Last night we finally got around to playing the return to the regular crew in my Traveller game. The crew had jumped into empty space with no fuel meaning they only had regular movement (not FTL) and they were around a parsec (1 light year) away from the nearest star system. In most cases in a sci-fi game that would be lights out. Think Ripley after Alien where she is set adrift in a state of stasis in her life pod, little to no chance of salvation.
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| Deep space the players are stranded with no fuel… |
I wanted to run the game from moment one and although we only had four players last night the navigators player ( +James Austin as Professor Babbage) was there and we started in exactly that way. The first ten minutes of the game was reliving the moment when he realised that his horrific error was cause for everyone on board to be facing a death sentence at his hands. He admitted it after doing a lot of double checking his facts and figures and the crew turned mighty cool on him. In fact there were some downright nasty threats made through the game and the title of today’s post is how Professor Babbage was feeling when asked. A classic quote.
The game was enjoyable from my perspective as a GM. I have actually tied this event into a Classic Traveller adventure that already exists. I have stretched and warped the reality of it all though so the details in the book are somewhat far from the original adventure, and in fact all of the adventure last night was my own. I am fairly certain that the players are expecting to die from the comments at the end of the game last night but it may not actually be the case in the longer running of the game. It really does all depend on the players and their actions. I am not intending a rail-road situation for this adventure but there are set portions of the story that I have designed.
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| The Nine Fortunes moving through the Asteroid debris |
Last night the players came in contact with a ship or environment created from an asteroid. The technology of the asteroid is not necessarily more advanced than the Imperium’s but it is completely different and evidence of superior craftsmanship. There is also a host of nanites aboard the asteroid that seem to be activated when bought near any heat. The technology is most definitely alien but Professor Babbage was able to interface with an unusual device last night that provided data in a multitude of formats. One of the formats is in binary and the ship AI (Zeus) is confident that with the aid of Professor Babbage’s sub-routines to be able to decipher some of the communication.
On the asteroid there was no sign of any sort of life. Everything was “live” and ready to go, seemingly undamaged, but most definitely abandoned.
Back on the Nine Fortunes the crew spent their time getting checked over by the Doctor in wait for the information but before they were able to get any data Zeus advised that the Nine Fortunes was being approached by a craft in the form of a ships boat. This caught the crew wary and then caused confusion as they were hailed by the pilot Vance Eldron of the Kinunir. The message was visually corrupted but the pilot explained that he was running into difficulties with radiation and that was interfering with the broadcast. He called for the crew to follow him back to the Kinunir so they may receive assistance from the captain of the ship.
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| And they find the Kinunir, thought lost for 13 years |
They agreed but also worked out that this ship is one that had disappeared over a sub-sector away some thirteen years prior to the current date. The Nine Fortunes systems finally started to receive beacon information from the Kinunir as the ship appeared on sensors. With the proximity of the ship the crew became even more wary as they realised it should have shown on initial scans.
That is where we left it for the evening. The players had spent the entire night a little paranoid I think as they feel that anything they touch is about to blow up in their faces. So far though they have navigated themselves well and if this continues next fortnight, perhaps the crew will survive the challenges that they have found themselves facing.
I had a good time last night thanks to +James Austin, +Justin Aquino, +Tom Tyson and +Dave Morris! Just remember to relax a little more next time guys… and keep rolling!