a Broken (not shattered) Imperium

[atpollard]

Just some thoughts on Classic Traveller, MegaTraveller and a missed opportunity.

I like the simplicity of the Classic Traveller rules, but found the Imperium a little too ‘settled’ for my taste and tended to just roll up a small subsector scale empire/kingdom with an unexplored frontier beyond for my Classic Traveller sessions.

I’ve just finished reading the MegaTraveller CD and loved the data in some of the books. ( ‘Hard Times’ was an absolute gold mine). It occurs to me that the rebellion and breaking the Empire were a generally good thing, since it provided the ‘frontier’ and the ‘outlands’ and the ‘wilds’, but there was no real need to stomp the Imperium into dust. Would it have been so terrible if 2 or 3 factions had united at the 11th hour and the Imperium had survived at half or even a third of it’s pre-rebellion size? It would have allowed for a ‘wild west’ without burning Rome to the ground to achieve it.

I believe that 1248 leans this way (after rebuilding a new empire), but that is a lot of wasted time needlessly bruising the players who like adventuring in a big imperium. While I prefer the frontier, there is something to be said for a setting where the pirates wear custom tailored suits, travel in megacorporate transports, and wear rings to proclaim their knighthood. It would have been so easy to have both worlds.

Sorry if this is a worn out topic. Unfortunately, the full breath of MT is still new to me.

 

[robject]

I can see a lot of potential there. A smaller post-rebellion Imperium would leave so much wild space for pocket empires, reunification wars, piracy and mercenary ops, you-name-it... it would be like stretching Reaver's Deep to cover half of the Imperium.

 

[KrisComet]

you guys are right on the money, i agree with the mix up being an ideal setting

 

[Sifu Blackirish]

Certainly agree with you there...

If I had my druthers, I would have preferred TNE to be set several hundred years in the future-so the Imperium would really be the stuff of legend.

What advantage did GDW see in grinding the OTU into dust, anyway? Was this the way it playtested at home, so they went with it?

 

[alanb]

Originally posted by Dominion Loyalty Officer:
What advantage did GDW see in grinding the OTU into dust, anyway?

From my memory of what they wrote...

I got the impression that they felt it was better to start over again, rather than "justify" the bloodbath by having one or more faction win.

And after all, realistically, who could have won? Lucan? Evil. Dulinor? Evil. Margaret? Evil. The Solomani? Evil, and not Imperial. None of the even remotely sympathetic factions could have won, even in alliance.

Of course, they probably could have written up a situation based on Hard Times, where most factions end up tacitly accepting the status quo.

---

In my opinion that would have required eliminating both Lucan and Dulinor, but not necessarily breaking up their factions. The Solomani could have been kept in line by the prospect of the Imperial factions uniting against them.

That's more or less what I would have done, anyway.

 

[Golan2072]

I've written something similar to this, which you could read here; while there isn't a big Imperium in it, neither is a universe-wiping Virus. The Imperium has more or less fallen, but recovery starts in many places, giving rise to many pocket-empires hungry for its scraps.

If you want a big Imperium in the setting I've posted above, just make Dulinor's victory less tragic, and limit the Second Illelish Revolt to the areas near the Verge Combine, leaving Dulinor in charge of the space between Illelish and the Core, and, if you really want, let him barter a truce with Margaret (and ignore her stock-market collapse). You'll still have a smaller Imperium, and a more jaded one at this, but, on the other hand, pocket-empires will thrive in many of the former Imperial areas. So you'll get the best of both worlds

 

[atpollard]

Originally posted by alanb:
And after all, realistically, who could have won? Lucan? Evil. Dulinor? Evil. Margaret? Evil. The Solomani? Evil, and not Imperial. None of the even remotely sympathetic factions could have won, even in alliance.

I think that I would have kept Lucan and kept him as evil. The Imperium has other strange periods of succession. A small "pocket empire" ruled by the evil 'legitimate' heir and a large non-evil 'illegitimate' imperium just trying to hold itself together has lots of political fuel for writers more clever than me.

From the comments, the virus works a little too well for reality, but I am holding off on a final judgement until I can read TNE CD for myself (when it comes out). The virus could have worked as the catalyst to force all sides to accept the status quo. Civilization fortifies its little pockets and the virus prowls in the wilds.

 

[robject]

This type of setting sort-of resembles the Proto-Imperium setting, as well: the wild unknown and a weaker Imperium.

 

[Golan2072]

Originally posted by robject:
This type of setting sort-of resembles the Proto-Imperium setting, as well: the wild unknown and a weaker Imperium.

Hmmm... And won't a victorious Dulinor fit with the darker Imperium portrayed in PT (especially A1 and A4)?