On Tue, 14 Aug 90 16:30:08 MDT [email removed] ([email removed]) said:
> I'm sure that a really organized, professional kind of guy would
> have a lot of well organised notes to refer to. Unfortunately,
> you're stuck with me. :~}
You're not stuck with Ron. I may be poorly organized, but I tried to
keep good notes during the seminar. They may not be clear or understandable,
however either Ron or myself may be able to clear up questons you may have
on the seminar contents.
> The MegaTraveller Tournaments were well attended! We had about 50
> people play the the "Flaming Eye" tournament Thursday and Friday.
> This was a lot more than DGP (who ran the tournament) expected.
> I think that this shows that Traveller is alive and well.
As mentioned later in the seminar, DGPs new Nugget Format was credited
for allowing extra tables to be run. Without (as reported) the players
knowing that their GM never read the module beforehand. The referee was
able to quickly absorb the information, and understand the direction the
module was taking.
The seminar was basically a Question and Answer period. Most of the
questions were answered and a few digressions occured when someone got
one of the speakers on an interesting topic. A few questions were
not answered directly, or turned aside.
There were four people present; Marc Miller (GDW), Gary Thomas (DGP),
Joe Fugate Sr. (DGP), and an artist from DGP (Whose name escapes me
as I didn't write it down). The people from Seeker were also supposed
to be there, but I believe that they didn't make it to the convention as
I never saw them in the dealer room.
The following are my notes (expanded from memory, and re-written) I
apologize in advance for any errors, typos, or unclear statements.
1) The Deneb fleet has co-opted Aslan to fight the Vargr in exchange for
land claims.
2) There are plans to release a map (based on second survey data) yr1060.
Referees in the time of the rebellion will be able to suprise players
as the worlds will not be quite the same anymore.
3) A new product: Star Viking, will cover raiders and planetary forces.
(presumably Vargr-type raids on Imperial settlements). My notes indicate
that these are minatures rules, but probably not exclusivly (I am a
minatures player, and the note may reflect that).
4) Marc Miller mentioned that he uses the modern world as a model for the
Imperium. Whenever he wants to answer a question on what politics /
trade / law etc. would be like, he refers to the world (Int'l Airports->
starports, Airports->spaceports, wet ships->starships, countires->
worlds/subsectors). Note the "contradiction" where effectively sea-going
ships dock at international airports. He suggested that if you can
draw an analogy to modern earth, that is probably how things can be
done.
5) Strephron's name is from a Gilbert and Sullivan Opera
6) The message at the beginning of one of the MT books "Yellow rot" was
taken from a file of Marc's that is over ten years old. (Indicating
presumably that things are planned well in advance, even though they
didn't know that they were going to be doing a rebellion per-se).
7) Product or Feature in magazine?: Rebels Tales: Guide to the future of
the rebellion, instead of the "real" history which flows in real-time.
8) After the rebellion product: "Twilight"(possbily "Midnight") along the
lines of the long night that followed the collapse of the second imperium.
9) After the rebellion low-pop worlds, especailly asteriods and barren
worlds will loose all their population, good looting oportunities. A
rough guide is to drop all tech levels by 2. This causes a spiraling
decrease in worlds that require a higher tech and/or don't have a
large population to rely on.
10)Pre-rebellion founded on Honour. Bad personalities drive out good
(When not honorable). Lucan and Norris are both willing to do whatever
it takes to accomplish their tasks. For lucan it is "to party", for
Norris "good of the empire". Duke Norris is Mark's personal hero.
11)They haven't decided (or won't admit) whether Strephron is "real" or not.
12)Peace map has been done, set in 1125, it is the shattered imperium
symbol blown up and placed over a map of the imperium and environs which
shows the final borders of the factions.
13)Solomani are having some problems defining what a solomani is. Genetic
pure born on earth?-Too restrictive. Not born on earth OK?-Vilani are
"geneticaly" human. Are dolphins and/or Vargr Solomani? Most dolphins
born on earth fit most Solomani descriptions perfectly.
14)Seeker is doing a K'Kree thing. (Sorry that's what I wrote).
15)Marc is discontented with GDW's traveller support (even though he admits
to helping make the decisions). The money from Traveller was used to
launch other GDW products instead of helping itself. 2300AD and Space:
1889 support will be discontinued.
16)GEnie/Compuserve have the first right of refusal for an interactive
game based on traveller. They just applied for an extension.
17)The Zhodani have progressed 1/2 to 2/3 of the way to the core. The
Zhodani alien module will have details. But there is a "surpise" out
there.
18)There was a long discussion about submissions of traveller material.
They can be sent to Marc, Challenge, or DGP. The best way to get
started is with small articles, rather than 128 page modules.
19)Visual nugget (from referee's pack) is obsolete. The new improved
module format is the cinematic nugget. Used extensively in knightfall.
Concentrate on the high-points. Detail everything to the same level
of mediocracy. (So you don't get the players saying things like-
"Hey there's a map of this place, must be important"). There is
a great demand for random nuggets (similar to casual encounters in
the earlier magazines).
20)There will be no revised traveller books before '92. (However I
am trying to negotiate somthing with DGP that may help).
I hope that that was informative for people. I may be able to
clear up difficulties that you have understanding the above statements,
but probably not. There was a discussion on rigid vs. fre-form gaming
but my notes were spotty there. If anyone really wants I could try to
figure out what I wrote and from that what was said.
-Dan
Dan Corrin, System Manager, Mechanical Engineering, UWO, London, Ontario
TML FTP site coordinator: [email removed] ...!watmath!julian!engrg!dan