Vatta's War Setting?

[Wiltshiresaint]

I'm wondering if anyone has used Elizabeth Moon's 'Vatta's War' series of books as inspiration for a setting for their CT universe?

I just started reading the books and I'm finding it quite inspiring in terms of my thoughts for a CT game.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Useabel. Some elements (FTL comms, FTL travel type/mode) don't fit but it's about as close to Traveller as one can get without having to pay for the IP rights.

How far along the books are you? Some of the most interesting worlds and concepts appear in book 3/4.

 

[Wiltshiresaint]

How far along the books are you? Some of the most interesting worlds and concepts appear in book 3/4.

I'm midway through book 2, 'Moving Target'. Sounds like I've got a lot to look forward to

Yes, the FTL travel aspects don't transfer, but things like the Captain's Guild are rather similar to TAS. I suppose I'm thinking more along the lines of the ethos of the books and their references to merchant adventurers, shipping lines, etc. I think I'll cherry pick what I like and put it straight down into my game.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Best thing about the story line are:

+ It HAS a definit endpoint while leaving enough links for a next series

+ Little power creep. The heros don't gain new "super" abilities by the book. Unlike say "Honor Harrington"

+ Nice, low-tech universe with low-accell ships, time consuming combat and all but enough "gadgets" to steal

+ 3D heros and heroines and a lot of grey instead of "all white" heros

+ Some beautifully thought out systems of government and planetary culture including the consequences (good and bad)

The only bad thing (Storyline spoiler!)

Spoiler:

Sadly the Ansibels(sp?)(FTP communication systems) are an integral and important part of the story line and not just the universe background. Otherwise this could really be used "as is" for a Traveller universe

Stuff worth borrowing: (Minor storyline spoilers)

Spoiler:

The Moscone Confederation. The whole society is build on the concept of being polite and friendly and co-operative. And they like trees and carry that element through, even into space. Mind you, they are not anti-tech (on the contrary) but "The tree of live" is everywhere

The Implant technology. Not the "Rigger" type of implant but more an implant PDA/Virtual Reality/Communications system. Again the book "thinks through" the system and it's consequences. An example is the "guidance" system used by some space stations that interacts with the implant to project a "virtual" guide

The company running the Ansibles would make a good variant for the X-Boat service and a nice explanation for the low-tech element

The Privateers and the problems a privateer ship might/will face that a purpose-build warship won't have

The banking system and the problems with getting access to funds when the Ansibles are down. Perfect fit for the non-Ansible OTU

The Mercenaries. A nice take on professional Mercs, contracts and all. Best thought-out ones since Pournelle and Drake

The Admirals Court and how to deal with captured pirat ships

The Captains Guild is great. But IMHO it's not TAS. TAS is a british "gentlemans club" (Think Fogs club in 80days, Bonds Club in the last Brosnan or the Moonraker short story) with mostly "rich and useless" clients. The Captains Guild is the place where hard working merchant captains and/or shipowners will meet and discuss business. A lot more like the "Noble House" in "Taipan" is depicted.

 

[Wiltshiresaint]

Thanks for the replies. I couldn't resist reading the spoilers, but they haven't spoiled it

I really like the Captain's Guild and will definitely incorporate it into my game. It'll be excellent source of rumours, cargo leads, personnel sources, etc.

I've never been that keen on the TAS though - it always struck me as a slightly gamey 'artificial construct' anyway, if you understand what I mean. I can live with it as a high status 'gentleman's club', but it always seemed as if it was too readily available as a benefit to most characters considering their status/income. Just my thoughts though, I realise some people will see it differently.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Thanks for the replies. I couldn't resist reading the spoilers, but they haven't spoiled it

I really like the Captain's Guild and will definitely incorporate it into my game. It'll be excellent source of rumours, cargo leads, personnel sources, etc.

I've never been that keen on the TAS though - it always struck me as a slightly gamey 'artificial construct' anyway, if you understand what I mean. I can live with it as a high status 'gentleman's club', but it always seemed as if it was too readily available as a benefit to most characters considering their status/income. Just my thoughts though, I realise some people will see it differently.

Yes, TAS membership is given/gained far to easy in some of the rules sets. As soon as it "costs" (Gurps) the membership among PC's drop a lot.

As for the Guild: Any chance to do a writeup of your take for JTAS or so?

 

[Wiltshiresaint]

As for the Guild: Any chance to do a writeup of your take for JTAS or so?

Happy to put something together but only after I've been using it in my next campaign for a while.

I intend to put the whole campaign online, so people who are interested can see how it works there too. It'll be a realtime thing, with elements of the Vatta's War series (I need to read quickly there ) but using MOTU.

 

[Subzero001]

Has this Adventure setting for the Vatta Wars setting ever come to be?

Thx,

Subzero001

 

[Putraack]

At the risk of "Me, too"-ing, I would like to see something like this.

I enjoyed the beginning of the story arc, as I like Trader stories. Not so much the creation of a space navy, as creating military forces from scratch is a common theme in Moon's books. Too common, IMO.

 

[kafka47]

Vatta's War cannot work with CT. But, it would fit in quite nicely for Mongoose Traveller. I think Mongoose is rather shy about going after licenses given how they were burnt by the IP owners. True, these were bigger names with much more brand at stake and there were times that they made a royal mess by taking a Traveller adventure and plunking it into another Game System. But, that is the classic problem always...adventures take time to write...and if you are accustomed to one system (ie Traveller) it is hard sometimes to switch gears.

I just wish they would hire Dave Seeley (who does cover for E. Moon's stuff) as the Traveller line artist much as QLI commissioned him for the T20 cover.

 

[HiverLord]

I've never been that keen on the TAS though - it always struck me as a slightly gamey 'artificial construct' anyway, if you understand what I mean. I can live with it as a high status 'gentleman's club', but it always seemed as if it was too readily available as a benefit to most characters considering their status/income.

Though a bit 'flaky', I guess, TAS membership is a good lead in for adventures, as well as providing 'cheaper' accommodations for at least one of them (useful when money is tight between adventures).

In the (distant...) past (2-3 decades ago), I used it mainly as leads for the characters to meet patrons. One group had a character with membership (a former Imperial Marine Captain) who knew nothing of space operations, and was constantly taking on jobs they shouldn't have... which created quite a few rows within the group (which was quite interesting to watch.) It did make them a number of contacts, though. And they (mostly) survived, amazingly, so perhaps they weren't so overmatched as they first thought.

Ah, memories!

 

[Jame]

I'm wondering if anyone has used Elizabeth Moon's 'Vatta's War' series of books as inspiration for a setting for their CT universe?

I just started reading the books and I'm finding it quite inspiring in terms of my thoughts for a CT game.

From what I've seen of Elizabeth Moon's stuff I'm not surprised people think of it as Traveller-esque, but if there are conversions of it, I think other writers than Ms. Moon should write them.

After all, I find her writing to be like CJ Cherryh's - love the concept, can't stand the writing style. (I have Downbelow Station and, while I love the concept, only got halfway through before giving up, and even then had to struggle.)

 

[hdan]

The Vatta War stuff was enjoyable "not-Traveller" fiction IMHO. Though the series didn't end in a way that pleased me, you could almost follow along in the MgT rules at times. (Oops, looks like someone had a career mishap....)

E. Moon's writing style is aimed at the YA crowd IMHO, but I still find it doable. I can see how others might disagree. (For instance, I can't get through more than a few chapters of Robert Jordan, but others seem to like his books very much.)

Setting Vatta somewhere in the OTU wouldn't work because of the ansibles and instant jumps, but in an ATU it would be fine, and the general tone is quite well suited to Traveller. I've long suspected that E. Moon writes up her old D&D and Traveller games as novels, filing off the serial numbers to avoid licensing issues.

 

[Independence Games]

I've long suspected that E. Moon writes up her old D&D and Traveller games as novels, filing off the serial numbers to avoid licensing issues.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has thought this might be the case.

 

[FreeTrav]

Thoroughly agreed. When I first read The Deed of Paksennarion, I was thinking that it 'felt' like a D&D campaign, right down to almost being able to point to specific passages and say 'Oh, lookie! Paks gained a level!'.

Vatta's War was less blatant about it, IMO, but there was still that feeling.

That said, an RTT Vatta's War would be on my "must be printed on water- and acid-proof plastic when you hand it to me, because otherwise the drool will destroy it" list.

 

[Vargas]

Vatta's War cannot work with CT. But, it would fit in quite nicely for Mongoose Traveller.

Given the (let's face it minimal) differences between the two games, really?

 

[aramis]

Given the (let's face it minimal) differences between the two games, really?

the differences are actually rather profound. Skill acquisition works differently, the CGen process is different, combat works considerably differently (You could have a high end character with a glass jaw in CT... you can't in MGT... as MGT puts End as the first att damaged, drop it til it's gone), ship design is not compatible†, and even world gen has a different (if similar) process.

The differences are subtle to some, and profound to others.

† You can often take a CT Bk 2 design forward into MGT; you can only rarely go the other direction, and MGTHG is neither....

 

[kafka47]

Given the (let's face it minimal) differences between the two games, really?

The narcissism of minor differences...ok, enough Freud. However, what I find about MgT is that it does provide for the things were a bit of a strain to do in CT or that you needed to find a workaround. MgT simply presents it as an option.

So, I agree with Aramis, small things like he mentioned. But taking Vatta - no overarching authority other than small pocket empires - CT is somewhat wired to the Imperium Campaign. The mechanic does tend toward classical space opera. Whereas, Vatta is more Military SF which CT Mercenary is not equipped to handle and other than a handful of people most do not possess the CT Privateer book.

Whereas, MgT is constantly taking what is "out there" from all the literature and finding ways to MgT-ize. It is not to say that CT is not a living system and one cannot do it independently but it has a smaller impact than when a game company decides to do it.

Vatta War also have bulky freighters whereas Traveller has relied upon the light agile starships. Combat seems to be more about boarding actions which is so MgT whereas, other than Snapshot, ACQ - boarding actions were not front and centre.