This might come across as a little strange but I wanted to get some feedback on a couple of ideas I've been thinking about.
I've been looking at running Traveller 2300 but have been wondering if I'm better off sticking with core Traveller rules.
The background for a near future game I've been considering involves as part of the history that someone on Earth successfully built a working spaceship outside of the US or Russia.
Through means I've yet to fully explain they've managed to hide the fact that they've successfully not just get a ship into space but established three bases on Mars in the view of finding out if its possible to establish a colony there.
They have also sent probes to the other planets to perform far more detailed surveys than anything the current world governments are capable of even going so far as to reach Pluto.
Now I've been going over this and figure the only way this could be remotely possible is if this person was known to be working on a working maneuver drive and stumbled onto the means to create a working jump drive which was used to establish a series of orbital supply points to allow for a ship to travel to and back from Mars but due to the technology involved was effectively undetectable by the world's current technology base.
Making use of recruits from around the world and keeping them in the dark about what she was really doing she kept this a secret for about say twenty to thirty years before a small number of her experts realised what she had accomplished and spilled the beans in at least two cases they went live on television with proof to back up their claims.
The reaction was cataclysmic because the governments were unprepared for such an event they attempted to secure (read steal) her inventions and tried to forcibly secure her bases which was impossible because she kept the secret of her inventions in a way to make their best efforts at duplicating them near impossible.
Near impossible because the stutter drive was their best replication of her working jump drive, in an act of stupidity a conglomerate of corporations tried to force the issue and killed almost her entire family save for a single grandchild whom escaped after his grandmother sacrificed her life protecting him.
By that I mean they killed the only person who knew how the jump drive worked and it would either take centuries before someone could figure it out or a surviving descendant of the inventor was willing to figure out what noone else can.
My question is, is this over reaction what you figure would happen, could it be much worse should I consider global implications of someone successfully inventing this at least a century before T2300 is supposed to start?
Is there other concerns I should be considering?
Should I elaborate in greater detail?
For timeline, the inventor was born around 1980 and began her experiments roughly about 2009 but only got as far as building the first working spaceship about 2015 with the first working jump drive about 2025 with the first mission to Mars about 2028 (non-manned) to establish supply points so return trips were possible and the first Mars base was started about 2030 and manned about 2032 albeit security and safety measures meant noone realised they were on Mars until the first expeditions outside the then thought experimental Mars base tests in 2035 the first leak occurred about 2038 with the televised revelations in early 2039 where the inventor chose to reveal she had sent probes to explore the outer planets as far as Pluto and was planning to establish a mining colony in the asteroid belt which was why she chose to come clean.
She was killed in 2070 after her family was targetted following her repeated refusal to release all of her inventions to the Government nor the Corporations since she was trying to avoid spreading humanities political and religious problems as they finally left their homeworld.
Yes it needs a lot more work and I've been looking at Orbital, but feel this might be a little beyond that stage.
I've been looking at running Traveller 2300 but have been wondering if I'm better off sticking with core Traveller rules.
The background for a near future game I've been considering involves as part of the history that someone on Earth successfully built a working spaceship outside of the US or Russia.
Through means I've yet to fully explain they've managed to hide the fact that they've successfully not just get a ship into space but established three bases on Mars in the view of finding out if its possible to establish a colony there.
They have also sent probes to the other planets to perform far more detailed surveys than anything the current world governments are capable of even going so far as to reach Pluto.
Now I've been going over this and figure the only way this could be remotely possible is if this person was known to be working on a working maneuver drive and stumbled onto the means to create a working jump drive which was used to establish a series of orbital supply points to allow for a ship to travel to and back from Mars but due to the technology involved was effectively undetectable by the world's current technology base.
Making use of recruits from around the world and keeping them in the dark about what she was really doing she kept this a secret for about say twenty to thirty years before a small number of her experts realised what she had accomplished and spilled the beans in at least two cases they went live on television with proof to back up their claims.
The reaction was cataclysmic because the governments were unprepared for such an event they attempted to secure (read steal) her inventions and tried to forcibly secure her bases which was impossible because she kept the secret of her inventions in a way to make their best efforts at duplicating them near impossible.
Near impossible because the stutter drive was their best replication of her working jump drive, in an act of stupidity a conglomerate of corporations tried to force the issue and killed almost her entire family save for a single grandchild whom escaped after his grandmother sacrificed her life protecting him.
By that I mean they killed the only person who knew how the jump drive worked and it would either take centuries before someone could figure it out or a surviving descendant of the inventor was willing to figure out what noone else can.
My question is, is this over reaction what you figure would happen, could it be much worse should I consider global implications of someone successfully inventing this at least a century before T2300 is supposed to start?
Is there other concerns I should be considering?
Should I elaborate in greater detail?
For timeline, the inventor was born around 1980 and began her experiments roughly about 2009 but only got as far as building the first working spaceship about 2015 with the first working jump drive about 2025 with the first mission to Mars about 2028 (non-manned) to establish supply points so return trips were possible and the first Mars base was started about 2030 and manned about 2032 albeit security and safety measures meant noone realised they were on Mars until the first expeditions outside the then thought experimental Mars base tests in 2035 the first leak occurred about 2038 with the televised revelations in early 2039 where the inventor chose to reveal she had sent probes to explore the outer planets as far as Pluto and was planning to establish a mining colony in the asteroid belt which was why she chose to come clean.
She was killed in 2070 after her family was targetted following her repeated refusal to release all of her inventions to the Government nor the Corporations since she was trying to avoid spreading humanities political and religious problems as they finally left their homeworld.
Yes it needs a lot more work and I've been looking at Orbital, but feel this might be a little beyond that stage.
!
