The Rim Expeditions are here...

[Epabaa]

Between The Great Rift, Deepnight Revelations, and this book

On that note, I wonder if there was any thought to trying to harmonize (or at least reference) the different treatments of the Survey Index, now Universal Research Mechanic, across these products and the new World Builder's Handbook?

With Rim Expeditions and the World Builder's Handbook being released so close together I presume they were developed in parallel and there wasn't much time to compare how each would handle similar subjects. Although I note that WBH does make reference to the Great Rift set's Deep Space Exploration Handbook, and Rim Expeditions notes that it basically includes rules and mechanics previously published in that product.

I suppose the abstracted supply and maintenance rules from Deepnight aren't referenced in Rim Expeditions because the former has more of a focus on methods to move Travellers swiftly through very long interstellar transits, while Rim Expeditions is more focused on conventional campaigning and gameplay, but in a long-duration/distant region exploration setting?

Anyway, there's a lot of neat ideas and mechanics across all these books that can sort of work together and, taken together, have the makings of an intriguing toolkit for long-distance/long-duration exploration campaigns.

 

[Geir]

On that note, I wonder if there was any thought to trying to harmonize (or at least reference) the different treatments of the Survey Index, now Universal Research Mechanic, across these products and the new World Builder's Handbook?

With Rim Expeditions and the World Builder's Handbook being released so close together I presume they were developed in parallel and there wasn't much time to compare how each would handle similar subjects. Although I note that WBH does make reference to the Great Rift set's Deep Space Exploration Handbook, and Rim Expeditions notes that it basically includes rules and mechanics previously published in that product.

I suppose the abstracted supply and maintenance rules from Deepnight aren't referenced in Rim Expeditions because the former has more of a focus on methods to move Travellers swiftly through very long interstellar transits, while Rim Expeditions is more focused on conventional campaigning and gameplay, but in a long-duration/distant region exploration setting?

Anyway, there's a lot of neat ideas and mechanics across all these books that can sort of work together and, taken together, have the makings of an intriguing toolkit for long-distance/long-duration exploration campaigns.

I wasn't going to bring it up, but... I tried to run with the SI from Great Rift with the WBH and make them compatible. I don't why Martin decided to chance course as there was nothing wrong with what he did with Great Rift and Deepnight.

 

[ProfGrizzlyJon]

the rules exist. Use them if you want. IMHO, Mongoose advancing the tech paradigm is just as unhelpful as any other metaplot pre-defined outcomes. The future development of the setting should be left to the individual table.

Or they can release a setting that goes the opposite way from Pioneer. Instead of low tech, make it extra high tech.

What is Pioneer? I don’t follow the reference

 

[Vormaerin]

Pioneer is the new setting that Mongoose is developing. It is expected next year. It is a very hard sci, early days of space exploration version of Traveller from what has been revealed so far.

 

[alex_greene]

What is Pioneer? I don’t follow the reference

Mongoose's new, independent SF Traveller setting. Not related to the 3I in any way.

 

[Galadrion]

Of course, it would not look good for the Imperium if the species which makes the breakthrough that introduces such a drive happens to be the Zhodani, or the Solomani. And yes, it is a conceit that it would be a species of Humaniti which comes up with such a device - not the Droyne, Aslan, Vargr, K'Kree, or Hivers.

I already had plans in development for something along those lines in my "Lost Colony Cluster" campaign - which, thanks to the Rim Expeditions co-opting the Spinner, has now been relocated completely out of the Orion Arm and close to the Nearside Edge of the Perseus Arm (what's a matter of a thousand parsecs between friends?). I've got plot elements in the works which will include at least two other interstellar polities which might technically qualify as Major Races (leaving aside the points that they aren't from the Known Space region and that they don't control anywhere near the volume of space as one of "our" Major Races) plus one which is pushing towards the discovery/implementation of Hop Drive. (Even with Hop Drive, a controlled return across the Perseus-Orion Gap isn't going to be a simple or easy undertaking - a kiloparsec exploration mission across the deepest rift any known major race has ever tried to navigate? No, not easy at all. And that leaves aside the difficulties in acquiring some other race's current Most Vital Strategic Secret, and then figuring out how to implement it...)

 

[alex_greene]

I already had plans in development for something along those lines in my "Lost Colony Cluster" campaign - which, thanks to the Rim Expeditions co-opting the Spinner, has now been relocated completely out of the Orion Arm and close to the Nearside Edge of the Perseus Arm (what's a matter of a thousand parsecs between friends?). I've got plot elements in the works which will include at least two other interstellar polities which might technically qualify as Major Races (leaving aside the points that they aren't from the Known Space region and that they don't control anywhere near the volume of space as one of "our" Major Races) plus one which is pushing towards the discovery/implementation of Hop Drive. (Even with Hop Drive, a controlled return across the Perseus-Orion Gap isn't going to be a simple or easy undertaking - a kiloparsec exploration mission across the deepest rift any known major race has ever tried to navigate? No, not easy at all. And that leaves aside the difficulties in acquiring some other race's current Most Vital Strategic Secret, and then figuring out how to implement it...)

Or you could come up with the storied old trope of the genius who builds one in her back yard from spare parts and scraps, and installs it in an old ship which had been stripped of its drives and plant.
And discovers how to turn her drive into a Skip drive.

And now I've got an idea for a campaign where this Solomani person now begins to equip a fleet of fast ships to fill them with cargos and just send them to Rimward to replenish the colonies. And then someone tells her about the Zhodani Core Expeditions ...

 

[Sigtrygg]

How about he stumbles across the TL28 reality drive in his shed - which has a couple of odd effects.

Instantaneous transport to anywhere in the universe, and the shed is now larger on the inside...

 

[alex_greene]

How about he stumbles across the TL28 reality drive in his shed - which has a couple of odd effects.

Instantaneous transport to anywhere in the universe, and the shed is now larger on the inside...

That could work. I read a MWM story about alien living ships which could theoretically reach to the edge of the observable universe. Maybe the period beginning 1105 is the time that such tech becomes available, because Humaniti has reached an evolutionary turning point etc.

 

[Galadrion]

You guys put together your campaigns, I'll do mine. I've got a few ideas I want to implement, while cutting (way!) down on the size of the polities involved. Pocket empires, not stellar empires (yet). But there are still going to wonders and marvels, and great - possibly insurmountable - challenges.

 

[Sigtrygg]

TL28+ cultures could pre-date the Ancients...

The Ancients and all the humanoid races of charted space could be a petri dish for one of these TL28+ cultures.

 

[Geir]

Pocket empires are cool. It's easier to deal with billions of people than trillions: more detail, higher stakes, more chance of a group of Travellers having a real impact. I should revisit The Beyond and develop it further. Not this year.

 

[Vormaerin]

Yeah. That's why I set my campaign in the Islands. There's a touch of the Imperium without it being overbearing and otherwise its a bunch of small pocket empires.

 

[Epabaa]

So what I'm hearing here is Pocket Empires should definitely get the World Builder's Handbook update-for-Mongoose-2e treatment? Sounds like a fantastic idea!

 

[Galadrion]

Pocket Empires and possibly/probably Fire Fusion and Steel. Gearhead Grognards forever!

 

[Squishtopher10203]

I know with such a large amount of material being published it is nearly impossible to keep everything consistent but I have noticed a couple of major contradictions in this book to books published earlier in this edition.

On page 8 of "Rim Expeditions", in the penultimate paragraph, it mentions that the Solomani seized a large amount of Scout Service equipment, and in particular mentions Scout Service vessels. This goes against the second column of page 25 of "Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 2", in the section that deals with the history of the Solomani, where it mentions that before the Solomani Rim War the Imperium pulled most of the Scout Service vessels out of the Solomani Autonomous Region and notes that the Solomani got far fewer of the Scout Service assets, in particular the spaceships, than they hoped for.

A more egregious error, in my opinion, comes with the Solomani's policy towards colonisation of worlds in the near rimwards area of their territory. In the section on "Internal and Short-Range Exploration", on pages 10 and 11 of "Rim Expeditions" it talks about how the border in the near rimward regions creeps out a little but that the Solomani is very careful and considerate in what planets it claims and that the party "is not actively seeking expansion in this region". This massively goes against what we were told on the last paragraph of page 35 of "Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 2", which stated that the latest leader of the Solomani Confederation, Secretary General Salazar, has emphasised rimward expansion as part of his administration. This is emphasised in the section on the Aldebaran Sector on page 38 which mentions a 'land rush' to claim and colonise new worlds and that this is even outpacing the rule of law in some places. This fact is reiterated in the "Order of Prometheus" campaign book, on page 5, though in that case the first three paragraphs of that short chapter on the Aldebaran Sector seems to have been copied wholesale from page 38 of "Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 2".

I apologise if nobody cares about this stuff, I just wanted to mention it to somebody.

I thank you for your time.

Edit: Corrected a book title.

 

[Condottiere]

1. The way I interpret it, the Imperium pulled out a lot of stuff that wasn't nailed down when the Confederation seceded, and probably expensive and high technology equipment that was.

2. However, the Navy has had a lot of time to replace and expand their legacy of the ecks boat network, even after the War of Imperium Aggression, but it appears to be a minimum effort, more lip service, so it appears to be a political agenda issue.

3. The Navy probably doesn't care, since they have their own courier network, which Solomani Security taps on occasion; possibly the ecks boat network can be utilized by anyone, or everyone, so the reason for it's deliberate neglect and deterioration might be internal information control.

4. As regards to rimward exploration, there's only one direction the Confederation can expand.

 

[G'Naakbusters]

I In the section on "Internal and Short-Range Exploration", on pages 10 and 11 of "Rim Expeditions" it talks about how the border in the near rimward regions creeps out a little but that the Solomani is very careful and considerate in what planets it claims and that the party "is not actively seeking expansion in this region". This massively goes against what we were told on the last paragraph of page 35 of "Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 2", which stated that the latest leader of the Solomani Confederation, Secretary General Salazar, has emphasised rimward expansion as part of his administration. This is emphasised in the section on the Aldebaran Sector on page 38 which mentions a 'land rush' to claim and colonise new worlds and that this is even outpacing the rule of law in some places. This fact is reiterated in the "Order of Prometheus" campaign book, on page 5, though in that case the first three paragraphs of that short chapter on the Aldebaran Sector seems to have been copied wholesale from page 38 of "Aliens of Charted Space: Volume 2".

I apologise if nobody cares about this stuff, I just wanted to mention it to somebody.

I thank you for your time.

Edit: Corrected a book title.

Perhaps we can reconcile it by assuming that the Confederation itself is indeed very cautious about which worlds it expands to and claims (i.e. which worlds receive official government support and investment, and so can claim state resources) but that the Secretary General is encouraging private citizens dedicated to the Solomani Cause to flood the frontier and establish Good Solomani Values communities and further the exceptional destiny of the race. The note about "outpacing the rule of law" can support that, perhaps?

 

[Sigtrygg]

Something carried over from CT perhaps? The Third Imperium bias and unreliable narrator effect.

The Aliens books are written from the Imperial perspective, the Rim Expeditions book is written from the Solomani point of view.

 

[Condottiere]

I always conceptualized the CAVALRY deployed there for bug hunting and counter insurgency.