Captain Tylor
SOC-10
Hello, all. First time poster - long time lurker. Started playing Traveller back in 1980 and though I haven't played much in recent years, I still keep current.
I'm in need of some gaming advice and I'm interested in some diverse input. I'm trying to come up with a historical background for a science fiction universe I'm detailing for use with another system (No flames, please!). It will take place in our future and play will begin at about the time when interstellar space travel becomes as commonplace as intercontinental air travel was in the early 1960's.
What I'm beating my head against the wall trying to do is come up with a timeline of significant events that transpire between now and then. I want to be able to randomly generate things such as countries and organizations rising to power, countries declining in influence, the arrival of new technologies, and so forth based upon extrapolations of current trends.
You may be asking me at this point "Why don't you just play 2300AD?". I've thought of that and I'm still trying to decide if that's the direction in which I want to go. I like 2300 and with a few tweaks, its timeline could be fixed to represent changes that have occured in real history since 1988. But I'd really like to have a universe of my own in which to play. (I'm also not a huge fan of 2300's 7.7 LY distance limits and discharging stutterwarp drives in a gravity well, but that's another matter.) I've also been considering taking the timeline from Dream Pod 9's "Jovian Chronicles" and advancing it a couple more centuries into the future. I just can't make up my mind.
My latest attempt at a timeline involves rolling random events from a book called "Central Casting: Heroes of Tomorrow" and applying those events to countries and organizations rather than player characters. I've also considered using something like "Pocket Empires" to determine the outcomes of such things as wars and economic fluctuations. The trouble with both of these is that they will take a LLOONNGG time to execute.
Has anybody else tried to "game out" a background history just to see where the chips fall? I'd appreciate any kind of constructive input.
(Disclaimer: I'm not a professional game designer nor do I have any aspirations to be one. This is just for the benefit of myself and my game group, so don't fret about seeing your ideas ending up on a game store shelf. I'm not looking for specific events, rather methods for determining those events.)
[This message has been edited by Captain Tylor (edited 28 August 2001).]
I'm in need of some gaming advice and I'm interested in some diverse input. I'm trying to come up with a historical background for a science fiction universe I'm detailing for use with another system (No flames, please!). It will take place in our future and play will begin at about the time when interstellar space travel becomes as commonplace as intercontinental air travel was in the early 1960's.
What I'm beating my head against the wall trying to do is come up with a timeline of significant events that transpire between now and then. I want to be able to randomly generate things such as countries and organizations rising to power, countries declining in influence, the arrival of new technologies, and so forth based upon extrapolations of current trends.
You may be asking me at this point "Why don't you just play 2300AD?". I've thought of that and I'm still trying to decide if that's the direction in which I want to go. I like 2300 and with a few tweaks, its timeline could be fixed to represent changes that have occured in real history since 1988. But I'd really like to have a universe of my own in which to play. (I'm also not a huge fan of 2300's 7.7 LY distance limits and discharging stutterwarp drives in a gravity well, but that's another matter.) I've also been considering taking the timeline from Dream Pod 9's "Jovian Chronicles" and advancing it a couple more centuries into the future. I just can't make up my mind.
My latest attempt at a timeline involves rolling random events from a book called "Central Casting: Heroes of Tomorrow" and applying those events to countries and organizations rather than player characters. I've also considered using something like "Pocket Empires" to determine the outcomes of such things as wars and economic fluctuations. The trouble with both of these is that they will take a LLOONNGG time to execute.
Has anybody else tried to "game out" a background history just to see where the chips fall? I'd appreciate any kind of constructive input.
(Disclaimer: I'm not a professional game designer nor do I have any aspirations to be one. This is just for the benefit of myself and my game group, so don't fret about seeing your ideas ending up on a game store shelf. I'm not looking for specific events, rather methods for determining those events.)
[This message has been edited by Captain Tylor (edited 28 August 2001).]