Not the Iron DM Tournament

[AbdulAlhazred]

@AbdulAlhazred, is the laugh in response to the shoes, or the whistling in a bridge scenario, or something else I missed?

I was just thinking of all the possible ways these characters can butt heads. I agree, things could well turn out that they cooperate. I was watching The Netflix show 'Cobra Kai', and it has 2 characters who are very similarly conflicted. Sometimes they cooperate, sometimes they smack each other silly.

 

[chaochou]

The Ingredient lists are up to 7, and the word count to 1500. Here's a recent one which just finished:

• Slippery Slope
• Morale Check
• Limbless Beast
• Heavy Crown
• Subpar Hero
• Vanished Behemoth
• Tomorrow’s Match

I'd been trying to put together an earlier set together for something for Traveller but it hasn't come together. C'est la vie!

 

[Fenris-77]

The Ingredient lists are up to 7, and the word count to 1500. Here's a recent one which just finished:

• Slippery Slope
• Morale Check
• Limbless Beast
• Heavy Crown
• Subpar Hero
• Vanished Behemoth
• Tomorrow’s Match

I'd been trying to put together an earlier set together for something for Traveller but it hasn't come together. C'est la vie!

I don't have an actual write up for this, but I did have an idea that sprang pretty much fully formed into my head when I read the ingredient list. So, here goes...

This is for OSR games. The Cult of the Behemoth wants to raise their scaled master from his slumber in the deepest depths of the sea. The ritual to raise him takes the form of blood sport, played out in a offal pit hidden deep underground, its sloped sides covered in the corpses of previous fighters and their foes. On certain nights a champion, wearing the Crowned Helm of the Behemoth, is lowered into the pit, and buckets of offal are tossed toward the hole that forms the center of the sloped arena. In that lightless well live the limbless halfbreed offspring off the behemoth, warped and savage, who swarm out at the smell of blood. The Champion must last two turns of the glass and dispatch at least one of the limbless beasts in order to complete the ritual. If he succeeds he is raised out of the pit, and if he fails another champion will be found. The Cult believes that when all the beasts are slain, the Behemoth will arise. Lately, the swarm has been much smaller than in previous years, and the Cult hopes that their ritual, years in the making, will soon be complete.

 

[pemerton]

The Ingredient lists are up to 7, and the word count to 1500. Here's a recent one which just finished:

• Slippery Slope
• Morale Check
• Limbless Beast
• Heavy Crown
• Subpar Hero
• Vanished Behemoth
• Tomorrow’s Match

I'd been trying to put together an earlier set together for something for Traveller but it hasn't come together. C'est la vie!

I'm working on a Classic Traveller set up for this set of ingredients - Traveller because it's the only system I'm familiar with that uses PC-side morale checks.

Work and home have both been fairly busy over the past few days, but hopefully I can post something soon.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I don't have an actual write up for this, but I did have an idea that sprang pretty much fully formed into my head when I read the ingredient list. So, here goes...

This is for OSR games. The Cult of the Behemoth wants to raise their scaled master from his slumber in the deepest depths of the sea. The ritual to raise him takes the form of blood sport, played out in a offal pit hidden deep underground, its sloped sides covered in the corpses of previous fighters and their foes. On certain nights a champion, wearing the Crowned Helm of the Behemoth, is lowered into the pit, and buckets of offal are tossed toward the hole that forms the center of the sloped arena. In that lightless well live the limbless halfbreed offspring off the behemoth, warped and savage, who swarm out at the smell of blood. The Champion must last two turns of the glass and dispatch at least one of the limbless beasts in order to complete the ritual. If he succeeds he is raised out of the pit, and if he fails another champion will be found. The Cult believes that when all the beasts are slain, the Behemoth will arise. Lately, the swarm has been much smaller than in previous years, and the Cult hopes that their ritual, years in the making, will soon be complete.

Yeah, 'tomorrow's match' certainly evokes a death sport kind of theme! I was thinking that 2 of the other 'ingredients' would be some of the contestants, like Slippery Slope in this corner vs Subpar Hero in the other corner! lol. Heck, maybe ALL of them could be the names of fighters, with fun powers. I wonder what power 'Heavy Crown' has? lol.

 

[pemerton]

It's been a while, but with a bit of tinkering here and there, and a final big push this evening, I've written my Traveller scenario. As I mentioned upthread, I chose Traveller for this mostly because it's the only system I play that uses "morale checks". To me it also feels like there's a bit of a Dying Earth vibe

By my count the words are just over 1,400. And the ingredients are:

Slippery Slope​

Morale Check​

Limbless Beast​

Heavy Crown​

Subpar Hero​

Vanished Behemoth​

Tomorrow’s Match​

The Arena

Imagine a world which is little more than a starport. A starport and an arena. In the arena, gladiatorial heroes do battles with great aquatic beasts for the entertainment of jaded nobles watching from air-conditioned boxes.

Tupic Querogt

B (no bases) – 55A – 338 – 8 – Wa, Lo, Ni

Tupic is a mid-sized world with a thin atmosphere (5% greenhouse) and almost totally water-covered (70% cloud-covered; 0.426 albedo; average surface temperature of 43° C); its population of around 800 is concentrated at the Muso arena; its government is a self-perpetuating oligarchy, the managers of the arena and overseers of the gladiatorial stables.

Its period of rotation is 63 hours; its orbital period is 1,500.9 days. It has three moons which exercise a considerable tidal influence and disrupt the formation of ice-caps, plus one major artificial satellite:

Average orbit of 16,000 km: G – 200 – 36A – 7 (10.6 hour orbital period; underground training base for hundreds of gladiators, governed in a highly restrictive fashion by the ruling oligarchy);

Average orbit of 32,000 km: Y – S00 – 168 – 7 (31 hour orbital period; a small team is preparing for the construction of a new training base on this 700 km diameter satellite);

Average orbit of 36,000 km: G – 100 – 326 – 7 (36.8 hour orbital period; a self-governing group of former and escapee gladiators);

Average orbit of 50,700 km: Type B starport (geosynchronous orbit; refined fuel available; capability to construct non-starships and undertake repairs and maintenance; a branch of the Travellers’ Aid Society; regular shuttle services to Muso).​

Its star, Querou, is a white main sequence star: F5 V, with orbits 0 to 13 (none empty): Tupic is in orbit 5; gas giants are in orbits 7, 8 and 12; planetoid belts are in orbits 0, 6 and 11.


One of those nobles hired you, to crew her vessel and guard her personage. You've spent a week in Muso: Lady Gora placing bets on arena fights, you keeping watch over her and her purse while her security chief stays with in orbit aboard her interstellar yacht, the Luminous Coronet.

NPCs

Lady (Baroness) Gora
Noble (4 terms, 34 years old, entering 5th term which will see elevation to marchioness and -1 Str, Dex, +1 Int, + Carousing-1, Gambling-1; TAS member)

98767C

Spear-1 Hunting-1 Carousing-1
Air/Raft-2 Gambling-1

Cr 100,000 (hopes to win more at the arena!); Spear, Type Y Yacht (air/raft has mounted auto-rifle)


Security Chief (3 terms, rank 3, 30 years old)

554946

Small blades-1 Tactics-1 Air/Raft-2 Streetwise-1
Auto-Rifle-1 Recon-1 Commo-2

Cr 2,000; High Psg, Security kit (lockpicks, disguises, electronic tools)

PCs: engineer, pilot, medic, steward

Navy Lieutenant (7 terms, rank 3, 46 years old + physical training – promoted to Ensign, then Lieutenant in the final two terms; TAS member)

366BA7

Foil-1 Vacc Suit-3 Computer-1 Medical-2
Cbt Rifles-1 Commo-1 Engineering-2 Liaison-1

Cr 25,900; High Psg, Foil


Navy (2 terms, 26 years old + experience; an aide to the Lieutenant; TAS member)

88BA97

Heavy Weapons-1 Vacc Suit-1 Navigation-1 Commo-1
Ship’s Tactics-1 Ship’s Boat-1 Pilot-1

Cr 10,000


Merchant 4th Officer (draftee, 4 terms, rank 1, 34 years old + physical training)

9C6739

Laser Pistol-1 Medical-2 Carousing-1 Bribery-1
Air/Raft-1 Jack-o-T-1 Steward-1 Streetwise-2

Cr 20,900; Middle Psg, Cutlass, Integral Laser Pistol


Merchant 4th Officer (4½ terms, rank 1, 36 years old + experience in weapons)

7666A6

Cutlass-1 Vacc Suit-1 Computer-2 Jack-o-T-1
Rifles-2 Ship’s Boat-1 Electronic-1 Steward-1
Mechanical-1 Broker-1

Cr 5,000; Middle Psg, Cutlass, Rifle


You can spend your money as you like, although the ex-merchant characters may not begin with strictly military equipment (the ex-Navy characters are assumed to have access to military surplus).


Lady Gora has taken a particular interest in an emerging gladiator, Amud the Restless. He's charming in a grotty sort of way, but rather sub-par as a fighter. Tomorrow he's scheduled to fight a Musow Behemoth. And Lady Gora has Cr 50,000 on Amud to lose. But some hours ago, the rumour started spreading: the Behemoth has vanished, meaning that – under the arena rules – Amud will win by way of forfeit.

Amud the Restless – he is heavy-hearted at the thought of being crowned champion by way of forfeit
Barbarian (2 terms, rank 1, 22 years old, entering 3rd term)

879886

Spear-1 Recon-1 Jack-o-T-1
Archery-1 Survival-1

C r 0 (but has a spear, longbow and a quiver of arrows provided by his sponsor)

And so that’s how you find yourselves in your current circumstances: having taken the air/raft out of the ship’s boat and flown it to a small atoll over 100 km from Muso, with auto-rifle mounted in defiance of local prohibitions on carrying weapons, to try and stop the loading of the exotic behemoth from a submersible onto a half-submerged safari vessel so that it might be taken to another world for sale.

Each of you can answer one of the following questions – you should give the answer from the perspective of your character, not from a “god’s eye” point of view:

How did the poachers gain access to the behemoth pen?​

How did you locate the safari vessel?​

What precautions have you taken against the heat and the water?​

Who stands to benefit from Amud winning tomorrow’s match and being crowned champion?​

If answering a question requires you to make a throw for a skill or other characteristic, make the throw and apply the result to your current situation (if it’s unclear, the referee will determine how). If it requires you to spend credits, mark the expenditure on your character record. If it involves the existence or activities of a NPC, the referee will take care of that aspect of things. Your answer does not need to be a complete one – if in doubt, follow the fiction and apply the appropriate resolution system.

Once the questions have been answered, it is time to address the situation you find yourselves in!


For the referee: The submersible is a 30 ton vessel of the sort used to carry beasts to the arena: it has a holding pen and a cramped cabin for the pilot and two other crew, and travels at about 15 kph. It has surfaced in the cargo hold of the safari ship, half-submerged on the atoll, with the pen aligned for unloading into the vessel’s holding tank.

The hunter is piloting the submersible; the pirate and rogue are outside in the vessel’s air/raft, overseeing the transfer. The ex-Naval Lieutenant is in the water in a protective suit (equivalent to cloth armour) with underwater air tanks. The pilot and engineer are at their respective posts.

The sides of the submersible are sloping and slippery; the same is true of the atoll. The hold of the starship is full of water. If the submersible or the starship lose their alignment, the behemoth can escape. The tide will rise very quickly.

If anyone is hurt, two things will happen: that side of the conflict must make a morale check (in accordance with the rules); and the limbless beast will lunge out from its place of concealment in the atoll, to try and take the body.

If/when the PCs return to Muso, an appropriate Law Level check must be made given the illegality of their armed air/raft.


Safari ship owner and crew (muscle, steward, medic, pilot, engineer)

Hunter (4 terms, Age 34 years old, entering 5th and final term – will suffer -1 Dex, gain +1 Int)

7988BA

Laser Pistol-2 Hunting-1 Air/Raft-1
Survival-1 Submersible-1
Vacc Suit-1 Jack-o-T-1

Cr 0 (but hopes to gain some from this venture!); Laser Pistol (and power pack), Type K Safari Ship


Pirate Sergeant (4 terms, rank 3, 34 years old)

B9CA74

Brawling-2 Small Blades-1 Gunnery-1 Commo-1
Combat Rifles-1 Large Blades-1 Tactics-1 Gambling-1
Ships Tactics-1 Streetwise-1

Cr 50,180; Mid Psg, Cloth Armour, Blade, Cutlass, Assault Rifle (loaded)


Rogue (5 terms, 38 years old)

AB7798

Brawling-2 Air/Raft-1 Bribery-1 Carousing-2 (Steward-1)
Shotgun-2 Computer-1 Streetwise-2 Liaison-1

Cr 10,000; High Psg, Shotgun (loaded)


Navy Lieutenant (3 terms, rank 3, 30 years old + experience in weapons; TAS member)

475BBB

Dagger-1 Fwd Obs-1 Navigation-1 Medical-1
SMG-1 Vacc Suit-2 Electronic-1

Cr 25,000


Navy (½ term, 20 years old)

56979A

Ship’s Tactics-1 Navigation-1 Pilot-1 Computer-1

Cr 0


Navy (½ term, 20 years old)

69359B

Electronic-1 Mechanical-1 Engineering-1

Cr 0


Musow Behemoth
Killer, maritime surface swimmer
12,000 kg
Always attacks, even if attacked
1x speed 10D/5D jack hide, claws (+1) for 7D+3


Limbless Beast
Hijacker, maritime shallows amphibian
6,000 kg
When encountered, attack if attacked or throws 5+; otherwise flees 7+ or else stands
3x speed 9D/4D teeth for 7D-3

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

It's been a while, but with a bit of tinkering here and there, and a final big push this evening, I've written my Traveller scenario. As I mentioned upthread, I chose Traveller for this mostly because it's the only system I play that uses "morale checks". To me it also feels like there's a bit of a Dying Earth vibe

By my count the words are just over 1,400. And the ingredients are:

Slippery Slope​

Morale Check​

Limbless Beast​

Heavy Crown​

Subpar Hero​

Vanished Behemoth​

Tomorrow’s Match​

The Arena

Imagine a world which is little more than a starport. A starport and an arena. In the arena, gladiatorial heroes do battles with great aquatic beasts for the entertainment of jaded nobles watching from air-conditioned boxes.

Tupic Querogt

B (no bases) – 55A – 338 – 8 – Wa, Lo, Ni

Tupic is a mid-sized world with a thin atmosphere (5% greenhouse) and almost totally water-covered (70% cloud-covered; 0.426 albedo; average surface temperature of 43° C); its population of around 800 is concentrated at the Muso arena; its government is a self-perpetuating oligarchy, the managers of the arena and overseers of the gladiatorial stables.

Its period of rotation is 63 hours; its orbital period is 1,500.9 days. It has three moons which exercise a considerable tidal influence and disrupt the formation of ice-caps, plus one major artificial satellite:

Average orbit of 16,000 km: G – 200 – 36A – 7 (10.6 hour orbital period; underground training base for hundreds of gladiators, governed in a highly restrictive fashion by the ruling oligarchy);​

​

Average orbit of 32,000 km: Y – S00 – 168 – 7 (31 hour orbital period; a small team is preparing for the construction of a new training base on this 700 km diameter satellite);​

​

Average orbit of 36,000 km: G – 100 – 326 – 7 (36.8 hour orbital period; a self-governing group of former and escapee gladiators);​

​

Average orbit of 50,700 km: Type B starport (geosynchronous orbit; refined fuel available; capability to construct non-starships and undertake repairs and maintenance; a branch of the Travellers’ Aid Society; regular shuttle services to Muso).​

Its star, Querou, is a white main sequence star: F5 V, with orbits 0 to 13 (none empty): Tupic is in orbit 5; gas giants are in orbits 7, 8 and 12; planetoid belts are in orbits 0, 6 and 11.


One of those nobles hired you, to crew her vessel and guard her personage. You've spent a week in Muso: Lady Gora placing bets on arena fights, you keeping watch over her and her purse while her security chief stays with in orbit aboard her interstellar yacht, the Luminous Coronet.

NPCs

Lady (Baroness) Gora
Noble (4 terms, 34 years old, entering 5th term which will see elevation to marchioness and -1 Str, Dex, +1 Int, + Carousing-1, Gambling-1; TAS member)

98767C

Spear-1 Hunting-1 Carousing-1
Air/Raft-2 Gambling-1

Cr 100,000 (hopes to win more at the arena!); Spear, Type Y Yacht (air/raft has mounted auto-rifle)


Security Chief (3 terms, rank 3, 30 years old)

554946

Small blades-1 Tactics-1 Air/Raft-2 Streetwise-1
Auto-Rifle-1 Recon-1 Commo-2

Cr 2,000; High Psg, Security kit (lockpicks, disguises, electronic tools)

PCs: engineer, pilot, medic, steward

Navy Lieutenant (7 terms, rank 3, 46 years old + physical training – promoted to Ensign, then Lieutenant in the final two terms; TAS member)

366BA7

Foil-1 Vacc Suit-3 Computer-1 Medical-2
Cbt Rifles-1 Commo-1 Engineering-2 Liaison-1

Cr 25,900; High Psg, Foil


Navy (2 terms, 26 years old + experience; an aide to the Lieutenant; TAS member)

88BA97

Heavy Weapons-1 Vacc Suit-1 Navigation-1 Commo-1
Ship’s Tactics-1 Ship’s Boat-1 Pilot-1

Cr 10,000


Merchant 4th Officer (draftee, 4 terms, rank 1, 34 years old + physical training)

9C6739

Laser Pistol-1 Medical-2 Carousing-1 Bribery-1
Air/Raft-1 Jack-o-T-1 Steward-1 Streetwise-2

Cr 20,900; Middle Psg, Cutlass, Integral Laser Pistol


Merchant 4th Officer (4½ terms, rank 1, 36 years old + experience in weapons)

7666A6

Cutlass-1 Vacc Suit-1 Computer-2 Jack-o-T-1
Rifles-2 Ship’s Boat-1 Electronic-1 Steward-1
Mechanical-1 Broker-1

Cr 5,000; Middle Psg, Cutlass, Rifle


You can spend your money as you like, although the ex-merchant characters may not begin with strictly military equipment (the ex-Navy characters are assumed to have access to military surplus).


Lady Gora has taken a particular interest in an emerging gladiator, Amud the Restless. He's charming in a grotty sort of way, but rather sub-par as a fighter. Tomorrow he's scheduled to fight a Musow Behemoth. And Lady Gora has Cr 50,000 on Amud to lose. But some hours ago, the rumour started spreading: the Behemoth has vanished, meaning that – under the arena rules – Amud will win by way of forfeit.

Amud the Restless – he is heavy-hearted at the thought of being crowned champion by way of forfeit
Barbarian (2 terms, rank 1, 22 years old, entering 3rd term)

879886

Spear-1 Recon-1 Jack-o-T-1
Archery-1 Survival-1

C r 0 (but has a spear, longbow and a quiver of arrows provided by his sponsor)

And so that’s how you find yourselves in your current circumstances: having taken the air/raft out of the ship’s boat and flown it to a small atoll over 100 km from Muso, with auto-rifle mounted in defiance of local prohibitions on carrying weapons, to try and stop the loading of the exotic behemoth from a submersible onto a half-submerged safari vessel so that it might be taken to another world for sale.

Each of you can answer one of the following questions – you should give the answer from the perspective of your character, not from a “god’s eye” point of view:

How did the poachers gain access to the behemoth pen?​

How did you locate the safari vessel?​

What precautions have you taken against the heat and the water?​

Who stands to benefit from Amud winning tomorrow’s match and being crowned champion?​

If answering a question requires you to make a throw for a skill or other characteristic, make the throw and apply the result to your current situation (if it’s unclear, the referee will determine how). If it requires you to spend credits, mark the expenditure on your character record. If it involves the existence or activities of a NPC, the referee will take care of that aspect of things. Your answer does not need to be a complete one – if in doubt, follow the fiction and apply the appropriate resolution system.

Once the questions have been answered, it is time to address the situation you find yourselves in!


For the referee: The submersible is a 30 ton vessel of the sort used to carry beasts to the arena: it has a holding pen and a cramped cabin for the pilot and two other crew, and travels at about 15 kph. It has surfaced in the cargo hold of the safari ship, half-submerged on the atoll, with the pen aligned for unloading into the vessel’s holding tank.

The hunter is piloting the submersible; the pirate and rogue are outside in the vessel’s air/raft, overseeing the transfer. The ex-Naval Lieutenant is in the water in a protective suit (equivalent to cloth armour) with underwater air tanks. The pilot and engineer are at their respective posts.

The sides of the submersible are sloping and slippery; the same is true of the atoll. The hold of the starship is full of water. If the submersible or the starship lose their alignment, the behemoth can escape. The tide will rise very quickly.

If anyone is hurt, two things will happen: that side of the conflict must make a morale check (in accordance with the rules); and the limbless beast will lunge out from its place of concealment in the atoll, to try and take the body.

If/when the PCs return to Muso, an appropriate Law Level check must be made given the illegality of their armed air/raft.


Safari ship owner and crew (muscle, steward, medic, pilot, engineer)

Hunter (4 terms, Age 34 years old, entering 5th and final term – will suffer -1 Dex, gain +1 Int)

7988BA

Laser Pistol-2 Hunting-1 Air/Raft-1
Survival-1 Submersible-1
Vacc Suit-1 Jack-o-T-1

Cr 0 (but hopes to gain some from this venture!); Laser Pistol (and power pack), Type K Safari Ship


Pirate Sergeant (4 terms, rank 3, 34 years old)

B9CA74

Brawling-2 Small Blades-1 Gunnery-1 Commo-1
Combat Rifles-1 Large Blades-1 Tactics-1 Gambling-1
Ships Tactics-1 Streetwise-1

Cr 50,180; Mid Psg, Cloth Armour, Blade, Cutlass, Assault Rifle (loaded)


Rogue (5 terms, 38 years old)

AB7798

Brawling-2 Air/Raft-1 Bribery-1 Carousing-2 (Steward-1)
Shotgun-2 Computer-1 Streetwise-2 Liaison-1

Cr 10,000; High Psg, Shotgun (loaded)


Navy Lieutenant (3 terms, rank 3, 30 years old + experience in weapons; TAS member)

475BBB

Dagger-1 Fwd Obs-1 Navigation-1 Medical-1
SMG-1 Vacc Suit-2 Electronic-1

Cr 25,000


Navy (½ term, 20 years old)

56979A

Ship’s Tactics-1 Navigation-1 Pilot-1 Computer-1

Cr 0


Navy (½ term, 20 years old)

69359B

Electronic-1 Mechanical-1 Engineering-1

Cr 0


Musow Behemoth
Killer, maritime surface swimmer
12,000 kg
Always attacks, even if attacked
1x speed 10D/5D jack hide, claws (+1) for 7D+3


Limbless Beast
Hijacker, maritime shallows amphibian
6,000 kg
When encountered, attack if attacked or throws 5+; otherwise flees 7+ or else stands
3x speed 9D/4D teeth for 7D-3

Icky, the PCs will have a hard time winning that fight! Although the Auto Rifle on the air raft will help. Still, the bad guys are well-armed and seem unlikely to give up without a fight, particularly that Pirate Sergeant (assault rifle, cloth armor, bad news).

The real question though is how the referee will run the whole 'can the behemoth escape' element. I mean, were I the pirates/hunter, I'd just suspend loading operations and deal with the intruders in the simplest brute force way possible! Why would anything go wrong? Moreover the attacking PCs have little reason to mess with the loading aspect of things. I'd assume their best bet is to get aboard the Type Y yacht and insure that nobody can take off!

OTOH the real meat of the scenario is in the initial 'figure out how we got here' because PRESUMABLY the only point of that is to either establish one or more of the bad guys as secret allies, or to establish the intervention of some sort of authorities/reinforcements who will tip the odds in their favor.

Also we don't know what EXACTLY constitutes victory conditions. Is it enough for the PCs to establish that the behemoth was stolen in order to fix the fight? I guess not or else that would simply be the assumed outcome, since someone had to take it. So, victory can only mean recovering the creature alive.

Maybe there could be other more creative solutions? Hard to say. My bet is various ploys are tried and things basically resolve down to a straight-up fight, possibly with the bad guys facing less good odds than the basic setup. The real question is just how far the ref will let a player go in terms of carving out some sort of extrapolated scenario.

 

[pemerton]

@AbdulAlhazred

Well, I haven't run it. I did some eyeballing on the combat stats and I think it's feasible.

The moons were the result of random generation (using Supplement 6 extended world generation) and I didn't try and do any maths or Googling about tides but figure a big moon that close must produce some pretty dramatic tidal action, and I think that is the key - in the referee's hands - to introducing complexity into the confrontation.

Other options I thought of included the PCs trying to join with the poachers in order to share in the proceeds (perhaps stealing the Type Y on the way out?); or knocking off the poachers but carrying out their plan themselves; as well as more tactical stuff like trying to take control of their vessel (the NPCs can't easily defend the submersible and the bridge at the same time) or doing something funky with the submersible (eg if the PCs are equipped with diving gear and explosives).

The "flashback" stuff I deliberately left rather open-ended. It seemed to me that possible options include getting some sort of leverage over Amud, or the poachers, or both; having to expend resources to establish the PCs presence at the atoll; even getting leverage (eg with the oligarch who is backing Amud) to avoid getting in trouble for travelling with a militarily-armed air/raft on a Law Level 8 world.

Overall, I would expect the players to first establish a goal for the main scene, and then to use the flashback resolution to help build towards that goal in various ways. But there are other possibilities, too - the players don't have to be a many-headed hydra . . .

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

@AbdulAlhazred

Well, I haven't run it. I did some eyeballing on the combat stats and I think it's feasible.

The moons were the result of random generation (using Supplement 6 extended world generation) and I didn't try and do any maths or Googling about tides but figure a big moon that close must produce some pretty dramatic tidal action, and I think that is the key - in the referee's hands - to introducing complexity into the confrontation.

Other options I thought of included the PCs trying to join with the poachers in order to share in the proceeds (perhaps stealing the Type Y on the way out?); or knocking off the poachers but carrying out their plan themselves; as well as more tactical stuff like trying to take control of their vessel (the NPCs can't easily defend the submersible and the bridge at the same time) or doing something funky with the submersible (eg if the PCs are equipped with diving gear and explosives).

The "flashback" stuff I deliberately left rather open-ended. It seemed to me that possible options include getting some sort of leverage over Amud, or the poachers, or both; having to expend resources to establish the PCs presence at the atoll; even getting leverage (eg with the oligarch who is backing Amud) to avoid getting in trouble for travelling with a militarily-armed air/raft on a Law Level 8 world.

Overall, I would expect the players to first establish a goal for the main scene, and then to use the flashback resolution to help build towards that goal in various ways. But there are other possibilities, too - the players don't have to be a many-headed hydra . . .

Right, they could join the poachers, or... I think the flashback is a reasonably clever way to both frame the action into a single ultimate scene that resolves everything, and give the players a lot of leeway. I haven't seen that technique used with Traveller before, and it certainly wasn't something the system itself suggests. However, it will certainly work for the opening gambit of a campaign, or for a one-shot in this case.

And, yeah, I am not so sure that parties necessarily are going to be of one mind. It could turn out to be a fairly amusing scenario with half the party managing to get some allies to show up, and the other half trying to join the 'bad guys'.

Some additional possibilities suggest themselves as well. Your scenario doesn't actually cast anyone in a 'villain' role, though it suggests that perhaps the Hunter et al are working in the employ of someone who wants to have over on the PC's employer. It could be entirely different though. Perhaps the Noble Lady has some ulterior motives, or just family ties to the powers that be in this system. Those powers might not be all that popular, or at least have enemies. So it could be there are larger forces at work. A clever player might leverage that in his 'flashback' time (IE maybe the Navy shows up with a cruiser to put some things to rights!).

 

[pemerton]

I think the flashback is a reasonably clever way to both frame the action into a single ultimate scene that resolves everything, and give the players a lot of leeway.

It's kind of you to say so!

I haven't seen that technique used with Traveller before, and it certainly wasn't something the system itself suggests.

I'm sure it's not a technique that's original to me or this scenario. But from my point of view, I invented it for this scenario to solve a particular structural problem: how do I ensure there's a conflict that points strongly towards a morale check (one of the ingredients) while avoiding a railroad?

EDIT: I'm familiar with BitD in general terms, but I think my flashbacks work differently. Also the old 3E/d20 module Three Days to Kill doesn't use flashbacks but does have a tight structure with an ultimate scene - I've never played it but have read it and thought about running it, and it influenced me a bit too I think.