2300AD, thoughts and wishes
- Thread starter Colin
- Start date
Dave Chase
Mongoose
Congrats.
Dave Chase
Dave Chase
Yatima
Cosmic Mongoose
OK, this sounds like it's going to happen and I can't wait. My wish list would be:
1. Background: I don't mind it being changed to keep up with events ITRW, the asteroid impact sounds like the sort of fillip that would kick-start an earnest effort in space. Just don't radically change the background, please.
2. I'd like to feel the size of star systems. In Traveller, every system is a main world which feels more or less like suburban America with some quirks. Star systems are huge and I'd like to make each one interesting. That means good maps of each main world, a system diagram and a little on adventure possibilities within systems.
3. A roleplaying, reasonably abstract space combat system, rather than a tactical game (which would be nice, too, but used less often in the sort of game I run).
4. Good quality ship deckplans. Laurent visualising the ships and vehicles.
5. More computers and transhuman space type technology, but not so much as to destroy the flavour of the setting. A knife edge, to be sure. Some colour pieces on aspects of everyday life in the Core and on the frontiers would help set the scene of everyday life - a bit like Andy Slack's "Wired Society" article.
6. For the Nearstar map, include the work done on the NSII project to clean up the data and the interesting extensions to the map suggested by Anders in his review of 2320.
Good luck. I can't wait for this, so I'm using the 2320 background and a hybrid MgT and Fudge rule set to start a campaign now. Can. Not. Wait.
Glad you're writing this, Colin.
John
1. Background: I don't mind it being changed to keep up with events ITRW, the asteroid impact sounds like the sort of fillip that would kick-start an earnest effort in space. Just don't radically change the background, please.
2. I'd like to feel the size of star systems. In Traveller, every system is a main world which feels more or less like suburban America with some quirks. Star systems are huge and I'd like to make each one interesting. That means good maps of each main world, a system diagram and a little on adventure possibilities within systems.
3. A roleplaying, reasonably abstract space combat system, rather than a tactical game (which would be nice, too, but used less often in the sort of game I run).
4. Good quality ship deckplans. Laurent visualising the ships and vehicles.
5. More computers and transhuman space type technology, but not so much as to destroy the flavour of the setting. A knife edge, to be sure. Some colour pieces on aspects of everyday life in the Core and on the frontiers would help set the scene of everyday life - a bit like Andy Slack's "Wired Society" article.
6. For the Nearstar map, include the work done on the NSII project to clean up the data and the interesting extensions to the map suggested by Anders in his review of 2320.
Good luck. I can't wait for this, so I'm using the 2320 background and a hybrid MgT and Fudge rule set to start a campaign now. Can. Not. Wait.
Glad you're writing this, Colin.
John
Yatima
Cosmic Mongoose
Oh, forgot to ask if you are aware of the excellent (though incomplete) work on the 2300AD Technical Architecture done by Andy Brick way back when (http://www.caco.demon.co.uk/2300ad/2300ad.html).
This was an attempt at a Fire Fusion and Steel type system for 2300AD, I'm sure you've seen it, Colin, but it may be useful in thinking about the technology design system for MG 2300.
BTW, I'd love for the design system to be published in a Highguard or Vehicles supplement.
John
This was an attempt at a Fire Fusion and Steel type system for 2300AD, I'm sure you've seen it, Colin, but it may be useful in thinking about the technology design system for MG 2300.
BTW, I'd love for the design system to be published in a Highguard or Vehicles supplement.
John
steffworthington
Mongoose
http://www.caco.demon.co.uk/2300ad/2300ad.html
Very interesting and an amazing work of devotion to the game....
but I'm a roleplayer.. its far more important to know what colour the sky is, what the wind smells like, and what the local dialect sounds like than tables of data...
Thats for war gamers and physicists.
Very interesting and an amazing work of devotion to the game....
but I'm a roleplayer.. its far more important to know what colour the sky is, what the wind smells like, and what the local dialect sounds like than tables of data...
Thats for war gamers and physicists.
Yatima
Cosmic Mongoose
steffworthington said:
I couldn't agree more. However, some background details are really useful for setting the scene for players. The DGP Starship Operators Manual for Megatraveller had immense detail, but gave a real sense for the first time of what it was like to be on a starship in traveller. I liked to have the option to develop those kinds of details for that purpose, it made things feel real and consistent, which my group appreciated a lot.
Clearly, it's not for everyone and certainly not for every situation. Where'd you get the time, even? But useful for the underlying rationale.
John
Colin
Mongoose
Have you been reading my notes? :shock:
The Near Star List and Map are still under review. I like the idea of updating it, but with the updated maps you don't end up with 'Arms' at all. There's just too many small stars to provide links all over the place. We examined this when looking at the Star Maps for 2320AD, and I'm not sure how to proceed.
I do plan to add more Transhuman elements, without going overboard. Genetic modification is one area where 2300AD is very advanced, yet very little of that shows in the game aside from the King DNA modifications. Expect to see a little bit more of that in background options. 2320AD explored that to an extent, and I would like to see MgT 2300AD go further. SubDermal implants is another area that needs to be explored in greater detail.
My plan for the various "Atlas of the ____ Arm" books is to have a system map, with maps of the main world and any other world of notable interest. Solar systems are big, and there is a lot going on in them, if widely spread out. That's why I have low-powered stutterwarp "system ships." 0.1 AU per day is still plenty fast, and cheap.
If I can get Laurent to do the ships, I will. It is not up to me, however. Ships, in keeping with Mongoose's policy, will have deckplans, or at least schematics in the case of the big ships.
Ship combat will be a modification of the system in the main MgT book and/or High Guard.
The Near Star List and Map are still under review. I like the idea of updating it, but with the updated maps you don't end up with 'Arms' at all. There's just too many small stars to provide links all over the place. We examined this when looking at the Star Maps for 2320AD, and I'm not sure how to proceed.
I do plan to add more Transhuman elements, without going overboard. Genetic modification is one area where 2300AD is very advanced, yet very little of that shows in the game aside from the King DNA modifications. Expect to see a little bit more of that in background options. 2320AD explored that to an extent, and I would like to see MgT 2300AD go further. SubDermal implants is another area that needs to be explored in greater detail.
My plan for the various "Atlas of the ____ Arm" books is to have a system map, with maps of the main world and any other world of notable interest. Solar systems are big, and there is a lot going on in them, if widely spread out. That's why I have low-powered stutterwarp "system ships." 0.1 AU per day is still plenty fast, and cheap.
If I can get Laurent to do the ships, I will. It is not up to me, however. Ships, in keeping with Mongoose's policy, will have deckplans, or at least schematics in the case of the big ships.
Ship combat will be a modification of the system in the main MgT book and/or High Guard.
Yatima said:
Colin
Mongoose
The only DNA mod outlined in 2300AD was the mod required to live on King. As things go, that mod was pretty extreme. And given that it cuts your life expectancy almost in half, I wonder why anyone would agree to have it performed. I plan to include the King mod as a background option, though I plan to change it from how it was presented in the Colonial Atlas. Other DNA mods may include: Zero-Gee, to explain how people who were born and live in Zero-Gee can even move on a normal G world. Thinair, for worlds like Crater. Iceball, for cold worlds like Dukou. Merman, for watery worlds and portions of worlds everywhere. Each mod basically gives an environmental adaptation, along with some minor stat modifications, and/or a free skill. All will be balanced, and none will provide the sort of extreme bonus that the King mod will. The KIng mod will get toned down.
DNA mods be available as background options, and can be purchased in-game, though the downtime for a DNA mod is more than 6 months. Rewriting your DNA is not a quick process.
There will be illegal DNA mods, including the Shape-shifter mod. Basically, this one allows you, over the previously mentioned 6 months, to change (physically) into someone else. Brain scans and the like will still spot the shifter, though not easily.
Of course, there is also the oft whispered about, but never seen, super-soldier mod. Interesting bonuses, wicked side-effects.
DNA mods will also have limits. There is a small chance of cancer with each mod. Curing it involves reversing the mod (and another 6 months). This chance shoots way up with the second mod, and is almost guaranteed by the third.
DNA mods be available as background options, and can be purchased in-game, though the downtime for a DNA mod is more than 6 months. Rewriting your DNA is not a quick process.
There will be illegal DNA mods, including the Shape-shifter mod. Basically, this one allows you, over the previously mentioned 6 months, to change (physically) into someone else. Brain scans and the like will still spot the shifter, though not easily.
Of course, there is also the oft whispered about, but never seen, super-soldier mod. Interesting bonuses, wicked side-effects.
DNA mods will also have limits. There is a small chance of cancer with each mod. Curing it involves reversing the mod (and another 6 months). This chance shoots way up with the second mod, and is almost guaranteed by the third.
Rikki Tikki Traveller
Cosmic Mongoose
Colin, I wonder if another rumored DNA mod might be PSIONICS?
That way it isn't part of the general setting, but if a group wanted to add it, that would be how it could be done...???
That way it isn't part of the general setting, but if a group wanted to add it, that would be how it could be done...???
Colin
Mongoose
Psionics will be sharply limited in 2300AD. I may throw that idea out as a tidbit, should people want it. The only psionics I plan on allowing is Telepathy, and even then at very, very low power levels. Most would require technological augmentation to do anything with it. Like, say, the Cortescan 3000...
I'm not at all for adding psionics. They just don't fit the feel of the game. Yes, I know some of the aliens had psi, but they also caused insanity more often than not.
Perhaps, depending on how the license agreement was worked out you could do a somewhat modular system that allowed for various "add-ons" to the core setting. You want psi...see Appendix A, but they aren't part of canon. You want FTL radio...see Appendix B, but its not canon. You want cyborgs and brain tapes...see Appendix C. And so on and so forth.
If that doesn't work do a book along the line of Twilight Nightmares and Toxic Memes (for SJGames Transhuman Space) which allows GMs to introduce non-canon material that may not appeal to all people. If this included fan submissions it would be triple cool.
Benjamin
P.S. One of my favorite aliens from GDW were the T'ch'gaazru from the first adventure in Twilight Nightmares. Although, written for use in Merc:2000 I always included them in my 2300AD background and the aliens that hired them were the ones who left the booby-traps behind. They had dropped a rock on the T'ch'gaazri homeworld as they retreated homeward, but a few T'ch'gaazru survived.
Perhaps, depending on how the license agreement was worked out you could do a somewhat modular system that allowed for various "add-ons" to the core setting. You want psi...see Appendix A, but they aren't part of canon. You want FTL radio...see Appendix B, but its not canon. You want cyborgs and brain tapes...see Appendix C. And so on and so forth.
If that doesn't work do a book along the line of Twilight Nightmares and Toxic Memes (for SJGames Transhuman Space) which allows GMs to introduce non-canon material that may not appeal to all people. If this included fan submissions it would be triple cool.
Benjamin
P.S. One of my favorite aliens from GDW were the T'ch'gaazru from the first adventure in Twilight Nightmares. Although, written for use in Merc:2000 I always included them in my 2300AD background and the aliens that hired them were the ones who left the booby-traps behind. They had dropped a rock on the T'ch'gaazri homeworld as they retreated homeward, but a few T'ch'gaazru survived.
Yatima
Cosmic Mongoose
I've spent the last couple of days buying and reading as many MgT books as my FLGS has in stock and reading up on the system online. I just came across the Traveller Developer Pack and was mightily impressed with the largesse and level of support it provides third party creators of all sorts.
Will MgT 2300 provide open content and a 2300 SRD that affords fans of this setting the same latitude and the same level of support?
Will MgT 2300 provide open content and a 2300 SRD that affords fans of this setting the same latitude and the same level of support?
