Huh?*
This past weekend, we had two firsts at the table while playing Traveller. This despite that I've played this game since about 1982.
First, the simple one. My older son was playing a new character, Dismas, an ex-Flyer. He was on Narok, a non-Imperial world in the Corridor. While there he found himself in the middle of a public protest against the Empire and its various evils. Remember that from the Empire's POV, everyone in the Corridor are barbarians.
Dismas was minding his own business but stumbled into the midst of the protest anyway. Some protesters noticed him and moved to attack. As is typical at the start of combat, we rolled for Surprise. Neither side gained surprise. I asked if Dismas wanted to fight or escape.
Escape and Avoidance: Encountering parties may attempt to escape from, or avoid contact with, an encounter. A party which has achieved surprise may always avoid an encounter by so stating. Non-player character parties which have surprise and are outnumbered will avoid an encounter on a throw of 7+ (no DMs). If two parties encounter without surprise, either may attempt to escape immediately (before any combat or contact occurs). Roll
9+ to escape (DM allowed based on range: -1 if close or short range, +I if medium range, +2 if long range, +3 if very long range).
Dismas wanted to escape, but he was in the middle of the crowd, at short range so he needed at 10. My son threw an 11, and Dismas melted into the crowd and was away without incident. That was the first time I've utilized that rule at the table.
My other son was playing Mac (who I've mentioned here) operating a different ship. It's a Subsidized Merchant, the Star Walker. The ship is attached to Marquessa Netherpool, one of the leading nobles of Holtzmann. He had finished a charter run to Chapolco and loaded up goods and passengers. The plan was for a quick nip over to Narok, before turning the bow of the Star Walker towards Holtzmann.
He threw a 12 on the Misjump check. Yes, he filled up with unrefined fuel.
Misjump: Each time the ship engages in a jump, throw 13+ for a misjump. Apply the following DMs: +I if using unrefined fuel (and not equipped to do so) and so forth.
A misjump is an unpredictable and uncontrolled jump. Throw one die to determine the number of dice thrown (1 to 6); throw that number of dice to determine the distance of the misjump in hexes. Then throw one die to determine the direction of the misjump (one of the six directions possible on the hex grid). Finally, throw one die to determine the
number of weeks spent in jump space before the ship re-emerges at its new location.
The result was 8 hexes “down”, towards the unexplored edge of the map. It took five weeks. There were 13 people on board, eight passengers and five crew. The Star Walker had nine (empty) low berths. All the passengers and the NPC steward went in and were frozen. The four remaining crew spent over a month sleeping as much as possible. Two weeks of life support for 13 was, I decided, enough to keep four alive for the five weeks of misjump. If only just.
At the end, we checked for revival of the nine people in Low Berth. All of them survived, except for the NPC Steward. He never even had a name. We'll have to give him one posthumously and name something after him.
Now out of jump space on week 22 of SA 929, the Star Walker is in hex 0303 of the nameless subsector 'below' Holtzmann's Corridor.
Unknown Planet (0303)
- Class C starport
- Size 5
- Atmosphere 8
- Hydrosphere A (water world)
- Population 8 (100's of millions)
- Government 8 (Civil Service Bureaucracy)
- Law Level A (High/Harsh)
- Tech Level 10
Mac and the survivors don't speak the language. They don't know the culture. They don't know if the locals will be helpful or hostile.
By next session, I will have stats for all of the castaways of the Star Walker, and stellar data for at least the six hexes surrounding 0303.
*After we all calmed down, my son remarked “I think I did a TARDIS”, and asked me to make that the title of this post. How could I refuse?
Bravo!
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