Background Imagery

[Spinward Scout]

In the movie Star Wars, you see C-3PO walking in the desert past an old skeleton. He didn't interact with it at all, it was just background imagery. It made you wonder a bit what kind of creature it was. It made that world a little bit more real.

Here's a small list of some background imagery you could throw at your players.

Decayed Animal Carcass/Skeleton
Crashed Vehicle
Crumbling Ruins
Moons in the Sky
Far Off City
Majestic Rock(s)
Gigantic Statue
High Waterfall
Site of Old Battle
Shooting Star
Lumbering Creature

What's some of the background imagery you've used in your game?

 

[The Pakkrat]

Backdrops

Darrian contragravity cities above the horizon
D’Ganzio desert caravanserai
Bowman asteroid belt
Bowman IISS Scout Base on wet sand flats
Bowman Darrian desert outpost
Zamine urban temple
Menorb interstellar rock concert
Lunion glowing crystal sconces in marble halls
(SM 0229) tumbling pre-Maghiz Darrian derelict ship
FFW space battlezone

 

[flykiller]

animals
girl scout troops
naval operations
mega-cities
remains of cities nuked in last war
artwork
"there's only one ship in the yard, and it looks like it was attacked by a can opener."
(audible) comms between merchants competing for a refueling boat. "gunner, ready sand, clog his fuel ports."
forest fire

 

[nobby-w]

I've done an Islam-in-space trope on a few occasions and had mosques start up with a prayer call. If you're ever in Jakarta around sunset when the mosques start up (there's one every few blocks) and the bats come out - you know you're not in London anymore.

The Kilts vs. the Trews as political and fashion statements.

Pack animals in quantity on a backwater region on a colony world.

A location across the road from an outlet of the Dumarest bedding company.

Street traders and little cyberpunky repair shops.

A prominent NPC nicknamed named after a cartoon character due to a superficial resemblance. The cartoon character is also based after a fossilised robot found at an ancient site, which has associated conspiracy theories circulating about its disappearance. Completely irrelevant to the campaign but it gave the party something to investigate.

A type of traditional dagger used by certain races that gained some wider cultural influence by folks affecting it as a fashion accessory.

A particular large, dangerous animal called a Bandersnatch, that's subject to an annual cull on a particular world.

The smell of pollution in a large city that still runs of fossil fuels to a large extent.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

for me, one of the most visual and interesting elements of the game has been the juxtaposition of advanced and primitive technology in close proximity. things like stone age people trading furs with a starship, or imperial marines mounted on camels patrolling a desert, or attacking a fusion power plant in biplanes. things like that are a reminder of the vast difference in technology that exists in the OTU, and they can make for interesting vignettes, for example:

two local traders dressed in robes, haggling over fruit carried in wicker baskets, stop and get out a tablet computer and a electronic scale to work out the price to fractions of a imperial cent.

A caveman trading rare furs with a starship crewman in exchange for knives, pots and other utensils.

a medieval town with stone walls, with a concrete paved landing site outside and a radar dish protruding form a tower. the ground crew pull up on a horse drawn cart, which carries a portable Fusion APU to plug into the ship so you can shut down the reactor.

a TL 6 socity with a imported high tech computer that gives outputs onto a dox matrix printer or a monochrome CRT monitor.

 

[ShapeShifter]

The outer shell of the system's star being siphoned off by a small, nearby blackhole.

 

[Lord Iron Wolf]

Knowledge counts too...

It's interesting how we keep sticking together different eras of Earth to create anachronisums. The Classical Greeks had everything they needed to create a low pressure boiler--except the Knowledge! Lathes can duplicate themselves; one of the few machines that can do that. Build one and you have a million eventually. An imported grav vehicle to be used as a mule to loft cargo gliders which are built of bamboo and silk.

Look at how often peoples have witnessed a more advanced technology and built a more primitive, yet functional, equivalent. I wonder if we'd see biplanes or advanced (primitive) equipment.

LIW

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

It's interesting how we keep sticking together different eras of Earth to create anachronisums. The Classical Greeks had everything they needed to create a low pressure boiler--except the Knowledge! Lathes can duplicate themselves; one of the few machines that can do that. Build one and you have a million eventually. An imported grav vehicle to be used as a mule to loft cargo gliders which are built of bamboo and silk.

Look at how often peoples have witnessed a more advanced technology and built a more primitive, yet functional, equivalent. I wonder if we'd see biplanes or advanced (primitive) equipment.

LIW

likely a mix of both.

realisticly, we wouldn't see things like the Fokker Dreidecker or the Sopworth Camel, but something closer to the gloster gladiator, CR 42 and I-15, assuming that they don't skip straight to monoplanes.

While traveller has a "ww1" tech level, its worth noting that in the space of less than 15 years (all covered by TL 4) we went form this to this. Some of that increase was due to better engineering, but a lot of that was mainly due to a much improved understanding of aerodynamics.

That knowledge could be easily imported, even if the tools to make best use of it cannot be. this hypothetical TL4 society might not be able to make the 2,000 HP engines of a WW2 plane because they don't have the manufacturing ability to craft the exotic metal alloys needed....but it would understand the advantages and disadvantages of monoplane and biplane designs, and would use the monoplane when it was suitable. If armed, they would have centreline MGs with interrupter gear as standard, they would be very mechanically reliable (or rather, as reliable as is physically possible at TL4). they would take the technology to hights and in directions the real world never got to. big, heavy planes like this would be more common and used

 

[kilemall]

likely a mix of both.

realisticly, we wouldn't see things like the Fokker Dreidecker or the Sopworth Camel, but something closer to the gloster gladiator, CR 42 and I-15, assuming that they don't skip straight to monoplanes.

While traveller has a "ww1" tech level, its worth noting that in the space of less than 15 years (all covered by TL 4) we went form this to this. Some of that increase was due to better engineering, but a lot of that was mainly due to a much improved understanding of aerodynamics.

That knowledge could be easily imported, even if the tools to make best use of it cannot be. this hypothetical TL4 society might not be able to make the 2,000 HP engines of a WW2 plane because they don't have the manufacturing ability to craft the exotic metal alloys needed....but it would understand the advantages and disadvantages of monoplane and biplane designs, and would use the monoplane when it was suitable. If armed, they would have centreline MGs with interrupter gear as standard, they would be very mechanically reliable (or rather, as reliable as is physically possible at TL4). they would take the technology to hights and in directions the real world never got to. big, heavy planes like this would be more common and used

Huh, I always looked at TL4 as the age of steam, and TL5 as WWI/beginning of IC engines.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

Huh, I always looked at TL4 as the age of steam, and TL5 as WWI/beginning of IC engines.

hmm.

I will quote the MgT2e core rulebooks TL listing (mainly as I have in PDF and can get to it easily):

TL3: the Advances of TL2 are now applied, bringing the germ of the industrial revolution and steam power. Primitive firearms now dominate the battlefield this is roughly compareable to the early 19th century.

TL4: the transition to the industial revolution is complete, bringing plastics, radio and other such inventions. roughly compareable to the late 19th/early 20th century

tl5: TL5 brings widespread electrification, Tele-communication and internal combustion. at the hight of this TL, Atomics and primitive computing appear. roughly on par with mid 20th century

To me, its clear that WW1 is at the top end of TL4.

I'd parse it as:

TL3:1700-1850(ish), with Napoleonic tech as the midpoint.

TL4: 1850-1920: starting with ACW era tech and moving up though the late Victorian/steampunk era into and through WW1, until the IC engine becomes mature enough to start replacing steam.

TL5:1920-1950. starting with the Indiana Jones and dieselpunk style "Interwar" tech, and on through ww2 up to the invention of H-bombs and workable jet technology.

basically, your right, the age of steam is in TL4, its just that it stretches a few decades after that.

 

[Quint]

Ubiquitous Expert-AI as the personal electronic Aide (kind of a Super-Siri, not true AI, but close). Always helpful and attentive.

VR in Hi-Tech worlds doing away with the need (or commonality) of meeting people in person - and then contrasting that with Lo-Tech worlds where you have to.

The smell and taste of Vargr Take-Out (basically shish kabobs sold by street vendors and the occasional fast-food restaurant)

The haze of Flickstik smoke (stolen CP2020, it's a self-lighting flavored cigarette - I'll probably add vape gear at some point)

The ever-watching Imperial Eye on high tech, high law level worlds - covert and overt surveillance of everyone. Much the same in most Imperial facilities in starports as well. It's also the slang for the collected Imperial Intelligence agencies...

The Imperial Multipass (ala Fifth Element) which is essentially the Imperial ID.

The Church of Universal Brotherhood (see Dumarest)

The Orange Catholic Bible and the Azhar Book (see Dune)

The Musashi Flex (see the Matador series by Steve Perry)

Mue(s) and Exotic(s)s - genetically altered humans, everything from Perry's Albino Exotics to Moran's Telepaths to Star Trek's Augments to Moreau hybrids).

Shadowsand (taken from an old FASA supplement) - a world where spinning reflective debris forces people to look into a black hole...

The Aslan ship (translated name "Dangerous Toes") captained by the human merchant Dinty Moore who is married to the female Aslan owner. Multiple other races represented in the crew.

 

[kilemall]

hmm.

I will quote the MgT2e core rulebooks TL listing (mainly as I have in PDF and can get to it easily):

Eh, I think each version wiggles around a little bit with the TLs.

I'm coming at this from a CT/Striker perspective, where clearly there are WWI weapons at TL5, WWII weapons at TL6, and the modern/near-future stuff at TL7-8.

Getting back to the background thing, don't forget smells.

The very simple smell of meat cooking in an open stall may be shocking to vatmeat cleanly cooked high tech types.

Tainted atmo worlds should have their own unique sky coloration and smell.

Speaking of shocking, don't skimp on billboards. The iconic floating blimpvert in Blade Runner, the satiric billboards of Futurama, or perhaps a Big Brother type graphic of a high law level world can set the tone of the enviornment, or even what sort of neighborhood it is.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

Eh, I think each version wiggles around a little bit with the TLs.

I'm coming at this from a CT/Striker perspective, where clearly there are WWI weapons at TL5, WWII weapons at TL6, and the modern/near-future stuff at TL7-8.

Getting back to the background thing, don't forget smells.

The very simple smell of meat cooking in an open stall may be shocking to vatmeat cleanly cooked high tech types.

Tainted atmo worlds should have their own unique sky coloration and smell.

Speaking of shocking, don't skimp on billboards. The iconic floating blimpvert in Blade Runner, the satiric billboards of Futurama, or perhaps a Big Brother type graphic of a high law level world can set the tone of the enviornment, or even what sort of neighborhood it is.

I figured as much, espically when I looked on traveller wiki and found something closer to your viewpoint. Personally, I like a bit of play in the TLs that give room for interesting variations within each TL (so that two TL4 worlds are not both the same in tech), and room for differences to be used as unique local flavour (for example, a sail powered cargo ship with a long range HF radio system that can transmit clear voice over oceans).


anyway, more flavour ideas:

a preacher form the Church of Stellar Divinity, trying to find coverts in the passing masses.

a Aslan Ihatei, standing proud and aloof, saunters along the street, looking for that big break that will make his name.

An imperial recruiting stand, with a decorated marine extolling the virtues of service form behind his chest of medals (and cybernetic arm)

 

[nobby-w]

It is interesting to separate know-how from technical advancement and it might be worth thinking in terms of manufacturing capability by tech level.

While we might associate WWI with TL 5 technology, there's no intrinsic reason that something like an AK couldn't have been manufactured by about 1900 or so - the metallurgical and manufacturing technology was certainly available at the time, and chemical engineering was certainly up to producing smokeless powder and non-corrosive primers by the latter part of the 19th century.

J.M. Browning was actively designing firearms from about 1860 through to the 1920s. A surprisingly large variety of his designs are still in production, or were until quite recently. To name a few:

• Colt 1911A1
• Browning G.P. 35
• FN pocket pistols (produced until the latter half of the 20th century)
• Browning M2HB (.50 calibre) machinegun, and smaller .30 cal machineguns.
• B.A.R. - in service until the 1950s and later with irregular and reserve units.
• Browning autoloading shotguns
• Winchester lever action rifles - the design of these has changed very little in well over a century.

Arguably, by the first half of the 20th century integrated circuits could have been built with wet etching processes capable of going down to feature sizes of a few microns. This would have enabled computers equivalent in capability to the first half of the 1980s. With that tech, you could build things like 64kbit DRAM chips, basic digital signal processors, a MC68000 or a single-issue RISC core of about 10 MIPS throughput. CRT displays would certainly have been possible with that technology, although the precision manufacturing needed for hard disks might have been harder to do.

Many modern plastics (including Kevlar) could have been manufactured using chemical synthesis technology available by around the turn of the 20th century. Some processes that needed exotic catalysts (e.g. synthetic petrol) might have been harder to do with that tech.

One could possibly see locally manufactured goods with some local components and some imported ones.