Steve Higginbotham's reply to Loren Wiseman prompts me to add my heaviest
objection to the proposed 3rd Edition of Traveller. I've mentioned it
before, but I feel so strongly about it, that I'd really, really like to
be sure that the folks at GDW has at least heard my argument. So Bryan,
would you indulge me and please forward this to Loren Wiseman too?
> BTW, I do NOT disapprove of your third edition of Traveller. And I
> don't approve of it because of your second edition, but in spite of it.
> But let's see some good work, with an editor who EDITs, rather than
> spell-checks with his word-processor. And a little reality checking
> wouldn't hurt, either.
I don't disapprove of a revision of MegaTraveller either. In fact, if
you can repair some of MegaTraveller's defects so much the better. But
I strongly disapprove of your plans to invalidate most of the background
information that has been slowly building up over the last 15 years. As
I understand it, you even consider that wealth of information detrimental
in some way. Not I. One of the great problems with a startravelling role-
playing campaign is the sheer amount of information that the PCs should
have at their fingertips, but that the Referee simply haven't the time
to provide. Pick up a tourist guide to some country and look through it.
This is the kind of information that a PC should be able to get out of
any decent library data program, not just for every planet around him,
but for each seperate region of every planet around him. That's totally
impossible to provide, of course, but at least the information level for
a few of the regions of the Imperium were beginning to approach something
near the absolute bare minimum. And now you want to move the game back-
ground forward through 80 years of social upheaval, thereby ensuring that
only the geographical details will remain valid - and not those either
come to think about it... planetary bombardments must surely rearrange
the face of the planets too...
If you persist in your plans I advise you to publish the new rules and
the new background seperately. You will thereby ensure at least one
sale of the rulebook. I'd be eager to buy improved rules, but I'm not
going to invest in a new background.
Let me also implore you to keep up support of the current timeline. I
don't intend to dump my current campaign and start up a new one 80 years
later with new PCs and NPCs. I've spend too much time building up the
ones I've got now, thank you.
> Last comments: If you need someone to give something a fine-tooth
> "internal logic check", I'm always here.
I too would be pleased to assist you in this manner.
Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
[email removed]
- ------------
"And now to conclude and to finish my song.
Let us hope that these hard times, they will not last long.
I hope soon to have occasion to alter my song;
and sing: All the good times of the Empire.
In the Empire are jolly good times."