Amber Zone - Fast Forward

Last Updated 12 November 2003.

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1996 #642

Date: Fri, 1 Nov 1996 19:07:02 -0500
From: Marc Miller
Subject: Re: Fast Forward

In a message dated 96-11-01 04:45:40 EST, you write:
> Hey, this would be a really great way to solve the problem of how to
> run a campaign using more than one Milieu setting without forcing the
> players to roll up whole new sets of characters for each one (or resorting
> to hocus-pocus "reincarnation"), and seems especially appropriate for T4.
> I hope this sees print someday!
That was the idea. Here is the basic draft as it was proposed:

Fast Forward

The crew of the starship Traveller is contaminated by a slow acting poison with no known cure. Captain Mark Leonard has put them all into cold sleep; they come out every century or so to see if a cure has been found.

Brief Summary

Commander Mark Leonard's exploration squadron, exploring the depths of the just conquered Vilani Empire, has discovered an abandoned naval base on a remote world, and in a repair facility: a huge Battle Cruiser. While preparing to take it back to base, they are attacked and all of Commander Leonard's crew are contaminated by a deadly, slow acting poison. They'll all die within five years unless an antidote can be found. They do some searching, but they find no one has the answer. So he puts everyone into cold sleep, and a skeleton crew comes out every century or so to see if the answer has been found. As they Fast Forward through the future, they have a long list of adventures.

During the next 2000 years (about 2300 AD to 4500 AD) the crew of the Traveller will come out of cold sleep every so often in search of a cure. Along the way, they will witness the broad expanse of history as The Rule of Man collapses and the Long Night begins. Much later, the Long Night ends and the Third Imperium begins. At every important point in history, Leonard is there helping, shaping, creating history:

Threads for Adventures include:

The Foundation

Commander Leonard loads up equipment from the abandoned base and sells it to generate money. He uses that money to create and endow a medical foundation (Lishun, meaning Health) to research the cure. While he and his crew sleep, they should be working feverishly for the answer he needs.

Options
  1. Leonard visits the foundation and finds it has committed its limited resources to an environmental problem on Sternin, and within a few years they will have a cure that will save millions of lives. But not the crew of the Traveller.
  2. Leonard visits the foundation and finds that its investments have gone sour with the collapse of the Rule of Man. The foundation will have to close its doors.

The Archives

The Vilani Empire maintained massive archives (by which it controlled access to knowledge). This AAB has repositories on many worlds. By visiting the archives, Leonard may be able to find clues to a world which already has the cure he seeks.

Options
  1. An archive visit leads to a world with faith healers.
  2. The opportunity to transcend physical bodies and become one with the universe. Some of the crew will take that option rather than face certain death.
  3. An archive visit leads to a world with non-corporeal solutions. Those who choose it become disembodied and move on to the next level of existence.
  4. An archive visit leads to a world with robotic solutions. Those who choose it have their minds transplanted into artificial bodies.
  5. Transplant personalities into a computer universe.

The Ship

Initially, Leonard and his staff think the ship was built by the Old Empire as a secret project or a prototype.

Options
  1. They discover the ship does not match any ship in the records of the Old Empire. It is not a Vilani ship, but instead created by someone else.
  2. They discover the ship's computer has artificial intelligence, and slowly puzzle out its memory.
  3. Discordant signals within the ship prompt Leonard to explore a vast hidden closed off area and find new properties for the ship.
The ultimate answer: the Traveller (the huge ship) was originally created by the Ancient Yaskoydray (Grandfather) for a special project. It is controlled by an artificial intelligence that [missing text?]

Grandfather

The being that put humans on many worlds is Grandfather. He still roams space and interacts in the lives of humans from time to time.
Options
  1. Find an Ancient Site... a massive, high-tech place on a world, now destroyed by some long-ago war. Establish who the ancients are.
  2. Find an ancient ship drifting in space. Note some similarities with the Traveller.
  3. They are enlisted by a robot emissary of Grandfather to ....

Unfolding and Shaping History

As time passes, the current government and society collapses. Leonard and his staff can see it coming, and they want to help delay that until the cure is found. Although they are unsuccessful, they have a hand in several key events in history.

Restatement

INTROM Commander Mark Leonard's Deep Space Squadron 489, exploring the vast territory of the just conquered Vilani Empire, discovers an abandoned naval base on a remote world, and in a repair facility: a huge Battle Cruiser. While Cdr Leonard's squadron crews prepare to take it back to base, they are attacked by armed raiders from TTT (Terran Trade and Transport), a shady combine with more regard for profit than for morals. Leonard drives them off, but the BC is damaged and his entire crew (with the exception of Leonard) are contaminated by a deadly, slow acting poison.

Faced with the certain death of his entire crew within five years, Leonard puts them in cold sleep, keeping out only a few dozen out to help run the ship. His initial strategy is to search the empire for an antidote, but that plan soon changes: Leonard finds a world, brings in a cargo worth a lot of money, and uses the funds to endow a medical research foundation to research a cure. He takes the ship and hides it, coming out every 100 years or so in hopes that a cure has been found.

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#642

Date: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 19:37:35 +0000
From: Amused to Death
Subject: Re: Fast Forward

CardSharks@aol.com wrote:
> Restatement
[snip]

Now THAT is a macro-campaign.

I doubt I would use it directly, but there are a lot of potential good threads coming out of this. Perhaps one might be the reasoning (as far as a human can comprehend) of Grandfather's master plan, or plans.

It also has a great value as a pocket history of the local galactic powers, giving out stuff like the Spinward Marches campaign, showing where, who, was, & when.


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