Traveller: Chariots of Fire - RPG Review

Review of the classic heist adventure 'Chariots of Fire' where the Player Characters have to "liberate" a pair of high-tech fire engines from a neighboring country.
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Guest starring Jack the NPC.

[@Mekanurg]

Hello Seth, I am the original author. Nice to see you letting this scenario resurface after 40 years. I wrote it in 1982, when I was a young university student of political science and international politics. The Castica/Handor set-up was inspired by the 1970s Hollywood version of Central America.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Oh wow! Hey there. I'm sure it's got to feel weird and awesome to see people still talking about a little magazine adventure you wrote almost 40 years later.

[@Joemantler]

I _thought_ it felt "Central America". Well done, sir!

[@MrTryAnotherOne]

Wow The internet is such a small place. o.O Is it this game? www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2080/central-america

[@richmcgee434]

@@MrTryAnotherOne I think he was talking about the real world - or at least Hollywood's version of it in the era - rather than a specific board game. That particular game came out five years after the module in question.

[@LordSplendid]

I would like to point out that Anders Blixt had a leading role in the production of Dragons and Demons (Drakar och Demoner), which filled the role of Dungeons & Dragons in Sweden. My life was changed when I received Dragons and Demons for Christmas 1987, like so many swedes did that year. I respectfully bow before you, Anders.

[@AubriGryphon]

"Well, things kinda escalated and long story short, they're still rebuilding from the Fire Truck War."

[@NefariousKoel]

It will go down in the annals of history along with: The War Of The Bucket The Emu War and The Soccer War

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

@@NefariousKoel There was that war over the wording on a postage stamp, does that fit?

[@danielmcgillis270]

@@TheSmart-CasualGamer There was a Japanese war started over the inscription on a bell that was a gift.

[@RIlianP]

When he said "Chariots of fire", great now that song is stuck back in my head for good 24 hours

[@ModernJedi83]

Your not the only one...

[@NefariousKoel]

Now it's in my head after reading this comment.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

I know right!!, I found the "Benny Hill tune" sufficiently capable of replacing that psycological association .....Now I just have to replace the "Benny Hill tune" ........................................................................................................ :\

[@richmcgee434]

This ought to clear any earworm known to man - except itself, of course: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGeoe6uPg7arrNk

[@nolgroth]

Was going to ask if it comes with a Vangelis score.

[@tooawesomepeoples1]

Ah, a traveller game with sci fi rescue equipment. My dream of playing Thunderbirds in a tabletop RPG is coming ever closer to reality.

[@euansmith3699]

Unfortunately, you get to play Alan or John Tracy, and you spend the entire adventure monitoring communications on Thunderbird 5. ;)

[@richmcgee434]

You know Modiphius did an actual, licensed, sort-of-rpg for Thunderbirds about five years ago, right? rpggeek.com/rpgitem/197503/thunderbirds-roleplaying-game Reasonably certain there's at least one unlicensed indie RPG that's Thunderbirds in all but name, but it's eluding me on DTRPG (which is where I first saw it quite a while back). Maybe someone else recalls the name.

[@davetye]

Jack on the beach still wearing his space helmet really made me chuckle.

Hi Seth! Huge thank you for your clips. Me and my close friends spent WAY to many hours playing rpg’s during the late seventies and eighties. Sadly we kind of drifted apart due to careers and family obligations but then I ran across your channel, binged on your reviews, ordered a ton of CoC and Traveller stuff (both of which we played a lot ages ago), and got the old crew together. We have now played five sessions of CoC and have had a blast doing so!

[@SSkorkowsky]

This is awesome to hear. Hope you all have a blast now that the old crew is back together for some new adventures.

[@jacobrobinson5606]

epic

[@MonkeyJedi99]

You got the band together? Did it require a call from a certain Nun at your former orphanage? If so, beware an ex with a rocket launcher.

@@MonkeyJedi99 Nun fast talked, ship tuned, shades on, and New Chicago plotted for next jump.

[@richmcgee434]

@@MonkeyJedi99 Also look out for those Illinois Nazis.

[@mathsalot8099]

Congrats on recently being published for your traveller update and prequel adventure!!

[@ArawnNox]

Seth, can I just say that I really like the repeated use of phrases in your videos. Theres a certain familiar comfort that comes from hearing things like "as a GM who has successfully run this adventure" "I'm Jack the NPC..." and "Until next time Travellers, you have a great day."

[@originaluddite]

It impresses me that a science fiction RPG had a published scenario focused on something so specific as nicking fire engines.

[@richmcgee434]

And decades ago, no less. JTAS was always fond of unusual little adventure seeds.

[@euansmith3699]

The production value on the skits is really impressive; and it doesn't hurt that Jack is such a natural raconteur. All the little details in the background photos are a really cool touch. This sounds like a great adventure; once all of your suggestions are taken in to account.

[@sirguy6678]

Seth demonstrates to GMs how to add flavor, adventure, and fun to game play of a small module

[@goadfang]

Fire truck was named "Trucky McTruckface" by the many school children it saved. Is much beloved by all people of Glorious Democratic People's Republic of Castica.

[@jefferydraper4019]

I was thinking more of a Thomas the Train type worship from the kids with McMillagasguu Joy Meals with toy fire trucks inside.

[@andrewalderman101]

It sounds like a perfect side event would be an actual fire during the heist.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Jack's plan at the outro is the basic plot of "For A Fistful Of Fire Engines".

[@paintedblue1791]

Hay Jack they weren't Dolphins because the Dolphins in Traveller are more likely to be the ones trying to sell you that timeshare! Never trust a Dolphin especially when it's smiling at you!

[@richmcgee434]

The last Traveller campaign I ran got personalized by having "native" dolphins on every world they could possibly survive on, and fossil evidence of them on few places where they'd died out. Turns out that Grandfather was even more fond of them than he was of our ancestors and spread the species all over this corner of the galaxy. Most of them did pretty well in their new aquatic biomes, and a very few of them had "Vilani moments" where they'd opened an Ancients cache left for them and started to figure out the toys inside before starfarers made contact with them.

[@leaf0nthewind625]

When my group played this adventure we just had the Major give us three trucks from the other nations army loaded to the gills with beer, along with uniforms for all of the characters. Then we just drove up to the fire station claiming to be making a beer run so the firefighters could celebrate their glorious leader telling the visiting president to shove it, and once they were good and drunk we just drove off with the fire trucks leaving only the real challenge of getting them over the border without getting caught.

[@mirigolde8502]

I could see this maybe working with "corporate cities" too: maybe down-tech to two mining colonies stiffing each other on the bill, or shipping companies that're divesting and trying to take advantage of each other. Even something like what happens in the real world with Shell owning it's own higher-tech oil rig city inside a much less developed area of Nigeria and not sharing amenities.

[@novaiscool1]

Just a heads up to anyone wanting "realism" in their games fire engines in the real world don't use keys. As you can imagine it would be kind of bad if you were trying to respond to an emergency, but Dale lost the keys to the truck.

[@edlaprade]

Just what I was thinking. The same goes for a lot of military equipment.

[@kusodm2347]

Dang it, Dale.

[@michaeldean1934]

I was thinking that fleet vehicles (police cars and taxis, large company fleets, etc) as well as heavy equipment often use just one or two keys.....The 1284x Ford fits many many police cars, the CC1 fits most electric golf carts/security carts, and caterpillar sp8500 will get your bulldozers, cranes, etc. (search Deviant Ollam Keys on KZbin!) I really don't see any reason for this to change on an interplanetary scale....

[@NefariousKoel]

@@edlaprade - There was that guy who went into the military base in CA and stole an M60 tank that one time, as a good example. Climbed into a few which didn't have enough fuel but finally found one that did. The guard saw him but couldn't do anything to stop him as he'd buttoned up and drove right out.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Many modern emergency vehicles are keyless, but have dummy switches or multi-step starting procedures to keep randos from making off with them. This is also why I mentioned security codes or biometrics. You can have a keyless vehicle still require a 4-digit code or a bio-scan from authorized users.

[@0x777]

18:50 made me giggle. Hell yes, we've often been thinking "Thank god space is big, because on most worlds, we shouldn't show our faces ever again!"

[@randomusernameCallin]

While watching, I though about stealing all four and hid them in a planned location and then still take two across the boarder. A good conference call to both side asking for a payment.

[@patrickmiller4229]

Hey Seth! Thanks to your awesome Traveller videos I went and picked up all the books and they're super awesome to look through and I'm excited to get my players to try it once covid is over.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Hope you and your group has fun storming the galaxy. If you're ever looking for a good 'starting adventure' I suggest checking out High & Dry.

[@stevekillgore9272]

16:25 the chariots have autopilot ... hmmm ... set the other two running as decoys ! (Presuming you're reasonably sure they won't run over people on the street)

[@SSkorkowsky]

That's what my players did. First , they conned one of the firemen to let one of them inside (very attractive PC with a 'thing' for fire engines). The PC knocked them out, let the others inside, then they sent one of the trucks off on a pre-plotted course going back and forth across town with the sirens wailing and with the poor fireman handcuffed inside (he lost his job after this). Meanwhile the PCs waited a minute, then headed off the other direction as everyone was chasing the decoy truck.

[@frankmueller2781]

I don't know about Call of Cuthulu ,as I haven't tried it yet, but I GM a long running PBEM Traveller game and love it. I highly recommend giving it a whirl. If you can't find an in person group, there are several sites hosting PBEM games. These games are also a hood way to ease yourself into learning the game mechanics as well.

[@andyraff4465]

"Those things sure as hell weren't dolphins" + facial expression. Double-plus-thumbs-up.

[@robertreese6903]

Sometimes I worry about spoiling things then I remember that that I’m forever Gm/Dm.

[@kasane1337]

I know that feeling. I only know one other GM among my friends, and he usually can't get a session started because of scheduling issues, even though he's a really good GM.

[@craftsmenMC]

I think a good twist would be that these advanced fire trucks are called out to help with an emergency, so not only do the travelers have to steal these trucks, they have to steal them while they’re being USED

[@ClickClackMathRocks]

Hey. It’s that island that you briefly mentioned on the Worlds and Starports video. Very cool.

[@seamusp5991]

The best thing to ever happen on a Sunday night is one of Seth’s videos. Thank you for keeping my mind off Monday!

[@Ralndrath]

I was about to get ready and go into town to get a few things but then I saw Seth had uploaded another video and, well, here I am watching it instead.

[@NefariousKoel]

I'd suggest giving the friendly checkpoint, and the characters, a password to let them through. That way the nature of the mission isn't exposed to random checkpoint guards beforehand, thus narratively keeping the secret nature of the business .. secret. * whispers * The pathword ith... "Nipple".

[@frigginsepone446]

"I get to drive a fire truck, which was a bucket list item that I never even know I had..." Yeah Jack, me too! When I saw the thumbnail I went "Do the players get to drive that thing?"

[@patrickfitzpatrick2945]

Hell Yeah! Every Skorkowsky day is a GOOD day. Thank Seth! =)

[@wendigo1619]

i used this to start a recent campain, the crew were already a smuggling crew on this planet working for a crime family... they used batons and homebrewed Tranq Rifles to take out several guards

[@edmundodelagarza4418]

Nice job, especially on the many possible variations you suggest. Keep the Traveller vids coming!

[@SirGamingScotsman]

Another great Traveller video, and congratulations on having the new Mysteries on Arcturus Station published

[@Whiizom]

Another excellent review. Always liked Traveller. Bought into it after your reviews. I especially liked the ending Jack described.

[@scottknudsen6611]

I see the original printing carried an ad for the Compleat Strategist. Their store on 33rd Street in Manhattan was my first gaming store as a kid and I'm pleased to say they're still there over 40 years later.

[@SSkorkowsky]

That's incredible that they're still there. It makes them one of the anchors in the gaming industry, outliving all the trends, the booms, busts, and seeing generations of gamers come through their door as early players passed on their hobby to the children and even their grandchildren.

[@jefferydraper4019]

Hmmm sounds like time for a bad car "wreck" with a big fire near the Handor Border crossing. "Oh look, the fire department is here to save the day!"

[@kasane1337]

I mean, that could be a really fun way of "saving" the mission - crash into a building with a fire truck, have the other country send another fire truck towards them to stop the fire and instead steal the new vehicle.

[@monkeytime9851]

Love watching these videos, and I still never play these games. These vids are just so well put together and entertaining.

[@Graham-ce2yk]

For what it's worth, the original scenario was set in one of the 'Orphan' systems that never got added to the Original Traveller Universe when GDW consolidated things prior to MegaTraveller, there is a subsector on the Traveller Map called 'Orphans' where I placed all of the systems of that type I could find. The direct link to that subsector is below and, Gatina, the original location of 'Chariots of Fire' can be found there. travellermap.com/?p=1948.99!-2365!6

[@vicmarriott4849]

As always an entertaining and informative review. the thing about Traveller is that many Adventures need to be Incomplete so that they can be shoehorned into YTU. Not everyone plays strictly in the 3I as laid out, Unlike many RPG's that generally use the World the Game is written for, as D&D is.

[@ProfBoggs]

Another reason to explain why there might be just one location (re the 17:44 comment) is that these countries _together_ only have 500,000 people. If they are micro-states in terms of territory (imagine Andora next to Leichtenstein), it might also be that the location selected for the shared fire house was the most centrally-located one. This assumes that the border controls were waived for the firetrucks, or perhaps even non-existent until very recently.

[@bighara]

"Those things sure as h3ll weren't dolphins." LOL

[@railbaron1]

I just had an interesting idea regarding the Truck, maybe have where 2 of the 4 we're used to shoot a TV show like _Emergency!_ that is popular in both countries and they want you to steal those 2 to especially rancor the Handorians.

[@danielmcgillis270]

The most terrifying thing an NPC can hear "I am a PC and I am here to help."

[@stevekillgore9272]

I'm thinking that the two squabbling micro-states originally got an Imperial grant to finance them, and a Noble might be getting involved ... maybe Baronet Soloman Gishigugsigduu created the plan to take half the vehicles back ... maybe specifically off-worlders with higher tech skills are needed to jury-rig the powerplant or controls

[@archonfett]

"Seriously, you have to wonder exactly how much turmoil plagues a place after the player characters have come through to "help them out"?" not really I've seen enough "Dirty Pair" to know where that goes. in at least one case their wasn't even a planet left to complain, good times.

[@danhenry9108]

Hey, the PCs aren't stealing those vehicles. They're recovering them from the country that stole them. Taking all four would be stealing.

[@TheManKnownAsAi]

Man, I love your Traveller content Seth. I'm trying to throw a group together in my area, and your reviews have been of immense help in getting a handle on the system.

[@danacoleman4007]

as always, Seth, excellent work!

[@sripuranam]

Nice one dude. Congrats on your Traveller scenario getting published!

[@Tony-dh7mz]

Obviously Seth needs to draw more attention to this, I had no idea,

[@SSkorkowsky]

I made a post on it Friday when it released (Sheesh, Tony, don't you read the newsletters I keep hanging off your door handle?). But I did the new 'Mysteries on Arcturus Station' which is two adventures. One that I fully wrote (The Hunt for Sabre IV), while the other is my revision of J. Andrew Keith's brilliant 'Murder on Arcturus Station'. Basically every suggestion I made in my review video for the old adventure has been incorporated, plus some new stuff. It was a fun project. I'll do a video for it eventually once the physical editions release in a few months. Right now they're only on PDF. www.drivethrurpg.com/product/350034/Solomani-Adventure-1-Mysteries-on-Arcturus-Station?affiliate_id=1017650

[@Tony-dh7mz]

@@SSkorkowsky You know what it’s like where I live, if it’s not nailed down it’s going to get stolen by either a Smurf or a squirrel, I can handle the squirrels, but those little blue bast@rds!!! I apologise for my tardiness

[@ctvtmo]

Wait! Did Jack's group successively steal the fire engines? I mean the game mastering tips are nice, and all that, but lets be honest, we here to hear Jack tell his stories.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Game went well. No crazy stuff worthy of a War Story vid or anything. But here's how it went down. A couple players had to miss that session, so we were down to 3. There's a big espionage plot in the main campaign, so the PCs are all pretty good at spycraft. One is a very attractive psion/former spy who's career path pinballed through just about everything including some prison time. Another is a diplomat with crazy-good computer skills. The third was a regular former spy with some badass Drive skills. He was the only one with Drive. I figured it might be fun to have him shine by being this super-capable driver and then see what the other two did. Anyway, last minute, the player of the Driving character had to bail on the session. So we only have 2 PCs, neither of them know how to drive a ground vehicle. I figured "What the hell. Why not? Let's see what happens." They did the vacation at the resort like I mentioned, got the job and said "Sure. We can't drive, but we'll try it." They also negotiated having their resort vacation for free. They then headed down to Handor, got a hotel and scoped the place out. The attractive psion started hanging around a bar near the firehouse. She found one nice fireman who was more brawn than brains and got him to sneak her into the station house because she had a 'thing' for fire engines (between beer and psion manipulation, it wasn't that difficult). During that visit she scoped it out, saw where the alarm box was, and got a short little tour of the inside the engines (she used the excuse she wanted it to be inside the perfect engine for their special night). On the night of the robbery, she setup to meet him again. He was on shift at the station that night, so no drinking for him. He let her in through the back door and she knocked him out, then let the other PC inside. He nearly got spotted crossing the parking lot because his Stealth skills weren't that great. There was a bit of fear when the dog started barking, but they hid and kept silent. Because neither of them could drive, and the diplomat was a computerwiz, they programmed one of the trucks to trail the other about 15 meters behind. They then drove the lead truck cross-country (they didn't trust the autopilot for the lead truck, and they knew something unexpected could happen and they wanted control of the vehicle. The trucks aren't too difficult to drive, even with no skill, just because they're so advanced). To set a distraction, they sent the other two trucks on a pre-plotted course going back and forth across town with their sirens wailing. They tried to get it to shoot foam at stuff, but it was going to take too long to program that part. The poor fireman was knocked out inside, naked, tied up, and gagged. He'd regained consciousness at one point during the job and got tasered again, then again for good measure, which was kind of a low blow to dude who was already having a rough night (he lost his job after this, which was unfortunate because he really was a nice guy). The two distraction trucks sent the Handor police car that was sitting in the parking lot after them. It took forever before anyone could get those things to stop. The firemen in the station were locked out of that vehicle bay, which wouldn't hold them long, but long enough. Once the police car was gone, the PC's drove out with no headlights or anything and drove cross-country along the path they chose days before. Some bad luck meant they had to change course and use their secondary path instead of the easier one they originally wanted, but it ran dangerously close to one of the border guard buildings and they'd already gotten the radio call to be on alert. The trucks got a little light damage crashing through a fence and an orchard, then nearly got t-boned when they pulled onto the road in Castica. They got paid, then got the hell out of there (this disappointed the spy character because she had spent a small fortune on some high-fashion swimsuits at the starport, but they didn't even return to the resort hotel before leaving town. The diplomat bought her new swimsuits as an apology when they got back to the starport. She still hasn't had a chance to wear them). On a side-note, the other PCs started out the next session just before leaving the planet and they got the job that led them into the Rule of Man Commemorative adventure.

[@ctvtmo]

@@SSkorkowsky Wow, you are the best person on youtube. Thank you so much for this wonderful post (and the others regarding my questions about cell phones.) I am shock you would spend such time answer some random guy's question. I wish there was some way I could return the favor. Seriously, if there is any way I could repay the kindness I would love to do it. If you are ever in the Northeast I will buy you a steak. It would be great pleasure chatting with you and sharing war-stories. (I go back to the Holmes' edition, which I still have in my collection.)

[@SSkorkowsky]

No problem at all. I'm not in the North East too often (though there are a couple conventions I would love to hit one day). But, if you just have to do something, if you like reading or audiobooks, and any of mine sound remotely interesting, pick one up. Enjoy it. If you did enjoy it, a rating or review on Amazon, Goodreads, or Audible is worth it weight in gold to a small-time novelist like myself. But if you're not a big reader or just don't think my stuff sounds much to your tastes, no worries. Save the cash and just enjoy the channel.

[@relentlessairwaves319]

Sometimes a new video turns a bad day into a good one. Thanks Seth

[@MaxWriter]

Nicely done. I always appreciated these short scenarios. I used several from Challenge Magazine for both Call of Cthulhu and other games. It was always fun to flesh them out.

[@AdamPreset]

This comment is not about this video, but rather about the subtle product placement for New Tales of the Miskatonic Valley. I am prepping to run ‘A Mother’s Love” in Roll20 and am setting up my various maps using material from the module. Great stuff! I’m psyched! My players want to visit Innsmouth but have no idea what they’re in for. I look forward to giving them a tour of the classic sites while terrifying them at the same time! Thanks!

[@SSkorkowsky]

I plan to do a dedicated video for it soon, but since your game will be before then, here's the link to all my pre-gen characters we used for playtesting as well as GM maps (They decided against all my maps, I assume for size or cost reasons, but I still have them. They're crude as as hell, but maybe you'll find them helpful). Hope you and your players have fun with the adventure. drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pH8o0V-nolkTce5HL--VM5lXqrVkt5Qy?usp=sharing

[@AdamPreset]

@@SSkorkowsky Thanks! Appreciated! I see a familiar face on at least one of those pregens. 😀 And did I already make an NPC game token for Agent Jack Malone with your face? Yes. Yes, I did.

[@Jasonwolf1495]

This makes me want to run an encounter with the players as firefighters.

[@HydroMaester]

I am really enjoying these Traveller episodes.

[@colmhoran1663]

If i ran it, I'd love to introduce the idea that the firefighters themselves, being rescue personnel, feel really bad about their government taking the trucks. And maybe if the players get caught, they can try a little diplomacy and make it clear they're only stealing back their fair share of the equipment and don't intend to hurt anyone, some of the firefighters might even cover for them as they escape by distracting the cops. (Of course, maybe one of them is just playing along until they can call the cops on both the thieves and their fellow firefighters....)

[@alexsturge1181]

Hey Seth I saw that community post of the mysteries of Arcturus Station you wrote And I was wondering were you ever planning on making a video of it. It doesn't have to be a review but it can be a neato walkthrough of it I think that would be pretty cool

[@nikoloszeloslav8570]

Good scenario! It can fit in with any system and ties well into larger modules.

[@jesternario]

That vehicle handbook is apparently rare. The only version of it on Amazon, last I checked, was in Spanish, which I sadly do not speak.

[@zoteatakin8195]

As another kink, I can totally see happening. Maybe the fire department gets a call-out on that night to a house fire and these commence a chase scene to this random guys house who's on fire and thus commence a moral dilemma.

[@rentless666]

This sounds like a fun adventure and I hope to run it soon. I'm thinking of making the whole area prone to fires or something like that. Maybe recently there's been a surge of frequent lightning storms or heatwaves, stuff like that.

[@egillskallagrimson5879]

That Yojimbo scam sounds pretty awesome, I actually want to give it that taste like George Lucas/Kurosawa in our next campaign.

[@Wolfphototech]

*Amber zone adventures = to old school D&D modules .* *Old school Modules are a short quest / story that can be slid into a bigger campaign .* *Old school Modules are basically just a map , some basic NPCs , a story / quest & etc. .*

[@richmcgee434]

In modern parlance, the JTAS Amber Zone adventures would best be called adventure seeds. They lay out a simple scenario, but invariably need work from the GM to flesh out before use.

[@Joemantler]

Other easy explanations for why it is housed on one side vs both: 1) The one side fronted the bulk of the funds for the trucks, rather than a 50/50 split. 2) The one side is more prone to fires. This would explain some things... Why they put more money into the trucks, and why the other side feels justified in getting them back! Politics, am I right? 3) When the trucks were acquired, there were legal or diplomatic reasons the initial techs could only set up in that country. Or it may have taken longer to set up a new, higher tech fire station in the other country, but now it is built. I must say, when you go through the expense of updating the station, you feel very justified in getting some trucks for it!

[@richmcgee434]

4) Handor agreed to initially pay the lion's share of the maintenance & upkeep on the (very expensive high tech) engines in exchange for having the station in their capitol, with expectation that Castica would eventually construct their own high-tech station and split things evenly thereafter. Castica's actually been defaulting on their smaller share of the upkeep costs as well as dragging their feet on building their own station, which is actually part of the reason for the tensions with Handor. If the PCs *do* manage to steal the engines for Handor, those engines will likely break down in short order due to the lack of Castican support infrastructure, leaving both countries with (at best) half the number of advanced rigs than they paid for. For extra hassle, if the players display any kind of technical skill that suggests they could maintain the truck for Castica, they may be offered a chance to do that job long-term (with inadequate funding, supplies, and under guard at all times) at gun point, with the threat to turn them over to Handor as thieves if they kick about it. And if their skills aren't adequate to the task (fixing up a fire engine is rather different than a starship's maneuver drive, after all) that doesn't mean the Casticans might not *think* they are anyway, and they aren't likely to believe claims to the contrary.

[@dutch6857]

I do like the idea of a not-quite-planetary government. Small hold outs. Andorra, Monaco and Lesotho spring to mind. Hell, Switzerland never joined the UN. (Edit: Switzerland did join the UN, but not until 2002)

[@Richforce1]

My idea for this is that if one or more of the PCs has an enemy like a crime boss or pirate leader who wants the group dead would show up in helicopters or their own grav cars and the kink is try to storm past the checkpoints while rockets and laser cannons are trying to wipe them off the face of the universe.

[@S0nyb1ack]

I looove the content you provide, I've just recently been rewatching your traveller and call of cthulthu review series :D I'm currently in the process of preparing a small Traveller adventure for new players, keeping your tip about a "Jack" character in mind (from your one of your CoC videos), to help them out of they get lost. A question, if you have a minute: how (in mongoose traveller) do you approach rules that specify certain checks. I'm currently making some notes about speculative trading and just wrote down the 3 checks provided in the book to find a supplier. I know my players, they will not have read the entire book (to be honest I don't ask it of them, so maybe I'm to blame...). Would you just tell them their options and stay with just those checks? Or would you let them think and come up with ideas how they are approaching searching for a supplier (potentially giving a bit of help with "Jack" to come to the established 3 checks)? If you would let them come up with ideas how they approach it I assume any good ideas could also get a different kind of check? E.g. for finding a supplier I could maybe see a carouse check if a Traveller would say they try to scour some high society clubs to maybe find a friend who could help them out (maybe a 10+ carouse (soc) check, harder than the others since finding the right people randomly would be harder than searching the "established places")

[@robinmartin4464]

Hello Seth Skorkowski, internet here... good job!

[@CRASHOVERRIDE420]

I see that helmet and I just think of The Ultimate Game on Planet Earth Photon, I just cant unsee it

[@charlessmith5465]

19:30 this sequel module could be named _Yojimbo 2: Fistful of Firetrucks, Gaiden_ 😆

[@janwitts2688]

Next week the chamax horde arrives

[@richmcgee434]

Turns out that the fire suppression foam the engines use is extremely poisonous to the xenos and they become the best weapon against them. :)

[@jefferydraper4019]

@@richmcgee434 or the leading brand of dandruff shampoo???😉😉😉😎😎😎

[@janwitts2688]

As long as it's the players who are volunteered to use it....

[@blshouse]

Jack must have watched A Fist Full of Dollars... or then again, maybe he didn't. ;-)

[@sterlingmbarker]

Can't watch at work. Comment for the algorithm

[@lucasxavier5061]

Hey, i noticed you have the Horror on the orient express box. It'd be nice to have your insight on this module. Have you played it? Should we expect a video about it? I know i'm not the first to ask. Many thanks for your videos, they are useful and funny. :)

[@ARC1701A]

This scenario is ripe for a Papers Please situation. Glory to Arztotzka!

[@Tony-dh7mz]

DAMN YOU VANGELIS!!!1!!!!

[@jefferydraper4019]

Im also betting this playthrough might contain a good War Story too!

[@ogrehaslayers605]

Giving me ideas for a Shadowrun crossover

[@ErikWarhammer]

What if the players had a dropship or Cargo shuttle that they could land that night in the fields nearby and load the trucks onto that? Make it look like they were taken by Aliens or something.

[@sanguiniusonvacation1803]

Now I wanna put my players in a tech level 6 world in the middle of a ww2 like event and let then go ham on whatever side they choose to pick a fight with . Scout ship vs the me-109? How many would it take to be a threat to them ? Let's find out .

[@Ryan_Winter]

Balkanized is derived from the word Balkan, which is a region between the Adriatic Sea and the Carpathian Mountains. "Balkanization" refers to what happens when outside powers play divide and conquer games. The Balkan was balkanized multiple times, each time by empires in which people lived under one banner, so to speak, while the degree of "unity" hinged on the willingness of the people in power to oppress dissent. "Unity" is most often claimed by nations who don't have it.

[@GhostWolf743]

I'm running a Traveller campaign currently, and I was wondering if there was anything preventing the Travellers from using their ship as a means to bypass the border control by moving the firetrucks in their ship's cargo hold? Assuming they could even fit in the ship's hold to begin with.

[@SSkorkowsky]

If the Travellers have a ship with a large enough hold, there's nothing stopping them from hopping over, loading the trucks, and flying them to the next country. However, you can also add that planetary sensors or orbiting ships/satellites would track a starship not one a scheduled flight plan, and seeing it land in once country, then hop over to another might tip off enough people. That might add the next layer be the Travellers coming up with a bogus flight plan or some other means to avoid suspicion if they want to use their ship to help.

[@lldrax2]

Great video! I have a question about Traveller, if that is alright. I don't know if I've just missed something in the text, but I am not understanding how the tech level table in the world building chapter of the core book works. Do you have any suggestions?

[@SSkorkowsky]

Sure thing. Check pg6 of the Corebook. It breaks down Tech Levels 0-15 with what advancements place them there. Such as TL 6 (Industrial): TL 6 brings the development of fission power and more advanced computing. Advances in materials technology and rocketry bring about the dawn of the space age. In the Worldbuilding chapter (pgs. 226-227) Tech Level is determined by rolling 1D and adding the DMs from the chart. Such as an A-class Starport adds +6, and 4 Hydrographics adds +1. Total that up, and that's the world's Tech Level. However, certain Atmospheres have a minimum Tech Level to be populated (such as there's no atmosphere at all, or it's toxic as hell) If the total Tech Level you come up with is lower then the minimum required for that Atmosphere type, you just go with the minimum for that Atmosphere (or, at least that's how I do it).

[@lldrax2]

@@SSkorkowsky Thanks for the assistance. I think what has been throwing me off is only rolling 1D, yet the Score part of the chart has 17 entries, 0 through X. I see now that the Score portion of the table represents things like starport class, not my die result. Thank you for clearing that up for me.

[@SSkorkowsky]

It's all part of my big criticism that I'd love more examples in the Corebook. A lot of the rules seem pretty obvious once you know them, but that initial understanding can be tricky the first time you look at them.

[@sinkmonster1299]

Hey seth! Any plans on when (or if) you might release a review on the cyberpunk red core rulebook?

[@SSkorkowsky]

Once we've wrapped our current Traveller campaign, and then started playing Red, and then once we've had significant enough time playing it for me to form a solid first-hand opinion, I'll begin working on a review. Expect it sometime between 2022 and 2081.

[@Tony-dh7mz]

@@SSkorkowsky Oooooh, I can't do 2081, I'm washing my hair

[@sinkmonster1299]

Sounds awesome! cant wait to hear your opinions on it! :)

[@matt302de]

Are you going to review the new cyberpunk red core rule book?

[@thunderf64]

Seth, TL6 vs TL10 cars reminds me of when My Father went to work on our first Audi in 1972 and found non of his tool would work on a Metric bolts.

[@iancorrie7043]

which Traveller adventure would you recommend to open a campaign? tried to start one using Imperial Fringe and it didn't grab anybody,my bad I guess.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Depends on the campaign as far as what you're going for. High and Dry is good, as it gives them a ship and is pretty simple to run for a new Traveller GM. I also did Flatlined to start our current campaign (haven't reviewed it yet, but I liked it). That one opens with them waking in a crashed ship only to realize they were kidnapped and frozen in berths and have some temporary memory loss as to who they are and how they got there. What I enjoyed with that one was I didn't have the PCs make all of their Connection Skills before we started, so as they're staggering around the ship, I'd say "You remember one of the characters. Who is it and what incident in your backstory is it from and what skill did you get?" That was kinda cool because they PCs sort of wrote their backstories right there to represent them remembering how they knew each other. The adventure turns into a sort of survival horror as they have to last the night against a swarm of giant ant things. Another one worth looking into if they don't have their own ship yet might be Death Station (another I haven't gotten around to making a review video for it either). It's where they go to investigate a Laboratory ship and it gets a little horror in it. That's not updated to Mongoose Traveller yet, but converting from the Classic Edition to MGT2 is pretty simple. Of course (because I've never had the opportunity to self-promote this because it just came out last week), there is my own Traveller adventure Mysteries on Arcturus Station which is a pair of mystery adventures aboard a space station. One fully written by me and the other is my update/revision to the classic Murder on Arcturus Station.

[@iancorrie7043]

@@SSkorkowsky Cheers,I'll look those up.👍

[@spacedinosaur8733]

A heist game? I call Bombshell!

[@jamesrivettcarnac]

Right, so it's like Luxembourg in size and total population

[@Darkwintre]

Set up an incendiary device to start a fire once they begin the trek back with the stolen fire trucks. On both border stations so they appear to be answering a call to put the fire out. The idea both stations are close enough to each other to make it understandable they're dealing with both as a propaganda tool for the Handor Govt only before they realize what's going on the trucks ate heading for the capital of the other city answering an urgent call for help. The idea is to make this look perfectly reasonable as long as possible before someone realizes the people manning these fire trucks aren't the firemen that are supposed to be manning them!

[@antwan1357]

I wonder what happens if you steal all four.

[@hariszark7396]

I think Jack has become very attached to his helmet....😉

[@Tony-dh7mz]

I'm too much of a gentleman to suggest such innuendo....

[@hariszark7396]

@@Tony-dh7mz 😂😁😆😊

[@visageliquifier3636]

Now say it with me, "I've got a little place in Castica..." Don't you just love the sound of that? I love the 'great package deal' turning bad. I can just imagine it... they fly in on the passenger ship and are confused when they disembark as the world name is not 'Castica'. They are first corralled by their travel agent who explains this is 'just a layover' and lets them know about the timeshare presentation (ugh). They're then welcomed by a Castican ambassador who confirms their identities and passes out temporary papers, letters of transit and notes things like their blood type, next of kin and other worrying bits of administration. Then a representative of the world's government comes in to give them a bored, rehearsed speech about the conditions in the nation-states and takes their signatures saying they understand the dangers and hold the port of transit harmless in all eventualities on departure. At the downport they see a goodly number of armed guards and are given a briefing on the local rules with curfews and vague consequences (you would be ... detained for questioning).

[@dirus3142]

Near the end I thought of a D&D adventure were the characters are asked to investigate and steal a mysterious new siege engine from the neighboring lord/kingdom. Twist, turns out it's a fire engine and the hiring lord was paranoid. OR maybe its a FIRE engine of firery death!

[@jefferydraper4019]

Or maybe its a Fahrenheit 451 type fire engine and he wasnt really paranoid.

[@richmcgee434]

@@jefferydraper4019 I could see every wizard on the planet showing up to nuke that concept out of existence. "Burning books? It's built for burning books??? We'll show you how to burn things!!!"

[@robweb2928]

Its just fair for you to pull out all these amazing games akd modules while Im still in a game.

[@adamp4046]

Just what today needed! When can we expect an updated Cyberpunk Red review Seth?

[@SSkorkowsky]

Once our current Traveller campaign is wrapped (I'm guessing April, sometime) and we've gotten around to starting Cyberpunk Red (we'll probably do a few Call of Cthulhu 1-shots as a palate-cleanser before starting a new game). Then, once we do, it'll be months of playing it before I'll feel ready to give it a solid review. So, probably sometime before 2036 but not before 2022.

[@adamp4046]

@@SSkorkowsky In Covid times that is simultaneously forever, and just around the corner! I look forward to it! Currently writing up my first heist game for the system set in Jet Lag City! (Seattle)

[@SSkorkowsky]

Another aspect is simply that Cyberpunk is a very special game for most of us. We played CP2020 as a primary game for several years, and it broke us of only playing D&D. With Covid forcing us to play online until we've all got vaccinated, I really don't want our much-anticipated return to Nightcity to be on an online game. Playing on Roll20 is better than nothing, but frankly sucks compared to being in a room with your buddies. It's something I'd rather we do in-person with all the toy cars and arsenal of Cyberpunk minis.

[@richmcgee434]

@@SSkorkowsky Boy, I know that feeling. Online roleplaying just is not the same at all, even if the past year has expanded the group of folks I've played with quite a lot. How much of that sticks once the pandemic's over is going to be interesting to see. One online group I was in had people from seven different countries involved.

[@SSkorkowsky]

The past year has al least gotten me comfortable with online play. So that's good. And like you, it's really expanded the people I've gotten to share a table with from across the ocean. That's awesome. But it really is a poor substitute for the energy and comradery that an in-person game gives.

[@ihaveterriblerolls9531]

Not gonna lie I initially thought that the thumbnail said Streets Of Fire and thought that you were reviewing the movie. Still cool adventure and great review as always Seth!

[@DasKame]

12:28 "If it is a wall, who have to pay for it?" (Couldn't resist)

[@shanelorrison5224]

Looks more like a pamphlet instead of a magazine. Still love your videos though.

[@richmcgee434]

JTAS is a classic zine, or at least used to be under GDW. Professionally produced and thicker than some fanzines, but still a zine like most house organs were back in the day. Same as Autoduel Quarterly, Interplay, Adventurers' Club, etc. Usually had about a half-dozen short articles and adventure seeds like this one. What Mongoose has done to it I don't know.

[@SSkorkowsky]

The Mongoose ones are bound softbacks (instead of saddle-stapled like the old JTAS mags) that are all 128 pages. They all give articles on various topics, new gear, sometimes a new playable species or alien monster, and 1-2 Amber Zone adventures. Some of the information is updates to old JTAS stuff and some is totally new. So far there's only 6 volumes, but word on the street says they're working on more.