I took our gaming book into Traveller last month – three were Traveller newbies. I’m running the 1248 variant setting (Avenger Enterprises/Comstar) of New Era. The first game went well – they were all on a starship liner that does a circuit on the outskirts of the Fourth Imperium (you all meet at the inn…). Without too many details, the old liner was hit by a large chunk of rock, had a hull breach (in cargo), took enough damage to her j-drive system that she wasn’t jump worthy, and had her external comm array destroyed. The captain assured everyone they would be missed at the next destination, so rescue was only two to three weeks away (one week for the liner to jump, some few days for folks to realize she didn’t make it, then a few days to organize a search, then a week for the search to arrive).
The world in the system is habitable, and the indigenous population is about TL2, so most of the passengers and crew set of for there on the life boats. The PCs had been in the sick bay and escaped using the sick bay life boat. Engineering was separated from the rest of the boat by cargo, so was cut off from the main evacuation and had to take the last life boat. The PCs and engineers headed to the old abandoned scout base in the only asteroid belt in system to look for parts. As the PCs ( and engineers) neared the asteroid, they were able to find out the base was still powered up.
Three of the PCs and three NPCs ventured to the asteroid in a raft whilst the two life boats stayed at distant orbit. The dome to the base had been breached, as had one of the landing areas. The away team landed and made their way into the base – which turned out to be lit and have breathable atmosphere. The first animate object they found was a repair bot that attacked them (PCs shot first). Further exploration took them to what looked like the central part of the base and there they found the mummified remains of several humans. After tripping an intruder alert alarm trying to leave the central area, we stopped the game for that session.
Here’s my dilemma: I had originally envisioned the base to be an old psionics research military base – working on the artificial psionics. Virus had contaminated the base’s computer, whilst some of the psionic adepts were hooked up to it. They were able to keep the Virus from suiciding but inadvertently made it into a hobbyist strain – one that is desperately interested in psionics. Some of the mummies the characters found were part of the original experimenters, and had data jacks in their heads. I was planning that the life boats that had headed to the planet would encounter the sole surviving space craft from the base coming back to the base with a load of water (fuel for the base) from the main world in the system.
Feedback I got from some of the players was that this was becoming “space horror” and they fully expected to be taking out zombies and robots for the next mission. I really wasn’t shooting for horror – the mummies happened naturally (vacuum freeze drying) as the base powered down after the last of the inhabitants died of old age (or “experiments” by the Hobbyist Virus). The Hobbyist repowered the base when it detected the lifeboats, hoping to get more crew to work with.
I’m looking to keep this more of a “escape the crazy computer” and not a “ZOMG ZOMBIES IN SPAAAACE!” but now I’m worried I have already veered too far towards horror. Any suggestions to reign it back to a more conventional Traveller New Era vibe? I don't want to colour my player’s perceptions of New Era as space horror (even though plenty of bad things happened pre-New Era and into the New Era).
Or, should I just run with the creepy computer zombie thing and instead of the sole scout ship bringing back just water, it also brings back some of the natives – who are used as experimental subjects by the Virus?