Un-Done Milieux [UDM] You Like

[robject]

Most (?) of us already know about the milieux that have been done (M0, Classic, Rebellion, TNE, TNE2048).

Are there other milieux, 'officially' mentioned, which you find compelling?

Not a popularity contest, just asking likes (and not dislikes) and reasons.


I like starships and light wargaming, so two UnDone Milieux (UDM) have things I like:


Grandfather's Children. This makes me think of familiar sectors, but very different space combat. Technology turns the rules upside-down.

For example, there's not a line of battle. Instead you have a war of snipers and planet-killers, the ultimate sub hunt game. Portal technology can destroy worlds, but it also allows ambushes. Shields (white globes) are Trek-like.


Ziru Sirka. Again, the same sectors, but very different. Interstellar conquest, again with strategies I'm not used to seeing. Weapons are superior to defenses. Jump-capable ships are in the thousands of tons, not hundreds -- thus the ZS is the pioneer of the Battle Rider and Carrier concepts. Fighters and gunboats dominate insystem battles -- assuming the ZS faces any resistance -- and the dogfight is the centerpiece.

 

[Ishmael]

I use my own non-otu version of the islands campaign. Nothing is the same as canon except that its a couple of isolated subsectors and a vague "Imperium" somewhere "over there".

I do what I like, yet can still have Impie stuff filter in once in a blue moon.

Sandboxed Traveller.

 

[Dr_Skull]

I'm interested in the Late 2nd Imperium and/or the Long Night. I just like the idea of having some ability to tie into Earthling heritage (Shakespeare, Elvis, that sort of thing), but the idea of a non-existant or weak central authority makes for interesting and wilder gaming.

 

[dccarles]

My current milieu is the Islands Campaign described in Trillion Credit Squadron, set in CT times. It's like a sandbox for Traveller wargamers, and one can pretty much do as one wants. There are eight major worlds to play with, and a bunch of minor ones as well.

--Devin

 

[Golan2072]

Does the milieu implied by the following paragraph count?

Traveller assumes a remote centralized government (referred to in this volume as the Imperium), possessed of great industrial and technological might, but unable, due to the sheer distances and travel times involved, to exert total control at all levels everywhere within its star-spanning realm. On the frontiers, extensive home rule provisions allow planetary populations to choose their own forms of government, raise and maintain armed forces for local security, pass and enforce laws governing local conduct, and regulate (within limits) commerce. Defense of the frontier is mostly provided by local indigenous forces, stiffened by scattered Imperial naval bases manned by small but extremely sophisticated forces. Conflicting local interests often settle their differences by force of arms, with Imperial forces looking quietly the other way, unable to effectively intervene as a police force in any but the most wide-spread of conflicts without jeopardizing their primary mission of the defense of the realm. Only when local conflicts threaten either the security or the economy of the area do Imperial forces take an active hand, and then it is with speed and overwhelming force.

Later versions of the OTU had a stronger, safer, more organized Imperium in comparison to the picture arising from these lines.

 

[BillDowns]

I'm interested in the Late 2nd Imperium and/or the Long Night. I just like the idea of having some ability to tie into Earthling heritage (Shakespeare, Elvis, that sort of thing), but the idea of a non-existant or weak central authority makes for interesting and wilder gaming.

I like this, or maybe an early 1st Imperium era, or even pre-1st.

 

[robject]

Does the milieu implied by the following paragraph count?



Later versions of the OTU had a stronger, safer, more organized Imperium in comparison to the picture arising from these lines.

Sure, why not? Proto-Traveller is an interesting milieu, too.

 

[BeRKA]

Something that I would like to see more about...
1, Zhodani Core expeditions.
2, Julian War.
3, Hhkar invasion.
4, 1:st Frontier War.

I also play with one unofficial idea, and that is the second Hhkar invasion... :devil:

 

[Gadrin]

I have some ideas on a basic campaign in the Far Frontiers sector set back when the Zhodani are just starting to infiltrate the sector. However my knowledge of canon for the area isn't very good and it would probably just come out like a normal campaign with a retro feel... which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing.

The Core Expeditions I find fascinating but I'm not a fan of "big naval ops" so I doubt I'd focus on that aspect, it'd be a background or backdrop type of feel to something character-driven. However I do think it'd be interesting to get into the Zhodani "high command" and their use of the artifact during the expeditions. There should be a way to tie that into something more down to earth that the players might be up to, unless of course the players are the "high command".

I rather liked the GURPS Glisten sourcebook/pamphlet and think that a historical campaign set in 300 or so would be neat.

The T4 Milieu Zero is really nice, although the Gateway adventure surprised me with it's D&D/Trek type of adventure feel.

 

[robject]

I have some ideas on a basic campaign in the Far Frontiers sector set back when the Zhodani are just starting to infiltrate the sector. However my knowledge of canon for the area isn't very good and it would probably just come out like a normal campaign with a retro feel... which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing.

I think that's fine, even preferable; canon is not a constraint here!

After all, 'canon' is just what solidified when some designers had some ideas they liked.

 

[mike wightman]

The Ancient's War is an interesting period definitely, and one I explored with an eighteen month campaign.

The Rule of Man and the Long Night are other eras I've been fleshing out because of the opportunities for adventure they offer.

I was always intrigued by the heat death of the universe era that T4 mentions...

 

[Gadrin]

I think that's fine, even preferable; canon is not a constraint here!

After all, 'canon' is just what solidified when some designers had some ideas they liked.

Well I might be talking about making my own Sector and redoing some maps, which some people can't/won't stomach.

I think it'd be a decent setting overall, especially since the Imperium would have it's people in the mix too, probably assisting locals against the Zhos.

The idea for a Zho-based campaign would be to de-villify them and have what amounts to an Imperial campaign with the occaisional psionics, depending on what the player's choose.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Here's a couple I wouldn't mind seeing:

1.) A good psionics campaign/era that leads to the Psionics Suppressions - from the psions being on top of the Imperium to their downfall.

2.) Not an era so much, but the time between the Fifth Frontier War to the beginning of MT - about a 9 year stretch that could cover the aftermath of some of the CT adventures. Lots of Top Secret stuff and the fallout after the FFW.

SS

 

[daryen]

Well, being the Darrian aficionado, some ideas I like are:
- Pre-Maghiz Darrians. Expanding alone in a fairly wide area with no other conflict/rivals.
- M0 Darrians. Here you have a recovering Darrian polity running up against the fractured Sword Worlds and dealing with their now soured relationship with the Zhodani.

In addition, I like the ideas behind Hans' year 400 setting in the Spinward Marches.

Finally, I am very interested in a Long Night supplement for the GT:ISW sourcebook.

(I would have added the Spinward Marches in 1248, but that is no longer "un-done".)

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

A couple of weeks back I began toying with the idea of fleshing out the Empire of Gashikan, for the point of developing Gashikan (and maybe even Trenchans) Sector(s) as a Classic Era milieu.

I decided that I needed to more fully understand the back history of the region, so, taking inspiration from someone's old HIWG project, I began running a series of settlement/exploration pattern "simulations" using the Charted Space dotmaps in order to better see how the Vilani, Geonee, Suerrat, et al., of the pre-Ziru Sirka era (c. 9800-4045 PI) moved out, contacted, and conflicted, with each other. Right now I'm up to four fairly complete maps (9000, 8300, 7000, and 6000 PI), and I'm currently working on one for 5400 PI (the eve of the Consolidation Wars).

It's been an eye-opener for me. If the maps are any guide, the Geonee were a force to be reckoned with in those days, and the Vilani must have been nightmarishly genocidal in their determination to bring "stability" to the galaxy in order to knock the Geonee down to where they are today. It's also fairly apparent that a lot of the races that received jump drive from those so-called "Vilani traders" of yore that we hear so much about actually got them from the Geonee.

To kinda get back to the question at hand: Ilelish and Verge Sectors circa 6000 PI looks like a pretty intriguing location for a Traveller milieu. There's a solid (but probably fairly insular) Suerrat state taking up a couple of subsectors, the Geonee are grabbing what they can along the coreward rim (along the "shores" of the Great Reft), the Vilani are methodically pushing in colonies down a main to rimward, and there's probably drifting caravans of privateering Loeskalth, yankee-trading Dishaan, and who-knows-what-they're-up-to Lancians to contend with as well.

Ziru Sirka. Again, the same sectors, but very different. Interstellar conquest, again with strategies I'm not used to seeing. Weapons are superior to defenses. Jump-capable ships are in the thousands of tons, not hundreds -- thus the ZS is the pioneer of the Battle Rider and Carrier concepts. Fighters and gunboats dominate insystem battles -- assuming the ZS faces any resistance -- and the dogfight is the centerpiece.

Both the Suerrat and Geonee would have been able to provide ample resistance in the early days. The Geonee had been drifting into TL12 for over 1500 years by the time the Consolidation Wars broke out. There are a couple of ship technologies at that level (nuclear dampers, for instance) that might dramatically effect the outcome of a battle with an unprepared TL11 fleet. Massilia/Delphi Sectors in the 6th millenium PI would make for a fun and competitive series of TCS campaigns.

 

[robject]

To kinda get back to the question at hand: Ilelish and Verge Sectors circa 6000 PI looks like a pretty intriguing location for a Traveller milieu. There's a solid (but probably fairly insular) Suerrat state taking up a couple of subsectors, the Geonee are grabbing what they can along the coreward rim (along the "shores" of the Great Reft), the Vilani are methodically pushing in colonies down a main to rimward, and there's probably drifting caravans of privateering Loeskalth, yankee-trading Dishaan, and who-knows-what-they're-up-to Lancians to contend with as well.

Both the Suerrat and Geonee would have been able to provide ample resistance in the early days. The Geonee had been drifting into TL12 for over 1500 years by the time the Consolidation Wars broke out. There are a couple of ship technologies at that level (nuclear dampers, for instance) that might dramatically effect the outcome of a battle with an unprepared TL11 fleet. Massilia/Delphi Sectors in the 6th millenium PI would make for a fun and competitive series of TCS campaigns.

Now that is fascinating. And yes, around TL12 ships of the line are much tougher nuts to crack.

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

Now that is fascinating. And yes, around TL12 ships of the line are much tougher nuts to crack.

According to the Traveller Integrated Timeline, there's an incident that apparently occurred around -5421 that might illustrate that point pretty well:

Shortly before then (and right after the invention of Jump-2), the Vilani learned that the Luriani had received jump drive from some unknown source. In order to find out who would do such a thing (and presumably punish them), the Sharurshid Bureau sent a fleet of its brand-new Jump-2 ships on a search and destroy mission out into the frontiers beyond Luriani space.

And whoever it was they met out there pounded the crap outta them. Remnants of the fleet limped back, in pieces, over the next few years.

Now, I don't know who canon says it was that played Godzilla to Sharurshid's Tokyo on that day. But my maps tell me that there was considerable Geonee settlement going on in the area at the time; and, in fact, Geonee scouting expeditions would be showing up on the Luriani's doorstep at almost precisely the date they are recorded as acquiring their jump technology.

So my theory is that the Sharurshid fleet went out, found those outer Geonee settlements (which probably wasn't much of a surprise to them), and was contentedly moving down the line in a series of orbital killing sprees when a TL12 Geonee counterstrike suddenly popped up and put on a Chuck Norris show for them. Shortly thereafter, the Consolidation Wars begin.

The Geonee and Vilani have already been grinding back and forth at each other's frontiers for nearly 600 years by the time this incident happened. It's not hard to imagine the Isgirdii receiving the reports of this humiliation and deciding the Geonee (and their barbarian allies) were becoming too dangerous to simply leave alone. Plans are drawn up. Fleets are built. And before you know it, the galaxy is staring at 1500 years of very harsh times.

 

[Jame]

Personally I'd go with ProtoTraveller.

Though anything set in the Darrian Confederation would be welcome.

 

[rancke]

In addition, I like the ideas behind Hans' year 400 setting in the Spinward Marches.

Thanks. I'm very happy with the way that turned out.

I don't usually start with a milieu and think of adventures/campaigns for it (though I did try coming up with an adventure set in the Marches in the Year 1000 when T20 came out. I didn't manage to finish it, but I have about 8 or 9,000 words of a 16,000 word adventure set on Knorbes plus copious notes, and one day I expect I'll finish it). Usually I come up with an adventure and look around for someplace to put it. Most of the time I can find some place in the Classic Era/GTU to put it, but occasionally I come up with something that fits better in a "historical" setting. Of the historical stuff I'm currently working on, two more are set in the 5th Century (i.e. Milieu 400). It's a setting with a lot of potential.


Hans

 

[BeRKA]

This was 5 years ago. What are UDM are you doing (or planning) today?