Travel the Spinward Marches
Our Travellers seek to build and operate an anti-piracy operation in District 268. Many side adventures happen. https://travellermap.com/?p=-102.738
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About the adventure
Hi! I'm an experienced Traveller GM who enjoys running several ongoing weekly game sessions. These first sessions will be a series of short adventures to gather a group of 4-5 dedicated regulars for an ongoing campaign. The game is Mongoose Traveller V2. Expect deluxe custom content suited to your PC's background and interests. My objective is to gather a fun crew for an ongoing science fiction campaign in the Spinward Marches of the Imperium. Participate in the opening adventures to get to know each other, your characters' galaxy, and your GM. Expect a game style more like Firefly than Star Trek. My Tuesday session is full so I'm starting a second group. The campaign will involve a lot of salvage & scavenging with limited support from the Imperial Scout Service (ISS) and the Imperial Nave. Your PC's background & objectives should include doing well by doing good. Short term goal is to build and operate an anti-piracy armada to protect District 268 from pirates. The 50+ year goal goal is to help District 268 join the Imperium. Your PC may be as exotic as you like. Vargr and Aslan are particularly appropriate non-human aliens in District 268. All sorts of PCs could join this crew so long as they want to oppose pirates and reavers. My stories & games are a mix of existing adventures and my own content. Players have agency to decide upon their goals, methods, and approach. I typically rely on pre-written Traveller adventures for 2/3 of content and create 1/3. I'll alter my play style to suit the character party and the situation. Expect a combination of sandbox play and adventures-on-rails. Here's a partial list of Traveller adventures I have prepared and run for previous groups: * Intro to Travelling on the Tanagra * Find & salvage a lost battlecruiser from a war 30 years ago * Downtime on a tech 6 planet during extended ship repairs at a class B starport gets both interesting & dangerous. Heroes are called for. * Investigate & salvage a lost scientific lab ship * Beware the Health Police: Keystone-Cops style light-hearted comedy-horror on a dystopian planet, Survias, controlled by globalist oligarchs using biosecurity-based turnkey totalitarianism. Written in 1985. * Infiltration & espionage * Marooned on a low tech world * Investigate a scientific research station that has stopped communicating * Investigate the deep history of humanity and other sentient races. Is there a progenitor species that once spread life & intelligence through the seedling stars? Is it still around? * Heroes needed to protect miners in a remote mining installation * Robin Hood in Space * Naval combat between space ships. Sometimes I'll abstract this component for purposes of getting on with the story, other times, players willing, we can use a map grid and make this a game unto itself. * Player-driven adventures. I'll use pre-made adventures to fill in some weeks, as creating exciting new content every week gets challenging.
Game style
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Sandbox / Open World
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
3 years on StartPlaying
53 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Teacher, Creativity
Average response time: 11 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
This storyteller delights in bringing joy and adventure to all. I run several regular weekly RPG sessions on Roll20 & Discord. I intend to ADD A REGULAR SUNDAY EVENING SESSION for a dedicated group. Game time will be a Sunday evening (in North America) time block of ~4 hours. Contact me if you'd like to hire me to run a custom game for your group. Here's my Roll20 profile: https://app.roll20.net/users/160701/bruce
View Profile →Reviews (20)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Storytelling
Teacher
Creativity
When I first met Bruce he started off as a guy with a good sense of humor and someone who was fun to play with as we were both in the same Campaign. But when I heard he was going to DM I knew I had to play with him because his imagination truly knows no bounds. The world he is building is intriguing, yet simplistic in a way that even a moron such as myself can understand. He is fun with both our hits and misses when it comes to combat. And he puts up with me which is a feat all up in its own. Thank you for an amazing time and I'm happy you are my DM!
EXCELLENT DM! Bruce is a very friendly DM who is very well-versed in the rules. He allows for a lot of player creativity, and is extremely creative himself. He is very patient with beginners, and is able to clearly explain both rule questions and game sheet mechanics (e.g. DnD Beyond, Discord and Roll20) to beginners. Although he is good with beginning players, his deep knowledge and experience also makes him good with advanced players.
Character creation
Creating your character
Make your own character via Mongoose 2 Traveller. Make sure your PCs can play well with others as an effective team. PCs will acquire a small 4 cabin Scout-Courier vessel able to travel between the stars. Please write a small blurb to describe your PCs background. Each 4-year term deserves a sentence or two. Build your own story. I will read your background and will do my best to personalize adventures to suit. For example, if your PC is psionic expect this to affect the story trajectory. My games operate in hard mode and character death is a thing so consider making a back up character. When you create your PC I give you leave to 'cheat' once, one die roll. The purpose of this house rule is to allow your PC's career to fit your imagination. For example, you COULD use this 'cheat' to avoid a prison sentence but consider that prison might suit the story you want to tell.
Update: We now have two players. Further notes as character creation proceeds.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Microphone & basic skills with Discord. I can train you on any technical issues that may arise. Have a working account in Roll20 and Discord. You don't need to know any Traveller rules. I run a fast-paced rules-light game and will gradually introduce what few 'rules' you need to know. You are free to create your own PC or to use a pre-made PC.
What Bruce brings to the table
I'll provide a VTT, maps & token, and lots of custom content. I don't use ambient music. I do sometimes provide sound effects & other special effects. For starters we'll play shorter adventures. Eventually, once we get a regular group, the ongoing story will follow the interests and commitments of the characters. Please create characters suited to, and interested in, building and/or operating anti-piracy operations in a 'backwater' portion of the Third Imperium. Additional plot elements will depend upon PC actions and interests. For example, a certain billionaire patron seeks to end Imperial Interdiction of a red Zone that should no longer be interdicted - but Imperial bureaucracy has great inertia.
Homebrew rules
GM generally sticks to Mongoose Traveller 2 rules but reserves the right to alter any and all rules as needed to fit the Rule of Cool. Your GM has been running Traveller games for since 1981 but is still learning intricacies of the Mongoose Traveller 2 rules set.
Equipment needed to play
Headphones
Microphone
Computer
Mobile Phone
Platforms used
Safety
How Bruce creates a safe table
My stories tend to be pretty tame and respectable. PG-13+. I prefer nothing more risque than, for example, Firefly & Serenity. This includes some pretty scary stuff but, notably, the more extreme events happen off stage. Players should speak to me if there are any themes or topics that might be problematic. While sexual themes might arise I typically like the scene to "fade to black" when it gets spicy. Take it to the fan fiction sites.
Content warnings
Safety tools used
Additional tables
1 available
Weekly / Wednesday – 12:30 AM UTC
Aug 6 / Session 14
5 / 6 Seats Filled