Just to put it to the Question

[Ganidirsii O'Flynn]

Well, since we're seeing more traffic and speculation regarding T:5, I wanted to toss this Question out to the forum:

Did you like the Rebellion timeline or not, and why?

Please gimme more in an answer than: "It sucked!" or "It rocked!". I'd like to see what folks are thinking.

Thanks for your time in advance.

Capt. Ganidiirsi O'Flynn
Master and Commander of the Wastrel's Bride

 

[WendellM]

The Rebellion isn't really bad, but it's not that good. To me, Traveller is a wide-open galaxy with trade, exploration, intrigue, corporations, research, and, yes, sometimes war. The Rebellion is more like war all the time, to the detriment of all else (I know that it doesn't have to be, but that seems the intended thrust). Plus, all those Imperial factions make it feel more like BattleTech/MechWarrior than Traveller (I like BT fine, but just not as a Traveller setting). Anyway, that's my take.

 

[grendelttroll]

The Rebellion timeline, for me, made me actually want to do a campaign in the core sectors of the Imperium. Before the Rebellion, the core was about as exciting as watching Vargr fur growing. It was so stable and secure that most starships were not armed. That is why most GM's had their campaigns in frontier sectors (Spinward Marches and Solomani Rim, for example).

This situation was made really clear with GDW's MT adventure Knightfall. I loved the free trader crew that was detailed. The only turret installed was a sandcaster and the owner/captain only served worlds that sold refined fuel for the ship had no scoops or FPM. The only thing that made this crew interesting at all was they were on a world that was invaded by a rival faction. The group gets captured, their ship confiscated, and they all get put in a P.O.W. camp. From there they meet a fellow prisoner with knowledge about an ancient site, and everything goes on from there.

Honestly, I didn't have a problem with the Rebellion, just the way it dragged on without an end. I guess the only way to end it after all of that was to blow it all up.

 

[Ron]

I like the idea of the Rebellion but not its execution. Most of the Imperium was too static and thus boring as an adventures setting. However, the long attriction war followed by the technological decay was not of my liking. I hoped that the setting would culminate in the establishment of six smaller Imperia, which would create a large frontier zone for staging the game.

 

[WendellM]

Originally posted by Ron:
Most of the Imperium was too static and thus boring as an adventures setting. [...] I hoped that the setting would culminate in the establishment of six smaller Imperia, which would create a large frontier zone for staging the game.

Now, that's not a bad idea. I agree that the vast core of the 3I is pretty static during the "Golden Age"/CT setting. After the chaos of the Rebellion (13 factions total, 11 of them human, 9 of them imperial), having a half-dozen or so neo-Imperia (maybe less, perhaps only 3) pretty-stable states recovering, expanding, competing, and occasionally fighting could be nifty.