Technology BOGGLE!!!

A thread of 2 messages, 17 March 1994 to 18 March 1994, in the order they were sent.

#6993 Technology BOGGLE!!!

 Brent  [email removed] writes...

>Well, no.  Not for me, anyway.  Technology has always been the
>primary focus of my interest in Science Fiction.  The new background
>severely cripples the technology that I have become accustomed to.

The solution here is then not to dwell on being Star Vikings from ye Olde
Mudball worshipping a semi-sentient Air/raft but to dwell on being Regency
marines...or High tech dudes.

The Virus so far has been seen as a destructive thing. Making people wary of
technology...with the viral mutations you can have your Blakes 7 ORAC only
smarter on board. Robots which are fully self aware. Technology designed by a
super advanced AI...

As for the gripes about FFS...and the guy who wanted a paintball gun
designed...

	What???

This is the old ....we have a doohickey to couple the vroodle but its easier
to do it by hand.  Just beacuse a supplement comes out..it doesnt stop you
from winging it..If a paintball gun mattered that much that i had to work out
muzzle velocities then I'd wonder about the sort of game I was really playing.
I dont worry about the hows and whys other than  perhaps a
page of blurb for inquisitive players. In a world that has
Jump drives and Gravitics technology I don't think working
muzzle velocities to the third decimal place really satisfies
anyone. When I see a new ship I dont pay much attention to
details like G-Hours...I just wanna know how far the thing can
take us, how many of us can get in, how much cargo we can take
and does it have the safeguards to transport Powdered
Aluminium.
Like Rodge said...when I think of TNE I think of wild-eyed
loners standing at the gates of oblivion who havent told their
parents what time they would be home for...

The rules system is a hell of a lot easier to manage than the
previous sets though Black/red Traveller still lingers in my
mind though the truth is I was using the TNE House system for
years with my traveller game.

The saddest thing about losing the Imperium is that NEWBIES
will not be able to get their mitts on the really old
stuff..the background that I loved. Snippets are fine but the
whole thing is much more satisfying. It's mostly gone now
though if sufficient interest were spouted I'm sure someone if
no GDW would produce a background pack for the new era...just
for newbies who still want to play Pre-Collapse Revenants
which IMHO is one of the most fun roles to play..

I've been quiet for a while on this list. This was because the
topics of discussion were basically "Tut Tut..GDW are so bad
cos they made a mistake on the third column, second row of the
hair colour table for the native inhabitants of a garden
planet..". I don't find this interesting. Sorry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      Matt Johnston
            [email removed]
NOTHING IS TRUE, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED
		William S. Burroughs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#6997 Re: Technology BOGGLE!!!

 In Archive-Message-Number 6993, [email removed]
 (Matt Johnston) writes:

 >>The new background severely cripples the technology that I have
 >>become accustomed to.
 >
 >The solution here is then not to dwell on being Star Vikings from ye
 >Olde Mudball worshipping a semi-sentient Air/raft but to dwell on
 >being Regency marines...or High tech dudes.

     I'm afraid that you've missed my central point.  You see, I want
the high technology to be *everywhere*.  To be *consistent*.  I want my
environment to be without low-tech places.  Back when I started playing
Traveller (14 years ago--where's my cane?), I created my own region of
space outside the Imperium where the absolute lowest tech level was 13,
and ranged as high as an extrapolated 17.  The average was right about
15.

     My main gripe with the new setting is that the *average* tech level
is far too low, and there are places that have no decent technology at
all.  It's not that there are too many low-tech worlds, it's that they
exist at all.  There should be *no* low technology at all.

     That's why I may use the new rules system (with the appropriate
fixes to improve the technology), but the new background is of less than
zero use to me.

     I won't have Star Vikings, or RCES, or the Regency, for that
matter, because in my game, the Third Imperium never fell.  Strephon is
still alive and well and on the Iridium Throne, there was no Rebellion
(Dulinor stayed home and was happy with what he had, dammit), and no
Virus.

- --
     Brent Woods

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