This is going to resemble my "What Is Traveller?" sticky.
I'll use "touchstone" to describe a presupposition upon which Traveller is built. I'm going to try to abandon the term "canon", since it seems that that term is actually divisive rather than effective. Yes, y'all've convinced me, and maybe y'all know who y'all are.*
There are very few touchstones in Traveller. I don't know how many, but I would say they're on the order of 7-plus-or-minus-two. Offhand I would describe them as:
Characters and Combat.
1. There are no levels, and Humans are still "human".
2. Nothing stops an adversary like kinetic energy (bullets).
3. Society is cosmopolitan and stratified. The typical game shows how being a traveller crosses classes and breaks stratification.
4. Your boss is weeks away: you have to decide on your own.
Starships.
5. Don't worry so much about gravitics, power, or mass.
6. The smallest interstellar ship is 100 displacement-tons. There is no maximum size.
Worlds and Adventures.
7. Market forces drive interstellar interactions. War is "economics by other means" (or vice versa).
8. No two worlds, starports, or bases are alike. This includes a spectrum of tech.
9. Wilderness refueling is worth it.
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* This doesn't mean we can't write a Traveller Bible, OTU Bible, or some other kind of reference work. It's just that it is unlikely to be "authoritative" in any centralized canon-like sense.
I'll use "touchstone" to describe a presupposition upon which Traveller is built. I'm going to try to abandon the term "canon", since it seems that that term is actually divisive rather than effective. Yes, y'all've convinced me, and maybe y'all know who y'all are.*
There are very few touchstones in Traveller. I don't know how many, but I would say they're on the order of 7-plus-or-minus-two. Offhand I would describe them as:
Characters and Combat.
1. There are no levels, and Humans are still "human".
2. Nothing stops an adversary like kinetic energy (bullets).
3. Society is cosmopolitan and stratified. The typical game shows how being a traveller crosses classes and breaks stratification.
4. Your boss is weeks away: you have to decide on your own.
Starships.
5. Don't worry so much about gravitics, power, or mass.
6. The smallest interstellar ship is 100 displacement-tons. There is no maximum size.
Worlds and Adventures.
7. Market forces drive interstellar interactions. War is "economics by other means" (or vice versa).
8. No two worlds, starports, or bases are alike. This includes a spectrum of tech.
9. Wilderness refueling is worth it.
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I saw this term used by @Spinward Flow, and have realized that this term works better than the old term "canon".Touchstone: An excellent quality or example that is used to test the excellence or genuineness of others.
Traveller doesn't have a competent ecclesiastical authority. At least one of those words is wrong at any given time.Canon: A law or rule of doctrine or discipline, enacted by a council or other competent ecclesiastical authority.
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* This doesn't mean we can't write a Traveller Bible, OTU Bible, or some other kind of reference work. It's just that it is unlikely to be "authoritative" in any centralized canon-like sense.
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