TNE novels - any good?
- Thread starter mhensley
- Start date
mbrinkhues
SOC-14 1K
Depends on the price and your concept of good books. I have found them readabel along the lines of the early Battletech novels and would definitly buy the last book if it ever came out.
The books are resonably "self standing" so you can read part 2 without part 1 and both work without part 3 (That IIRC was never published) The story is part of TNE, actually advancing the storyline towards the conflict with the Empire of Solee.
Characters are a bit two-dimensional and run along the clichee lines set by the rulesbook including the permanent use of the brain-dead tac-codes. Unlike the DnD movie you don't see where the character made his saving throw but the author captured the rules quite resonably.
Classical "action series" stuff with the good guys winning in the end.
The books are resonably "self standing" so you can read part 2 without part 1 and both work without part 3 (That IIRC was never published) The story is part of TNE, actually advancing the storyline towards the conflict with the Empire of Solee.
Characters are a bit two-dimensional and run along the clichee lines set by the rulesbook including the permanent use of the brain-dead tac-codes. Unlike the DnD movie you don't see where the character made his saving throw but the author captured the rules quite resonably.
Classical "action series" stuff with the good guys winning in the end.
Terry McInnes
SOC-7
At the risk of appearing too self-serving, you might want to take a look at A Long Way Home available through ComStar Games/Avenger Enterprises. Here's the URL:
http://www.comstar-games.com/csg-store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_26&products_id=84
http://www.comstar-games.com/csg-store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_26&products_id=84
mbrinkhues
SOC-14 1K
Was that storyline once begun in a TNE related fanzine? Sounds somewhat familiar. If yes, I'll have to get that thing, the initial chapter was nice.
mbrinkhues
SOC-14 1K
About the same could be said about the characters in that 3-part book about a bunch of Thiefs, Gluttons, Hippies and Mercenaries wandering around while trying to destroy a priceless artifact. Yet that books even got filmed...
While not Traveller in the strictest sense Terrence "Terry" McInnes and Mark "Geo" Gelinas' Congressional Space novel is going to be published over at ComStar. I think it can easily be ported into TNE universe.
What ever happened to the guy Marc hired to write the 3rd book that they had commissioned for Brunette. I have always lamented that we never really made our presence known in the Science Fiction writers community, as what could be cooler than give top 20 SF writers the basic mechanics of Traveller and get them to write short stories.
Agreed, MJD, novels are fantastic and I can only hope that he would write more but I figure much of what he has been told has been revealed in the 1248 books. So, I can only encourage him to back in time to write some filler stories, I especially would like to see his take on the CT, as I loved Grand Fleet.
What ever happened to the guy Marc hired to write the 3rd book that they had commissioned for Brunette. I have always lamented that we never really made our presence known in the Science Fiction writers community, as what could be cooler than give top 20 SF writers the basic mechanics of Traveller and get them to write short stories.
Agreed, MJD, novels are fantastic and I can only hope that he would write more but I figure much of what he has been told has been revealed in the 1248 books. So, I can only encourage him to back in time to write some filler stories, I especially would like to see his take on the CT, as I loved Grand Fleet.
Terry McInnes
SOC-7
A Long Way Home
"Was that storyline once begun in a TNE related fanzine? Sounds somewhat familiar. If yes, I'll have to get that thing, the initial chapter was nice."
Yes, A Long Way Home is the same story. I too have forgotten the name of the fanzine where we had begun serializing the story until the 'zine died. It is complete and available now on ComStar Games.
ALWH originated in the TNE universe but was later ported into my own Congressional Space backstory and universe. When MJD at Avenger Enterprises picked it up recently, I dug up and polished the original TNE version. That is what is available for sale, right now, today, on ComStar.
Any review comments from readers would be most welcome. BTW, there is a half-written sequel waiting in the wings, but I need positive feedback and book sales to make that appear. In fact, my long range story arc supports a trilogy.
"Was that storyline once begun in a TNE related fanzine? Sounds somewhat familiar. If yes, I'll have to get that thing, the initial chapter was nice."
Yes, A Long Way Home is the same story. I too have forgotten the name of the fanzine where we had begun serializing the story until the 'zine died. It is complete and available now on ComStar Games.
ALWH originated in the TNE universe but was later ported into my own Congressional Space backstory and universe. When MJD at Avenger Enterprises picked it up recently, I dug up and polished the original TNE version. That is what is available for sale, right now, today, on ComStar.
Any review comments from readers would be most welcome. BTW, there is a half-written sequel waiting in the wings, but I need positive feedback and book sales to make that appear. In fact, my long range story arc supports a trilogy.
It depends how much they're charging, and how forgiving you are. Full price? No way.
I bought the first one, started reading with a sense of eagerness that rapidly sublimated away. Someone tried to give me the second, free of charge, and I refused it.
It had some interesting colour touches, and if you try you can get some ideas for your own campaign. But to call the characterization "two-dimensional" is, in my never-humble opinion, generous.
Some seemed to have liked it - but unless it is dirt cheap, I'd suggest you spend your money elsewhere.
I bought the first one, started reading with a sense of eagerness that rapidly sublimated away. Someone tried to give me the second, free of charge, and I refused it.
It had some interesting colour touches, and if you try you can get some ideas for your own campaign. But to call the characterization "two-dimensional" is, in my never-humble opinion, generous.
Some seemed to have liked it - but unless it is dirt cheap, I'd suggest you spend your money elsewhere.
Two points:
1) Just because a book is made into a movie is no guarantee of the quality of the source material.
2) Even if Tolkien's characters lack depth, a point I would dispute, they are bolstered by the highly detailed setting and mythology of the LOTR series. The two authors simply aren't comparable.
chshrkt
SOC-12
Hmm, I have been wracking my brain trying to figure this one out...
I hope it is not actually blazingly obvious, my brain is still a bit foggy from getting up early to take my wife to the starport... I mean airport...
and for Avery's take on Trav Fiction and some of the authors (not just TNE)
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=1625
http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=1625
mbrinkhues
SOC-14 1K
Hmm, I have been wracking my brain trying to figure this one out...
I hope it is not actually blazingly obvious, my brain is still a bit foggy from getting up early to take my wife to the starport... I mean airport...
Lord of the Rings. I HATE Tolkien-style Fantasy. Gimme Conan but NO Hobbits/Elves/Dwarfs!
Any Traveller novel would be a fine line between Fantasy and Hard Science Fiction, as people love to populate their universe with aliens or they don't. Once you start making a cosmopolitian universe, you begin to stray towards fantasy. But, if you go too hard, you get some people saying where are my aliens (there are only frakin' animals on this world)? This has always been a problem with Traveller games, therefore, I would suggest not so much a series of novels but short stories that once ComStar suggested but I have yet to hear any follow-up on. This way the fantasy types can get their stories told and the Hard SF types can be satisfied too.
Terry McInnes
SOC-7
Shared Universe
Maybe something like the War World shared universe set of short stories and novellas? Also, the Traveller universe certainly has its share of aliens, and I have worked two of them (Hivers and Ithklur) into my novel A Long Way Home. In fact, they play a critical part in the plot resolution.
Getting back to the first topic, I sure would be willing to participate in shared-universe novel with other writers. We would all need to agree on an overall story arc to get this going, then decide who is going to write about what piece of the arc.
Maybe something like the War World shared universe set of short stories and novellas? Also, the Traveller universe certainly has its share of aliens, and I have worked two of them (Hivers and Ithklur) into my novel A Long Way Home. In fact, they play a critical part in the plot resolution.
Getting back to the first topic, I sure would be willing to participate in shared-universe novel with other writers. We would all need to agree on an overall story arc to get this going, then decide who is going to write about what piece of the arc.
The Missing Third Novel- The Backwards Mask
Was reading and found this thread. Thought I offer up what I've found if this has not come up allready.
Paul Brunette wrote the TNE Novels which were published by GDW:
The Death of Wisdom
and
To Dream of Chaos
The third novel in this series, The Backwards Mask was posted by the author on FanFiction.Net by the author, and can be accessed at:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2740868/1/The_Backwards_Mask
For those interested in completion, enjoy
Was reading and found this thread. Thought I offer up what I've found if this has not come up allready.
Paul Brunette wrote the TNE Novels which were published by GDW:
The Death of Wisdom
and
To Dream of Chaos
The third novel in this series, The Backwards Mask was posted by the author on FanFiction.Net by the author, and can be accessed at:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2740868/1/The_Backwards_Mask
For those interested in completion, enjoy
Last edited:
jfetters
SOC-14 1K
Was reading and found this thread. Thought I offer up what I've found if this has not come up allready.
Paul Brunette wrote the TNE Novels which were published by GDW:
The Death of Wisdom
and
To Dream of Chaos
The third novel in this series, The Backwards Mask was posted by the author on FanFiction.Net by the author, and can be accessed at:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2740868/1/The_Backwards_Mask
For those interested in completion, enjoy
That's interesting, considering this thread.
Hhhmmmm.
That is an interesting thread and it would be nice to see a "published" version. I tend not to discount the Paul Brunette version though- it is logical that PB would have had a manuscript for the 3rd of the series, and the author is not claiming it is anything other than the manuscript.
Ought to make for interesting reading at any rate.
That is an interesting thread and it would be nice to see a "published" version. I tend not to discount the Paul Brunette version though- it is logical that PB would have had a manuscript for the 3rd of the series, and the author is not claiming it is anything other than the manuscript.
Ought to make for interesting reading at any rate.
