Guide Pirates of Drinax Part:1

 

One of the main reasons for buying Traveler was this campaign. The Pirates of Drinax campaign offers you everything the system can give you, but that comes at a cost, when it comes to directing it, it's overwhelming. That is why I have decided to create this guide. In this section of the guide we will see how to prepare the game, key characters, points of interest, groups, etc.

This guide is intended for referees. If you are a player stop reading immediately, as you can find the spoilers of the campaign.

What is the objective of the campaign?

This question is always the first one I ask when preparing a campaign. The goal is clear, to re-form the Kingdom of Drinax. This is the answer that will serve as a guide throughout the campaign. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to create an empire in the Trojan arm. It's not helping King Oleb, it's not piracy, it's not fighting one of the major factions. It is to form the Kingdom of Drinax, the rest are tools with which we can work, but they do not have to be essential.

The Trojan Reach

This campaign is set in the Trojan Reach sector. A transit area between the Third Empire and the Hierate. When you see the map you will be impressed, but is it necessary to use everything it offers us? No. The first thing you have to learn when playing Traveler is that you don't have to visit every world that the sector or sub-sector (each sector is made up of 8 sub-sectors) gives you. This is still a way of dividing the galaxy into zones. What I did was see which worlds are important for the campaign, mainly those that can be annexed by the Kingdom of Drinax. This is not to say that we can't visit other systems, but the main quests should be in or start in that area. I'm going to pass you part of the map with what I consider to be the main worlds of the campaign, players can also try to annex more independent systems and even minor factions. Only in this area there will be hundreds of hours of campaign.

We will have information about these worlds in the Trojan Reach book. I will upload an article looking at these worlds in depth. I also leave you a link so that you have a help sheet for the UWP.

If you look closely, the bounded area is between two very powerful factions. The third empire and the hierate. It is a very important trade route but it is a completely balkanized area. All this we have to bring to the game, we have to show that this is a living area. How do we do that? Putting all kinds of ships. On the main routes put large trade ships and even convoys, so that the players know that if they want to act on those routes they have to be prepared. On the other hand, there are multiple routes connecting the systems in this section, presenting less valuable but easier catches. In the book we have a series of tables to generate encounters with ships, I use a web page. I shoot on the table to see what I find and if it is a merchant or passenger ship, I use this web page. This will give us a name (very useful), the type of ship, the load and what has happened to it (this can now be used to taste) I also leave you a web page that I use to generate ship names and another that I use to generate planetary systems and maps

But we will not only find merchant ships. There will also be military ships from both empires, patrolling the routes and acting for their own interests. There will be pirate ships, pirate hunters, mercenaries, ships from the independent systems, etc. I recommend you to have a series of military ships already created with their crew and captain. Assign them some systems and if the players pass by they can find them with a roll. Later we will talk about piracy and its consequences. This is an area with many pirates, in the book we get a few. I spawned a series of pirate gangs and assigned them a base in a system, then established their capabilities. We will see the bands in future articles.

The Royal Family

The royal family of Drinax is going to be a key player throughout the campaign and we have to learn to use them as tools. Let's start with King Oleb first, he will be the first contact of the players and the one who has hired them (in the next chapter we will see possible campaign starts). Playing King Oleb is more difficult than it seems, we have to portray him as a brute and uneducated, but in reality he is a statesman and knows how to return Drinax to his former glory. Players may think that Oleb is nothing but a loser and not worth acting under his banner. Depending on which campaign you want to run, that idea can bother you a lot. But if you go little by little and you show Oleb's cards, your players will realize that he is more than he seems. The quests Oleb should give players should be all piracy related quests and main quests.

Princess Rao (my favorite): From the first moment she has to give the players the feeling that she is always hiding information from them and is the family's expert in intrigue. She supports the ideas of her father and she is the one who organized all this. It's not that she likes piracy, but in it she sees a quick way to achieve a greater goal and will discard it when it's not needed. The princess herself should give players quests in worlds with governments of feudal technocracies, dictatorships, and oligarchies.

Prince Harrick: He is the counterpart to Princess Rao, he knows that she and her father are the ones who pull all the strings. He will oppose violent expansion and piracy. He will seek the diplomatic route whenever possible. He thinks that it is better to create a planetary league to oppose the major powers with Drinax being the first among equals. He should give players quests in iconoclastic or isolationist worlds, corporate worlds, religious dictatorships, and balkanized planets.

At first, it should feel like the floating palace fully supports its king, but you should give players clues about the different sides within the palace. Sooner or later they will have to choose one of them. To make things more interesting I would have the quests of the princes clash and the players decide which course of action is best for them.

Piracy

This is a very important point. The campaign is called the Pirates of Drinax and piracy has a weight in the campaign, but it is not the main thing. When you play you realize this. Piracy is still a means to an end. The main purpose of piracy during 50% of the campaign is going to be to get funds or ships. One of the goals in creating the kingdom of Drinax is to raid the most valuable trade routes, but let's face it, players won't be able to do that without the support of a fleet. They will assault secondary routes, vulnerable prey, etc. Piracy should not only award funds. A shipment of weapons can really come in handy to arm your pirates or for certain missions, luxury shipments can be used to convince certain leaders to join your cause, the kidnapping of a high-value passenger can create chaos in the whole Trojan arm, etc. Another thing that you have to keep in mind is that each act of piracy will have a reaction of a greater or lesser type. What would happen if the Pax Admiral Rulin's son was killed in a boarding or a criminal organization's cargo was stolen?

Drinaxian Companion

This book already has its own analysis on the blog, but I would like to stop at it again, since it contains a lot of information that I have realized as the games go by is very useful.

-The Harrier: As you know, the ship that our players will receive will have a series of disadvantages and they will fix them over time. This book will bring an alternative option to handle those repairs, don't think about it and use it, it's much better than the basic campaign option.

-Assets, contacts and factions: They are very important pieces. Traveler being such a large environment, players will need contacts and allies. I recommend you create this type of organization and characters to always have them at hand. You must instigate your players to create a network of contacts and associates. In the beginning, assaulting small boats will be enough, but when they want juicier prey or a specific cargo, they will have to pull that network of contacts. Factions and assets can give a lot of play, since they will generate adventures on their own. I remind you again that this is a living universe, if the players have agreed to meet on such a day in such a place and do not show up when they go, it may be that their contact is not there and there are consequences. I always have a list of NPCs on hand, but when I have to quickly improvise a character I use this website

Travellers

This campaign is suitable for any group of adventurers, it would be good if they had some kind of experience in the army and piracy, but it is not necessary. My original campaign group was made up of a journalist, a broker, a pirate, a policeman and two members of the navy. Both were expelled, one decided to join the exploration service and the other dedicated himself to piracy. Try to play with the professions when creating the contacts (if they get any during the creation). Some of the players should be from one of the three planets they offer us. Who is the captain? It is a difficult answer, in the compendium there are a series of ranges that I decided to use. In my campaign it was the journalist Why? On the vital events table it showed that he had made contact with one of the court members and decided that he was the king. If some of the players get the same life event, you should choose a member of the royal family. If that vital event does not come up, the captain is the one with the highest rank in his naval or pirate career. If neither option sounds good to you, he lets the players choose or rolls a die. Remember that players serve the king of Drinax and are part of the army of war, a captain is necessary. In my group, important decisions are voted on, but if something has to be decided on the ground and it has to be done quickly, the orders of the captain are followed.

Well, these are the tips that I can give you so that you take into account before starting to prepare the campaign. I leave you with one last piece of advice, perhaps the most important. Soak in the background, the Traveler universe has one of the richest backgrounds I've ever seen. In the campaign books we have tons of information, if you add other books to them you will have a lot of possibilities. As a general rule, your players will not know the background, explain it to them little by little in the game, do not let go of everything at once, since you can saturate them. Always have images of the ships on hand, as they are very useful.

In the next article of the guide we will see the possible beginnings that the campaign can have and we will see what initial missions I recommend to learn the mechanics.