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Proto-Traveller

Perhaps the 'southeast' half of Gvurrdon can be Vargr, and the 'northwest' half can be Consulate. Thus the rest of the Consulate can be coreward.

Having Corridor is OK, as long as the system count is kept down by making the rifts large.
 
I've bought the FFE short adventures reprints just for the adventure with the Corridor sector.

Someone on CotI must have the original Memory Alpha, surely...
 
Alanb writes:
By the way, didn't the First Imperium consist of about 70 systems, centred on Capella?
YES! Thats in the original Imperium game. I suppose one could do a prototraveller universe with just one sector if you used that reference. Thats all it would take. 2 subsectors covering Terra/Gashidda area, 2-3 subsectors covering the rest of the empire. Call that one MICRO-ProtoTraveller. ;)
 
Originally posted by plop101:
YES! Thats in the original Imperium game. I suppose one could do a prototraveller universe with just one sector if you used that reference. Thats all it would take. 2 subsectors covering Terra/Gashidda area, 2-3 subsectors covering the rest of the empire. Call that one MICRO-ProtoTraveller. ;) [/QB]
You could expand it by adding the Dark Nebula maps.

The real problem with the 70 world Ziru Sirka is that Capella is right at the edge of the Solomani Rim. Presumably a fair bit of the ZS is in the sector to rimward of the Solomani Rim, which we have no canonical mapping for.

Unfortunately, locating the ZS in the Solomani Rim would require the sector to be renamed. It certainly wouldn't be at the rimward extreme of the Imperium.

On the other hand, if you look at a map of the SR, there is a rift of sorts between Terra and Capella. Basically, there are only a few places where a J2 ship can cross the "rift" without jumping into empty hexes. Is it possible that the "rift" whose crossing point Capital controls is only three parsecs wide?

If J3+ merchant vessels are comparatively rare and expensive, the crossing point(s) could be of considerable economic significance. Sure, naval ships could cross anywhere, but the money flows through Capital's coffers.

Hmm. Actually, I like this. It has a kind of geeky charm, being based on an ancient and obscure reference.

Bolting on the Spinward Marches, the Outrim Void and the Judges' Guild sectors should still be possible, assuming that the Solomani expanded out beyond the Ziru Sirka's territory.

The main drama is the need to rename the Solomani Rim and (probably) Aldebaran sectors. The SR probably becomes Core sector, and Vland becomes Capital, sometime during the Rule of Man.

Vland, incidentally, is probably somewhere in the Near Bootes cluster. It wouldn't be Capella itself.

Now, what about the Vegans?
 
My personal Pseudo-ProtoTraveller:

1) Keep Spinward Marches and Adventures 1-4 more-or-less as is.
2) Book 2 Ships only... with Ken Pick/Sigg/Oz elaborations....
3) Hopefully a Sigg style Corridor connecting to 'rift' Core per the old Library Data.
4) Keep the Zhodani, but delete most other Traveller aliens/races.
5) Delete the Intersetellar wars, the Rim War, Solomani Racism, and maybe even ditch the Rim altogether.
6) Human origins are a mystery to the averge Joe. The idea that people may have evolved on a single planet before colonizing the galaxy would be met with a great deal of skepticism by most people.
7) The Imperium is surrounded by Pocket Empires, 'Wilds,' and client states consisting of a bewildering melting pot of aliens. Most people assume that there's some sort of civilisation throughout the Galaxy, but most people know only of their local Sector and their neighboring Sectors.
8) Something bad happened thousands of years ago, but the details are fuzzy. Most people are too busy rebuilding to care about the details.
9) The Imperium and the Zhodani are the heavyweights in this neighborhood. Other heavyweights may be added on and as they are needed.
10) The players do not know if this set in our past or our future.
 
Yes... deleting the Vargr and the Aslan free up a lot of breathing room for the referee to add his own stuff. Gotta keep the Hivers and Droyne for sure, though.


Here's another side question:

Shadows seems to state that the ancients lived in an Insidious atmosphere. Other sources seem to contradict this.

Am I misreading something here, or did a retconn on this occur at some point?
 
Were the aliens in Shadows descendents of the Ancients ;)

Or are they a bio-engineered servitor race - much like the Droyne were engineered from the Chirpers
file_23.gif

(note to fellow canonmongers - the latter is conjecture on my part for purposes of proto-Traveller ;) )
 
Aren't the Droyne the Ancients? If there is any race of which I would dispose, it is the Droyne. Sorry, but they peg my silliness meter for some reason.

And, why get rid of the Aslan? Fighting cats are a staple of good sci-fi! (Kzin from ST, the ones from Cherryh, etc.)
 
You've just given two good reasons to get rid of the Aslan - too clichéd ;)

As to the Droyne being the Ancients - nope, just a bio-engineered servitor race (for proto-Traveller anyway ;) ).
Which allows referees to bring the mystery back to the Ancients and dump that silly Grandfather business... ;)
file_23.gif
 
Grandfather?

What a charlatan!


Definitely: for it to be old school Traveller... there has to be this gigantic mystery overarching everything.

The players are playing for information about it.
 
If I were going to keep the K'Kree (and I would) I would change their psychology enough to make them a serious threat: as they are they just can't be a real danger to other races because of their extreme claustrophobia and need for company.

And I like the Aslan. I could live without the Vargr, though.
 
Originally posted by Jeffr0:
My personal Pseudo-ProtoTraveller:

...
2) Book 2 Ships only... with Ken Pick/Sigg/Oz elaborations....
...
What to do for space combat with these ships?

This is the most problematic thing on the deck, IMHO.

My first insinct says to use Mayday as the base... with Book 2's Computer rules in all their glory or abstracting computers out altogether per Mayday and/or Ken Pick's sensor rule shortcut.

With these two options as the foundation... what are the least number of modifications to Mayday we need to get a sane and playable combat system?
 
LBB2 with bits from Mayday to fill in the gaps - I like the CT computer program element of ship combat.
As for sensors... I designed a system based on CT, Striker and T2300's Star Cruiser game.
It's too complicated and needs simplifying, plus it uses too much that isn't in the basic game.

I'd probably go back to something much simpler...
 
Why not include only those Aliens that were released/detailed before Atlas of the Imperium? That way, you're being consistent with the sector data.

Also, at what point would JTAS articles no longer apply?

A few more questions for the group,
Flynn
 
I dislike the computer element from Bk2...

And K'Kree, Aslan, and Vargr all appear in the same timeframe.

The K'Kree are dangerous, but doing them without high guard makes them completely nutted. At 25Td per adult, and 2-6 adults per crewstation... A K'Kree tramp was 1000 tons... due to the minimum number of individuals aboard...

Zhodani, Aslan, Droyne, and Vargr all have some form of in-print existance early on.
 
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