Agreed - this is why I have been posting in the TNE thread - it is a way to sort out thoughts and ideas. Good luck!
CT Only: TRAVELLER: Out of the Box
- Thread starter creativehum
- Start date
Agreed - this is why I have been posting in the TNE thread - it is a way to sort out thoughts and ideas. Good luck!
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
Hey, everyone, thanks so much for the kind words!
So far it's all been laying broad-stroke foundational work. Next up, I'm going to do some research the British Raj for inspiration. (Wikipedia level stuff. Really easy.) Specifics about the "remote centralized government" and its society are next. And after that, cooking up the general politics I'm looking for in the subsector, and then the subsector map.
Also, upthread I mentioned that I'll be using the space lane table from the 1977 edition of Book 3. It occurred to me that some of you might never have seen it, so here it is.
And here is how it works (from Book 3, 1977, pages 1-2):
You'll notice that space lanes fall off really fast once you're not connected to A or B-class starports. You'll also see that only A and B-class starports have regular shipping lanes to worlds up to three or four parsecs away.
This produces well travelled routes hubbed around these better starports. These will be what the larger ships use.
And it creates a lot of backwater systems off the well-travelled path waiting for a Free Trader to show up with news and goods.
So far it's all been laying broad-stroke foundational work. Next up, I'm going to do some research the British Raj for inspiration. (Wikipedia level stuff. Really easy.) Specifics about the "remote centralized government" and its society are next. And after that, cooking up the general politics I'm looking for in the subsector, and then the subsector map.
Also, upthread I mentioned that I'll be using the space lane table from the 1977 edition of Book 3. It occurred to me that some of you might never have seen it, so here it is.
| World Pair | Jump-1 | Jump-2 | Jump-3 | Jump-4 |
| A-A | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| A-B | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| A-C | 1 | 4 | 6 | — |
| A-D | 1 | 5 | — | — |
| A-E | 2 | — | — | — |
| B-B | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| B-C | 2 | 4 | 6 | — |
| B-D | 3 | 6 | — | — |
| B-E | 4 | — | — | — |
| C-C | 3 | 6 | — | — |
| C-D | 4 | — | — | — |
| C-E | 4 | — | — | — |
| D-D | 4 | — | — | — |
| D-E | 5 | — | — | — |
| E-E | 6 | — | — | — |
And here is how it works (from Book 3, 1977, pages 1-2):
You'll notice that space lanes fall off really fast once you're not connected to A or B-class starports. You'll also see that only A and B-class starports have regular shipping lanes to worlds up to three or four parsecs away.
This produces well travelled routes hubbed around these better starports. These will be what the larger ships use.
And it creates a lot of backwater systems off the well-travelled path waiting for a Free Trader to show up with news and goods.
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The Oz
SOC-14 1K
Something I have found that gives my PCs a reason to work together is to fill in their backstory: who are these people and how do they know each other.
I would use the year-by-year results from the Book 4/5/6/7 character generation and look for overlaps and interactions. Obviously, with only CT chargen you won't be able to have that level of detail, but the basic idea still holds true.
I would use the year-by-year results from the Book 4/5/6/7 character generation and look for overlaps and interactions. Obviously, with only CT chargen you won't be able to have that level of detail, but the basic idea still holds true.
If you are going with the original "trade routes" rather than x-boat routes, then this might also be a place where you could integrate the idea of a "jump rutter" - namely that travelling off the "charted routes" is more difficult and until you have built up a knowledge of the route the Navigation difficulty is higher.
Perhaps give them a decreasing penalty based on the number of times the route has been jumped (make it direction dependent for more fun).
This captures, IMO, that idea of the wilderness and the unknown that can be explored and "tamed" without having to go the full "exploration of unknown space" route.
D.
Perhaps give them a decreasing penalty based on the number of times the route has been jumped (make it direction dependent for more fun).
This captures, IMO, that idea of the wilderness and the unknown that can be explored and "tamed" without having to go the full "exploration of unknown space" route.
D.
salochin999
SOC-13
Yes, I wish they'd kept this in the '81 edition I had. Recently working backwards to something like this table is how I finally managed to reconcile the OTU in my head.
nathanbibb
SOC-8
I don't post here much, but I read the forums almost daily since I signed up. And this thread is one of the most exciting things I've seen in terms of what drew me to Traveller.
I grew up on TSR games in the 80s and 90s, and missed Traveller the first time around. I stopped playing altogether for about 20 years, then recently started looking fondly back on the games of my youth. I started investigating the many games coming out of the "Old School Renaissance", and then I started looking for games from the 70s and 80s that I missed. About a year ago that led me to Traveller. It was both nostalgic and brand new to me, and I have been mildly obsessed with it ever since.
I think what sparked my imagination is exactly what creativehum called out in this thread. The feel of the implied universe, as well as the well laid out ability to generate the entire thing. It was a while before I became more familiar with the OTU, and for whatever reason the "fixedness" of it turned me off.
So I just wanted to say that, while I don't have a ton to contribute as a Traveller noob, I am watching this thread with keen interest.
I grew up on TSR games in the 80s and 90s, and missed Traveller the first time around. I stopped playing altogether for about 20 years, then recently started looking fondly back on the games of my youth. I started investigating the many games coming out of the "Old School Renaissance", and then I started looking for games from the 70s and 80s that I missed. About a year ago that led me to Traveller. It was both nostalgic and brand new to me, and I have been mildly obsessed with it ever since.
I think what sparked my imagination is exactly what creativehum called out in this thread. The feel of the implied universe, as well as the well laid out ability to generate the entire thing. It was a while before I became more familiar with the OTU, and for whatever reason the "fixedness" of it turned me off.
So I just wanted to say that, while I don't have a ton to contribute as a Traveller noob, I am watching this thread with keen interest.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
We used to do this with the LBBs 1-3 back in the day as well. I know that Mongoose has formalized something like this in their rules, but it's always been at hand. It is a good idea!
Here's my thinking about the trade route lanes:
The star systems in the subsector (at least the vast majority of them) have been visited, if not thoroughly explored. The Two Trading companies who have charters from the Remote Centralized Government sent out their scouts looking for the best potential for planets rich for exploitation. They found some and have begun their work. The worlds that didn't seem as valuable at first have fallen by the wayside of attention.
After all, setting up colonial infrastructure to make exploitation of a world is a big deal. The list of things one might have to do include:
- Meet and negotiate with natives
- Make war with natives
- Pit natives against one another
- Build dirtside infrastructure to exploit natural resources
- Built A and B-class space stations to guarantee safe travel of company ships
All of this is a lot of time, effort, and upfront capital before a payoff! When a Trading Co. chooses to invest in one world, it is passing on investing on several others. They can, over time, expand to other worls, but only after money starts coming in from their first efforts or those first efforts fail (which they sometimes do!) and they cut their losses.
So... For a while, in a colonial portion of space, A and B-class space ports are rare. (As noted in a post above, I'll be shifting the starport table around so that A-class ports are rarer and C-class ports are more common.) This means two things: refined fuel for travel is rare and it means less traffic around non-A and B-class starports.
This in turn means several other things, per the rules in Book 2:
- Every time a commercial ship jumps out of system of a C, D, E, or X-starport system, there is a 3% chance of misjumsp and 3% there might be a failure in the Power Plant, Maneuver Drive, or Jump Drive. Given the circumstance, each of these events will range in consequence from at least a costly repair, to loss of the ship, to the death of the entire crew.
- Every time a commercial ship jump into a system of a C, D, E, or X-starport system, there is an approximately 8.5% change of being attacked by pirates.
For myself, I love this stuff. I think this danger in going off the path is exactly the feel Miller wanted for the game. It begs the question, "What sort of person would take these risks?" The answer is, "Travellers -- that's who." (Some of you might think these risks for too great for any person to take. Please note: Human beings and history.)
Now, as for your idea, I do think there's something to be done with it:
1) I'm assuming that by the time PCs show up in the active subsector the star navigation data is generally available, either by theft or generally traded knowledge. On the other hand, having several worlds in the subsector where the data is NOT openly known is very intriguing. It's very risky to travel to such a system (one might jump into a planet if you don't know the orbit, an asteroid filed and so on.), and if the PCs want to go, maybe they have to steal it or get the navigation info for such a world as a reward.
I'm thinking here of the way ship captains and trading companies in centuries past would keep their sea charts a secret, and they were valuable if purchased, stolen, or found. I really like this idea. I'll think on it.
2) I'll probably have a second, neighboring subsector which will have been lightly explored and not yet exploited. Any scouting information will be held close by the Trading Companies. Anyone traveling there without that info will have to make some guess-work to travel safely. The threat of pirates probably won't exist. But there will be other problems. But that's for later! Right now, I'll still have about 40 worlds and lots of potential conflict. No need to have the brain go running off to another subsector yet!
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The Oz
SOC-14 1K
I imagine you've given some thought as to where those pirates are coming from.
Historically, piracy flourished thanks to multiple Remote Centralized Governments using pirates against each other, long communication delays which caused loose control of local governors, and little recordkeeping which allowed for ships, cargoes, and even people to "become lost."
Your setting might need some local independent governments to serve as (unofficial) bases for those pirates.
Historically, piracy flourished thanks to multiple Remote Centralized Governments using pirates against each other, long communication delays which caused loose control of local governors, and little recordkeeping which allowed for ships, cargoes, and even people to "become lost."
Your setting might need some local independent governments to serve as (unofficial) bases for those pirates.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
I assume it will be:
a) The two (or perhaps three) Trading Companies that are in conflict with each other as two who will expand the fastest in the subsector
b) Two or three Noble Houses (major or minor) working to gain political clout or wealth in the subsector, working behind the scenes to back or destroy the efforts of the Trading Companies or their noble rivals.
I've edited post #13 of this thread with a few more details. Among them was this section I added yesterday:
So, already we have at least four to five factions, each with their own agendas, each with sliding loyalties and aggressions.
I haven't gone into detail on the Remote Centralized Government yet (I'm still thinking about it), but it isn't the most stable of places. Or, rather, it certainly seems stable at its core (about a subsector in size) with the Royal family. But I want something with a Cold War-War of the Roses feel. The Centralized Government might be "centralized" -- but it certainly isn't "done" or safe. These are ambitious people, full of pride and entitlement. There have been slights and bloody deeds as the government grew, and though one House is currently in charge, that doesn't mean they always will be.
I think there's enough there to support the piracy -- along with the general riffraff of freelance pirates using undevloped worlds as bases.
Let's not forget the dozen of worlds with population big enough to afford navies capable of bitch-slapping any trading company (unless the company is under the protection of one of those worlds).
Hans
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Reminds me a bit of what I wrote as an intro. to rationalising piracy IMTU - I could post a link to it if I could find it or pm you so as not to clutter your thread. I like your rationale by the way.
I also cribbed an intro to my proto-Traveller Imperium by mashing the intros from LBB4-7 with a snippet from SM for good measure. If you want to take look then again either I can pm or post it on this thread.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Where would they build those ships - he has made A class starports and shipyards rare in his setting. No LBB5 planetary navy rules in a LBB1-3 based universe.
I didn't notice that. However as far as I'm concerned, if the rules don't allow a world with the requisite technology and a decent population to build its own ships, then the rules are wrong.
Of course, those worlds can have a tech level too low to build ships. But high- and high-middle-population worlds will be able to buy ships.
Hans
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
As has been stated in at least two posts, the Trading Companies have been granted their charters from the Royal Family. Any Noble House openly attacking the Trading Co. fleets will be in open treason of the Royal House. There will be consequences. (However, if a Noble House can get away with it with "Quiet Treason," well that's another mater.)
But here's the actual issue:
Great. You see the rules are wrong.
They are the rules I'm using. I don't see them as wrong. I see plenty of reasons in terms of history, culture, and politics in a fictional setting why A-class starports don't spring up like mushrooms. I have already laid out some of those reasons in previous posts.
I understand the point you are making matters a great deal to you. (This is the second thread I've started where you made sure to come in and make it!) But I must be clear: Your concerns are not my concerns in this matter.
I understand this thread will frustrate you. Would it be all right if you took your concerns to a different thread?
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creativehum
SOC-14 1K
No problem. Thanks.
creativehum
SOC-14 1K
How the Text of LBBs 1-3 Teaches How to Make Awesome Part I
This is a post about how I approach some of the tools in Traveller Books 1-3. How people use these tools can be very personal and very specific. But I feel I should spell out how I read and use the text of the books so people can see how I'm using the tools.
A Prod to the Imagination
Traveller Book 1 contained the Character Generation Example of Alexander Lascelles Jamison. I remember being blown away by the example as a teen after buying the boxed set at the Compleat Strategist and reading the book on the train on the way home.
The Traveller character generation system abstractly builds four to forty years of a character's life with a series of die rolls. It is fun and efficient. But because we are both pattern-making creatures and story-making creatures, as we find out if a character ended up in the service of his choice or was drafted, got a commission or kicked out, we can't help but turn those little rolls into a person's life.
In an amazing turn, the Character Generation Example doesn't just walk us through the steps of the die rolls, but makes the creation of a narrative for the character's history explicit!
All of these details were extrapolated imaginatively from the die rolls themselves. The numbers themselves indicated no specific direction or history or narrative to impose on the character. But the rolls and results prompted moments where one's imagination could spark with detail to build out the character.
I don't know about you, but in my youth, those two pages fired my imagination. Jamison wasn't just a series of numbers created to go out on an adventure. He was a person, with a history, passions, and point of view. ("Considering that the merchants forced him out of the service at the peak of his career, he has some slight resentment against the merchant service.")
Is it worth noting that the 1977 version of Book 1 contained a portrait of Jamison, the only piece of art in all three books. I think so. Marc Miller wanted people to create a person--with a past, ambitions, disappointments, and a dream for the future.
I'm not saying that one could not do this with other games, or that other games did not encourage this. I am saying that this philosophy was sewn into almost every aspect of LBBs, from the subsector and world generation system, to the animal creation system. I’m saying this was valuable and worth considering closely. I’m saying all this because it is my thesis that this point of view was lost in later materials published in line with GDW’s House Setting.
This is a post about how I approach some of the tools in Traveller Books 1-3. How people use these tools can be very personal and very specific. But I feel I should spell out how I read and use the text of the books so people can see how I'm using the tools.
A Prod to the Imagination
Traveller Book 1 contained the Character Generation Example of Alexander Lascelles Jamison. I remember being blown away by the example as a teen after buying the boxed set at the Compleat Strategist and reading the book on the train on the way home.
The Traveller character generation system abstractly builds four to forty years of a character's life with a series of die rolls. It is fun and efficient. But because we are both pattern-making creatures and story-making creatures, as we find out if a character ended up in the service of his choice or was drafted, got a commission or kicked out, we can't help but turn those little rolls into a person's life.
In an amazing turn, the Character Generation Example doesn't just walk us through the steps of the die rolls, but makes the creation of a narrative for the character's history explicit!
All of these details were extrapolated imaginatively from the die rolls themselves. The numbers themselves indicated no specific direction or history or narrative to impose on the character. But the rolls and results prompted moments where one's imagination could spark with detail to build out the character.
I don't know about you, but in my youth, those two pages fired my imagination. Jamison wasn't just a series of numbers created to go out on an adventure. He was a person, with a history, passions, and point of view. ("Considering that the merchants forced him out of the service at the peak of his career, he has some slight resentment against the merchant service.")
Is it worth noting that the 1977 version of Book 1 contained a portrait of Jamison, the only piece of art in all three books. I think so. Marc Miller wanted people to create a person--with a past, ambitions, disappointments, and a dream for the future.
I'm not saying that one could not do this with other games, or that other games did not encourage this. I am saying that this philosophy was sewn into almost every aspect of LBBs, from the subsector and world generation system, to the animal creation system. I’m saying this was valuable and worth considering closely. I’m saying all this because it is my thesis that this point of view was lost in later materials published in line with GDW’s House Setting.
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creativehum
SOC-14 1K
How the Text of LBBs 1-3 Teaches How to Make Awesome Part II
Building Worlds
In Traveller you roll a series of dice to generate worlds. As the text states: "The procedure substitutes die rolls for random imagination and then allows the referee to use that information to determine specific world data."
Keep in mind, the text does not say the die rolls are the specific world data. The text says, "The procedure substitutes die rolls for random imagination and then allows the referee to use that information to determine specific world data."
The die rolls are not the world data. They are used to determine the world data.
If a UWP says the atmosphere is tainted, does that mean the entire atmosphere is tainted? What if there is a high population? Using the UWP as an inspiration, the Referee could decide that the atmosphere is tainted up to a certain altitude, as heavier contaminants taint the air for several thousand feet above sea level. But it could be that the air is breathable for humans in mountains above that. Does this mean that the Referee is “ignoring” the UWP? No. He or she is using the UWP exactly as the text intended: to create unique, specific worlds sparked by elements that match and rub up against each other in interesting ways.
In the same way, the Government Type may refer to the whole planet being that government type, or the most prominent government, or the most interesting government on the planet that strikes the Referee's fancy. Some might insist, "If there is more than one government type, the government type is Balkanized." To which I say: No, the world generation system serves the Referee, not the other way around. It is not an objective fact about the world, but a set of information about the world to spark the Referee's information.
To get concrete: In my setting there will be worlds "discovered" by the Trading Companies and peoples from the worlds of my Remote Centralized Government. These worlds will have their own cultures, governments, societies. The Trading Companies will have either conquered them or made treaties with them for trade or rulership. Now, what is the Government Type? Is it defined by the government type before the Trading Companies arrived? Or after? My default view is: The Government that existed before the peoples of the Remote Centralized Government arrived. Those are the governments I care about, because it is the tension between the cultural remnants of those governments and the members of the Trading Companies I care about. I'm looking for clues about that tension.
The UWP is a string of data that tells us details about the world for game play. But it doesn’t tell us what is most interesting about the world. In the same way we could not look at Jamison’s UPP and skill list and know the text of that two page biography contained in the rules, so we could not look at a UWP and know what the Referee had done to utilize or even justify those numbers.
In Books 1-3, the random numbers generated to create the Universal World Profiles were to be used by the Referee to open up imaginative possibilities, not to close down the imagination by become limiting "facts" about the world that crushed possibilities.
Elastic Inspiration, Not Concrete Data
Some of this may seem obvious to some of you. (Or particularly obvious!)
I bring it up because this way of looking at the UWP was lost after Books 1-3. Over time, as GDW built up its official Traveller, GDW began conflating the game’s abstract imagination-prodding tools with concrete data as if the data were built by fictional elements within the Third Imperium.
In particular, the UWPs became concrete data produced by the fictional Scout Service of the Third Imperium. This might not seem like a big deal, but I think it’s a huge difference.
The numbers, in fact, only exist because a Scout ship travelled to the world and recorded them. The implication is, if one thinks about it, a world cannot have a UWP if no one has yet visited it and performed a scouting expedition. This removes them from the playful purvey of a Referee using them for his own needs. Suddenly the numbers are “right” or “wrong.” They can be changed with future surveys. They imply that all of space has to be mapped to have a UWP. For those of us frustrated with the fact that there are no empty spaces in space, one need look much further than right here.
Now, GDW should have done exactly what it wanted to do with its material. And the “UWP as Scout Data” is a Third Imperium thing, so if the Third Imperium is your thing, go for it.
But, first, the Third Imperium is not my thing.
And more importantly, in my view, and it is only my view, the UWPs should not be “official” documentation of any world. They should belong the Referee, to manipulate and be inspired by as he sees fit. To view them as GDW began using them implies someone got there before the Referee. And that, in my view, is utterly the opposite spirit of the original rules in LBBs 1-3.
This is a flexible point, and one can go either way. But if one reads LBBs 1-3 it's clear which way the text wants us to go. I make the point, however because so much of what people think of Traveller has been colored by the Third Imperium, to the degree they miss the charms and power of the original three books.
”Why no Robots? Because AWESOME!”
What happens when one applies this thinking to the broader aspects to the materials in Books 1-3?
For example, a common question is, “Why no robots?”
Keep in mind, a Traveller setting certainly can have robots. Certainly yours can. Robot are things with Characteristics, Skills, Armor, and perhaps Weapons. You can slap Robot together in minutes. Moreover, both the Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society and Book 9 covered robots, so Classic Traveller can have robots. The question really is, “Why doesn’t the Third Imperium have robots?”
But let’s broaden the question to any Traveller setting. Your setting, let’s say. And your in your setting, you have two choices. You can simply decide, “No Robots,” and move on. Or you can dig deeper and ask, “Why no Robots?”
You don’t as the question with impatience. You don’t ask the question with an incredulous tone. You actually ask the question with curiosity. “Why no Robots?”
When Frank Herbert asked the question, “Why no Robots?” he came up with the Butlerian Jihad. Which also leads to the Bene Gesserit and other cool bits of fiction for his universe. In other words, “Why no Robots? Because AWESOME!”
The Little Black Books of the original boxed set contained core assumptions that flummoxed some people. “Why the archaic weapons?” “Why can starships only be built at A-class starports?” “Why are there pirates in space?”
To which one can answer one of two ways, no matter what the question:
“Why?”
The first way is to say, “This makes no sense. Let’s fix this so this stupid contradiction doesn’t exist.”
The second way is to say, “What’s the awesome reason for this?” And then come up with some answers.
I suggest that you do the second. If you do I think you’ll come up with some cool, unexpected, specific, and unique reasons. And by doing that, you’ll end up with a cool, unexpected, specific, and unique setting for your Traveller game.
Building Worlds
In Traveller you roll a series of dice to generate worlds. As the text states: "The procedure substitutes die rolls for random imagination and then allows the referee to use that information to determine specific world data."
Keep in mind, the text does not say the die rolls are the specific world data. The text says, "The procedure substitutes die rolls for random imagination and then allows the referee to use that information to determine specific world data."
The die rolls are not the world data. They are used to determine the world data.
If a UWP says the atmosphere is tainted, does that mean the entire atmosphere is tainted? What if there is a high population? Using the UWP as an inspiration, the Referee could decide that the atmosphere is tainted up to a certain altitude, as heavier contaminants taint the air for several thousand feet above sea level. But it could be that the air is breathable for humans in mountains above that. Does this mean that the Referee is “ignoring” the UWP? No. He or she is using the UWP exactly as the text intended: to create unique, specific worlds sparked by elements that match and rub up against each other in interesting ways.
In the same way, the Government Type may refer to the whole planet being that government type, or the most prominent government, or the most interesting government on the planet that strikes the Referee's fancy. Some might insist, "If there is more than one government type, the government type is Balkanized." To which I say: No, the world generation system serves the Referee, not the other way around. It is not an objective fact about the world, but a set of information about the world to spark the Referee's information.
To get concrete: In my setting there will be worlds "discovered" by the Trading Companies and peoples from the worlds of my Remote Centralized Government. These worlds will have their own cultures, governments, societies. The Trading Companies will have either conquered them or made treaties with them for trade or rulership. Now, what is the Government Type? Is it defined by the government type before the Trading Companies arrived? Or after? My default view is: The Government that existed before the peoples of the Remote Centralized Government arrived. Those are the governments I care about, because it is the tension between the cultural remnants of those governments and the members of the Trading Companies I care about. I'm looking for clues about that tension.
The UWP is a string of data that tells us details about the world for game play. But it doesn’t tell us what is most interesting about the world. In the same way we could not look at Jamison’s UPP and skill list and know the text of that two page biography contained in the rules, so we could not look at a UWP and know what the Referee had done to utilize or even justify those numbers.
In Books 1-3, the random numbers generated to create the Universal World Profiles were to be used by the Referee to open up imaginative possibilities, not to close down the imagination by become limiting "facts" about the world that crushed possibilities.
Elastic Inspiration, Not Concrete Data
Some of this may seem obvious to some of you. (Or particularly obvious!)
I bring it up because this way of looking at the UWP was lost after Books 1-3. Over time, as GDW built up its official Traveller, GDW began conflating the game’s abstract imagination-prodding tools with concrete data as if the data were built by fictional elements within the Third Imperium.
In particular, the UWPs became concrete data produced by the fictional Scout Service of the Third Imperium. This might not seem like a big deal, but I think it’s a huge difference.
The numbers, in fact, only exist because a Scout ship travelled to the world and recorded them. The implication is, if one thinks about it, a world cannot have a UWP if no one has yet visited it and performed a scouting expedition. This removes them from the playful purvey of a Referee using them for his own needs. Suddenly the numbers are “right” or “wrong.” They can be changed with future surveys. They imply that all of space has to be mapped to have a UWP. For those of us frustrated with the fact that there are no empty spaces in space, one need look much further than right here.
Now, GDW should have done exactly what it wanted to do with its material. And the “UWP as Scout Data” is a Third Imperium thing, so if the Third Imperium is your thing, go for it.
But, first, the Third Imperium is not my thing.
And more importantly, in my view, and it is only my view, the UWPs should not be “official” documentation of any world. They should belong the Referee, to manipulate and be inspired by as he sees fit. To view them as GDW began using them implies someone got there before the Referee. And that, in my view, is utterly the opposite spirit of the original rules in LBBs 1-3.
This is a flexible point, and one can go either way. But if one reads LBBs 1-3 it's clear which way the text wants us to go. I make the point, however because so much of what people think of Traveller has been colored by the Third Imperium, to the degree they miss the charms and power of the original three books.
”Why no Robots? Because AWESOME!”
What happens when one applies this thinking to the broader aspects to the materials in Books 1-3?
For example, a common question is, “Why no robots?”
Keep in mind, a Traveller setting certainly can have robots. Certainly yours can. Robot are things with Characteristics, Skills, Armor, and perhaps Weapons. You can slap Robot together in minutes. Moreover, both the Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society and Book 9 covered robots, so Classic Traveller can have robots. The question really is, “Why doesn’t the Third Imperium have robots?”
But let’s broaden the question to any Traveller setting. Your setting, let’s say. And your in your setting, you have two choices. You can simply decide, “No Robots,” and move on. Or you can dig deeper and ask, “Why no Robots?”
You don’t as the question with impatience. You don’t ask the question with an incredulous tone. You actually ask the question with curiosity. “Why no Robots?”
When Frank Herbert asked the question, “Why no Robots?” he came up with the Butlerian Jihad. Which also leads to the Bene Gesserit and other cool bits of fiction for his universe. In other words, “Why no Robots? Because AWESOME!”
The Little Black Books of the original boxed set contained core assumptions that flummoxed some people. “Why the archaic weapons?” “Why can starships only be built at A-class starports?” “Why are there pirates in space?”
To which one can answer one of two ways, no matter what the question:
“Why?”
The first way is to say, “This makes no sense. Let’s fix this so this stupid contradiction doesn’t exist.”
The second way is to say, “What’s the awesome reason for this?” And then come up with some answers.
I suggest that you do the second. If you do I think you’ll come up with some cool, unexpected, specific, and unique reasons. And by doing that, you’ll end up with a cool, unexpected, specific, and unique setting for your Traveller game.
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creativehum
SOC-14 1K
Hi Mike,
Very interested to see your material. But let's not post here. The Third Imperium has, I've noticed, a gravitation pull on the imaginations of folks. I'm really doing the best I can to a) avoid any contaminants from Third Imperium assumptions; b) stay as focused as I can on building this setting as a model for how people can build their own setting.
For example, any discussion of pirates must take place in the context of a particular matrix of culture, politics, and history. The minute we start talking about "piracy" outside of the context of a particular setting, everyone can bring in their assumptions about how piracy would, or would not, work. But each of these assumptions would be built off a dozen other assumptions about how "Cultures and Governments in Space Work." And I'm trying to keep this thread narrow on this particular setting. Which you already picked up on. And I appreciate that!
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