2300AD, thoughts and wishes

[Colin]

I don't plan on any major changes. The nature and timing of Twilight is really the only one, and I simply plan to make those events a little vague. In the 2300AD background, as revealed in Challenge magazine, Quebec did separate after Twilight, with the support of France, and the Canadian government used force to bring it back into the fold. Large chunks of the west were de facto separate, as federal control didn't spread that far west. If anything, I just plan on making these background bit a little more explicit, with actually changing anything of substance.

 

[Yatima]

Colin, any ideas what careers you'll include in the first book?

John

 

[Colin]

Colin, any ideas what careers you'll include in the first book?

John

I haven't actually gotten that far yet. It all depends on waht I can boorow from extant Mongoose Trav books, or if I have to say "Use the Secrent careers are detailed on page xx of Agent"

Troubleshooter, Colonist, and others as appropriate.

 

[GJD]

or if I have to say "Use the Secrent careers are detailed on page xx of Agent"

Not keen on that. If it's an alternate universe book I feel it should need just the core rulebook to be self contained. I realise other Traveller players will have all the books, but I don't plan on getting a book just for a couple of pages that are relevant.

G.

 

[Vile]

or if I have to say "Use the Secret careers are detailed on page xx of Agent"

If it's an alternate universe book I feel it should need just the core rulebook to be self contained.

I agree with that - IMO only the TMB and any SRDs should be referenced in an ATU*. Anyway, careers should be different enough in 2300AD that they deserve their own treatment. I'd like to see some diverse, basic careers in the 2300AD main book, at least. Then there could be follow-on books like Mongoose's detailed career books or Spica's expanded career books, or people could just use those directly - their choice. But I would really like to have all the basic tools for play in the main book.

*Is there a prize for the most acronyms in one sentence?

 

[GamerDude]

I hear what you are saying Vile.

For my 3rd ed and 4th ed D&D games I had a simple rule: Only WotC books that I owned & approved and then they had to have access to that book at the table when we play. If they counted on me to buy the book and carry it to the game they were mistaken (my 3.5 collection ended up so big I just couldn't carry it all in a large box and it was freaking heavy to lift).

I did have some players who tried giving me books they wanted to use so that they'd get around the "I had to own it" rule... except that for like a birthday or Christmas, I don't let players give me a book. We had that in Hackmaster where many GMs talked about making their players buy them the various books and such. I'm not cool with that.

The fact Hammer's Slammers is just one book plus S&P supplements is making it very attractive to me as I look to start my Traveller campaign.

 

[Yatima]

I rolled up a character for MgT yesterday, first time with this system. There was a lot of flicking through various books, too much, in fact. The core book, of course, then Book 5: Agent and finally Book 2: Highguard.

Traveller characters always took a while to create, and unfamiliarity with the rules here didn't help, but I can see myself photocopying all of the tables for careers from various sources and just stapling together my own Char Gen play-aid.

So, I'd vote for having as much of Char Gen for Mg2300 i one well organised section of the setting book as is legally possible.

John

 

[Colin]

It's more what sort of duplication will be allowed between books. 2300AD has the troubleshooter as an iconic career, so something like that will find it's way into the book, or should, assuming we have the space. The generic Core Worlder and Colonist should have their place as well.

 

[whenimaginationfails]

Thanks for taking this up again, Colin. 2320AD was a good followup to 2300AD. I am glad that you and Mongoose are working to bring 2300AD back.

The one thing I hope you will do is update the star chart to the latest available and instead of using a sphere of stars 50 light years around the Earth, you use a cube of a 100 light years (or more) a side.

Anders Sandberg did some analysis of the star chart and a new star map after 2320AD came out. You can find it at:

http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2007/07/back_to_2320ad.html

As a fan, perhaps he might be willing to help with the maps.

Good luck! I am looking forward to getting a copy when it comes out.

 

[Yatima]

Colin, are you able to reuse the world maps produced for 2320, or are they scratched due to copyright (unless based on the few produced by GDW)?

John

 

[Colin]

Hunter bought the particular maps from me. He did not buy rights to the digital elevation maps that created them, only those particular renders. So if I rendered them differently, and Mongoose wanted them, I don't see why they couldn't be used. But, like all artwork, that's not my call.

 

[Epicenter]

Coming in a bit late to this conversation (not that anyone cares ) but I thought I'd add in my .02 livre.

First things first, congratulations on at least getting a verbal agreement even if nothing is set for certain yet.

1. I don't think computer tech really needs to be de-emphasized. While it never had much impact in 2300, provided they don't have AI in it, I think you could make it radically more powerful.

2. I admit the gun-bunny in me occasionally rears its ugly head and starts muttering about Contakt, RHA penetration, and bullet weights. Are we going to see more "plausible" tanks and other armored vehicles in 2300, most notably in areas like missile defense for vehicles?

3. Similarly, I love the Combat Walkers. I liked your development of them in 2320 (which, coincidentally mirrored my own thoughts for 2300) - you should stick with something like that for their history (though in my 2300 the Manchus had a lot more CWs).

4. Is there any way to include computer renders of what a scene on various colony worlds would look like. One thing that's often hard to grasp by players is what a spectra-shift in a star would do to what a world looks like on the surface - I think a visual plate on worlds (or even just a page of what a world under a reddish sun would look like, what a world under a bluish sun would look and so on) would help a lot for players (and GMs) to visualize what these colony worlds look like.

5. Space Squatters! Yes, I know it's a topic near and dear to my heart, but I hope you can stick them into your take on 2300, living in the various abandoned colonies in the solar system and so on.

 

[Colin]

Coming in a bit late to this conversation (not that anyone cares ) but I thought I'd add in my .02 livre.

First things first, congratulations on at least getting a verbal agreement even if nothing is set for certain yet.

1. I don't think computer tech really needs to be de-emphasized. While it never had much impact in 2300, provided they don't have AI in it, I think you could make it radically more powerful.

If computers and drones/robots get much better, it obviates the need for people. This is my biggest problem with Transhuman Space: there isn't much for people to do.

2. I admit the gun-bunny in me occasionally rears its ugly head and starts muttering about Contakt, RHA penetration, and bullet weights. Are we going to see more "plausible" tanks and other armored vehicles in 2300, most notably in areas like missile defense for vehicles?

If you look to what I did with 2320AD, you'll see my intentions in that area. I view hover tanks as "expeditionary tanks" light, fast, well-armed, not so well-armoured. Anti-missile systems include active laser and mini-gun systems, jamming and EW, and claymore-type bands of explosives to destroy incoming missiles (and pesky infantry).

3. Similarly, I love the Combat Walkers. I liked your development of them in 2320 (which, coincidentally mirrored my own thoughts for 2300) - you should stick with something like that for their history (though in my 2300 the Manchus had a lot more CWs).

Mine too, I just never got to produce the vehicle book, with its sizable section on walkers.

4. Is there any way to include computer renders of what a scene on various colony worlds would look like. One thing that's often hard to grasp by players is what a spectra-shift in a star would do to what a world looks like on the surface - I think a visual plate on worlds (or even just a page of what a world under a reddish sun would look like, what a world under a bluish sun would look and so on) would help a lot for players (and GMs) to visualize what these colony worlds look like.

The eye tends to adjust, but this is one of the things that I wanted to do for the Atlas series.

5. Space Squatters! Yes, I know it's a topic near and dear to my heart, but I hope you can stick them into your take on 2300, living in the various abandoned colonies in the solar system and so on.

They'll be some. I've used them in my own adventures, years ago.

 

[GamerDude]

If computers and drones/robots get much better, it obviates the need for people. This is my biggest problem with Transhuman Space: there isn't much for people to do.

In Asimov's robot novels "Caves of Steel", "The Naked Sun", and "The Robots of Dawn", he calls the first wave of people to emigrate off Earth "The Spacers". They used robots and such so extensively that they wore gloves whenever they were going to touch another person, and after they were established blocked any more people from emigrating off earth.

By the end of the series there was finally a second wave of planets settled called "The Settler" worlds. Because of how the over use of robots by the Spacer worlds they banned the use of robots.

Definately different than Transhuman Space I gather.

 

[kermit]

I would like to see more robots and drones as well. But these could be reserved for very dangerous tasks, exploring the lower atmosphere of a gas giant, or the very mundane, vacuuming the floors at a hotel, but leaving humans to do everything else. Some military models would be appropriate in roles such as scouting and "wild weasel" but without good AIs they could not be used for sensitive tasks or be counted on to have initiative and creativity. The original 2300AD had fewer robots than we do now but a few Challenge articles had robots...in a negative light.

I agree that we can't make this Transhuman Space (Though that game can be incredibly fun even if you are a digital shadow running on a high end autonomous kill Vehicle as it goes to high burn through the rings of Saturn while your meat body plays low gravity handball back on Titan.) as 2300AD is a bit retro and is about recognizably human people having great adventures. In this way it is similar to the old pulp sci-fi adventures like Buck Rodgers but it replaces campy corniness with often gritty hard sci-fi. That's what I like about it and that's what I want to keep.

Benjamin

 

[Yatima]

I think it's possible to add AI that makes robots/smart software more ubiquitous and visible without challenging the role of people in the setting. I've just read Jeff Hawkins book "On Intelligence", in which he postulates systems that model the pattern recognition and learning capabilities of the human brain with out being people.

For example, a system that has a pattern recognition and learning capability but the sensory input of a ships Sensor suite can provide superhuman levels of input to the characters, but isn't remotely human – it's not embodied, it has no emotions, it's sensory experience is so removed from that of a person that they cannot be mistaken for a human. They are super advisors, super-helpers, but not active agents of adventure. In my own campaign, I started adding in these 'Hawkins Machines' such that every player has a Digital Personal Assistant that does smart things, screens their calls, provides clues from data mining etc. But they aren't full-fledged characters. In transhuman space terms, they are all non-sapient AIs.

That seems to be the right pitch for this setting, IMHO anyway. Whatcha think?

John

 

[Thistledown John]

I'd like to see more emphasis on exploration. Specifically...

1) Governments and their exploratory organizations.

2) Private foundations and how they go about doing a survey project.

3) How do governments and foundations interact with respect to new worlds? Do governments enforce exclusive claims to new worlds with their militaries? Do the foundations compete with governments' survey efforts?

4) More stats for survey ships and equipment.

5) Rules for survey activities and world generation.

There are probably lots more examples that I can't think of right now...

 

[Colin]

I think it's possible to add AI that makes robots/smart software more ubiquitous and visible without challenging the role of people in the setting. I've just read Jeff Hawkins book "On Intelligence", in which he postulates systems that model the pattern recognition and learning capabilities of the human brain with out being people.

For example, a system that has a pattern recognition and learning capability but the sensory input of a ships Sensor suite can provide superhuman levels of input to the characters, but isn't remotely human – it's not embodied, it has no emotions, it's sensory experience is so removed from that of a person that they cannot be mistaken for a human. They are super advisors, super-helpers, but not active agents of adventure. In my own campaign, I started adding in these 'Hawkins Machines' such that every player has a Digital Personal Assistant that does smart things, screens their calls, provides clues from data mining etc. But they aren't full-fledged characters. In transhuman space terms, they are all non-sapient AIs.

That seems to be the right pitch for this setting, IMHO anyway. Whatcha think?

John

That sort of thing is modeled, I think, by having computers modify rolls. Say a computer/4 adds +4 (or +2...) DM to applicable rolls. So Billy-Jo McAllister's Mod/2 subdermacomp adds a +2 to all info search related tasks, and perhaps other bonuses in regards to pattern recognition, or similar, when the right software is loaded.

Which brings me to another point. In an information-rich society, knowing how to sift through all cscade of data to find what you are looking for is a necessary, and often uncommon, skill. People talk about "google-fu" all the time. Perhaps something like "know-fu" (to remove copyright-sensitive terms) as a skill to quantify the skill/talent of searching networks for the required information.

 

[Colin]

There is a plan for an exploration-based campaign book, with this sort of thing, along with an actual campaign. Think the old Bayern module, but with a lot more information.

I'd like to see more emphasis on exploration. Specifically...

1) Governments and their exploratory organizations.

2) Private foundations and how they go about doing a survey project.

3) How do governments and foundations interact with respect to new worlds? Do governments enforce exclusive claims to new worlds with their militaries? Do the foundations compete with governments' survey efforts?

4) More stats for survey ships and equipment.

5) Rules for survey activities and world generation.

There are probably lots more examples that I can't think of right now...

 

[captainjack23]

Which brings me to another point. In an information-rich society, knowing how to sift through all cscade of data to find what you are looking for is a necessary, and often uncommon, skill. People talk about "google-fu" all the time. Perhaps something like "know-fu" (to remove copyright-sensitive terms) as a skill to quantify the skill/talent of searching networks for the required information.

Informatics, to give it its (awful) real-life term.