 September 25, 2012 - 6:42am | My thoughts on this is to help bring up to speed beginning players on the setting which they dont know at all and are not yet movtivated to discover for themselves. It is going to be the referee's responsibility to bring the setting alive for the players and intrigue them with it. For instance the adventure expedition to Laco's world; there are a number of historic items that we know about this planet- tetrarch ruins, two wars, refugees, it was possibly nuked by the worms in SW1, PGC is a major power here- it fought a war with streel to control it. You could develop any of these angles to add more color to the adventure. Mysteries in the ruins- everyone like Tomb Raider, The Mummy, Raiders of the Lost Ark- guns blazing, whips cracking high octane adventures have a certain appeal and usually involve opposition that also has guns (only good guys carry whips because you have to be totally bad assed like Harrison Ford to rock the fedora and a whip and beat the piss out of Nazis and Communists). there would also be ruins connected to the wars- rusted hulks of blasted out tanks, mercenary bases, lost caches of sathar equipment. Artifact smugglers etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the adventure involving these elements should involve 2-3 game sessions to give the players some time to "live" in this segment of the setting and fix it in their memory. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 September 25, 2012 - 10:54am | We discussed this elsewhere, kind of a Guide to the Frontier, What Every Player Should Know. I can't find the thread, if the intention of this project is to hammer that out, I'm all for it. |
September 25, 2012 - 3:59pm | No I was thinking of a basic adventure that would underscore basic facts about the Frontier and perhaps help intrigue a new player to the game to delve a little deeper. this is a project about beginning adventures. the threads you were thinking about are in the core four project. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 September 27, 2012 - 4:44am | Yes, I put some plots out the for the Expedition to Lacos but, did not flesh it out. I left that to the GM. It was a basic - baby sit the scientists theme. But, it left the opportunity to branch out or go back again and again to investigate other themes. Imagaine that the team helps out the hermit miner with a minor repair. Then the Sather send out a wave of cybots to take over the mining plant. Does the team go and help their new friend or sit with the scientists as they were hired to protect? |
September 27, 2012 - 5:51am | On further thought for the beginning player: Aside from including in character generation the following: 1. player invents a secret about the PC that only he and the GM knows 2. player creates an NPC contact that his character knows in setting and that I would have probably provided a 1 sheet of "What the character knows about the setting" document to fast start the player, I have one further thought on the starting adventure: It should hold 1 each of the following 1. a role play encounter 2. a skill challenge 3. these are always tough to come up with but a puzzle 4. a combat encounter afterwards ask what parts of the above the player liked the most and take note. Rewards- besides EXP and or some creds- discounted equipment the PC might need- not the shiny toys kind but just good stuff from the equipment list to get him started. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
September 27, 2012 - 7:25am | I like the secret and NPC contact. I don't know about one entire page. It should start small and later could be fleshed out. The hermit miner is one example of post creation but, you were talking about during character generation. I like the top 4. THAT IS HOW YOU PLAN AN ADVENTURE! What you discuse is how to tailor an adventure to your characters. Maybe they want more combat or maybe more skill challenges. As for rewards, EXP and money are nice, as well as a new gun but, what about a piece of art or something similar? I read an article about a character wanting a loan and he put up a statue that some primitives gave him. What about a company offering a tab or to co-sign a loan? Another adventure talked about a poor village that would offer some food and a place to sleep. That's good for a hideout. There are many ways to reward a team. |
September 27, 2012 - 9:25am | This early in the game I would keep the rewards small- a free semi automatic pistol or one of the the other entry level weapons from SFman #1 is idea as the player will think yeah I got a gun so I'll save my cash for that defense screen. I like non-standard rewards like the suggested art however for a new player to SF on his first adventure I'm thinking more traditional rewards. Also I'm not sure if I'm even thinking in terms of the character being hired yet: 1. character generation has just been finished and the character is thinking about looking for a job so I say, "You're standing on the streets of Port Loren considering checking the net for job listing when you hear a sound. Looking up you see an air lorry trailing smoke carreen off a building and come down in a controlled crash on the street and slide into a store front not 15 m away from you. What do you do?" 2. you heard about this job opportunity and figured you'd go apply but once at the non descript corporate office you find that the job interview is quite intensive. First there is a one on one interview (role play), and demonstration of skill competence (skill challenge and puzzel), firing range session (really just another skill encounter) but then you're not hired and when leaving the place you're followed and accosted and grilled about the interview process and if they said anything about what the job was about. You get the feeling that these new people might choose to silence you rather than have you talk about their interview with them. 3. you grew up on a farming settlement but a Streel owned bank foreclosed on your family's farm and you blew up the local bank office and now need to slip away quietly except the local police are looking for you. You're outside of what passes for a star port on this ball of dirt and need to get on the next ship out of here. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 5, 2013 - 10:34am | Ok this is an idea that has been kicked around and i finally just did it. I put together a short two page/ one sheet of paper document sans time line that generally describes the set up for the setting . It doesn't go into anything dealing with mechanons nor SW2 and only generally covers the Dramune wars since one of those conflicts is potential fodder for adventure. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
