Speaking of the Future...

[Captain Tylor]

Hello, all. First time poster - long time lurker. Started playing Traveller back in 1980 and though I haven't played much in recent years, I still keep current.

I'm in need of some gaming advice and I'm interested in some diverse input. I'm trying to come up with a historical background for a science fiction universe I'm detailing for use with another system (No flames, please!). It will take place in our future and play will begin at about the time when interstellar space travel becomes as commonplace as intercontinental air travel was in the early 1960's.

What I'm beating my head against the wall trying to do is come up with a timeline of significant events that transpire between now and then. I want to be able to randomly generate things such as countries and organizations rising to power, countries declining in influence, the arrival of new technologies, and so forth based upon extrapolations of current trends.

You may be asking me at this point "Why don't you just play 2300AD?". I've thought of that and I'm still trying to decide if that's the direction in which I want to go. I like 2300 and with a few tweaks, its timeline could be fixed to represent changes that have occured in real history since 1988. But I'd really like to have a universe of my own in which to play. (I'm also not a huge fan of 2300's 7.7 LY distance limits and discharging stutterwarp drives in a gravity well, but that's another matter.) I've also been considering taking the timeline from Dream Pod 9's "Jovian Chronicles" and advancing it a couple more centuries into the future. I just can't make up my mind.

My latest attempt at a timeline involves rolling random events from a book called "Central Casting: Heroes of Tomorrow" and applying those events to countries and organizations rather than player characters. I've also considered using something like "Pocket Empires" to determine the outcomes of such things as wars and economic fluctuations. The trouble with both of these is that they will take a LLOONNGG time to execute.

Has anybody else tried to "game out" a background history just to see where the chips fall? I'd appreciate any kind of constructive input.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a professional game designer nor do I have any aspirations to be one. This is just for the benefit of myself and my game group, so don't fret about seeing your ideas ending up on a game store shelf. I'm not looking for specific events, rather methods for determining those events.)

[This message has been edited by Captain Tylor (edited 28 August 2001).]

 

[DaveShayne]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Captain Tylor:
Hello, all. First time poster - long time lurker.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Welcome aboard.

<snip>

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>
I'm not looking for specific events, rather methods for determining those events.)

[This message has been edited by Captain Tylor (edited 28 August 2001).]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can't give you much in the way of concrete advice but have you looked at using a dumbed down pocket empires. For setting creation you don't actually have to play it all out. If you just crunch the numbers and find out what various polities are capable of you can just decide the actual events by fiat.

If your information shows that Planet Z has the best economic position then they get an economic win. If Planet Y has the best military it should win the war. (Planet X of course is still the only known source for the shaving cream atom Alludium Phosdex.)

Of course this is all subject to your whim. If you want the underdog to prevail well strnge things happen and the race doesn't always go to the fastest horse.

Something that might speed you up is a spreadsheet for PE. I'm prety sure I've seen one mentioned (I think it's for MS Access. Don't know how well these things port either.)

Another thing you might try is looking for an overview of an obscure period in history and base your campaign around that after filing off the serial numbers. For instance you could try basing your future history on ancient China. This gives you lots of ready made detail while at the same time being removed enough from the average American gamer's historical awareness.

Just some thoughts




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I am increasingly of the opinion that RPGs are by the nature of their creation subjective phenomenon. due to the interaction between game designers, game masters, and game players all definitions, rules, settings, and adventures are mutable in acordance with the uncertainty principle as expounded by Heisenburg. This is of course merely my point of view.

David Shayne

 

[GypsyComet]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Captain Tylor:

I'm in need of some gaming advice and I'm interested in some diverse input. I'm trying to come up with a historical background for a science fiction universe I'm detailing for use with another system (No flames, please!). It will take place in our future and play will begin at about the time when interstellar space travel becomes as commonplace as intercontinental air travel was in the early 1960's.
...
Has anybody else tried to "game out" a background history just to see where the chips fall? I'd appreciate any kind of constructive input.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A number of possibilities exist, depending on how much time you want to spend, and how much you want to involve your gaming friends:

Play several games of Risk (or if you have it, Supremacy), using one for actual political results, one for economic power and others for language, culture and whatever other index you want. Keep track of the ownerships at the end of each full turn and cross-index them between the games...

Play the "one-with everything" variation of Illuminati:NWO. Feel free to buy up lots of the (now cheap) blank INWO cards to add your own features to the world-building. Heck, use the INWO blanks to make your own game...

a number of variations exist on those themes...

 

[William]

One real possiblility is to get a copy of 2300 AD and use it's timeline while sticking to the Real Traveller's rule set of your preference. For example, it works reasonably well with MT rules while also giving you a boatload of material you can use.

Another option is to look up http://www.downport.com/amv/Promrise/index.htm

for the best early true Trav timeline yet.

ymmv,

William

 

[Secrect Cow Level]

My advice would be to go with the 2300AD timeline, making any adjustments you feel are warranted to create the future history you like. As for things like the 7.7 ly limit on stutterwarp travel and the need to discharge the drive in a gravity well, if you don't like those rules, don't use them. No rule in a role-playing game is set in stone. The campaign is yours to do with as you please. The rules are meant to serve you, not enslave you. In the past I was unwilling to change anything written in the rules, and often found that those rules prevented me from telling the story I wanted to tell. There are no game police to arrest you if you change things in any game to make it the game you and your group want to play. The most important thing is that you have fun.

 

[soloprobe]

Welcome Fellow Citizen. I've got No advice for your timeline construction. Save that you should Ignore most of the published material and start from your conceptions. Also, pick up an astronomy text book. In the time it takes for earth to develop star travel the stars themselves may move.....

 

[Captain Tylor]

Thanks for the responses and good ideas! The idea of using RISK to simulate influences has a certain appeal, and it would be easy to throw in random events (an earthquake here, a riot there, etc.).

DaveShayne: You've given me an idea: I can use the real history timeline from my copy of GURPS Time Travel and file the serial numbers off real events. After all, many cultures view history as being cyclical in nature anyway. Your "Pocket Empires-Lite" idea has merits, but I'd have to get to know the system a little better first.

I think what I may end up doing is fiddling with 2300's timeline a little by, say, adding 15-20 years to all of the dates and making the Twilight War be the U.S. vs China rather than NATO vs USSR. The I'll stop the timeline at the point just before stutterwarp was developed and then carry it off in my own direction.

My mind is still not 100% made up, so if anybody has any more ideas, I'd love to hear them.