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[BillDowns]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
I know Mal gets mad when I try to "save traveller" but in my mind, it needs some saving. Gaming in general needs some saving.

From several things I have read on other RPG forums, I get the idea that sales keep dropping. And, the mere existence of d20 points out that without a contributing fan base, any RPG will ultimately fail, even Traveller. So, things like a fanzine, player-written scenarios, etc are the ONLY way a game is ultimately going to survive.

Good on ya, mate, to the Baron, because without those kinds of efforts, Traveller is doomed.

IMHO

 

[BillDowns]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
I know Mal gets mad when I try to "save traveller" but in my mind, it needs some saving. Gaming in general needs some saving.

From several things I have read on other RPG forums, I get the idea that sales keep dropping. And, the mere existence of d20 points out that without a contributing fan base, any RPG will ultimately fail, even Traveller. So, things like a fanzine, player-written scenarios, etc are the ONLY way a game is ultimately going to survive.

Good on ya, mate, to the Baron, because without those kinds of efforts, Traveller is doomed.

IMHO

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Thanks, Lord Bill!

It is savable, but there needs to be a modernizaztion Push. It needs to adapt as a medium to current technology. There is a post on this board called "should software come with T5" or something, and I say yes. All of the repetitive fun and game killing tedium of the many tables may be better served by programs. The question is not should it, but what sort of software.

Also considering that there are legions of fans and non fans that do all the stuff necessary but alone. For example, I use a chat program called Trillian, which plexes all chat programs (except gmails, grr!) into one console. Thing is, there are scads of people that make "skins" for this thing. There are Spy Kids 2 skins, Brokeback Mountain Skins, I ask, Lords, where is my Traveller skin? It seems as if at times, there is a push to ride Pen and Paper games into the 22nd century, and it will not happen when we are on the verge of not having books. Trav should go multimedia, or go extinct.

Kids today and thier Grand Theft Auto simply do not want to sit around and do math for fun. We must accept it as a fact and adapt.

The future I think is not in MMPORGs or what not. It is returning Gaming to a social activity for those that like it. Nothing beats the fun of a good Face to Face Game. That will be there even if there were no game companies.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Thanks, Lord Bill!

It is savable, but there needs to be a modernizaztion Push. It needs to adapt as a medium to current technology. There is a post on this board called "should software come with T5" or something, and I say yes. All of the repetitive fun and game killing tedium of the many tables may be better served by programs. The question is not should it, but what sort of software.

Also considering that there are legions of fans and non fans that do all the stuff necessary but alone. For example, I use a chat program called Trillian, which plexes all chat programs (except gmails, grr!) into one console. Thing is, there are scads of people that make "skins" for this thing. There are Spy Kids 2 skins, Brokeback Mountain Skins, I ask, Lords, where is my Traveller skin? It seems as if at times, there is a push to ride Pen and Paper games into the 22nd century, and it will not happen when we are on the verge of not having books. Trav should go multimedia, or go extinct.

Kids today and thier Grand Theft Auto simply do not want to sit around and do math for fun. We must accept it as a fact and adapt.

The future I think is not in MMPORGs or what not. It is returning Gaming to a social activity for those that like it. Nothing beats the fun of a good Face to Face Game. That will be there even if there were no game companies.

 

[BillDowns]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
Thanks, Lord Bill!

And after all I said over on the Nobility thread

The future I think is not in MMPORGs or what not. It is returning Gaming to a social activity for those that like it. Nothing beats the fun of a good Face to Face Game. That will be there even if there were no game companies.

I needed to rearrange your post

Traveller and other RPGs are not mainstream games and I doubt they ever will be. So to increase participation, software is an absolute must in today's society.

It is savable, but there needs to be a modernizaztion Push. It needs to adapt as a medium to current technology. There is a post on this board called "should software come with T5" or something, and I say yes. All of the repetitive fun and game killing tedium of the many tables may be better served by programs. The question is not should it, but what sort of software.

As I said earlier, RPGs are not mainstream games, so players, especially those in lower population areas - like my little portion of Texas - will have to seek players elsewhere. That means the internet and something like Grip.

The MMORPGs are too much jungle from what I can tell, but limited to a few players with a ref, all online? That just might appeal to younger players - not 12 year-olds, but 18 year-olds.

That rather sums up my impressions of RPGs, anyway. I just enjoy the discussions here and in coding my own playing aids.

 

[BillDowns]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
Thanks, Lord Bill!

And after all I said over on the Nobility thread

The future I think is not in MMPORGs or what not. It is returning Gaming to a social activity for those that like it. Nothing beats the fun of a good Face to Face Game. That will be there even if there were no game companies.

I needed to rearrange your post

Traveller and other RPGs are not mainstream games and I doubt they ever will be. So to increase participation, software is an absolute must in today's society.

It is savable, but there needs to be a modernizaztion Push. It needs to adapt as a medium to current technology. There is a post on this board called "should software come with T5" or something, and I say yes. All of the repetitive fun and game killing tedium of the many tables may be better served by programs. The question is not should it, but what sort of software.

As I said earlier, RPGs are not mainstream games, so players, especially those in lower population areas - like my little portion of Texas - will have to seek players elsewhere. That means the internet and something like Grip.

The MMORPGs are too much jungle from what I can tell, but limited to a few players with a ref, all online? That just might appeal to younger players - not 12 year-olds, but 18 year-olds.

That rather sums up my impressions of RPGs, anyway. I just enjoy the discussions here and in coding my own playing aids.

 

[Berg]

Originally posted by BillDowns:
As I said earlier, RPGs are not mainstream games, so players, especially those in lower population areas - like my little portion of Texas - will have to seek players elsewhere. That means the internet and something like GRiP

Come one, come all

 

[Berg]

Originally posted by BillDowns:
As I said earlier, RPGs are not mainstream games, so players, especially those in lower population areas - like my little portion of Texas - will have to seek players elsewhere. That means the internet and something like GRiP

Come one, come all

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

That could also mean a German Version or a Russian, Spanish, Italian, or a Chinese Version. The more sussinct and direct the material is presented, the easier that is possible.

There are huge untouched Science Fiction Markets in South America, Spain, Poland, all over the place. I will not say it would be easy to do such a thing, but with the web it is certainly a LOT easier in many ways. India has a skyrocketing overall market, as does Taiwan. There are a lot of people there...

I've seen German Traveller stuff and Japanese Traveller Stuff before, but who are these people that translated it, and where are they now?

The problem I have is seeing things like grip which sort of charge you for stuff that could easily be done for free. I know I am not understanding it right, so pardon me.

My point is, we should not expect ppl to shell out for stuff they can do on thier own, unless there is a clear reason behind it. Example, I will not pay for a Cartography program when I know how to use Adobe Illustrator. I do not think I would need to pay into a server based game setup, when there are dozens of free options to transmit data, images, video, and sound over the web in half a second.

What I propose is all working towards a good agreeable standard of presentation in our own areas we like to work in. If you like doing ships, don't bother doing an offshoot Yahoo group or something, do it here, where everyone can see it and be encouraged by it to step up.

(and I wax metaphysical here perhaps)
It takes a special sort of person to be into Traveller, and by which I do not mean crash helmet special (well, in most cases

).

I mean a lot of you guys beyond being overall cool, and of a like mind to me, are also flippin geniuses! I know it can be as hard as herding scallops to get geniuses to work in concert, but it should also have a modicum of fun involved. It is a sort of sub-culture, after all...

Refocused, I am convinced that Trav would be unstoppable, and should be.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

That could also mean a German Version or a Russian, Spanish, Italian, or a Chinese Version. The more sussinct and direct the material is presented, the easier that is possible.

There are huge untouched Science Fiction Markets in South America, Spain, Poland, all over the place. I will not say it would be easy to do such a thing, but with the web it is certainly a LOT easier in many ways. India has a skyrocketing overall market, as does Taiwan. There are a lot of people there...

I've seen German Traveller stuff and Japanese Traveller Stuff before, but who are these people that translated it, and where are they now?

The problem I have is seeing things like grip which sort of charge you for stuff that could easily be done for free. I know I am not understanding it right, so pardon me.

My point is, we should not expect ppl to shell out for stuff they can do on thier own, unless there is a clear reason behind it. Example, I will not pay for a Cartography program when I know how to use Adobe Illustrator. I do not think I would need to pay into a server based game setup, when there are dozens of free options to transmit data, images, video, and sound over the web in half a second.

What I propose is all working towards a good agreeable standard of presentation in our own areas we like to work in. If you like doing ships, don't bother doing an offshoot Yahoo group or something, do it here, where everyone can see it and be encouraged by it to step up.

(and I wax metaphysical here perhaps)
It takes a special sort of person to be into Traveller, and by which I do not mean crash helmet special (well, in most cases

).

I mean a lot of you guys beyond being overall cool, and of a like mind to me, are also flippin geniuses! I know it can be as hard as herding scallops to get geniuses to work in concert, but it should also have a modicum of fun involved. It is a sort of sub-culture, after all...

Refocused, I am convinced that Trav would be unstoppable, and should be.

 

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
I've seen German Traveller stuff and Japanese Traveller Stuff before, but who are these people that translated it, and where are they now?

An interesting point. RuneQuest is a system which has been dead (officially or unofficialy) more than it has been alive, yet there is tremendous support for it in foreign languages - I have come across German, Swedish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Spanish fan websites. If something like RQ can translate so well across cultures, why hasn't Traveller?

Now, if Madarin Dude were to accidentally leave a couple of LBBs lying around a printer's office in Wuhan, there might be an explosion of Far Eastern fanbase numbers. Mind, you, it wouldn't do much for FFE's profit margin ...

 

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
I've seen German Traveller stuff and Japanese Traveller Stuff before, but who are these people that translated it, and where are they now?

An interesting point. RuneQuest is a system which has been dead (officially or unofficialy) more than it has been alive, yet there is tremendous support for it in foreign languages - I have come across German, Swedish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Spanish fan websites. If something like RQ can translate so well across cultures, why hasn't Traveller?

Now, if Madarin Dude were to accidentally leave a couple of LBBs lying around a printer's office in Wuhan, there might be an explosion of Far Eastern fanbase numbers. Mind, you, it wouldn't do much for FFE's profit margin ...

 

[kafka47]

Part of the problem is the translation of Traveller into different cultural contexts. It is fine for a most of Western Europe who have seen Star Wars & Star Trek to relate enough to longer classical Golden Age of Science Fiction but there are societies that have never been exposed to that tradition.

When I first tried to run Traveller in the Czech Republic, I found that it was next to impossible as most people did not know some of the basic science let alone the fiction that informed Traveller. I had to take a massive step back and run 2300 (with Traveller rules) in Verne type universe taking us back to heroic SF and pretty soft with lots of breathable atmospheres but cultures more familiar to them. Eventually, I got them up to speed but only in 2300 milieux. Traveller with all its diversity cannot cross boundaries that well.

 

[kafka47]

Part of the problem is the translation of Traveller into different cultural contexts. It is fine for a most of Western Europe who have seen Star Wars & Star Trek to relate enough to longer classical Golden Age of Science Fiction but there are societies that have never been exposed to that tradition.

When I first tried to run Traveller in the Czech Republic, I found that it was next to impossible as most people did not know some of the basic science let alone the fiction that informed Traveller. I had to take a massive step back and run 2300 (with Traveller rules) in Verne type universe taking us back to heroic SF and pretty soft with lots of breathable atmospheres but cultures more familiar to them. Eventually, I got them up to speed but only in 2300 milieux. Traveller with all its diversity cannot cross boundaries that well.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I think if we keep the concepts clear, the translation and meaning will go in to. Many only have a shaky grasp on science. Traveller should be a catalyst for interest in science.

I may be mistaken, as I know little of it, but 2300 has a concept that may be a little to nationalistic.

I suggest a future is presented not in the Roddenberry Vein where Everyone Gets Along, but in a new Vein of "Trying to Get Along is the Adventure". Everyone's different, with different motives. How do they mesh? Do they conflict?

Do you have an example of a cultural context that would be hard to universalize? Lack of Sci knowledge can be a deterrent, but gambling knowledge serves the rpg aspect of it.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I think if we keep the concepts clear, the translation and meaning will go in to. Many only have a shaky grasp on science. Traveller should be a catalyst for interest in science.

I may be mistaken, as I know little of it, but 2300 has a concept that may be a little to nationalistic.

I suggest a future is presented not in the Roddenberry Vein where Everyone Gets Along, but in a new Vein of "Trying to Get Along is the Adventure". Everyone's different, with different motives. How do they mesh? Do they conflict?

Do you have an example of a cultural context that would be hard to universalize? Lack of Sci knowledge can be a deterrent, but gambling knowledge serves the rpg aspect of it.

 

[aramis]

Some of the Japanese Traveller sites are pretty to look at... and some have some really good MT designs.

 

[aramis]

Some of the Japanese Traveller sites are pretty to look at... and some have some really good MT designs.