MetaPlot--Beyond the Ancients

[Lord Iron Wolf]

Just a question,

Classic Traveller used the mystery of the Ancients to lead a series of adventures for the published material. Unfortunitly it ended with the discovery of Grandfather. After that the adventures seemed exhausted. With Mega Traveller and the Rebellion the Spinward Marches were pretty much ruined for play if you stuck with the OTU.

As a bit of fantasy, instead of the Rebellion and the Shattered Imperium; what should of been the next arc of the meta plot been? This meaning something that would of taken several adventures at professional level to resolve. (Please don't bring up the Traveller Adventure--I found it unusable.)

My own thoughts would of been an Ancient experiment which was put in hiatus due to the final war. Something on the order of the movie: Titan AE. Now the characters are finding hellishly destructive technology and both Zhos and Impies are after the secrets too. No one has enough pieces to put together what it does--not yet at least.

Looking forward to your ideas,
Lord Iron Wolf

 

[Lord Iron Wolf]

Just a question,

Classic Traveller used the mystery of the Ancients to lead a series of adventures for the published material. Unfortunitly it ended with the discovery of Grandfather. After that the adventures seemed exhausted. With Mega Traveller and the Rebellion the Spinward Marches were pretty much ruined for play if you stuck with the OTU.

As a bit of fantasy, instead of the Rebellion and the Shattered Imperium; what should of been the next arc of the meta plot been? This meaning something that would of taken several adventures at professional level to resolve. (Please don't bring up the Traveller Adventure--I found it unusable.)

My own thoughts would of been an Ancient experiment which was put in hiatus due to the final war. Something on the order of the movie: Titan AE. Now the characters are finding hellishly destructive technology and both Zhos and Impies are after the secrets too. No one has enough pieces to put together what it does--not yet at least.

Looking forward to your ideas,
Lord Iron Wolf

 

[robject]

My take was to turn the Ancients story on its head and inject a little paranoia into the group. Everything you knew about the Ancients is wrong... Grandfather turns out to have never existed... a remnant of the 'true' ancients are still among us, and in the middle of a terrible struggle to prevent the re-enslavement of the galaxy by the rivals of the ancients... a little X-Files, a little Babylon 5, a little Larry Niven.

 

[robject]

My take was to turn the Ancients story on its head and inject a little paranoia into the group. Everything you knew about the Ancients is wrong... Grandfather turns out to have never existed... a remnant of the 'true' ancients are still among us, and in the middle of a terrible struggle to prevent the re-enslavement of the galaxy by the rivals of the ancients... a little X-Files, a little Babylon 5, a little Larry Niven.

 

[alanb]

Originally posted by Lord Iron Wolf:
Classic Traveller used the mystery of the Ancients to lead a series of adventures for the published material. Unfortunitly it ended with the discovery of Grandfather. After that the adventures seemed exhausted. With Mega Traveller and the Rebellion the Spinward Marches were pretty much ruined for play if you stuck with the OTU.

Err, well, I disagree.

But anyway, what else could you do with the Ancients? Well, there was that doohickey the Zhodani had in their CT alien module. That was a very nasty little plot device there: a time machine! That is, it provided the user with truthful information about events that hadn't ocurred yet, in a manner that suggested that information was being transmitted backwards in time...

This opens up some rather interesting possibilities. After all, if untrained humans can use it to gain very limited visions of the future, what could trained Ancients do with it? What if, back in the time of the Ancients, someone is watching what is going on now, and manipulating events by transferring back tidbits of information from further away up the timeline? What would their agenda be? What would happen if they decided to make mental contact with someone using the device in the present? (cue screaming and maniacal giggling).

But for what it's worth, I do take your point about the Marches. The Aslan incursions do have problems with their plausibility (to put it mildly), and overrun some of the most useful parts (in a game sense) of the Marches. Similarly, Vargr incursions tend to sweep some of the coreward areas that are very interesting.

Still, there are plenty of worlds outside these areas. One area I have a particular fondness for is the area between the Federation of Arden and Regina. You can have quite a bit of fun there, if you try.

To get back to the metaplot, you could even play with the Aslan incursions a bit. If, after all, it is implausible that the Aslan would be able to forcibly overrun all the Imperial worlds they are supposed to have, you have to ask: why did these worlds _rebel_ against the Imperium?

Who led this rebellion? Why did it spread to Glisten? Where are the turncoat Imperial fleets? Why has Norris been so successful in suppressing news of the revolt, and why is he bothering to do so, anyway? Surely the forces fighting against the rebels must be aware they are fighting humans as well as Aslan! And what is the Santanacheev family's connection to all this?

So, there's a metaplot for you. With a bit more work, you should be able to hand a couple of plots together with this, and then you've got yourself a campaign.

Easy as.

 

[alanb]

Originally posted by Lord Iron Wolf:
Classic Traveller used the mystery of the Ancients to lead a series of adventures for the published material. Unfortunitly it ended with the discovery of Grandfather. After that the adventures seemed exhausted. With Mega Traveller and the Rebellion the Spinward Marches were pretty much ruined for play if you stuck with the OTU.

Err, well, I disagree.

But anyway, what else could you do with the Ancients? Well, there was that doohickey the Zhodani had in their CT alien module. That was a very nasty little plot device there: a time machine! That is, it provided the user with truthful information about events that hadn't ocurred yet, in a manner that suggested that information was being transmitted backwards in time...

This opens up some rather interesting possibilities. After all, if untrained humans can use it to gain very limited visions of the future, what could trained Ancients do with it? What if, back in the time of the Ancients, someone is watching what is going on now, and manipulating events by transferring back tidbits of information from further away up the timeline? What would their agenda be? What would happen if they decided to make mental contact with someone using the device in the present? (cue screaming and maniacal giggling).

But for what it's worth, I do take your point about the Marches. The Aslan incursions do have problems with their plausibility (to put it mildly), and overrun some of the most useful parts (in a game sense) of the Marches. Similarly, Vargr incursions tend to sweep some of the coreward areas that are very interesting.

Still, there are plenty of worlds outside these areas. One area I have a particular fondness for is the area between the Federation of Arden and Regina. You can have quite a bit of fun there, if you try.

To get back to the metaplot, you could even play with the Aslan incursions a bit. If, after all, it is implausible that the Aslan would be able to forcibly overrun all the Imperial worlds they are supposed to have, you have to ask: why did these worlds _rebel_ against the Imperium?

Who led this rebellion? Why did it spread to Glisten? Where are the turncoat Imperial fleets? Why has Norris been so successful in suppressing news of the revolt, and why is he bothering to do so, anyway? Surely the forces fighting against the rebels must be aware they are fighting humans as well as Aslan! And what is the Santanacheev family's connection to all this?

So, there's a metaplot for you. With a bit more work, you should be able to hand a couple of plots together with this, and then you've got yourself a campaign.

Easy as.

 

[mike wightman]

Lord Iron Wolf.

Just in case you missed it:

This one provides the background to a whole campaign. It could actually be run using any of the Traveller settings. It's not very well fleshed out yet, but by the end of the Easter Holiday it will be

Page 9, MT Referee's Manual, The First Starfarers:
Intelligent life first began sublight travel between the stars more than a billion years ago... Longer lived races ranged far and wide using generation ships, cold sleep, and even electronic personality transfers.

DGP invented the Sparklers, later revealed as the Primordials, to be a race pre-dating Grandfather that used psionic jump drives. The adventure Knightfall includes them but doesn't go into their background a great deal.

Anyway, to borrow their idea a bit, what if Grandfather was very interested in all of these sublight travelling, very high tech civilisations that Travel the galaxy. How could they be included in a Traveller game? Did Grandfather meet his match in them? Did he learn from them? Do some of the "Ancient" finds actually pre-date Grandfather and belong to these Elder Races?

Are they still out there?

Do they walk among us?

Are they interested in us at all?

What is their technology like?

Have they "now" started using jumpdrives (well- after Grandfather invented it, anyway)?

How do they electronically transfer their personalities? Can they do it over light years in some sort of signal stream (limited to the speed of light)?

What sort of ships are lurking between the stars?

Are they psionic? Can they be?

How do I reveal this to players gradually?

Is there any point now I've posted it?

(I have kept some secrets

)

By the way, I have now decided to call them the Forefathers, and there are many distinct races.

Cheers.

 

[mike wightman]

Lord Iron Wolf.

Just in case you missed it:

This one provides the background to a whole campaign. It could actually be run using any of the Traveller settings. It's not very well fleshed out yet, but by the end of the Easter Holiday it will be

Page 9, MT Referee's Manual, The First Starfarers:
Intelligent life first began sublight travel between the stars more than a billion years ago... Longer lived races ranged far and wide using generation ships, cold sleep, and even electronic personality transfers.

DGP invented the Sparklers, later revealed as the Primordials, to be a race pre-dating Grandfather that used psionic jump drives. The adventure Knightfall includes them but doesn't go into their background a great deal.

Anyway, to borrow their idea a bit, what if Grandfather was very interested in all of these sublight travelling, very high tech civilisations that Travel the galaxy. How could they be included in a Traveller game? Did Grandfather meet his match in them? Did he learn from them? Do some of the "Ancient" finds actually pre-date Grandfather and belong to these Elder Races?

Are they still out there?

Do they walk among us?

Are they interested in us at all?

What is their technology like?

Have they "now" started using jumpdrives (well- after Grandfather invented it, anyway)?

How do they electronically transfer their personalities? Can they do it over light years in some sort of signal stream (limited to the speed of light)?

What sort of ships are lurking between the stars?

Are they psionic? Can they be?

How do I reveal this to players gradually?

Is there any point now I've posted it?

(I have kept some secrets

)

By the way, I have now decided to call them the Forefathers, and there are many distinct races.

Cheers.

 

[Elliot]

What of the Sparklers after DN killed them off? How do they fit into canon?

Are they a race long dead whose remains are in Knightfall only - or are they alive and travelling the core (but perhaps not 'baddies' on a war mission).

Does the Empress Wave affect them?

 

[Elliot]

What of the Sparklers after DN killed them off? How do they fit into canon?

Are they a race long dead whose remains are in Knightfall only - or are they alive and travelling the core (but perhaps not 'baddies' on a war mission).

Does the Empress Wave affect them?

 

[mike wightman]

The Primordials/Sparklers plotline is outlined in MT Journal 4 if that helps?
As for canon, well DN killed off "the baddies from the core" plotline; but the Sparkler's city is still there in Knightfall, the Sparkler proto-race is still there in the MT Referee's Gaming kit, and they are too good a plot device to kill off completely IMHO

I intend to keep them, along with the others...

As for the Empress Wave, now that I've read what it is, I would imagine the Sparklers would be immune to its major effects

 

[mike wightman]

The Primordials/Sparklers plotline is outlined in MT Journal 4 if that helps?
As for canon, well DN killed off "the baddies from the core" plotline; but the Sparkler's city is still there in Knightfall, the Sparkler proto-race is still there in the MT Referee's Gaming kit, and they are too good a plot device to kill off completely IMHO

I intend to keep them, along with the others...

As for the Empress Wave, now that I've read what it is, I would imagine the Sparklers would be immune to its major effects

 

[Straybow]

Ben Bova's Orion series has a few similar plot elements. Most of the series takes place in the past as a fanatasy milieu, where Orion the Hunter is an avatar of the gods carrying out various missions.

Bova takes the series into a science fiction future (not a science fantasy future, he's very clever at making it "real"). The gods didn't disappear, they just ignored humanity for a while. Eventually they hid in plain sight, taking roles in human interstellar government in an era where human life can be indefinitely extended (for those who have the resources).

I won't say more about that. If you haven't read Orion Among the Stars I highly recommend you get this information first hand. Bova is a very good writer, and this is some of his best. It is a stand alone novel. You don't need to read any of the others in the series.

Anyway, PCs can find out that the Hivers are actually a result of complex manipulations of the gods, and Grandfather was an avatar like Orion. Or something like that.

 

[Straybow]

Ben Bova's Orion series has a few similar plot elements. Most of the series takes place in the past as a fanatasy milieu, where Orion the Hunter is an avatar of the gods carrying out various missions.

Bova takes the series into a science fiction future (not a science fantasy future, he's very clever at making it "real"). The gods didn't disappear, they just ignored humanity for a while. Eventually they hid in plain sight, taking roles in human interstellar government in an era where human life can be indefinitely extended (for those who have the resources).

I won't say more about that. If you haven't read Orion Among the Stars I highly recommend you get this information first hand. Bova is a very good writer, and this is some of his best. It is a stand alone novel. You don't need to read any of the others in the series.

Anyway, PCs can find out that the Hivers are actually a result of complex manipulations of the gods, and Grandfather was an avatar like Orion. Or something like that.

 

[Elliot]

Sigg - as usual we agree - I cant see that the sparkler plot line can work now - but i'm sure that the Primordials have some look in on post DN (and lets not forget the other authors of TNE mk1!) Traveller.

 

[Elliot]

Sigg - as usual we agree - I cant see that the sparkler plot line can work now - but i'm sure that the Primordials have some look in on post DN (and lets not forget the other authors of TNE mk1!) Traveller.

 

[jappel]

This was inspired by some musings by Glenn Goffin on the TML some months back. I call this "The Heirs of Arden".

If you want to stick in the Marches and ignore the Rebellion and it's aftermath, look to the Marches' past. The Imperium used to possess the worlds that make up the Federation of Arden along with much of the rest of the DMZ area, but were forced to give them up at the end of the Third Frontier War. What happened to all the displaced noble families for which these worlds were once fiefdoms?

What if the descendants of these noble families decided to take back what they believe to be rightfully theirs, by hook or by crook?

Bingo, you've got a secret cabal with a clearly defined agenda, pitted against the Ardenites (who like being independent very much, thank you), the Zhodani (who don't want the Imperials back on their doorstep), possibly the Imperium (who might not want to provoke the Zhodani), and who knows whom else (throw in some megacorps using the above or other groups as proxies, acting for their own interests). PCs could wind up working for any of these groups, and possibly more than one, sometimes knowingly and sometimes as dupes or stalking goats.

There's an excellent discussion about Arden's history over in the MT forum.

John

 

[jappel]

This was inspired by some musings by Glenn Goffin on the TML some months back. I call this "The Heirs of Arden".

If you want to stick in the Marches and ignore the Rebellion and it's aftermath, look to the Marches' past. The Imperium used to possess the worlds that make up the Federation of Arden along with much of the rest of the DMZ area, but were forced to give them up at the end of the Third Frontier War. What happened to all the displaced noble families for which these worlds were once fiefdoms?

What if the descendants of these noble families decided to take back what they believe to be rightfully theirs, by hook or by crook?

Bingo, you've got a secret cabal with a clearly defined agenda, pitted against the Ardenites (who like being independent very much, thank you), the Zhodani (who don't want the Imperials back on their doorstep), possibly the Imperium (who might not want to provoke the Zhodani), and who knows whom else (throw in some megacorps using the above or other groups as proxies, acting for their own interests). PCs could wind up working for any of these groups, and possibly more than one, sometimes knowingly and sometimes as dupes or stalking goats.

There's an excellent discussion about Arden's history over in the MT forum.

John

 

[kafka47]

Eh? The Marches represent some of the most fruitful places where one can play CT in a MT context? My suggestion to you is that you ought to pick up DGP's MegaTraveller Journal to see how rich the Marches became in MT. Also, check out Flaming Eye.

But, simply because the Ancients were gone, it would involve a more assertive consolidation of politics in the Marches. Play up the rivaries between Moria & Regina. The Zhodani were still very much active and nobody knew their motives.

Plus, there is the whole story that needs to be told from Foreven & the Far Frontiers (FASA's playground).

 

[kafka47]

Eh? The Marches represent some of the most fruitful places where one can play CT in a MT context? My suggestion to you is that you ought to pick up DGP's MegaTraveller Journal to see how rich the Marches became in MT. Also, check out Flaming Eye.

But, simply because the Ancients were gone, it would involve a more assertive consolidation of politics in the Marches. Play up the rivaries between Moria & Regina. The Zhodani were still very much active and nobody knew their motives.

Plus, there is the whole story that needs to be told from Foreven & the Far Frontiers (FASA's playground).