Could someone direct me to other forums regarding this game? Activity had dropped off again, and I need some feedback on some concepts.
Other Traveller forums
- Thread starter Blue Ghost
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thalassogen
SOC-12
Does it need to be in English or would German be OK, too?
Prefer English.
The only ones I can think of are:
http://www.sfrpg-discussion.net/phpBB3/
https://plus.google.com/communities/103312193461568568045 (and it's not really a forum)
http://www.sfrpg-discussion.net/phpBB3/
https://plus.google.com/communities/103312193461568568045 (and it's not really a forum)
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
The standard forums which are Traveller exclusive or have Traveller-specific areas are here, sfrpg-discussion (mentioned by Vargas), and the Mongoose board. Of the three, the Mongoose board is, of course, edition specific for crunchy bits.
You find the occasional Traveller discussion on RPG.Net, but that is such an idiosyncratic board, caught up in a love affair with the new wave of alt games, that it is probably not a good place for deep delves into this old and stodgy game of ours.
Catch one of the myriad mailing lists right and you'll get good responses, but you may have to wait for post-Holidays. The lists are pretty specialized and many are a bit picky. This characterization includes the TML, which has found a new home this past year and has spurts of activity and is "officially" edition neutral.
(Which reminds me that I need to try kicking the YG MT list into gear again.)
You find the occasional Traveller discussion on RPG.Net, but that is such an idiosyncratic board, caught up in a love affair with the new wave of alt games, that it is probably not a good place for deep delves into this old and stodgy game of ours.
Catch one of the myriad mailing lists right and you'll get good responses, but you may have to wait for post-Holidays. The lists are pretty specialized and many are a bit picky. This characterization includes the TML, which has found a new home this past year and has spurts of activity and is "officially" edition neutral.
(Which reminds me that I need to try kicking the YG MT list into gear again.)
I would add the SJGames Traveller forum. Not a lot of activity, but some interesting discussions.
There is a second G+ Classic Traveller community, also not a forum but with alternate content from the main one.
There is a second G+ Classic Traveller community, also not a forum but with alternate content from the main one.
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
Last I heard, posting links to other Traveller boards was a violation of
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Since all of the others are either clearly or effectively single edition or limited to a subset of the total gamespace, this remains the best broadbase forum despite the low traffic level at the moment. Low traffic happens, and I've noticed that most of the others are also low right now. The Christmas and New Years period is usually a bit slow, as all that "free time" is spent on family events or similar. Things will pick up.
My suggestion to the OP would be to post the necessary leading questions now and let them percolate a bit.
Well, mister KB and I don't see eye to eye on much things, and I can't relay my experiences with him without recieving a Traveller-BBS oriented cyber-slap on the wrist.
The traffic here, over the thirteen years that I have been coming, at one time, had been consistently high depending on the topic at hand.
Before I went back to school to finish my BA, I would check in regularly and see the orange "new message" icons frequently lit up. Of course Hunter was around, and so were the rules' trolls, and Avery was more active here, and so forth.
An online lady friend of mine from another BBS (no, no romance involved) has told me that Traveller is surviving off of people's good graces. Eh, I'm not sure that's true, but a lack of traffic, to me, on Prima facie seems to be correct.
However, Traveller still sells, and given the number of new users, to me at least, that indicates that there's a strong fan base out there, and even though this is the primary forum for the game, I just don't see them like I used to.
So, I'm wondering if there are other busier forums around.
The traffic here, over the thirteen years that I have been coming, at one time, had been consistently high depending on the topic at hand.
Before I went back to school to finish my BA, I would check in regularly and see the orange "new message" icons frequently lit up. Of course Hunter was around, and so were the rules' trolls, and Avery was more active here, and so forth.
An online lady friend of mine from another BBS (no, no romance involved) has told me that Traveller is surviving off of people's good graces. Eh, I'm not sure that's true, but a lack of traffic, to me, on Prima facie seems to be correct.
However, Traveller still sells, and given the number of new users, to me at least, that indicates that there's a strong fan base out there, and even though this is the primary forum for the game, I just don't see them like I used to.
So, I'm wondering if there are other busier forums around.
[m;]Not exactly. Attempting to lure users to other boards is a no-no.[/m;]
The line is a fine one. In this case, we (McPerth and I) have come to the same conclusion: because he's not getting the kind of feedback he wants here, he's looking to reach a wider audience than COTI provides. And that's fine.
Well here's the thing that gets me; I'll lurk on a forum, note the traffic over several days, and then when I start posting suddenly that traffic some how dries up.
Same thing happens here. I stormed off this forum after I was forced to quit my job. Suddenly the forum is lit up with activity, especially the T5 forum. Then it mysteriously dies again, even though there are topics that haven't been resolved.
And it has nothing to do with the holidays. And it's not unique to this website, though I first noticed it occurring here under specific circumstances. And it seems to follow MY personal net activity. So, no, I'm not happy about it. It's another reason I wish Hunter was alive and with us. But I digress.
Same thing happens here. I stormed off this forum after I was forced to quit my job. Suddenly the forum is lit up with activity, especially the T5 forum. Then it mysteriously dies again, even though there are topics that haven't been resolved.
And it has nothing to do with the holidays. And it's not unique to this website, though I first noticed it occurring here under specific circumstances. And it seems to follow MY personal net activity. So, no, I'm not happy about it. It's another reason I wish Hunter was alive and with us. But I digress.
Its been my experience that the SF-RPG board, despite having a Traveller section, is fairly hostile to Traveller in general. YMMV.
Of course, there is also the Mongoose Traveller forum: http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewforum.php?f=89&sid=8c2e7449369ce1cec0b3fb04bf885c97
If you're looking for a vibrant and busy Traveller discussion, IMHO, I think you'll find that on the Facebook group. You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/197449257039924/ I know a lot of folks avoid Facebook for one reason or another, but it is the most active Traveller area which I visit and there is always an abundance of Traveller discussion there.
Of course, there is also the Mongoose Traveller forum: http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewforum.php?f=89&sid=8c2e7449369ce1cec0b3fb04bf885c97
If you're looking for a vibrant and busy Traveller discussion, IMHO, I think you'll find that on the Facebook group. You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/197449257039924/ I know a lot of folks avoid Facebook for one reason or another, but it is the most active Traveller area which I visit and there is always an abundance of Traveller discussion there.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
As with all interesting things, Traveller has attracted a number of, ahem, "personalities" who don't get along with each other (or in a few cases, much of anyone), or who consciously or unconsciously project attitudes that can, one way or another, suck the life out of a discussion like some fort of Fun Vampire.
In addition, gamer psychology is frequently driven by exactly the same thing that drives most other interests: new things. Unfortunately, two of the three active editions of Traveller have reached or are approaching release topic saturation, while the third is undergoing extensive revision. This is not a recipe for frequent releases. Adding to this is the strong edition loyalty/disdain that runs through Traveller fandom and leads many to simply ignore entire editions, causing the new releases that spur broad discussion to drop even further in number and frequency.
Another factor, not unique to Traveller, is the bystander/customer effect. The TML coined the phrase "Black Hole of Quality", as the only response to a good post with interesting ideas was often the sound of it being saved to several hundred hard drives. This community (and I use the term guardedly) thrives on sharing, but the difference between productive sharing and disinterest is nearly impossible to discern. It doesn't help that some of the first responses to something sufficiently interesting are going to be from those Fun Vampires I mentioned above.
(Naming names is, sadly, not productive, and doesn't enjoy the same protection as potential libel in the real world does. Ie. it isn't libel if the statements are true, but it is *always* a "personal attack". In most cases, the Fun Vampires see no issues with their own behavior but will cheerfully campaign to have anyone who calls them on it ejected. Human Nature.)
The one name I will name is Yahoo Groups. They seem dead set on reducing their bandwidth through intrusive and pointless interface changes, policy shifts, and service reductions. In the case of the Traveller groups hosted there it seems to be working.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I check the forum anywhere from once a day to several times a day, but I will only make comments on threads that I have an interest in, and on some threads, where I have already posted, I believe that I have expressed my views and will not add more. Some visits do not result in any posts, and some visits have me posting like mad, and some times, I do not have enough time to adequately post my thoughts or comments.
As for the various editions, I try to focus on Classic Traveller, but I do have Mongoose, and really need to go through that more, and keep thinking that maybe I will get Traveller 5 as a reference tool. I am not a fan of MegaTraveller, as anyone can see from some of my posts there, nor of Traveller New Era (which I do have) or Marc's Traveller, which I have as well. If I do not know it or have any good to say, except maybe complaining about lack of correlation to the Real World if a design sequence starts with Tech Level 4 or so, I will not comment.
However, clearly new comments and threads do trigger an initial wave of responses, and some threads keep on going. I think that new threads are the fastest way to trigger more forum activity.
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
As long as the search function works. We have solid gold hiding in older posts, a natural side effect of this forum being over a decade old.
There are 5-6 different Traveller communities on Google Plus.
Oh, and BG: you're being paranoid - there's been no major slowdown. I'm still seeing over 20 threads with new posts each day. The big posting days are friday and saturday.
What are the names of the Traveller groups on Google +?
The only one I've seen there is called "Traveller" but I've not seen a post there since last year.
Communities Search Results
traveller RPG
Traveller RPG
128 members0 posts
Traveller
1,048 members2,113 posts
Science Fiction RPGs
18 members0 posts
Classic Traveller
129 members272 posts
Dublin Role Players (Trad)
38 members92 posts
and a couple more that are folders within various other groups, especially old-school RPGing...
And then, the personal posts of several traveller notables... Zho.berka.com has a G+ page, for example, and a christmas subsector.
I see ebbs and flows here, and it's a bit frustrating at times, but I can't say I've seen any pattern related to you. Primary factor seems to be content: some topics seem to get everyone excited and contributing, others seem to go over like lead balloons - and its hard to tell which topics will fly and which ones thud. Secondary factor seems to be a vaguely weekly variation, but it's hard to discern because if there isn't a hot topic running, the place can be a bit dead even when it's usually active, with most of the folk just lurking.
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