(hypothetical) What would you ask Dave Nilsen?

[Dreadnought]

Martin/MJD--

Wow, two really touching posts in a row. Making a difference in the lives of two people in one day. I definitely have to go to bed early, my streak is bound to snap.

It's funny that you mention the red ink. We had some processes at GDW for proofreading and editing, and one of them was that we each had our own color. Steve Olle had a green felt tip, Steve Maggi had a blue felt tip, Loren Wiseman used a black rollerball, Frank used whoever's pen was close enough to grab (

), and I was a red rollerball. That was the way we could tell each other's marks apart, and deconflict or sort out any inconsistencies.

To this day when I see green pen marks I think of Steve Olle, and I still use a red pen for just about everything I do. (My current company fought a long battle with me to get me to stop using red. They finally had to threaten that they would no longer pay any of my employees if their timesheets showed up with my signature in red ink.) People all the time ask me, "what is it with you and red pens?" If I'm in a hurry I mutter something about how it shows up better, but if I've got a minute, I tell them about how it's my GDW color.

Well, I guess it's official that I'm on board then, right?

Thanks, Brother Martin. I'd better get some sleep, as I have a lot of reading to catch up on!

Dave
Traveller 6 Emeritus
GDW Design 6 Emeritus
Trouble Maker

 

[Dreadnought]

Malenfant--

I grew to like the humour in Aliens of the Rim, even though I didn't at first. And I really liked the afterword in that book too.

I can see how it might nark some people, but what was it you said? "Laugh, be free?"

Thanks for the remarks and other stuff too.

A few days ago as I was driving, I saw one of those marquees out in front of a church where they'll post a snappy saying. Often they're kind of embarrassing, but every once in a while they'll have a good one, like this one: "What angers you controls you."

That's why the Ithklur say, "Laugh, be free!"

Or at least that's what I'd mean by it if I were an Ithklur.

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

Falkayn--

As someone who is inherently lazy, I must admit I do like the omniscient view approach for GM material. My problem is that in my circle of gaming friend we all GM, and thus nearly everyone buys/reads GM source material. This means that it is much more effective for me if the GM material is treated subjectively, because that allows me to keep my players guessing (otherwise the story arc will always be too obvious unless I create stuff from scratch, but I'm lazy ).

I know exactly what you mean. Back in high school when I was a DM, back when Monster Manual was the only AD&D book, and we didn't even know there was a difference between D&D and AD&D, all my players had the monster manual and knew the critters by heart.

So while that was not the primary reason for writing subjective stuff subject to other insights later (as I posted elsewhere, I find that to be more realistic), I often thought that that was a nice spin off to it. So many Traveller players admit to being collectors who don't get to play, they will read the books as stories, and what better way to let them read a story?

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

Hyphen--

I'm one of the ones (well, probably! ) Dave said would never have forgiven him if the didn't print the entire Regency NOW! NOW! NOW!

MORE, I tell you! I want MORE! Muaha ha ha ha ha!!

I am SO glad to hear you say that. Without corroboration like that, I'd just look like I was paranoid.

Did Mike ever tell you how many people contributed to the UWP's? (Probably many from HIWG, like Clay Bush, would be my guess...)

Well, I had thought that I had all of their names included in the credits. I hope I didn't exclude anyone. I'm sure Mike and Geo told me everyone who was involved. Right? Please say they did.

Crap. Your name isn't in there, so obviously I didn't get that information, or I did, and I screwed it up. I'm very sorry. Every single person who contributed their time and enthusiasm should have been in there. I say again, crap.

The credits for upgraded UWPs are Mikesh, Gelinas, Clay Bush, Leroy Guatney, and Dave Johnson. And Alex Trebek. Oops, no, he got credited elsewhere.

Any of you who should have been in there and weren't, please accept my sincere apology.

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

alanb & Cymew--

Thanks for the observations on Strephon, subjective, wriggle room, and

It's hard being a gamedesigner. You can't please us fans whatever you do!

But it's worth trying. And if it weren't hard, they couldn't get us to do it for such little money!!

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

Cymew--

Interesting reading about the CCG crazy, BTW.

Some big names in the hobby have called it a needed culling of a bloated business with to many producers and to few customers.

I think it did a lot of good for the professionalism and the business sense of the survivors. The companies done as a "hobby venture" was killed.

Well, I hope that "professionalism and business sense" concerns don't apply to GDW.

A healthy GDW should have been able to get through the CCG. But I think after DJ we might have been back to pretty close to before the Desert Shield Factbook. And when MTG sucked all of the oxygen out of the room for 12-18 months, we just weren't strong enough to survive it.

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

Sigg Oddra--

Q1: My question is why did FF&S redefine many Traveller technologies, was this a game balance issue or an attempt to "update" the sci-fi tech of Traveller?

A: If you can be more specific, I can answer as best I can. In general, I think there was an attempt to "update" the sci-fi tech, for example lasers were done with a good deal of realistic input. As I said in another post, Frank wanted to get rid of thruster plates in favor of reaction drives. And we went into more detail with Black Globes, nuclear dampers, etc.

Q2: And if I can sneak this related question in please , is there any truth to the rumours that it was seriously considered to have TNE ships with stutterwarp rather than jump drives - or is this a result of someone getting confused about how FF&S could be used as the architecture for different sci-fi settings (T2300 being on the to do list)?

Yes, I am pretty sure that we did have that discussion, briefly. I think it was just a "what if" suggestion, and we didn't pursue it very seriously, and it didn't last very long, but I think it was considered for a brief time. Probably less than a day. At least when I was there. Perhaps at Origins 91 when Frank floated the Virus idea he floated Traveller stutterwarp too. But I think that most of what people had heard had to do with putting stutterwarp into FF&S (originally simply called "Traveller Technical Architecture." It got its snazzy name from an ad I wrote for it, where the headline was, "Fusion, Fire and Steel." Folks at the office thought that sounded so good that we ought to use it as the title. We flopped Fusion with Fire to make it flow better, and voila. It worked well with that one, but I was told that giving "The Regency Sourcebook" a super-title "Keepers of the Flame" backfired because people were waiting for "The Regency Sourcebook" and didn't know what "Keepers of the Flame" was. Geez, it's always something.) so that we could eventually use it in a 2300 sourcebook.

Dave

 

[daryen]

Dave,

I have another Regency related question:

Ignoring the whole "ihatei invasion" issue, what was intended of the "Tlaukhu"?

The Tlaukhu was effectively destroyed when Virus overran the main Aslan territory, though all of those clans were represented in the Trans-Rift territories. However, it doesn't really appear that there was a functioning Tlaukhu after the collapse.

The reason I ask is that the Aslan have no "racial pride". If two humans are fighting a non-human, no matter how much they hate each other they will band together to fight the non-human. (In general; there are always exceptions.) That doesn't hold for the Aslan. Those two Aslan are just as likely to make a deal with the non-Aslan as they are with the other Aslan.

The only thing that holds the Aslan together and keeps them from being a complicated mess of feuding clans is the Tlaukhu. If the Tlaukhu is removed, then the Aslan are quickly reduced to a complicated (and dangerous) mess of intertwined clans, vassals, feuds, and wars.

So, did you intend for there to be a Tlaukhu successor to be in "power", or did you intend for there to be a gradual fragmentation of the Aslan?

 

[Dreadnought]

Stephen Tempest--

Thanks for the nice words on evocative and emotional passages. You asked about the Guild-style account in the TNE rulebook. I'm not sure, what page is it on? It might have been Frank's.

Some people in the RC seemed very upset with Oriflammen feudal technocracy - was this tension ever planned to degenerate into a shooting war?

No, the intent was simply to have some tension and color within the RC, so it wouldn't be this monolithic thing. You know, red and blue America.

Why did you get rid of the jump routes in the Regency? I always thought they were the most interesting parts of a Traveller map...

Actually the lines in CT and MT maps were Xboat routes specifically, not jump routes in the sense of trade routes. I explain that in the RSB with the "Xweb."

One end of the Vampire Highway was,
presumably, the Black Curtain. Was there anything significant at the other end?

Yes, Cymbeline. Cymbeline was the start of the Vampire Highway and the Black Curtain was the end. As I recall, the idea was that Vampire ships would eventually realize what their birthplace was, and then eventually desire to go visit it. When they saw that their birthplace was turned to glass, they went looking for revenge against whoever nuked it. This would eventually lead them to the Black Curtain, although I can't remember out how they'd put two and two together. Maybe it was Vampire Ships from within the Black Curtain (this does not violate the premise that "no one comes out," because no humans do) wanting to go visit their birthplace? I know that in some cases Vampires head toward the Dark Curtain with the intent of attempting to kill whoever killed Cymbeline. Man, I came up with the Vampire Highway, but I can't even remember the details now.

What happened to (the real) Strephon's worlds after Virus hit? Completely destroyed?

We never made that decision. I know out of sentimental attachment to Strephon I wanted there to be some remnant of him, perhaps some way for PCs to come into some direct contact with his legacy. But no firm decision was made.

You're welcome!

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

Elliot--

Q: Given you wrote the 'future history' sections of the rulez books with the Vikings as a past tense - how were they 'stuffed/elevated' (choose option) in your vision?

A: I believe the answer to that is in my earlier posts about what happened around the Black Curtain. Let me know if that does not answer your question.

Q: Also - can you expand on Earth in TNE - what was envisioned beyond the 2nd Terran Confederation - were they rabid Solomani or more liberal. What would have happened when they met the thieving RC in the Concord subsector?

The way Frank had plotted out the Virus Redux/Guilded Lilly epic, the third part was going to have the RC players make contact with the 2d Terran Confederation. In general, they were going to be relatively easy to get along with, in comparison to the typical master-race Solomani stuff. That was Frank's intent, I believe.

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

William--

Cool. Glad to hear TNE kept your Traveller loyalty. Teaching your son to play Traveller. Now that's a good father!

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

Falkayn--

Did you end up getting the answers you needed on the T20 Enlightenment Feat?

Did ChaserCaffey's stuff take care of your question? He did what I pretty much would have done, go to H&I and explain what enlightenment meant there, and hope that cast enough light on T20 to answer it.

Dave

 

[Dreadnought]

Okay, I am now up to the top of Page 12. Just one more, and to bed.

Hyphen--

It's called being "Gregged". See my comments in my defence of Dave and GDW in the "TNE Flamewar" thread.

BTW, Dave, do you have any comment on what I wrote over there? Was my analysis of your game direction decisions accurate?

No, I have not read it. I think I read all of the anti-Dave stuff on the TNE board back in Feb-Mar, and that had a lot to do with me figuring I had other things to do.

This trip, I read to page 3 on the "TNE Flamewar" thread and decided to go no further. Basically I wanted to answer the fans' questions, and if I kept reading that stuff it was probably going to talk me out of it. That stuff is really pretty fatiguing.

So since I wanted to stay, I decided to accentuate the positive and let the rest go.

If you would like to PM me the one post in particular I would be happy to respond to your analysis of my game directions. But I don't feel like going digging for it!

All right, my litle sea cucumbers and cucumberettes, this is Commodore Bwana saying,

"Now I know there's a future for all of us/Not so long ago I was so scared."
(Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music, "Out of the Blue")

 

[Hyphen]

Originally posted by David Freakin' Nilsen:
I'm very sorry. Every single person who contributed their time and enthusiasm should have been in there.

Don't worry about it. I only contributed one UWP to Mike Mikesh, who would have contributed DOZENS, so it's not like it's a problem. I'm just glad that Tavonni's UWP got in there at all (does a happy dance).

 

[William]

Just as a thought, if you dig into the TML archives, there is hinding within a delightful post by Doug Berry. In it he talks of his personal campaign fighting it's way to the Real Strephon's homeworld and finding his tomb on an abondonded world. It's exceptionally powerful material and even if the details don't fit a GM's TU, the attitude should.

It was one of the moments when I remembered why this game has survived despite itself.

William

 

[William]

Oh, and Dave, of _course_ I'm teaching my son. Isn't that the whole idea of the illustration on pg. 74 of the TNE core....? (er, ok, you probably won't remember it that way. The piece of farmers plowing around the wreck of a Type-T patrol cruiser. Life goes on no matter what happens to individuals.)

William

 

[Dreadnought]

William--

if you dig into the TML archives, there is hinding within a delightful post by Doug Berry. In it he talks of his personal campaign fighting it's way to the Real Strephon's homeworld and finding his tomb on an abondonded world.

I would LOVE to read that.

The piece of farmers plowing around the wreck of a Type-T patrol cruiser.

The TL-15 Type-T in RSG would have been amazingly amazing, mentioning Type Ts. The TL-15 power plant, laser cans and MFDs made it a completely different ship: finally the sports car it looked like from the outside.

Dave

 

[Hyphen]

Originally posted by David Freakin' Nilsen:
William--
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> if you dig into the TML archives, there is hinding within a delightful post by Doug Berry. In it he talks of his personal campaign fighting it's way to the Real Strephon's homeworld and finding his tomb on an abondonded world.

I would LOVE to read that.
</font>[/QUOTE]I second William's comments, which is why I've been searching my personal "Best of the TML" for two damn days trying to find this. So much for my document control facility (i.e. the non-existent one).

Perhaps we can get Mr Berry to repost it here?

 

[LKW]

Originally posted by David Freakin' Nilsen:
Elliot--

She went home to the eternal fields on July 7 of this year.

I'm sorry to hear that. Whisky was a great dog, despite her continual attempts to suck my essence (I recall she became mildly annoyed that I wouldn't let her). May she romp on in canine Elysium.

{Editor's Note: Loren is not an animal person, but he likes to play with other people's critters, and he likes them to go home when he's finished}

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Hyphen:
Perhaps we can get Mr Berry to repost it here?

There's a huge archive of the TML from back in the day that was linked to on CotI not that long ago. IIRC this post isn't recent enough to be archived in the TML section of travellerrpg.com.

Here we go:

TML Archives 1987--2002 Zipped 158Mb

[edit]It's a link to directory instead of a single compressed 158 mb file so I changed the link. If someone knows when it was posted they should be able to find it without having to download the whole thing. Kudos to Bruce Johnson of the TML and RainofSteel of CotI and anyone else who helped collect the posts.

Casey