Okay... Since Mongoose were kind enough to give us a whole forum in which to accommodate my fanboy hopes and dreams (and because I'm slightly too busy/lazy to do all the work myself), I want to throw out my reasons why Blakes 7 would make a great setting book for Traveller.
Link for the uninitiated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake%27s_7
Because how could "the Dirty Dozen in space" ever be a bad idea? Distinctive feel, distinctive darkness and moral ambiguity
Because watching the TV show's ragtag band thrown together by chance, clashing aims and personalities, sometimes winning, often getting in trouble, and sometimes failing (or being killed!) really reminds me of a group of player characters struggling to get by.
Because you could lavish attention on an 'evil empire' that's soooooo much more convincing and nasty than the one in Star Wars - Faceless 'stormtroopers' that scare me a little even now, brainwashed supersoldiers, drugged populaces, rigged trials, tyrannical space captains and femme fatale Supreme Commanders. Plenty to fight against...or be part of!
Characters packed with personality - especially the AIs (Zen, Orac, Slave), making them great NPCs.
Aside from a few gaffs (like using treating the terms 'galaxy' and 'solar system' as interchangeable) the universe fits that pulp meets hard science space opera approach that Traveller has always done so well: lasers need powerpacks, slugthrowers are the most common weapon, etc. A humancentric universe but with human mutants and offshoots, clones and psychic powers for variety. Also...
Classic pulp sci fi like mad computers, psychic mutants, acidic space goo, android gunslingers, etc. Neutral worlds to trade with and hide on, rebel colonies, prison planets. Unseen aliens lurking on the horizon.
Multiple time periods you could play in, from Blake's first rebellion to the tumultuous times of the TV series (alien invasions, contraction, expansion), to 30 years later as the possibly surviving Avon gathers a new group to fight against the Federation. Parties could work crushing the rebel scum, work for one of the Federation's many resistance cells, or skirt the area between of known space.
A recognisable brand name and existing fanbase, but no current TV series, audio plays, etc to compete with.
Best of all….It's British!
Link for the uninitiated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake%27s_7
Because how could "the Dirty Dozen in space" ever be a bad idea? Distinctive feel, distinctive darkness and moral ambiguity
Because watching the TV show's ragtag band thrown together by chance, clashing aims and personalities, sometimes winning, often getting in trouble, and sometimes failing (or being killed!) really reminds me of a group of player characters struggling to get by.
Because you could lavish attention on an 'evil empire' that's soooooo much more convincing and nasty than the one in Star Wars - Faceless 'stormtroopers' that scare me a little even now, brainwashed supersoldiers, drugged populaces, rigged trials, tyrannical space captains and femme fatale Supreme Commanders. Plenty to fight against...or be part of!
Characters packed with personality - especially the AIs (Zen, Orac, Slave), making them great NPCs.
Aside from a few gaffs (like using treating the terms 'galaxy' and 'solar system' as interchangeable) the universe fits that pulp meets hard science space opera approach that Traveller has always done so well: lasers need powerpacks, slugthrowers are the most common weapon, etc. A humancentric universe but with human mutants and offshoots, clones and psychic powers for variety. Also...
Classic pulp sci fi like mad computers, psychic mutants, acidic space goo, android gunslingers, etc. Neutral worlds to trade with and hide on, rebel colonies, prison planets. Unseen aliens lurking on the horizon.
Multiple time periods you could play in, from Blake's first rebellion to the tumultuous times of the TV series (alien invasions, contraction, expansion), to 30 years later as the possibly surviving Avon gathers a new group to fight against the Federation. Parties could work crushing the rebel scum, work for one of the Federation's many resistance cells, or skirt the area between of known space.
A recognisable brand name and existing fanbase, but no current TV series, audio plays, etc to compete with.
Best of all….It's British!
