Gamba location

Rob Dean sez:
><email conversation sent to the list due to possibility of general interest>
>
>Mike Metlay writes:
>>
>> Ooooh! I have a good one! Let's kick the whole thing back in TIME! How about
>> to the Sixth or Seventh Century-- highest TL was only about 12, and the Civil
>> War was brewing, and Terra was being reintegrated into the Imperium! Then we
>> could put it ANYWHERE.
>
>Yes, I think that this would work best, with the exception that I'd like to
>use TL13 as the Imperial base, with those two TL14 planets then being at the
>real cutting edge of technology.  When would that put it, and what was going
>on on the Imperial timeline?  If set earlier, my preferred astrography--in
>the Verge sector--would not be a real problem.  That also means that I think
>that we'll go with some version of Hans' Long Night era pocket empire based
>around Susato.

You'd probably be okay in the Seventh Century here, with the Solomani not yet
quite to the point of being a muscle-flexing major player in the Imperial
Court and a lot of flak from the Civil War settling out. As for the Verge,
I'm reluctant to flush the existing Atlas's star locations, but hell, it's
only one subsector. And if it has its bak to the Rift, then it'd stay backward
for a long time. I would put TL13 as a limit for other reasons: no Battle
Dress and no Fusion Guns, with Plasma Guns still bulky, dangerous, and rare.
Gauss weapons just coming into widespread use, with TL10-11 stuff in abundance.
Perfect environment for taking some stuffing out of the shirts of powerhappy
parties. |->

>Also a possibility.  Is the history going to affect the adventure potential
>a lot?  I'm not really sure myself...

Depends on the Ref. It means a LOT to me and my parties. I think I prefer the
Civil War era to the Hard Times. Less messy in a metagaming way.

>I wonder if this happnes when you make conn-
>ections at Class A starports?  If you believe the SOM, I suppose it couldn't
>because the random jump lenght would make you reluctant to try to meet a
>scheduled connection less than a day or two later than your arrival...

The concept of a prebooked connection Jump boggles my mind. Completely.
Anywhere other than Tukera monopolized core areas, who would dare try?


- --
metlay            | and she's a master of return hitting
atomic city       | giving rhythm to her posts
                  | so you read her and think hey it sounds good
[email removed] | and wish her posts had a soundtrack too    (f. ercolessi)

In your letter dated Wed, 14 Oct 92 10:54:52 PDT, you wrote:
>
> >
> >Yes, I think that this would work best, with the exception that I'd like to
> >use TL13 as the Imperial base, with those two TL14 planets then being at the
> >real cutting edge of technology.  When would that put it, and what was going
> >on on the Imperial timeline?

>You'd probably be okay in the Seventh Century here, with the Solomani not yet
>quite to the point of being a muscle-flexing major player in the Imperial
>Court and a lot of flak from the Civil War settling out. As for the Verge,
>I'm reluctant to flush the existing Atlas's star locations, but hell, it's
>only one subsector. And if it has its bak to the Rift, then it'd stay backward
>for a long time. I would put TL13 as a limit for other reasons: no Battle
>Dress and no Fusion Guns, with Plasma Guns still bulky, dangerous, and rare.

As to the Atlas's star locations--if we don't want to conflict then we have to
go outside the area that it covers.

I just realized (-: that I'm carrying TD18 with me today, which includes the
concise history of the Imperium.  They give the following for tech levels:

Sylean Federation, Year 0, TL12
                      300, TL13  (allows exploration of Sabmiqys...)
                      420, (First Survey...)
                      629, (End of Civil War)
                      700, TL14
                      826, (End of Psionic Suppressions...hmmm...)
                     1000, TL15
                     1120, TL16

I hadn't thought about it before, but sticking with the Imperial timeline would
have an odd effect if the game was set before the Psionic Suppressions.
Psionics would not only _not_ be illegal, they would be positively encouraged.
Different...

I also hate to mention this, but Battledress is canonically available at TL13.

A general TL13 with occasional TL14 would be consistent with a setting in the
late 600's (7th century.)

Rob Dean

Rob Dean inscribeth:
>you wrote:
>>You'd probably be okay in the Seventh Century here, with the Solomani not yet
>>quite to the point of being a muscle-flexing major player in the Imperial
>>Court and a lot of flak from the Civil War settling out. As for the Verge,
>>I'm reluctant to flush the existing Atlas's star locations, but hell, it's
>>only one subsector. And if it has its bak to the Rift, then it'd stay backward
>>for a long time. I would put TL13 as a limit for other reasons: no Battle
>>Dress and no Fusion Guns, with Plasma Guns still bulky, dangerous, and rare.
>
>As to the Atlas's star locations--if we don't want to conflict then we have to
>go outside the area that it covers.

One reason why I don't think I'd mind a little bit of conflict with the Atlas.
Going beyond it won't be easy, especially if your heart's set on the Verge
(interesting how these Rift-edge areas fascinate us: my latest campaign is
set in the Cyril's Edge corner of Reft).

>I just realized (-: that I'm carrying TD18 with me today, which includes the
>concise history of the Imperium.  They give the following for tech levels:
>
>Sylean Federation, Year 0, TL12
>                      300, TL13  (allows exploration of Sabmiqys...)
>                      420, (First Survey...)
>                      629, (End of Civil War)
>                      700, TL14
>                      826, (End of Psionic Suppressions...hmmm...)
>                     1000, TL15
>                     1120, TL16

Well, THAT'S handy. Glad you had it with.

>I hadn't thought about it before, but sticking with the Imperial timeline would
>have an odd effect if the game was set before the Psionic Suppressions.
>Psionics would not only _not_ be illegal, they would be positively encouraged.
>Different...

Oh, I know. The Psionics Institutes would be everywhere, and the situation
would be much more like it is in the Vargr Extents in the 1100s than anything
else-- with psi being part of the local color, anywhere from a curiosity under
study by scientists to a part of some cultures (mind-reading judges, anyone?).

I'm not a huge fan of psionics in a game like Traveller, but it'll be a
nice change of pace. Also note other prevailing attitudes (variable as you
travel around): a much stronger Vilani streak (but with an accompanying sense
of "illegitimacy" due to the Solomani-strong Court (I believe that Antiama
wouldn't have married into the Royal Family yet)); a dislike of the Zhodani
as previously hostile humans, but nothing like the psychotic hatred implanted
in the Suppressions; a much stronger distrust of Aslan, with the wars either
recent or still ongoing, and a fascination with the newly-integrated Vargr.

>I also hate to mention this, but Battledress is canonically available at TL13.

Yes, but only in limited and controlled quantities. It would have been
invented centuries earlier, but would not have been that useful or needed
before the Zhodani began making trouble. I would assume that you would need
both money AND governmental "pull" to get anything hotter than Combat Armor
and a PGMP-12, and the standards among Travellers would be Combat Environment
Suits (or lower-TL Scout vaccsuits) and Gauss rifles as squad support to
ACRs, SCPs, Accelerator Rifles, ARLs, Rocketguns and Snubbies. And lasers,
natch.

>A general TL13 with occasional TL14 would be consistent with a setting in the
>late 600's (7th century.)

Yeah, that's why I picked the era I did. My memory astounds me sometimes. |->

I'm beginning to really like this idea-- it gives us the rich history we've
collected, but with one exception (gross fleet movements and the Imperial
succession, far away in the Core) no fine detail to get in the way. Comments?

- --
metlay            | and she's a master of return hitting
atomic city       | giving rhythm to her posts
                  | so you read her and think hey it sounds good
[email removed] | and wish her posts had a soundtrack too    (f. ercolessi)

In your letter dated Wed, 14 Oct 92 11:48:31 PDT, you wrote:
>
> Going beyond it won't be easy, especially if your heart's set on the Verge
> (interesting how these Rift-edge areas fascinate us: my latest campaign is
> set in the Cyril's Edge corner of Reft).

It simplifies the game if you know there's a lot of empty space in at least
one direction.

> Oh, I know. The Psionics Institutes would be everywhere, and the situation
> would be much more like it is in the Vargr Extents in the 1100s than anything
> else--with psi being part of the local color, anywhere from a curiosity under
> study by scientists to a part of some cultures (mind-reading judges,
> anyone?).
>
> I'm not a huge fan of psionics in a game like Traveller, but it'll be a
> nice change of pace. Also note other prevailing attitudes (variable as you
> travel around): a much stronger Vilani streak (but with an accompanying sense
> of "illegitimacy" due to the Solomani-strong Court (I believe that Antiama
> wouldn't have married into the Royal Family yet)); a dislike of the Zhodani
> as previously hostile humans, but nothing like the psychotic hatred implanted
> in the Suppressions; a much stronger distrust of Aslan, with the wars either
> recent or still ongoing, and a fascination with the newly-integrated Vargr.

Sounds good.  A Verge location would make Vargr occasional possibles, Aslan
rather less likely, and the other major races right out.  A Daibei rift
edge location would reverse that.

I'm not too keen on psionics either, but that's the way the cards fall if
we adopt the 8th century.  In that case, I'd still stick with the situation
of no Psionics Institutes in the Gamba subsector.  Treating it as science
would make a Galliard location possible if one was desired or perhaps one
on Weelkes to draw from the larger population.  Hmmm....maybe there was one
on Adriano before the plague.  I wonder if there might be a connection? 0-:

> I'm beginning to really like this idea-- it gives us the rich history we've
> collected, but with one exception (gross fleet movements and the Imperial
> succession, far away in the Core) no fine detail to get in the way. Comments?

The Core isn't really that far away, but yes.  Besides, by this time the wars
are over, so fleets would have been back in position for a couple of decades.

(I wonder how often the Imperium moves things around?  Some U.S. Army units
were stationed in essentially the same places in Germany for over 40 years,
and some of the Roman military units whose history can be traced through
inscriptions and the like were apparently stationed in the same forts for
centuries. "My great grandfather was the first one in our family to serve in
the 2957th CruRon, and it has been a family tradition since...")

Rob

Rob Dean scrawls:
>In your letter dated Wed, 14 Oct 92 11:48:31 PDT, you wrote:
>> Going beyond it won't be easy, especially if your heart's set on the Verge
>> (interesting how these Rift-edge areas fascinate us: my latest campaign is
>> set in the Cyril's Edge corner of Reft).
>
>It simplifies the game if you know there's a lot of empty space in at least
>one direction.

"Don't go that way-- you'll fall off the edge!" |->

>A Verge location would make Vargr occasional possibles, Aslan
>rather less likely, and the other major races right out.  A Daibei rift
>edge location would reverse that.

Hmmm. I guess Verge *is* a long way from the Extents, but it's close enough
to the Hierate and Dark Nebula for there to be *some* Aslan incursions
and conflict, wouldn't you think?

>I'm not too keen on psionics either, but that's the way the cards fall if
>we adopt the 8th century.  In that case, I'd still stick with the situation
>of no Psionics Institutes in the Gamba subsector.  Treating it as science
>would make a Galliard location possible if one was desired or perhaps one
>on Weelkes to draw from the larger population.  Hmmm....maybe there was one
>on Adriano before the plague.  I wonder if there might be a connection? 0-:

Not 8th, 7th. I want TL14 to be as cutting edge as possible, and the Civil
War to be recent, painful history. I'd suggest Weelkes for an Institute,
and as for Adraino and the plague, who was it who wanted to avoid cliches? |->

>The Core isn't really that far away, but yes.  Besides, by this time the wars
>are over, so fleets would have been back in position for a couple of decades.

Yes, but people are still going to be rubbed raw by distrust of the Throne
and taxes to fund refitting of the Fleets.

>(I wonder how often the Imperium moves things around?  Some U.S. Army units
>were stationed in essentially the same places in Germany for over 40 years,
>and some of the Roman military units whose history can be traced through
>inscriptions and the like were apparently stationed in the same forts for
>centuries. "My great grandfather was the first one in our family to serve in
>the 2957th CruRon, and it has been a family tradition since...")

I can see it. As borders expand, simply allocate new fleets to fill them.
Which means that the Core Fleet may pass on parade in Sylean dress uniforms.
|->

- --
metlay            | and she's a master of return hitting
atomic city       | giving rhythm to her posts
                  | so you read her and think hey it sounds good
[email removed] | and wish her posts had a soundtrack too    (f. ercolessi)