Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Star Wars was an afterthought.
Evil Empire trope largely attributed to that franchise.
Evil Empire trope largely attributed to that franchise.
Travellers Needed - The Future of Traveller
- Thread starter MongooseMatt
- Start date
-Daniel-
Emperor Mongoose
I always thought it came from Foundation and Star Wars was 100% not original, but rather a well make re-skin.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
I wouldn't call it evil.
Decadent and incompetent.
Asimov's point being that it was in the end stage of empire, natural evolution thereof.
Decadent and incompetent.
Asimov's point being that it was in the end stage of empire, natural evolution thereof.
Sigtrygg
Emperor Mongoose
From S:3 The Spinward Marches
The lrmperium* is a strong interstellar government encompassing 281 subsectors and approximately 11,000 worlds. Approximately 1100 years old, it is the third human empire to control this area**, the oldest, and the strongest.*** Nevertheless, it is under strong pressure from its neighboring interstellar governments, and does not have the strength nor the power which it once had.****
* not The Third Imperium, just Imperium
**how have I not noticed this, the Spinward Marches, according to later canon, were never occupied by earlier versions of the Imperium. We are being lied to. Neither the Ziru Sirka nor the Rule of Man occupied the Spinward Marches, so who were these two previous human empires?
***We are told the Imperium is older and stronger, so this would imply younger but not as strong human empires occupied the Spinward Marches before the Imperium took over.
That makes for a completely different history for the Marches to the one we have been fed. Psychohistory was in the 800s... did they write two previous human empires out of existence, for what reason?
****The Imperium is in decline...
The lrmperium* is a strong interstellar government encompassing 281 subsectors and approximately 11,000 worlds. Approximately 1100 years old, it is the third human empire to control this area**, the oldest, and the strongest.*** Nevertheless, it is under strong pressure from its neighboring interstellar governments, and does not have the strength nor the power which it once had.****
* not The Third Imperium, just Imperium
**how have I not noticed this, the Spinward Marches, according to later canon, were never occupied by earlier versions of the Imperium. We are being lied to. Neither the Ziru Sirka nor the Rule of Man occupied the Spinward Marches, so who were these two previous human empires?
***We are told the Imperium is older and stronger, so this would imply younger but not as strong human empires occupied the Spinward Marches before the Imperium took over.
That makes for a completely different history for the Marches to the one we have been fed. Psychohistory was in the 800s... did they write two previous human empires out of existence, for what reason?
****The Imperium is in decline...
I don't think it needs to be the standard 200+ hardback pages type of book, but the core books have blurred the distinction between settings and rules with how the books explain things such as scout services, how starbases function, and similar things. For the more creative in the crowd, it's not that big of a deal. But for the rest, a companion booklet that had some alternate rules and worldbuilding information pertaining to those elements that do appear to rely heavily on the default setting, might not be be bad idea. It could include information on how to build your own factions (something less focused that say the Sector Construction Guide) with alternate UWP rules to have more balanced TL and LL worlds across a faction's area. I'm sure others would have suggestions as well for what would make good tips and guides on building your own settings that adhere to the core rules without relying on the default settings.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
The standard setting only covers main worlds, so a detailed system for generating systems/binary systems, populating them and assists in generating factions - all of which can be ignored or scaled back - is welcome.
People, even some seasoned players, often have to be reminded that there are usually more worlds around any given star than the one they have stats for.
I keep truing to get my players to play somewhere OTHER than the Spinward Marches, and in forty years, the best I was able to do was a brief foray into the Deneb Sector, and then right back to SM. So I get that some are stuck on 3I, but other ideas are a good thing to prevent stagnation.
People, even some seasoned players, often have to be reminded that there are usually more worlds around any given star than the one they have stats for.
I keep truing to get my players to play somewhere OTHER than the Spinward Marches, and in forty years, the best I was able to do was a brief foray into the Deneb Sector, and then right back to SM. So I get that some are stuck on 3I, but other ideas are a good thing to prevent stagnation.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
My players are about to strike out for the Reaver's Deep. What could possibly go wrong?
MasterGwydion
Emperor Mongoose
UWP isn't setting dependent though. Those are "Core" rules. If you change the UWP rules in a supplement, you are not creating a setting book. You are changing the core rules of Traveller. If you then apply those changes retroactively, the entirety of Charted Space would have to be changed to match the new rules. You can currently build Charted Space using the RAW, system and sector creation rules. If you change the Core Rules to allow for "more balanced TL and LL worlds across a faction's area", then all of Charted Space as written can no longer be created using RAW.
MaxTac Transfer
Banded Mongoose
Maybe it is time that Traveller gets a new setting. 2300AD is not the alternative for a number of reasons (To close to now, real world politics and RPG are not a mix I would want). A big, old empire or the ruins of one is nice. But build using a more modern and complex system than the one based on the 1970s tech restrictions that eliminates some of the ugly side effects.
CordwainerFish
Emperor Mongoose
Hold that thought.
Traveller has multiple published settings right now (Charted Space, Mindjammer, 2300). Obviously, Pioneer is a different upcoming setting. And they've hinted at others. And, of course, there's the Cepheus settings. And many, many people run in homebrew settings different than the published ones.
All Traveller lacks is some editorial clarity on what is "Charted Space" and what is the Traveller rules.
Not sure what you mean by "using a more modern and complex system". As in a different rules set? Because that's totally different issue than a new setting.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
The quote looks like he was talking about tech trees.
Like BattleTech being the future of the Eighties, where they didn't consider that in less than 30 years people would be walking around with supercomputers in their pockets.
MaxTac Transfer
Banded Mongoose
With modern computers modeling a complete system takes seconds, doing a complete sensible sector without those "15 people, TL15, starport A" stuff is not much more complex. So use a more modern system of generating the setting, one that does not generate those "GM must cut them out" warts in the first place
MaxTac Transfer
Banded Mongoose
As for homebrew - sure can do that. But if I go there the base likely is NOT MgT 2e. Because If I build a setting from the ground up I will use a different rule system for character generation etc. Say GURPS...
As far as computers go, should probably just not even exist as discrete items in average stellar tech. Everything is a computer and its relative efficacy is reflected in TL.
The core rules should have a variety of technologies. It does that a bit, but would benefit from more of it and more clarity of editing in what is the rules and what belongs to Charted Space.
The core rules should have a variety of technologies. It does that a bit, but would benefit from more of it and more clarity of editing in what is the rules and what belongs to Charted Space.
Okay. Though if you like GURPS more, you could just play GURPS Traveller.
I guess I am not sure what you are asking for? You are playing MgT2e because of the published setting, but you don't like the existing published setting?
CordwainerFish
Emperor Mongoose
I have code that follows the Mg2 world generator. It would literally be the work of a minute to add "pass a list of predicates to make-world, which will do a mulligan if any fail".
MaxTac Transfer
Banded Mongoose
I use MgT as a material source. The setting has to many problems (and GT is much worse) to be playable for me / of interest to me. Use some pieces, discard the rest. Stellar maps are nice, some base tech is nice, some species are nice. Rest is unused.Okay. Though if you like GURPS more, you could just play GURPS Traveller.
I guess I am not sure what you are asking for? You are playing MgT2e because of the published setting, but you don't like the existing published setting?
GT material is smaller and has to much bias in the descriptions so would need even more work. And is even more "shudder" to read than MgT 2e
