For those following my attempt to run The Traveller Adventure with a
group of newbie role players (save one Traveller veteran).

We've now had our 6th session down the pub after work (every other
month) and this was the third on Pysadi.

This evening included one stupid/unforgiveable/difficult to salvage
mistake by myself and one possibly poor choice I'd like to ask what
others might have done about.

[This isn't intended as full write up - just some refereeing notes and
won't make much sense without a working knowledge of TTA]

Thus far the campaign has gone pretty much as published but we've now
had our first departure.  Not unexpected.  And entirely my fault.

The two noticeable (if irrelevant to the plot) differences so far was
that early on the PCs picked up a squeedle or two as pets which are
now living in a terrarium in the cargo space.  (The experienced
Traveller veteran as engineering was *insistent* on building them a
strong tank to live in.)  (Oh, and one of the players has knitted a
squeedle just because...)

The other difference was on arrival at Pysadi, the crew were playing a
pick up game of fussball on the dockside with one of the vargr crews
also in port.  A nasty accident as a PC and an NPC jumped up to the
head the ball at the same time resulted in the PC crashing to the
ground, banging head nastily on the concrete and dying as a result of
injuries a day or two later.  (Pysadi's tech level is only 4 and local
medical help was eager but insufficient.)   (This was all because one
of my players wanted to change from her dull army captain - straight
out of the book - to her go get 'em archaeologist she'd been plying in
lunchtime games three colleagues are testing me with).  So the
archaeologist gets hired to work passage along with an NPC carpenter
one of the crew liked the look of (I'd described him as Harrison
Ford-like).

Anyway, events on Pysadi unfolded as written after the death: out to
the boonies, explode some howood trees, encounter a nasty pouncer,
encounter the anolas and head back to Baraatsa's farm.  I was, of
course, a bit fearful about the whole anola thing and essentially
'kidnapping' one of the PCs.  I promised myself that whoever got
wounded by the pouncer, I would NOT be having the Engineer kidnapped
as the player was the poor soul who played the orphan Sina in Three
Blind Mice a few years back at Trav Con
(http://www.13mann.com/index.php/en/download/category/52-traveller-adventures).
It seemed unkind to do that to him again!  Of course, who got
wounded...?!

The mistake happened at this point.  The carpenter had applied to work
passage as a native of Pysadi and wanting to leave because his wife
and daughter had died and blah blah blah...  He'd come with them on
the logging expedition.  He wasn't mute or stupid.  So WHY DIDN'T HE
WARN THE PCs ABOUT THE $@$!! ANOLAS?   More to the point, why didn't I
see that coming a mile off?!  Stupid, stupid, stupid.
After a short pause as everyone twigged I'd not thought through those
consequences, I looked at the map and decreed he came from a town at
the completely opposite end of the continent and was a real
backwoodsman himself.  That was accepted (just barely I felt) although
helped by the player who decided the place was called Llin (it's hard
to read on the world map) and he must therefore speak with a Welsh
accent (I'd played Baraatsa with an Irish one) and was just therefore
culturally completely different...    (It wasn't till I got on the
ferry 5 minutes after we finished that I thought of Plan B - he was an
agent of, say, the Vemene and not local at all....<sigh>)

Anyhoo...

The PCs end up back at Itzeny Church where they get a lecture (more a
sermon) on Mother Pysadi and the anolas from a Salvor and then the
same again from a very elderly priest as he gives them the two
"options".  It was quite fun delivering the 'sermon' in character
(twice over with different voices) until the players were really
getting the message.  One player missed the second recital on a loo
break and there was nearly mutiny when I offered to fill them in by
going through it again... :-)

However, that was worth doing from their point of view because they
were then exceptionally well armed to turn the priests' arguments back
on them.  After some initial hysteria as the Captain, the one the
priests had identified to 'stay', seriously considered just staying
when he found out that the priests weren't celibate and the elderly
one was getting married for the fifth time "tomorrow", the PCs came up
with some wonderful logic about being not merely a crew, but a
'family' themselves and they needed to stay together and couldn't they
be commissioned as a group to take the faith to nearby worlds and
wouldn't some of the priests like to join them in this and wouldn't it
be wonderful to have others share the knowledge of Mother Pysadi?

It was kind of hard to argue against this passionate and well thought
out response to their dilemma but perhaps stupidly I stuck with the
plot.  I'd got quite fixed on the whole rescue thing as a climax and
didn't see the obvious... *this* solution would be a way of getting
them to take the anolas without thinking about it and with priests
tagging along to make sure the creatures weren't immediately killed.
The players, if not the PCs, were already somewhat suspicious of them
although the Captain and at least one other were rather enamored of
them (player and PC).

So the priests declined the offer and we went through the whole rescue
bit.  Yes, the traditional: back to the starport, sort out
passengers/cargo and then hit the church quickly on the way out of
system.  Hovering at the third floor kitchen (?!) where the Captain
was chatting up a serving girl, they blow a hole in the wall, the
Captain jumps to the open cargo hatch, nearly misses and off they go.
Definitely not taking the anolas although the Captain really really
wanted to.

BUT (and here's the question for refs and what you might have done)
why on earth didn't I just take them up on their idea of spreading the
faith?  Was it really so important to have the (planned) climax to the
three sessions?  Why didn't I see that at the time to at least think
about it?!

I'm not too fussed about them not taking the anolas as it has occurred
to me (way before the evening) that it wasn't critical.  I could
either just transfer the whole psionic bit of TTA to the squeedles
they've already got, or just skip that whole bit of the campaign,
depending on how things go with regard to time and interest.  I can
see us spending a least a year more on this (that's only six more
sessions), if not more, so patience may wear thin.

The above might sound gloomy and there were moments of frustration
(one during and one after), but I hold on to the important thing being
that all concerned seemed to have a really enjoyable evening and I
don't think Pysadi will be forgotten in a hurry...

tc

On 15 October 2016 at 20:09, Timothy Collinson
<xxxxxx@port.ac.uk> wrote:
> oooh.... I like *all* those ideas.... if only I could follow each forking
> path!
>
> (all snipped and saved for January)
>
> It did occur to me this afternoon as I sat in the garden enjoying what I
> presume might be the very last of the autumn sun (for sitting outdoors),
> that I could have one of the PCs kidnapped but if they're not that into a
> rescue have the NPC put herself forward as a trade (or "sacrifice").  So
> that's four options and ongoing plot hook!
>
> Thank you.
>
> tc
>
>
>
> On 15 October 2016 at 17:31, Postmark <xxxxxx@btinternet.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> On 14 Oct 2016, at 19:54, Timothy Collinson <xxxxxx@port.ac.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Or run it as described but have the PC that is now an NPC (because the
>> > player got a new job and can't come anymore) locked up so that in fact
>> > no rescue is required?  She's just written out quite neatly.
>>
>> Sure, lock up the NPC, but not to write her out neatly.
>> Instead the players still get to decide on the rescue and if they attempt
>> it, it needn't be successful and might involve injury, death or recapture of
>> the NPC, or the NPC might stay in the crew but is a wanted fugitive and
>> cannot be seen off ship.
>> Of course, if the players do not attempt a rescue, you get an NPC with a
>> grudge against the party to turn up in the future, or relatives of same.
>>
>> Phil Kitching
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