Traveller noodling...

[gridlore]

While waiting for my comp copy of Interstellar Wars to show up, I've been thinking about what, if any, type of Traveller game I'd like to try to run in the future. Because, frankly, I've burned out on the game. I cannot stomach another debate on how many Zhodani warbots can dance on the head of a pin, or more endless calculations of the heat generated by a Type S Scout (enough to melt the entire ship to slag the first time you fire up the power plant, evidently.)

This burnout is part of the genesis of the Concordat; I want something different to play with, dammit! But still the Third Imperium calls to me. But what to do?

I'm not going to run another bloody Free Trader game. As much as I like them, the tend to fall apart quickly. Besides, I want something grander, something epic.

So this is what I'm thinking: A game set at the end of the Civil War and running through the Arbellatra Regency. The characters would be officers of the fleet Arbellatra gathered on her march to the Core. The beginning of the campaign would be the final battles of the Civil War, and Grand Admiral Arbellatra becoming Regent.

Now canon indicates that she took the Regency in order to search for a legitimate heir to the Lentuli dynasty. Guess what the characters are assigned to do?

This would be a grand quest, starting with a few clues. The team would have to negotiate hostile courts (not everyone is thrilled with this Admiral from the frontier taking the throne, no matter what she calls herself) intrigue, red herrings, and the possibly the last pockets of fighting. Along the way, they might have to track down war criminals, deal with mysteries left by the war, and negotiate unfamiliar territory.

And there's a dark twist I've been considering. What if the actual reason for the heir search is to eliminate them, leaving the path clear for Arbellatra to take the throne without fear of a dynastic challenger? What happens if the characters actually find the Empress Nicholle's third cousin twice removed or something?

Things could get interesting.

Comments

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

IMO, you're not burned out on the game, you're burnt out on the pedantic wanking and nitpicking.

[jonathonbarton.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just gloss over all that crap on the TML and boards and keep the best bits...

BTW, Doug, You and Bill Cameron (wankers that you both can be on the fairly rare and random occasion) are my two favorite list-posters. If I see your names in my inbox, I truly look forward to reading what you have to say (after I wade through the rest of this...stuff...so I'm not lost when I get there. :) )

[jonathonbarton.livejournal.com]

This one looks interesting to me, too... It'd be a *PERFECT* game for those who want something a bit...Star Wars-y.

"In response to the threat, Vland began tightening its control of its trade sphere, and finally organizing it into a centralized state in -5273. This marked the beginnings of the First Imperium, although there was as yet no emperor. During the thousand year period of the Consolidation Wars, Vland conquered and absorbed its enemies until there were no longer any civilized states on its borders (except for a portion of the Vargr Extents, isolated from the Imperium by the Windhorn Rift)."

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Imperial Death Squad,

I am thinking an IW survey game might be fun, esp if MTU has a pocket state out by Capella.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I can see turning this game very dark. The characters track down a potential heir, and report this to their supervisors. Their ship suffers a breakdown, delaying them by a week or two. When they get to the target world, they discover the family they were seeking was killed in a mysterious air/raft accident.

To add to the paranoia, I might even suggest that it isn't Arbellatra orchestrating the deaths, but a cabal of nobles in her court that want her on the throne. She's honestly looking for an heir.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

Alternately, the heirs are eleiminated unless they would do a better job. The nobles are loyal to the Imperium -- just homicidally ready to ignore law and morality.

After all, what if the players _do_ find an heir who is atently not emperor material, but _wants_ to be emperor? What would that do to the Imperium?

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the birth of IRIS.

[(Anonymous)]

I never liked IRIS -- a variant that somehow got used as canon for a while. The whole "we're good guys so we are above the law" idea bothered me then (and does even more now).

[jonathonbarton.livejournal.com]

If I ever get the chance to run another Traveller Game...
I think I'll run this:
http://www.wolfram.demon.co.uk/rp_traveller_top.html#t_index

I found it last Saturday, and was *spellbound* reading it - all 18 sections in one sitting.

Positively delectable.

[(Anonymous)]

just a brief overview of memory lapse, I'd agree, it looks interesting, I also need to pick up Interstellar Wars, I'm working on some stuff for a proposal for a netbook for Hero Games set in the their Terran Empire universe right now, were also talking about a follow on to the Traveller Hero project

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Could you do me a favor and sign anonymous posts? I don't mind them, not everybody who reads my journal has one themselves, but I prefer knowing who is talking.

[(Anonymous)]

i do apologize doug, I need to figure out why this stupid thing wont let me sign in, its shadowcat48li here

everytime I try signing in, its giving me a funky script page or saying invalid password

I post rarely enough in general I keep forgetting to figure out how to fix it

[cleverthylacine]

Now that's a game I'd wanna go to SJ for :) You know my love of noble intrigue.

I'd kind of like to BE one of the heirs, actually. But possibly...not knowing it.