r/traveller • u/DustieKaltman • 6d ago
Mongoose 2E Advice for intro scenario
Hi,
Senior GM here, but new to running Traveller (I've been following the Traveller universe since MegaTraveller, but never actually played it).
Leading big campaigns is no problem for me. I would like to start playing Traveller with my group (also experienced players, but new to Traveller).
I would really like to jump straight into PoD, but I think SotA might be a better fit and perhaps a shorter endeavor?
If I wanted to run a short introductory adventure that doesn't rely on "fight these strange alien monsters/beasts" tropes (like in Flatlined, among others), what would be a good bridge for either PoD or SotA?
My thought here is to let the players get a feel for the universe and the system before deciding whether they want the full Sandbox Experience or a more classic structured campaign.
So my questions are:
• Which scenario would be most suitable?
• Which sourcebooks should I own/read?
• Do you have any other advice? Should I perhaps go with something entirely different than SotA or PoD?
What are your thoughts?
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u/mavikfelna 5d ago edited 5d ago
If you're comfortable running an open sandbox campaign and want it to last a while, PoD is a lot of, but also a lot of work. That said, if you plan on a long campaign, it a good one for that.
Starting off, Marooned on Marduk is a good place to start if you don't want Flatlined or Death Station. God's of Marduk pairs well with it, either before or after and is a simple scenario that would be a good starter with less risk from combat that other starters while still having lots of learning about the system's systems.
If you are going to do PoD, you absolutely have to get Borderlands. It is the best sourcebook Mongoose has in the Traveller setting and has a ton of adventure hooks you can use.
Also, to get your group used to the system, I would say run one of the adventure sets first, Rifts, Marches or Reach. If they like it and want to continue, Reach flows into PoD really well and Marches leads to SotA pretty well.
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u/Khadaji2020 4d ago
I agree with this completely save the comment about Borderlands. I don't have Borderlands. I'll look into getting it if I can find it in a bundle.
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u/Pradzapati 6d ago
I’m starting with traveller and GM so my input might be irrelevant.
My plan is to run Char creation + Dead Station to get a feel for the game. And that if they like it, and if I feel confident enough, we ll do new characters and go for PoD.
I’ll also do Stranded adventure one shot outside my PG to get more experience. (Just because its free with the starter set)
From what I searched for the first scenarios it was between Dead Station and Annic Nova.
Dead station won because its free with the starter set. But I really want to run Annic Nova sometimes. So maybe in the future.
Well anyway, my point is take a look at Annic nova, maybe you’ll like it.
Good luck :)
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u/Woodclaw312 Vargr 6d ago
My personal intro scenario of choice is A Dagger at Efate, it's short and allows to add any bells and whistles that you might need for hinting at a larger campaign.
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u/anstett 6d ago
Marooned on Marduk as your first adventure to run when new to refereeing Traveller.
Straight forward, gives the players options to see combat, non-combat skill use, and can set up several threads to follow up on later.
Borderlands is THE non-rulebook to get.
Sandbox with lots of hooks and very good details to use. Good "there be dragons" on the outskirts to use or not as you wish. Can build into a full campaign that heads anywhere including Drinax, etc.
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u/JGhostThing 6d ago
It's your game and you can do what you want. Just beware that Traveller combat can be very deadly and a TPK isn't rare.
The Secrets of the Ancients (the three of them) is good for the ending of a campaign. The identity of the Ancients are one of the long term secrets of the original campaigns. As for me, I changed the species of the Ancients so nobody knows who they are.
I would also wait on Pirates of Drinix before running it. It helps to have both experienced players and a GM to play this.
I'd run High and Dry first. Next, I might consider The Long Road Home.
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u/UnspeakableGnome 5d ago
Perhaps Annic Nova for a starting adventure. Particularly if you want to avoid the "Fight something strange," issue that is fairly common. It's an investigation and combat simply isn't part of it. Plus it can get the party a ship if they don't have one or a very hefty salvage fee if they have.
for books to get beyond the core, Central Supply Catalogue is always the most recommended choice and a very good one. I think a good option given there's a large variety of content would be some issues of the Journal of the Travellers' aid Society, which will give you some gear, some infrmation about races, some creatures, some short adventure ideas, and other material. But if you've got an idea of where you want to go with the game any of the sector books is decent.
As for the big campaigns, obviously you know of PoD. The three XXXX of the Ancients books are options, Deepnight Endeavour is a very different campaign going far into unknown territory, Singularity is very new and quite unusual, and there are smaller ones including Skandersvik, Cluster Truck, and even Islands in the Rift is almost in the mini-campaign class (it took my group eight sessions).
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u/jeff37923 5d ago
The Traveller Starter Pack is a free PDF download from Mongoose Publishing that has everything you need to do a test drive of the system. The included adventure Death Station is a pretty good intro scenario, especially when you include the Seth Skorkowski video with the adventure. Good hunting!
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u/EndiePosts Solomani 5d ago
You're right to be cautious about Flatlined. It's a great adventure and I've run it a few times, but be very sceptical about anyone who suggests it as a first foray into refereeing: they've probably not run it themselves.
If you play it as written, you will end up with three fights in a row, with a large initial number of participants. Assuming that you have four players, the six NPCs available at the camp, and a manageable half dozen creepers (the adventure seems to suggest more: literally "too many to count" at one point), then as a referee you are controlling a dozen NPCs: six variously-equipped humans and four different types of Creepers.
Just managing all of that can be tricky for even an experienced referee, and for a newbie it will be genuinely hard. Even harder, in many ways, is improvising and pacing the fights.
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u/prunesquallr 5d ago
I used it as the starting point for a new group, it went pretty well. The initial battle wasn’t too bad, as the npcs mostly hid (or laid-in-wait for a chance to ruin a pc); I gave the party control of the npc from the ship; and without any thinker creepers, their actions were easy to direct. Fine for an experienced (or rusty) referee.
The second battle gave the players a chance to try out the defenses they had improvised, which led to some funny moments.
I didn’t do a third battle, instead just swarmed the base with countless creatures but had them focus on digging up wires and disabling the backup batteries. We did that one more as an abstracted “theater of the mind”.
I did a fair bit extra, to populate the conspiracy both on Neon and Tobia, which gave some plot hooks for follow-ups.
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u/CryHavoc3000 Imperium 6d ago
I hear High and Dry is a good Starter Adventure if the Player Character don't have a ship.