Dirtying up the Third Imperium

[gridlore]

One of my major complaints about the Third Imperium is it reads like a children's history book. Loyal nobles work cheerfully for the betterment of all, the Navy patrols and fights with no hint of political ambition, worlds as far apart as the US is from Saudi Arabia in terms of culture peacefully co-exist. It's pretty much bilge. Where's the greed and ambition? where's Baron Edmund Blackadder, scheming to gain the ducal seat from under the nose of the current inbred moron who holds it? With a little creative re-writing, we can make the Imperium a far more interesting, and adventure worthy place.


I'm going to start with the Civil War (604-622) My first question is why would a series of admirals even think they could seize the throne? We need to examine the Imperium at the time. In this pre-Xboat era, the frontiers were years away. News traveled slowly. Local nobles were far more powerful in terms of decision making and lack of supervision. A good parallel would be the Holy Roman Empire; the nobles acknowledged the Emperor, but the "Imperial Navy" was mostly locally controlled. Which brings me to the second point. The Navy served the same function the Catholic Church did to Terran nobility. It was a separate power structure that was the destination for second sons who could have commission bought for them (Daddy built the Navy, Sonny enters as a Commander. Y'all got a problem with that, soon-to-be-ex-Admiral? Didn't think so.) Since they were raised for this role, the majority of them did a good job. They're main job was to spread the family influence. Duke Arthur may be the de jure ruler of the subsector, but if the family of the Baron of Fred's World has permeated the navy command ranks, the Duke has a real problem.

The Imperium was not a nation, it was a true feudal state. Family and the rule of man was more important than the rule of law.

This is why Plankwell was an idiot. He may well have been a military genius, but he didn't have the backing of the Core nobles. So once he bumped off Jaqueline I, his days were numbered. Since Jaqueline lacked a legitimate heir, the scramble was on. Every noble family with a large enough support base went for the throne. Since all these admirals were also powerful nobles, they were, in a way, legitimate contenders. However, the act of seizing the throne tended to force alliances of convenience between the other claimants to get rid of the immediate threat. Assassinations, covert sabotage ops, smuggling endangered nobles, the chaos of war covering other opportunities, and has anyone seen the Crown Jewels recently? The Civil War should be a rich playing environment!

Oh, and since I love a good conspiracy theory, Jaqueline I re-intergrated Terra into the Imperium in 588. Was her assassination paid for by Terran separatists hoping to create a Civil War that would allow a resurgent Rule of Man? Now there's a fun mystery campaign for you to run.

But now Arbellatra Khatami Alkhalikoi. Born 587, and by 615 was Grand Admiral of the Marches. At the age of 28! The daughter of the Duke of Rhylanor was either a prodigy or had her commission purchased, or both. After defeating the Outworld Coalition in 620, she marches to the Core and defeats Gustus at the Second Battle of Zhimaway. Wait, in less than two years, she gathers her fleet, moves from the central Spinward Marches to the Core, gathers enough intelligence to make a strategic plan, and fights a decisive battle? At the time, most of her warships would have been Jump-3. Here's what I think happened, and it makes for some great campaign ideas.

The Vilani had been watching the Civil War with some alarm. The destabilization and chaos was threatening to grow, and Vargr raiders were getting bolder as more assets were moved to the Core for reinforcements. Knowing the Solomani purist nobility would never accept a Vilani noble on the Iridium Throne, they contacted a friendly noble family asking for a young, experienced battle commander to take the throne as a Regent. After a decent interval, that Regent would be crowned. In exchange, the Vilani provided the fleet and up-todate intelligence. Arbellatra was taken off the battlefield in late 618, whisked to Vilani space, and given time to train up her fleet before moving in.

There was one final codicil to the agreement. Arbellatra or her heir would marry a Vilani noble to break the Solomani domination of the court.

I'm certain that more than anything else, quiet diplomacy did as much to end the Civil War as the Second Battle of Zhimaway. Political reality and the promises of rewards probably got numerous families to agree to the end of hostilities. Enough noble families had down enough to warrant being stripped of their titles, and that alone created the opportunities for newly-enthusiastic supporters of the Regency to move up the social ladder.

"But Doug!" I hear you ask "Didn't the Regency conduct a thorough search for legitimate Zhunastu or Lentuli heirs?" Why yes they did. Exhaustive. Sort of the way the NKVD searched for relatives of the Romanovs.  I'm quite certain that Arbellatra's Naval Intelligence agents (also provided by those helpful Vilani) made sure that anyone with even the slightest claim to the throne caught a bad cold, walked around the horses, committed suicide, or just ceased to exist, both physically and in any official record. Records stores on several worlds suffered unfortunate fires or malfunctions in the sprinkler systems.

The wild card in this is Cleon II. He left the Core, after all, and wandered the frontier. Who knows if he left any intanct lines by the 620s?

So, there you go. a much dirtier view of the Civil War and the Regency. Brimming with adventure and campaign possibilities. Comments?

Comments

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

One of my major complaints about the Third Imperium is it reads like a children's history book.

... or mid-20th-century space opera.

One might as well complain that the Oz books didn't go into nearly enough detail regarding the politics of that kingdom, or that there weren't any ninjas in Pirates of the Carribean.

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

There were ninjas in Pirates of the Caribbean. You just couldn't see them.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

The Oz books were intended for children, and I've seen RPG treatments for Oz that do go into the politics and conflicts.

Conflict and mystery are the roots of adventure. Hear a rumor about "diamonds the size of your fist" at a system is a great adventure hook, unless the system is settled, happily mining said diamonds, and utterly civilized. Showing up and finding that an unknown force had wiped out the settlements, being accused of grave robbing, and having to determine who did it and why, that's an adventure!

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Eh, that the memory of the Third Imperium might be treated a little more rosily than factually doesn't surprise me all that much. Winners write the history books, and time has a way of dulling the rough edges. History turns to folklore, and then eventually turns to myth. Looked at from the New Era, for instance, the telling of events from six and seven hundred years earlier might as well be considered a new Arthurian cycle for all that they resemble the facts.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have a comment.
SJG better update the wishlist, because you have a future history re-write that works as well as a trilogy of novels as it does a campaign setting. Both, more likely.

I'd read it.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that. This is a topic that came up last night, and one of the things Steve mentioned was that he had just ordered an update to the Wish List. Which has happened. However, I was pretty much told to avoid Traveller. It just isn't selling that well.

I'll probably start small, a few system guides and the like.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

The news about Traveller doesn't surprise me. They chose to release the last Traveller book just before updating GURPS to a new rules edition, which means that all existing books require either the old rules or lots of referee work. And they haven't released anything new for it in ages, which also tends to reduce sales.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Actually the last Traveller release was Interstellar Wars, which was 4th Edition.

It was reduced sales that led to the decision not to actively solicit further books. Steve has lasted this long in the business by knowing how to cut his losses.

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Dude - you were a credited playtester on ISW after 4e was published. Where's the real Robert Prior?

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

Where's the real Robert Prior?

Kidnapped by wombats? :-)

I've packed all my Traveller stuff away, so I was running on memory, and I think not really thinking of ISW as part of GURPS Traveller. Maybe it's just me, but it felt a bit like an orphan: different rules and no further support, so if you wanted to play a game set there you had to do a lot of conversion or make a lot of stuff up yourself.

GURPS Traveller felt like a well-supported line, ISW felt like a one-shot. I think that's why I mentally separate the two.


Anyway, I'm not the typical SJG customer: I've been told outright that I'm too old and my vision is too poor. I like colour in my PDFs. SJG has decided that my market segment isn't worth catering to, and I've resigned myself to that. At least BTRC is producing some cool stuff!

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

There was no follow on to ISW because sales sucked. I know, I was on line to write one of the books. The license is still technically alive, but there's little demand.

GT was well supported, and I feel (with a couple of exceptions like the Spinward Marches book) we produced the most useful Traveller supplements of any version. But sales dropped. Rapidly. Not bringing the main line into 4thEd was a business decision. You might notice that In Nominae isn't getting much love either. Same reason.

The decision to go B&W on the PDFs was based on customer feedback. They didn't want to pay for color print-outs. It also cut production costs.

I'm sorry, but I'm laughing out loud at the eyesight comment. After bumbling around a poorly-lit sushi place with an equally myopic Evil Steve...

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

I'm not arguing about sales, just stating my perceptions. In hindsight, I'd have preferred that ISW had stayed as the last 3e product, as then it would be easily compatible with the rest of the GT line.

As to eyesight (and age), that's what I was told by one of the SJG managers, speaking as a representative of the company on the company forums (Pyramid newsgroups).

Pyramid is produced in colour — clearly some customers prefer it.

Anyway, I told SJG my preferences, and the reasons for them. If they choose to do something different that is their prerogative — Steve's business, after all — but as long as they produce products I don't like* they have lost me as a customer. Like I said, they have decided that it's not worth catering to my market segment.


*Or cost more than I'm willing to pay: they charge the same for B&W as for colour, yet B&W is cheaper to produce…

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

They've got color PDFs - sometimes three in the same one!

I thought that was supposed to be a selling point: ISW ( + GURPS Lite) was a complete Traveller RPG, with forward 4/e compatibility instead of backward 3/e compatibility. The lack of support sort just happened, or rather failed to happen when sales were low.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

They've got color PDFs - sometimes three in the same one!

The new ones? Other than Pyramid, they all look B&W. And I rather liked the colour boxes and titles — it made them much easier to read.

I honestly don't think it's that difficult to find a colour scheme that works in colour and grayscale. I've done that for the documents I use at work — and if an old guy with bad eyesight who clearly knows nothing of art or design (according to an SJG Art Director) can do it, then I don't see why a trained professional can't manage it. It's not like they'd have to pick new colours for every product — just do what Pyramid does and have a set scheme that works. But it's not my company, so it's not my decision — all I do is decide whether or not to buy a copy of the final product. And lately, I've stopped buying.

I thought that was supposed to be a selling point: ISW ( + GURPS Lite) was a complete Traveller RPG, with forward 4/e compatibility instead of backward 3/e compatibility.

IIRC, it was a selling point. Except that as nothing else was produced for it, it was just left hanging, which is why it feels like an abandoned product. I don't think that was planned, but that's the way it worked out.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

There were three follow-up books in the planning stages. ISW sales didn't come close to break even, and the response from the audience was tepid at best. So the books were canceled.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

I saw your commentary on the picture post with SJ, which is where the wishlist comment came from on my part.

Shame to hear that about Traveller. It's always been one of the finest spacer RPGs.

[john-appel.livejournal.com]

Now, obviously only people on the inside know for sure, but I don't think it's Traveller sales as a whole that are down (though perhaps they have, along with much of the rest of the tabletop RPG industry). I suspect that GURPS Traveller is lagging, while Mongoose Traveller has become the new standard bearer. I have no actual data to support my thesis, just anecdotes and gleanings from comments made by insiders here and there over the last couple of years. For example, it's pretty clear that Mongoose's version actually brought new people into the game, the way that T20 did - I suspect in greater numbers, but that's just gut feel from listening to the relative buzz.

So don't cry for Traveller as a whole just yet - I think the old pony still has some miles left to run.

And Doug is 100% right about SJ - that his company is still around and doing as well as it is demonstrates he's one of the sharper minds in this business.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

I'm not worried that Traveller is going away or anything. It's got too rabid strong a fanbase to truly disappear. You may well be right, that Mongoose is doing fine and that it's just the GURPS version that isn't selling so well right now. I hope that is the case, though I wish for SJ's sake that it was selling well for him, too.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Very good work Doug!

It explains why the First Civil War did not happen the same way as the Civil War after Strephon's assassination.

[mikkop.livejournal.com]

A good change of perspective. I learned to like Traveller even more when a friend suggested that most of the official material is just 3I propaganda instead of objective information.

GURPS Traveller is one of the best lines there are. I didn't buy ISW as I had enough Traveller material for the rest of my life, but I got most of the other books - mainly the bigger ones, as I don't really need a third take of the Aslan or Hivers... And I don't use deckplans that much, either.

Nobles was a great book, and of course Ground Forces, too! Too bad my player base here doesn't like military campaigns that much.