Basic Traveller Universe Overview

[DigrizJB]

Which raises another omniscient narrator question - Mongoose Universe is set before the Fifth Frontier War? Does the Mongoose timeline split from the Classic Traveller Universe in that respect? Will there be a Fifth Frontier War? I don't want to know about the other stuff that came after that, Regicide and intelligent wafers corrupting Starship AI and Homicidal Herbivores.

BTW - you pony types are Homicidal / Omnicidal, Herbivores not just "Militant." Grass grazing, steppe dwelling sociopaths. - But I like your writing.

 

[AndrewW]

Which raises another omniscient narrator question - Mongoose Universe is set before the Fifth Frontier War? Does the Mongoose timeline split from the Classic Traveller Universe in that respect? Will there be a Fifth Frontier War? I don't want to know about the other stuff that came after that, Regicide and intelligent wafers corrupting Starship AI and Homicidal Herbivores.

Yes, the Fifth Frontier War is coming up in the Mongoose timeline.

 

[Sigtrygg]

The Solomani Hypothesis:

Solomani Hypothesis: The theory that the many scattered human races in the
galaxy all originated on Terra and were transported to their current homeworlds
by an alien race (the Ancients) for purposes which remain unclear. Most other human
races accept the idea, but lend it no special importance. The hypothesis is used
by the Solomani Movement (q.v.1 as a basis for its claims for Solomani racial
superiority.
The so-called Solomani Hypothesis (that Terra was the homeworld of Humaniti,
and that all other human races developed from primitive specimens transported
from Terra by the Ancients) gained wide-spread acceptance in modern times
through i t s active advocacy by Magis Sergei haut-Devroe (64 to 141). In fact, the
notion that Terra was man's home world had been widely accepted during the Rule
of Man for several reasons.
When the region of Sol was reincorporated into the
lmperium in 588, a small historical mission verified, to no one's great surprise,
haut-Devroe's Solomani Hypothesis

By the way wafer technology is OTU canon, dating back to the 200s.

 

[ottarrus]

A little late with this but WELCOME! to the board @Zombiecowboy .
There are a lot of resources out there to help you dig into the OTU [Official Traveller Universe] and a lot of us old grognards are happy to help.
In addition to Third Imperium book, let me also suggest Behind the Claw, also from Mongoose. BtC offers you a sandbox to play with in two sectors [the Spinward Marches and Deneb] as well as an overview of Imperial society and its institutions.

 

[DigrizJB]

The Solomani Hypothesis:

By the way wafer technology is OTU canon, dating back to the 200s.

I have no issues with wafers, but I do not like wafers pawning starships... as kids these days might say. I like some Necco Wafers, and some Nilla Wafers, too. But seriously, I just read "Agent of the Imperium" by Marc Miller, and it was darn good, and wafers were a key ingredient. Reminded me of Heinlein's Lazarus Long books,

 

[Bromo_Ivory]

@G'Naakbusters This is a great write up for the referee but it leads me to a version question. In Classic GDW Traveller wasn't the Terran theory of Humaniti's Origins still in dispute circa 1105? There were adventures that changed the course of accepted evolutionary theory. Should some of your excellent articles be redacted for character use?

The part about the Ancients, well most or even all of it should be redacted. IIRC, even the fact that all the Chirpers and Droyne were the same race AND also the same stock as the Ancients I think isn't known or was only recently realized.

And of course the Genoee think they were the ancients.....

 

[Sigtrygg]

The "Secret of the Ancients" is known to only one group of Travellers, and I doubt if they will talk.

Also worth pointing out that there several civilisations that pre-date Grandfather, some of which may be less than happy with him and his brood.

THE FIRST STARFARERS
We place the age of the universe at more than thirteen billion years.
The oldest stars in Charted Space are dim red dwarfs some ten billion years old.
Intelligent life first appeared in Charted Space more than two billion years ago.
Intelligent life first began sub-light travel between the stars more than a billion years ago. Short-lived beings found sublight travel tedious and frustrating and contented themselves with confinement to a few star systems. Longer lived races ranged far and wide using generation ships, cold sleep, and even electronic personality transfers.

 

[Zombiecowboy]

A little late with this but WELCOME! to the board @Zombiecowboy .
There are a lot of resources out there to help you dig into the OTU [Official Traveller Universe] and a lot of us old grognards are happy to help.
In addition to Third Imperium book, let me also suggest Behind the Claw, also from Mongoose. BtC offers you a sandbox to play with in two sectors [the Spinward Marches and Deneb] as well as an overview of Imperial society and its institutions.

Thank you! I will definitely look into that.

 

[Jetrock]

@G'Naakbusters This is a great write up for the referee but it leads me to a version question. In Classic GDW Traveller wasn't the Terran theory of Humaniti's Origins still in dispute circa 1105? There were adventures that changed the course of accepted evolutionary theory. Should some of your excellent articles be redacted for character use?

I think the Solomani Hypothesis was generally accepted (if denied by some, largely for political rather than scientific reasons) in the circa 1100 Imperium setting, but the secrets of the Ancients are still supposedly secret (and the Geonee still claim they're the Ancients!) and even the connection between the Chirpers and the Droyne is little known.

 

[G'Naakbusters]

BTW - you pony types are Homicidal / Omnicidal, Herbivores not just "Militant." Grass grazing, steppe dwelling sociopaths. - But I like your writing.

The nerve! Someone's asking for a trampling!

(You're not wrong, of course, but I link my defence of the K'kree here

Post in thread 'Zhodani Boogeymen' https://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/threads/zhodani-boogeymen.123173/post-950311

As for the question of player awareness, others have answered in my absence, but yes some of it isn't common knowledge in-universe -- mostly the parts relevant to the Ancients and the Droyne.

 

[Jim Bennett]

I'm toying with idea of all female crew ( a ploy to get some ladies into the game!!--I'm a retail game store owner)....anyone have
a lead or source on some material of recent game play with this approach? I'm posting elsewhere also..

 

[Bromo_Ivory]

I'm toying with idea of all female crew ( a ploy to get some ladies into the game!!--I'm a retail game store owner)....anyone have
a lead or source on some material of recent game play with this approach? I'm posting elsewhere also..

Traveller is pretty neutral on the subject. It would any particular tables that would be welcoming or not.

The best draw would be a female referee, IMHO

 

[IanBruntlett]

One of my players had some credits to spend and was delighted to find out she wasn't limited to the Core Rule Book's equipment catalogue and, IIRC, spent credits on spas and pampering.

 

[nats]

I've played Traveller for many years and I wasn't even aware of the Ancients being Droyne lol. Not that I am very fussed about the lore and most of my games don't even take place in the Official Traveller Universe, or at least it's kept as just a very vague backdrop. But that was interesting reading of the current state of the Traveller Universe.

 

[DrGoon]

BTW - you pony types are Homicidal / Omnicidal, Herbivores not just "Militant." Grass grazing, steppe dwelling sociopaths. - But I like your writing.

Speciocidal - genocidal would be correct. Also psychotic and potentially mundicidal - they care not if the species they are eradicating is supportive of the whole alien ecology. The edge of K'Kree space wasn't even moderately stable in my former variant universe. They were acting on this philosophy with all their ability rathe than just idly threatening and all other sophont species were ignoring other conflicts to defend against the extinction of all life on worlds on their borders. There was no room for a fifth frontier war. It didn't happen. The K'kree were eventually defeated but at the cost of over a thousand Imperial worlds (and many more K'kree worlds).

 

[DigrizJB]

I'm toying with idea of all female crew ( a ploy to get some ladies into the game!!--I'm a retail game store owner)....anyone have
a lead or source on some material of recent game play with this approach? I'm posting elsewhere also..

My wife and her friends are in an all female D&D group, with a male DM, the husband of one of the players. Three educators, an accountant, a flight attendant and a programmer. My wife, another player and the DM were players in my defunct D&D campaign.

Having observed and received reports of their shenanigans I will share these observations. This group of middle aged women have a lot of suppressed aggression, and killing bad things, and things that get in the way, is therapeutic for them. They are unabashed Murder Hobos.

They also do interesting things with their booty. They have purchased a tavern and refurbished and decorated it, and now they quest for better ales and libations to purvey at their inn. There is personal drama between the characters and their siblings. And shopping expeditions, and probably spa visits as well.

Early on they rescued a goblin, Droop, and made him their mascot, teaching him to fire sling bullets riding atop the Barbarian character. They overthrew the local goblin king and installed Droop as the king of the tribe. Then they found him a suitable queen and had an in-campaign wedding, with dinner and cake served in real life. There were tears of joy.

There is wine. They also spend a good deal of time before and after the adventure socializing out of character.

Kudos to the DM, none of the above is scripted. But the adventures are all off the bookshelf, run on Fantasy Grounds and over Zoom.

Like any game, it’s good to figure out what the players like to do before the party gets started, and be willing and able to adjust on the fly.

 

[G'Naakbusters]

Speciocidal - genocidal would be correct. Also psychotic and potentially mundicidal - they care not if the species they are eradicating is supportive of the whole alien ecology. The edge of K'Kree space wasn't even moderately stable in my former variant universe. They were acting on this philosophy with all their ability rathe than just idly threatening and all other sophont species were ignoring other conflicts to defend against the extinction of all life on worlds on their borders. There was no room for a fifth frontier war. It didn't happen. The K'kree were eventually defeated but at the cost of over a thousand Imperial worlds (and many more K'kree worlds).

You may disapprove, but really, if someone, somewhere is eating a ham sandwich... wouldn't you choose to act?

 

[DigrizJB]

You may disapprove, but really, if someone, somewhere is eating a ham sandwich... wouldn't you choose to act?

Soylent Green Liberation League... Not to be confused with the Soylent Green Liberation Front.
All we have to do is get K'kree into the K'kree diet - Supplements? Smoothies? Ales? and bam! Mad K'Kree disease will solve the problem..
Apparently I have latent speciocidal tendencies.

 

[Geir]

Soylent Green Liberation League... Not to be confused with the Soylent Green Liberation Front.
All we have to do is get K'kree into the K'kree diet - Supplements? Smoothies? Ales? and bam! Mad K'Kree disease will solve the problem..
Apparently I have latent speciocidal tendencies.

The Hivers already pulled that trick thousands of years ago. Apparently it worked. At least for stabilizing their border.