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Over the last 3 years of real-life and 14.7 ears by Traveller Time, my group has been building up, in The Pirates Of Drinax Campaign, The Kingdom Of Drinax consists of 2,177 ships and 62 planets and it has a further 896 ships and 63 planets that are allied to it, but are not part of the kingdom

The characters directly command 2 200-ton Drinax Harriers, a 299-ton Far Trader, a 300-ton Human Scout, a 300-ton Aslan Scout, a 400-ton Fiery Class Gunned Escort, a 600-ton Escort Frigate, a 400-ton Type R Fat Trader and indirectly command 4 Gazelle Escorts, 3 200-ton Far Traders, 2-400 ton R Type R Fat Trader, 1 200-ton Drinax Harrier, 1 400-ton Fiery Class Gunned Escort, 1 600-ton Pirate Criuser, 1 armed, armoured and converted 400-ton touring ship and 1 1,600-ton Treasure Ship

The problem is that the GM was way too soft on them.

For example, after Treasure Ship he let the characters buy slaves from The Glorious Empire and in return for treating them as equals and giving them their freedom and land of their own when this is over, serve them with a near fanatical devotion.

Another example is that he let them lead a fleet of 1,000 ships and 13,300 men to conquer The Glorious Empire, it worked, they conquered it all and they added 282 ships and 16 planets to The Kingdom Of Drinax

Another example is that he let them gain The Selis Feodrate, gain quite a few planets easily, capture ships for The Kingdom easily and let them add the fleets of Irontooth and Vayrs as allies and let them add Admiral Darokyn, add independent pirate fleets and planets easily, add The Strands Cluster and The Floranni League as allies and has allowed the fleets and planets in both The Kingdom and their allies to add ships totaling more then 1,200 to their forces and has justified it by a mixture of blackmail, capturing pirates, terrorists and deserters, buying them, exchanging goods for ships, piracy and stealing them.

I can not see a way to weaken them without risking a player rebellion and want advice on how to discretely weaken them enough to make, when they come out, parts 8, 9 and 10 very challenging but not impossible.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Sorry meant to put lead a force of 1,000 ships not 1,0000 ships and forget to put and they willingly before serve in the bit on their slave crew \$\endgroup\$ Dec 29, 2014 at 5:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ Where do you fit into this game? \$\endgroup\$ Dec 29, 2014 at 7:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ I fit in as a former helper to my father -The GM, who took over as GM after my fathers recent, unexpected and long overdue promotion made it almost impossible to be A GM, see his wife/my mother a lot and still see lots of his family who live 2 hours away, so he gave up his position as A GM \$\endgroup\$ Dec 29, 2014 at 12:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ @JamesMarshall - remember that you can always edit your answer, and are encouraged to. These clarifications that you have posted in comments and in questions should be edited into your original question. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chuck Dee
    Feb 26, 2015 at 21:48

3 Answers 3

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Egad.

Right, well, that's... quite a star empire, right there.

The good news, such as it is, is that all those fleets won't affect part 8, which is another undercover run into the Aslan Hierate. For part 9, you'll be able to divide the fleet if you want as Drinax's court is divided against itself.

I've no idea how it's going to work in Part 10, but I haven't written part 10 yet, so we're both equally in the dark. Sounds like a fun campaign, though.

(I wrote Pirates of Drinax, btw. Hope your players are enjoying it.)

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Given the size and complexity of the organization they have created it would be reasonable to assume there are some captains of ships that might want this for themselves. How about a revolt where a group of disgruntled mid rank officers take over 1/2 the fleet/planets and demand independence from the war lords(player characters).

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My advice is very simple, and very useful in these situations, and from personal experience. You're talking over a campaign from another GM who had a different GM style. It is apparent that this is causing you difficulties.

Be transparent about these difficulties and your concerns. Talk to the players, lay things out, and make sure that you're certain what you want before talking to them. If they are not amenable to changes, will you still enjoy GMing? If not, then that should be part of the negotiation.

Changing GMs is not an easy thing, and those difficult roads should be handled in concert with the players, instead of you shouldering them and worrying about player revolt.

In short, don't handle it fait accompli- discuss the options, work out the solutions, and implement them with full player input and empower them to help you.

It's less stressful for all, and creates a better outcome for all.

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