azato Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Rough draft of the next adventure I am going to run. Feel free do critique, comment, criticize or even ignore. Ghost in the MachineThe point of the adventure - Since traveller is a straight up science fiction game, there is no real room for the super-natural. The purpose of this adventure is to confront the players with such confounding horror that, using some meta knowledge will think that ghosts are real...and they are the victims of supernatural terror, though the reality is quite different. They stand at the convergence of the highly improbable...a high powered (and slightly neurotic) psionic on board (who does not know of nor can control his abilities) combined with the exposure to an x-boat pilot who is dying from very unusual circumstances. Important points....Do not roll for mental images...they just work automatically and fully. Pretend to roll for who gets affected next,even though the order has been set. For those affected...take them aside and explain the situation..play it out until they come into contact with another person. Then discuss the situation to the group (without the player present) bring them together and let the battle ensue. Every episode is accompanied by a decrease in temperature. [*]They pick up passengers [*]One passengers is a high powered slightly crazy psionic who has not direct control of his powers. Create mental illusions in others - create psychotic/paranoid behavior Cyrokenesis - lowers the temp in large area around him...will not be able to easily pinpoint him as the source. [*]Along the way to jump, they find a floating X-Boat Mis-jumped Drugs introduced a psychotic episode. His violent reaction caused his death/near death. [*]They pull in the disabled man and the psychic passenger gets all weirded out and starts making pronouncements. The residual psychotic mind of the X-Boat pilot directly affects the passengers. The passenger’s abilities only work while asleep The passenger’s abilities are enhanced in hyperspace. [*]How it plays out Man is pulled from the Xboat and the passenger, once he realizes what is going on, starts ranting on how bad an idea that was and how the passengers are all doomed. The pilot soul is not at rest and will seek vengeance on all the living. Will assume the players will take the body to the habitated planet in the system before making the jump. The pilot will die before reaching the destination. Despite the dire warnings...the passengers and the psionic himself will still travel (the fate has been written). First night - Loud banging...very loud banging going in a passengers cabin. The first person to get there will see a man covered in (another passenger’s) blood. He has beaten the man to death by with a metal pipe. Upon seeing the person entering, the passenger will make a feral attempt to attack the player.High presence attack metal pipe Unstunnable - but can be knocked out. After the hub-bub is resolved...everyone will notice how cold it is...they notice their breath. [*]Second night....the engineer gets it If he is playing...(privately) tell him that it becomes very cold and his best friend/fellow soldier (sword worlder) is trapped under an avalanche. He has to hurry and get him out because they are almost surrounded by Imperial marines...who will perform the most heinous and barbaric acts on them if caught. Obviously this is an illusion.The “avalanche” is the engine room. The “friend” is a figment buried deep in the engines. The Imperial Marines are the people who enter the cabin. He cannot be stunned (but can be knocked out) Will “fight to the death” If he survives...he will have wounds from his attempts to save his friend...but actually was destroying the engine room. The psychosis will not end until everybody goes to sleep and another person is the victim. The room temperature will have dropped while this happens. [*]The Third Night...The Armsman (Blake) gets it. Believes there is a bug crawling his his head....that will slowly eat out his brain. The Villani put it there and he is the only one who can get it out. If he refuses....he must die. Time is running out...Who knows how many others the Villani has affected. Those who seek interfere or protect the Villani may be in on it. [*]The Fourth Night....The passenger gets it. Kills him/her self in a most spectacular way. [*]The Fifth Night....The Merchant (Katie) gets it. She sees/believes the following.....This ships instruments are wrong. The current course they are on will lead them into crash into a planet or star. Even if the engines are destroyed...she feels the need to take control of the bridge as all the others are very confused. She will, if necessary, arm herself and take the bridge in order to save them. In a short amount of time she believes the best course of action is to destroy the bridge equipment. [*]The Sixth Night - The Oracle Gets it He will be found spread eagle in his bed with blood streaming from all his orifices with a look of horror on his face. There is no sign of struggle....no sign of violent physical injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine remember even though Traveller is mostly hard SF, it also has Psionics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine Neve thought about the posibility to use the Hyperjump as "Castle in a Storm". Nice Idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azato Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine The adventure worked out very well...expect they almost cut it short by putting they psionic in cold storage. It didn't fully play out a "planned" but it did end with the ex-marine (third night) shooting the Villani twice with a gauss pistol (amazingly hitting him in the same arm both times) and finally just putting the pistol to his head ending it all (the choice of the player running the character). Made for a dramatic night. None of the planned actions happened after the third night because of actions they took. We have one player who may quit the ship because he thinks it is haunted, and I am going to have the dead marine pay visits to the Villani in the form of dreams (but that will be delusion...brought on by the witnessing this fellow going all "Deer Hunter" on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine The adventure worked out very well...expect they almost cut it short by putting they psionic in cold storage. It didn't fully play out a "planned" but it did end with the ex-marine (third night) shooting the Villani twice with a gauss pistol (amazingly hitting him in the same arm both times) and finally just putting the pistol to his head ending it all (the choice of the player running the character). Made for a dramatic night. None of the planned actions happened after the third night because of actions they took. So, next time the first thing to disable should not be the engines, but the cold storage. Doesn't needs to be fatal, jsut preventing them from getting a free one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azato Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine Yeah..That make sense. Here is a bit more analysis of the game (your milage will vary) 1. They spent a lot of time just dealing with the XBoat. Paranoia...going in fully armored and armed..etc. Very paranoid. 2. One dude wanted to know what went on and decided to break into the locked data banks area to get the "black box". Needless to say, the others were NOT happy about that. We had to LARP out that part of the action and it ended with some comedic results (I grabbed the guy's iPad and said "this is the black box" and handed it to him. feeling nervous about using his iPad he put it down to use the protective sleeve as the back box, instead. That is when a fellow player reached down and grabbed the ipad and gave this mischievous look and stated he now had the black box) 3. They put the paranoid guy into cold storage after day one. I figured that was the end of it all but they asked to check on his vital functions. I figured once in cold storage, there were NO vital functions....but they argued about slowed down brain activity and so I figured I could do one or two more nights. 4. One player wasn't there (the engineer) so i skipped to the marine being the next in line. While i determined what would happen, I did randomly determined the actors in each..in this case it worked out very well. I gave the situation for the player to act out. THere is a bug in your head. The villani put it in (he is evil and cant be trusted) yet he is the only one who can take it out. He would ask what he should do...I would just restate..."There is a bug in your head..." 5. Because of the lateness of the night (it took about 6 hours to get to the resolution of the third night) and wanted a conclusion...I ended it there. I could have done one more, but chose not to. If you play this .... or some version of it...let me know how it works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted December 31, 2011 Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine I once ran a scenario aboard a Lightning class scout cruiser (w/the old AHL floor plans) involving a Zhodani agent in cold sleep, who periodically woke up to sabotage the ship. He used metabolic control to fake being in hibernation, then used computer empathy (not a standard Traveller psionic ability, I know) to screw around with their ship. It took the PCs forever to figure out what was really going on, and when they did, they were kinda mad. I explained to them it was standard Zhodani practice to employ sleeper agents! ...and nearly had to run for my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azato Posted December 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2011 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine "sleeper agents". That was a good pun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine I explained to them it was standard Zhodani practice to employ sleeper agents! ...and nearly had to run for my life. Yes, the words "standard practice" and "the players had no idea" never sit well together... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine Yes' date=' the words "standard practice" and "the players had no idea" never sit well together...[/quote'] That wasn't what got them honked off at me -- it was the bad puns. The campaign was full of them, so it wasn't a first offense... GM: Your rented ATV is on tracks, four to a side. Players: That sounds like overkill. GM: It's a primitive planet. They still use 8-tracks. Players: You suck. And there's more... GM: Okay, the entire river's blocked by some kind of huge plant... all the water's getting filtered through the body, and it's digesting all the, uh... dead plant and animal matter in the river, and all the other waste. The stench is unbelievable. Players: GROSS! What the heck is this thing? GM: It's a sewage plant. Players: You suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted January 1, 2012 Report Share Posted January 1, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine That wasn't what got them honked off at me -- it was the bad puns. The campaign was full of them' date=' so it wasn't a first offense...[/quote'] Have you already posted them over in the "Quote of the week" thread? Because they sound funny... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine Have you already posted them over in the "Quote of the week" thread? Because they sound funny... At the time I was running that game, I wasn't really active on the Hero Boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine At the time I was running that game' date=' I wasn't really active on the Hero Boards.[/quote'] It's never to late to bring them anyway. The "of the week" part does not implies it has to be a session in this week or even from just ones session. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine ... After reading this thread, I want to make Xav a king. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine Why the demotion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted January 3, 2012 Report Share Posted January 3, 2012 Re: Traveller Adventure: Ghost In The Machine I get paid the same either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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