I don't know if there's really any point in me saying this, but maybe if
enough people say the same thing, it might have some influence.
I'm more or less totally ignorant of MegaTraveller -- the only time I have
ever played it was in the TML pbem, and mechanics and such were almost
entirely absent from the players view.
I do run a 2300AD pbem, but again in almost two years I have hauled out the
game mechanics ONCE, made a couple of die rolls, and then went on with the
game. I have nearly all the worldbooks--I kept buying them because they were
GOOD, and I enjoyed reading them even if I never got a chance to use them.
The only MegaTrav book I own is the Rebellion Sourcebook, and it seemed like-
wise well-written and well-thought-out. (Never having seen old Traveller, I
have no particular emotional reaction to "what's been done to The Empire".)
If I buy any of NeoTraveller, or whatever it is to be called, is going to
depend on two things: a reasonable price, and the quality of the background
material.
I don't know--maybe you will be able to present this virus thing with enough
explanation to make it plausible. I won't prejudge the issue. My big
question is WHY?
There seem to be some terribly fundamental objections to this virus--not
arguments based on current understanding of computer science, but things
like "how can every computer everywhere in the Imperium be vulnerable to
one attack form?" "why hasn't the military (e.g.) thought of it before? and
why aren't there defences?" It seems awfully improbable that any attack
form could be developed to the total perfection required to destroy trillions
(quadrillions?) of computers WITHOUT CONCURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF DEFENCES.
Anyway, I won't beat that argument any more. I'll grant that with sufficient
ingenuity, a scenario could be devised.
But why? It's practically a Law of Nature not to use two explanations when
one would do. AND YOU ALREADY HAVE TWO PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE EXPLANATIONS,
JUST SITTING THERE.
(1) The Imperium apparently already has a Long Night in its history (I'm not
an expert). Why create another one?
but better yet,
(2) practically my first thought on reading the Rebellion Sourcebook was, "how
the hell can they clean up this mess?". Simple answer: they can't. The
various factions exhaust each other in fighting, contract on themselves
and abandon vast swathes of space. Petty empires arise, bombard each
other, and die, dragging the tech level down. All organisation fails,
and gradually Man's space presence in these forsaken regions is reduced
to lone raiders and reavers, preying off of nearly defenceless planets.
Voila, Star Viking. Practically a historical inevitability, and no viruses
to insult anyone's intelligence. Also, fractured regions of the Imperium
remain, for those who like things the way they were, and in the frontier
reaches, virtually any degree of tech and chaos is possible, for those
who like such things.
It sounds fantastic to me.
roald.
- --
I want to laugh and sing. -- Gauss the Dawg