Doing It My Way - Freelance Traveller

Fifth Imperium
(Continued from page 9)
Golden Age EPIC Adventures in the same time period.
Finally, the Keith brothers‘ Flight of the Stag
adventures offered yet another perspective of the
war.
Though not exactly a war, the bug hunts found
in Traveller Double Adventure 5: The Chamax
Plague / Horde also fit into the war genre.
Other References. This is another situation
where the genre is large enough that you can
probably pick up any book or show that interests
you. Personally I enjoyed the TV show Band of
Brothers for a realistic look at war. If you want a
more literary view, Garth Ennis wrote two interesting
volumes of War Stories for DC Comics.
The Western Genre
Of the three action genres presented here, the
western is the one most tied to a specific setting.
But, it doesn‘t have to be the United States of the
1800s. Rather, the setting for a Western can be any
frontier where men are lawless, life is cheap, and
justice is rare. More than one creator has drawn the
connection between those themes and the setting of
science-fiction. Gene Roddenberry called Star Trek
a ―wagon trail to the stars‖ and explicitly marketed
it as a western, while Firefly even took up the trappings
of the western.
The easiest way to play upon the western genre
in Traveller is simply to play up the idea of the
frontier: that the PCs are out there on their own and
that bandits and other outlaws might be just around
the corner. Of course, you shouldn‘t forget the precepts
of the western as an action genre. Mainly,
that means gunfights and duels paired with gambling
and other less high-brow activities.
Within the Imperium, you really need to go to
the outskirts to find the proper material for a western—as
the Imperium itself is just too civilized. In
the Spinward Marches, District 268 and Five Sis-
ters are the best places for this sort of adventure,
though you could also introduce western elements
on any low-tech planet or on any planet off the traditional
Xboat lines.
When you put together a Western adventure,
you could place the PCs in the roles of protagonists
or antagonists. They could be the outlaws robbing
the poor folk of the area or the poor folk of the area
who are beset upon by outlaws. Alternatively, a
―Seven Samurai‖ adventure is always a favorite,
where the PCs are called in to protect a village
from bandits. Prospecting for valuable minerals is
another western favorite that can tie in well with
the Traveller world of belters and other miners.
You just need to introduce some outlaw elements
there too, perhaps presenting a mineral find that‘s
beyond the reach of the law.
Traveller References. Not a lot of Traveller
material has explicitly referenced the western, so
you might be trailblazing new ground.
Other References. Joss Whedon‘s Firefly is
the most perfect combination of western and science-fiction
that you can imagine. Without the explicit
trappings, you could probably grab many episodes
for your Traveller usage.
Conclusion
That‘s it for my look at how to use the more
action-oriented genres in Traveller. Though there
are many more genres that I could cover here, I‘m
just going to touch upon one more, next month:
science-fiction. There are numerous sub-genres of
science-fiction which could each provide you with
interesting and unique Traveller adventures.
If you want more genre thoughts, let me point
you to a new RPGnet column, Tropes. It‘s offering
an excellent, in-depth look of a different genre each
month. October‘s Tropes focus in on pulp adventure,
nicely tying to this article; take a look for
much more information than I could possibly provide
on the topic.
Multimedia Gallery
We‘ve been advised that due to external issues,
Chapter Four of The BurrowWolf would not be
available in time to be included in this month‘s issue.
We will resume printing The BurrowWolf as
soon as the artists make the next chapter available,
and our apologies are extended to the fans of the
story.
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