[TML] Has Traveller Become "Period SF"?

[Jerry W Barrington]

On 8/28/07 2:17 PM, "Kelly St.Clair" wrote:

> I went and read J. Snead's thread on updating the TU, and the thing that
> struck me was how many people (fans of the game, if not players) were
> opposed to touching the OTU at all, even to make it... well, less silly in
> light of more recent discoveries and developments.  Traveller has always
> been based on a certain era of (mostly written) science fiction, and its
> age is /really/ starting to show now that we're into a new century.
> 
> Has this game of ours officially passed the point of being a remotely
> plausible future, and joined "Space 1889" and its ilk in the realm of
> "period SF" RPGs - games about how we USED to think things would be, and
> enjoy on that psuedo-nostalgic basis?

I'd have to say "Yes".  Although I love the game, if/when I ever get an SF
RPG running, it definitely won't be OTU.  :)



On 8/28/07 2:17 PM, "Garry Ward" wrote:

> Depends on if you confuse the Imperium setting with the Traveller rules.
> 
> I use the underlying rules (like FF&S, Pocket Empires and other such how to
> books) that deal with the infrastructure of a setting.
> 
> I'll borrow maps and rough stellar data from the Imperium setting, but
> everything else is derived from what I want to do.

I'm pretty sure Kelly did mean the setting, since it was about the OTU.

And it's interesting that while T4 was an economic failure, Pocket empires
is my all-time favorite Traveller book, closely followed by FF&S (TNE
version, but I haven't really looked at the T4 one).  But that's because
that sort of campaign *building* can build a really good, plausible campaign
background.

Once I get in a position to do so, would anybody on the list be interested
in playing in a large-scale game (inspired by GDW's The Great Game) that
would take a campaign world from initial tech assumptions & world setup
forward through it's history?  Hell, maybe we could even get something like
that published.



On 8/28/07 2:17 PM, "Zane H. Healy" wrote:

> At the same time I have to wonder if this is a bad thing, by not doing at
> least some minor updating will it be able to interest the new players that
> are needed to keep it alive?

About the new players, there are 2 main issues.
    1. A lot of the kids do see Traveller as old fashioned, in part because
of the more modern stuff it ignores.
    2. There are actually people intimidated by the sheer *quantity* of
Imperium background.  Us old fogeys are used to it, like a comfortable old
friend.  New players can be overwhelmed.



On 8/28/07 2:17 PM, Cougashika wrote:

> Cougashika - "Not Dead Yet," by Styx, from the Edge of the Century album: the
> unofficial theme song of the 4/229th AHR (Flying Tigers)

:D  I love that song.