Before the Dawn...
Aug. 17th, 2008 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreOK, I've been drawn back into Traveller through RTT. However, I'm not going to be buying the Spinward Marches book. As the cool kids say, "Been There, Done That."
And yes, I have the t-shirt.
The problem with the Classic setting is that it has been settled. There are no frontiers, no place to boldly go. Everywhere you turn there is some sort of interstellar authority. In talking with my pool of potential players, they want mysteries, exploration, and high weirdness. I just don't see that in the traditional setting.
So instead, I'm looking at the Long Night, specifically, about -630 Imperial (3893CE), 20 years after the formation of the Sylean Federation. I see Sylea as having held onto it's technology for the most part, sliding a bit to TL11, but lacking resources to really build a fleet of starships until a lucky find in about -660 allows them to begin expanding. The discovery of, and absorption of other near-by survivor worlds forces a change in government, and a representative republic replaces the old monarchy.
I see the Federation, twenty years after its founding, controlling about ten systems. A few will have survived the Long Night, albeit with major losses in population, other will have become tomb worlds. In the wake of consolidating power and working out how to run a small empire, the Federation is ready to begin reaching out and seeing what remains from the near-legendary days of the Rule of Man.
It is important to understand that even in a period of collapse like the Long Night, some civilization survives. Sure, the last starship to visit the world might have been in your grandfather's time, but somebody is till flying. Pocket Empires would rise, fail, or be destroyed. What made the Sylean Federation and later the Third Imperium different was stability. But it would have been a close-run thing at the start.
Never mind a society in flux as it adjusts to a new government and the economic impact of regular interstellar trade (such as it is.) There are going to be dangers out there. And nobody is quite sure what they'll be facing.
Remember, the Long Night at this point has lasted close to 900 years. That's a lot of water under the bridge. And information could be lost, degraded, corrupted by legend, or just wrong to begin with. Brave souls, armed with thousand-year old guidebooks, are going to have to go out and find what there is to find.
The bulk of the effort would fall on the Sylean Ranger Service. Formally a sort of wilderness police/forest service on Sylea, they grew into the main law enforcement/rescue service in Sylea's solar system, and were at the forefront of the first explorations, and have a reputation for resourcefulness, tenacity, and quick wits. Corporations would also send out traders, looking for new markets and new sources of raw materials, while universities and research groups would want to learn everything they could. Given the relative paucity of starships, oft times you'll find these diverse groups sharing space and having to work together to accomplish their goals.
I think this could be a fun setting, especially if I keep the vast majority of of worlds as mysteries to be filled in by individual GMs.
So, what do y'all think?
And yes, I have the t-shirt.
The problem with the Classic setting is that it has been settled. There are no frontiers, no place to boldly go. Everywhere you turn there is some sort of interstellar authority. In talking with my pool of potential players, they want mysteries, exploration, and high weirdness. I just don't see that in the traditional setting.
So instead, I'm looking at the Long Night, specifically, about -630 Imperial (3893CE), 20 years after the formation of the Sylean Federation. I see Sylea as having held onto it's technology for the most part, sliding a bit to TL11, but lacking resources to really build a fleet of starships until a lucky find in about -660 allows them to begin expanding. The discovery of, and absorption of other near-by survivor worlds forces a change in government, and a representative republic replaces the old monarchy.
I see the Federation, twenty years after its founding, controlling about ten systems. A few will have survived the Long Night, albeit with major losses in population, other will have become tomb worlds. In the wake of consolidating power and working out how to run a small empire, the Federation is ready to begin reaching out and seeing what remains from the near-legendary days of the Rule of Man.
It is important to understand that even in a period of collapse like the Long Night, some civilization survives. Sure, the last starship to visit the world might have been in your grandfather's time, but somebody is till flying. Pocket Empires would rise, fail, or be destroyed. What made the Sylean Federation and later the Third Imperium different was stability. But it would have been a close-run thing at the start.
Never mind a society in flux as it adjusts to a new government and the economic impact of regular interstellar trade (such as it is.) There are going to be dangers out there. And nobody is quite sure what they'll be facing.
Remember, the Long Night at this point has lasted close to 900 years. That's a lot of water under the bridge. And information could be lost, degraded, corrupted by legend, or just wrong to begin with. Brave souls, armed with thousand-year old guidebooks, are going to have to go out and find what there is to find.
The bulk of the effort would fall on the Sylean Ranger Service. Formally a sort of wilderness police/forest service on Sylea, they grew into the main law enforcement/rescue service in Sylea's solar system, and were at the forefront of the first explorations, and have a reputation for resourcefulness, tenacity, and quick wits. Corporations would also send out traders, looking for new markets and new sources of raw materials, while universities and research groups would want to learn everything they could. Given the relative paucity of starships, oft times you'll find these diverse groups sharing space and having to work together to accomplish their goals.
I think this could be a fun setting, especially if I keep the vast majority of of worlds as mysteries to be filled in by individual GMs.
So, what do y'all think?
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no subject
Date: 17 Aug 2008 19:06 (UTC)Just need to watch the premise does seem too similar to TNE or 1248 in the general theme.
Is this a personal project or something you might write commercially with the new Developers Pack?
no subject
Date: 17 Aug 2008 19:07 (UTC)Should read
Just need to watch the premise does not look too similar to TNE or 1248 in the general theme.
no subject
Date: 17 Aug 2008 20:31 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Aug 2008 19:11 (UTC)You mention individual GMs there. Is this going to be a private project or are you going to offer this to Mongoose (or somebody else)? I can understand if you don't want to answer that. I could think of buying it - Spinward Marches don't interest me for the same reasons as you have, and I do own more campaign material for it than I'll ever be able to use, but a new take on Traveller might be fun.
no subject
Date: 17 Aug 2008 22:13 (UTC)Ruthlessly Exploiting the WogsContact going to appear, though?no subject
Date: 17 Aug 2008 22:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Aug 2008 01:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 18 Aug 2008 02:23 (UTC)I have no clue what he is planning. If I happen to beat him to publication, so much the better as far as I'm concerned.
no subject
Date: 18 Aug 2008 03:06 (UTC)