AM 9 Vegans

[BeRKA]

For sale: AM 9 Vegans. This is a really good module about the Vegans, and their politics in the Solomani Rim over the years, and the truth about Roswell and how the americans "invented" the jumpdrive, and also about the vegans rimward expeditions.

Since our traveller group has two of these, we are selling one of them to the highest bidder. We are also willing to trade it for AM 12 Bwaps.

 

[mike wightman]

I'll swap you for Starship Operators Manual Volume 2

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

uhh.. is this real? I want it...

 

[Flynn]

Damn, that's sweet! Nice work, there! If one were to exist, I'd be all over it in a heartbeat.

Perhaps someday, we'll get it done through QLI or something,
Flynn

 

[vutpakdi]

Let's see... What is the date today?



Ron

 

[Morte]

 

[Richard]

This whole thread has set me to thinking; what would future Alien Modules have been? AM 9 would probably have been the Vegans - 8 was the Darrians, a race for the Marches, so one for the Rim would have been appropriate. Would 10 have been Vilani? 11 Ithklur? Maybe 12 would have been Bwaps...

Richard

 

[kafka47]

Given that the last Alien Module was about the time that MegaTraveller was released...

Why not an in depth look at the Surreat or perhaps we could have seen a whole slew of minor races profiled.

Where I would have liked to seen was the introduction of a new series: "Races from the Core : Dispatches from the Zhodani Missions" and that would really open up new vistas outside the Imperial Campaign. Plus, there must be an equal number of alien races in the other territories of the Alien Races, why not explore these races?

BTW, for those interested in Vegans the Children of Earth site has a nice write-up for them, albeit for TNE...

 

[BeRKA]

APRIL FOOL!

Well, It looks like I couldn't fool anyone... But anyway, it was a fun idea.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Ahh another example of Zhodani Low Comedy.. I thought that cover looked suspicious... but I must admit it made me check it out, you scalliwag!

 

[mike wightman]

Wh don't we all start asking Hunter and co to resurrect the Alien Module concept for T20.
There are several interesting minor races in the Gateway sourcebook, plus the aforementioned Vegans, Bwaps etc.
Come to think of it, there's a few as character races in the T20 rulebook which could be covered in greater detail.

 

[Richard]

You know, now that I am thinking about it, why where the Alien Modules released in the order they were. AM 1: Aslan makes sense, as it is useful for the Marches and the Rim, but why do K'Kree before Vargr, Zhodani, or the Droyne? Influence from Judges Guild?

Richard

 

[Elliot]

Looking back at the Keith article in MTJ4 it appears that they came out as the Keiths' did some designs that John Harshman OK'd. I'm not sure that there was much logic in it (or in anything else for CT except the Ancients)

 

[vutpakdi]

Originally posted by Richard:
You know, now that I am thinking about it, why where the Alien Modules released in the order they were. AM 1: Aslan makes sense, as it is useful for the Marches and the Rim, but why do K'Kree before Vargr, Zhodani, or the Droyne? Influence from Judges Guild?

Maybe that was just the order that the modules were ready: text written, illustrations done, and layout done. Or, personal preference order from whoever was the editor or writing.

Along a similar note, someone might eventually wonder why the Traveller's Aide series appears in the order that it does: the order of publication seems to mostly be order of the aides being ready than any order based on utility or related aides.

Ron

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Ron Vutpakdi:
Along a similar note, someone might eventually wonder why the Traveller's Aide series appears in the order that it does: the order of publication seems to mostly be order of the aides being ready than any order based on utility or related aides.

From threads such as this one and QLI's original stated intent to publish x number of Traveller's Aides within y number of months (and subsequently not matching that) I highly suspect the order of publication to be whenever the next one is ready.

Casey

 

[kafka47]

I have a feeling that the initital work done on the Alien modules reflects the original Imperium game in which there were races such as the Vargr, Aslan, Centaurs, Hive, Dorsai and regular humans.

Some work was done to elabourate the Centaurs but they did not want them to appear too Alien, as seen in the Alien Handout...similarly the Hivers remain how to make things more Alien. The K'kree were the first attempt at that. As both AM 1&2, state that aliens will be more than creatures in a rubber zipper suit. Having done the Catman & Dogman archetypes common in most 1950s Science Fiction, they sought to do something different with K'kree and only got a half-way result (the hand being the most interesting feature of the K'kree & the extended herd structure).

Then they moved the Alien within us or the Alien as an outsider...which fits in the Zhodani mould. However, there were other considerations, such as the FFW had just introduced the major enemy of the Imperium as the Zhodani. However, the point was not to show them as evil but simply misunderstood.

The Droyne come right on the heels of the Secret of the Ancients giving some sort of backstory to the trilogy (who at that time really knew what a Chriper was, other than the cute alien RS Gamma). Giving the Droyne a culture and history fitted together with the AM.

The Solomani was probably in response to the release of the Boxed Game...the Solomani Rim War and also Traveller players asking what happened to Earth in the Far, Far Future...a question still needing a better answer...

And, lastly the Hivers were the last to get treatment because they had to be something really weird, as Traveller had not escaped SF archetypes all that well.

But, for the like of me, I cannot explain the popularity of the Darrians...maybe they had a stray manuscript from the Spinward Marches Campaign and wanted to put it all together with a Sword Worlds supplement dealing with the Small Cultures/Races of the Imperium...

In the meantime, MT happened and DGP began to rewrite over some of the cannon and begin to give their take on the Alien Races and make them appear more alien. Sadly, RS has kept those treasures away from view.

 

[Vargas]

Darrians was written by the folks from DGP and was the last AM. (Much as they wrote the last CT Book, Robots).