I had an idea for a Traveller campaign over the holidays that's been intriguing me enough to start fleshing out the idea.
The idea is to take a known fact about the OTU - that communication is only as fast as travel - and change it during the course of the campaign by adding near instantaneous communication over interstellar distances, and let the players ride the wave of chaos that ensues.
The basic idea is that PCs in the Spinward Marches end up with the discovery of near instantaneous interstellar communications. The entire campaign then revolves around what do they do with it, and how do they survive having it.
I haven't completely fleshed everything out - still very much in concept stage, but was wondering if I'm missing anything in the questions I have to answer as well as looking for ideas on answering those questions.
The things I have to consider:
1. Who invented the technology?
2. How does it work?
3. Why hasn't it been discovered before now?
My basic idea here is that an oddball genius scientist takes a long discredited form of jump drive theory, and twists it into this new form of communications. He has a hard time convincing anyone, and is basically laughed out of academia, a disgrace. Later on, one of his relatives who happens to have money and a soft spot for the old guy finances a limited test. The technology relies on ansible beacons that can't be further than 1 parsec away from each other, meaning a network has to be built. Thanks to an unrelated accident - probably a misjump - the original experiment never gets completed, and is beleived a failure - thus further driving a nail into the coffin of the idea.
4. How do the PCs come into possession of the technology?
5. What resources will they need?
Of course, the PCs, being the adventurous sort, manage to discover the "lost ship" with it's FTL ansibles on board in a remote location, abandoned and available to take title on under salvage law. They'll need a ship to find the lost ship and it's ansibles, then they'll need some expertise to truly realize what they've found, which means steering them towards certain careers/skills.
6. What will the PCs do once the technology is in their hands?
7. Will they hide it or share it?
Of course, this is a question I can't truly answer, but it's good to have some ideas about possible courses. The most sensible course is probably just sell the stuff to the highest bidder and be done with it, but PCs usually like having the "magic" items that give them an edge. Some PCs would probably like to build their own communications business, others would use it for advantages in battle/crime.
8. How the heck does everyone else react?
9. What resources do the PCs no find arrayed against them?
This is a huge one - it's game changing, and everyone, and I mean everyone in the OTU is going to want what the PCs have. Even if they don't have it any more. Each of the megacorps is probably going to have both lawyers and more clandestine agents after them. Universities and the more "enlightened" will probably want them to share their discoveries openly. The governments of the Spinward Marches - basically, every planet with a space force on up to the Zhodani and Imperium are going to try and grab it somehow.
Seriously, at this point, the PCs are going to have a hard time staying alive. It wouldn't surprise me to see a campaign filled with kidnapping and assassination attempts.
10. After it's begun deployment, what happens next?
Part of this depends upon where the FTL comm net begins, and what areas it covers. If the Zhodani grab it first, the Spinward Marches will likely be Zhodani territory very quickly. But say the PCs sell it to the Archduke in good faith, who begins deploying it to Imperial ships and systems among the Spinward Marches while sending off ships to Emperor Strephon to tell him of their good news. Surely someone in the Marches, or in between is going to see the advantage FTL comms gives them, and attempt to seize it to seize control of the Imperium.
Or what about megacorps who've long been used to haivng divisions work fairly independant of each other - how would the ability to contact megacorp headquarters on the other side of the Imperium affect their day to day functioning?
Let me finish by saying I realize that this is a very non-canon idea, but it appeals to me because it puts the PCs at the very center of what would surely be chaos and turbulence in the OTU, were it to happen.
The idea is to take a known fact about the OTU - that communication is only as fast as travel - and change it during the course of the campaign by adding near instantaneous communication over interstellar distances, and let the players ride the wave of chaos that ensues.
The basic idea is that PCs in the Spinward Marches end up with the discovery of near instantaneous interstellar communications. The entire campaign then revolves around what do they do with it, and how do they survive having it.
I haven't completely fleshed everything out - still very much in concept stage, but was wondering if I'm missing anything in the questions I have to answer as well as looking for ideas on answering those questions.
The things I have to consider:
1. Who invented the technology?
2. How does it work?
3. Why hasn't it been discovered before now?
My basic idea here is that an oddball genius scientist takes a long discredited form of jump drive theory, and twists it into this new form of communications. He has a hard time convincing anyone, and is basically laughed out of academia, a disgrace. Later on, one of his relatives who happens to have money and a soft spot for the old guy finances a limited test. The technology relies on ansible beacons that can't be further than 1 parsec away from each other, meaning a network has to be built. Thanks to an unrelated accident - probably a misjump - the original experiment never gets completed, and is beleived a failure - thus further driving a nail into the coffin of the idea.
4. How do the PCs come into possession of the technology?
5. What resources will they need?
Of course, the PCs, being the adventurous sort, manage to discover the "lost ship" with it's FTL ansibles on board in a remote location, abandoned and available to take title on under salvage law. They'll need a ship to find the lost ship and it's ansibles, then they'll need some expertise to truly realize what they've found, which means steering them towards certain careers/skills.
6. What will the PCs do once the technology is in their hands?
7. Will they hide it or share it?
Of course, this is a question I can't truly answer, but it's good to have some ideas about possible courses. The most sensible course is probably just sell the stuff to the highest bidder and be done with it, but PCs usually like having the "magic" items that give them an edge. Some PCs would probably like to build their own communications business, others would use it for advantages in battle/crime.
8. How the heck does everyone else react?
9. What resources do the PCs no find arrayed against them?
This is a huge one - it's game changing, and everyone, and I mean everyone in the OTU is going to want what the PCs have. Even if they don't have it any more. Each of the megacorps is probably going to have both lawyers and more clandestine agents after them. Universities and the more "enlightened" will probably want them to share their discoveries openly. The governments of the Spinward Marches - basically, every planet with a space force on up to the Zhodani and Imperium are going to try and grab it somehow.
Seriously, at this point, the PCs are going to have a hard time staying alive. It wouldn't surprise me to see a campaign filled with kidnapping and assassination attempts.
10. After it's begun deployment, what happens next?
Part of this depends upon where the FTL comm net begins, and what areas it covers. If the Zhodani grab it first, the Spinward Marches will likely be Zhodani territory very quickly. But say the PCs sell it to the Archduke in good faith, who begins deploying it to Imperial ships and systems among the Spinward Marches while sending off ships to Emperor Strephon to tell him of their good news. Surely someone in the Marches, or in between is going to see the advantage FTL comms gives them, and attempt to seize it to seize control of the Imperium.
Or what about megacorps who've long been used to haivng divisions work fairly independant of each other - how would the ability to contact megacorp headquarters on the other side of the Imperium affect their day to day functioning?
Let me finish by saying I realize that this is a very non-canon idea, but it appeals to me because it puts the PCs at the very center of what would surely be chaos and turbulence in the OTU, were it to happen.
