Characters As Hope

Why do we make characters? What compels us to keep rolling up characters we may never play or even look at again? What's the point of spending time breathing life into numbers on a piece of paper if that life only ever sees that glimmer of reality and never a full table?

For me, it's a form of self-soothing.

Lemme 'splain, using Mongoose Traveller. Also look at Hanlon Greyrazor.

Lance Sgt Malachi Dobbs (Human, Age 30, ex-Army Scout)
B46686 - Athletics 0, Carouse 0, Drive 0, Gun Combat (Slug) 2, Heavy Weapons (Vehicle) 1, Investigate 1, Leadership 1, Melee (Blade) 1, Navigation 1, Recon 2, Streetwise 0, Survival 1, Vacc Suit 0
Gear: Cr 8,350. Augments: Enhanced Vision, Subdermal Armor. Cloth Armour, Suppressed ACR (DNA-locked), Cutlass, Mobile Comm, and an assortment of Grenades.
(Created Summer 2021)

Hanlon Greyrazor (Traveller Character)

Before the flashbang injury.

Have I mentioned that I love the lifepath generation as part of Traveller's character generation? Cyberpunk rocks pretty hard for that as well. I just love getting a story out of rolling dice. It's like a bonus mini-game you get to play before actually playing the game.

Over on The Plus One Experience Discord server, we were discussing choosing to act in bad faith for the attention vs. simple incompetence. The concepts of Hanlon's Razor and Grey's Law came out simultaneously. So I portmanteaued the hell out of those two terms and came up with Hanlon Greyrazor. And this dashing rogue in my head cried out for stats, so I broke out my Mongoose Traveller book and found the Central Supply Catalogue to outfit him with some chrome as a hat tip to Cyberpunk.

Hanlon Greyrazor 764CA9 (Human Male, Age 38) (Current Balance Cr 24,000)
Admin 1, Advocate 2, Astrogation 1, Athletics 0, Broker 0, Diplomat 1, Drive 0, Electronics (Computer) 2, Gambler 1, Gun Combat 1, Heavy Weapons 0, Mechanic 0, Medic 1, Melee 0, Navigation 0, Pilot (Spacecraft) 1, Recon 1, Steward 1, Streetwise 1, Vacc Suit 0

Found Footage (Promptober 2025 #26)

FT Espresso Addiction

Text transcript and video analysis of the free trader Espresso Addiction's video log, flagged by Captain Vivek "V" Valdez with the note "TROUBLE SOURCE FOUND?" Transcription by Elysium System Defense Lt. Octavia Drusus serving on board the patrol boat Interdictor during the mandatory post-boarding quarantine period of a derelict craft, currently orbiting Elysium-7, aka Stygia.

Main Cargo Bay camera, stationary, wide angle. Regular flashing power lights on cargo containers and door controls provide the only illumination. Audio consists of the background hum of life support systems during a jump.

Door to Central Corridor slides open. Lights come on. Two sophonts, one human (ID: Valdez, Vivek; Role: Captain and Navigator), one aslan (ID: Raka'oh; Role: Security Chief and Gunner) enter.

Valdez: -why I pay you, Raka! You need to at least look at the cargo before it's loaded. It's a ship security thing, right? Can't have hijackers hiding in a crate and smothering us in our sleep, right?

Thalassaphobia (Promptober 2025 #11)

NopeNopeNope.

The shopkeeper twists their face, blinks both sets of eyelids, and flares their gills in confusion. "Wait. What did you say?"

The human shopper smiles patiently and repeats, "I'm thalassophobic." The shopkeeper isn't great at reading human expressions, but can't detect any indications of irony.

The shopkeeper claps their mouth shut and takes a moment. "That's the fear of oceans, right?"

"Yes." Again that maddening human smile in the face of absurdity. His uneven freckles remind the shopkeeper of algae clumping on the water's surface.

"Triton's Scales. Are you feeling okay?" the shopkeeper asks out of genuine concern.

"Perfectly fine, thanks."

"You realize you're on a water world, right?"

Thriller - Thriller Canyon (Promptober 2025 #9)

The top of Heavenly Falls.

Not far from Livingston Downport on the jungle-covered resort planet of Saltunis, a majestic waterfall has carved a steep ravine into the gently rolling hills. Tour guides always feature Heavenly Falls, as it's beautiful and loud enough to drown out the constant chatter. If their group is up for a little adventure and has barf bags available, they might get a little daring and show off their air/raft or other flyer skill.

Heavenly Falls suddenly becomes Thriller Canyon.

Wanted: Your Brain

Partial transcript of an Imperial Navy recruitment holovid on file at the Cronus Academy of Sciences, Elysium, Corinthian Subsector.

If you think science is boring, you're not seeing all of its implication and applications. Science isn't something you need to endure while you're in school, its uses are all around us in technology and methodology. Science saves lives every day. Science lets you turn the raw materials you have at hand into real advantages. Science gives you options that you wouldn't otherwise know about.

As an ancient astrophysicist once said, "Science exposes The Truth whether you believe in it or not."

I remember we were sent to investigate a rebellion. We arrived in-system and did the standard planetary analysis. We were outgunned 10 to 1, but we had the element of surprise. We went over the geographic data, and it turned out this huge rebel base was right next to a fault line under significant stress. That was our way in.

I talked it over with my CO, and we decided to give the fault line a little nudge. We did the math as fast as we could before we were detected, and we hit it with as blunt an instrument as we had available: all six missile bays. Targeting was dead on, and we could see the whole line line lit up with fire. That did it - the fault slipped a good couple of meters, and it looked like the whole continent kicked up a cloud of dust.

We didn't hit the base at all, but the quake flattened every structure and damaged every ship on the ground. Our company of marines hit the ground and cleaned house in only a couple of hours with zero friendly casualties. The captured equipment alone would keep a couple of batallions of mercs in the field for a year or more. And we did it with barely a shot fired.

That day we ended a rebellion in an afternoon. We captured thousands of enemy combatants with scientific analysis of the situation and a proper application of force. As an added bonus, the land should be quake-free for the next few thousand years.

We were outgunned ten to one. Xenogeology saved our ass that day.

Never tell me science is boring. It's what gets me up in the morning. Science bores you, you need to go find better questions to ask.

Now study hard so you can make a damn difference.

- Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin Cartwright, PhD
  Chief of Planetary Data Analysis Command (PDAC)
    aboard the Strike Destroyer Fulcrum (DS-8817)

The Veteran's Mantra

She rounded the final bend and saw the tunnel open onto the sea. She stared at the beautiful crystalline depths of the sea she had hoped to avoid, but saw only mockery and defeat. Captain Fisher's ancient survey maps had led her astray. Again.

If only the Old Goat (as she calls the good Captain on a good day) had landed closer to the temple site, but he had insisted on landing at Idyls Downport in hopes of trading. If only the Old Goat had given her his hovercar, but he needed it to haul his stash of gods-damned single malt. If only the Old Goat had agreed to pay for a rental, but all his money was tied up in his hold, and it would take a few days to sell any of his cargo for a fair price.

If only she had insisted the Old Goat pay her something up front, but he had called in a huge favor. Worse yet, he sent his crew's doctor to talk her into bailing his ass out of jail after he tried to bribe a theocracy official with a flask of single malt. Typical. She dragged a hand through her red hair, adjusted her rifle, and exhaled. For the tenth time today, she muttered her less-charitable nickname for the Old Goat, which became her mantra every time she had to pull him out of whatever rathole he blindly ran down this week:

"Duckfucker."

Shuttle Tiberius: A Routine Flight

“Janus, you old bucket of bolts! Good to see you!”

Janus's head pivots until his LED-blue eyes face the approaching human. “Greetings Ensign Decker.” His soothing voice turns his everyday speech into a relaxation program. “I noticed you requested the copilot seat again. Are you still pursuing your Ship's Boat certification?”

Decker claps him on the shoulder and sits. “I am! I really want my Pilot cert, but I'll take what I can get while I'm on satellite duty.”

“It is unfortunate that you lack the opportunity to study what you want.” Janus turns back to his preflight preparations.

“I can study on my own, but it just doesn't stick without actual practice with a real ship.” Decker turns toward the control panel. “Permission to assist?”

Corporate Overview: Pod InterPlanetary

History:
Started in 1056 by a small coalition of refugees to provide temporary housing on the mining world of Habiel after extreme seismic activity killed half the population. Habiel was a beta site for testing a prototype of Rapid Resource's Fabrication Unit, which survived the quakes. They tested and refined designs for the original Habitation Pod in the field, saving thousands of lives in the process. Once the crisis passed, they incorporated, started manufacturing in earnest, and sold their Habitation Pods to the governments on nearby worlds

Rapid Resource ceased operations as of 1/1059, and PodIP purchased all assets and technologies later that year. PodIP further refined the capabilities of the Fabrication Unit and pressed it into service in their factories. In 1062 they diversified, opening a chain of Pod Shops to provide custom parts fabricated on demand for starships, mostly merchants and scouts, and especially older out-of warranty ships. PodIP's Pod Shops won Innovator of the Year from the Corinth Planetary Chamber of Innovation in 1063.

Products and Services
PodIP started by manufacturing self-contained living spaces. With the purchase of Rapid Resource, they started offering on-demand fabrication services. Rumors abound that the two business units will break into two different companies, but other experts contend that improving and distributing their manufacturing processes yields great synergy with the manufacture of their core Pod products.

• Habitation Pods (also called Habs) provide basic shelter in extreme conditions, along with breathable air, drinkable water, and edible food. These 5 ton modules ship easily and deploy nearly anywhere, providing short-term basic comforts for up to 4 sentients. The entire construction is modular, so cobbling together a working HabPod from two broken ones is relatively easy, and hooking together several Habs with a pressurized "spine" corridor is trivial.
• Vagabond Pods are the luxury versions of Habitation Pods. They're designed as portable homes for well-to-do clients. They're a fraction of the cost of a starship, but they provide the same opportunity for adventure and exploration with all the comforts of home. Vagabond Pods have found a following among sentients who want to travel in style, but don't have the means to afford a starship of their own. PodIP is always working on upgrades and options for customizing Vagabond Pods for their clients. Bespoke design services are available for an additional fee.
• Pod Shops provide retail-level custom fabrication services for commercial and private spacecraft. Provide the specifications for the part, and a Pod Shop can deliver a replacement within a standard day. Some complex parts may take longer. They recently stopped providing critical parts for jump drives for liability reasons. (Editor's Note: Search for the Alexa Pride's misjump in 1064 and related investigation for background.)
• FabPods create custom spare parts on a starship, eliminating the need to maintain an onboard stockroom of parts. FabPods, specifically the storage systems for the various fabrication media, are cutting edge technology currently being tested by the Subsector Navy. The technology has been classified. Possession of this technology outside of PodIP and Navy facilities is considered treason. The Scout Service is understandably upset about this arrangement, as they would greatly benefit from the added autonomy FabPods could provide their scout ships.

Market
Their first product, Habitation Pods, still sell well. Several planetary governments have contracts for keeping these on hand and well-maintained in case of emergency. Some have been modified for prisoner transport by government, bounty hunters, and private security forces, but you will be hard-pressed to find that application anywhere in PodIP's marketing materials.

Vagabond Pods have caught the eye of the idle rich and off-grid travellers alike, and sales are trending higher. Innovating various Pod designs has become a diverse Maker Community effort, spreading across the subsector and far beyond. The used Vagabond Pod market is hungry for more product, so much that PodIP has released registration information to planetary authorities to prove original ownership in several criminal cases involving Podjacking.

The service arm flagship Pod Shops are spreading from world to world as leasing deals are signed. Various law suits throw a small hiccup into their expansion plans, but most starbases jump at the opportunity to offer custom replacement parts within a day instead of stranding their customers for weeks until a part comes in from offworld.

Results of FabPod testing by the Navy will probably remain sealed, but various anonymous sources involved in the testing report overwhelmingly positive results.

Overall Outlook
If the Navy finishes testing FabPods and starts installing them on every ship in the fleet, PodIP's earning potential is effectively limitless. If the Navy doesn't want them, the Scouts will pay nearly anything for the technology to keep their survey ships in the field for more involved missions.

Sales at Pod Shops have steadily increased for the past 2 years, despite the Alexa Pride's jump drive mishap. Habs and Vagabond Pods are both exceeding sales expectations. PodIP is well-capitalized with a board of directors that makes level-headed decisions. They're poised for massive growth throughout known space, though they're consciously throttling growth to build and maintain effective supply lines and system redundancy.

If you have any excess capital, investing in PodIP should reap excellent dividends.

Vagabond Pods from PodIP

What better way to see the galaxy than flying your home from system to system? And why incur all the expenses and legal complications of a ship when you can ship yourself in style - as cargo?

In the spirit of human wanderlust and ancient Terran tiny houses comes the cheapest way to tour the galaxy in luxury: Vagabond Pods from PodIP. These sealed-environment pods contain all the comforts of home, and they fit in the cargo bays of most ships. Just pay your captain a delivery fee (a fraction of what you’d spend on a high passage) and you can live anywhere in five-star luxury for the cost of a weekly warehouse rental.

TAS Memo: Vagabond Travellers

Early 10 Ton Vagabond Pod Prototype.
By Johantheghost - CC BY-SA

TRAVELLERS’ AID SOCIETY

MEMORANDUM

For immediate distribution as of 314-1066.

To: All Society Staff
Re: Vagabond Travellers

BE IT KNOWN:

It has come to our attention that a movement called Vagabonding is capturing our membership's collective imagination at an impressive rate. These Vagabond Travellers, so called because they ship themselves around the galaxy as cargo in sealed habitat modules, have recently made requests of the Society on several worlds to help procure safe and reasonably-priced storage facilities.

This memorandum will inform all TAS staff on the official stance toward Vagabonds.

Crashing Your Grav Scooter

When you fail an air/raft roll to pilot a grav scooter, things get ugly in a hurry. Given the grav scooter’s design, you will probably be thrown from the vehicle and suffer significant trauma. The grav scooter will coast to a stop and lose altitude until it hovers 10 cm off the ground, unless programmed to act differently by the pilot.

To determine damage sustained, divide speed (in kph) by 10.

Add a modifier based on your armor (a vacc suit counts as cloth).

Armor	Nothing	Jack	Mesh	Cloth	Reflec	Ablat	Battle
Modifier	+2	0	-1	-4	+1	-2	-7

Referee may add or subtract the result of 1D as appropriate for circumstances, preparation, or luck. Result is the number of dice damage inflicted from the crash. Generally 15D damage or more is instantly fatal.

Example: Roddy loses control of a grav scooter travelling 200 kph. Roddy wears Battle Dress and has tethered the scooter to the armor (Referee rules this preparation is worth a DM of -4). Roddy will suffer 20 (speed) -7 (Battle Dress) -4 (tethering), or 9D damage. Survivablility is 50/50 for an average character, and it will most likely inflict a serious wound.

Classic Traveller: Grav Scooter

I've been on a Classic Traveller kick lately. I'm not sure if this kick is "still" or "again" since the Month of Traveller Adventures back in 2011, but either way it's in my head and needs out. I'm fleshing out an alternative to booking passage on a ship, which I'll post when I figure out how TAS and port authorities will respond. Grav Scooters are marginally related to this idea, but worth releasing on their own merits.

I'm sure this has been done before, but I didn't see anything in the Classic Traveller Little Black Books that fills the niche between an air/raft and a grav belt. Surely there are cheap gravitic knock-off vehicles designed to go really fast with no concern for the pilot's safety? What else would down-on-their-luck teen nobles try to kill themselves with? And with so much lifting power available so cheaply, how could this not bleed into the cargo market on poorer worlds?

Ideas Into Action

You have to have an idea of what you are going to do,
    but it should be a vague idea.
        – Pablo Picasso

Image from talkingholistic.com
via Pinterest.

Ideas will flow thick and furious if you let them. Open yourself to the possibilities and shut your internal judge up for a minute, and you can hear ideas crawling out of the woodwork. Most of them are crappy, but let them come. Write them down or they'll fade like morning dew.

Explore them. Turn them around in your mind. Scribble down doodles and chicken scratches inspired by them. Milk the possibilities out of each. Make vague plans for your most promising ideas. Get excited.

Now here's the tough part:

Do something with them.

I'm a train tumbling and making mistakes,
    But my choices are mine and that's why I have brakes.
Collisions, reversals, I keep scraping by.
    I'd rather be wrong than forget how to try.
        – The Doubleclicks, "Unstoppable Force"

I'm still fumbling my way through setting up Wombat's Workshop. Some things work, and some "great ideas" I had turned out to be total duds. But I made a thing, and now it wants to walk on its own, taking me along for the ride.

All in all, Wombat's Workshop is proceeding apace. I have an Etsy store to set up, new designs to tinker with, Tombstone Books to design and market, zines and RPGs to print and bind, and new products and partnerships explore. It's a rush, and it takes time to do correctly. I've slowed down posting in here in favor of working over there. That's not to say I don't love you, my loyal Gaming Den of Iniquity readers, but my priorities have shifted in recent weeks.

Tease: New products and parternships.
More in January. SQUEEEE!

So I'm not dead, merely distracted. These little notebooks ain't gonna make themselves, and I've got orders to fill.

In random gaming news, I received my copy of the D&D 5e Dungeon Masters Guide, and I'm starting a Classic Traveller play-by-post game. I have a few editing gigs lined up for next year, including a DCC zine and a Kickstarter project, but I'm waiting for triggers to be pulled. Stay tuned.

Gaming is happening, it's just a little squeezed for time in recent days.

And I'm learning. I'm always learning. If I ever stop learning, please bury me so at least my body will provide nutrients for the plants. If I'm ever arrogant enough to believe I know everything, please shoot me, then bury me as above.

Until next time, game on.

Thanks for reading!

Unenlightening Post

Kinda like that.
Art by Khairul Hisham.
As seen in Covert Ops.

I'm reminded of a quote that never actually happened:

Not every post needs to be profound.
                                    - Me

I need to get a few things out of my head. Buckle up for Short Attention Span Theatre, and feel free to heckle.

The Bospor Incident
I'm almost done with prep for this Classic Traveller game. I've got 10 business cards with PCs, and another 10 with player props, info, and combat cheat sheets. I'm hoping I don't need the rulebooks at all during the run, and I think it'll be a fun time. Bonus: unused PCs can easily morph into NPCs, and I can add them in later as people walk up, especially when the feces hits the whirling blades. I'll be running at PAX East if not before, so hit me up if you want to play.

RPGS ON CARDS = PORTABLE WIN.

Classic Traveller - The Bospor Incident

I've been rolling up characters for Classic Traveller in support of an adventure I'm prepping for PAX. It'll be similar to an adventure I ran way back in college, but I'm refining it and calling it The Bospor Incident. I'll have pregens, so let me know if you'll be at PAX East and want to play. Either comment here or bug me through the medium of your choice.

Those of you familiar with Alien Legion (a late '80s comic I still love) may recognize the name, but I stole it and slapped it on a planet. It seemed to fit in my head. The characters start the game still in service, but that should change by the end of the session, one way or another.

Traveller Adventure: Loose Ends

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A September of Short Adventures

Denouement: Loose Ends

An adventure for Classic Traveller Little Black Books set in the Elysium system.(Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.)

Summary
Let's take a look at all the unexplored territory hanging off of the main plotline in this adventure arc.

Background
If you've read the rest of the series, I'm sure you'll have your own areas you'll want to explore. I'll summarize a few pertinent grey areas, and you're welcome to add and embellish as you see fit.

Adventure
Several areas have been brought up and vaguely sketched out. Each could spawn other adventures for the characters as they explore how far they can go.

Vesper Textile Company - Helping the Vespers could eventually let the characters retire as the company's primary distributors of cloth armor, vacc suits, and fine cloth. Rival producers could try to disrupt business, or there could be underhanded dealings while bidding on a contract from a local service branch.

The Elysium Indigenous Wildlife Preserve - Also called the Southern Continent, this land mass has been set aside as a preserve for all the local wildlife. An organization within the planetary government oversees and maintains the preserve. Anyone interested in Xenobiology or ecological conservation could spend some time researching the Ore Slugs and how they fit into the local non-human ecological structure. Or there could be recently-discovered ruins on the Southern Continent that need exploring.

The Marconi Family - Anyone planning anything underhanded on Elysium pays a cut to the Marconi family. This could lead to open warfare on a weapons-restricted planet with a dedicated opposing criminal group. The characters could stage a coup and take over the family, providing a kinder, gentler syndicate to receive kickbacks and provide protection. Or maybe the characters want to remove the family entirely, which would be much easier if the family wasn't so huge.

The Elysium Guard - Marcus Lee could work with the characters to become adjunct security forces on Elysium. They could help shut down the Marconi Family this way, or they could simply work to maintain order by putting down minor rebellions, and then tap into the local political structure in a bid for public office at some point in the future.

MediShield and Pandora Research Facility - MediShield could always use an experienced team to deliver supplies, salvage ships destroyed by piracy, or perform other deniable tasks. MediShield may even drop the Malicious Destruction of Starfaring Property charges if the characters perform a task or two for the local office. Pandora could always use a new Facility Administrator since Dr. Falken has moved on to greener pastures.

Calleigh MacRae and MacRae Interstellar - I haven't even fleshed out what MacRae Interstellar does, never mind the galactic-level tasks the characters could be asked to perform. I was thinking they produced jump engine parts, but they're still effectively a blank slate. Calleigh's proclivities came up in The Patron, but the range of missions the characters may be assigned really has no limits.

Baron Von Wulgalash - This organization could make a great regional antagonist for years to come. What awesome stories could fall out of a deluded noble who wants to be Emperor? Tales of conquest, of trying to take over warships and subvert planetary rule, of racing for alien artifacts rumored to have great powers - the galactic horizon is truly the limit with this thread.

Further Hooks
See above. Also, never be afraid to embellish your game regardless of what the pre-fab module tells you. Hook your players and they'll always want to play with you.

I hope you've enjoyed the adventure arc! I'm hoping to add a bit, edit out the clunky bits, and compile the entire arc into a single hyperlinked PDF for download. I'm not sure if I'll charge a couple of bucks for it or keep it free, so let me assemble it first and find some art.

Speaking of which, anyone know of any hard SF art in the public domain? How about cheap commissions?

Thanks for reading!

Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.

Traveller Adventure: Whistleblowing

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A September of Short Adventures

Whistleblowing

An adventure for Classic Traveller Little Black Books set in the Elysium system.(Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.)

Summary
Let the fallout from legal action commence!

Background
Based on the information found in MediShield's Black Market and the Dossier on the Pandora Research Facility, plus the evidence mentioned in Meeting With Dr. Laura Falken, the Black Market on Pandora should be dismantled in fairly short order. The criminal court proceedings will take some time to shake out, however.

Adventure

Once the immediate ship-to-ship action settles down, the characters may want to convince the MediShield security staff to not destroy Pandora Research Facility. Dr. Falken will mention the failsafe explosive charges that will plunge the facility into the sun within a few minutes if the characters don't think of it themselves. She feels responsible for everybody still on Pandora and will want them to live through any attempts to destroy evidence.

If the characters contact the remaining personnel on Pandora, they may convince some of the scientists to come forward about the Black Market. Those being blackmailed will happily testify in the case, but a few worked willingly for Admiral Greenberg. Half the security staff and the three scientists who profited from the Black Market will take what they can and escape in the next Free Trader leaving Elysium before the hammer falls.

Dr. Falken will need to take her evidence to someone who can do something about it. Any of the services, but especially the Army and Marines, will drag their feet about pursuing the evidence since MediShield has such a huge contract to protect every service member from disease and infection. Her best bet involves going directly to the sector capital on Corinth (a Jump-2 away) as soon as possible to meet with government representatives and the ethics department at the MediShield base of operations there. Any delay in leaving Elysium will allow word to reach Admiral Greenberg and give him a chance to plant evidence to frame Dr. Falken.

Within a month if all goes well, Admiral Greenberg will be out of a job and in custody pending trial. MediShield will take a hit in the public relations department and the "I hope this MediShield shot isn't laced with infectious agents" jokes will fly thick and furious through the ranks of all the services. The trial will be held on Corinth and take at least a year, during which time the characters will need to remain within a Jump-3 of Corinth pending testifying as witnesses. See Leaving Elysium for a few more local systems for the characters to explore in the interim.

Further Hooks
Dr. Falken will be under constant threat during the trial. Some remnants and ex-customers of the Black Market don't appreciate Pandora shutting down. If the characters want to sign on as bodyguards, there will be roughly one assassination attempt per month for the duration of the trial. Assassins will use poisons and drugs and hire local thugs to intimidate or try to kill Dr. Falken. Stopping the trial isn't the point. These assassination attempts come from a desire for revenge.

Characters can hunt down the remnants of the Black Market organization that escaped Pandora. They will have dossiers for the 3 scientists and 4 security personnel, and they can get leads from nearby worlds. Chances are at least some of them are now working for Baron Von Wulgalash's organization. Taking on Baron Von Wulgalash will be difficult, especially if the characters escaped from him during  Who's Chasing Whom? If the Baron was killed during that adventure, a lieutenant steps up and takes over. The organization will remain intact, but the leadership will change as needed until the characters can take it apart completely, either through direct action or by calling in favors to get a Navy Battle Squadron involved.

Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.

Traveller Adventure: The Patron

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A September of Short Adventures

The Patron

An adventure for Classic Traveller Little Black Books set in the Elysium system.(Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.)

Summary
What can the players expect if they sign on to work for Calleigh MacRae and MacRae Interstellar?

Background
If the characters decide to accept Calleigh MacRae's offer from Who's Chasing Whom? they'll have a wealth of new opportunities.

Adventure

The first time the characters follow Calleigh MacRae's Yacht back to her base of operations on Artemis, the characters will need to fend off a pirate attack. The pirates will have a Free Trader and a Fighter that attaches externally to the Free Trader. Between the characters' ship and the Fighter on board MacRae's Yacht, the fight should be evenly matched.

The attack was purely an attack of opportunity. The pirates have no means of detecting when a ship will jump into existence. They saw a Yacht and thought it would be easy pickings. The characters' ship jumped in seconds after the attack started. The pirates have 14 crew total, including the Fighter pilot and a boarding party of 6 on board who can crew any captured ship. The captured pirate crew may decide to work for MacRae Interstellar after some intense questioning by Calleigh. This may be an opportunity to add a new character to the game if needed.

Further Hooks
Working for Calleigh MacRae will have its own challenges, though funding won't be one of them. The characters can get their ship refitted or they can commission a custom Safari Ship which they can use, but it will remain the property of MacRae Interstellar. Adventures for MacRae fall into a few broad categories.

• Alien Artifact Recovery. MacRae wants anything alien for research and collection purposes. This includes new ores as well as cultural and scientific items or technologies.
• Capture Specimens for Xenobiology Research. Same as above, though capturing and transporting alien life forms will provide more logistical issues than transporting items.
• Courier Missions. Anything from ferrying a MacRae Interstellar packet to one of their far-flung offices to protecting a company representative in a potentially hostile situation will force the characters to play defense.
• Intelligence Gathering. Scouting new worlds or trying to gather information on a rival company will cause no end of challenges for the characters.

The characters should have a full plate of missions for the forseeable future if they decide to sign on. Calleigh will impose no penalty on the characters should they decide to leave her service, though she will try to call on them as consultants in the future if they don't work for her directly. Also, she will want any long-term investments like ship repairs reimbursed through regular payments in cash or services.

Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.

Traveller Adventure: Who's Chasing Whom?

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A September of Short Adventures

Who's Chasing Whom?

An adventure for Classic Traveller Little Black Books set in the Elysium system. (Return to the Traveller Adventure Cover Page.)

Summary
How many job offers have you had in the middle of a ship-to-ship battle? Would you care for 2 of them?

Background
This adventure continues the action started in The Chase Is Joined.

Adventure
Just after the Yacht hails the characters' ship, a custom-built 400 ton Warship jumps in not far away. Anyone with Navigation or Pilot skills knows that jumping this close to any large gravity well usually means a misjump or destruction of the ship, so whoever pilots that ship has enviable navigation skills and/or a death wish. Use statistics for a Patrol Cruiser when it opens fire.

The Warship hails the characters' ship also. Both use a private channel to keep anyone else from hearing the conversation. Both want to speak with Dr. Falken about the possibility of employment.

The Yacht offers employment by Calleigh MacRae, a brilliant entrepreneur with a well-known fascination for native planetary cultures and artifacts who owns two planets in nearby systems. She often trades for indigenous specimens and needs help to develop new ways to detect and prevent infestation by alien microbes, diseases, and other contaminants. She offers to make a custom lab ship to Dr. Falken's specifications, and if the characters want jobs as special agents or couriers of MacRae Interstellar, that can be arranged. She says if the position doesn't work out, she'll let everyone walk away with no hard feelings.

Her ship is unarmed except for three Sandcasters, which she will use to defend the characters' ship. She also has a fighter on board armed with a single laser, which she will deploy to help out if needed. Calleigh seems reasonable and shrewdly business-minded, so she's willing to offer a great amount to have one of the best Xenobiologists in the sector on his payroll. She will probably be able to get the MediShield ships to back off through force of personality and the threat of altering the business deal she has with MediShield.

The Warship holds Baron Von Wulgalash, the Pirate Lord of Dominia, a Jump-4 away from Elysium. He wants Dr. Falken to develop vaccines to defend against alien agents of infection. The characters are welcome to join his cause of removing corruption from the sector and uniting it under his rule. Unfortunately, he's gone a bit power-mad in trying to set up a new empire of his own, and he tends to destroy what he can't have. His navigators can do some amazing things, and many colonies and ships never see the attack coming.

Baron Von Wulgalash has a reputation as an unforgiving leader who rules with an iron fist, force of personality, superior skills, and willingness to risk everything for whatever he wants. An in-system landing on a Jump-4 should be evidence enough of that. He will destroy every other ship in the area if Dr. Falken agrees to work for him. If Dr. Falken refuses, he will try to disable or destroy the characters' ship.

The MediShield ships will attack the Wulgalash Warship as soon as they open fire on the characters' ship, especially once MacRae starts talking to them. They'll grudgingly respect MacRae's authority when she requests that they protect the characters, but they'll follow closely and start legal proceedings immediately when this situation resolves.

Further Hooks
We'll explore how having Calleigh MacRae as a patron could open up new avenues of alien exploration for the characters in a future installment. Working for Von Wulgalash ends up being nasty, brutish, and short. Eventually Navy capital ships will come to put down the rebellion. the battle will be glorious, but one-sided. If the characters survive, they will end up in jail or "rehabilitated" as part of a work detail in hazardous conditions. That may open up a fugitive-flavored campaign if the characters can steal a ship.

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