Medical Skills for Medical Adventures

He's A doctor, yes, but . . .

He's THE Doctor!

 In Space Gamer #47, J Andrew Keith wrote "I'm a Doctor not a . . .", a rules variant about expanding the Medical skill in Traveller to cover the range of medical activity in greater detail.

I've written in other posts about my dislike for "skill bloat", but in this case I see not bloating of skills, but subdividing medical specialties to give characters distinct roles.

The Day of the Glow - Amber Zone Reviews # 28

Amber Zone: The Day of the Glow, by Marcus Rowland from JTAS # 16

Check out the series introduction here.

Location: The planet Purfyr (Foreven 2211)

Patron: None, initially. Eventually the PCs may be hired/conscripted by the Purfyrian government.

Mission: Survive, and help the planet recover.

Complications: The setup of this adventure makes it appear that the locals are all turning into vampires. Many of the classic signs are there – aversion to sunlight, long teeth, desire for blood. Also, persons affected by the condition usually go violently insane. It could happen to anyone, including the PCs; they might already be affected by the time the adventure starts!

Payoff: PCs who volunteer their skills to help fight the outbreak and aid recovery can get paid up to Cr 12,000.

Strong Points: The adventure is set up as a sci-fi horror story, which could be a big surprise for a lot of players. The possibility of the PCs succumbing to the condition will keep tension high. It could be set on any mid-tech, mid-population world. The truth behind the outbreak is sensible. Preventing the condition from spreading off-world could be its own adventure. The local government reacts in an effective manner, so the situation does not instantly devolve into anarchy. Countering the condition is explained and is not (in the end) dependent on the PCs. The PCs could, if they approach it right, end up being big heroes, and gain a very positive reputation, and not just locally. This is the real strength of this adventure – a chance for the PCs to be heroes. A wide range of skills will be called upon.

Weak Points: After the PCs gain the treatment necessary to reverse/prevent the condition, the excitement level could fall dramatically, as the adventure shifts to clean-up work. All of which would have to be spun up by the referee. If they were more invested in Purfyr, this might be compelling. As written, the PCs are a visiting merchant crew, so they have no reason to be that compelled to want to help. It is likely the PC's first instinct when the plague begins is to high-tail it for the ship and lift out. The referee would have to railroad them into staying. The PCs will be stuck on Purfyr for nearly two months; this could be trouble if the PCs have other operations going on.

What I'd change: This would work even better (and be easier to handle) in an enclosed habitat (orbital or ground) – fewer places to run & hide, dense population, less map-making required for the referee. If I ran this adventure, I'd do it after the second or third time the PCs visited the world, so they had some attachment and investment in the world. I would rather the PCs wanted to stay and help to having to trap them inside the 'hot zone'.

In My Traveller Universe: Horror is not my genre, so I would not use this adventure in my TU.

No specific maps are called for with this adventure. 

The Werewolf Disease - Amber Zone Reviews #6

The Werewolf Disease by Anders Blixt from JTAS #5

Check out the series introduction here.

Location: The island of Bekain on Taldor, a corporation-owned world.  Class C starport, TL 8. No specific location in the OTU given.

Patron: An agent for Kitzen, Ltd.; the governing company.

Mission: To capture alive an employee, a lab technician who has gone native with a vengeance. The patron insists that the tech be captured rather than killed, and provides the PCs with non-lethal weaponry.

Payoff: The agent offers a Cr 100,000 success-only contract. They should not need any additional resources, but any incidental damages they cause will be extracted from the payment.

Complications: The lab tech is armed, and armored. He is strong, fast, smart and paranoid. While he was escaping from custody he has already killed one person and caused considerable damage. Unknown to everyone, all of his senses are now very acute, which means he will be very hard to surprise.

Strong Points: This guy will be tough to bring down, a very real and dangerous challenge. Fighting lethal force with non-lethal will force the players to do a lot of careful planning and preparing. The mission location is an island, which presents a good defined area in which to operate. This mission is a good game of cat and mouse.

Weak points: While the target is a very tough customer, with a large enough party, say six to eight PCs, the challenge will be a lot less. Some meta-gaming player could decide "well, a rifle bullet won't kill him, it's only 3D damage, and I'm sure he can stand more than that"; and make quick work of him. PCs without any survival or recon skill could spend a lot of in-game time in a very dull search pattern on the wrong part of the island.

What I'd change:  I would include animal encounters as part of the challenge - something on the island is an aggressive carnivore. If the group is large, the aggressive carnivores are immune to the tranq rounds the PCs are carrying. That should balance out the advantage of a large group. An especially skilled group could be saddled with a government monitor who is officious but incompetent.

In My Traveller Universe:  This adventure does not have to be set on a system main world. It can be moved easily to a secondary planet of a system. Just because I haven't developed the Republic of Tamarkand very much I think I'll place the island of Bekain in the Kiska system.

Map: The hunt begins at the starport, the star-circle on the north coast of Bekain Island.

I made this map, using Hexographer. It may be reproduced or modified without permission.