Traveller tech stuck in the 70's?

[apoc527]

Exactly what he said three posts back.

 

[Travellingdave]

It seems like it depends on what kind of Sci-Fi games you see Traveller supporting. Classic Traveller, while intended as generic, was very much a product of the Golden Age Space Opera school of Sci-Fi. Mongoose has pushed its generic aspects even further and I think that raises people's expectations when it comes to the technological breadth and depth it might encompass.

If Traveller is trying to be a truly generic sci-fi system, then there's no reason not to have a Transhumanist supplement ... or any other technology set that supports a specific sci-fi trope. Supplements such as Strontium Dog have already crossed over into the "Space Fantasy" zone, carrying the system far beyond its roots. Now people are making a Fantasy Traveller supplement. I applaud this: It makes Traveller all the more versatile and expandable. So why are the post-scarcity, cyberpunk and transhumanist tropes not logical choices for expansion as well?

Does that mean you have to use this new material in your TU? Absolutely not! You choose what works for you. But the more options you have, the more settings you can use the game for.

So bring on your mile-long, self aware, nanotech imbued, Lighthuggers! Give me your A.I. driven nanoswarms, downloaded full-body cyborgs, and virtual reality brothels! Traveller is poised to be THE sci-fi system of the decade. Let's not limit it one slice of the genre.

 

[apoc527]

One question though: what in God's name is a "boser rifle/pistol??"

 

[Travellingdave]

One question though: what in God's name is a "boser rifle/pistol??"

I'd assume a weapon that fires focused/energized bosons, much like a laser fires photons. I could be wrong.

Added link: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/88012216/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

 

[rust]

One question though: what in God's name is a "boser rifle/pistol??"

I do not know where it comes from in this case, but in the real world it
would be a gun made by the once famous gunsmith Gordon Boser.

 

[BP]

Baryonic Obliteration by Stimulated Emmission of Radiation

Boser energy, guns, boring equipment - all tech from Alastair Reynold's SciFi (Revelation Space series, maybe others)... and the above I made up (the Boson theory seems plausible) - I actually have no idea - though it reminds me of Golden Era SciFi...

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

So bring on your mile-long, self aware, nanotech imbued, Lighthuggers! Give me your A.I. driven nanoswarms, downloaded full-body cyborgs, and virtual reality brothels! Traveller is poised to be THE sci-fi system of the decade. Let's not limit it one slice of the genre.

Wonderful. Except that I think think it all will probably stretch a simple D6 scifi game to breaking point.

Roll on the splat and kiss Traveller goodbye. IMHO.

 

[rust]

Wonderful. Except that I think think it all will probably stretch a simple D6 scifi game to breaking point.

I do not quite see why something that works perfectly well with other role-
playing games should stretch Traveller to the breaking point. It never did
in my campaigns. Besides, if one does not like a certain technology, one
is not obliged to use and can just ignore it.

 

[Travellingdave]

Wonderful. Except that I think think it all will probably stretch a simple D6 scifi game to breaking point.

Roll on the splat and kiss Traveller goodbye. IMHO.

Well, we already have splatbooks: Belter, Psion, Agent, etc. And if adding sorcery and time-travel in SD didn't break Traveller, I don't see how body-augmenting Ultras or nanotech medichines are going to. Some of these things might need to be handled in new ways compared to other technologies in the game (and some may change the nature of the game) , but I don't see them as game-breakers any more than some of the items in the Central Supply Catalog. YMMV.

And they would all be optional, depending on the universe you are building. None need be used in the OTU or YTU.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Well, it wont be a disaster, thats just what happens to rpg systems. Thats all. Splat comes along, and its always gotta be new and shiny, and that little bit more colourful than the last, and pretty soon, no one wants to be a fighter anymore. They all want to be a Fission Cyborg. :roll:

Thats where I get off.

 

[rust]

Splat comes along, and its always gotta be new and shiny, and that little bit more colourful than the last ...

I see your point, and I would never introduce any technology just because
it is new and shiny. For a new technology to be allowed into my settings,
it has to be a plausible development there.

To give an example, my current setting is a water world colony. Sooner or
later one of the characters will have the idea to research and develop so-
mething like a gill implant and a sonar implant for the colonists, to get rid
of the problems with the diving gear. If the character has the right skills,
our research and development rules will make it very difficult for him to
develop the implants, but sooner or later he will most probably succeed.

Since this is a plausible idea within the inner logic of the setting, I see no
justification to tell the player that his character cannot do it. I will make
sure that the prototypes have lots of problems, and all that, but in the end
a stubborn character will be able to introduce the new technology into the
setting. To try to prevent this would be far more likely to break the game
than to allow it.

 

[Travellingdave]

Well, it wont be a disaster, thats just what happens to rpg systems. Thats all. Splat comes along, and its always gotta be new and shiny, and that little bit more colourful than the last, and pretty soon, no one wants to be a fighter anymore. They all want to be a Fission Cyborg. :roll:

Thats where I get off.

I can appreciate what you're saying there. I already ignore a good chunk of the Mongoose Traveller splatbook content simply because I feel it over-complicates things.

But if MGT continues to become more generic, new optional material is going to continue to be generated. At least here, the object does not have to be power-creep but to explore new technological branchings and possibilities. And you have the power to say what technology does and does not belong in your world because no technology is mandated in all Traveller universes. Lines can easily be drawn based on your universe's background. Don't want active nanotech? Never happened in YTU. No full-body cyborgs? Human brains reject the interfaces and downloading was never perfected.

It seems like it can be a bit harder to exclude new Prestige classes, feats and such in D&D.

 

[rust]

Lines can easily be drawn based on your universe's background.

My favourite way to keep an entire technology out of a setting is the "Hin-
denburg Event", a famous desaster that ruined the reputation of a tech-
nology so badly that no sane person would attempt to re-introduce it.

For example, if I do not want artificial intelligence, in 2784 the AI that con-
trolled the power grid of Saint Jerome shut down all power in the mid of
winter, and thousands of people were killed by the cold and unable to call
for help. The diaries of some of the dying children were published, and
the outraged public demanded a law against the construction and use of
true artificial intelligences, the Saint Jerome Law. Problem solved, no AI
in this setting.

However, not all new technologies can be banned. For example, if I need
a certain character skill to make a setting plausible, it would be unfair to
seriously limit the usefulness of this skill. If my setting requires the exis-
tence of marine engineers and a character takes this career, he should
be able to use his skills to do research and make inventions, if this is what
his player wants.

 

[Baron_Vulk_Morden]

Well, we already have splatbooks: Belter, Psion, Agent, etc. And if adding sorcery and time-travel in SD didn't break Traveller, I don't see how body-augmenting Ultras or nanotech medichines are going to.

Sorcery?
Really?
Okay, I have to bite now, which book is "SD" the acronym for?
:?:

 

[AndrewW]

Well, we already have splatbooks: Belter, Psion, Agent, etc. And if adding sorcery and time-travel in SD didn't break Traveller, I don't see how body-augmenting Ultras or nanotech medichines are going to.

Sorcery?
Really?
Okay, I have to bite now, which book is "SD" the acronym for?
:?:

Strontium Dog.

 

[Baron_Vulk_Morden]

AH!
Thanks, it's a good thing I'm heading to my local gaming store tomorrow!

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

I dont really have a big issue with all of this. I think, even in CT, there was plenty of splat.

I do think it is difficult with a group of players, to say 'you cant use all the nice new chrome' without sounding like a killjoy, however. Easier to add options than take them away, I always find.

Still, Mongoose are a business, after all, and they have to exploit the system to the max. This usually means splat, splat, splat. Just like WoD, 3.5, Rolemaster, et al. I guess Rifts could be used as a cautionary tale.

Splat, unfortunately, is easier to write than in-depth system supplements and scenarios, and, well, it sells more too.

Sad, but in some ways, dead systems are easier to run. No one is going to come along with some ill-thought hyper mechanics to spoil your day.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Hah! And, of course, the next supplement is 'Power Armour'

Awesome.

 

[Travellingdave]

AH!
Thanks, it's a good thing I'm heading to my local gaming store tomorrow!

It's a fun book, but the source material is very satirical so don't expect the sourcebook to be overly serious. And the sorcery portion is only one chapter. Still, the material was well-written and would easily let me run a Fading Suns game using MGT, which made it worth it to me.

Now if they'd only do a Nemesis the Warlock sourcebook ...

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Oops, when I said 'in depth system supplements', of course I meant, 'in depth setting supplements', sorry.