Discussions in these forums- obversation.

[JAFARR]

Have you ever noticed that 90% of these threads over 3 entries long end up nitpicking some really insignificant detail or details? I suspect that many participants use these forums to speculate on the details because if they tried to do this kind of stuff at the playing table, sessions would never get further than three minutes of game time in six hours of gamming. Who really uses all the steps in the books to move about the system you are in? Don't most of us just say "We are taking off for location X? Unless there is some reason to be concerned about details, doesn't the ref just make a few rolls, maybe ask you to make a few and say "OK nothing out of the ordinary happened. You Are There."?
Yet we spend so much time hashing out the details we are never going to actually use in game play. Are we not interesting creatures?

 

[Ben W Bell]

Saying that much of roleplaying and worldbuilding is about interesting little details that no one will use, but it makes worlds and systems that much more alive to discuss them. Anyway, is it really a bad thing to discuss this minute of information? Is it worse that discussing a baseball players batting average or who would win a fight, Kirk or Picard?

 

[hirch duckfinder]

the best thing about traveller is that saddos [not unlike me ] have been obsessively honing the setting for over 25 years.

it's all about ironing out the contradictions to create the most complete , immersive environment possible.

i think of it as modelling and creating a hypothosis for how it could be.

and good fun.

 

[The Oz]

It's true that we usually skip over the details we discuss here (and other places) but you can never tell when a gaming session might suddenly require that the ref really understand that particular detail and having discussed it in advance will allow the ref to add the detail in without having to stop and think about it, which would stop the game in its tracks.

Plus, it's fun!

 

[kaladorn]

Additionally, I suspect many on the board, being physically isolated from other traveller players, probably do more speculating than gaming. Think of it as an intellectual substitute for the gaming they'd rather be doing.

And, on the more important topic, Kirk - hands down. That two handed smash and the flying drop kick cannot be withstood by mere mortals. If you can beat Finnegan, you can't be beat. Picard couldn't even handle a few puny knife wielding Norsicans.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Maybe, but here we can speculate on the material and hash it out to the satisfaction of al involved - whether or not that finds its way into a game is up to the individual referees and players.

Besides, if you're in Knoxville like I am - we should get together for a game.

 

[flykiller]

Have you ever noticed that 90% of these threads over 3 entries long end up nitpicking some really insignificant detail or details?

eeeyep.

.... but it makes worlds and systems that much more alive to discuss them.

agree. but how often is a world or system discussed? it's usually gearheading or politics. ask if a vargr can eat chocolate and you'll get twelve pages of response. bring up a political subject and passions flare brightly. ask a gaming question and you might get three answers.

really not sure it can be any other way. a game's a subjective and personal endeavor, full of assumptions that are difficult to share.

but beyond that one senses a lack of gaming, even interest in gaming. "sorry but it looks like I won't have time to run this."^10 "after extended voting the winner of the deckplans contest, at two votes to one, is ...." "I don't NEED to play!"

perhaps it's just the nature of a bulletin board.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Originally posted by flykiller:

but beyond that one senses a lack of gaming, even interest in gaming. "sorry but it looks like I won't have time to run this."^10 "after extended voting the winner of the deckplans contest, at two votes to one, is ...." "I don't NEED to play!"

perhaps it's just the nature of a bulletin board.

_________________________________________________

Perhaps, but I really find much more information about the game here than I find in other web searches. The people who "normally" respond on these threads are more knowledgable and articulate than any other websites about the Traveller game that I have experienced.

Also I find more support for the ideas about the future use of science and the physics involved in flight between the stars here. Anyone can ask a question about an idea for a new application of an old product or a new class of starship and find intrested people to give advise, guidance and sometimes practical reasons why the idea would not work in reality.

And yes I do have as much fun reading these ideas and threads as I do preparing to play a session. They give me food for thought and fuel for the rich imaginations of my PC's.

 

[lightsenshi]

Originally posted by Ben W Bell:
Is it worse that discussing a baseball players batting average or who would win a fight, Kirk or Picard?

Picard. He has a brain and uses it.

 

[hirch duckfinder]

picard

 

[kaladorn]

Originally posted by lightsenshi:
Picard. He has a brain and uses it.

...excluding the N (where N is very large) number of times his various security officers advised him to be cautious, to raise shields, or not to go down himself into danger. At least the original series didn't have much in the way of a pretense of having a security officer (on the bridge, constantly giving good advice and being ignored).

Besides, Kirk has chutzpah, guts, and can swing a mean belaying pin.

"2000 Quatloos on the one that reminds me of T.J. Hooker..."

 

[JAFARR]

Originally posted by kaladorn:
Additionally, I suspect many on the board, being physically isolated from other traveller players, probably do more speculating than gaming. Think of it as an intellectual substitute for the gaming they'd rather be doing.

Yep That's Me! Mostly due to work and family reasons.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Ben W Bell:
[...] or who would win a fight, Kirk or Picard?

Let themselves knock each other out, for goodness sake!

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by kaladorn:
At least the original series didn't have much in the way of a pretense of having a security officer (on the bridge, constantly giving good advice and being ignored).

And getting his (the security officer) butt kicked by everyone and their grandmother's uncle (except for a few who didn't matter).

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by Andy Fralix:
Are we not interesting creatures?

Yes, we are.

Was there some other point you were attempting to shine the illuminating light of discussion on?

Or shall I spend some time nitpicking your observation?

 

[far-trader]

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Andy Fralix:
Are we not interesting creatures?

Yes, we are.

Was there some other point you were attempting to shine the illuminating light of discussion on?

Or shall I spend some time nitpicking your observation?

</font>[/QUOTE]I think you're onto him. This is all some small part in a huge psychological experiment

 

[Random Goblin]

Originally posted by Jeff M. Hopper:
Besides, if you're in Knoxville like I am - we should get together for a game.

This seems like an awful lot of Knox-villains in one spot. Weird. I grew up there (went to Karns High, Pellissippi, and UTK), and my wife and I still get up there 3-6 times a year to visit family and friends and game with them.

My dad lives there (old-school Traveller cover artist extrordinaire) with my mom and my little sister.

And my brother, who plays Traveller, also lives there with his wife.

The moral of the story is, there look to be more Traveller players in Knoxville than anyone thought. And we should all get together for a game when I'm up there next.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Originally posted by far-trader:
This is all some small part in a huge psychological experiment

5000 Quatloos on far-trader!

 

[Hal]

I bet 10,000 Quatloos that there will never be a fight between Captains Kirk and Picard.

Just out of curiosity, why are we betting the jakes of quats on fights? Brings a whole new meaning to "I don't want your stinking Money"

*note: one must wonder at the level of advancement of a society that uses the bathrooms of Quats for currency. Didn't they have something better to use as currency exchange?

 

[Jame]

What in the stopping of sniffling is a Quatloo?