The Incredible Rhylanor Grand Reverse

[collins355]

Agreed. Virus does that. Wave does that. (I'm afraid a 2300AD Invasion will do that - the original did) The Rebellion doesn't necessarily do that. It was just handled poorly, with nothing useable until Chuck Gannon came around with Hard Times. Which coincidently is the period after 1125.

If done right, the period 1116-1125 could be done at a more playable scale, but the way it was done: advancing to 1120 and having Glisten and beyond already overrun was and still is annoying. On the other hand, a 5FW wargame with another set of scenarios on the same map and ruleset set for the Rebellion era could be tons of fun. You could even have starting positions based on the outcome of the 5FW board game.

And if you wanted ihatei taking down a high population world, you could do it Invasion Earth style: Or at least on a 1000 kilometre per hex world map. You'd end up with a scattering of resisting worlds and not a neat line on a map. Same on the Coreward frontier with Vargr bands perhaps overrunning low population worlds, but fighting on or bypassing high population worlds. Add in a breakdown of command with nobles and admirals fending for themselves, especially in Deneb sector, and it could be a completely chaotic mess with tons of room for adventure and both large and small scales.

Yes! As I've mentioned previously, I did a campaign using T4 Imperial Squadrons rules of the Vargr invasion of Corridor during the Rebellion. The basis being the removal of the Corridor Fleet to fight in the Imperial core, leaving just local forces to resist the Vargr.
The key for Vargr we found was to judiciously use their forces against digestable target systems in Corridor.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Any story ever written is a playable scale for PCs. All it takes is for a Referee to realize which events are pivotal to the timeframe in question. For the Rebellion, these could be anything from a political game on Dlan to work for or against Dulinor's plans for Strephon, a martial game on Capital to either assassinate or prevent the assassination of Strephon and the escape or investigation that takes place in it's aftermath, a war game versus a huge number of possible opponents in the aftermath of the event on Capital depending on at what point the timeline changes from Canon to your campaign. I could go on and on and on with Adventures and even whole Campaigns with the PCs taking center stage in any or all of these events depending on the type of campaign or adventure that each gaming group decides they want.

In My opinion, and it is opinion only, these Canon Stories do not need to be changed in Canon, because as soon as I introduce player characters in to these events, the Canon Universe and My Table's Universe diverge. Any events that happen in the future in Canon, will still happen, unless the PCs do something to alter those events. I can write adventures to make PCs the stars of any Canon event with the ability to change the outcome. It is easy.

 

[GypsyComet]

Very different settings to me. T2000 is a post apocalypse survival game. TNE is an exploration, rebuilding and mystery solving game.

Generally agree. The equivalent of T2k in the main Traveller timeline would be 1129-1135 or so.

 

[Lurking Grue]

My point about TNE becoming 'Twilight: 2000 - In Space' was more about how it looked to me and, I'd argue, to many others too. Sure, once you read more about what TNE actually was, you could see there was more variation to the setting, but without delving deeper, the first thing you caught was that a great collapse happened and now you're in the aftermath of it, trying to survive (and possibly rebuild) the best you can. In essence, the setting changed to a more or less post apocalypse setting, even if you still could have pockets of high TL and whatnot, it was an aftermath of a great disaster setting - like T2000. The similarities are much greater than with previous editions. Yes, Traveller had higher tech levels and space travel, but the basic feel of The New Era setting was too close to for comfort to T2000 for me.

In addition, with TNE the rule system changed from the long-standing 2D6 system it had been to the D20 system used by T2000 2e. So even more similarities between the two. Yes, I later learned, GDW wanted to make that system their new house system and use it for every game, but back then it just looked like they'd gone all T2000 on Traveller to me. Even if I liked many things in TNE (believe it or not), to this day it is the 'Traveller Goes Twilight:2000' edition for me. Your mileage may (and will) vary.

 

[GypsyComet]

No, you are on the nose for what it looked like at the time, though IIRC it started as d10 and then became a d20 shortly thereafter, alongside all of the then extant House System games.

What TNE managed to NOT do, however, was become a different game. The core book did convey things reasonably well, and while the later books expanded upon those themes and emphasized the para-military aspects, the setting remained the same. That may be coming from my long-time exposure to the setting, so I knew what I was looking at, but it was sadly common for RPGs of the 90s to present as one thing and turn into another within a year or so. GDW's own Dark Conspiracy conveyed a different setting in the core book than what it grew into, for example, while the White Wolf games were notorious for morphing by the third House/Tradition/Tribe book or so, almost like they were writing the mid-game gotchas on purpose. Not to mention the fundamental lie in the very name of TSR's Forgotten Realms, which may as well have been switched to being called "Volo Was Here".

 

[RogerMc]

But isn't the Galaxiad in which the wave was a huge thing OTU official future canon?

 

[Sigtrygg]

The OTU ended with TNE.

Marc, sadly, doesn't know what Frank and Dave had planned for the "Empress Wave"

Rob's version in the galaxiad special supplement is very different from what we know Dave intended effects wise.

As to Marc's vision that the various Traveller eras are just wafer simulations of events - hence the discrepancies - that is certainly one way to do it.

Don was not a fan of TNE, Virus or the wave.

Personally I see the OTU post TNE as much like GoT the TV series once they had run out of novels. As to what Mongoose is doing... theirs is a new interpretation of the setting and going forward it is theirs to decide how things turn out.

 

[WHULorigan]

The OTU ended with TNE.

Marc, sadly, doesn't know what Frank and Dave had planned for the "Empress Wave"

Rob's version in the galaxiad special supplement is very different from what we know Dave intended effects wise.

As to Marc's vision that the various Traveller eras are just wafer simulations of events - hence the discrepancies - that is certainly one way to do it.

Don was not a fan of TNE, Virus or the wave.

Personally I see the OTU post TNE as much like GoT the TV series once they had run out of novels. As to what Mongoose is doing... theirs is a new interpretation of the setting and going forward it is theirs to decide how things turn out.

Rob's version of the Galaxiad actually ties in with the material in Marc's novel AotI, et al., and the version of the Ancient's Era that he is helping flesh-out, and also Don's material as well, but I do not believe I have permission to say more. But they all come together in a Grand Arc.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Rob worked with Marc to write it.

Take it to PM if you like, I had many conversations with Don and used to talk with Rob a bit.

The publicly available facts are that GDW had a plot arc for TNE up to a point, an outline of what would follow.

Marc, Don and Rob do not know what was intended, and for some reason there has been little conversation with Frank or Dave to try and find out.