OTU Only: OTU musings & ramblings

[Otto Harkaman]

I have been going over the old Imperium board game lately using a pdf I had purchased from RPGdrivethru.

When I was young I had owned a "Conflict Games" copy of Imperium and I have been thinking about its contents. There was no five page back history of the Imperium connecting it to the Traveller universe. Then it hit me from the little bits I have read from here and there. So the whole OT universe started from the Conflict Games' Imperium? Because it was being played at the GDW offices in 1977 and they decided they needed a background for Traveller?

Essentially the start of the OTU was from the game design parameters that "Conflict Games" used to flesh out their interstellar board game "Imperium"?

 

[Otto Harkaman]

I've also been picking away at Fifth Frontier War but some of the history of the Spinward Marches started to strike me as game campaigns in Imperium. Did the GDW developers play a version of Imperium representing the Spinward Marches? The constant history of successful governors attacking and overthrowing the Emperor sounds like something from Imperium.

 

[zonk]

So the whole OT universe started from the Conflict Games' Imperium? Because it was being played at the GDW offices in 1977 and they decided they needed a background for Traveller?

Essentially the start of the OTU was from the game design parameters that "Conflict Games" used to flesh out their interstellar board game "Imperium"?

I think not. GDW designed Imperium, Conflict Games printed it. GDW probably didn't have the ability to do a mounted board then.

This wiki does a good job of discussing it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperium_%28board_game%29

 

[Otto Harkaman]

I think not. GDW designed Imperium, Conflict Games printed it. GDW probably didn't have the ability to do a mounted board then.

This wiki does a good job of discussing it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperium_%28board_game%29

I hadn't thought of GDW not being able to publish a mounted board as to why it was published under Conflict Games. Makes sense.

When Imperium was published in 1977, its scenario was not connected to any other game. GDW published Traveller in the same year, but Traveller was at that point a system for running adventures in a generic science fiction setting, with no established background. However, as the company constructed the Third Imperium as the default setting for Traveller, the situation in Imperium was retconned into the Traveller Imperium's history; it became the First Interstellar War, the first of many wars leading to the overthrow of the Vilani Grand Empire of Stars (Ziru Sirka) by the Terran Confederation and the establishment of the Rule of Man.

I was curious about that creative moment when they were designing the board game and came up with the idea of a vast interstellar empire on our doorstep.

I guess Marc's original map of the Spinward Marches has been published on FFE. That would be fun to look at the original map and pieces of Imperium.

 

[Timerover51]

I still have my copy of Imperium in good shape. I use it to show my game design class what can be done. I picked up a bunch of ship sheets for Star Fleet Battles to use for ship counters so the students can design their own space conflict game.

 

[Otto Harkaman]

I still have my copy of Imperium in good shape. I use it to show my game design class what can be done. I picked up a bunch of ship sheets for Star Fleet Battles to use for ship counters so the students can design their own space conflict game.

That was always my dream to merge Imperium and SFB !

 

[Timerover51]

Well, Star Fleet Battles did add the Kzinti from Larry Niven's Known Space series, which were not in the Star Trek universe, so I am not sure that you could not do that with a bit of work.

 

[aramis]

Well, Star Fleet Battles did add the Kzinti from Larry Niven's Known Space series, which were not in the Star Trek universe, so I am not sure that you could not do that with a bit of work.

Actually, the Kzinti appear in 2 or 3 of the Animated Series episodes. One of which was written by Niven himself. Niven added the Kzin to Star Trek.

 

[Carlobrand]

Actually, the Kzinti appear in 2 or 3 of the Animated Series episodes. One of which was written by Niven himself. Niven added the Kzin to Star Trek.

I remember one of those episodes, and I recall reading the Niven short story on which it was based. The original protagonist was a Puppeteer from his Known Space universe, and the plot revolved around a Tnuctipun stasis box, also a Known Space artifact. The episode was taken pretty well whole cloth from the story, with a Vulcan replacing the Puppeteer but with other plot elements, including the stasis box, its contents and the ancient conflict, borrowed with no change from the original.

Did Niven do that rewrite, or did they simply buy the rights to his original story and then adapt it to their needs?

 

[aramis]

I remember one of those episodes, and I recall reading the Niven short story on which it was based. The original protagonist was a Puppeteer from his Known Space universe, and the plot revolved around a Tnuctipun stasis box, also a Known Space artifact. The episode was taken pretty well whole cloth from the story, with a Vulcan replacing the Puppeteer but with other plot elements, including the stasis box, its contents and the ancient conflict, borrowed with no change from the original.

Did Niven do that rewrite, or did they simply buy the rights to his original story and then adapt it to their needs?

Niven did it. He's discussed it in a couple interviews. Note that Trek Kzin are slightly different from KS Kzin, but VERY close. SFU Kzin are a step removed from both.

 

[Timerover51]

Looking through my garage today while my son was packing stuff up for his move to California, and came across a box with a couple of games I had ordered in 2010 and forgot that I had. One of them is a copy of Imperium still in the original shrink wrap. Trying to decide if I open it or not.

 

[Otto Harkaman]

Looking through my garage today while my son was packing stuff up for his move to California, and came across a box with a couple of games I had ordered in 2010 and forgot that I had. One of them is a copy of Imperium still in the original shrink wrap. Trying to decide if I open it or not.

I might check on ebay first how much a shrink wrapped copy is going for. You can find the rules on board game geek or get a pdf cheap from rpgdrivethru.

 

[Timerover51]

I might check on ebay first how much a shrink wrapped copy is going for. You can find the rules on board game geek or get a pdf cheap from rpgdrivethru.

Hmm, actually, I was trying to decide if I opened it up to show to my game design class, although I do have another copy that I use to show them what a space war game can be.

I will have to check out the possibility of a rules download from Boardgame Geek.

 

[Gallowglacht]

Rip it open and play. Enjoy it. Games should be played. How much difference would selling it really make to you financially? Think of the hassle. Now compare that to the sheer childish glee of ripping off that shrink wrap and popping open that box.


Full disclosure; I am not a rich man. I am however a happy one.

 

[Ran Targas]

Niven did it. He's discussed it in a couple interviews. Note that Trek Kzin are slightly different from KS Kzin, but VERY close. SFU Kzin are a step removed from both.

And they are carried over into Star Trek Online as the Caitians and Ferasans to include a racial divide similar to the Vulcans and Romulans but based on genetic engineering.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Faction

For some reason anthropomorphic cats are fine in ST but still no Vargr; not sure why. I guess Trekkies just aren't dog people.