Tag Archives: Traveller

Nothing Here Is As It Seems

September 7, 2012 Steven Cabral Leave a comment

Patron: Scavenger, Agent
Required Skills: none
Required Equipment: J-2 Starship

Players’ Information:
The group while on Wutubole (Pieplow/0819) are contacted by a salvage company to deliver a hold of supplies to Belt Maginum (Anika/1218) for Cr 200,000. The J-2 route takes them through the Zhodani Consulate. They are advised to skim gas giants and use water in the absence of gas to avoid contact with the Zhodani officials as much as possible.

Milky Way, seen from the Foreven Sector : Picture from wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Referee’s Information:
1. The captain and/or any ex-Scouts in the group are advised this is a cover. They need drop a load of probes in each system. These probes will check each system for a lost Scout Cruiser that misjumped and vanished some months previously. They are stored in the cargo and another ship will collect the telemetry some months in the future.

2. As above but in Clamp (Anika/1317) system the players arrive on the very edge of the system and sensors show dead a ship nearby. A large blocky ship of Hiver origin. The cargo bay is open and an exploration team will find 3 low berths smashed into a corner by open hatch as well as some yellow painted metal parts similar to open frame cargo haulers used on space stations and belter ops. The Hiver crew are dead throughout the ship. There are two dead humans aboard in vacc suits one has standard helmet, the other a Zhodani clamshell on deck near them. The non-Zhodani corpse has a dead chronometer indicating date is 1199 Imperial. Dated articles in their staterooms are about a year old.

3. As above but one low berth is on battery power. If opened safely a young lady named Mei Ling is recovered. She was a steward on a large passenger/freighter liner en route from the far Imperium to the Consulate via Fessor. She states the ship was jacked by a large group of men who gassed the passengers and packed them into the low berths they had in cargo bay of liner. After being forced to assist she was put in a berth too. The men were mixed race humans.

4. As above, when the ship lands to water they are contacted by Miriya a deep cover agent of the IISS and Hiver expert from the Rim. She is the only survivor of the liners’ passengers who were lost in the crash of the cargo sled. She was rescued by a Traveller who witnessed the landing in the hills. She is an expert Gunner and will request working passage. She keeps her IISS ID secret.

5. As above. On arrival in Belt Maginum they deliver the cargo and are paid by the contracted factor there. He advises that Miriya and Mei Lings’ ship left some days ago and picked up cargo and no passengers as was booked full, rare coming from the Consulate. There is an archeologist and a Universal Exports agent needing passage to Fessor at double rates.

6. As above, on arrival at Fessor the missing starship is in port. Mei Ling and Miriya would find no familiar crew and a look at passenger/crew list would tell both are still aboard. The crew and most passengers tend to be tall and swarthy.

Referee’s notes:
The Hiver ship were just used by the Zhodani to move the passengers into storage. But a misjump (temporal) accident destroyed the Hiver ship, the instant aging is why two human corpses appear aged. The crew were taken to a camp for holding. The hijackers were plain pirates. The liner is being used to infiltrate agents into the Imperium.

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

Product Launch

September 6, 2012 Chris Holden Leave a comment

Patron: Scientist (actually a media star)
Required Skills: Engineering, but not above -1; Pilot; No-one may have science above -1
Required Equipment: none

Players’ Information:
While the party is visiting a high-tech starport, they are approached by an attractive middle-aged lady, Professor Hara Ren. She explains that her corporation has just patented a new device, which when coupled to an existing jump drive, and using a special jump program, can ensure that the jump is made in three to five days!

She explains they are ready to make a product launch, but require an experienced, professional crew to make the first public jump – which for public relations issues will only be to the system’s limit, where a tender is already waiting to greet the triumphant crew. The good Professor herself will be coming along, and of course, a host of sub-sector media will be waiting at the other end to cover the event (said PR issues).

She guarantees celebrity status, and payment of Cr 15,000 for every crew member. The party may not take any weapons (they will be scanned thoroughly) as a security measure that they will not steal the device. All party possessions, vehicles, and ship (if they have one) will be stored by the starport authority, and are properly bonded. They will be using the corporation’s vessel.

If the party investigates any of this story, it all checks out. The Professor’s corporation is indeed known to be researching a breakthrough technology, and all the scientific data she provides checks out, including the secret jump tests they have successfully carried out.

The party are expected to shuttle up to the ship in orbit tomorrow morning.

Referee’s Information:
The Professor is not of course in any way genuine. She is in fact a media star from several years ago re-launching her career with a new reality-holo show, called ‘Dupes In Jump‘.

The ship the party are to use is, in fact, a super-sophisticated fake, which to all intents and purposes seems like a real ship on a real mission. The deception would be discovered by characters with high skills, indeed they would know the theory is bunkum – hence the low skill limits.

The ‘ship’ is super luxurious with a stateroom for every person, an excellent galley, holographic controls, lots of luxurious extras, J-1, M-1, P-2… And the device, which calculates the hyper-dimensional mathematics that enable the ship’s computer-2 to use the custom jump software that folds jump-space nearly in half, shortening the time taken to transit the jump. There is no ship’s locker. And in reality it is just an orbital holo-studio.

Everything will apparently go smoothly, as the ship apparently thrusts out to a safe jump point and enters J-space, and continues to until halfway through the first day of the jump. Then weird things start to happen. First, the computer crashes… Then after an hour somehow rights itself. The Professor is mystified, and looks worried, but everything checks out and seems to be going to plan.

Then a couple of hours later, weird sounds are heard – snatches of shouted conversations, arguments maybe – in some alien language. This is followed a few hours later by the ship’s computer reporting that an unauthorised life form is on board! The Professor is beside herself, and believes that a rival corporation has an infiltrator on board. No search or scan can reveal anything.

After this there will be various mechanical and electrical problems that manifest themselves for a couple of days – all easily repairable by the party, but none explainable. Meanwhile the occasional alien shouting is still heard. Then, on the third day, a party member sees an ethereal waist-high blue and orange quadruped gallop through their stateroom. Within the next two hours the Professor disappears, and can be found no-where on the ship.

For the fourth day, the ship rocks and shudders, and whatever the party try to do to fix it fails. The alien shouting becomes more frequent, and is now joined by the wailing of the Professor’s incorporeal voice!

When the, presumably by now, panicked and paranoid party drop out of jump space they immediately pick up the welcoming party on the ship’s comms! Whatever else has happened it appears they were successful and they dock with the recovery ship… Where they are greeted by the Professor – actually Stacy Costs, an ageing holo-model – and a horde of media, holo cameras, and clapping, cheering people! The party will be debriefed on camera and the whole scam explained to them. They will indeed be celebrities in this sub-sector for a while… Celebrity dupes! At least they get paid Cr 50,000 each instead of the Cr 15,000 they were initially offered for being such great sports.

The options to modify this outline are:
1. Vanilla – use it as it is written.

2. The party are actually hired by another corporation because of rumours of a breakthrough by this fake (but well-documented) corporation to seek out the Professor and steal the technology. They provide kit form body pistols that can be smuggled through the security.

3. The party are hired by a rival media network that got wind of the show and wants to ruin it, briefing the party before they embark on the mission so they can expose it on live holo.

4. A rival corporation is duped by the fake information embedded in library data etc. They get an agent onto the ‘ship’ to steal the technology. It is up to the GM on whether he/she works out what is going on or not, and what his/her reactions to events are.

5. One of the show’s producers has become mentally unstable and has begun to believe that the fantasy is real. He has decided to ‘stow away’ with a few weapons, and intends to kill everyone on board and steal the technology for himself.

6. Any two options from two to five combined for maximum chaos!

Adventures, Aliens, The Base, Traveller

Angry Tweeties

September 5, 2012 Jim Vassilakos Leave a comment

The ship’s broker is approached about transporting a consignment of newborn Iptetean Tweeties, a species of genetically-modified pets that are increasing in popularity throughout the Foreven sector.

1. Unbeknownst to humaniti, the Iptetean Triapus, from which the Iptetean Tweety is modeled, is sentient. This sophont has a subsonic language and once had some measure of technological civilization before humaniti invaded its homeworld. Due to the species’ psychology, it went into hiding at the first sight of humans, abandoning their towns for the forests, their ancestral home. Explorers eventually captured them and made some into pets, and as these creatures were taken into space, they’ve seen that the humans have also created a technomagically-modified version of themselves, the Iptetean Tweeties, which if caught at a sufficiently young age can be taught the language and history of their unmodified kin.

One of the passengers (or crewmembers), who has a pet triapus, notices that their pet seems to be drawn to the tweeties, which are in a large pen in the ship’s hold. This is made noticeable due to the fact that whenever the triapus and the tweeties get into sufficiently close proximity, they begin what appears to be a massive “purr-session” that is actually a pleasure to witness. The loud, “tribble-like” purring, once it stops being funny, is innately soothing to the human ear. It is apparent that even without being able to see each other, both the Triapus and the Tweeties appear to be able to hear each other, and they appear to be very pleased or possibly excited with each others’ presence.

In truth, they are calling out to one another. The Triapus wants to obtain the release of these young Tweeties, but there’s nothing that it can realistically do to make this happen, so it finally resigns itself to teaching them what little it can and otherwise accepting the situation, as at least it is being well-fed by an affectionate albeit hideously ugly, alien master.

2. As #1, but the tweeties are adolescents, and they can understand the triapus quite well, as many of have already learned the triapi language. The essence of their conversation is yet another reiteration the typical lecture on how they must prepare for the day when a savior will be born who will lead them in a Great Strangling against humaniti, and that wherever they are taken in the universe, they must remember their sacred homeworld and the terrible indignity that has been perpetrated upon them by their evil overlords. In the meantime, however, they are reminded that they must play the part of pets, for the time to strike is not yet. Hence, for all practical purposes, nothing remarkable happens, at least from the perspective of the ship’s crew.

3. As #1, but the tweeties are mostly adults, and many of them want to bust out of captivity and are actively trying to recruit the triapus to help them. The triapus, however, has been treated exceedingly well by its master, who takes time to play with it on a daily basis and who also generously feeds it table scraps rather than forcing it to eat some sort of bland, homogenized, pet food. Hence, it has grown genuinely affection toward this human and towards humaniti in general, and therefore it won’t help the tweeties, forever making excuses. Rightly or wrongly, it claims that there’s a technomagical, hidden surveillance system in the cargo hold, and that if it were to help its brethren escape, suddenly all humans would know that all Triapi, and by extension all Iptetean Tweeties, are intelligent, and this would permanently sever any hope of eventual freedom. No matter what they do, the triapus argues, they must guard this secret, each and every one of them, until the prophesized Great Strangling.

4. As #3, but the triapus feels mistreated and so it will help the tweeties escape. Hilarity ensues as many of them pile into an airlock and manage to escape into a very, very large space.

5. As #4, but one or more of the tweeties thinks it knows how to destroy the ship by causing some major system to malfunction.

6. As #5, but the primary goal is to strangle the crew and passengers and somehow seize control of the ship.

Supplementary Library Data:

Piolin Enterprises. A subsidiary of BeastMasters, LIC, specializing in the genetic modification of various animal species for the exotic pets market.

Tweety. A registered trademark of Piolin Enterprises, the term is also informally synonymous for any of a variety of genetically-modified pets, particularly ones that incorporate the color yellow into their modifications. Etymologically, the word comes from one of Old Terra’s first genetically-modified, pet species, an African Grey parrot colored yellow and given oversized eyes as well as expanded cranial capacity. Prior to this, the word “Tweety” can be traced to the name of a once-popular, animated character.

Iptetean Triapus (pl. Triapi). An omniverious climber/trapper/strangler of the planet Iptete (Foreven 2334), this creature resembles a small, three-legged octopus, except that it is purple with red splotches, similar to the branches of the Kokimovno trees which it chiefly inhabits, and its “face” resembles a large, green, Kokimovno leaf, which numerous smaller creatures eat. Despite being hideously ugly, they emit a calming, subsonic purr that can be felt more than heard, and so have made popular pets, but not nearly as popular as their genetically-modified variant, the Iptetean Tweety.

Iptetean Tweety. A genetically-modified variant of the Iptetean Triapus that has two of its three eyes hugely expanded, whereas the third, remaining at its normal size, is perpetually hidden behind a large yellow face that is generally more appealing to customers. This Tweety also has what looks like two large, yellow ears, but these are non-functional. Legal note: Piolin Enterprises holds an Imperium-wide trademark for the term “Tweety” in relation to the marketing of pets and the statement “They’re ugly, but they’re cute” in relation to the marketing of genetically-modified animals.

Inspiration: Featherless chicken

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

Abella Conchita Aguliar Reyes

September 4, 2012 crossmlk 1 Comment

Players’ Information:
Abella is a freelance flash journalist*. She was once a well respected journalist who won a number of prestigious awards for her reporting. However she was caught up in a manufactured story scandal (Referees insert an infamous scandal from your campaign here. Anything from fake product testing on the latest grav car to planting a false story about a contender in a political contest.).

Next she found herself caught up in a scandal regarding some rather “intimate” recordings, flash journalist style, she made of the famous Tri-Vid star Stronham Harper. Now she finds herself reduced to working for information outlets like “The Casual Observer” an electronic version of a supermarket tabloid.

When the players encounter her she is recruiting for an expedition into an uncharted jungle on Kutadis (Foreven 2937). She is very tight-lipped about what exactly the story is she is working on.

The story is one on precursor artifacts. She has information on just such an artifact, an ancient stone monolith in the jungle. She needs the players to help her reach her goal. Hazards could include hostile jungle plants, animals and primitive natives.

Abella Conchita Aguliar Reyes: by MuYoung Kim. Copyright Terra/Sol games. Used with permission.

Referee’s Information:
1. Everything is as presented above. When the expedition finally finds the monolith it is unclear if it is actually an ancient precursor artifact. Dating of the stones materials and analysis of the hieroglyphs on it are inconclusive. That doesn’t stop The Casual Observer from trumpeting the find as historic and a groundbreaking step in our understanding of the precursors.

2) As #1 but throw in a competing expedition of yellow journalists who will stop at nothing to get the exclusive.

3. As #1 but upon discovering the stone monolith it is clear that it is a cheesy fake. With some good photography it might fool the tabloid consuming public. Which is exactly what Abella sets about doing.
Referee’s note: If the players go along with this they might become infamous later when it is discovered the story was a fake. It they instead blow the whistle on the story they will have made an enemy of a powerful yellow journalism outlet.

4. After traipsing through the jungle for several weeks the expedition finds nothing. The players get stiffed on the back-end of their compensation payments. If they make waves they’ll have made an enemy as in #3 above.

5. The Monolith is the real deal. The players become famous for having been on the expedition and can make quite a fair bit of profit guiding tourists to see the thing.

6. The Monolith turns out to be more than expected. It is a psionic artifact that affects people’s minds, driving some to madness and the whole expedition devolves into a fight for survival.

* Flash Journalism is a method of recording an event in first person usually via a holo recorder the lens for which is implanted in the journalist’s retina. The visual as well as other senses (sound, smell and even touch) are recorded on the users wafer jack and then can be broadcast either in real-time, as a recording or both. The quality of the playback depends on the capabilities of the consumers equipment and can range from visual only to the whole suite of senses recorded.

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

Sparkly Hoozit

September 3, 2012 Library Bob 1 Comment

Patron: Businessperson
Location: any
Skills required: Liaison, Streetwise, Thief skills

Job: The patron recently bought a rare Sparkly Hoozit. It cost a lot, and the patron barely out-bid a local underworld boss and fellow collector of Hoozits. The Hoozit was even more recently stolen, and the patron has reason to believe that Capone was responsible. The Hoozit requires special care, so there’s only a few places the gangster could have hidden it. The problem is that the patron bought it at an illegal hot property auction, so he can’t file charges with the police, and wants to keep this quiet. The patron wants the PC’s to act as go-betweens, to negotiate the return of the Hoozit. The PCs should have no trouble in locating the gangster, and little trouble in determining where the Hoozit is being kept.

Complication: After the first meeting with the gangster, but before a deal is made, the Hoozit vanishes. The gangster accuses the patron of a double-cross, the patron accuses the gangster of a further swindle to drive up the price, and the heated rhetoric from both sides means there may be a criminal war erupting in the streets any day. The patron turns out to have access to armed enforcers. On the chance that the gangster is telling the truth, the patron wants the PC’s to find out what really happened and where the Hoozit is now, and get it back.

Options:
1. The gangster is faking, and will offer to sell it back at a greatly inflated price.

2. One of the gangster’s people stole it so he can sell it himself.

3. One of the gangster’s people stole it, to goad the patron into ‘removing’ his superior.

4. The previous owner of the Hoozit has stolen it back, and plans to leave the planet with it.

5. Unrelated thieves have stolen the Hoozit, and are unaware of the trouble they have started.

6. The patron is trying a double-cross and instigated the war to eliminate the gangster (reason left to the referee)

It is up to the referee to determine the nature and proper name of the Sparkly Hoozit, and what specific care it requires.

Adventures, The Base, Traveller

Dark Energy

September 2, 2012 Gray Pennell Leave a comment

Required Skills: An array of maintenance, administrative, combat and ship skills.
Required Equipment: Jump 2+ Ship
Number of Players: 2-6

Players’ Information:
Baron Stron, formally Captain Stron (Rtr), of the Five Sisters fleet retired 1102; mustered out with the title Baron for services rendered. Using family money, savings, and retirement, Stron began a writing career. His stories are not just action-adventure but finely-veiled tell-alls of the rich and powerful of the rimward sectors of Marches. The books and holo films made the Baron a small fortune. He now feels it’s time to live the life of a Baron, but the books have made him persona-non-grate in the Marches so he relocated to Urnian (Urnian/Urnian 2834 of the Foreven Sector).

Urnians industry – especially the weapons industry – destroyed Urnians atmosphere so many people live in the cities, with the wealthiest living in domed estates. Baron Stron could afford a small domed estate outside of Capital along the Mebby river.

He now needs to hire a small retinue of servants including: maintenance staff, a ship and crew.

Additionally the laws allow estate holders to hire a small, lightly-armed bodyguard unit. The Baron will pay well for any position the players apply for. If a ship is provided he will pay the yearly upkeep, salaries, and fuel every time he takes it out for a spin. He also does not mind people moonlighting as long as they carry out their estate duties firsts.

Urnians polluted atmosphere. Copyright P-O Bergstedt.

Referee’s Information:
The encounters can be played individually or as a campaign. Either way there is downtime for the players and GM to do something else..

1. The Barons estate is old and rundown, requiring a lot of upkeep. This time the mechanical cooling system has gone out after a storm and river flooding. The players need to investigate the vast water cooling system connect to the estate by a large maze of underground aqueducts.

After some time, the players reach a flushing pool that has flooded over its banks due to a blocked drainage system. In the flushing pool is a family of 4 Libersharks, a local fresh water amphibious predator similar to the Terrain Crocodile. They apparently made their way into the pool during the storm, The party needs to clear them out, unclog the drain, and get the flushing pool working again.

2. The Baron is laid up on the estate as he begins to write his newest book, Dark Energy. He not only gives everyone but the cook time off with pay, he orders them off the estates for three months. This frees up everyone for a nice vacation.

3. The Baron needs to do research on the Utsukushi family – Leila Utsukushi, the current ruler of Urnian, for his book Dark Energy. While he tells the players that the trip to Meepy is simply to visit the Utsukushi family archives, he is really there to get the dirt on Leila, The trip downriver is uneventful, as are the first two days at the Utsukushi family fortress complex.

During this time, the Baron has the players perform standard duties while he gets involved in court politics. He mangers to seduce Leila, angering the Court Vizier Sarsak who frames a payer for theft embarrassing the Baron. The Baron loses the favour of Leila and cannot get the player out legally – so the players have to rescue their comrade before they receive the traditional punishment: their right hand cut off.

4. The Baron needs more research for Dark Energy and really needs to get off planet, especially after the last research trip, so he decides it is time to go find some off world information. He plans a 24 week trip across the Urnian main then to Shoefrete and into the Five Sisters to Iderati and back. The Baron, though, leaves out the real purpose: he had received a message.

Dear Baron Stron I am Terka Kalvin, you do not know me but you know my mother the Lady Elize. I am your son! I am on Iderati and my mother is dying. She needs your help. Enclosed is my DNA card to prove who I am. Please Please come to Iderati and help.

Your son,
TK

Once on Iderati, the players must find TK and help the Baron sort things out. Unfortunately the group arrives to late for TK mother, who has just passed away. At this point the Baron decides to take TK back to the estate.

5. Several months pass as the Baron writes more of “Dark Energy”. A pre-publication interview with the Baron reveals the book is focused on her Ladyship Leilas often selfish, scandalous behaviour and poor judgement. This angers the Court Vizier again. The Vizier seeks to silence the Baron by kidnapping TK and holding him hostage until the Baron withdraws Dark Energy from publication. The players must find out who kidnapped TK, locate the remote hideout where TK is held and rescue him.

6. The Barons newest book Dark Energy is published, becoming his most successful work to date bringing more wealth to the Baron. The Baron is even nominated for the Imperial Pen Award for Fiction. This does not sit well with her Ladyship Leila, the ruler of Urnian the target of Baron’s poisonous pen.

Angered by her Viziers failure to stop the book before publication, Leila, orders the Vizier to lead a personal assault on the estate using an elite platoon of her bodyguard. The party must safely evacuate the Baron and TK off planet through a running gun battle from the estate up the Meeby river, to the downport. If they succeed the Baron orders the players, “Just get me to Szirp!

Once on Szirp, a world owned by SuSAG, and famous for its anagathics atmosphere, he uses the last of his wealth to buy a small cabin. He then dismiss the party without pay!

The Zhodani Base

Tag Archives: Traveller

Nothing Here Is As It Seems

Product Launch

Angry Tweeties

Abella Conchita Aguliar Reyes

Sparkly Hoozit

Dark Energy

All your base are belong to us