A random thought on game vs real world

[MasterGwydion]

I was thinking about the Traveller game system and how We as players and fans are always trying to "tweak the system" to make it "just a bit more accurate" and something either profound or idiotic crossed My mind.

With the advances of science in the last 40+ years of Traveller, We now have a much better grasp on how we relate to the world around Us via our scientific knowledge. I wondered how to categorize the importance of real world scientific advancements since Traveller was first created. Obviously our knowledge in such things as Computer Science is vastly different now from what it was in the 1970s. Same with pretty much every other field of study. I wanted to know how to classify the importance of the changes in Our scientific knowledge. I came up with a way to classify the importance of human scientific advancements.

Ask yourself how big of a change would be needed to incorporate this new discovery within the rules of Traveller. The more of the Traveller system that needs to be rewritten (within the acceptable generalizations of a non-simulation RPG rules system), the more important the human discovery.

Examples

Quantum Computing - minor discovery, requires no change in the Traveller rules

Fusion+ - average discovery, requires editing a line in the charts and formulas in books to more accurately reflect the actual capabilities of Fusion+

Accurate Interstellar Surveys - major discovery, requires complete rewrite of the system generation rules which in turn effects almost every aspect of the OTU

Jump Drive - world-shattering discovery, requires a complete rewrite to almost every part of the system to reflect the changes caused by changing the jumpspace rules to reflect an accurate approximation of jump travel and jumpspace.

Sorry for the forum pollution. I thought it was kind of amusing and I have been laughing about it occurred to me and I had to share the thought before I exploded...lol...

 

[Reynard]

Fusion+. Every 20 years, we're told fusion is just a couple years away. If we base on reality, the Holy Grail of energy production is merely a myth. Without fusion, probably the most factual of science fiction energy, just about everything else isn't going to happen.

Accurate Interstellar Surveys. As much as sensational news stories tell us how observers are finding Earth equivalent worlds, closer evaluations show these places are deathtraps for Terran life.

Jump drive. See Fusion+. Same with the science of gravitics with the follow up creation of maneuver drive. For me, the discovery of fusion and maneuver would change our world exponentially even if we never find jump.

I think Mongoose has been doing a great job modernizing Traveller without turning it into transhuman fantasy. It's not a prophetic reference guide to the future. If something new in real world science and technology become significant enough that it could be translated to game terms, that's great!

 

[MasterGwydion]

Fusion+. Every 20 years, we're told fusion is just a couple years away. If we base on reality, the Holy Grail of energy production is merely a myth. Without fusion, probably the most factual of science fiction energy, just about everything else isn't going to happen.

Accurate Interstellar Surveys. As much as sensational news stories tell us how observers are finding Earth equivalent worlds, closer evaluations show these places are deathtraps for Terran life.

Jump drive. See Fusion+. Same with the science of gravitics with the follow up creation of maneuver drive. For me, the discovery of fusion and maneuver would change our world exponentially even if we never find jump.

I think Mongoose has been doing a great job modernizing Traveller without turning it into transhuman fantasy. It's not a prophetic reference guide to the future. If something new in real world science and technology become significant enough that it could be translated to game terms, that's great!

I have no idea what you are talking about. I used those as examples of the differing levels of importance, not as a hard science future development prediction device. You took what I said and almost entirely reversed it's meaning.

I mean using what has been discovered in the 40+ years since Traveller has been created, to create a "theoretical" valuation of the importance of said discoveries via it's impact on game rules.

So, I am not sure how your reply relates to mine in any way. Perhaps I am merely reading it wrong. Who knows? lol

Your entire post seems to be, none of this will ever come to pass in real life. So what? I am not talking about real life. This is a game, not a predictive program. My mental exercise was just to determine an importance type relationship between the discoveries that have been made in the real world since Traveller has been created, and how major those discoveries may be when looked at from how far they depart from the Traveller ruleset. Perhaps I am not explaining it very well.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The only major 'discovery' in the real world since Traveller's inception is the interweb and social media. I can't think of anything really revolutionary apart from that.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I am not talking about real life. This is a game, not a predictive program. My mental exercise was just to determine an importance type relationship between the discoveries that have been made in the real world since Traveller has been created, and how major those discoveries may be when looked at from how far they depart from the Traveller ruleset. Perhaps I am not explaining it very well.

You were comparing a game to something more accurate. You do have 'real world' in your title, after all. But in general, things happen faster now. And people seem to be happy with just having a phone in their hand all day. People will do less as phones control them more. Our future won't be Traveller's future, that's for certain.

 

[MasterGwydion]

The only major 'discovery' in the real world since Traveller's inception is the interweb and social media. I can't think of anything really revolutionary apart from that.

I would agree that for the most part, computers have been the only real world advancement that in theory could effect the Traveller rules.

 

[NOLATrav]

And perhaps our understanding of astrophysics. That is, maybe the Universe and World creation rules could be affected

 

[Geir]

And perhaps our understanding of astrophysics. That is, maybe the Universe and World creation rules could be affected

Well star system creation rules are definitely being revised. Those darn exoplanets aren't following the old rules very well...

 

[Sigtrygg]

The only concern of the original CT rules was the main world you visited in a system. Nothing was broken until extended system generation came along which was based on a now thoroughly discredited theory.

 

[MasterGwydion]

The only concern of the original CT rules was the main world you visited in a system. Nothing was broken until extended system generation came along which was based on a now thoroughly discredited theory.

I am still trying to figure out, "why base the rules on a single planet in a system, as opposed to the composite of the entire system?" That never made any sense to me.

 

[Saladman]

We as players and fans are always trying to "tweak the system" to make it "just a bit more accurate"

See I've never done that. Target number is 8, modifiers and player plans are handled with reference to the task chain system not realism, character careers are there to generate playable PCs not to realistically model the general populace, Classic's death in char-gen was a meta-game limit on super characters, Mongoose' aging a try at the same (in practice insufficient, but at least I don't need to fix it)...

This may place me outside the mean of Traveller's fan base though. In fact, it would explain a lot if it did.

 

[MasterGwydion]

See I've never done that. Target number is 8, modifiers and player plans are handled with reference to the task chain system not realism, character careers are there to generate playable PCs not to realistically model the general populace, Classic's death in char-gen was a meta-game limit on super characters, Mongoose' aging a try at the same (in practice insufficient, but at least I don't need to fix it)...

This may place me outside the mean of Traveller's fan base though. In fact, it would explain a lot if it did.

Diff 8 is just tasks, which is only a very small subset of the Traveller rules. I am aware of nothing in this discussion that would change Traveller being a D6 system with the standard target number of 8.

As far as Careers go, the only changes that I can think of that may apply in regards to this discussion, would be some skill changes in the skill tables to reflect Our better understanding of what happens at each Tech Level. For example, in the 40 years since Traveller has been written, Our understanding of computers and communication technology has changed drastically. If the current trend is followed, My guess is that by TL-10 you won't need to use the Electronics (Computer) skill to operate or modify computer programs. So then this skill could be replaced on the Career Skill Charts with a different skill that still reflects well to the class's original design intent.

As far as the limit on "super-characters" goes. I have always found that to be easy, and I quote, "I am the Referee. In My games you are limited to a max of 4 (or whatever number is appropriate for the campaign) terms. If you don't want to be limited to this number of terms, find a different game." See? Easy. No need for some weird meta-rule. Although for the record, I loved the "could die in character creation part". It was one of the reasons that I loved CT.

Inside or outside of the mean fanbase doesn't matter, as long as you are having fun, then you are playing the game right...