SAFCOcast.com – a Traveller RPG Podcast
a podcast about the Traveller RPG and its derivatives
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In this episode Bob interviews the creators of the Scoundrels of Brixton Cepheus Engine/Traveller setting and books, Jeffrey Jones of the RPG Ramblings podcast and writer Adam Kovac.
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In this episode I read a quick message from Greg Caires and Ken Patterson regarding the passing of Keith Frye the upcoming online memorial game for him, and then we interview CyborgPrime (Frank Succardi) about the upcoming Mayday Mayday 2023 online Traveller celebration.
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In this episode we interview Ken Patterson of the Virtual Traveller Facebook group about the upcoming online streaming game to benefit Mr. Keith Frye, one of the pillars of the Traveller community as he battles serious illness.
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In this episode we do internet finds, rules finds (in which Bob gets even more confused about the Bribery skill in the little black books), xboat transmissions, two from our longest campaign event, and we review our own campaign 4.5 years into it.
Note: I understand Bribery now! Sorry – I had ignored the line about stringent laws making bribery easier. DERP!
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In this episode Jeff and Bob read some much appreciated email from listeners, go over from great finds from the internet, talk about some rules finds, announce the winner for the random drawing from the Longest Campaign submissions, and read the first six of the twelve submissions!
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Longest Campaign Submissions
It was set in the JG Glimmerdrift Reaches on an Imperial planet (Petra). The planet was balkanized and there were many tensions among the double handful of nations but the big players were 2 or 3 larger nations. The tech level of the planet was 9, but there was another Imperial planet (TL-12) not far away. The time period was about 1114, but in this particular setting, the Solomani were pushing into the open spaces in Glimmerdrift reaches.
It would have been a more typical game if one of the players hadn’t rolled up a retired Imperial Marine who had Soc 12 (Marquis). He ended up being the Marquis of Petra and being the Imperial representative. The other characters were a mix of retired Marines, Navy, and some active duty, with one being a local noble.
The Marquis was, to the eyes of some of his senior people, a bit erratic. So much so that his Security Chief rapidly decided that if this was what the Imperium would put in charge, the Solomani were welcome.
That led to the Security Chief running a Solomani-sympathizer campaign against the Imperium. He was also the funnel and organizer who managed data flow to the Marquis. So on the one hand, he organized an underground flyer that regularly knew a lot about Imperial business and failures, he recruited like minded PCs and NPCs who had Solomani sympathies, and he set the Imperials against the local governments. It got worse as time went on: The high port blew up (the only GM-inflicted campaign event I can think of) and then shipments of high tech offworld arms and vehicles were sabotaged, the Marquis’ family was assassinated, and a few PCs and NPCs who were Imperial sympathizers were fingered as being behind the Solomani underground (leading to their execution by the Security Chief after convincing the Marquis he needed to kill these guys who were actually on the Marquis’ side).
In the end, the Solomani invaded, had local support, and the Marquis had to flee for his life. The Security Chief wrote a full explanation in a letter categorizing every step he took against the Marquis and how at every turn, he turned allies against the Marquis or fingered them for troublemakers, and how he managed to deflect suspicion falling upon himself by having the underground flyer make fun of the Security Chief (and the Marquis immediately felt this made him not in with the Solomani because he seemed the sort to never make himself look foolish… except that’s exactly what he was doing to avoid suspicion).
There was a lot time spent individually (because of the nature of intrigues) and there were many views and motivations that clashed, intersected, or sometimes passed like strangers in the night.
It wasn’t easy to GM. I gave the Marquis chances and enough of the other players tried to warn him or help him, but the person he most trusted was the mastermind that he should have normally suspected and that set him against those who were actually trying to help (some were playing both sides and deserved what they got….).
I’ve run a fair few 8-12 month campaigns of more traditional Traveller, but this one ended up being legendary. The Security Chief’s final message was done up in an X-Boat transmission….
I don’t think we could do this again, but it will always live in memory of those who participated.
(2) Winner! Mark Ayers
This first was original Traveller, the second was MegaTraveller.
Each were about three years
I have two longest campaigns. My first ran from winter 1977 until spring 1980. Our teen selves evolved the game as each new Traveller item was published and came into our possession. My next was a revival, in a new town, more than a decade later. It ran from autumn 1993 until autumn 1995. As young adults in jobs, this campaign was appreciated more and died when a classified job function of one of our key members prohibited their participation for two years.
(3) Felbrigg Herriot
Classic Traveller
Not sure exactly, but at least six months of weekly play
My longest Traveller game was a Mercenary Campaign. The PCs started as simple bodyguards, making money on the side, then they started hiring on people. Ended up with them having three ships, landers, plenty of men. (Bob – damn – this is very ambitious stuff from the players!)
Had to use a spreadsheet to track the men’s injuries and promotions etc. About half way through the players got a second PC each. The original PCs became the leaders doing all the politics, admin, negotiation etc, and the new ones were boots-on-the-ground leaders.
Had some great sessions, a few with them working as guards on a passenger liner, with murders, fires, and chaos in jump. The scene of them strafing sea monsters from the beach with PGMPs as the beasts consumed holiday-makers will live with me forever.
(4) Patrick Kanouse
Classic Traveller
2 years
I refereed a Classic Traveller for two years in college. We played a session at least once a month, and I sometimes held individual player sessions.
At the time, I was heavily influenced by Dan Simmons HYPERION, and the main villain was a version of the Shrike—albeit not as cool and very psionic based. It was also fickle, tormenting the players in Q-like ways, and designating one of the players as “the Chosen One.” LOL, we still don’t know what that actually meant. Nonetheless, nearly 30 years later, those former players still occasionally shout at me, “The Chosen One!” Great times.
(5) Pete Burke
Mongoose 2e
6 months
Longest continuous campaign – I ran a Pirates of Drinax campaign for 6 months over Roll20 last year during COVID.
(6) Neuro Lancer
Mongoose 2e
6 months
I refereed a campaign which lasted 6 months. It was a homebrew campaign using the flavor of the OTU. I used Mongoose 2nd Ed rule set. It started as a trader campaign and ended up being more mercenary-like.
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First, thanks to all our listeners for sticking with us! It has been two months since the last episode, which of course is not our goal, but life got in the way!
In this episode, besides the usual sections, our main topic deals with non-violent/non-combat Traveller (and other RPGs) sessions. Not arguing against a good shoot-em-up, but just using other kinds of challenges to create a good game.
We also mention Jeff’s table of 2d6 outcome probabilities, so here it is!
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Weirdly we had no XBoat Transmissions this time! We need email!
In this episode, we get back to our Random Planet Generation project by reading about Algira, a planet created by Patrick Kanouse (full description below). Really nice work, Patrick!
We then move on to Internet Finds, including…
Our main topic was our participation in an online Classic Traveller Game run by Greg Caires, as part of the online offerings of this year’s North Texas RPG Con. It used Greg’s Sappers character class, which appeared in Freelance Traveller, September/October 2019: Character Generation Rules: Deep Space Rescue Corps: A Career for Classic and MegaTraveller.
We wrap up with News of the Imperium, a new segment in which we discuss upcoming convention games and events relevant for Traveller, upcoming or recent product releases, and anything else that fits. This time it included…