finally posting

[Kliest]

I've been a bit of a lurker here and finally decided to get posting since Mongoose is updating Traveler. When they actually launch a product its pretty good, just lots of waiting for things to happen with them.
Where should one start? Any advice would be nice. I'm a B5/VaS mini gamer at the moment and thinking about creating a W40K Imp Guard force

Thanks

 

[aramis]

Well, if you're coming in the Traveller world via the Mongoose Door, start by getting a feel for the different styles of play.

There are those of us who run Merchant games, those who run Mercs games, a few who run Pirate games, a few more who run "Goons for Hire" and a few more who run "Troubleshooters for His Grace" type games.

Dabble in the various threads.

Some pointers to local terminology:

Small Ship Heresy: No ships are bigger than 5000Td (=70,000 cubic meters)
Big Ship Universe: The "canonical" OTU has ships up to 500,000Td (7,000,000 cubic meters) and a design system allowing up to twice that
Mid-ship heresy: Some of use cap out ships at 20,000-100,000 tons for various reasons.

Near-C Rock Debate: basically, a semi-forbidden topic. Given canonical traveller drives, any ship can become a planet-killer given 10 weeks of fuel. T4 (and perhaps T5) includes limits on thruster plates to lower the threat.

Vilani: Robject developed the language. search for vilani & robject...

 

[Vargas]

Small Ship Heresy: No ships are bigger than 5000Td (=70,000 cubic meters)

IMO, I'm not sure heresy is the best word to use; I would use variant in its place perhaps but YMMV.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Near-C Rock Debate: basically, a semi-forbidden topic. Given canonical traveller drives, any ship can become a planet-killer given 10 weeks of fuel. T4 (and perhaps T5) includes limits on thruster plates to lower the threat.

Near-C Rocks is also the name of a Heavy Metal band currently touring through the Empty Quarter (as of 993).

 

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

Just remember the most important phrase in Grogspeak:

IMTU = In MY Traveller Universe...

Nobody who has ever picked up this game plays it the same way. And most of us don't play it the same way twice!

PS: Grogspeak= turns of phrase used by Traveller Grognards

 

[BlackBat242]

Grognard [gro-nyär], is French for "old soldier".


Courtesy of Alan Emrich

We frequently bandy about the term "grognard" among our fellow wargaming hobbiests. Often, online and in print publications, people have speculated about the origin of this label for veteran wargamers -- who coined this term that has been adopted as part of our hobby's lexicon, how did it get popular, and what is its root meaning? Allow me to present the real story, as told by the Dean of Board Wargaming himself, Jim Dunnigan:

"The term 'grognard,' as applied to veteran wargamers, was first coined back in the early 1970's by John Young. He was, at that time, an employee for [the board] wargame publisher SPI, and the use of the term around the office (and among the local play testers) soon led to 'grognards' being mentioned in one of SPI's magazines (Strategy & Tactics). Several hundred thousand board wargamers picked up the term from that publication and it spread to computer wargamers, as the the board wargamers (the ones with PCs, of course) were the first people to snap up computer wargames when they appeared.

"Consider this a first hand account, not an urban legend. I actually heard John Young utter it the first time and was one of the people who razzed him about it for some time thereafter. I was also the one who actually put the term into circulation in Strategy & Tactics [during my tenure there as Editor].

"Alas, John Young passed away in 1976 (or was it 77?). I can confirm that also; I was at the funeral. Now you know. . ." -- Jim Dunnigan



Grognard: a soldier of Napoleons' Old Guard; a veteran soldier; grumbler (French) - Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed

Grognard: (slang) an experienced wargamer - John Young, Strategy & Tactics magazine