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Adventures, Traveller

Scabs

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Patron: Factory Manager/owners
Required Skills: air/raft or other driving skills, non-lethal weapons helps
Required Equipment: none
Location: agricultural world with oceans (Hydrographics >5)

Players’ Information:
The local fish canning facility is having labor troubles. The people who do the cleaning and canning are on strike due to the owners cutting their pay. The owners say that to stay competitive they must cut labor costs and the workers will have none of it. The government and nobility want nothing to do with this situation and the owners are convinced they can outlast the worker’s strike by bringing in cheap labor (a.k.a. “scabs”) up to and including basic industrial robots.

One of the owners’ agents, a Mr. Simon Bing is at the starport looking for off-world help. The owners will be willing to hire the PC’s to bring their temporary workers into the facility and to bring the finished product (canned fish) out of the facility to their waiting ships at the starport. They have three Grav Cargo Flyers (see Supplement #5, p54; 12.5 tons; TL-C; hauls about 7.3 tons of cargo) available to haul people and goods in and out of the facility some ten miles away. Each Grav Cargo Flyer can seat two people (Including the driver). The PC’s will make one run in and out of the factory a day at variable times to avoid confrontations with the locals. Each successful trip in and out of the factory will yield the PC’s 1,000 credits per flyer. They can expect work for the next thirty days.

If the PC’s are confronted by the local workers, it is asked they disengage and avoid all confrontation. They expect the workers to cave into their demands and they need a healthy workforce, not one that is busied and bleeding. The PC’s will be issued some company-owned body armor (as TL9 Diplo vest, see Supplement #4, p134) to wear underneath their company-issued coveralls. They will also have a crash helmet (treat as Light Infantry Helmet, Supplement #4, p139) with a camera mounted in the front. This camera will identify any troublemakers who confront the PC’s while they are working.

Picket Line
Picket Line – image from wikimedia
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Referee’s Information:
This strike has been running for about two months. The workers’ families are becoming desperate and there is talk of serious civil unrest. The workers they are transporting are coming from off world and they all seem to be in moderate to poor health. Every third “body” transported is actually a robot that stays deactivated until after they are delivered. 20-30 people are hauled in the back of each of the Cargo Flyers and needless to say, violent maneuvers could result in serious injury or death.

Outcomes:

1. The locals are very unhappy to see the Flyers driven in and out of the factory. By the end of the first week the PC’s will notice that their whereabouts are being asked about and the managers of the hotel will house them in a different room each night. The contract will terminate on the 30th day as the workers give in to the demands of the plant owners. Only half are hired back and the others are replaced by the new off-world help.

2. The locals are very unhappy to see the Flyers driven in and out of the factory. By the end of the first week the PC’s will notice they are being followed. By the end of the second week the manager asks them to find another place to say as his family is being threatened. The only place available to the PC’s is a luxury suite at double the normal cost. The contract is terminated at the end of the 30th day as no more workers are needed and the new help can drive the Flyers.

3. The locals are very unhappy to see the Flyers driven in and out of the factory. By the end of the first week one of the Flyer is sabotaged and a second flyer goes down by the end of the third week. Meanwhile if the PC’s go out in town they will be recognized as the drivers of the flyers and they will be assaulted by fists and clubs. The contract will terminate after 30 days and the strike will roll along.

4. The locals are outraged to see the PC’s driving the Flyers. After four days they riot at the gates of the factory and company security in riot gear suppress the crowd with fire hoses, batons and shields along with tear gas. The will be death threats to the PC’s by the end of the second week. The contract will be terminated by the end of 30 days as the strike continues.

5. The locals are outraged to see the PC’s driving the Flyers. At the end of the first week the PC’s receive death threats. At the end of the second week a contingent of workers on strike infiltrate the workers and some strikers stow away on one of the flyers in disguise. After the PC’s drop them off they begin a series of actions that end up shutting down the plant. The plant owners will blame the PC’s and terminate the contract immediately.

6. The locals are outraged to see the PC’s driving the Flyers. At the end of the first week the locals storm the gates of the factory, overwhelming the security forces there. The factory is put to the torch with loss of life on both sides. Needless to say the PC’s are now out of a job. There will be a government inquiry and the PC’s will be asked to stay on world for no less than 30 more days as a result of the investigation. Meanwhile the hostile workers will be looking for the “company scabs” who they blame for escalating tensions during the strike.

Adventures, Traveller

The Noble’s Bobble Head Doll

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Patron: Merchant / Broker
Required Skills: nothing special
Required Equipment: jump-capable starship with 5 tons of available cargo space

Players’ Information:
As the PC’s are seeking a cargo to purchase or move, a broker by the name of Barnard Green contacts the ship asking if they can carry a special cargo. It seems that the local noble in charge of this planet/subsector is upset with the fact that a bunch of bobble-head dolls in his likeness were manufactured. The broker asks if the PC’s can haul five tons of this cargo to a destination to a friend of his some dozen parsecs away. Instead of trashing all the dolls he is trying to make some minor profit – or at least break even. He will pay to have the dolls delivered to his friend at +10% above the normal delivery rate (he will go as high as 50%, but not a cent more). (Total lot price = 5,000 credits before the added percentage. Twelve parsecs distance adds 12,000 credits). He will pay half now and his partner will pay the other 50% upon delivery. If the group accepts he will help the group obtain other cargos to help fill their hold (-2 DM on the price modifier for these cargoes), but they must leave the starport within 48 hours.

If the characters pay attention to the local news media, the story seems to be true. Apparently a rival of this noble is seen telling the media that the local noble is a “yes man” and is as empty-headed as the doll. He flicks the head of the doll and says, “See! He agrees to just about anything!” The local noble’s reaction is predictable as he is shown in a half-rage on a local vidclip ripping the head off one of these dolls. The locals spray paint pictures of this doll with an oversized head the very next day as it appears the “offended” noble is the brunt of many a local’s joke.

The Bobblehead - image from wikimedia - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
The Bobblehead – image from wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Referee’s Information:
To say the offended noble is annoyed would be a great understatement. Barnard Green was the person who was the go-between from the manufacturer (who was actually the noble’s rival through a third-party) to the merchants and he is in a very awkward position. He wants to get this last batch out of sight and out of mind as soon as possible. When the PC’s leave the planet he will have a ticket in hand and he will personally leave the planet as quickly as possible.

Outcomes:

1. The offer is legitimate. The cargo is delivered quickly to the PC’s with the cargo identification as “Toys and Novelties” with no hazard attached to the cargo. Barnard’s friend Anton Gaskie will be waiting with the money in hand at the destination to receive the cargo.

2. The offer is legitimate. The noble’s personal guards are seen poking around the starport asking about the whereabouts of Barnard Green. After he helps the crew obtain their cargo he tells them he is outward bound for a “prolonged holiday” on a departing liner. Anton Gaskie will be waiting at the destination as told with the promised money.

3. The offer is legitimate. As the ship is heading outbound the offended noble dispatches a customs ship to board and check the papers of their ship. They ask for a passenger manifest first as they are specifically looking for Barnard Green. As they look through the manifest they may (50% chance) notice the entry of “Toys and Novelties” and they will ask to visually inspect the cargo. If they suspect the PC’s are carrying Barnard’s cargo and they find the dolls they will rip the ship apart looking for other contraband while the customs crew ejects the cargo out the nearest airlock. There will be no compensation. The PC’s will be asked to leave the system.

4. The offer is a front. The anger of the offended noble is true enough, but the bobblehead dolls have an inscription on the bottom that can only be seen when a UV light is shining on their base. Each base contains personal ID’s and bank account data. (There are 1000 dolls per ton). This breach of data may come to haunt the PC’s later on. Anton Gaskie will send a doxy to meet the PC’s at the starport and pay them what was promised.

5. The offer is false. There is no man named Anton Gaskie at the destination. So now the PC’s are stuck with 5 tons of bobble-head dolls that will not exactly endear them to an angry noble back some dozen parsecs. Barnard Green cannot be reached as he took an extended holiday.

6. The offer is a front. Again the offended noble is angry, but the dolls themselves are not what they seem. Inside one out of every ten dolls has a hidden microchip in their head. This chip is filled with valuable information on the local military, including base layouts, Tactical Order and Equipment (TO&E) of the local units, personality profiles of the military leadership, the schematics of the ships assigned to these bases and the ship security passcodes that will allow the manufacture of swipe cards allowing personal access. As in option #3 the crew will be boarded and IF the cargo is discovered (50%) they have a lot of explaining to do. Obviously the ship and cargo will be detained and held for evidence.

Adventures, Traveller

The Fringe

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Patron: Entertainer Manager
Required Skills: martial skills consistent with bodyguards/security
Required Equipment: non-lethal weapons

Players’ Information:
The group is contacted by Maran FitzSimmons, the manager of the up-and-coming group The Fringe. This group of five musicians has been signed to a year-long tour of this and a neighboring subsector. This tour includes public venues, private concerts for nobility and even open-air concerts on military installations to entertain the troops.

The manager has already hired the crew to the newly purchased Desiree Keah-type yacht (see FASA, Adventure Class Ships, Vol. 1) that will be used to take the group from concert to concert. Named the Cosmic Chorus, this yacht has had a few minor modifications. This includes converting the entertainment/recreational space up forward to a makeshift stage where the group practices their song sets and creates holovid productions used for public release. The cargo bay has been reduced from 24 to 20 tons to allow eight more low berths to be in use (for a total of ten berths). These berths contain the “roadies” that set up and break down the concerts. The computer space also has been modified to include sound mixing and recording of the holovids.

The offer from the manager is to guard the musicians while they are out an about planetside. The group is known for their chaotic public appearances and due to their popularity, the manager wants to make sure they don’t get kidnapped or lose their way to and from the concerts. What makes this so interesting is the group wears fancy psi helmets when they perform. These psi helmets also have a display screen on the front of their visor that either shows the lyrics as they are being sung or it displays messages from the group to their fans. At all performances the group’s faces are concealed. This has allowed the group to have free movement when in public.

The group of five consists of three male and two female entertainers. The manager is looking for one bodyguard per performer and one to act as a liaison between the concert security and the band’s security. If possible, the bodyguards need to try to keep the performers out of trouble and away from any negative headlines. The PC’s will be asked to sign a contract for six months (with the option of a full year) which includes a confidentiality clause. The rates will be double normal rate (4,000 credits per month) and if the contract is filled a bonus of 4,000 credits will be awarded. Food and accommodations on board the ship are covered, and they each will be allowed one ton of cargo space in the hold for personal gear. The PC’s will be advanced 1,000 credits to purchase non-lethal weapons (such as OC spray, stun batons, etc.).

While on duty the PC’s will be required to follow the law levels of the worlds they visit. If the law allows for heavier weapons they can be utilized, but the concerts are strictly non-lethal weapons only. All security measures and reports of trouble are to be sent back to the manager only. The PC’s will also be asked to wear a tee-shirt with the band’s logo with “Security” on the front and back.

The Band
The Band – Image from wikimedia
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Referee’s Information:
The manager runs the show and owns the ship. The band itself are basically his employees and they are not thrilled about it. It is their hope to buy out the manager someday and they can run their own affairs. Most of the musicians have some substance abuse problems to cope with the pressure and with their situation. Because of this, the manager has robots made up to look like the performers on stage. Because they are always concealed nobody would be the wiser. These robots are maintained by the mechanical cyber-engineer who is a trusted friend of the manager. The sound engineer is also a talented software engineer who is also a trusted friend of the manager. Rounding this out is the ship’s doctor who makes sure the musicians have the substance of their choice on hand to keep them happy and stoned.

Between the tension on the boat between the band and the manager’s staff, between the chaotic nature of the band itself and the close nature of all these people on a yacht, this can keep the PC’s busy for a while.

Outcomes:
1. The offer is legitimate. The musicians party a lot and really have to be kept on a leash, especially when they are planetside. The manager stays focused on the bottom line as tensions between his and the band escalate. If the PC’s last a year the band will break up, but the money promised will be paid.

2. The offer is legitimate. The musicians are unaware that the manager is skimming the profits off the top until the end of the tour. At the end of the six months the manager will let the PC’s go to avoid paying any bonus. He will use any “incident” as an excuse to legitimize his actions. Meanwhile the “Sound engineer” will be hacking into the planetary networks on the worlds they visit, attacking financial assets whenever vulnerable systems can be found.

3. The band is a fraud. The “voices” of the band come from the sound engineer who generates sounds and loads them on to the robots. The manager will be willing to pay more to keep the secret from the public. The actual musicians are just a front.

4. The band is paranoid. The “Voices” are truly theirs, but they are loaded on to the robots when a live performance is required.

5. The band is a front. The manager is actually an intelligence officer who is using access to military installations and public places to gather information for a foreign group.

6. The band is a front. The roadies are trained commandos who have specific targets along the way in mind to compromise. The robots are also have martial skills.
Continue reading The Fringe →

Adventures, Traveller

Downward

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Location: Gotylu (Foreven/Urnian 3035) E-688699-2 Ag Ni Ri

Players’ Information:
Gotylu is a farming world of barely 2 million people. The world is classified as an Amber Zone because of the extremely xenophobic natives. While they are very low-tech, there’s a lot of them compared to the small human trade outposts. Because of this fact Gotylu has not been explored very much, with one exception.

Gotylu has one very interesting feature: the Gotylu Chasm, a kilometers-deep naturally occurring hole in the ground. The Chasm is not a canyon; it is a basically vertical shaft of uncertain depth, with nearly a quarter-kilometer diameter on the surface. Its volume and shape are less certain below the surface. Geologists have attempted to study this bizarre phenomenon but often run afoul of the locals and have to make a hasty departure. This has led to the site, while it remains an area of much interest, to be referred to simply as the Hole.

The Hole
The Hole – Image from wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

One recent geological team which rapidly evacuated informed Dr. Karl Barrow, the department head for Geography and Exo-geography at Ovdyo State University that in the process of their departure, the central data core that was correlating all of their measurements and sensor data fell into the hole. Dr. Barrow is offering, with the University’s approval, transport to and from Gotylu and Cr 50,000 finder’s fee for the team that can descend into the Chasm and retrieve the data core. As there will not be a geological survey site on the surface, the hope is that the locals will not notice a small team arriving and infiltrating the Chasm. The Geology department will provide the team with a reliable but used air/raft if the team does not have one of their own. The air/raft is to be returned, it is not part of the payment. Dr. Barrow’s department provides maps of Gotylu, and aerial imagery of the Chasm site. A junior geologist can accompany the PCs if they want his expertise.

Referee’s Information:
The data core is a metallic cylinder 1.3 meters tall, massing 75 kg. It has an internal power supply so it should be warm, and a radio transmitter so it can communicate with other systems. It should not difficult to identify if the PCs can get ‘close’ to it. On the other hand, the core could have come to a stop anywhere in the hole. The geologists are not sure how close is close enough.

The planet has a dense atmosphere, and the further down the hole it they go, the heavier the atmosphere gets until it’s almost too dense to breathe normally. There are trace elements in the air of Gotylu, not enough to qualify the atmosphere as tainted, but they get concentrated the further down the hole the PCs go. If they have no atmosphere tester then the taint elements may overcome them. The referee must determine what the taints are and their effects. Also it will get warmer the further they descend.

At any time, there could be rock slides & stuff falling off of the sides of the hole. The light ceases after half a km or so, and radio contact is lost after a while as well. Once the light goes, it is dark, and silent. There may be air currents from the lava flows, but even those will rapidly cool off and the air will settle. There may be animals which live in the hole, either flying creatures or swimmers living in the occasional pool or pond on a rock ledge.

The referee should help the players to picture the environ of the Hole as being like deep-sea diving without the water. The PCs should get the sense that they are isolated and far away from any kind of help, in a dark, dead silent, confined space. Remind them at every opportunity of the sensory data around them – darkness, stuffiness, damp heat and almost no echo or sound.

Six Situations:
The data core could be uncomfortably close to one of these phenomena.

1. There are radioactive ore veins exposed along the sides of the hole.

2. There are steam vents releasing very hot gas into the hole.

3. There are cavern formations that branch off from the hole, some have ledges where the core might have bounced.

4. If they explore these side caves, in one they find the remains of a prospector. There is no indication of how he died or who he is but he’s go a bag of uncut gems.

5. There are slow lava leaks flowing into the hole that leave frozen waterfalls in rock. The core is near or in one of these flows.

6. The core knocked loose a rock slide, and it is now buried beneath hundreds of kilograms of loose rock in an unstable pile.

At some points the central passage of the hole gets tighter requiring driving checks to get past. Failure mean they struck a rock which can set up mechanical faults later on. If the vehicle suffers a fault it has to be repaired on the spot or they’re stuck at the bottom of the hole.

Once the team recovers the data core, the mission is finished. All they have to do from this point is return to the Gotylu starport and present their return passes. Of course, the University will be interested in any other observations they may have made while down in the hole. Anything of value they find while down there they can legitimately claim as theirs, as no one on Gotylu has a legal claim to the contents of the Hole. The locals claim it in a general sense but not in an Imperial/legal sense.

Adventurers who want to return to the Hole for further exploration may do so. The referee must determine the flow of subsequent events.

Continue reading Downward →

Adventures, Traveller

Ferrero Rocher

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Patron: Diplomat
Required skills: None
Required equipment: Starship
Number of Players: 3+

Players’ Information:
The players are on Gotylu (Urnian/3238 E688699-2). They are approached by RUHK BEY, 2nd-secretary in the Imperial Embassy. The Ambassador, SERGEI HAULT-DEVROE, is seriously ill. He contracted a rare disease years before while on the Imperium’s service. It was supposed to have been cured, but it has flared up again. Gotylu lacks medical facilities to treat the condition. The only hope is to ship the Ambassador in low berth to a world where he can be helped (TL A or greater). The closest options are Ovdyo (Urnian/2935) or Urnian (Urnian/2833).

Bey offers a full charter of the party’s ship for 1 jump (all passage and cargo space). However, there is a catch. He can only pay Cr 5,000 now from the meagre funds available at the Gotylu embassy. The balance will be paid by Imperial authorities at the embassy on Urnian (Urnian/2833).

Hault-Devroe is located at the Imperial embassy building in the outskirts of the city of Tuleeren, 180km from Gotylu spaceport. The embassy has a utility helicopter that must be used to transport him. The bureaucratic authorities of Gotylu will not allow more advanced tech (e.g. grav vehicles) to be used outside the spaceport. The helicopter has a top speed of 300kph and a range of 600km with a light load. An Imperial Marine attached to the embassy can serve as pilot, or one of the party may fly the chopper themselves.

The Helicopter
The Helicopter – Image from wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Referee’s Information:
1. All is as it seems. Determine Hault-Devroe’s fate on revival according to normal low-berth rules. If the party ever make it to Urnian, they may claim the balance of the charter.

2. As 1, but Hault-Devroe dies on revival. On a throw of 1 or 2 on 1D, the authorities at Urnian refuse to settle the balance of the charter. On a throw of 3-6, the balance is paid.

3. Hault-Devroe’s low berth signals a medical emergency during Jump, requiring immediate revival. The low berth’s logs will automatically record a failure to perform revival in response to medical emergency, which is a culpable offence punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment under Imperial law. Hault-Devroe may (throw 1-3) or may not (throw 4-6) survive very long, but in any case the crew must implement (or improvise) quarantine procedures.

4. When the party arrive at the embassy to retrieve Hault-Devroe, they find it surrounded by a detachment (about 200) of Gotylan troops equipped to TL5 – the Gotylan Empire’s crack troops. They are led by a Gotylan official, TYLOK NAGA, who refuses to allow the sick Ambassador to leave the embassy for fear of spreading the “sickness from space”. Naga may be susceptible to persuasion or bribery, but intimidation is unlikely to work given the forces at his disposal. (Their TL5 equipment is quite capable of shooting down the party’s chopper.)

5. The utility chopper develops a mechanical fault on the flight back to the spaceport and must make a forced landing. If the party can reach Bey at the spaceport by radio, he can despatch an ATV. The party must await the vehicle’s arrival and then complete the journey of 2Dx20 km overland.

6. As 5, but Bey has sabotaged the helicopter. Bey loathes Hault-Devroe and has poisoned him, hoping to blame his death on a recurrence of his disease, in an attempt to take his job. Bey has also despatched a force of locally hired mercenaries (equipped to TL2 with a sprinkling of TL5 equipment and riding the ATV) to finish the job. The referee must determine the course of events.

Adventures, Traveller

The Foreign Agent

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Players’ Information:
This young girl tells the players she is an agent of a nearby planet that is undercover into a terrorist group. She has learned that hard liners among the group have schemed a plot to release a lethal virus (think on Ebola, but spray spread possible) obtained off world, and they are here to buy the vaccine before releasing it, both to vaccine group members and to be able to emerge as saviors of the people.

Being alone, and afraid about going to planetary authorities because of the delays that will mean (she’s afraid they release the virus regardless having the vaccine or not), she asks the players to help her sizing the ship and taking the vaccine and group’s documents to her planet to hand it to authorities. While she can only pay the players 10000 Cr each beforehand, she’s sure of her government gratitude and that they will be rewarded for saving many lives.

The Virus
The Virus – Image from Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.

Referee’s Information:
The ship may be from a Scout to a free/far trader or safari ship, and the vaccines are several crates, about 2 tons of displacement, hidden among random cargo. She has the passwords of the ship and can help the players in and give them some weapons, but the terrorist crew of the ship must be overcome (adapt them to the players’ capabilities). Collateral damages should be avoided to allow the ship leave the planet immediately, more so if the seizing of the ship is not stealthy enough as not to call starport authorities attention, as legal matters could delay the arrival of the vaccine to her planet.

See that any unauthorized taking off may lead to further complications…

Possible outcomes (choose one or roll 1d6):

1. All as shown. Planetary government will be quite thankful and reward the players for their actions (even the ship may be the reward, if the referee wants the players to obtain one). The whole fact must be kept secret to avoid scandal, though.

2. As shown, but the virus has already been released. Even with the vaccine, it will take 2d6 weeks to control the outbreak, the planet being quarantined (and players forbidden to leave) meanwhile. Government reaction will be as in 1.

3. As 1 or 2, but behind the terrorists is a government faction, which will go any length to avoid it being discovered. If there is quarantine, they will try to eliminate them and the agent while kept quarantined in planet.

4. As any of the above, but she is in fact a member of the group that believed them to be peaceful and just buying medical drugs for distribution among those left of the government’s health systems. Once she learned the truth, she tries to get the vaccine to her planet and hand it to the authorities, but the players will be arrested with her for terrorism. She will try to clear them, even negotiating the uncovering of the group. Further reactions by the government depending on player’s actions and can go from charging them for bio-terrorism to rewarding them for avoiding the attack.

5. as 4, but also as 3. The faction behind the group will try to have the players charged for bio-terrorism.

6. She is in fact the only surviving terrorist, her ship having been seized by undercover government agents that discovered the plot (they have acted discretely, as they hold no authority in the planet they are on and could be accused of piracy for seizing the ship without asking the authorities for help). The virus in on the ship, also hidden. When arriving to the planet, she plans to take the ship’s boat (or air raft if the ship is a scout) and the virus, along part of the vaccines, spoil the rest of the vaccine and try to reach the planet to release the virus, leaving the players as scapegoats. Depending on the speed they reach the planet (and the referee’s whim) the government may be aware of their arrival (having received news from the undercover group), and so waiting for them.