Security Station

[vladtaltos]

An old friend of mine has loaned me Security Station. I never got a chance to try any of the old TFT adventures back in the day. Looking forward to giving it a try.

[mister frau blucher]

Security Station is pretty good. Lots of scifi thrown in. It can be a bit confusing, some paths are one-way only.

[gigglestick]

It's a fun one. (Most of them were. Though the Death Test ones seemed a bit too Dungeon-Crawly for me.)

It'd be fun to convert these all to LAW at some point.

George, do you know if thet're copyrights have expired?

[mister frau blucher]

I've played a few of them using LAW before, with and without house rules, and they play fine. Since we generally don't give the enemies in our adventures skill levels, and the TFT adventures rarely used the Talents from ITL, there is very little problem in playing them staright, as-is.

[vladtaltos]

Nice. I'm hoping to give this one a go tonight. I'll let you know how the gang does. And we'd be using LAW rules.

[vladtaltos]

Got a chance to play Security Station last night, my first experience with a TFT adventure. The background was original, detailed and elaborate, quite evocative, giving the players a sense of history and place. Substituting coils of metal wire and books as valuables over gems, coins, and magic was a nice touch, and relevant to the setting’s history. And there’s lots of play in the game; it took us some time to get through the adventure.

There’s a lot that can be embellished in the game for a GM looking to add his own touches, while keeping the framework in place. From the Intro alone, what led to the Mnoren Empire’s collapse could be discovered through investigation and information revealed while playing. What exactly led to its fall? There’s the opportunity to discover some deep, dark secrets of a now dead Empire. I was hoping to discover something like this during play, or some other mysteries of the Mnoren, but, alas, never did. It would’ve added depth, and made the game more memorable.

The things we didn’t like were things typical of a solo adventure (and most GM adventures) written in the late 70s, early 80s---too many directional choices with no other action taking place, and the adventure itself simply being “Here’s a dungeon, try to loot it and escape.”

The good news is, when compared to other solo adventures of its time, S.S. more than holds its own. By 1980 there was a few competitors out there, and this game is just as good, if not better, as those. Running it today, I’d recommend to the GM to add some mysteries of the Mnoren to the mix, and ratchet-up the tension and excitement a few notches.

[badpixie]

Security Station had its flaws. The final encounter (flamethrowers I recall) was basically 'Death no Saving Throw' for your already wounded characters.

[klingor]

Agree with that.
As with a lot of things, the idea was good but the implementation had that fatal flaw.
However, as I remember, that was true of many of the Microquests: that there was a final encounter that would tax the party even if it was at full strength.
Cheers
Colin
PS The big change, to me, was Grailquest. It was much more free-form than the others (which were, or seemed to be, a dungeon crawl.

[wolfsbane]

Just beware the Red Candles ....

[jlv61560]

I agree with klingor -- Grailquest was far and away the best of all the old microquests. I particularly loved the "crossroads inn" technique and have used that in my campaigns ever since as a way to give the players a break and allow them to recruit henchmen. Mind you, Security Station (at least once you had the necessary errata) was a fun play, but mostly because it was so outside the usual player box that it kept us fascinated throughout. Plus, who didn't like the "red candles" or the pistol! ;-)

I've asked Guy McLimore a couple of times if he has any intention of pursuing his copyright of Grailquest and getting it to revert, but he doesn't seem terribly excited about the prospect, sadly enough. I know that Steve Jackson has himself encouraged him to do so, with the intent of republishing it if he does, but again, Guy just doesn't seem as excited at the prospect as many of the rest of us would be to see it. Which is really too bad. For those readers who have never heard of it or played it, you should see if you can find a stray copy floating around anywhere (I can suggest Nobleknight Games, RPG Geek sometimes, sometimes Wayne's Books, sometimes Amazon, and even occasionally over on American Book Exchange you can find a copy -- I don't do e-Bay, but I would imagine they're over there too), and pick it up. It is well worth the effort.