Why don't new people play Traveller?

[daryen]

Originally posted by spank:
So basicly it's thanks for the cash, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

No it's, "Until MJD came along, the setting was completely dead. He has managed to jump through the hoops and get permission to resurrect it and give it life again."

Just read the TNE stuff. The RC was always intended to be a transient state; it was intended to be "replaced". The Star Vikings were supposed to go away. Even the TNE rulebook itself shows that in its "historical" comments. TNE as published was a temporary setting in great flux. Had GDW survived, it was going to change, even with DN in charge.

As for the Regency, it was doomed even in the RSB. It was held together by a cult of personality, which just wasn't going to hold.

I am sorry you don't like the direction 1248 is taking. But please realize that even if DN had been allowed to follow through with his plans, the TNE you seem fixated on was only temporary.

 

[Malenfant]

No, it isn't. Not at all.

It's actually about being mature enough to know your place. All of us here are fans. All of us have spent money on the books produced by the various companies over the years. All of us get disappointed when our favourite settings - for any game - stop being produced.

But I hope the vast majority of us are mature enough to say "well, it was good while it lasted, and I'm grateful for what I've got, and if I like I can keep playing it and writing stuff for it til the day I die". Unfortunately some here - including you, evidently - don't see it that way.

And most of us are mature enough to say "you know what, we're now going to get our favourite setting back with the timeline moved on, and it's going to be well written by someone who loves the setting, and we're going to find out the secrets behind the mysteries in TNE for which we've been waiting for ten years, and we're going to see where everything ended up, and we're going to have this wide open canvas to paint our own stories on after that, and we're looking forward to seeing what's going to happen". But not you.

What the hell have you got to be so bitter about anyway? Were you this twisted when GDW closed its doors? Did you think they'd spitefully defied your will by daring to go out of business and not produce any more books?

Then again, perhaps you'd rather that nobody ever touched "your setting" again and we were left in the dark about it forever after. Or maybe you'd want someone to "do it right", where "right" is what you like and screw anyone else? I really don't get that attitude at all. Thankfully though, you're not in a position to do anything about it.

 

[daryen]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />As for the "Yanks in Space" syndrome, they flat out admitted they intentionally did this in WBH.

You wot? I don't recall seeing anything remotely to do with "yanks in space" in WBH. Heck, most of it was basically the same idea as GT:First In wasn't it - scouts + worldbuilding. </font>[/QUOTE]"Imperial culture today is remarkably similar to that of the pre-jump humans on Terra. Many worlds still show their peculiarities, of course (especially those at lower tech levels) - but for all practical purposes, the general mindset of the Imperial population traces its roots back to old Earth, before the contact with the Vilani of the First Imperium in -2422." WBH p.9

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by daryen:
"Imperial culture today is remarkably similar to that of the pre-jump humans on Terra. Many worlds still show their peculiarities, of course (especially those at lower tech levels) - but for all practical purposes, the general mindset of the Imperial population traces its roots back to old Earth, before the contact with the Vilani of the First Imperium in -2422." WBH p.9 [/QB]

I'm thinking it's a rather large stretch to claim that quote implies "Yanks in Space". "Old Earth" is a big place you know - there are lots of cultures on it. It sounds like they just meant that there was as big a range of cultures in the Imperium as there was on pre-jump Terra, is all.

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by hunter:
CoC Quick Start Rules

Just a bump for what I consider to be an excellent freebie. The core of the game in about 7 pages. If they'd put the Resistance Table as say 50% + ( (Active Characteristic - Passive Characteristic) * 5%) it'd have been 6 pages. Add in a classic introductary scenario and it's a very good freebie IMO. Perhaps a decade or so late but still good.

The Transhuman Space hardcover / Powered by Gurps line was mentioned earlier in this thread. I like this idea as well. Another example is any edition of the core CoC book since about 3rd has been a very good purchase. Everything needed to run the game in one solid book. I'm not so sure how much Traveller would work as just one book but the goal of clearly defined and digestable sections/books that set a game up as much as possible for the GM is a laudable goal. While I'm not fond of Savage Worlds wild die mechcanic (though I have yet to play it) the idea is very good. Fast and easy games with all the chugwork done for the GM in the advanture/setting books.

fwiw here's a link to the Transhuman Space version of Gurps Lite. No setting info really but it's a good example of how a generic ruleset can be customized for a space setting in a compact form designed to be printed with a setting book.

Casey

 

[lightsenshi]

More or less reasons that I've written up my own little corner of the universe. It's nice to have sci fi without laser swords and energy weapons.

 

[spank]

It's actually about being mature enough to know your place

That's about the most condescending thing I've ever heard. It's not about Maturity it about being invested in a setting, and then seeing it all torn down.

 

[clementk]

quotes snipped to save space:

Originally posted by Malenfant:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by daryen:
"Imperial culture today is remarkably similar to that of the pre-jump humans on Terra.

It sounds like they just meant that there was as big a range of cultures in the Imperium as there was on pre-jump Terra, is all. [/QB]</font>[/QUOTE]Those Darn Authenticists strike again! ^_^

Casey (who considers the Authenticists one of more useful and fun ideas to come out of GT)

 

[flykiller]

So basicly it's thanks for the cash, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

well, with some people, yes.

but remember, you own your own game. if you make it clear what kind of material you want and that you'll buy it and that you won't buy anything else, the business end of traveller will come looking for you with material to support you.

and in truth, if you're left on your own, there's more material out there already than anyone can exhaust in a lifetime of gaming. "the spinward marches are done to death", indeed!

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by spank:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> It's actually about being mature enough to know your place

That's about the most condescending thing I've ever heard. It's not about Maturity it about being invested in a setting, and then seeing it all torn down. </font>[/QUOTE]QED.

I don't think much more needs to be said than that really. I'm not going to bother repeating what I and others have said about how you're under no obligation to follow what is published.

 

[spank]

it would be nice if what was being published at least followed what came before, the RC and the Regency where the 2 major options in TNE both of them got shoved to the side in favor of a 3rd option that nobody was allowed to be a part of.

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by flykiller:
but remember, you own your own game. if you make it clear what kind of material you want and that you'll buy it and that you won't buy anything else, the business end of traveller will come looking for you with material to support you.

...unless you're a minority and your lack of custom does nothing significant to affect sales, in which case the business end will produce things to make the majority happy. Publishers are under no obligation to provide for everything that people want - and indeed very often simply aren't capable of doing that.

spank is just like those old CT grogs who got upset when TNE came along and the Third Imperium collapsed. As if it wasn't bloody obvious that was going to happen given the Rebellion and Hard Times. He's exactly the type of person who is holding Traveller back - they think they own the game, they don't want to let go of the old settings and they don't want the game to expand beyond them. I think that's a blatantly immature and selfish attitude to take. I just never thought I'd ever see it in a TNE fan, given that's exactly the treatment they got from the CT extremists.

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by spank:
it would be nice if what was being published at least followed what came before, the RC and the Regency where the 2 major options in TNE both of them got shoved to the side in favor of a 3rd option that nobody was allowed to be a part of.

You haven't even read TNE:1248 have you?

Believe it or not, it does all make some logical sense. But you actually think there was some kind of authorial conspiracy going on to shove aside your favourite things?! Jeez. And you have the gall to claim you aren't being immature?!

Do you even remember what was in TNE? As others have pointed out, the Regency and the Star Vikings were always supposed to be transitionary.

 

[BetterThanLife]

I don't know. I have had a character ask, hey what are ancients and they were pointed at the right page in the Imperial Encyclopedia. It is set up that way. Enough to give you a general attitude. Like what would be in a generic database for your sector of the Galaxy. That is what the Encyclopedia is for. To answer, in character the more mundane questions. Obviously research is going to turn up more information than the generic "Library Data" but for the quick search there it is. I certainly am not talking about major research or even being extremely useful to the GM in defining or designing a campaign/evening's gaming but to answer the general question it is a wonderful format.

Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Bhoins:

<snip>

I do agree the Imperial Encyclopedia might be re-written but making it available on CD-Rom, searchable and indexed might be pretty cool as well. Pop the disk in and let the players research what they need.

Except that isn't likely to happen, at least around our games. We run our lives, each week, and show up on any particular day to play that game. After the game is over, it's either back to Real Life, or (for some of us) a jump to a new game. By the time some other game, a movie or two, and a few days of real life have gone by, it's, wow, time for the game again. Oops, some barely have time to spend XP on my character (or whatever). But do research? That just isn't going to happen. Somtimes the GM barely has time to do work on the campaign (and sometimes the adventures are just spontaneous winged-it jobs). </font>[/QUOTE]

 

[spank]

You haven't even read TNE:1248 have you?

Last I checked it wasn't out yet.


The point I keep trying to make is that 1248 does not prodeed from what I was offered as a part of 1201. A group of nobodies come out of somewhere THEY make all the difference in the setting not the RC or the Regency. I always played in the RC. Am I dissapointed that they did not come out on top? Yes. But my biggest beef is all that time I spent tryng to make a difference goes POOF. I never got the chance to be a part of the history that would be.

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by spank:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> You haven't even read TNE:1248 have you?

Last I checked it wasn't out yet.</font>[/QUOTE]You apparently aren't aware of the fact that there has been a developmental playtest for 1248 going on for months now. It is still underway. It is available to anyone who subscribes to the Moot. The fans of TNE have had a LOT of input in the development of 1248. The folks telling you about the 1248 book aren't guessing. They know exactly what is going to be in it because they have been participating in the playtest.

Hunter

 

[spank]

I'm aware, I've been in school for The past year, and I don't have the spare time to playtest something right now. It would be nice if the complete back story to the campaign where avalible for comment, rather than just a rough outline.

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by spank:
I'm aware, I've been in school for The past year, and I don't have the spare time to playtest something right now. It would be nice if the complete back story to the campaign where avalible for comment, rather than just a rough outline.

There is in the playtest. It's not an outline. It's pretty much most of the book, chapter by chapter. You can discuss it all you want in the 1248 playtest forum. The author posts there as well. That's where the folks here telling you about 1248 are getting their information. They have read the book.

Hunter

 

[spank]

So if I spend my money and subscribe will my input be taken or will I get the same treatment there I've been getting here

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi spank !

Of course, there is as much talk and difference in these playtest formus too, and of course everybody tries to argue for "his" opinions (so far the discussion environment is similar to this one, good and bad), but without a doubt everybody there wants this product to become a success.

Even with quite a few playtester around (I am one, too) MJD is the author and he decides what included or excludes.
I am sure MJD will notice suggestions or hints, but at least its up to him what to do.
Guess thats perfectly ok and is just neccessary to proceed with the 1248 project.

For myself, I really enjoyed reading the prototypes...

Regards,

Mert