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Dumarest -- one of the inspirations for Basic Traveller Boxed Set

I think the essence of a Dumarest style campaign would be a sense of being compelled to keep moving either to a specific destination or just a general compulsion, so I guess it could be on a ship.

A non-trading ship that needs say 40K a jump for fuel and maintenance wouldn't be much different to players needing to find money for passage.

Although personally I wouldn't want them on a ship at first as I think it would lose some of the flavor but a ship later - possibly a temporary one - might be good for variety.
 
"It may not have been false when he said it but he served in 2 Merc campaigns I can recall as well as some other fights, one imaginary from comatose girls imagination and the other the trip to and from the alien 'fountain of Youth' with Chenault the circus owner.
 
creativehum said:
Because of all the talk on this site I nabbed an ebook collection of the first six Dumarest books from Amazon.

I just finished the first book -- The Winds of Gath -- and I loved it.

It's a harsh universe. As harsh as the one I've always thought implied in the Basic Traveller boxed set. It's also a setting of unexpected kindness, good fortune, and loyalty. The overall shape of the writing is also thoughtful, political, and progressive. Something that clearly would have caught Marc Miller's attention from what I know about him.

The point of view of the story shifts between many characters, allowing Tubb to give different points of view to religion, power, econimics, wealth, social standing, the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy, and much more.

This is the kind of color, setting, and point of view that would provide -- in my view -- the grist desired for an adventuring environment. Really good stuff.
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Welcome to the wonderful (and oftimes harsh) world of Earl Dumarest. I've just started book 15. :cool:

Off the top of my head; Dumarest never owns a ship. He is always a passenger. Meanwhile, the Traveller system encourages owning a ship -- or pursuing owning one. That's a big difference!
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Up to Book 15 at least he hitches a ride on free traders most commonly, working as a steward (for High Passengers), or some other function.
Dumarest also occasionally uses that most often overlooked type of Traveller passage - the working passage.
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See above. He has travelled Low plenty of times, but I'm getting the progressive opinion that, if he does it too many more times, his number will be up. The fifteen percent death rate constantly mentioned in the novels is too high to risk too many times -- at least for us normal mortal non-travellers. ;)
Both the Cyclan and Brotherhood had interstellar comms, don't recall any one else did although the Factors Guild might have.
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The Cyclan cybers (scarlet-robed human-cyborgs, cerebral, universe-domination obsessives) went about FTL communication thusly:
1) The Cyclan cyber instructed his bodyguard to initiate a "total seal", preventing him from being disturbed while locked in communication with the 'hive-mind'. The bodyguards are fanatics who will defend their Cyclan masters to the death. Very single minded chaps, those.
2) The Cyclan cyber activated some electronic bracelet that baffled any remote surveillance devices.
3) He began chanting what are called "Samatchazi formulae", although, thus far in 15 books that phrase has never yet been defined or elaborated upon. :?
4) In doing so, this activated "grafted Homochon elements" -- again, never defined.
5) They send info, get instructions from the 'hive' and afterwards are rewarded with some kind of intellectual thrill, momentarily feeling the vast collection of interlinked minds stretched out across space. It's often described as being like a groovy, intoxicating drug-trip.
The Cybers in the books are a great and fascinating collective villains. Whenever they appear in the books it's hard not to feel a pronounced foreboding chill.
On the other hand, the more-or-less benevolent religious order of the Universal Brotherhood can communicate FTL via various means, but this is mentioned only a precious few times.

Note that I'm still looking for an author who would be willing to tackle a Dumarest Traveller writeup...
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Over the past 5-6 years I've been reading the books when I have the free time (a dwindling commodity these days). I've taken meticulous notes up to book 15, and I will make a master "Dumarest Traveller" doc (as you put it) when I finish the series. As I'm about half way through, I expect to be done in about 3-4 years (*crosses fingers*). :)
 
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Rain day here, seems a good reading day. I've started on the first book but put it down before, might try to get through a couple charters.
 
Finished the first book, starting on the second. I sort of wish the first book continued, I was getting into it. As I try to figure out the GURPS Traveller system, it might be better to handle these kinds of adventures.
 
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I actually just started the first Dumarest novel as well. Tried out the free sample on my kindle (after reading this thread), and figured I'd by the rest of the book. So far I like it. I grew up on Asimov and Gibson, so this is all new to me.
 
On the third book, I was thinking of the authors I might compare his stories with. Some ideas seem very Frank Herbert "Dune" to me. The Cybers remind me of mentats with a mix of the Bene Gesserit, also the Universal Brotherhood makes me think of the Orange Catholic Bible. I don't know why I didn't read these when I was younger. I guess they just weren't available so much in print? Lucky I believe, I have every one on my Kindle, 33 of them?
 
Enoff said:
Stumbled upon this article looking for things on Tubb's Dumarest, I don't know if it has been posted before. Its hard to find things on this form, at least for me.

Deciphering the Text Foundations of Traveller
by Michael Andre-Driussi
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10119

Here is also a review on RPG.net
"REVIEW OF DUMAREST OF TERRA"
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14358.phtml

I thought the term "Planetary Romance" interesting.
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I found Andre-Driussi's essay spot-on. I've heard some complain that he didn't give enough source-credit to other authors, which may be true. But in terms of looking at a potentially new sort of genre that Traveller forged... well, certainly he made clear what I saw in the LBBs of the Black Box. I quote from the essay for my setting in the "In My Traveller Universe" Forum.

Andre-Driussi also wrote the Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle for Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series. It's a smart piece of work.
 
I've started at the beginning, just finishing up four now. They are separate adventures in themselves so you probably could read at random.
 
Looking at the Goodreads ratings, it seems the series is fairly consistent:

Title Avg Rating (1 - 5) Number of Ratings Published Notes
The Jester At Scar (Dumarest of Terra #5)3.858519706 editions book 5
Kalin (Dumarest of Terra #4)3.7710419766 editions book 4
Spectrum of a Forgotten Sun (Dumarest of Terra #15)3.775719764 editions book 15
Eye of the Zodiac (Dumarest of Terra #13)3.765019754 editions book 13
Web of Sand (Dumarest of Terra, #20)3.715119795 editions book 20
The Coming Event (Dumarest of Terra, #26)3.704019823 editions book 26
Lallia (Dumarest of Terra #6)3.698919714 editions book 6
Derai (Dumarest of Terra, #2)3.6811819737 editions book 2
Veruchia (Dumarest of Terra, #8)3.687119735 editions book 8
Zenya (Dumarest of Terra #11)3.686519744 editions book 11
Jack of Swords (Dumarest of Terra #14)3.685619764 editions book 14
Toyman (Dumarest of Terra #3)3.6610519696 editions book 3
Prison of Night (Dumarest of Terra, #17)3.664719774 editions book 17
Incident on Ath (Dumarest of Terra, #18)3.664719786 editions book 18
Earth is Heaven (Dumarest of Terra, #27)3.663819825 editions book 27
The Winds of Gath (Dumarest of Terra #1)3.65176196711 editions book 1
The Terra Data (Dumarest of Terra, #22)3.654619804 editions book 22
Nectar of Heaven (Dumarest of Terra #24)3.614419814 editions book 24
The Terridae (Dumarest of Terra, #25)3.614419814 editions book 25
Symbol of Terra (Dumarest of Terra, #30)3.613619843 editions book 30
Technos (Dumarest of Terra, #7)3.608019724 editions book 7
Eloise (Dumarest of Terra, #12)3.546119754 editions book 12
Haven of Darkness (Dumarest of Terra, #16)3.545219774 editions book 16
Iduna's Universe (Dumarest Of Terra #21)3.535519794 editions book 21
The Quillian Sector (Dumarest of Terra, #19)3.534919784 editions book 19
World of Promise (Dumarest of Terra #23)3.533819804 editions book 23
Angado (Dumarest of Terra, #29)3.533619844 editions book 29
The Temple of Truth (Dumarest of Terra #31)3.503619853 editions book 31
Mayenne (Dumarest of Terra #9)3.458719735 editions book 9
Melome (Dumarest of Terra #28)3.444119834 editions book 28
The Return (Dumarest of Terra #32)3.443420113 editions book 32
Jondelle (Dumarest of Terra #10)3.427119547 editions book 10
I'd be inclined to jump in with 4, and then hit 5 and 6
 
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Enoff said:
I've started at the beginning, just finishing up four now. They are separate adventures in themselves so you probably could read at random.
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I got them as secondhand books, whenever I could find them in the pre-Amazon days. Therefore I can vouch that the sequence is not important. It does help with some flashbacks and with understanding Dumarest behavior at time, but each book could stand alone.

have fun Selandia
 
ditto a lot of previous comments

- those two reviews of the series were spot on I'd say

- if you like one you'll probably like them all more or less (and vice versa)

- the ones in the middle at least could probably be read in any order

- they have a very traveller feel

- i found them very enjoyable at the time

a Dumarest Saga type game can be quite fun
 
I just started re-reading the series - I think I made it through about 6 in paperback, and have now picked up the ebooks.

ShapeShifter said:
4) In doing so, this activated "grafted Homochon elements" -- again, never defined.
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I noticed this tidbit in book 1:

Such grafting had been accomplished before with the Homochon elements but they had been taken from formless creatures brooding in eternal night locked in darkness beneath the miles of their ebony atmosphere. They gave instant communication and were instrumental in forming the gestalt of the Cyclan.
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I wonder if the ideas Cyclan and the Universal Brotherhood could have been gotten from the Jesuits and the Franciscans?

Spoiler:
I think from the clues I've gotten from the first five books that Earth contains the Cyclan brains.
 
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Finished the sixth book, need to take a break for a bit and read something different. They've all been good reads so far, always interesting and enjoyable. Some endings seem loosely tied up but overall pretty fascinating stories. Interesting how most of the planetary settings seem medieval. Again I don't know how I missed these when I was younger but its a nice find now :)
 
Enoff said:
I wonder if the ideas Cyclan and the Universal Brotherhood could have been gotten from the Jesuits and the Franciscans?

Spoiler:
I think from the clues I've gotten from the first five books that Earth contains the Cyclan brains.
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When I read them I thought Benedictines and Franciscans so thinking along similar lines.
 
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