SolCon Reforms (TNS: 130-1121)
- Thread starter GBoyett
- Start date
Ooops . . . sorry, I thought I was responding in the "Ask Dave" thread.
Never mind that last bit -- let's continue to discuss the things that have actually happened with the GT universe, as revealed in the TNS SJ Games provides, rather than screaming about what we're afraid might happen.
Never mind that last bit -- let's continue to discuss the things that have actually happened with the GT universe, as revealed in the TNS SJ Games provides, rather than screaming about what we're afraid might happen.
M
Malenfant
Guest
I don't think there's a problem with conjecturing about what might happen in the GT timeline. That, presumably, is one of the reason why TNS articles are published after all - to get people thinking.
What I don't want to see here is people saying "oh, it'll all end up like TNE" or "Nooooo, they can't change anything" or whatever. Let's just wait and see what happens.
So by all means, let's talk about the in-game politics and consequences and implications of what's happening in the Rim - but let's leave out the external comparisions with other versions of the game, doom-mongering about the imminent collapse of GT if it goes down that route or whatever, shall we?
RandyT0001
SOC-13
(Kicking feet, hands in pockets, head bowed) Um, ok.
You mean you don't have the GTU future events for the next RL twenty years planned out???
Make it a SolaCola and add a K'Kree burger and you've got a deal!
You want to talk about the Tennessee Titans (
Please don't add injury to insult by rubbing salt into a different wound.
I'll stop stirring the pot and refrain from posting on the subject until more news comes out.
Right, well, I do have a typed reply to that last large post of yours, so I will leave it to you.
Shall I post it? Would you rather have it privately?
Either way, my apologies for thinking you were awfully young - when you seemed not to know Chadwick, I thought you had to be.
And, BTW, it's a combination of commissioner and kommisar - haven't you heard? All we Solomani are bolshi's.
Commissionar Frye
Shall I post it? Would you rather have it privately?
Either way, my apologies for thinking you were awfully young - when you seemed not to know Chadwick, I thought you had to be.
And, BTW, it's a combination of commissioner and kommisar - haven't you heard? All we Solomani are bolshi's.
Commissionar Frye
See my next message, I didn't mean to ask that all discussion be shut down, just speculation about the worst case in absence of any evidence.
What I mean is that you may or may not find what actually transpires as bad as your worst fears about what might have happened. Or, you might find it worse. My expression of ignorance is related to predicting what you will think of things not yet revealed.
And to answer the question: no, not every detail is cast in stone.
In another matter, I think it was the esteemed Commissioner/Commissar who said words to the effect that the GT universe parameters are "reset to 1116 and no virus."
It is a little more complex than that, actually. I am operating under several restrictions: the reset to 1116/no virus (both of which are over-simplifications) part certainly is in effect, but I can't kill Strephon (except by old age), have an Imperium-wide rebellion, or {hmmmmm -- maybe I shouldn't mention that next one}.
Anyway, the Imperial wedding is one of the plot threads. I released some stuff in Nobles about what happened to Dulinor (although not as much as I originally wrote). There are a few other things, one of them dealing with my observation that Varian and Lucan are twins, after all. All sorts of interesting things could happen within my imposed guidelines.
M
Malenfant
Guest
privately, if you must send it at all. I'd really rather you didn't send it though and that we just moved on, because chances are I've heard it all before from various others who have started the same arguments anyway.
I've never heard him referred to as FAC. I know who he is though.
Besides, 'primary school in the 90s'??? That'd make me less than 15 years old. I think very very few people that age are playing Traveller. Oh, and also, there would be plenty of much older people outside the Traveller fanbase who probably haven't heard of the guy either. Age has little to do with it, it's what you play and how informed you are about RPGs and their designers.
{deletions}
GDW fan tradition when referring to the designers (I gather to save time on the chatboards) was to refer to Frank A. Chadwick as FAC, Marc W. Miller as MWM, and Loren K. Wiseman as LKW. It is not unusual for Malenfant not to know Frank by the initials FAC.
Indeed it is. However, if you are involved with historical board wargames (which Malenfant is not, IIRC) or involved with the game industry in a serious professional way for more than 5 years (ditto), or are a serious miniatures wargamer (which Malenfant is not, AFAIK), then the odds of you knowing Frank are greater. Frank served as president of the game industry trade organization (GAMA) for nearly a decade, designed dozens of boardgames, cardgames, miniatures games, and role-playing games, and wrote the Desert Shield Factbook, which was on the NYT best-seller list (albeit non-fiction) for many weeks in 1991.
I often think that people know who I am only because I am more active on the internet than Frank or Marc. Is there anyone on CotI that has asked "Who is Loren Wiseman?"
After a cursory glance the only book I can find where he's referred to as Frank A. Chadwick is The Traveller Book. MT, TW2K 2.0, 2300AD, Space 1889, and the Desert Shield Factbook all use Frank Chadwick. I've seen the later games Command Decision and its spinoffs as well as Volley & Bayonet but can't recall how his name is there. I do have the excellent 1809 book for V&B but can't find it at the moment.
I believe it was Frank Chadwick though in all those books. I've sold all my GDW boardgames so no idea there.So even GDW fanboys (I don't really consider myself one though) might not know Frank Chadwick as FAC.
[snip of good stuff]. And he's involved with some great con games. I believe he had a hand in the fun Duke Siegfried Lord of the Rings games I saw at Origins for example. V&B has some great pictures of his 54mm figures being used in games.
Casey should just start the "Questions to Ask Frank Chadwick" thread sometime
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
"So even GDW fanboys (I don't really consider myself one though) might not know Frank Chadwick as FAC. I've never heard it used before for the little that's worth but have MWM and LKW."
Same here.
Same here.
Of course not-- I mean who hasn't heard of FASA's best designer?
(Ach! I know... it wan't funny the first time....)
Anyways, I'd love to see some 48 page adventures that lead up to the Solomoni equivalent of Twilight's Peak, Fifth Frontier War, and/or Secret of the Ancients. If that can't be managed due to logistics, a set of linked Campaign Setting, Short Adventure, and Amber Zone articles in JTAS would be okay but not especially stunning. 10 assorted patron encounters would be a good start.
(Ref's cannot game on TNS entries and GURPS sidebars alone....)
Being new to Traveller as of the 25th Anniversary GT package, I was shocked to find that the Solomani were plagued by a psycho KGB/McCarthy type culture. At the very least, these changes will at least produce some factions that I can identify with.
Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to watching how this all plays out. Of course... it'll be even better to get some PC's in the middle of all this.
Couldn't agree more.
That's my stance of the going ons inside SolCon. Hopefully there will be relatively bloodless reform. The only casualties will be some of the SolSec and Party hardliners. Except for a few isolated incidents, the borders will not have to deal with invasions, peacekeeping missions, and land grabs.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Do we (players/refs) really *want* a reformed Confed, though? Where's the fun in a nice, happy, fluffy democracy?
(Hmm...thoughts of them invading the Imperium in order to forcibly democratise them (whether they like it or not) pass through my mind...better not mention it, though - some Americans have no sense of humour...)
(Hmm...thoughts of them invading the Imperium in order to forcibly democratise them (whether they like it or not) pass through my mind...better not mention it, though - some Americans have no sense of humour...)
We don't have to reform the whole thing.
All I'm asking for is one faction that represents the very best of Western civilization and without any of the dark overtones (such as the 3/5ths compromise, the Dred Scott decision, the "naked imperialism" that characterizes the modern European image of America, and so forth....)
I wouldn't complain if the leaders actually quoted Jefferson, Paine, Hamilton and so forth. I wouldn't mind if they came up with some improvements on the American model based on where America has gone wrong. (Some kind of safeguard that could prevent the horrors of a civil war would be a good and necessary thing.)
The main thing is, I want a faction I can cheer for, fret over, and believe in. At the same time, I wouldn't mind if the source material were open to other interpretations, either. That's not unusual in Traveller material. For instance, a European GM could play "my" faction as being the most deceitful double-minded buffoons in the galaxy if he wanted to. Whatever.
At any rate, I'm sick of racism and McCarthyism being an issue. Let's move on from that somehow. I don't want a future where we keep repeating the same mistakes. I want one in which a new synthesis is both possible and worth sacrificing for.
All I'm asking for is one faction that represents the very best of Western civilization and without any of the dark overtones (such as the 3/5ths compromise, the Dred Scott decision, the "naked imperialism" that characterizes the modern European image of America, and so forth....)
I wouldn't complain if the leaders actually quoted Jefferson, Paine, Hamilton and so forth. I wouldn't mind if they came up with some improvements on the American model based on where America has gone wrong. (Some kind of safeguard that could prevent the horrors of a civil war would be a good and necessary thing.)
The main thing is, I want a faction I can cheer for, fret over, and believe in. At the same time, I wouldn't mind if the source material were open to other interpretations, either. That's not unusual in Traveller material. For instance, a European GM could play "my" faction as being the most deceitful double-minded buffoons in the galaxy if he wanted to. Whatever.
At any rate, I'm sick of racism and McCarthyism being an issue. Let's move on from that somehow. I don't want a future where we keep repeating the same mistakes. I want one in which a new synthesis is both possible and worth sacrificing for.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
"All I'm asking for is one faction that represents the very best of Western civilization"
We already have that with the Imperium (admitedly, it's the best of *15th Century* Western civilisation, but that's because democracy doesn't work well at interstellar scales).
We already have that with the Imperium (admitedly, it's the best of *15th Century* Western civilisation, but that's because democracy doesn't work well at interstellar scales).
http://www.scifi-az.com/articles/wwsf1004.pdf
As it expands, it will become more autocratic, and imperceptibly, the Interstellar Federation will give way to the Galactic Empire.
Would such an ``empire'' be an empire in reality, or merely a giantsize nation? Even with Galactic Clippers, the distances and travel times involved ensure that arguments will abound in a galaxy inhabited by ornery human beings. Arguments inevitably lead to wars unless there is a force such as the Imperial Starfleet to keep the peace.
This isn't to say that a galactic empire will rule the member worlds with an iron hand. Quite the contrary! The same distance that makes unity difficult also prevents pettifogging bureaucrats from directing everything from the galactic capital. Individual planets will likely run themselves as they see fit. There will be democracies, autocracies, plutocracies, monarchies, theocracies, and a dozen kinds of ``ocracy'' that we have yet to imagine.
The Galactic Empire's central government will primarily be in charge of moderating the individual star systems' baser instincts. It will, presumably, stop one star system from blowing up another merely because they have different political philosophies. Failing that, it will punish the transgressors. And, of course, it will make sure that everyone pays his or her taxes on time.
As it expands, it will become more autocratic, and imperceptibly, the Interstellar Federation will give way to the Galactic Empire.
Would such an ``empire'' be an empire in reality, or merely a giantsize nation? Even with Galactic Clippers, the distances and travel times involved ensure that arguments will abound in a galaxy inhabited by ornery human beings. Arguments inevitably lead to wars unless there is a force such as the Imperial Starfleet to keep the peace.
This isn't to say that a galactic empire will rule the member worlds with an iron hand. Quite the contrary! The same distance that makes unity difficult also prevents pettifogging bureaucrats from directing everything from the galactic capital. Individual planets will likely run themselves as they see fit. There will be democracies, autocracies, plutocracies, monarchies, theocracies, and a dozen kinds of ``ocracy'' that we have yet to imagine.
The Galactic Empire's central government will primarily be in charge of moderating the individual star systems' baser instincts. It will, presumably, stop one star system from blowing up another merely because they have different political philosophies. Failing that, it will punish the transgressors. And, of course, it will make sure that everyone pays his or her taxes on time.
M
Malenfant
Guest
You're assuming that an "empire" would even form. I think lots of loose conglomerations/alliances of nearby worlds (what Traveller calls "Pocket Empires") with a shared common interest is much more realistic than some huge "empire". I just can't see any reason for a world to join some overarching (and entirely undemocratic, and very distant), galaxy-spanning institution - what would they get from it which they can't get from a smaller local alliance of a few worlds?