Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post

trooper6 · 01-18-2015, 04:02 PM

One of the grandest Dancing related moments I GMd was in a Traveller:ISW campaign. The PCs (all Terrans) all ended up at a very fancy diplomatic Vilani ball. The tensions between Vilani and Terrans were at an all time high and war loomed on the horizon. They had uncovered a Terran plot to assassinate one of the Vilani politicians at the ball in a really obvious way...which would just give the leader of the Vilani sector the pretense she needed to start war. They also uncovered that the plot was actually orchestrated by her in the first place...the target? One of her political rivals...but they didn't know which rival and had a few different potential assassin options. They had some intel the assassin might use a very short range bomb for the attempt...very dramatic. It would kill a bunch of people in a very small range, and leave most of the people in the ball safe.

One of the PCs had a very good Dancing skill, because she was the daughter of a diplomat. Other PCs...eh. It was really, really important not to have it look like the Terrans were dangerous, trouble-makers, uncouth, or disrespectful.

What ended up happening was a combat-like (i.e. we went to the combat map and used a turn sequence) experience where the Diplomat's Daughter Doctor PC was dancing with the target of the assassination attempt. The engineer had jury rigged a very short range signal jammer, the Pilot had it hidden in his tuxedo jacket and he was trying to maneuver his dance partner to stay within range of the most likely assassin so the assassin couldn't trigger the bomb. The assassin was trying to get close enough to the target to trigger the bomb while also getting far enough away from the signal jammer. The other team members were trying to remove the fake Terrans whose mission it was to be rude, insulting, and provocative.

Most of this happened through contests of Dancing skill. The assassin trying to lead his dance near enough t the target through the dance skill (in order to look inconspicuous), the dancing partner PC trying to stay near enough to the assassin to jam the bomb signal, and the Diplomat Doctor PC was trying to backlead her dance partner (the target) away from the assassin and anyone else looking dangerous, without it being obvious.

The it was awesome! The assassin would move closer closer on the map and the everyone else would dance around as well. It was very tense. Mainly because the assassin was a very good dancer...as was the Diplomat PC...the Pilot was not. So the Assassin would get out of the way of the jammer pretty easily and only the skill of the Doctor getting out of the way quickly enough stopped the explosion that one turn. Then the assassin gets close enough....but the Pilot had a great roll and got close enough to jam the bomb just in the nick of time! Then the maneuvers began again while the rest of the team was subtly removing villains from the ballroom--They should drug this one, flirt with that one, fast talk that one.

The climax happened when the Doctor PC convinced the target to ask the Villain Mastermind to dance and then asked the assassin to dance. Then it was assassin and PC dancing on the floor! Both trying to maneuver each other. The thief PC (Quartermaster) decided to dance with the Pilot to try and pickpocket the bomb from the assassin on the dance floor. The two couples are able to get close enough to each other for the Thief to try the pickpocket (lots of Dancing contests here)--which works! And the Thief and the jamming pilot are able to get off the dance floor with the bomb before the assassin realizes what happened. The pilot and the engineer jump in the hover car and gets the bomb out of the area...defusing of bombs happen, the plot is thwarted and no one is the wiser!

It was very tense...then, of course, the political meeting happens the after the ball and there are lots of testimony and negotiations and maneuvering. The mastermind doesn't get what she wants, but the heroes don't get everything they want either.

No hot war...but the cold war is on!

It was great!

01-18-2015, 04:02 PM	#8
trooper6 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Medford, MA	Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Dancing One of the grandest Dancing related moments I GMd was in a Traveller:ISW campaign. The PCs (all Terrans) all ended up at a very fancy diplomatic Vilani ball. The tensions between Vilani and Terrans were at an all time high and war loomed on the horizon. They had uncovered a Terran plot to assassinate one of the Vilani politicians at the ball in a really obvious way...which would just give the leader of the Vilani sector the pretense she needed to start war. They also uncovered that the plot was actually orchestrated by her in the first place...the target? One of her political rivals...but they didn't know which rival and had a few different potential assassin options. They had some intel the assassin might use a very short range bomb for the attempt...very dramatic. It would kill a bunch of people in a very small range, and leave most of the people in the ball safe. One of the PCs had a very good Dancing skill, because she was the daughter of a diplomat. Other PCs...eh. It was really, really important not to have it look like the Terrans were dangerous, trouble-makers, uncouth, or disrespectful. What ended up happening was a combat-like (i.e. we went to the combat map and used a turn sequence) experience where the Diplomat's Daughter Doctor PC was dancing with the target of the assassination attempt. The engineer had jury rigged a very short range signal jammer, the Pilot had it hidden in his tuxedo jacket and he was trying to maneuver his dance partner to stay within range of the most likely assassin so the assassin couldn't trigger the bomb. The assassin was trying to get close enough to the target to trigger the bomb while also getting far enough away from the signal jammer. The other team members were trying to remove the fake Terrans whose mission it was to be rude, insulting, and provocative. Most of this happened through contests of Dancing skill. The assassin trying to lead his dance near enough t the target through the dance skill (in order to look inconspicuous), the dancing partner PC trying to stay near enough to the assassin to jam the bomb signal, and the Diplomat Doctor PC was trying to backlead her dance partner (the target) away from the assassin and anyone else looking dangerous, without it being obvious. The it was awesome! The assassin would move closer closer on the map and the everyone else would dance around as well. It was very tense. Mainly because the assassin was a very good dancer...as was the Diplomat PC...the Pilot was not. So the Assassin would get out of the way of the jammer pretty easily and only the skill of the Doctor getting out of the way quickly enough stopped the explosion that one turn. Then the assassin gets close enough....but the Pilot had a great roll and got close enough to jam the bomb just in the nick of time! Then the maneuvers began again while the rest of the team was subtly removing villains from the ballroom--They should drug this one, flirt with that one, fast talk that one. The climax happened when the Doctor PC convinced the target to ask the Villain Mastermind to dance and then asked the assassin to dance. Then it was assassin and PC dancing on the floor! Both trying to maneuver each other. The thief PC (Quartermaster) decided to dance with the Pilot to try and pickpocket the bomb from the assassin on the dance floor. The two couples are able to get close enough to each other for the Thief to try the pickpocket (lots of Dancing contests here)--which works! And the Thief and the jamming pilot are able to get off the dance floor with the bomb before the assassin realizes what happened. The pilot and the engineer jump in the hover car and gets the bomb out of the area...defusing of bombs happen, the plot is thwarted and no one is the wiser! It was very tense...then, of course, the political meeting happens the after the ball and there are lots of testimony and negotiations and maneuvering. The mastermind doesn't get what she wants, but the heroes don't get everything they want either. No hot war...but the cold war is on! It was great!