Traveller in Historical Settings Poll
- Thread starter MongooseMatt
- Start date
alex_greene
Guest
Pitching in again with another couple of eras.
Renaissance Italy, and the rest of Europe around that time.
The Enlightenment.
The Thirties, before WWII.
The Cold War.
Renaissance Italy, and the rest of Europe around that time.
The Enlightenment.
The Thirties, before WWII.
The Cold War.
ColinD
Cosmic Mongoose
The Time-TRAVELLER would be a great! Why pick one era when you can pick them all.
You could travel back to Renaissance Italy, get Machiavelli to autograph a copy of the Prince. Go north and meet up with Condottieri in the Italian Wars. Pick up some Venetian Glass Sculptures and then travel to 1980's London. Sell the book and the Sculptures for gold at the secret Time Travel Emporium that is under the Thames in an abandoned Tube Station. See The Cure play at the Royal Albert Hall.
Take the gold back to Napoleonic times to assist in buying arms for some Spanish freedom fighters in the Uprising of Santa Cruz de Mudela against the French Army. Return back to 1980's London to the Time Travel Emporium. Make plans to go back to the Caribbean during the Age of Piracy to track down where a ship sank so as to find the treasure at a later date.
You could travel back to Renaissance Italy, get Machiavelli to autograph a copy of the Prince. Go north and meet up with Condottieri in the Italian Wars. Pick up some Venetian Glass Sculptures and then travel to 1980's London. Sell the book and the Sculptures for gold at the secret Time Travel Emporium that is under the Thames in an abandoned Tube Station. See The Cure play at the Royal Albert Hall.
Take the gold back to Napoleonic times to assist in buying arms for some Spanish freedom fighters in the Uprising of Santa Cruz de Mudela against the French Army. Return back to 1980's London to the Time Travel Emporium. Make plans to go back to the Caribbean during the Age of Piracy to track down where a ship sank so as to find the treasure at a later date.
Geir
Emperor Mongoose
It's been done by others (GURPs comes to mind), but a Paratime-style campaign would be fun: A gazillion parallel Earths. everything from Dino-land (with or without humans primitives) or otherwise to TechoRome or some other there-wasn't-a-dark-age world. Had this idea a long time ago of timeline where Alexander the Great lived another twenty years, dying of malaria on an expedition to find the source of the Nile...
Stingray_tm
Banded Mongoose
Do them all and call the game "Time Traveller". You can even tie it in with normal Traveller via Ancient technology.
Time Traveller opens quite a lot of possibilities, from Doctor Who-like adventures, Time Cop-like enforcers or maybe even a Temporal War.
The rules could be universal - we already have the possibility to play in different TL-s. What would be good to have is sourcebooks for different eras, or just a set of careers applicable for different eras, to allow for player characters from the different ages sucked into a temporal adventure.
Or maybe for something of a Riverworld setting. Or the other way around - simply have time travelling players from one era on a temporal voyage. Then all we really need is mechanics for temporal travel and maybe a ruling on causality and temporal paradoxes.
The rules could be universal - we already have the possibility to play in different TL-s. What would be good to have is sourcebooks for different eras, or just a set of careers applicable for different eras, to allow for player characters from the different ages sucked into a temporal adventure.
Or maybe for something of a Riverworld setting. Or the other way around - simply have time travelling players from one era on a temporal voyage. Then all we really need is mechanics for temporal travel and maybe a ruling on causality and temporal paradoxes.
Lurking Grue
Banded Mongoose
These two, especially the Cold War era would be great. I can't think of one Cold War era RPG other than the James Bond RPG, which is a very specific type of RPG. A more generic Cold War secret agent/action hero/private investigator/etc. game would be cool - and something that isn't already done to death in RPGs.
For the Thirties game, I would lean on Indiana Jones and Film Noir, not Horror (Call of Cthulhu already does that).
This all with a caveat that do these only if they do not hamper the Traveller RPG line, of course.
Actuall, CoC does (or at least did) Cold War era as well, with Cthulhu Now (80s). Not sure if they have a newer version, I don’t recall seeing it.
michaelstee
Mongoose
Here's my suggestion: one book (let's call it Across Time), with 5-6 different time periods (say Roman, Middle Ages, 1600s-1700s, late 1800s, 1920-30-40s, and 1960-70-80s). This book just contains chargen with 6-12 careers each (esp military, as many adventurers are veterans), with discussion of how skills change in the different time periods. Also some equipment and weapon lists. Then this book can be used as a core book, with setting books for some, if not all, of the time periods. This one book can also be helpful for Crosstime travel. Romans vs mercs from 70s-80s = Janissaries by Pournelle. Ordinary people from 70-80s vs Europeans from 1600s = the 1632 series of books. As each setting book sells, Mongoose can see which settings are popular and expand on those.
TrippyHippy
Emperor Mongoose
I am glad people are getting interested in the concept of a Time-Traveller book. I do think there are several approaches that could be taken.
It could be just a supplement or it could be an actual setting. If it is the latter, then there needs to be careful thought into the paradigm taken to explain how Time-Travel would theoretically work that is specific to the setting. If it is the former, then there could be multiple theories that could be used to explain how.
I still think there is scope to make a H.G.Wells inspired aspect of a Space:1889 setting that incorporates time-travel into it. That said, I noted that there is another company that has kickstarted/released another version of Space: 1889 for the 5E system so I’m not sure what the license situation is now.
If you can’t do a Space: 1889 setting directly it is a shame but, if you can’t get it, why not just make a Traveller setting directly based on H.G. Wells' The Time Machine and work with that as the basis of the core setting? You could make 1895 the default year instead, and possibly include a bit of War of the Worlds and references to his other literature - while also giving scope for a wide range of different time periods PCs could travel to as a whole line. It would all be in the public domain, I think. So why not?
It could be just a supplement or it could be an actual setting. If it is the latter, then there needs to be careful thought into the paradigm taken to explain how Time-Travel would theoretically work that is specific to the setting. If it is the former, then there could be multiple theories that could be used to explain how.
I still think there is scope to make a H.G.Wells inspired aspect of a Space:1889 setting that incorporates time-travel into it. That said, I noted that there is another company that has kickstarted/released another version of Space: 1889 for the 5E system so I’m not sure what the license situation is now.
If you can’t do a Space: 1889 setting directly it is a shame but, if you can’t get it, why not just make a Traveller setting directly based on H.G. Wells' The Time Machine and work with that as the basis of the core setting? You could make 1895 the default year instead, and possibly include a bit of War of the Worlds and references to his other literature - while also giving scope for a wide range of different time periods PCs could travel to as a whole line. It would all be in the public domain, I think. So why not?
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
One of the reasons I suggested Time Travel (love the Time Traveller name but that wasn't me) is I really like the Time and Time Again game
en.wikipedia.org
being able to go to any era (not just Earth but how about ancient Vland...)
the tech to do it is there in T5...
Time & Time Again - Wikipedia
the tech to do it is there in T5...
My suggestion would be to rewrite the lower levels of the Tech Level scale like so:
TL 0: Stone age or no technology (if uninhabited)
TL 1: Bronze Age to Iron Age
TL 2: Medieval
TL 3: Renaissance
TL 4: Age of Sail to 1850s
TL 5: 1860s to 1920s
TL 6: 1930s to 1960s
TL 7: 1970s to 1990s
My logic is to give a bit finer gradation to low tech, just in case a referee has something that they want to play. Remember, low tech is not stupid - a Roman Era legionary might be scared off by an ACR at first, but will figure it out eventually.
TL 0: Stone age or no technology (if uninhabited)
TL 1: Bronze Age to Iron Age
TL 2: Medieval
TL 3: Renaissance
TL 4: Age of Sail to 1850s
TL 5: 1860s to 1920s
TL 6: 1930s to 1960s
TL 7: 1970s to 1990s
My logic is to give a bit finer gradation to low tech, just in case a referee has something that they want to play. Remember, low tech is not stupid - a Roman Era legionary might be scared off by an ACR at first, but will figure it out eventually.
JustEastOfTheEdge
Cosmic Mongoose
All of these RPGs exist elsewhere in far more elaborate and specifically-designed form. I see little points in a "GURPS" style generic system in this day and age as there are so many very good RPGs out there now. You are going to end up with lists of exceptions and re-applications of so many skills, and careers, as to make it barely recognisable as Traveller anyway.
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
I'll be 100% honest...
I'm not entirely sure that Traveller mechanics are altogether suited to a historical game. Unless the rules get really ticky-tack granular [breaking down guns into muzzle-loading, percussion cap repeaters and cartridge repeaters, each with different skill levels for just one small example], the TL system breaks down almost immediately. Remember guys, TL4 is *everything* from the Renaissance to Industrialization. So just how rules crunchy are we gonna get?
I'm not entirely sure that Traveller mechanics are altogether suited to a historical game. Unless the rules get really ticky-tack granular [breaking down guns into muzzle-loading, percussion cap repeaters and cartridge repeaters, each with different skill levels for just one small example], the TL system breaks down almost immediately. Remember guys, TL4 is *everything* from the Renaissance to Industrialization. So just how rules crunchy are we gonna get?
DarkDawning
Banded Mongoose
While a time travel game would be a fun thing. I would like to see a new setting for traveler set shortly after the long night , where the 3rd imperium is just starting out. maybe a handful of systems around the capital that held on to sublight travel when just recently the jump drive is rediscovered. Their knowledge of the rest of the galaxy is 1000 years out of date. This would make it a true age of exploration theme. Did anyone survive on the planet ? what if any tech level did they hang onto? Do they remember the last imperium? Do they await its return or hate it for abandoning them. So you could end up with worlds that ended up at all different levels of of historical settings.
