Named ATU Settings in 140 words

[robject]

Broad brush strokes for browsing. Get across the main idea of an ATU setting in 140 words or less*

Starhugger Setting (from Carlobrand). ATU characterized by (1) star-system based jump-capable societies (Starhuggers) originally colonized by generation ships, (2) deep-space city ships which send out jump raiders to pillage, collect slaves, and gather tech, and (3) colossal nomadic sublight ships (miles across), which with their escorts occasionally enter star systems (including populated ones) to harvest resources. Some are merchant-ruled, some reclusive, and some hostile.


* Sorry, yes, I forgot that a Tweet is only 140 chars. But I think 140 words for this forum is not too verbose.

 

[far-trader]

You mean 140 characters I think. Interesting idea/concept/challenge.

 

[BytePro]

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Tycoon Federation:Magnate collective rules settled space w/caste social
system of Holders and Debtors; eradicates Auto-mons & Outliers.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

I know this doesn't count, but this is description of a race I developed using the prinicple idea here.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=23042

Planet dwellers are refered to Mud people.

 

[robject]

Proto-Imperium. Capital is the administrative core of a morally-neutral hegemony, in the only pass through an extremely long rift system. The Imperium is a conflation of the OTU Imperium (Regina subsector is there in some form). The location and status of Terra is long forgotten. Local rulers (Dukes? Satraps? Generalissimos?) rule the navies; local capitals are high-tech, decadent and introspective. Scouts are a combination of 'rangers', 'gypsies', and a postal/exploration cooperative, existing to 'prevent another dark age'.

 

[Dragoner]

too easy...

Beyond the Frontier:

It is the year 1323 Imperial, the Golden Age lies two hundred years in the past, two hundred years as well since the first wave of colonists; refugees from the shattered Imperium, began to settle in the Spinward Hinters and beyond The Frontier. From the time of the rebellion to the coming of the virus, other waves of colonist have come, the Solomani fleeing the doom that came to all charted space, and the Zhodani fleeing their Consulate sundered upon the Empress Wave and the assault of The Black Ships. The same Black Ships on the horizon, now menacing the New Frontier…

 

[far-trader]

In less than 140 characters is tight*, I managed the essence of MTU, I think (in 137 if I counted right):

ProtOTU - Citizens by Service. Max ~25Kt TLF Navy ships. Max ~5Kton TLE MegaCorp ships. Max ~1Kt TLC private ships. CTB2+ build costs/10.

* makes 140 words look positively verbose

Isn't this what the OTU code was designed for?

 

[rancke]

The Republic of Regina: The Fifth Frontier War was a major win for the Zhodani. Rhylanor and two dozen worlds in the Duchy of Regina were captured. Negotiations returned Rhylanor to the Imperium and turned the Duchy of Regina into a neutral buffer state. Today, ten years later, the Republic is a hotbed of intrigue, with individual worlds jostling for economic advantage and the Republic's government trying to impose its will on the member worlds. Ousted megacorporations scheme to worm their way back into lost markets, and former Duchy nobles are formenting rebellion wherever they can. Scores of brushfire wars make the Republic an Eldorado for mercenaries. Marc Oberlindes, former Imperial noble, struggles to bring his company safe through the turbulent times, but is closely watched by a suspicious government. He needs a few good men for covert operations...


Hans

 

[BytePro]

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Diasporia:13 TL15 remnants of a galaxy spanning culture; trade mecca
despite ave 11 pcs separation served by massive waypoints.

 

[Timerover51]

All Alone: Humanity expands into the galaxy, and discovers that it is not only the only intelligent life, but the only life at all.

 

[sabredog]

Imperial Earth rises from ashes of a failed confederation and interstellar war while it and three other major races vie for the same territory by means of trade/diplomacy/and saber-rattling. Meanwhile, a large but difficult to reach chunk of space exists and everyone is in a race to get there first. (proto-Trav with plenty of sword n’ blaster space opera)


I know it’s longer than allowed but I’m a Traveller (among others) ref for heck’s sake – waddya expect?


(and note the Travcode in the signature for the technical bits)

 

[Dragoner]

I prefer the 140 words over 140 characters, otherwise it is just wharrgarbl.

 

[sabredog]

I prefer the 140 words over 140 characters, otherwise it is just wharrgarbl.

I dunno, I think I have finally distilled it down to 140 characters:

Whoosh!..zap-zap, blam!...yikes!...hit the jump button!...yah!...ka-blam…hisssss…beep,beep,beep….clang!, easy there…ahhh! Aliens!! Raowr! Gulp-slurp…


At least it's close.

 

[far-trader]

I prefer the 140 words over 140 characters, otherwise it is just wharrgarbl.

I agree, and would hate to force wharrgarble on anyone

So here is MTU in (exactly) 140 words instead of just 140 characters. I think it gets the idea across a bit better and I stuck to (mostly) descriptive without rules notes so I think it reads better:

Citizens of the Imperium:

Most of the population of the eleven hundred Imperium aligned worlds are simply subjects with little say in shaping The Imperium. They generally spend their entire life on their homeworld or in a single star system, protected and nurtured by The Imperium for a small tithe of their production.

Citizenship is gained through service to The Imperium. Subjects may apply to serve in the Imperial Marines, Army, or Navy. Or they may serve as Scouts, Merchants, Scientists, Diplomats, Leaders or Bureaucrats. Citizens are free to travel the stars and shape their own destiny, but with great freedom comes great responsibility, and power. You may even shape the destiny of The Imperium where one citizen at the right time in the right place can make a difference. Are you THAT citizen Traveller? Will you serve The Imperium?

 

[far-trader]

I dunno, I think I have finally distilled it down to 140 characters:

Whoosh!..zap-zap, blam!...yikes!...hit the jump button!...yah!...ka-blam…hisssss…beep,beep,beep….clang!, easy there…ahhh! Aliens!! Raowr! Gulp-slurp…


At least it's close.

I like it!

 

[Dragoner]

I dunno, I think I have finally distilled it down to 140 characters:

Whoosh!..zap-zap, blam!...yikes!...hit the jump button!...yah!...ka-blam…hisssss…beep,beep,beep….clang!, easy there…ahhh! Aliens!! Raowr! Gulp-slurp…


At least it's close.

You have just desrcribed 90% of all ATU's.

 

[DangerousThing]

After the Long Night

After an apocalyptic event that caused a long night, eventually the dawn comes. Trade and exploration starts again, and perhaps from one of the new pocket empires, a true Empire will rise. Will you help or hinder?

 

[Carlobrand]

Adam's children:

Homo Sapiens is extinct, gone not with a bang but a whimper as increasing technology and life expectancy bred a self-absorbed culture increasingly averse to risk and preoccupied with personal gratification. Their heirs are the androids that they created to serve them, explore for them, indeed to live life vicariously for them and be the subjects of manipulative games on an enormous scale. The evolution from human to android culture was so gradual, and the androids eventually so human in appearance and behavior, that the androids themselves came to think of themselves as human and can not say with certainty when the last of the organic humans died out and left their new-human aides to rule the rest of new-human society in their stead. The androids left Earth and ventured into space to form societies of their own based on the idealized human model of exploration and expansion that they were created to emulate; they stopped thinking of themselves as anything but the sons of Earth millenia ago.

(Or perhaps, unknown to the androids, Humanity is all but extinct except for a handful of very powerful Methuselahs whose minds now inhabit cybernetic shells, who sit the Imperial throne and other seats of great power and who from those seats still rule and manipulate new-Human culture for their own amusement.)

Sorry, that's a chunk more than 140 words.

Requires some revision of core Traveller rules (primarily the robotics bit) but has the great advantage that your players can take greater risks and survive fatal encounters by either downloading at the instant of destruction or falling back on their last saved mindset.

 

[saundby]

In the <=140 word model:

A pocket empire reaches the practical limits of expansion under the current government. Recoiling from growing into an Imperium, afraid to distribute power, the nobility of the oldest systems decide to maintain their grip by prevent the formation of new centers of power. They limit technology in outlying areas, They actively undermine the growth of population and trade. Economic subsidies and local power are used to buy off many and maintain control in the marches.

Others, though, remember the promise that lay in the new systems they settled and built businesses in, and the untapped potential beyond the borders. Living on the fringes of civilization--smuggling, the black market, "underground" factories--they await only some gelling force or incident to form the basis of a real threat to the ever more repressive government.

Twitter model:
@Repressive-centralists create #stubborn_underground but rule till @DrWho (or @adventurers) shows up and falls in with the #underdogs.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Automated Seed Ships are sent out to colonize the stars. They are programmed to select worlds similar to their Homeworld’s environment. If after reaching a selected star, there is no world capable of support life, they move on to another star system. Each ship has the capability of programming DNA and survival instincts tailored to the world selected.

1000 years pass before the homeworld discovers FTL, due to cultural changes they are unaware of the original program. The ships have done a remarkable job of seeding the worlds. 60% of the ships have created societies similar to the original. However, 30% have settled worlds not within the normal. The remaining 10% are missing.

Rediscovery and uniting the Normal worlds under the Homeworld’s control has become a priority. Eradication of the abnormal and discovering of the last 10% become a priority…