When will Mongoose shoot Strephon?
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alex_greene
Guest
There are some Traveller fans who'd rather shoot themselves than see the recurrence of the Rebellion / Hard Times / Virus metaplot. Apocalyptic metaplots kill game lines. Look at what happened when White Wolf decided to bring about the Time of Judgment for their old World of Darkness line back in 1999 - 2004. When Things Fell Apart, so did their sales.
That's why it looks like all the alternate settings Mongoose aim to put out for Traveller look to be potential winners - they don't have a doomed Strephon / End Of The Universe plot lurking in the wings waiting its inevitable turn.
That's why it looks like all the alternate settings Mongoose aim to put out for Traveller look to be potential winners - they don't have a doomed Strephon / End Of The Universe plot lurking in the wings waiting its inevitable turn.
I could be wrong and people from Mongoose and others in the know can stand free to correct me but I thought there license only allows them to deal with the classic period.
I hated the whole Rebellion and The New Era when they first came out but over the years they've grown on me. Besides Martin Dougherty did an excellent job of wrapping up the whole storyline with his birth of the 4th Imperium New Era 1248 stuff.
I hated the whole Rebellion and The New Era when they first came out but over the years they've grown on me. Besides Martin Dougherty did an excellent job of wrapping up the whole storyline with his birth of the 4th Imperium New Era 1248 stuff.
RandyT0001
Mongoose
Mongoose might run the timeline through the Rebellion with certain changes like Lucan does not do really stupid crap like ordering the Corridor Fleet to attack Dulinor. They fight each other mainly confined to Dagudashaag, Core, Zarushagaar, and Ilelish sectors. Maybe (hopefully) Lucan and Dulinor meet in combat and both are killed. Once that happens the Moot meets, finds the next heir and she/he is confirmed therefore no Hard Times and no A.I. Virus.
Or maybe the Third Imperium shatters into several smaller states and the Empire never recovers. Now there are several competing ducal entities that have small wars and intrigue for several decades as each tries to win the throne (but without Lucan's black war tactics).
I don't think Mongoose is restricted as far as timeline/history is concerned.
Or maybe the Third Imperium shatters into several smaller states and the Empire never recovers. Now there are several competing ducal entities that have small wars and intrigue for several decades as each tries to win the throne (but without Lucan's black war tactics).
I don't think Mongoose is restricted as far as timeline/history is concerned.
RandyT0001
Mongoose
Somebody said:
I agree. To me with the introduction of Virus GDW basically substituted a multitude of "big powerful AI's (where before in the Traveller TL tree true AI was a few more tech advances beyond the Imperium's TL F) mini kingdoms" that in general wanted to be god, caretaker, dictator, etc. for the human led "big powerful empire". Of course what made them worse than the human empire was the fact that you can't kill a computer AI virus that's dug itself into every logic circuit with a bullet and you're basically stuck with them forever. And one of the main appeals/tenets of Traveller was the background presence of robots but no computer AI that was stable long enough to infect other systems.
alex_greene
Guest
You know what it felt like?
When Virus emerged in the metaplot, it felt like hearing of a friend who'd contracted some literal virus. It almost killed them, the surgeons could not clear it all, and the poor guy's going to have this virus parasite in his system forever, knowing that it could emerge in a spreading black wave all over again, that being the time it kills him.
Or if not an actual virus, a cancer. That was how bad the Virus metaplot felt. Like the setting had got cancer. They could clear out most of the tumours, but it could metastasize.
I remember reading the whole Hard Times thing, and feeling literally disgusted by it all. Few books have ever made me want to heave. This setting, and TNE, did.
Virus more or less killed Traveller, and ultimately killed GDW. I really hope Mongoose decide to draw history a little differently this time around: if there's to be an end to the Third Imperium and eventually a Fourth Imperium, at least let them have a good, long look at other ways in which the transition could come about.
A Mongoose book showing a number of distinct and incompatible ways in which the future could evolve (e.g. 3I survives forever, 3I destroyed by the Ancients' return, 3I destroyed by a new alien race from the Core, Rebellion/Virus destroys 3I, Zhodani win the Sixth Frontier War) would help. Knowing that the future can be written by the characters, and that this supplement would remain optional and never canon, would help keep the flame going for Traveller.
Traveller is back. Don't let us lose her again.
When Virus emerged in the metaplot, it felt like hearing of a friend who'd contracted some literal virus. It almost killed them, the surgeons could not clear it all, and the poor guy's going to have this virus parasite in his system forever, knowing that it could emerge in a spreading black wave all over again, that being the time it kills him.
Or if not an actual virus, a cancer. That was how bad the Virus metaplot felt. Like the setting had got cancer. They could clear out most of the tumours, but it could metastasize.
I remember reading the whole Hard Times thing, and feeling literally disgusted by it all. Few books have ever made me want to heave. This setting, and TNE, did.
Virus more or less killed Traveller, and ultimately killed GDW. I really hope Mongoose decide to draw history a little differently this time around: if there's to be an end to the Third Imperium and eventually a Fourth Imperium, at least let them have a good, long look at other ways in which the transition could come about.
A Mongoose book showing a number of distinct and incompatible ways in which the future could evolve (e.g. 3I survives forever, 3I destroyed by the Ancients' return, 3I destroyed by a new alien race from the Core, Rebellion/Virus destroys 3I, Zhodani win the Sixth Frontier War) would help. Knowing that the future can be written by the characters, and that this supplement would remain optional and never canon, would help keep the flame going for Traveller.
Traveller is back. Don't let us lose her again.
Bishop Odo
Mongoose
I hate revisionist history, it gets just so confusing, and I’m not a newbie. It would be better for all if the Traveller universe just jumped ahead a hundred years and dealt with the rebellion, virus and rebuliding in a cohesive manner. Conflict breeds drama and adventure. Can you think of a better stage in which to play out our little opera in?
I think "big, powerful empire" is fine as long as it stays in the background. The Spinward Marches, Reft Sector, Trojan Reaches, and Gvurrdon sectors all seem like ideal places to play Traveller. And, no shocker, those are the sectors that Mongoose has detailed.
One of my friends who has played Traveller a lot more than I told me that the game excels when it focuses on the player characters and avoids space operatic, metaplot themes. I think he's probably dead-on. I've done plenty of Star Wars and other space operas to know that Traveller should not be run like one or you might as well simply go play Star Wars. The 3I is large, but it's also slow-moving and ultimately, only powerful insofar as people buy into it. (Yes it has big fleets, but big fleets don't maintain an economy if the populace is unwilling.)
I think that "OMG Big Space War" is overused as a way to make a setting interesting. Many times it's appropriate, but I think what makes Traveller interesting is that it IS stable enough for the PCs to focus on their lives and times and not worry so much about saving the galaxy. If I wanted to play a Mass Effect style game, I'd simply convert Mass Effect to the Traveller rules.
Granted, I've played precisely zero times in the 3I and have GMed precisely once, but from what I can tell (and my vast experience with other sci-fi settings), this is the game that simulates the modern day experience...in spaaaaaace!
Right?
One of my friends who has played Traveller a lot more than I told me that the game excels when it focuses on the player characters and avoids space operatic, metaplot themes. I think he's probably dead-on. I've done plenty of Star Wars and other space operas to know that Traveller should not be run like one or you might as well simply go play Star Wars. The 3I is large, but it's also slow-moving and ultimately, only powerful insofar as people buy into it. (Yes it has big fleets, but big fleets don't maintain an economy if the populace is unwilling.)
I think that "OMG Big Space War" is overused as a way to make a setting interesting. Many times it's appropriate, but I think what makes Traveller interesting is that it IS stable enough for the PCs to focus on their lives and times and not worry so much about saving the galaxy. If I wanted to play a Mass Effect style game, I'd simply convert Mass Effect to the Traveller rules.
Granted, I've played precisely zero times in the 3I and have GMed precisely once, but from what I can tell (and my vast experience with other sci-fi settings), this is the game that simulates the modern day experience...in spaaaaaace!
Right?
I didn't like the Rebellion. So I had Strephon be shot, but it was a body double, because the Government Agents actually uncovered the plot, and allowed the Assassination to appear to succeed to reveal all of the traitors hands.
So things went crazier than Strephon and his cronies thought it would, so I was still able to use "Hard Times", but the Rebellion was largely just that, a rebellion, but the Emperor stayed in power, traitors were revealed, and eventually dealt with, but the Imperium went on.
See, for me, my "official" time line is created by me and my players, not some company, or novels.
So things went crazier than Strephon and his cronies thought it would, so I was still able to use "Hard Times", but the Rebellion was largely just that, a rebellion, but the Emperor stayed in power, traitors were revealed, and eventually dealt with, but the Imperium went on.
See, for me, my "official" time line is created by me and my players, not some company, or novels.
andrew boulton
Mongoose
The last thing Traveller needs is another alternate OTU - it's too fragmented already. Stick with Classic Era, but advance the timeline slowly and stop mid-1116.
alex_greene
Guest
If there'd been xenophilia*, Vargr mistresses, furry affairs and pirate captains reading Machiavelli and absentmindedly sitting on bayonets in the original setting, trashing the 3I might almost have been worth it.
*xenophilia - doing the Wild Thing outside one's species, aka "Rishathra."
*xenophilia - doing the Wild Thing outside one's species, aka "Rishathra."
Actually, we were going to reveal the Emperor was a Borg. . .
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
Yeah, why is it that female Borg never have a breast removed so it can be replaced with something far more useful instead... such as a power attachment point, or a mechanical arm/gripper for task-working, or even a light?
If I was a Borg conversion surgeon, I'd certainly lop off at least one of those useless flesh-lumps—all they do is get in the way (à la Amazons and archery).
If I was a Borg conversion surgeon, I'd certainly lop off at least one of those useless flesh-lumps—all they do is get in the way (à la Amazons and archery).
alex_greene
Guest
Don't start giving the Collective ideas, or all the male drones will have far more to worry about ...
I like the idea of Strephon as a mechanoid cyborg, fleshcrafted to resemble the Emperor, with genetic sample pouches here and there to fool DNA swabs.
I like the idea of Strephon as a mechanoid cyborg, fleshcrafted to resemble the Emperor, with genetic sample pouches here and there to fool DNA swabs.
Rikki Tikki Traveller
Cosmic Mongoose
Well, before they kill Strephon, they have to have the Fifth Frontier War.
Matt has stated previously that it appears war is inevitable, so SOMETHING is going to happen to the Marches eventually, it is just a matter of how many books are they going to put out before they start the war.
The timeline is already there for anyone who doesn't want to play in the Golden Age.
I play in the 1248 era using the MGT rules and there is no problem. SETTING and RULES are not the same thing. If you want to play in Gateway, or in the Solomani Rim, just do it. Get the appropriate setting material from one of the older versions of Traveller and do it.
Matt has stated previously that it appears war is inevitable, so SOMETHING is going to happen to the Marches eventually, it is just a matter of how many books are they going to put out before they start the war.
The timeline is already there for anyone who doesn't want to play in the Golden Age.
I play in the 1248 era using the MGT rules and there is no problem. SETTING and RULES are not the same thing. If you want to play in Gateway, or in the Solomani Rim, just do it. Get the appropriate setting material from one of the older versions of Traveller and do it.
Lord High Munchkin said:
The Amazon boobectomy is apocryphal, I'm afraid. In ancient depictions of Amazons they still have both breasts, although the right is frequently covered. The idea seems to stem from a translation of the greek a mazoas or without breast.
If I was a borg I'd be more concerned with all the apparently fatal design flaws in the borg tubuels that seem to be an essential part of borg operation, but are looped around so that any overhanging tree branch can catch them and render the drone BSOD.
To the Strephon soap, I, and my group, liked the "anti-star trek" feel of the Star Vikings - non interference? I don't think so, lets get in there and mess it up. The reasonably limited play area also kept things simple, and curbed some of the excesses of my players a little too - you can't just take a tramp freighter to the Solomani Rim if you crash a starship into the downport whem all of society consists of two sectors.
G.
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
Given that it was widely believed in the Classical world (and by Greeks), I'd argue that it wasn't a mis-translation.GJD said:
Besides which Amazons were made up.
I agree about the statues though, although some painted examples are dubious.
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