Classic Traveller minus the Third Imperium

[Metropolitan District 268]

I've always thought that nil illigitimi carborundas would be more elegant (literally, you must be ground down by no bastards). Not sure, however, if carborundas is correct for the second person singular gerundive of obligation. It feels about right, however.

(I hasten to add, however, that my days of studying Latin are a quarter of a century in the past, and I only got a B in my A level. My S level paper was ungraded :rofl

 

[aramis]

I also often misspell latin. Never trust my spelling.

 

[Metropolitan District 268]

Thinking about it some more, nil illigitimi carborundum estis sounds better to me (substitute es for estis if you want it in the singular).

I'm just a little bit dubious as to the etymology of carborundum, however...

 

[pendragonman]

Metro, We ain't tryin' for no high muckety muck Patrician Latin! we's a speakin' good ol' Plebian!

Quit tryin' to dress up our sentiments in fancy clothes!

 

[magnusfalkirk]

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

Again thanks for the information. I won't be picking any holes in the OTU, since I have no interest in it. I will pick and choose what I want to use in my little corner of the Universe but I won't try to tear their's down, since I'm sure I can't replace it with anything better.

Dean

 

[saundby]

Lessee...maybe:

Nolore malspurio permittere te abredere.

Literally, "Don't permit the bad ones of unknown fathers wear you down." Having an unknown father isn't derogatory in Latin, so I added mal to make it bad. The words could probably be rearranged for more impact, or rephrased. Hmm...Permittere te malspurio nihil abredere, perhaps. Never allow the bastards to wear you down.

The carborundum term is modern, suggesting carbide abrasive. In Latin it'd be a gerund meaning something like "really ought to". So the aphorism is almost certainly modern, as carbide is a modern material manufactured with electricity.

 

[Metropolitan District 268]

Now that's highfalutin, Pendragonman.

This guy actually sounds like he knows what he's about!!

 

[saundby]

I think "sounds like" is the operative phrase. Someone who really knows their Latin would probably pick my Latin apart like that scene in Life of Brian.

 

[dean]

I have a fwend in Wome you know...

 

[saundby]

Hehe

That's a good scene, too. I was thinking of the one where the guard (John Cleese) is correcting Brian's Latin.

"What's this, then?"

"It says 'Romans go home.'"

"No it doesn't. 'People called Romanes they go the house?'"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8

 

[ShapeShifter]

IMPERIVM TERTIVM EVNT DOMVS

:rofl:

EDIT: I don't think there is a problem with using your own ideas for your Traveller campaign. Don't let the bullies out there tell you that the 3E is mandatory. Imagination is key with this hobby and, in some ways, rigid adherence to canon stiffles that precious, though dwindling, resource of Imagination. *thumbs nose at bullies*

 

[robject]

Welcome Dean.

I play Third Imperium as well as homebrew. I find that a homebrew setting is good and fun for exercising raw creativity, while 3I games are good for ... well for when I need an established setting.

I've used a serial-numbers-filed-off-Firefly setting before, built into a piece of a sector instead of a lone star system. I also like the Dumarest novels, and like the feel of relatively independent lawlessness to them. I've also used territory well outside of Charted Space, up and down the Rifts a dozen-plus sectors, though in the same time period as the Imperium. Heck, I've even designed a "proto-Imperium", similar yet different from Charted Space.

 

[bootneck]

I fell into Traveller mainly because as a massive sci fi fan there was pretty much nothing else out there. I know no other background than the 3rd Imperium but like the other posts are saying, as with any rpg, its what you make of it that counts. I dont play any more (no one left in my age group and area that dont grasp that rpg's dont need an Xbox!!lol) but i have a very soft spot in my heart for the adventures me and my school mates had swanning about in our own version of the 3I (god bless the Far trader Wastrel!) . This may sound silly but to quote Bruce Lee " learn everything, discard wont you dont need but make sure you understand why you dont need it first." creating a universe from scratch is a very daunting proposition to be sure, but what ever you do with it its going to be yours to enjoy. see you on the next jump

 

[PFVA63]

Hi

I guess it kind of only recently dawned on me, but to some extent I'm just as happy to play Traveller in a more or less almost neutral setting.

In general, yeah based on the basic rules there's some sort of major overall government with different local governments, some form of aristocracy, some general alien types and such, but for the most part whatever the set up it doesn't really have to impact the actual playing all that much.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm happy to play small adventures that can be set almost anywhere, and I don't really care much about any overarching grand scheming of Dukes, Arch Dukes, or the Emperor, etc.

Whether that equates to a 3rd Imperium or non 3rd Imperium Setting or not, so be it I guess.

Regards

Pat

 

[rancke]

EDIT: I don't think there is a problem with using your own ideas for your Traveller campaign. Don't let the bullies out there tell you that the 3E is mandatory.

I couldn't agree more. What beats me is the number of people who are incapable of grasping the corollary: If you do want to use the 3E, don't let bullies tell you that because it's not mandatory, you're not allowed to adhere to canon.

Imagination is key with this hobby and, in some ways, rigid adherence to canon stiffles that precious, though dwindling, resource of Imagination.

Some people do seem incapable of using their imagination within the framework of an established background. Personally, I (mostly) find that it stimulates my imagination to have to fit my adventures into an established setting (Up to the point where I fail to believe in the canon, of course ). But if one's imagination is not up to that challenge, eschewing canon is obviously the best solution.

*thumbs nose at bullies*

Likewise.


Hans

 

[robject]

Personally, I (mostly) find that it stimulates my imagination to have to fit my adventures into an established setting (Up to the point where I fail to believe in the canon, of course ). But if one's imagination is not up to that challenge, eschewing canon is obviously the best solution.

I agree with Hans here. Traveller typically includes a set of tools for doing it yourself - genning up systems, starships, characters, encounters - in a way that frees up your creativity. It's an artist's paradox that constraints can be an effective channel for creativity. The Third Imperium can have useful constraints in it for you, but the parts that get in your way can be replaced by what you want. Sometimes that means abandoning the 3E entirely.

 

[BytePro]

Do not try to bend the spoon... that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth: there is no spoon.​

There is no one, consistent, complete 'Canon' that is practical to implement, as it is a version dependent, sometimes self contradicting, not uncommonly error prone, collection of published works, often produced by mediocre authors and subject to differing interpretations. Or whatever Marc thinks at the moment.

(Oh, and don't worry about the vase...)

 

[Ptah]

Dean,
Same here. Never used the 3E. I've certainly read it and played some of the board games.

I got Traveller in '77 and three days later had made a sector with a weird cross of all I loved from SF. I don't think I could even have bought a setting if I wanted to. So when the setting material started to roll into my freindly local game store I had a good year or two of my own setting set up.

Since I liked Frank Herbert's Dune, I had a bit of Imperium-esque already in there. I'd say I came up with a bit Frank Herbert meets Larry Niven with Aliens from James White and C. J. Cherryh and with a bit of edge from Harry Harrison. And I revamped things when David Brin started publishing but luckily already had intelligent (uplifted) dolphins.

I find the aliens in 3E wanting for my tastes. I'd take a Kzin or Hani over an Aslan, a Kif over a Varg. Give me a Gowachin or Tzen (got to love those bug killing bastards). Or how about a xenophobic Tnuctipun? Lets get some really alien shapes, what about a Kelggian or Cinruss or Tralthan or Jotoki or Motie? Give me a neurotic and complicated Stsho over about anything else. With Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrails what for 3e? Even the Thype is better. If I need an altered human I'll pick a Tleilaxu first. And where is the 3E version of a Knnn or Horta or Tholian or Illensian? The O/N predjudice is thick in the 3e . The 3e is so DGDB.

SF authors are such better world builders than game designers that it is hard to take a game product as my setting. It was much less work and more rewarding for me to adapt SF literature to Traveller assumptions than the other way around.

 

[rancke]

[/I]There is no one, consistent, complete 'Canon' that is practical to implement, as it is a version dependent, sometimes self contradicting, not uncommonly error prone, collection of published works,

Canon is indeed a sometimes self-contradicting, not uncommonly error-prone, collection of published works. But it's not version dependent. Anything that can be considered canon for the 3rd Imperium setting has to be independent of versions; if it wasn't, it wouldn't work as canon.


Hans

 

[Poppyseed45]

Yeah, just got the Supplement Reprints today and, well, there's a lot of stuff to love there, especially about the OTU. However, that said, there's no reason it can't be Your TO too - in fact, isn't that the default play for most folks? I've got some reading to do, and I quite like what I see so far, but there's nothing stopping me from twisting it to fit what I want. I see the OTU as more of a backdrop or springboard for my own thinking on things; leave it where it is if I've got nothing better in mind, and twist and break it when I feel I do.