If you've ever found yourself caught flat-footed and unprepared for a Traveller adventure, this article miniseries is for--full of mini-plots that you can expand out into longer adventures.

This month and next, I'll be presenting 6 adventure situations that could easily kick off on any planet, each with 6 plot twists to keep things interesting, for a total of 36 more plotlets.

1. "Did anyone check the Law Level before we left?"

Suddenly, the local police come after the PCs with a vengeance, impounding ships and other equipment and trying to arrest the PCs themselves.

Plot Twists.

1. Old sins have resurfaced. The PCs are being arrested for something they did in some past adventure. Not only does this allow you revisit an old scenario (that was presumably better prepped than the current one), but it also allows you to figure out why the current planet might have ties with the old one.
2. It's a mistake. By accident, the PCs have chanced upon some criminal enterprise in a way that makes it look like they're involved. They'll need to discover this fact, then blow the criminal enterprise wide open to prove their own non-involvement.
3. It's a ploy. Similar to the above, but the police actually know the PCs aren't really involved in the criminal enterprise. They're simply trying to force the PCs to help out in their investigation of the crime. The PCs must have a reputation, ties to the crime, ties to the criminal, or ties to the victim for this to really work out.
4. It's a frame. Perhaps this trope is a little bit too tired, but still it makes for a good story. You get to figure out who is framing the characters, why they are, how they did it, and how the PCs can disprove the frame. This is another opportunity to bring old plots into the campaign, based on who you decide the framer is.
5. It's a shakedown. This is how the planetside police make their living. Do the PCs roll over or do they try and change a way of life?
6. It's the truth. Remember when some planet tried to execute Wesley for falling onto some flowers? Build your adventure around that. The players genuinely have committed a crime, but it's a ridiculous local crime. Can the PCs manage the local legal system, can they get Imperial help to override it, or can they make a daring escape?

2. "This is a test of the emergency broadcasting system."

When some type of disaster hits the local community--be it a starport, a country, or a world--the players are asked (perhaps begged, perhaps threatened, perhaps hired) to step in and solve it. Rather than rolling up this plotlet, you may want to choose an option from the listing that best suits the planet that the PCs are on.

Plot Twists.

1. It's civil unrest or the peasants are revolting. The PCs are called in to put down an uprising either: (1) so that the local forces aren't seen as oppressors; or (2) because there are insufficient local enforcers. More than a simple beatdown, this plot can lead to delicate political issues, depending on why there's civil unrest and what's being done to stop it.
2. It's a coup. Someone has successfully overthrown the legitimate government. PCs might be asked to try and take the government back--or else just get the previous government off planet (see, also, the next plotlet). If a second coup is required, it might be less difficult than you'd expect because the new government is still young and vulnerable.
3. It's an attack. Rather than covert subversion, the community could be coming under overt attack, perhaps from another country on a balkanized world, perhaps from pirates or other outsiders, perhaps from Zhodani as an intro to the Fifth Frontier War, or perhaps from Aslan seeking land. The PCs will need to ward off this attack. Or, perhaps it's too late for that and they'll need to lead a resistance. Alternatively, it might just be a question or surviving until Imperium troops arrive.
4. It's a natural disaster. It might be storm, cyclone, hurricane, volcano, tsunami, earthquake, or something more unique, as you prefer. PCs will have to help people survive the first wave of disaster, and then they may need to do something to halt the rest of it in its track. Perhaps they can stop the disaste due to the magic of high TL technology--or perhaps it's because there's an unnatural antagonist setting the natural disaster in motion.
5. It's a technological disaster. Of course you have possibilities of computers gone wild, like the Virus of the New Era. A more contained technological disaster might involve just the robots rebelling. Alternatively, technology might stop working altogether. The PCs will have to resolve the immediate problem, find its cause, and possibly stop it from spreading beyond the planet.
6. It's a scam. Though a request is made for the PCs help (probably using one of the previous criteria), there's another reason that local officials want to get them off their ship and into the local community. Perhaps they'll be ambushed by an old enemy or perhaps the community really does need to make use of the PCs' skills--but in a way that they probably wouldn't agree to out of the goodness of their hearts.

3. "Will work for passage."

Though these adventures all begin planetside, in a game called Traveller you can expect that many of them will move up into space. Such is probably the case when a traveller approaches the passengers seeking immediate passage. This traveller might offer piles of money or a sob story; it could be a stranger or a player's contact or ally.

Plot Twists.

1. The law is after the traveller. See plotlet #1 for some of the reasons they might be on the run.
2. Criminals are after the traveller. See plotlet #4 in the next article for some additional fodder for this plot. Criminals will likely threaten or bribe characters to get the traveller back. If that fails, they will shift into action, be it sneaking onto a ship, assaulting it, or calling in some pirates when the players head toward a jump point.
3. It's just politics. The traveller is on the wrong side of a recent political change, be it a coup (see plotlet #2) or just a democratic change in leadership. However, the new politicians would prefer to keep the traveller on hand, perhaps for good reasons (he's fleeing with state secrets) or perhaps for bad ones (he needs to be killed). Face the PCs with moral dilemmas, governmental threats, police action, or bribes, as you see fit.
4. It's an emergency! The traveller has been told of a dire problem on a nearby world. You could use any other plot from this article or the next part as the reason why, particularly those in plotlet #2. Not only should you underline the time pressure as the PCs face delays or various sorts, but you should also do your best to drag the PCs into the problem on the other side, once they've gotten to know (and hopefully like) the traveller.
5. It's a race. While engaging in a race across the sector, the traveller has been instructed to "travel by spacecraft" to his next destination. However, unlike the astonishing racing reality shows of our modern day, this race is full of other contenders willing to engage in really dirty tactics. Thus, the PCs suddenly find themselves at the nexus of a lot of problems, as they get set up for the police (see plotlet #1), sold out to criminals (see plotlet #4), ambushed by pirates, or otherwise tempted to veer away from the course the traveller has requested.
6. The traveller is paranoid. There's no one after him, but he thinks there is. Can he convince the PCs of the crazy conspiracy that he's sure he's fleeing?

Conclusion

I hope you find something here to spark your own gaming next time you're left without a plot. I'll be back next month with the other half of these planetside articles, including criminals, aliens, and more.