Things I Hope to See in Traveller in 2025 and Beyond

[Terry Mixon]

That's a a totally valid way to do it, of course!

Personally, I'm brand new to Traveller and the setting and while I find a lot of little gems scattered around the 3rd Imperium setting, I'm pretty meh on it in general.

Things I don't like about it:

- The bulk of the Imperium isn't particularly rich material for exciting adventures. Yes, you can be involved in Imperial politics and royalty/megacorp shenanigans but the bulk of the inner Imperium is fairly homogenous. It's like how you drive across the US and there's gonna be a McDs and Starbucks everywhere you go. A lot of the core, you could just swap one system for another with no consequence. The interesting stuff is mostly out at the periphery at the frontiers and buffer zones. Of course, there's enough Core adventure hooks to keep a group busy for years but if you're looking for other styles of play, it's not the best part of the universe. Of the Traveller material, most of it seems to be at the peripheries such as the Spinward Marches or the Rift, etc. I assume that the authors realized that the sort of niches that most PCs thrive in generally occur at the borders and intersticies rather than the burbs of a universe.

- Most of the species are essentially humans in masks or furry outfits. Of the major powers that border the Imperium, 2 are human and the Vargr and Aslan are basically people with certain personality traits turned way up. The only power that feels genuinely alien to me are the Hive. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a universe full of vulcans and klingons but it's not the sort of sci-fi experience I want for my game.
I think of Vernor Vinge's (who I just found out died last year) Fire Upon the Deep, still one of the best space operas ever written. In there, there's [mild spoilers] a race of canine-like sophonts. Except the individual animals are basically dog-level intelligent but can create linked hive-mind intelligences through ultrasound communication. The individual dogs can only manipulate objects with their prehensile mouths and so any complex tools require multiple bodies working in unison. Each person in the species is composed of a pack of dogs whose intelligence increases with pack size. Their culture is cutthroat as larger packs often try to use subterfuge or force to absorb the dogs of smaller packs, effectively killing the smaller individual. Their punishments for severe crimes involve this sort of death. Packs can temporarily split up if circumstance requires them to be in multiple locations but they run the risk of developing into separate personalities when they do that. Sometimes fragments of absorbed personalities can survive and break free of the larger pack but are usually partly insane. Can you imagine how interesting it would be to slap some eyepatches and a jolly roger on that species for the Vargr?

- The fact that the Imperium is surrounded on all sides yet all the other powers essentially have an endless frontier to expand into. By all sense, all the empires around it should have massively outgrown it and become vastly more powerful. Look at the craziness of the Zhodani coreward expedition. All those colonizable worlds along the corridor path of the expedition would dwarf the Imperium and there's no competition for those worlds.

I could go on but in general, there's a lot of canon in the Imperium that's at odds with the sort of sci-fi game I want to play. In spite of that, there's a ton of great source material that is easy to mine. Most of it really doesn't even need to be set in the 3rd Imperium since it's set out at the ragged edge of the empire. Honestly, hard rebooting the whole setting to break up all the empires gives you more places to set a lot of the Traveller material I've seen. The catalyst of another dark age is the perfect excuse to mix things up.

If the epicenter of the destruction is the core worlds, it's not implausible that the Spinward Marches and other areas around it become the new cultural center of gravity. (along with some surviving remnants of the rimward Solemani) That would naturally place smaller neo-imperial intrigue near the areas where most of the PC action is likely to occur rather than a full year of travel away. You could have your royalty politics just a few jumps away from the wild frontier.

Imagine a splinter faction of K'Kree that had to resort to cannibalism to survive and are now enthusiastic meat eaters and are engaged in a vicious civil war with their other bretheren.

The Hive might undergo a massive species breakdown as they would have been unable to maintain their genetic homogeneity efforts and the inevitable genetic drift on hundreds of worlds would possibly make them xenophobic to themselves. That might redouble their desire to work with and integrate other species into their culture while also trying to get as far away from other Hiver groups as possible in a giant diaspora across known space.

I could go on but I don't see a Virus reboot as throwing out all the existing source material but instead allowing it to be remixed and used in fun new ways. Since I don't have any particular nostalgia about the default setting, it's far more attractive to me to start slicing and dicing.

Valid. I see the rebellion as doing the same thing to the Imperium, without a crushing Dark Age. Everything would be torn down, but pockets survive and even thrive. Even once the fighting is done, things will be different and there will be more danger. I can live with that much better than Virus and basically the extinguishing of civilization.

 

[DanHeidel]

Valid. I see the rebellion as doing the same thing to the Imperium, without a crushing Dark Age. Everything would be torn down, but pockets survive and even thrive. Even once the fighting is done, things will be different and there will be more danger. I can live with that much better than Virus and basically the extinguishing of civilization.

Same here, actually.

I haven't read the Rebellion beyond the high level plot developments but the impression I had gotten was that while highly disruptive, it was an event far short in severity from the Dark Age.

My interpretation of Virus was that while the devastation in the cores of the various empires was nearly complete, the outlying regions were more poorly connected and able to more successfully isolate and protect themselves, leading to situation pretty close to what you're describing. Essentially thousands of little Balkanized micro empires of a few systems apiece and a few moderately sized empire remnants with dozens of worlds.

I think we're both interested in similar settings, just through different routes.

 

[Hermit King]

As I eagerly await the upcoming “Core Expedition” book, here are a few topics I hope will be explored in the future (in no particular order), assuming everything goes well:

A New Major Alien Race:
Since 1977, we’ve grown familiar with the Aslan, the Vargr, the Vilani, the Zhodani, the K’kree, and the Hiver. Why not introduce a brand-new major race lurking just beyond known space? Something that makes us think, “Hey, there really is something out there!” This could be an entirely new human empire or a completely unique sophon civilization—an opportunity for Mongoose to create their own signature species.

LOL the funny thing is, when you mention D&D to me im like way too many races, man should not be able to play a monster race. BUT Traveller give me all the races, the more you make the more i want.

 

[actionman]

It's like how you drive across the US and there's gonna be a McDs and Starbucks everywhere you go.

It's like how you drive fly across the US Imperium and there's gonna be a McDs Astroburgers and Starbucks Brubek's everywhere you go.

Because you already know where you are. Which is the bland homogenized undetailed uncharacterized Imperial interior. Because it's Not Yanks in Space.

The bulk of the Imperium isn't particularly rich material for exciting adventures.

Very true.

Most of the species are essentially humans in masks or furry outfits.

True. But, I would argue that refs and players are playing for different reasons, and none of those reasons include writing intelligent compelling science fiction.
Ref: Ok, you come into contact with this weird alien race that is intelligent and compelling.
Players: Red particle cannons fire, blue particle cannons fire, FGMP's fire. If there's a bar still standing, we shoot it up. You guys hungry? Astroburgers? Astroburgers? Astroburgers!
GT should have invented ISOP, Inter-Stellar House of Pancakes. Maybe Brubek's serves pancakes. With meat sauce.

Can you imagine how interesting it would be to slap some eyepatches and a jolly roger on that species for the Vargr?

Very intelligent and creative writers can do that. IMO, referees and players generally don't operate at that level. It all comes down to the roll to hit.

Also, intelligent compelling issues require intelligent compelling solutions, and intelligent compelling solutions aren't thought of in the 2 minutes that a player has to say something before other people at the table get bored. The canine race you mentioned, it could've taken months or years for the author to develop that and the solution to the challenge they presented.

I think that people prefer the familiar. They know how to deal with it, so it's a fun exercise, rather than an intractable thorny problem.

By all sense, all the empires around it should have massively outgrown it and become vastly more powerful.

Sense? We don't use sense around here. The Imperium is the main character of the setting, and everything must bend to that.

Imagine a splinter faction of K'Kree that had to resort to cannibalism to survive and are now enthusiastic meat eaters and are engaged in a vicious civil war with their other bretheren.

Meat sauce, heh heh heh.

 

[Condottiere]

It depends on what kind of adventure you're looking for.

Core subsectors are less likely to have military campaigns, but being, presumably, more teched up, cyberpunk in a dystopian society becomes viable.

Secret Psyker Wars!

 

[steelbrok]

And while the Vargr could be unified badasses up North,

And now I can't unthink the idea of mapping the Majors onto the Seven Kingdoms

North/Stark - well, you said it, Vargr
Westerlands/Lannister - those manipulative Zhodani
Riverlands/Tully - squabbling clans, the Aslan
Vale/Arryn - kind of trying to ignore everything else makes them the Droyne
Stormlands/Baratheon - "Ours is the Fury" they just have to be K'kree
Dorne/Martell - we know better, got to be the Solomani
Iron Islands - Aslan again, this time the Glorious Empire
Crownlands - Imperial Core
Reach - Prosperous and seemingly to indulge in violence, the Hivers

(And of course, the Targaryens are the Ancients)

 

[CordwainerFish]

Okay, now someone do the Heptarchy.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Avollant]

Same here, actually.

I haven't read the Rebellion beyond the high level plot developments but the impression I had gotten was that while highly disruptive, it was an event far short in severity from the Dark Age.

My interpretation of Virus was that while the devastation in the cores of the various empires was nearly complete, the outlying regions were more poorly connected and able to more successfully isolate and protect themselves, leading to situation pretty close to what you're describing. Essentially thousands of little Balkanized micro empires of a few systems apiece and a few moderately sized empire remnants with dozens of worlds.

I think we're both interested in similar settings, just through different routes.

If you read "This is Free Trader Beowulf - A System History of Traveller" by Shannon Appelcline; on page 136, there's a picture that show how the Rebellion would have ended originally... which is what I thought at the time... and why the New Era confused me.

 

[Avollant]

The bulk of the Imperium isn't particularly rich material for exciting adventures.

Depend on how you look at the setting. From what I think, the core is all about power, influence and prestige; much like the Byzantine court or the one of Louis XVI. Assassination, kidnaping, theft, blackmail, sabotage, information broker, "who did it and why?" should keep you busy for a while specially in a setting where the power elite have agendas and that those agenda have plans... with plans in everyone of them.


Meanwhile all your PC have are a puny laz-pistol, a faulty "smart" screwdriver (who think he is Caruso) and a half bottle of whiskey.

Have fun.

 

[Golan2072]

I'd love to see other eras fleshed out. Two in particular.

• The Galaxiad (a booklet about it is already available for T5): far, far future; big empires are gone due to Virus and Empress Wave; lots of independent worlds and small local powers. You can use or ignore anything from the Classic Era as you desire, as some things survive for 800 years while other don't. Perfectly canonical
• The First Long Night. Especially in the Rimward/Spinward. Nascent Aslan Hierate vs. Terran colonies and Vilani remnants. Also canonical.

A Solomani Civil War may be an interesting event even if there isn't an Imperial Rebellion per se. Factionalism is already in full swing in 1105, as is the power struggle between the (generally moderate) Party and the (hardliner) SolSec (hinted at by CT's AM6: Solomani, IIRC). This might explode into open warfare; the Imperium might try to intervene - but sticking your nose into someone else's civil war never ends well; Aslan ihatei may invade as well; the result: boundless opportunities for mercs, smugglers, and spies on the Rim.

Also, a belting sourcebook for MGT2022 would be great.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Also, a belting sourcebook for MGT2022 would be great.

Funny you should say that, I was sketching out an outline for just such a beast a couple of weeks ago. Nowhere near being on a schedule yet, but it is in the works.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Funny you should say that, I was sketching out an outline for just such a beast a couple of weeks ago. Nowhere near being on a schedule yet, but it is in the works.

With more details on mining, please. Many more details as things are sparse these days.

 

[Golan2072]

Funny you should say that, I was sketching out an outline for just such a beast a couple of weeks ago. Nowhere near being on a schedule yet, but it is in the works.

Great!

 

[Bense]

- The bulk of the Imperium isn't particularly rich material for exciting adventures. Yes, you can be involved in Imperial politics and royalty/megacorp shenanigans but the bulk of the inner Imperium is fairly homogenous.

Why would you think this?
Just because the inner sectors have never had much detail given to them by the publishers is no reason to think these regions are undynamic or all homogenous. The Imperium rules the space in between the stars, not the systems themselves. There's plenty of room for any number of strange cultures and unexpected diversity in Humaniti. You can put new minor alien races in wherever you like.
There are unexplored areas in every system, even in the core sectors and even after thousands of years of human occupation.

I am reminded of the introduction to the Encyclopedia of Dagudashaag (put together by the people who worked on Signal GK magazine):
"The picture many newcomers have of the sector is of a grey, featureless expanse of factory systems filled with grey, humourless Vilani. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dagudashaag is a sector of contrasts, from the soaring, fusion-carved mountains and glittering city-warrens of Medurma, to the floating dream worlds of Ushra, to the sulphur volcanoes of Lenashuuk, the macro-engineering of GaeWay's beantalk, and Kaurga's unspoilt plains.
"The social structure of Dagudashaag is equally varied. Arrive at any starport, and you will encounter the sibilant speech of the S'mrii, the strangely striped visages of Ziadd, the penetrating gazes of Scanians, and the towering, richly-robed figures of Aslan merchants."

- Most of the species are essentially humans in masks or furry outfits. Of the major powers that border the Imperium, 2 are human and the Vargr and Aslan are basically people with certain personality traits turned way up. The only power that feels genuinely alien to me are the Hive. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a universe full of vulcans and klingons but it's not the sort of sci-fi experience I want for my game.

The Zhodani seem the most alien to me, actually. What is it like to live in a culture where your thoughts are not private, everyone is happy with their lot, and there is no crime?

Having the most human-like races be near the Spinward Marches was a deliberate choice by the designers. And even the Spinward Marches has weirdness like the Llellewyloly, Sheol, Tashaki, and the Ebokin.

- The fact that the Imperium is surrounded on all sides yet all the other powers essentially have an endless frontier to expand into. By all sense, all the empires around it should have massively outgrown it and become vastly more powerful. Look at the craziness of the Zhodani coreward expedition. All those colonizable worlds along the corridor path of the expedition would dwarf the Imperium and there's no competition for those worlds.

That speaks to the Imperial system as being the most successful. The other races find it difficult to handle the space they currently have. The Imperium is "hands off" enough to claim a larger area, and diverse enough culturally to have a higher technology level than any of its neighbors.

I'm happy with the Imperium as it is. If I want to have campaigns with no Imperium in it there's plenty of places in Charted Space to put it. You don't even have to go very far - Foreven is right next to the Spinward Marches. There's no need to break up the Imperium.

In my opinion the Rebellion was a mistake, and Mongoose should go the way GURPS Traveller did - ignore the Rebellion and keep the Imperium intact.

Don't put in a new major race - there's no room for them. Just move over a few sectors from the Imperium and detail a whole new area of space if you want new previously unknown species to deal with.

 

[Hardwire]

Speaking of Books, I would love to see a book with updates 2e rules for creating and running a Corporation/Business. Similar to the 1e book Merchant Prince.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Speaking of Books, I would love to see a book with updates 2e rules for creating and running a Corporation/Business. Similar to the 1e book Merchant Prince.

Ditto!

 

[MongooseMatt]

Speaking of Books, I would love to see a book with updates 2e rules for creating and running a Corporation/Business. Similar to the 1e book Merchant Prince.

Won't be soon, but this is on the cards!