What universe would you like to see with Traveller?

[Elrick]

How about the setting for the Dorsai series of books by Gordon Dickson? No aliens, but plenty of scope for conflict between the old Earth and the splinter worlds. It doesn't have to be a military campaign either - almost any Traveller campaign types would fit into the setting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childe_Cycle

 

[kafka]

Too many good choices. But, I still choice Foundation, just because one can go back to the Robots era and forward to Galaxia. Plus, there is a movie coming out. A very well written supplement that would incorporate the novels will do better than one that just apes the movie - but the movie will provide the visuals (hence reduce costs allowing Mongoose to pay more for the good writing).

There is a B7 RPG out there but to get the Mongoose rights to it and Travellerize it would be a brilliant move and nicely dovetail into a Rebellion (ie MT) sourcebook/supplement for the OTU. I like all licenses to have a way of integrating the OTU - sometimes not possible but my Universe (MTU) is big enough to accommodate all sorts of variation and yet still remain true to the OTU.

 

[zero]

I would buy a Dune version of Traveller, flat out, if one was made. I would love to know how Navigators would be made up in Trav rules, how spice would have a game mechanic, all the factions being detailed and being possible player characters...

Sure, you could go to Arrakis and have fun collecting spice melange, but imagine a trader game set in the Dune universe where one of the PCs is the ship's own Navigator (in both senses of the term) and you could make deals with Houses and worlds, which may cause alliances or even rivalries with other Houses.

Dune is also a series where it can be set within different eras, the timeline covers thousands of years.

I dont think I'm alone in this either, seeing as how the poll is going.

Question - anyone try making a Dune game and homebrew some stuff?

 

[Beastttt]

Honor Harrington

nuf said

 

[GamerDude]

Honor Harrington

nuf said

Tough under Traveller since it uses "real physics" for things like starship acceleration & movement, missiles etc. (of course the FTL part is another matter).

If you like Honor Harrington starship combat I recommend the "Saganami Island Tactical Simulator" or "SITS". A truly excellent system that handles starship movement in all three dimentions.

 

[Travellingdave]

Of those listed, I'd vote for Dune first. That universe is just too rich to ignore.

That said, I'd still rather see Halo or Mass Effect licenses for more contemporary sources and the CoDominium Universe by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (the series that featured the Mote In God's Eye and the War World series) as my 'classic literature' vote.

In addition, something more extreme, like the Charles Stross' Iron Sunrise or Singularity Sky material would be stunning.

 

[FreeTrav]

None of the listed choices particularly appeal to me. Among those that would be instant or near-instant buys would be:

Vatta's War (Elizabeth Moon)
Liaden Universe (Steve Miller and Sharon Lee)
Third Way/Jao Empire (Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth)
Co-Dominium (Jerrdave Nivenpournelle)
Republic of Cinnabar Navy/Leary&Mundy (David Drake)
Chanur/Compact Space (C.J. Cherryh)

Strong maybes would include:

Dorsai (Gordon Dickson)
Honor Harrington (David Weber)

 

[Jame Rowe]

I agree with FreeTrav on Drake's Republic of Cinnabar series.

Most of the others I would agree with if they're written by other authors; while I love the concepts of Cherryh's and Moon's novels, I tried them and couldn't get into them.

 

[PFVA63]

Those all sound like they could be really good ideas, but to be honest I'd be more intrested in seeing a totally new setting rather than something based on some famous book or something.

A big concern with trying to adapt to an existing setting would be that I'd suspect that a lot of people would have differeing views on how things should be, and some players might get uset that the authors of whatever source book or supplements produced aren't portraying things the way that that player thinks things to be.

On the other hand I've always thought that something that mixes a science fiction like setting with another setting thatpeople are familiar with could be interesting and it would allow people to use other resources that they might aleady have. *

Regards

PF

PS. * Maybe for example, you could do amodern/sci-fi cross over and then use alot of stuff from regular city maps and locations, to data from Battlefiled Evolution, etc..

 

[FreeTrav]

I agree with FreeTrav on Drake's Republic of Cinnabar series.

Most of the others I would agree with if they're written by other authors; while I love the concepts of Cherryh's and Moon's novels, I tried them and couldn't get into them.

I never assume that the novel author will be more than a creative consultant in the preparation of worldbooks for gaming - the writing skills needed are of entirely different natures, and having the one does not imply having the other. I would want good RPG setting authors to do the actual gaming-side work - someone like Gareth Hanrahan, Martin J. Dougherty, Doug Berry, or the like - and leave Moon, Drake, Flint/Wentworth, Nivenpournelle, Lee/Miller, Cherryh, et alia in the role of ensuring that their vision of the universe is properly captured.

 

[FreeTrav]

Those all sound like they could be really good ideas, but to be honest I'd be more intrested in seeing a totally new setting rather than something based on some famous book or something.

A big concern with trying to adapt to an existing setting would be that I'd suspect that a lot of people would have differeing views on how things should be, and some players might get uset that the authors of whatever source book or supplements produced aren't portraying things the way that that player thinks things to be.

On the other hand I've always thought that something that mixes a science fiction like setting with another setting thatpeople are familiar with could be interesting and it would allow people to use other resources that they might aleady have. *

Regards

PF

PS. * Maybe for example, you could do amodern/sci-fi cross over and then use alot of stuff from regular city maps and locations, to data from Battlefiled Evolution, etc..

The major problem with any new setting is that you need an author who has not only the writing skills oriented toward gaming, but the imagination of a top-flight novelist in the genre - a combination that is, while not unheard of, sufficiently rare that for a gaming company other than the largest to have more than one or two actively supported "whole-cloth in-house" settings is rare and to be marvelled at.

 

[Jame Rowe]

I agree with FreeTrav on Drake's Republic of Cinnabar series.

Most of the others I would agree with if they're written by other authors; while I love the concepts of Cherryh's and Moon's novels, I tried them and couldn't get into them.

I never assume that the novel author will be more than a creative consultant in the preparation of worldbooks for gaming - the writing skills needed are of entirely different natures, and having the one does not imply having the other. I would want good RPG setting authors to do the actual gaming-side work - someone like Gareth Hanrahan, Martin J. Dougherty, Doug Berry, or the like - and leave Moon, Drake, Flint/Wentworth, Nivenpournelle, Lee/Miller, Cherryh, et alia in the role of ensuring that their vision of the universe is properly captured.

Yes, and provided that MGP actually listens to you, they will do well. Like I said, I love the concepts of the series.

 

[PFVA63]

The major problem with any new setting is that you need an author who has not only the writing skills oriented toward gaming, but the imagination of a top-flight novelist in the genre - a combination that is, while not unheard of, sufficiently rare that for a gaming company other than the largest to have more than one or two actively supported "whole-cloth in-house" settings is rare and to be marvelled at.

I guess that makes sense, but it seems like other independent settings for games have been in the past (such as the Original Traveller Universe from Classic Traveller or the original 2300AD game), so hopefully its not totally impossible.

Regards

PF