Classic Traveller minus the Third Imperium

[magnusfalkirk]

Greetings,

I recently managed to buy the 1977 Classic Traveller original box set (the 3 LBBs) from eBay. I remember buying this back in the day, but sadly my ex-wife sold all my Traveller stuff in 92 while I was in Alaska courtesy of the Air Force. I hadn't really thought that much about Traveller until I found this board. So I decided to try and find the 77 LBB set because I don't like the Third Imperium setting of the later books, and the original let you decide where things were taking place instead of in a pre-designed universe.

I'm sure there are people here who will disagree with me about the Third Imperium, but IMHO I would much rather be able to set up something of my own, or maybe take a science fiction book I like, such as the Dumarest novels (which were an inspiration for Traveller) and run a scenario on that then HAVE to use GDW's universe. Just my two cents worth.

I'm happy to have Traveller again and may give solo play a try, as i really don't know too many people were I'm at that care much for RPGs.

Dean

 

[LiminalMask]

Hi Dean.

The nice thing about the basic rules is that they were (IIRC) designed not for a specific kind of milieu, but one that could be easily adaptable to whatever SciFi universe you liked. Over time, people liked the 3rd Imperium setting and so it was developed further.

Still, there's nothing stopping you from adapting the rules as you see fit. There's a term for it: IMTU! (In My Traveller Universe...)

I recently rediscovered Traveller too. Welcome back.

 

[Metropolitan District 268]

Dean - I like your thinking.

When I first got into RP, you had two choices for fantasy. D&D, where all the answers were written down for you if only you could afford to buy all of the (ever-expanding) range of supplement books; or T&T where they gave you a framework rulebook and set you free to do your own thing.

I never did have any time for D&D; and Traveller gave the same freedom that I found so satisfying in T&T (I too started with the original LBB set).

As far as I am concerned, the original Third Imperium is not too stultifying. It was, IIRC, a loose federation (except they had to avoid the word "Federation" in order to avoid upsetting the Star Trek franchise) of self-governing worlds with very little over-arching Imperial structure other than the IISS and the Imperial Navy. The idea that there are planetary and subsector navies co-existing with the Imperial navy does rather suggest that the Imperium is nothing remotely like the close-controlling micro-managing Imperium which (if I am reading between the lines correctly, which I may not be doing) the Canon Imperium appears to have become.

For me, the political concept of the Imperium is a bit like the United States in about 1790; or possibly what the EU is striving to become (but won't, because Britain will opt out and Greece and one or two others will be kicked out). I like that concept.

But like you, I'd sooner have no Imperium at all than an Imperium which tries to be Second Century Rome.

 

[Dragoner]

From a business standpoint, the 3I is solid, as one can always subtract from the milieu, but for people who want one there is one.

 

[snapshotbygdw]

First welcome back man glad you found us again! Second: space is really really big just go for it, don't like the old 3rd I then just ignore it cut out your own little corner far far away, or build something on it's fringes and use it to scare the kids!!

But whatever you do have fun:rofl:

 

[dean]

Howdy!

I don't use the 3I either, but the material has a lot of source stuff, equipment, and ideas that are valuable.

Welcome back!

 

[ShapeShifter]

Welcome, Dean!
I have the revised (1981?) LBBs (and the reprinted supplements, &c.) and have never liked the 3I nor felt any compulsion to use it. It is in no way mandatory, and don't let folks bully you into thinking it is!
The Dumarest Books are excellent inspiration for more gaming goodness, as is the Mote in God's Eye.

 

[Mithras]

I don't use the 3I. Roll up a subsector, create your own pocket federation/union/alliance/empire etc, then go for it.

I'm designing a new subsector-based setting at the moment. Just finished rolling dice, now I'm adding political flesh to the bare bones. Love it! Gotta love those world generation rules, you never get to use them if you plump for the old Spinward Marches!

 

[Matt123]

Just to express a contrary view, I do use the 3I almost exclusively.

I supplement my CT 3I with guff from most of the later Traveller versions, but stick to CT rules. There is a lot of information available that once stripped of its 3I assumptions, will expand and grow your own niche.

If starting again with the same desire to carve out my own universe, I'd still use the wealth of info out there but base my creation either on the edge of the 3I where you are guaranteed to have up to 3 or 4 interesting, well developed neighbors or go back in time and start out at Milieu 0, where the 3I was only one of a bunch of very small Pocket Empires all struggling to survive, be relevant & grow. The fledgling 3I then becomes the main bad guy NPC to your fledgling Empire.

I doubt you will find anyone here who will "get upset" at you discarding the 3I. And there are several parts of this forum dedicated to those endeavors (& some very helpful contributors). Its whatever pushes your buttons.

Also pop along to http://www.farfuture.net/ and take a look at the Classic Traveller collection CD. Its only US$35 and well worth every cent.

 

[Ran Targas]

^ I'm patiently waiting for my LBDiscs to arrive in the mail too. But it's the non-canon stuff that I'm looking forward to the most. Can't find most of that stuff anymore anywhere.

 

[saundby]

I don't use the 3I, either. I used it for a while in an MGT campaign, but otherwise I've only mined it for inspiration and bits and pieces. I've mostly run a Doc Smith/Harry Harrison/Jack Vance inspired universe over the years. I'm presently building one more on a CJ Cherryh/H Beam Piper axis now.

I second the notion of getting the CT CD. It's a treasure trove of CT stuff to lift and use. Plus, there's a lot of 3I-agnostic material on the JTAS CD and the 2 CT Apocrypha CDs.

-Mark

 

[BlackBat242]

I haven't run a 3I-based game since ~1988.

I still use the "OTU" (sort of), but my campaign world is at the end of the Terran Confederation/Vilani Empere Wars.

I modified it in that instead of Vilani collapse and the 2I (Solomani Imperium) there was just a centuries-long stalemate between the VE and the TC.

There is a 1-sector-high "neutral zone" between them (at the narrow point in the map), with the TC holding all of the Daibei, Daispora, and Old Expanses sectors and the bottom 1/4 of the Delphi sector, and the VE holding the upper 3/4 of the Zarushagar & Masila sectors.

Note that the VE holds more "Vargr" territory than does the 3I, none of the Spinward Marches, and much less of the Deneb sector.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b336/Bager1968/Game stuff/TerranConfederationandVilaniEmpire.jpg

 

[Icosahedron]

I'm non-OTU too, have been since I bought the 77 boxed set. MTU borrows a little from many sources, but is largely self-designed and Earth-centred. I find somebody else's universe to be too restrictive - besides, I can't stand all those pseudo cats and dogs and horses and starfish and ants and newts...

 

[magnusfalkirk]

Thanks to all of you for your responses! I guess I need to read a LOT more threads in this section of the forum. From what little I had read I expected to get bombarded with responses that basically said the ONLY way to play Traveller was to use the OTU, as I guess most people refer to it.

Back in the day I had copies of Merchants and Merchandise and Scouts and Assassins, from Paranoia Press, along with a couple Judges Guild publications. If I remember right I also had two or three FASA books. (Just to show my age I remember that when FASA started it was an acronym for Freedonian Air and Space Administration). I liked all that material and the fact that it was setting free. I also had copies of The SpaceFarers Guide to Alien Races and Sector One. I found copies of pdfs of those plus the other two books and have them available for my use now.

I'll probably look into the CDs from FFE as I'm sure there is a lot of stuff there that can be adapted to a 3I free universe. Besides Dumarest there's a novel I've got, read it several years ago, "Space Angel", that struck me as perfect to use for a Traveller scenario.

Again thank you all for your input and welcoming me back into the Traveller community. Even if I do nothing more than run stuff simply for myself it's good to have the game again.

Dean

 

[Mithras]

Cool! I do a little bit of RPing with my two sons, more more often I'm rolling characters, building ships and designing a subsector for my own pleasure. Its almost as much fun...

Again thank you all for your input and welcoming me back into the Traveller community. Even if I do nothing more than run stuff simply for myself it's good to have the game again.

Dean

 

[aramis]

Thanks to all of you for your responses! I guess I need to read a LOT more threads in this section of the forum. From what little I had read I expected to get bombarded with responses that basically said the ONLY way to play Traveller was to use the OTU, as I guess most people refer to it.
[...]
Dean

Part of that is the "Non-Rules editions"... T20, GT, T4H... Which ARE about the
OTU as setting... but remember always: iligitimi non corborundum.

 

[BlackBat242]

Illegitimi non carborundum is a mock-Latin aphorism meaning "Don't let the bastards grind you down".

 

[saundby]

I thought it translated to something like "Your wife would rather you're a gamer at home than out spawning bastards."

Either that or "don't try procreating with sandpaper". 8O

 

[Icosahedron]

Thanks to all of you for your responses! I guess I need to read a LOT more threads in this section of the forum. From what little I had read I expected to get bombarded with responses that basically said the ONLY way to play Traveller was to use the OTU, as I guess most people refer to it.

In general they don't mind you playing ATU, just don't pick holes in the OTU if you value your life.

Illegitimi non carborundum is a mock-Latin aphorism meaning "Don't let the bastards grind you down".

As an aside, anyone know how you'd say it in real Latin?

 

[aramis]

In general they don't mind you playing ATU, just don't pick holes in the OTU if you value your life.



As an aside, anyone know how you'd say it in real Latin?

It's a latin example of a graffito, dating back to the empire, according to one latin text I've read, so calling it "mock latin" is a bit of a stretch.