Abstract Combat in Book 4 Mercenary

I bought the Mercenary book back in the mid eighties, and have built lots and lots of PCs with the expanded book 4 rules. I've even a few times tried building a mercenary unit by following the system laid out in the book. But until now the Abstract Battle system didn't make much sense to me. I figured out what I was doing wrong: I tried doing it totally in the abstract. 

The Abstract battle rules work the best when they are integrated into a story, so that both sides have specific objectives, which are determined by their particular missions. Let me explain.

This evening, my boys and a friend were finishing up the adventure of rescuing a princess, who was kidnapped by a General in her world's army. He was trying to usurp the throne and marrying the princess was part of the plot. 

As I have mentioned before, this was my re-imagining of the Amber Zone adventure Coup D'Etat, which I reviewed a few years ago. The setting is Pampati, in Holtzmann's Corridor, and the princess is Princess Aurelia. 

Well, the guys rescued her from the General's army base where she was held hostage, then retreated to the Summer Palace where the King was trying to keep his government together by radio and telephone. 

It may be cold outside, but the princess is Hot!

I provided the PCs with a small force of household guards, and a few hours to prepare defenses before General Kang's troops rolled in. The guards needed officers to direct them, so the King commissioned the PCs to lead the troops. They blocked the entrance road with trucks, hid in the woods and dug in on the front lawn. 

Kang's forces were attempting to capture the palace (and therefore the Princess & the King) and the PCs were there to prevent that from happening.

Here's where the abstract system came in. I drew a map of the area on hex paper. Each of the defending squads had a die-cut counter, and the attackers had a number of counters as well. As rebel and defending counters were moved adjacent to each other, I resolved each of the encounters as a battle round under the abstract system.

Free Character Sheet for These Stars are Ours!

Available now from Stellagama Publishing at DriveThruRPG:

Character sheet for the These Stars Are Ours! (TSAO) setting; compatible with the Cepheus Engine and other OGL 2D6 Sci-Fi games.

Available in three formats: Standard PDF, Fillable Form PDF, High-Resolution PNG.

All for the low low cost of no money whatsoever. Get it here!

New Traveller Game Session Report December 2017

After the McGee Tragedy, the gang needed to find work. I used my Random Missions table and came up with "repair vehicle". Hmm. It will have to be a big vehicle to need seven repairmen. So that would be . . . an airship!

"Can we mount guns on this?" - an actual player question.

Location: Stavanger

The patron is Stephanos "Steffi" Trendheim, son of one of the ruling Barons of Stavanger. He's competing in a 100-hour endurance race across the wilderness of Stavanger, to Oasis and back. The race must use only TL-6 equipment, so no contra-gravity or rocket propulsion.

The gang's first task was to assemble the airship, a semi-rigid airframe with Helium envelopes for lift. They set to work with limited time, but got the ship air-worthy, passed the time trials and entered the race. 

During the build phase, everyone received a Rumor on a 3x5 card. Some pointed to possible future endeavors, but may were signs of trouble ahead: bribery offers and a death threat to lose the race; a bribe to take out a competing racer, and even to take out the patron!

In the air, they got off to a good position in the field of eight racers, each representing one of the Baronies: Arendal, Hokksen, Levanger, Namsos, Plancourt, Sandvika, Trendheim, and Ulstenvok.

The Scientist Career Revisited

Citizens of the Imperium introduced the Scientist prior career. My first thoughts (years ago now) when I looked at it were "Who wants to play a lab-coat wearing test tube jockey [not a direct quote]" and "why are there no Science skills for a career called Scientist?"


Time for a re-evaluation. Is it really that bad of a choice of career?

It's gonna be for him, as soon as he gets a case of that super-virus.

Not all scientists are laboratory Researchers - lots of of Scientists are practically applying what's already been discovered/learned. A quick look over the skills list for scientists tells you these are not lab-coat wearing office dwellers. Traveller scientists are probably practitioners, or possibly field researchers.

All of the UPP characteristics except social standing can be improved. The service has a blend of technical skills, interpersonal skills, social skills, and a few slots for vehicle and weapons skills. This service does have it all. There's even Navigation skill, which will come in handy as one of the benefits is a laboratory ship. A scientist with Navigation can claim to be familiar with shipboard life, and be able to manage the ship. In the advanced education table there's an entry for Leadership skill, which will also be useful for directing a crew of NPCs.

Navigation suggests a focus on Astronomy. Electronics or Mechanical skill can mean degrees in those Engineering specialties. Gravitics and Computer are also engineering specialties. You could argue that the Scientist career is really the Engineers career.

But it is only for the exceptional and clever! The enlistment throw is comparable with sailors flyers and rogues, but the DMs are hard to get: INT 9+ and EDU 10+ and this is the only service that depends entirely on brain power. Survival is harder (5+) than bureaucrats, nobles, doctors and diplomats; and as hard as for sailors and flyers. Clearly these scientists do more than hang about in laboratories.

For comparison, I searched around for examples of scientist or scientifically-minded heroes in literature and television. Here's a sampling of what I found:

RIP Commander McGee

Something has occurred in a game that I have never experienced before as a Traveller player. I started playing in 1982 or 83. In all that time, I have never had a player character die. Until now.

At yesterday's session of the once-a-month gaming group that I referee for my boys and their friends, Commander McGee died. The game was set in Holtzmann's Corridor, on the planet Dekalb. The PC group had just finished a job, capturing an escapee from a hospital who had been exposed to some weird things which resulted in him being super-fast and strong. This was in essence the Amber Zone The Werewolf Disease, which I reviewed a few years back. 

After tracking him for two days, they finally were able to confront him, only to find he dodged and dashed away at high speed, frustrating pursuit on foot. The quarry was finally brought to heel by Maj. Reaper hurling his sword him, at Medium range, and hitting the man in the leg. There's a bar story for you.

McGee, we barely knew ye.

Well, they got paid for the job, and decided to go to Stavanger next. I explained the various travel options, and McGee's player decided to travel Low Passage to save cash. The liner had a qualified Doctor (Medical-3) aboard, and he had no -DM for low Endurance. All McGee needed to survive the Low Berth process was to throw a 3 or higher. The target is 5+, with a DM of +2 for medical support.

He thew Snake Eyes.

The Brothers of St. Cuthbert took care of burying McGee, and my son had a few spare character sheets lying around. McGee's player picked one, announced that this was McGee's brother, transferred all his gear and cash to the new character, and we rolled on.

Watch Out For Falling Rocks! - Avoiding Hazards

Referees, you know you want to do this to your players!

Who hasn't seen a film or show in which the hero must navigate an area full of dangers? It could be a burning building, a collapsing mine shaft, an avalanche, or an artillery barrage. The hero dashes, dodges, jumps, ducks and otherwise displays their physical prowess by coming through without a scratch. This is also a way to get rid of the villain, who disappears in a shower of flying doom. 

I've worked up some simple rules to simulate these thrilling scenes.

Watch Out For Falling Rocks!

To determine the possibility of avoiding damage from collapsing structures, avalanches, rock slides, fires, etc., use the following throws. This can be used any time a character must move through an area of avoidable environmental danger or random gunfire. It will not apply to radiation, extreme heat or cold, or any other unavoidable condition.

The character moves at speed 1 (walking speed) representing the need to dodge and weave to avoid hazards. Expend one combat blow and make a throw every round until the character is out of the danger zone.