As a Traveller player since second ed. High Guard (1980), I have been
watching the current discussion over the future of the game and the new
"StarViking" supplement being planned, whatever that might be exactly.
What concerns me is that this will just be a repeat of what happened with
the release of MegaTraveller -- a lot of new rule books and very few
adventures or useful supplements.
GDW, in the past, has done a good job at releasing rules books. There may
be ways in which people aren't entirely satisfied with them, but they are
available. What concerns me is that GDW has been less able to release
adventures and information. They aren't going to keep hooking me with new
rules books, but they might convince me to buy adventures or background
books that fit the rules that I have purchased.
I am concerned that GDW is going to try to help Traveller sales by printing
another set of rules and not new adventures or information for referees.
One nice thing would be a complete atlas of Charted Space, with Library
Data essay boxes. This would be very helpful for preparing campaigns.
I can imagine that the new rules might be released with a lot of hoopla,
and then are supported to the same minimal amount MegaTraveller has recieved.
The current Rebellion background is rich in possibilites which have not
been exploited. Why can't it be given a fair chance?
What I don't understand is why StarViking can't work in the Imperium in
the near future. There are plenty of regions which are already wracked
by raiders: Corridor, the Zarushagar no-man's-land, Lishun. The Diaspora
region is cut off from central control. Old Expanses is ripe for becoming
an anti-Solomani privateering center, resisting the thinly-stretched and
overworked forces of the Occupation. If the Gushemege sector falls, I
doubt any one faction could hold it or enforce the law there. The Marches
had enough troubles during the 5FW. Eventually, the factions may give
up to lick their wounds and warily patrol the boundaries that they have
staked out, leaving large portions of the former Imperium to go their
own way into anarchy. Then they might hire some of the emergent "StarVikings"
to use as mercenaries in battles against their neighbors, to augment their
fleets...hey, this is starting to sound interesting....
You could have Vargr and human groups competing in Corridor and Lishun, and
in Corridor they could deal with relatively vital factions making attempts
to stop them on the fringes of the sector. In the no-man's-land, raiders
might be found with equipment salvaged from the hulks of the great Imperial
ships of the line destroyed in the continual conflict, and renegades from
both sides of the war. In Old Expanses, freedom fighters play a trickier
game, as they don't know what worlds they can trust, worlds try to
surreptitiously supply them or ferry equipment from outisde the Occupied
Region, and Solomani commodores with too few ships and limited resources
attempt to deal with the problem under mounting pressure from Home. To
liven things up, every so often, somebody makes a move against a neighboring
government, on scales from the interplanetary to the intersector.
Meanwhile, other regions are stable enough that one hardly knows the
Imperium has fallen. Deneb -- the light behind the claw. Vland and
Antares -- an uneasy peace. Delphi and Daibei -- threatened on several
fronts, but hanging on. Core and Ilelish -- waiting and watching for the
next blow.
I don't think this would require any Computer "Virus" or any major changes
beyond an advancement of a few years. This could be a game that I might
play. But it would need to be supported and maintained. I am not against
a rules revision -- in fact, there are some things that it would be nice to
see changed. But I am afraid that it might lead to the continued neglect
of Adventures and background supplements, which I would think would sell
better once players are established, as many players of Traveller are.
- --Steve
[email removed]
"Mega- what? What does the metric system have to do with a SF-RPG?"