Homesteader's Stand - Amber Zone Reviews #35

Amber Zone: Homesteader's Stand, by William H. Keith

A beautiful girl, a besieged ranch and a gang of armed thugs. Welcome home Traveller!

Check out the series introduction here.

 

Location: the planet Lorelei (Foreven Sector, Fessor 0108) C-668742-7 in the Greensummer valley and town of Firstfound.

The parish church in Greensummer valley.

Patron: Dawn Sinclair, a childhood friend of one of the PCs, who also calls Lorelei home. This fact is written into the adventure; the referee will have to set it up with one of the players before the adventure begins.

Mission: The Yedos, a group of supposedly persecuted religious zealots from nearby Blukjere; have shown their true colors as ruthlessly aggressive supremacists. They have run nearly everyone out of bucolic Greensummer Valley, with the exception of Dawn's father. He refuses to abandon his land or submit to the Yedo's intimidation. As such, it's only a matter of time before the Yedos try to force him out, ahem, permanently. Dawn wants the PCs to 'help' her father, but it's up to the players how they will help.

Complications: Lorelei is a peaceful farming world of ranches and small towns. The constabulary is outgunned or cowed by the Yedos or both; the planetary government is not able to assemble a militia. The PCs are on their own and as such they are very outnumbered. The Yedos travel in packs and have automatic weapons; plus their supremacist philosophy means they are very unlikely to be persuaded by negotiation – they believe they can just take what they want as the natural superiors. They also have a number of Loreleians in their camp; supposed converts that are likely used as slave labor. The group leader, Lord Jerfed is reputed to be invulnerable.

Payoff: Dawn doesn't have much money, and the local town of Firstfound isn't rich either. The adventure suggest they may provide more social rewards for ridding them of the Yedos; medals, awards and reputation. Dawn might reveal a romantic interest in the PC she knows, and want to join the PC's group. Plus, defeating these jerks is just the right thing to do. They are arrogant selfish takers, with no regard for anyone they consider 'inferior'; that is, anyone who isn't one of them.

Strong Points: Another strong entry by the Keiths. I want to run this adventure. This is a good solid story archetype; it is a form of Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven. Referees can/should watch one of these films to get cues on how to portray the Yedos, Mr. Sinclair and the other Loreleians. The problem that the PCs face is simple while the solution to it is not. There are many ways the PCs can approach this besides full frontal assault with guns blazing. The biggest limitation is the amount of equipment they have to hand with which to counter the Yedo's advantage of numbers. Being arrogant rather than paranoid, it is likely the Yedo's camp is not well secured so the PCs can spy on them and perhaps sneak into the camp. Even if the Lord Whatshisface gets taken out, the rest of the Yedos will not disappear in a puff of smoke, it could be a long battle to bring them all to heel.

Weak Points: The absence of effective constabulary or national militia is not entirely plausible; but it is also a conceit of the game that allows the PCs to take center stage. As such I'm willing to mention it and move on. Depending on the players, the potential romance might be a role-playing opportunity or an unwanted distraction. There is little about this adventure that is strongly science fiction; unless the PCs have g-carriers and fusion guns, this could be set in the 19^th century in the Wild West.

What I'd change: Going with the idea from the weak points, how would this adventure play differently if one or both sides had contra-grav and energy weapons? Maybe not that much, as it is a battle of wills and wits. It should be possible to disconnect the adventure from the 'old home week' hook and replace it with another motivation to aid the people of Greensummer valley. If the PCs have a strong tech advantage, I would give the Yedos more men or a small number of anti-vehicle weapons. If (or when) this becomes a gun fight it should be a nail-biter.

In My Traveller Universe: I don't have any worlds that match Lorelei's climate, population and tech level, but it seems like the kind of thing that would happen on an Independent world rather than a member of a star nation. I'll pick Lasham (Dormar-Ostrander 0609) because of its remote location.

Map: The map details Greensummer valley, with marks indicating Mr. Sinclair's farm and the Yedo's compound. The Amber Zone gives no description of the valley, so this map is just my version. Referees can make their own. The Sinclair ranch, Yedo camp and town of Firstfound are all marked. The black lines are roads, the blue rivers and the red is the boundary of the Yedo's control. 

How Greensummer was my valley . . .

I made this map, using Hexographer. It may be reproduced or modified without permission. Photo taken from http://littlevisuals.co/ Assumed to be in the public domain. 

I won Second Place! Again!

The First Annual Amber Zone adventure Writing contest has come to an end, the winners were announced yesterday (see the results here) and I won second place for my entry A Hostile Takeover. 

Previous wins include: 
Chapel Bells Chime, 2nd place entry in the 2013 Zhodani Base "76 Patrons" adventure writing contest. 

Renovations, 2nd place entry in the 2012 Zhodani Base "76 Patrons" adventure writing contest.

Seriously, I need to improve my writing. I'm not sure what it is that I keep getting 2nd place. Don't get me wrong, it's a blast participating in the contests and learning from what others present, and the prizes are wonderful. I'm grateful to BeRKA and all the other judges for giving my writing such positive reviews. 

It must be my pride telling me "you shouldn't be satisfied with second place." You know what, pride? Shut up. I didn't create my writing talent. It was a gift given to me by God. So thanks and praise go to Him first and foremost. 

Will I ever win a 1st place prize?  I don't know. I'll get there when my writing is good enough to deserve it, and then I'll be grateful to all the people who have influenced and encouraged me to write. For now, I'm going to just keep writing. It's something God has enabled me to do, and it's just a huge amount of fun. 

Thanks to all of you who read my blog, and comment on and share what I've written.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Motivated Villains for Traveller #1

Creighton Broadhurst recently wrote a blog post on what motivates villains for RPGs. I liked what he wrote, so to go along with my earlier post about villains; I set myself up a challenge, to come up with villainous NPCs that are driven by the motivations he gave. My intention is to do these as a series, like Casual Encounters, but with people you DON'T want to meet. To begin with, here's the list Creighton used. Read the full blog post here.

•Excitement

• Justice or Retribution

• Selfish; Feels Personally Entitled

• Poor Self-Esteem

• History of Abuse

• Social Acceptance

• Mad

• Religious Or Political Convictions

• Love

• The Greater Good

• (Delusions of) Grandeur

[Library Bob's edit 11/20/2014 - I found a podcast on this same topic from the podcast site "On RPGs". Check it out!]

Self-Esteem villain

Peter Bland 777877 

Bureaucrat or Diplomat, 2 terms, rank 0

Admin-1

Bland came from a middle class family, and thought that public service might be a way to get ahead, so he joined the Organization. But his timid nature and a few negative performance reviews from unsympathetic superiors, which Bland took as accurate assessments of himself, quickly shuttled him into a low-paying clerical job. There he remained, afraid to ask for a transfer, seriously unhappy, but without the ability to distinguish himself with superior work, and nothing but obscurity and a tiny apartment in the low-rent district to look forward to.

Then one day one of the office messengers, one of very few people who gave Bland any notice at all, suggested that he take some confidential information and leak it onto the public networks where interested parties would pay good money for it. Encouraged by the messenger and the prospect of being able to afford better accommodations, Bland searched the files he had access to and found something the messenger suggested might be worth something. His first leak netted him a big score, but more importantly, for the first time, Bland felt like he had some power, like he was somebody. He was hooked. Bland began exploring the Organization's data network for other useful things he could sell off.

A close call with Organization security has left him terrified of being caught, but the money has enabled him to conduct his personal life in ways he never could as an honest man, so he is also reluctant to give it up. Being a big spender allowed him to feel like a big shot. He continues to dig for new intel to leak, encouraged occasionally by the messenger.

The player characters will become involved with Bland's doings while doing a job for the Organization, which goes spectacularly wrong, despite all the PC's planning and preparation. Somehow their target knew what was coming before they got there. To finish the job, and to prove that they were not at fault, the PCs must track down the source of the leaked intel. Who got it, from where did they get it, how did it get out of the Organization's control? There may be several operations that Bland has compromised, or secrets that the Organization wants to get back under wraps. The players could have a lengthy campaign doing damage control before every getting close to finding out the source of the leak.

Bland's handler, the office messenger, will disappear if the PCs get too close, leaving Bland hanging out to dry. If confronted, Bland will break down almost at once rather than fight; his panic about discovery and the loss of his source of cash will overwhelm him. Depending upon how the PCs handle the confrontation, Bland may even attempt to do himself in. He might run, but if he does, it will be in a panicky and unstealthy manner that will make tracking him down easier. Once he's in custody, he will talk freely about everything he knows about the fiasco of his intel leaks. Unfortunately everything he thinks he knows about the messenger is false. The Organization may hire the PCs to chase down the handler, who was clearly a professional agent working for another Organization, but that's another job.

Raid on Stataorlai - Amber Zone Reviews # 34

Amber Zone: Raid on Stataorlai, by Keith Douglass

Check out the series introduction here.

 

Location: Stataorlai asteroid belt, (Kyaenka 0605, Dark Nebula)

Patron: The PCs are recruited by a representative of Clan Hweaolriya (hereafter H-clan), the clan to which the PCs belong.

Mission: The PC's clan is at war with the Aeahekihiykhiy clan (hereafter A-clan). H-clan leadership suspects A-clan is assembling a fleet to strike at them, but they do not know where. The PCs are hired to do strategic reconnaissance of the titular system, looking for actionable intelligence of the suspected military buildup.

Complications: The system the PCs are investigating is under the control of the Eakhtawa (hereafter E-clan) clan; officially neutral but favoring A-clan. If the PCs offend the E-clan it could bring them actively into the war, on A-clan's side. As such, the PCs have to avoid any hostility with E-clan that can be tied back to H-clan.

Payoff: Pay is not mentioned in the adventure. The PCs may be considered active duty military and as such do not undertake the adventure for pay. The PCs are provided with a ship for this mission, so maybe they will be allowed to keep it in exchange for being available for other missions.

Strong Points: This is the first Amber Zone written specifically for Aslan characters.

However, this adventure can easily be modified to work for human PCs. The situation calls for a lot of planning, subtlety and coordinated action. Towards the end, the PCs will be able to take more direct action, which should be very high-tension. If they succeed they could short-circuit A-clan's war plans, and give H-clan a real edge.

Weak Points: This is a very linear adventure, the author gives only one way to go about handling it. Any other ideas by the PCs will be completely off-script, meaning the referee has to make it up as it goes. As I read the text, there is about a 50-50 chance that the PCs will be discovered in the first week. If they're 'made' then the mission is over. The ships of E-clan will pursue any unidentified ships – the text states that E-clan ships are 'always hostile'. The PCs actions are pretty much scripted for them by the mission parameters - there's not much freedom to choose.

What I'd change: I would give the PC's the possibility of cracking coded communications between ships at a Lagrange Point aka Trojan Point which might avoid the need for direct action. I would allow the PCs to try stealthy things to change the odds of them being discovered.I would also sketch out the course of the clan war, and allow the PCs other scouting or combat opportunities; stretching this adventure out into a campaign.

In My Traveller Universe: I don't have many asteroid belt systems in my TU, and few are Independents between even minor powers. The best bet would be to locate this adventure in Sutter's Belt (Dothan-Talaveran 0103). Either the Stedhard Alliance or the Kassiran Defense League could be using the Belt, but neither side would want the Dothan Alliance getting in on their opponent's side.

Map: The most of this adventure takes place in titular asteroid belt, so the referee will want to sketch up the belt with its gas giants & their Trojan points.

The creatures of Little Fuzzy

Designing a dragon was fun, but not exactly normative in science fiction. So this time I'm going to try something with more connection to the classic sci-fi literature that forms the foundation of Traveller. 

H Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy series of novels take place on the planet Zarathustra. On Zarathustra, we find several interesting critters, some described in detail some merely mentioned. Here I present my interpretation of these creatures, based on the descriptions given in the first book, Little Fuzzy.

• Harpies
• Land Prawns
• Damnthings
• Bush-goblins
• Hobthrushes
• and, the Fuzzies themselves

A surprising (or obvious) Animal Encounter

I've been thinking on the Encounters section of the Classic Traveller rules lately, so it only makes sense that I would take another look at the Animal Encounters section.

A Highlander Cow, from the planet Dumarque

The CT Animal Encounter rules are both flexible in execution, and clever in design. Instead of designing creatures based upon their appearance (body shape, number of limbs, color, skin covering, etc) the rules focus on describing an animal's behavior and place in the ecosystem.