Sunday, July 25, 2010

Combat Drop

I just received a recent request from one of my players for a Combat Drop-themed adventure. When I say this, I mean aerospace orbital insertions in a hot landing zone by power-armored marines. Since we are all in our Traveller phase, this becomes a very appealing and real possibility in a coming game.

Traveller is known for its power armored troops in what is known as Battledress. For those of you who aren't into the military SF genre, think Iron Man. Imagine something like his armored suit with all the hydraulic power boosts, weapons packages and doo-dads. Imagine the 101st airborne going in for an assault drop somewhat like that in Normandy or Holland in '44 but kick up the tech level considerably and give them Iron Man's powersuits. Have them coming in from orbit while the Navy provides high guard cover and the Army's Close Orbital Aerospace Command flies interference on the deck. Traveller has a supplement called Mercenary which deals quite a lot with this.

The thing is, I can see another generational gap interposing itself here. My player is a younger fellow (most of them are!) weaned on Warhammer 40k novels. I believe he is presently reading about the Space Wolves and their drop pods from orbit, hence his request. Me, I'm very much game for this but chances are, the game will be resembling more of Heilein's Starship Troopers during the best times (read: when the mission turns out well) and Joe Haldeman's Forever War, as a default setting.

In any case, a game we'll be playing on this theme is bound to be interestingly fun to say the least...

8 comments:

  1. Always good to challenge your players' assumptions but, apart from the obsession with improbably large hand guns and chainsaws, there is no reason why you can't play a 40k-esque 'Dark Imperium' using Traveller. Sure, there's not a complete match, but if that's the universe they visualise and relate to, then why not. I'm sure the Imperium had its dark times, too. In fact, reading some of the collapse material for Mega Traveller reminds me a lot of the 'life is cheap, short and brutal' attitude that seems to underpin 40K.

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  2. I very much agree with your comments Kobold. You beat me to the punch: I always have this continuing desire to run a 'Dark Imperium' version of Traveller. I'm not really decided though, whether to run it in the Rebellion era or in the chaos that follows. Some of our guys here are looking into a 'Pocket Empire' type of game available as one of the options in Traveller New Era. I agree that there's always something that draws you to the chaotic darkness of 40k (no pun intended!) or the monolithic oppression of that game universe's imperium.

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  3. I see that you are on Porozlo. My gaming group spent a lot of time there. Inspired by the mercenary tickets from 76 Patrons we played lots of Striker scenarios.

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  4. You can actually run a Dark Future campaign within the parametres of a more traditional 3rd Imperium game - the local Imperial Duke is a meglomaniac and rules the subsector/sector with an iron fist and, as local Imperial CnC, the local Imperial Fleet and Marines are his rod of iron to beat the citizens into submission.

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  5. @BeRKA - yes, I always got intrigued by the situation on Porozlo, but after reading the sample Commando mission ticket in Mercenary. On the other hand, I totally missed the iniclusion of Porozlo in 76 Patrons! Thanks for pointing me in that direction, I'll be checking this out. The thing is, I went ahead and generated my own world map and local situation on Porozlo using the UPP and sample ticket found in Mercenary. I hope the canonical info in 76 Patrons doesn't prove to be a real disconnect with my homebrew take on what conditions are on the planet's surface. :)

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  6. @Kobold - a most intriguing proposition, thanks for bringing this up! As things stand now, my players are from a group of travellers who have not mustered out yet- they are still in his Imperial majesty's service as of the current game time. A little darkness in the canonical setting will prove to be an interesting factor in how the game eventually turns out...

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  7. Have you read C.J. Cherryh's Rimrunners? Some neat ideas about live as a marine.

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  8. Hmmm, I can't say I have. I went over the link you provided to this book and it's pretty intense. I will definitely check it out. thank you :)

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