Beyond the Frontier

[rancke]

Obviously it would not be official. At the risk of belabouring the issue for everyone who has read the licence, it means that people can publish things for MGT with OTU references in them insofar as they pertain to their version of Foreven.

Fair point as far as it goes, but it doesn't go very far. Any additional information contained in those OTU references will be off limit to further official development, so at best they're going to be solitary shout-outs.

OTU as defined by MGT is "Original" not "Official", BTW.

Yes, I know. But Mongoose's Third Imperium setting is an official setting based on the Original Traveller Universe I believe. The only current official setting based on the OTU, as far as I know.


Hans

 

[Vile]

Oookay ... stepping away from this now ...

Mithras, I guess Foreven is a good bet for you because for now, at least, it's designated as a referee's preserve so nothing official will be published for it to contradict whatever you make up for YTU. That's if it matters to you, but I know a lot of referees feel a slight nagging sensation when their creation is contradicted by Greg Staff ... er, canon. :smirk:

And it allows your players to jump off the edge of the Five Sisters subsector.

 

[Mithras]

Thanks for the advice, I didn't know Foreven was 'open' and would remain open. Good idea.

Oookay ... stepping away from this now ...

Mithras, I guess Foreven is a good bet for you because for now, at least, it's designated as a referee's preserve so nothing official will be published for it to contradict whatever you make up for YTU. That's if it matters to you, but I know a lot of referees feel a slight nagging sensation when their creation is contradicted by Greg Staff ... er, canon. :smirk:

And it allows your players to jump off the edge of the Five Sisters subsector.

 

[Theophilus]

While this discussion is going on, let me ask a question.

I've always been confused about this.

Exactly what does it mean? For instance, FASA developed part of the Old Expanses in High Passage Magazine, Latter GDW developed Old Expanses for TNE. Can I not make a reference to a Fasa company in a TNE setting?

For instance: Fasa developed a company called "Naval Armament Systems" which made laser weaponry for the Imperial Navy, In the TNE setting, can I NOT have a smash and grab raid against the NAS facility in an adventure/scenario setting published in one of the Online Fanzines?

That is, if I were to submit something to Stellar Reaches or Freelance Traveller for publication and I referenced some of the above, does it violate OGL or Fair Use policies?

 

[aramis]

If the work is for free release only, no money being made upon it:
You can use the OTU and anywhere in it, under MWM's FUP. It has to be free, and technically, it's not allowed for MGT OTU materials.

If the work makes even a penny, you have to use the MGT OGL and TTL, and the FFL.
Possible license combinations:
OGL Only: you can use only what's in the SRD's, and can't reference book titles nor non-SRD content.
OGL+TSTL: You can reference rules in any MGT product without the OTU Trade Dress, and only setting materials that are in the SRD's.
OGL+TSTL+FFL: you can only reference OTU elements in the context of the Foreven sector; you can't reference any other sector.

 

[kafka47]

Remember, even sending Imperial Scouts in Aslan territory would be the frontier for them. For as much as one may understand the Aslan or Vargr or K'kree or Zhodani - they are still incomprehensible for the Imperial mindset.

Foreven is your playground but several sectors exist beyond Foreven. Players could wake up and find themselves on a Zhodani Core Expedition wake up from a low berth and have to piece together what happened in a completely alien sector of space. Then there is the Ancients' Gateway/Wormhole network some of these "holes" would lead well beyond Chartered Space. Or what about Pocket Universes? Or the Rifts are not entirely empty - you know.

Or what about creating Frontiers within known space? Every planet in the Atlas of the Imperium may have a stat but that does not mean that every centimeter or even continent has been mapped or explored.

What about unnatural environments? Moons of distant Gas Giants - of no interest save to Belters - save when the artifact was found drifting out there. Or under the seas? Way out on tundra there are things that lurk and wait and are hunting.

 

[Vile]

Remember, even sending Imperial Scouts in Aslan territory would be the frontier for them.

I don't think the 3I would send ISS personnel into Aslan territory- that would be tantamount to spying. A diplomatic mission would be more appropriate. Of course, the diplomats could all be ex-ISS - as in, "transferred last week" ...

 

[Vargas]

Why not Scouts from the Contact and Liaison Branch? I would think there must be some precedent for using them when formal diplomats are unavailable, if only due to communications/travel lag time.

 

[Vile]

Well, it's not like there hasn't been contact between the 3I and the Aslan in that region before. It would seem a bit odd for Sweden to send some explorers to Canada, for example. Especially explorers with armed ships and B.O.

 

[jatay3]

Yes, that map is great, I found it through the wiki.

The Imperium is rather constricted, which isn't that fun, the empty sectors may make it some time to get there. Foreven though is a reseve for referees, as a matter of fact I think FFE has a download, of just a map, undeveloped.

Actually, I simply used the feeling of constriction as a plot hook. I made my characters feel constricted and use that as an inspiration.

 

[Easterner9504]

Frontier

Are there any frontiers for the 3i beyond which I can send a scout team? Are there any human frontiers? Or should I resort to the old misjump strategy to get that world by world exploration vibe?

In the original GDW series the book Leviathan took part in a sector (Egyrn of the Outrim Void) where the worlds were unknown to the Imperium.

I modified it so that a Scout team was sent into re-map it after the Exploration office found the data had been blanked in starport after starport and Grand Survey was doing nothing about it.

The blanking it seems per a Mongoose source (unrelated to these sectors) is done by a powerful force to sow some confusion into the Imperium.

 

[rancke]

In the original GDW series the book Leviathan took part in a sector (Egyrn of the Outrim Void) where the worlds were unknown to the Imperium.

Well, in one very early adventure written before the Third Imperium setting had really firmed up. Later it transpired that this supposedly unknown area lay next door to a part of he Imperium that had been settled for over 700 years (which spanned both grand surveys) and that merchants had been trading with the Aslan Hierate on the other side of the "Great Unknown" for about the same time.

Canon or not, IMO it beggars belief that by 1105 this Outrim Void hasn't been criss-crossed by scores and hundreds of scientific and mercantile expeditions over the years and that the libraries aren't stuffed with travelogues and memoirs and scientific treatises full of details (some of them no doubt erroneous, but still...) of these worlds.

And that's not counting what the Scouts published in the First and Second Survey...


Hans

 

[whartung]

Sorry, this isn't about the licensing or free range space areas or whatever.

But he mentioned a solo game of exploration.

On the one hand, the entire sector would be "mapped" before you even showed up. You'd know where the stars are and, assuming our tech gets even better than it is now, even what the planets, roughly, are before you even get there.

What might be more interesting though is to simply start on a hex (say a corner or edge), with a system and a gas giant (so no matter what you can at least leave), and the rest of the map is blank.

Then you, say, generate systems within a 2 hex radius of that hex (using whatever sparseness factor your want).

Next, out another 2 hexes radius, you generate the presence of systems. But these farther systems are simply that -- dots on a map. You know they exist (i.e. a star is there) but beyond that, nothing. Likely the star class if you're going to that level of system generation.

When you get within 2 hexes, you can do some fleshing out of the system. Specifically, world types (ice, rock, GG, water worlds, etc.). This will at least let you know its "safe" to jump in since there will be fuel to jump out.

When you jump in you get to build more detail on the system.

This gives you a bit of an unknown element to how you chart your path through the sector and lets you get started "right away" without a bunch of system building up front. You can also possibly end up in a dead end where you have to back out because you run out of fuel stops. Who knows. Could be interesting.

Just a thought.

 

[jatay3]

I don't think the 3I would send ISS personnel into Aslan territory- that would be tantamount to spying. A diplomatic mission would be more appropriate. Of course, the diplomats could all be ex-ISS - as in, "transferred last week" ...

And the Third Imperium never uses the IISS for spying?

I should think it very desirable to know which clan had the most prestige in which year.