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"Marching In Place?" or "Wither the GT ATU?"

How many Traveller adventures do you know of where the PCs affected anything more than what they could see and touch, let alone the entire Imperium?
There's Arrival Vengeance. But if played canonically, the players are doomed to fail. That said, I agree with your points.
 
It would make for an interesting adventure if played out as something other than "the no-win scenario." I think it would make for another interesting ATU.
 
Gents,

I believe that this week's TNS item from SJGames will neatly illustrate the concerns originally posted in this thread.

Riveting... just riveting...


Regards,
Bill
 
"Margaret" is not really an opera. It is code for a certain on-going project that is in the works which needed the attention of the Empress.
 
"Margaret" is not really an opera. It is code for a certain on-going project that is in the works which needed the attention of the Empress.


Shonner,

Who knows? It could be.

I've been looking for hints to future ATU events in SJGames' TNS reports for years now and my batting average is pretty low. Not because I keep predicting the wrong future events, but because usually there are no future events to predict. Everything builds to a certain point and then fades without even a whimper.

The current "Night At The Opera" story line seems interesting. A big chunk of the Imperial family will there, plus Dulinor's daughter Isis and his widow, and the opera is about the end of Margaret's regency.

One bomb kills Strephon and Iphegenia, making little Prince Casimir the emperor while his granny is still weeks or months away. A regency involving a minor is never good and Casimir is about 3 years old so it's going to be a long regency. There are a lot of people, organizations, and governments inside and outside of the Imperium who will see a long regency as a good time to start "fishing". There could also be efforts to crown an adult in Casimir's place; don't forget that Varian and Lucan are still alive.

Varian is off playing duke in his holdings while Lucan joined the navy. What if, after a series of troubles he may or may not have had a hand in creating, Varian, after reading Richard III, decides the Imperium needs a firmer hand and seizes the regency? I'm sure there are plenty of towers he could pack Casimir off to.

All suppostions on my part and I don't expect any bit of it to come true given SJGames' track record. :(


Regards,
Bill
 
I believe that this week's TNS item from SJGames will neatly illustrate the concerns originally posted in this thread.

Ugh. That's just atrocious.

The GT line was taken over by the guys that would rather play "Asteroids and Accountants" than Twilight's Peak or Secret of the Ancients. Although they will tell you that even asteroid mining should be more boring that it is. Anywhere that they give advice for running campaigns, they steer you away from what I'd most like to explore. Old artifacts of extinct civilizations are pooh poohed as being cliche, etc. Alternately, CT secrets are given away with a single paragraph... and inspiring old premises are portrayed as being something the original GDW guys didn't really intend to pursue anyway. "Nothing to see here... move along... no story culminating into anything."

Sure, you can run your campaign however you want, but the mentality impacts just about everything.

Looking back, the new deck of aliens introduced in AR 1-3 is about the most fun thing in the line. Of course, that stuff wasn't engineered to fit into the "as boring as you wanna be" official mileau. I really wish GT had done something with the Solomani Rim the way the hinted that they wold in Rim of Fire. I also wish the revised version of MJD's Spinward Marches book had been printed.

I love the CT adventures in order get that defining Traveller premise... and I like the now-unavailable 1248 source books for providing a coherent narrative putting everything together.
 
I would guess that the TNS items are:

a) whatever Loren Wiseman cares to dash off

b) explicitly forbidden from introducing or developing any significant meta-plots [the powers-that-be thinking this is a feature, not a bug]

c) NOT restricted from issuing redundant and repetitive entries

d) NOT required to be developed to contain any significant local system color beyond just the name and position of an important noble

e) NOT restricted from running with lame shaggy dog style references to Vilani-ized culture references (ie, Gilbert and Sullivan... in the original Klingon or whatever...)

Meh.
 
Latest TNS!

Philistines and uncultured louts, that was best one ever. I even liked the censored word added to keep us from knowing the actual opera name. Why not try to figure out the opera's original name...or do I have to use italics around here to get attention?
 
Whoa. Just had a truly wicked notion that I doubt will come to pass. What if this was all a lull, setting us up for the following:

Empress Iolanthe's security was actually subverted while she was in Soli space, and she's now been programmed (or if you prefer, replaced with a double) to take out Strephon, Iphegenia, and whatever other portions of the royal family she can - take your pick of either overtly or covertly. Once that's done, programming options include a) killing herself, thus deepening the immediate chaos (most likely for an overt assassination) or b) take the throne herself and begin directing policy to suit Solimani desires. This range from granting direct concessions to the Solis, redeploying fleet and other military assets, to doing something more indirect like cranking up a war with the Julians (or maybe the Aslan, who are more directly in the Soli's way) so that the Confederation can move into the chaos.

OK, so parts of this liberally stolen from Lois McMaster Bujold (see Brothers in Arms and Mirror Dance) but hey, if you're gonna steal, steal from the best. :)

I doubt we're in for anything nearly as interesting, though.
 
Well, today's entry is actually a step up from recent months:

"Capital/Core 063-1127

Archduchess Lady Isis Arepo Illethian and her mother, Lady Jessica Arepo Ilethian, departed unexpectedly today, cutting short what was to be an extended visit with the Imperial family. No one at the Palace or with the Archduchess’ party would comment on the reason for the early departure, other than to say that it was for personal reasons. :omega: "
 
I came across this thread and thought to myself are there any events that happen independent of the Rebellion happening or not. Trying to find that drama.

I realize that SJG might have constraints that have been previously been posted. I guess, I am asking are there any other events in OTU that would have/should have happened Rebellion or not? The first ones that came to mind were the astronomical events.

Projects Longbow and Logbow II exist in the main GT book. Would the "Empress Wave" exist also since it originated thousands of years ago? Of course, waiting until the 1200s might be a problem for most of us.

Getting old now so I forgot the reference, but didn't Antares go nova either in OTU or ATU?
 
The restrictions SJG was under where pretty heavy. They could not do any harm to Strephon, or anyone in the royal family. (Which shoots down the whole "double of Iphigenia" idea.) Also, they could not create a major disturbance in the Imperium. They were apparently able to screw with the Solomani, but they appear to have decided to just let that fizzle out, instead of actually making a resolution to the situation.

The Empress Wave does exist in the GTU, though it was intentionally completely ignored. They didn't want to do anything with it.

To the best of my knowledge the supernova of Antares was only a fan-based proposal or ATU. Nothing like that was ever done in any OTU.
 
So the Imperium remains as it is now in MgT, CT - a colossus waiting to implode. Loren assures us that both universes will converge. Perhaps, the answer itself lies in the GURPS line. I think the POD is actually lying somewhere in Interstellar Wars - when it gives the possibility of Vland winning - it gives the possibility that in the distant future there might be a war over the timeline itself.

The proof of this that throw away line from an INI operative in one of the books - who trumps things by saying Dulinor. I have a feeling we are dealing and leading toward time agents and all out probability wars but then SJG closed up their RPG lines and left us all hanging. With Loren's health not so good - ATU just totters along.

What is the relationship I wonder between MgT and the ATU. Already, we are beginning to see divergences from what was perceived as the Official Traveller Universe - true some of these are due to sloppy editing but what if they are also subtitle ways of moving us toward and away from the ATU? Hopefully Challenge might help answer some of these questions...
 
A convergence point would be really interesting, considering where things stand now. Since Rebellion, Hard Times, New Era and 1248 are OTU, the point of convergence would have to come after 1248. To get closer to ATU, The Fourth Imperium needs to gets its act together, reconcile with or destroy the K'kree/Virus in some manner and other story issues I cannot think of at the moment. If expansion of the 4E is compable what 3I did, you are looking at 500 more years or so, say around 1750 IY or later.

That's assuming ATU trudges on its merry way without major changes.
 
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