admin Billy Zoom.

After showing Zoom their footage and documentation of their harrowing experience on Chamax as well as in the alien ship, and the survey data, he agrees that quarantine will likely be instituted (if not a planetary scrubbing), and he will tranmit data to the Quarantine Agency. In the meantime the Scout base on nearby Zerix will put in provisional interdiction satellites at Chamax. He thanks them and they leave.

Roger and Fardt go relax at the Happy Gluck.

Next they visit InStarSpec, to meet with Sevor Halin. Caliban has a plan. Barney is wearing a nice new uniform, while Lucky remains “badass” looking. While he initially scoffs at request for payment to the team for completing the survey (Caliban has the original contract, stating whoever completes it gets paid), he eventually decides it’s not his money after all and pays them the 100,000 cr specified in the contract, as well as the 100,000 cr he owes SAFCO for their work sorting out the situation. They show him the footage. He offers them a contract to go back and capture one of the Chamax bugs, saying such a life form must be valuable. They decline.

Caliban’s tablet pings, indicating payment received.

A vote is taken, and SAFCO agrees to accept Caliban into the company. He brings a useful skillset that none of the others possess.

SAFCO goes over its financials and other resources. They decide to take the data disks recovered from the Chamax ship to their hacker associate, Tahm Slykk, to have them copied.  Lucky begins compiling a list of useful gear they might want to procure for their future endeavors.

End of session
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Elapsed time: 422 game days (1 year, 62 days)

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Into the Void Ref’s Notes Session 36

So, we have finished the Chamax Sessions in our Classic Traveller campaign. I used the Double Adventure /the Chamax Plague/Horde as source material, and the group actually discovered the Chamax origin planet and dealt with bugs on the surface and an alien escape ship in orbit around the planet.

This adventure actually took seven play sessions to do. Most of them were 2-hour sessions, so that is understandable.

I made a real effort to have potential skill use in this adventure beyond just bug killing. In particular, allowing PCs to add their Jack of All Trades modifier to rolls when I felt it appropriate. For example, when their background would indicate some kind of intuition in the area. As I have gone on and on about in person and online for years, most Traveller skills are BIG. They often encompass multiple implied sub-skills or entire professions. Players need to be able to use them. I’m doing what I can as Ref to nudge the players into thinking bigger with regard to their skills.

We are taking next week off, which will give me a breather and time to work on the next steps of the campaign. I want to do a better job describing things to increase “immersion” and I want to find some good non-AI imagery on the web to use during the sessions.

The players discussed a couple of items of unfinished business at the end of last night’s session, so we may go those directions depending on what they decide.

I love this campaign.

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ITV Session 36: Chamax Understood

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SAFCO is still in the alien disk ship, on the Computer deck. They investigate the equipment. The storage media they found appear to be eight optical disks, each 8 inches in diameter and about 1/4″ thick. Each is a different color, and each has writing. Lucky examines them using his Electronics-3 skill. The disks and the associate equipment, like the rest of the ship, appear to be of a lower tech level than even low Imperial standard. The team looks over the deck. They see nothing that appears to be ship controls.

Lucky asks Caliban, who has experience with first encounters with alien races, to look at the optical disks. Caliban, who is also knowledgeable about document filing systems and such, needs and 11+ to make sense of the alien system. He is allowed to use the following modifiers. Admin-4, Liason-1, JOT-1. He succeeds with the roll.

Caliban assumes that if there is an order to the disks, it likely starts with either the left or right side. Few aliens would start in the middle or have some other odd way of doing things. He looks over the writing on the disks, and decides that the disks, if there is an order to them, go right to left in their holder. Lucky notes that it would be easy to remove the container and take the disks.

Another bug comes up the ramp to the computer deck. A fight ensues. Damn! These bugs are tough! The team peppers the thing with bullets as it chaotically attacks! The bug misses its attempts to bite team members. Caliban detaches his radio, turns it to what he thinks is a bug frequency, and throws it down the hall, trying to get the bug to chase it. The bug still continues attacking. Finally, Roger gets a good shot and pops the things acid sack, killing it. Caliban retrieves his radio.

The team decides to decend the ramp to the Engineering deck. They have no bug encounters on the way.

On the Engineering deck they see lots of low tech equipment, as well as a strange bank of devices that give the impression of being something like temperature controls.

Caliban uses his tablet to broadcast what they are seeing to Barney on the Rambler-II, who is Eng-3. Barney sees a small fusion reactor. He sees no evidence of a Jump drive. He estimates this ship could do no more than .6% lightspeed. It would take over 400 years to cover one parsec. He thinks the weird equipment looks
like some kind of temperature device.

Together the team thinks this ship is totally automated — a hibernation ship. No controls. No food prep. No facilities. Only the computer deck seems to have work stations or any expectation of interaction with a sophont.

They decide to return to the Rambler-II. Lucky and Caliban return to the computer deck to get the disks, while Flint and Roger stabilize the tumbling disk ship and see about bringing over a fresh vacc suit for Lucky.

On the computer deck, Lucky loads disk one, succeeds in a Comp-1 roll, and views an explanatory video, showing that the bugs originated on this planet, Chamax, as did the crustacean aliens. The bugs natural predator was intentionally eliminated and the bugs went wild, eating all organic matter on land. The aliens built disk ships and sent them out at sublight speed to try to colonize other worlds. This ship, apparently, was invaded by bugs as it lifted off. They ate the colonists, damaged internal systems, and the ship failed to leave orbit. They see a short depiction of the bug life cycle.

Back on board the Rambler-II, SAFCO and Caliban begin discussions of next steps, realizing the danger of the bugs should they invade other worlds.

End of session
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Elapsed time: 414 game days

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ITV Session 35: More Bugs

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SAFCO and Caliban Tisk continue exploring the alien disk ship.

They have patched Lucky’s vacc suit with a quick-patch, but there is still a large hole being burned into it, quickly, by the bug’s acid.

Roger uses his blade to cut out the section of vacc suit affected — about an 8″ diameter spot. Lucky’s suit takes another 11 points of damage before he can get it cut out. It requires two quick patches and an 8+ roll by Caliban (aided by Jack of All Trades-1) to get the two patches to work correctly. The discarded fabric burns away, leaving a burned mark on the metal floor of the ship.

The team decides to try to find the central column of the ship, as shown in the video they were shown, to ascend to what looked like a bridge/computer room. They proceed, with Flint taking the point. As he moves through the halls another bug attacks him. He and Roger fight it. Simultaneously another bug attacks Caliban and Lucky. They manage to kill both bugs.

They reach the central column, and find a spiral ramp leading up and down, as well as a hatch into what turns out to be a column going through the vehicle, with a weird non-human ladder and lots of wires and conduits. They go up the ramp, and are attacked by another bug.

This bug gives them a lot of trouble. It bites Lucky and Roger, but Flint is able to pry it off both of them before it spits acid. Both of them get their vacc suits damaged again, and there is only one quick patch left. They shoot it many times, but fail to hit the acid sac and kill it. The ships power again fluctuates. Gravity goes away. Flint has left the hatch in that level’s central column open. Caliban situates himself to quickly slam the hatch shut. Flint uses his Zero-G combat skill to go flying at the bug, which is now flopping around wildly in the air. He has a crowbar with him. He makes a DX roll, and is able to hit the bug like a ball into the hatch, which Caliban slams shut and locks.

WHEW!

Now they have two damaged vacc suits and only one patch. The atmosphere in the ship is like that of the planet, however, which means it is breathable, and it is above freezing.

They continue up, and find what appears to be a “computer room.” Alien tech devices and monitors, etc. Ships power fluctuates again and the gravity comes back, but the lights to out. They are once again using their suits’ helmet lamps. Lucky makes an electronics roll and recognizes what appears to be data disks in a storage compartment. He considers taking the entire storage container, but the group decides that Barney is need on-board, since he has computer skill and may be able to figure out how to read them.

The session ends as the team discusses how to proceed. They need Barney and a spare vacc suit, and the alien ship is still tumbling with the SAFCO mining pod still attached.

End of Session:
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Elapsed time: 413 game days

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Into the Void Ref’s Notes Session 34

This adventure is taking way more session than I expected! That’s fine. We’re only playing for two hours at a time, and we usually spend about 10 minutes catching up before we play. I’m enjoying these sessions a lot, and I hope the players are too. It is great to not feel like we are rushing through an adventure “just to get it done.”

One challenge I had in last night’s session was keeping the one character who stayed on the ship (to make sure someone was there at the ready) engaged. William is a great player. He often is the one who goes up to the balcony to keep an eye on things, lags behind to make sure no one is following them, etc. Sometimes, as in these last few sessions, it means his character, Barney, isn’t  in the middle of the action.

However, over the last seven years of playing Traveller he understands how to keep his character busy, and find productive things to do, in this case supporting the away team. I can’t believe we’ve been playing this campaign for over seven years now, but we have, and all the guys are seasoned Traveller players. Well, Todd is new, but he’s an experienced gamer and it’s like he’s been with us the whole time.

I had a good time with last night’s session. I made a random table to determine how the alien ship they are on might malfunction. Gravity going in and out, information videos suddenly playing, lights on and off, maneuvering/attitude thrusters suddenly firing. It was also fun to have the PCs in vac suits – an added level of danger, as well as some zero-g antics.

When I review my own performance as Ref after these games, I continue to be dissatisfied with the descriptions I give of things. Like the interior of the ship. I feel like I’m paying a lot of attention to the big things in a session, but could spend more time thinking of atmospheric details. I will work on that.

Going on vacation for a week. More Traveller after that.