Bryn the 2300AD guy
Cosmic Mongoose
Before any discussion of things that have changed under Colin's watch, it's useful to define the changes during GDW's time. Especially the changes when Lester W. Smith took it over from Tim Brown. The big ones I have found are:
1. Stutterwarp Discharge
I have blogged about this (link). Essentially the rules of where a stutterwarp discharge occurs changed. In the original 1986 edition, stutterwarp occurred in the inner system in general. When you entered the STL zone, the drive spontaneously flushed. In the 1988 revision, the starship needed to enter the "dead zone" near a planet t flush the drive. All of Colin's editions followed the latter rule.
This has several major effects:
2. Genetic Engineering and Bionics
The tech-level of humanity in the 1st edition defines that large genetic manipulation of animals is difficult at humanities tech-level. Crops and plants are heavily genetically modified, and have created hybrid crops that grow on alien worlds. Genetic engineering and selection allows for many genetic diseases to be eliminated. Tissue engineering has allowed replacement organs to be grown in vitro and transplanted to cure many diseases. However, altering an established genome is cutting edge research and is a highly experimental procedure involving using tailored viruses to give the patient a "controlled cancer" replacing existing tissues. It isn't in general use.
One writer in the Colonial Atlas ignored this in the King write-up, which I discuss on my blog (link). It appears originally the author invoked the Pentapods (as he'd done for the air filter symbionts in TD issue 10), but it was likely pointed out that first contact with the Pentapods happened in 2251, and there was no meaningful commercial exchange until after 2264 (when the Pentapods were permitted to establish a trade enclave on BCV-4, the only Pentapod presence in Human space*). He then switched the Pentapods into Canadians. Thus he switched a technology that was experimental, and killed about a quarter of the people that received it, to be generally available > 100 years ago.
In the 1988 edition, which was published only just after the Colonial Atlas, and the last paragraph of the genetic engineering, describing the experimental nature of altering established genomes, was simply deleted. Elsewhere, Terror's Lair was a CYOA type scenario with a DNAM, but it was again different to the CA. The King colonists modifications were to breath the atmosphere, requiring them to wear a rebreather mask in normal atmosphere. The Paget's disease symptoms from the CA were switched to living in the high gravity rather than an effect of the treatment. The 1988 Bayern module (published after the CA and 2nd ed boxed set) featured a King colonist, and they do not have any of these features, being a standard Human being. Thus DNAM's prettymuch got deleted within months of being introduced.
The boxed set made those wanting to do genetic experiments on Human specifically an enemy. The "evil Provolutionists" (direct quote from page 3 of the 1988 DG) were the people responsible for all the terrorism and piracy on the Chinese Arm. The fight against Provolution was announced as one of the three future themes (with the Kafer Invasion and opening the frontier). The provolutionists originated in China, and their core was still Chinese. The CA alluded to illegal genetic experiments on the Chinese Arm, beyond the reach of governments. In the Earth/Cybertech SB adventure, the enemy was a Provolutionist cell intending to explode sugically implanted nukes in suicide bombers in New York, probably being a repeat of the attack on Tirane.
The E/CS is clear that most bionics etc. are given to governments secret agents, the military etc., but the Provolutionists operate black clinics for criminals to exploit them.
Thus, we have an odd blip during the GDW run, with DNAM's being created and then rewritten an depricated within months, before becoming something "evil" that terrorists do.
* Note that the French government knows it was the Pentapods who engineered the Beta Canum Grain Blight, and conveniently had a cure to hand... No wonder the Pentapods aren't allowed anywhere else.
3. The Colonies
The colonies in the Colonial Atlas often did not follow existing descriptions and world creation rules. Hochbaden, for example, is the subject of a small adventure in the 1st ed. boxed set and is a standard garden world with an atmosphere etc. The adventure featured a farmer whose daughter had disappeared in the wilderness, and the players are hired to search for her when the authorities won't. The Kafer's have actually infiltrated a recconnaisance base onto the planet, and she was killed by the Kafers.
For the most part, changes were simply accepted, except some were so egregious that the CA was retconned back (in the boxed set and E/CS mainly). Most notably, Tirane's American and Australian colonies were retconned away in the E/CS as both being historically failed attempts (with the second edition boxed set being confused and having two different descriptions of Tirane), and the Argentine colony restored.
Hermes' constant migration was retconned away, with a narrow temperate band at the equator. In the retcon, Hermes is a joint American-Australian colony.
Doris was rewritten from being a tide-locked hell-world to being a forested garden world, although this actually isn't possible with that star.
Others should have been corrected but weren't, such as the methane-oxygen atmosphere of Kimanjano...
BTW For Beowulf, Grendel's swordtide was never canon. The story there is J. Andrew Keith had a longer Beowulf writeup (with the swordtide) that didn't make it into the CA, but was published in Far and Away magazine. I found a copy of said magazine in a pop-up store on the Isle of Wight, and posted a summary...
1. Stutterwarp Discharge
I have blogged about this (link). Essentially the rules of where a stutterwarp discharge occurs changed. In the original 1986 edition, stutterwarp occurred in the inner system in general. When you entered the STL zone, the drive spontaneously flushed. In the 1988 revision, the starship needed to enter the "dead zone" near a planet t flush the drive. All of Colin's editions followed the latter rule.
This has several major effects:
- Arcturus cannot be crossed without resorting to tugs and the like. No contact with the Kafers is possible. The Invasion is not possible.
- The Bayern cannot navigate to the Pleiades, and certainly cannot navigate in the Pleiades.
- It severely limits exploration into new star systems.
2. Genetic Engineering and Bionics
The tech-level of humanity in the 1st edition defines that large genetic manipulation of animals is difficult at humanities tech-level. Crops and plants are heavily genetically modified, and have created hybrid crops that grow on alien worlds. Genetic engineering and selection allows for many genetic diseases to be eliminated. Tissue engineering has allowed replacement organs to be grown in vitro and transplanted to cure many diseases. However, altering an established genome is cutting edge research and is a highly experimental procedure involving using tailored viruses to give the patient a "controlled cancer" replacing existing tissues. It isn't in general use.
One writer in the Colonial Atlas ignored this in the King write-up, which I discuss on my blog (link). It appears originally the author invoked the Pentapods (as he'd done for the air filter symbionts in TD issue 10), but it was likely pointed out that first contact with the Pentapods happened in 2251, and there was no meaningful commercial exchange until after 2264 (when the Pentapods were permitted to establish a trade enclave on BCV-4, the only Pentapod presence in Human space*). He then switched the Pentapods into Canadians. Thus he switched a technology that was experimental, and killed about a quarter of the people that received it, to be generally available > 100 years ago.
In the 1988 edition, which was published only just after the Colonial Atlas, and the last paragraph of the genetic engineering, describing the experimental nature of altering established genomes, was simply deleted. Elsewhere, Terror's Lair was a CYOA type scenario with a DNAM, but it was again different to the CA. The King colonists modifications were to breath the atmosphere, requiring them to wear a rebreather mask in normal atmosphere. The Paget's disease symptoms from the CA were switched to living in the high gravity rather than an effect of the treatment. The 1988 Bayern module (published after the CA and 2nd ed boxed set) featured a King colonist, and they do not have any of these features, being a standard Human being. Thus DNAM's prettymuch got deleted within months of being introduced.
The boxed set made those wanting to do genetic experiments on Human specifically an enemy. The "evil Provolutionists" (direct quote from page 3 of the 1988 DG) were the people responsible for all the terrorism and piracy on the Chinese Arm. The fight against Provolution was announced as one of the three future themes (with the Kafer Invasion and opening the frontier). The provolutionists originated in China, and their core was still Chinese. The CA alluded to illegal genetic experiments on the Chinese Arm, beyond the reach of governments. In the Earth/Cybertech SB adventure, the enemy was a Provolutionist cell intending to explode sugically implanted nukes in suicide bombers in New York, probably being a repeat of the attack on Tirane.
The E/CS is clear that most bionics etc. are given to governments secret agents, the military etc., but the Provolutionists operate black clinics for criminals to exploit them.
Thus, we have an odd blip during the GDW run, with DNAM's being created and then rewritten an depricated within months, before becoming something "evil" that terrorists do.
* Note that the French government knows it was the Pentapods who engineered the Beta Canum Grain Blight, and conveniently had a cure to hand... No wonder the Pentapods aren't allowed anywhere else.
3. The Colonies
The colonies in the Colonial Atlas often did not follow existing descriptions and world creation rules. Hochbaden, for example, is the subject of a small adventure in the 1st ed. boxed set and is a standard garden world with an atmosphere etc. The adventure featured a farmer whose daughter had disappeared in the wilderness, and the players are hired to search for her when the authorities won't. The Kafer's have actually infiltrated a recconnaisance base onto the planet, and she was killed by the Kafers.
For the most part, changes were simply accepted, except some were so egregious that the CA was retconned back (in the boxed set and E/CS mainly). Most notably, Tirane's American and Australian colonies were retconned away in the E/CS as both being historically failed attempts (with the second edition boxed set being confused and having two different descriptions of Tirane), and the Argentine colony restored.
Hermes' constant migration was retconned away, with a narrow temperate band at the equator. In the retcon, Hermes is a joint American-Australian colony.
Doris was rewritten from being a tide-locked hell-world to being a forested garden world, although this actually isn't possible with that star.
Others should have been corrected but weren't, such as the methane-oxygen atmosphere of Kimanjano...
BTW For Beowulf, Grendel's swordtide was never canon. The story there is J. Andrew Keith had a longer Beowulf writeup (with the swordtide) that didn't make it into the CA, but was published in Far and Away magazine. I found a copy of said magazine in a pop-up store on the Isle of Wight, and posted a summary...
