I think you are all forgetting Poul Anderson, either his Polysotechnic (? spelling -- I don't have the books handy) League stories or the Flandry series. Along with H. Beam Piper that would be my pick. As for TV / movies, I think Firefly/Serenity is a good choice... a lot depends on the flavour of the exact setting you're using and your own interpretation of it.
It is not quite Firefly, nor is it really Star Wars but more like
- Thread starter kafka47
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I like ships like from "Silent Running"
hi-pop worlds like from "Blade Runner"
lo-pop worlds like from the Co-Dominium stories
skullduggery like from "Max Headroom"
Intrigue like old film noir
travelogues like Twain's "Innocents abroad"
The Wild bunch and the magnificent seven
don't restrict things to just sci-fi for story ideas.
hi-pop worlds like from "Blade Runner"
lo-pop worlds like from the Co-Dominium stories
skullduggery like from "Max Headroom"
Intrigue like old film noir
travelogues like Twain's "Innocents abroad"
The Wild bunch and the magnificent seven
don't restrict things to just sci-fi for story ideas.
I doubt anybody does. Anyway, most of Poul Andeson and H. Beam Piper's best ideas were straight out of history. By the time you rob history, historical fiction and science fiction for ideas you have most of your material covered... although just about any story can be adapted with enough work.
How I last decribed TRAVELLER to newbies
I simply told them ......"Traveller is the game you come to ......When you're tired of Elves ,done ,with Dwarves , Quits ,with quest and sick of swords.....Ancient weapons and hocus-pocus religions are no substitute for a good laserpistol at your side.......
I simply told them ......"Traveller is the game you come to ......When you're tired of Elves ,done ,with Dwarves , Quits ,with quest and sick of swords.....Ancient weapons and hocus-pocus religions are no substitute for a good laserpistol at your side.......
How I last decribed TRAVELLER to newbies
I simply told them ......"Traveller is the game you come to ......When you're tired of Elves ,done ,with Dwarves , Quits ,with quest and sick of swords".....Ancient weapons and hocus-pocus religions are no substitute for a good laserpistol at your side.......
I simply told them ......"Traveller is the game you come to ......When you're tired of Elves ,done ,with Dwarves , Quits ,with quest and sick of swords".....Ancient weapons and hocus-pocus religions are no substitute for a good laserpistol at your side.......
And, unfortunately, many of their science-fiction books are out of print (indeed, to my memory I've never seen any of Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic League books in a bookstore!).
it's like.....
I'm about to date myself as an ancient here, but not only do I refer them to Asimovs "Foundation" series, and to Robert Hienliens "Starship Troopers", but to an even older source of space opera, Bertram A Chandler and his "Johnathan Grimes" novels (The Original Free Trader ;-). But for the unfortunate lack of newbs who can recall such antiques (they're mostly too young to know them anyway!) I just tell them it's about %10 Star Wars, %20 Aliens, and %70 Babylon 5.
then i grin as they flinch ;-)
"Come In. This is Liberty Hall; you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard!"
I'm about to date myself as an ancient here, but not only do I refer them to Asimovs "Foundation" series, and to Robert Hienliens "Starship Troopers", but to an even older source of space opera, Bertram A Chandler and his "Johnathan Grimes" novels (The Original Free Trader ;-). But for the unfortunate lack of newbs who can recall such antiques (they're mostly too young to know them anyway!) I just tell them it's about %10 Star Wars, %20 Aliens, and %70 Babylon 5.
then i grin as they flinch ;-)
"Come In. This is Liberty Hall; you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard!"
G. Fieendish
SOC-12
Re: Project Gutenberg
Does anyone know if E.C Tubb's Dumerest series is on there....?
(I managed to get a very battered copy of Derai, (Book 2 in the series), & I've got hooked....)
Does anyone know if E.C Tubb's Dumerest series is on there....?
(I managed to get a very battered copy of Derai, (Book 2 in the series), & I've got hooked....)
Bob Weaver
SOC-12
Never forget to check with your local public & university library. Most have some level of inter-library loan service, whereby you can get books from other libraries, often at little or no cost to you. That one of the reasons I LOVE being a librarian!
Cheers,
Bob W
Damn... I am an ancient
Used book stores are always good and they get reprinted from time to time. Online used bookstores are an even better bet I think. Somebody else mentioned A. Bertram Chandler's John Grimes novels too - good stuff along with E.C. Tubb's Dumarest novels (which is where Traveller got it's peculiar intesest in the Other career and Blade skill imho). If you read any of these (and those of you who have already know, I'm sure) there is an instant bell that goes off in your mind and relates to Traveller. The connections I could see between the books I'd read and CT made for an instant love of the game.
G. Fieendish
SOC-12
Re:last post
Thanks, Aramis....
Thanks, Aramis....
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
Lots of Asimov can be compared closely to Traveller... as can Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series... and Andre Norton (especially the Solar Queen series, The Zero Stone, Uncharted Stars, the Free Traders series... oh heck many of these: http://www.andre-norton.org/books/serie.html )... and Anne McCaffrey (almost anything other than Pern books).
I have created a generation-ship for Traveller based on Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.
I have all of Chandler's books, ~90% of Andre's sci-fi (& fantasy), lots of Asimov, etc... yes, most purchased in used bookstores in the '80s.
I have created a generation-ship for Traveller based on Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.
I have all of Chandler's books, ~90% of Andre's sci-fi (& fantasy), lots of Asimov, etc... yes, most purchased in used bookstores in the '80s.
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
I know, but except for DragonsDawn (the novel explaining their arrival & the first decades of the colony) or Rescue Run (short story that takes place while one of the original colonists is still alive), none of the stories is really useable as an example for defining Traveller... which is the point of this thread and of my post.
Most people you talk to would know about the Dragons, "between", and "firestone"... and that is what they would think of... so I would not even mention the series at all in connection with traveller.
Most people you talk to would know about the Dragons, "between", and "firestone"... and that is what they would think of... so I would not even mention the series at all in connection with traveller.
When I ran my Futura (SF RPG) game
I would have lots of Heavy Metal and Epic magazines around and let people look through them before and after play (some times during play).
It helped keep the mind set of what future/alien world might be like. One game a character decided they wanted a better alien pet than one of the other characters (keeping up with the jones and started looking through the mags for what they wanted. It ended up being a long adventure.
When ever some one said that they would like to play a future/scifi game but wanted to know what kind of game mine was, I would reply
What do you want to play in a science fiction game?
I would work with the new player and we would come up with a character and what that character wanted out of life (at least the following goals, short (1 yr), long (1 to 10 yrs) and achievement before death).
Then I would do some research (game systems, books or just make it up based on our decisions) and figure how to add that character to the mix of players.
Many players had at least 2 different characters so that we could be in the middle of one adventure and they could start with an other adventure with different players.
( I had over 50 actual players involved in my game over the course of 3 years.)
The largest group at one time was 22 players in the room playing at the same time. (wow, it was a blast and I had to miss 2 days of classes to recover
Basically I like all the responses.
I believe that trying to describe Traveller in general is good BUT if you are trying to get players to play in your game of Traveller make sure that you describe your universe.
When I worked for a game company we used the term flavor of the game.
Before MK: Dungeons was released (and before I worked for WizKids LLC) I was able to demostrate MK: Dungeons at GenCon by having the players concentrate on the feel of the Heros running around in a dungeon and only made them use the basic MK rules that applied to figures.
The point behind this is if you ever get a person interested in a game (SciFi) or Traveller and they want to know what it is like or how it is different, Take a bit of time and talk/roleplay with them in a what if you were X character from Y movie or book (one that they have seen or read).
Ask them if they have every caught a ride with some one to some where, if yes ask them what they think it would be like to walk down to the nearest starport and hitch a ride on a space ship.
In a nut shell, Traveller is the vehicle to allow the refree/game master to aid in telling an interactive story involving other players. I like Traveller because if you want aliens you have them, if you don't want aliens the universe if big enough that the players could never run into let alone see one.
If you want High Tech or Low Tech it is there. If you want Techno Mages or Ancients it is there.
Most other games have a limited scope to make it easier to play and grasp. Traveller is easy to grasp but has lots and lots of room for details (I.e. refree has lots of work to do to the more detail that you want.
So much for a short post.
Dave
I would have lots of Heavy Metal and Epic magazines around and let people look through them before and after play (some times during play).
It helped keep the mind set of what future/alien world might be like. One game a character decided they wanted a better alien pet than one of the other characters (keeping up with the jones
and started looking through the mags for what they wanted. It ended up being a long adventure.When ever some one said that they would like to play a future/scifi game but wanted to know what kind of game mine was, I would reply
What do you want to play in a science fiction game?
I would work with the new player and we would come up with a character and what that character wanted out of life (at least the following goals, short (1 yr), long (1 to 10 yrs) and achievement before death).
Then I would do some research (game systems, books or just make it up based on our decisions) and figure how to add that character to the mix of players.
Many players had at least 2 different characters so that we could be in the middle of one adventure and they could start with an other adventure with different players.
( I had over 50 actual players involved in my game over the course of 3 years.)
The largest group at one time was 22 players in the room playing at the same time. (wow, it was a blast and I had to miss 2 days of classes to recover
Basically I like all the responses.
I believe that trying to describe Traveller in general is good BUT if you are trying to get players to play in your game of Traveller make sure that you describe your universe.
When I worked for a game company we used the term flavor of the game.
Before MK: Dungeons was released (and before I worked for WizKids LLC) I was able to demostrate MK: Dungeons at GenCon by having the players concentrate on the feel of the Heros running around in a dungeon and only made them use the basic MK rules that applied to figures.
The point behind this is if you ever get a person interested in a game (SciFi) or Traveller and they want to know what it is like or how it is different, Take a bit of time and talk/roleplay with them in a what if you were X character from Y movie or book (one that they have seen or read).
Ask them if they have every caught a ride with some one to some where, if yes ask them what they think it would be like to walk down to the nearest starport and hitch a ride on a space ship.
In a nut shell, Traveller is the vehicle to allow the refree/game master to aid in telling an interactive story involving other players. I like Traveller because if you want aliens you have them, if you don't want aliens the universe if big enough that the players could never run into let alone see one.
If you want High Tech or Low Tech it is there. If you want Techno Mages or Ancients it is there.
Most other games have a limited scope to make it easier to play and grasp. Traveller is easy to grasp but has lots and lots of room for details (I.e. refree has lots of work to do to the more detail that you want.
So much for a short post.
Dave
I always say: 'its set in the far future, not all lasers and lightsabres like Star Wars, or clean and perfect like Star Trek, but dirty, grungy and full of hard-graft, like the Aliens movies, Outland and Bladerunner'.
What do you do? "Well, characters can be Han Solo smugglers, or pirates, explorers or traders."
GTA in spaceships?
What do you do? "Well, characters can be Han Solo smugglers, or pirates, explorers or traders."
GTA in spaceships?
G. Fieendish
SOC-12
Re: GTA in Spaceships
Only if you somehow manage to somehow override the anti-hijack software on the ship's (That you're attempting to steal) computer, otherwise you might re-enact the Magna Volt ad from Robocop II, as the victim....
Only if you somehow manage to somehow override the anti-hijack software on the ship's (That you're attempting to steal) computer, otherwise you might re-enact the Magna Volt ad from Robocop II, as the victim....
