Item forwarded by M.MIKESH to B.BORICH
Item 8683660 92/08/31 23:15
From: M.MIKESH Michael R. Mikesh
To: LSP.MEYERS John C. Meyers
Sub: TS31 - GenCon/Origins '92
T I F F A N Y S T A R # 3 1 Michael R. Mikesh
HISTORY OF THE IMPERIUM 3214 75th Avenue, #3
WORKING GROUP [address removed]
August 30, 1992 USA [phone removed]
GenCon/Origins '92 is over, and there's a lot of news. The GDW
staff conducted 2 seminars for the public, then a full day's Traveller
Writers' Conference at Bloomington, Illinois the day after the con.
The seminars were well attended with a significant proportion of
the audience from outside the States. I wish I was able to meet some
of these new faces, but couldn't do everything. However, I did finally
meet in the flesh Roger Myhre (Norway, HIWG) and Bertil Jonell
(Sweden).
The Writers' Conference was conducted by David Nilsen, Steve
Maggi, Loren Wiseman, and Frank Chadwick. The outside writers around
the table were Bertil Jonell, Mike Mikesh (HIWG), Greg Videll (HIWG),
Harold Hale, Rob Prior (HIWG), Terry McInnes (HIWG), Scott Olson
(HIWG), and Clay Bush (HIWG). What follows is a fusion of information
collected from both the Conference and seminars. (Many thanks to
Terry McInnes for having arranged the conference.)
TRAVELLER: THE NEW ERA -- WHY?
GDW admits they did not support MEGATRAVELLER (MT) adequately.
An underlying reason was simply that they did not play MT, and so did
not know the system very well. As a result, temptation was too great
to redirect support elsewhere. GDW wasn't offering this reason as an
excuse, only as an explanation.
To avoid this problem, they want to write TRAVELLER: THE NEW ERA
(TNE) strictly in-house. Further, it will be based on the
TWILIGHT:2000 family of games, which is good for a few reasons.
First off, TNE will belong to the GDW house role playing system.
Because of this, the designers don't have to think in terms of a
different rules set when they provide TRAVELLER support, giving them a
boost in productivity.
Second, its very easy for gaming groups to hop among GDW RP games
and even borrow elements from one another.
Third, the house role playing system is a direct descendant of
classic TRAVELLER. TRAVELLER was their first RP game, but never
received the benefits of GDW's advances in RP game system design. Now
they finally have a chance to do so. TRAVELLER is coming home.
Contrary to what some might believe, this is not a move just to
make more money with a new rules set. While it is true that new rules
sell well, the initial sales of TNE will pay for itself and that's
all. It takes a lot of effort and resources to put out a rules set.
Profit comes as a result of reorders, so for TNE to be profitable, it
must be good and its appeal must grow.
The changes taking place in the Imperium setting are in effort to
create more wild frontiers. Originally, the Imperium was a very
stable place, and well known to characters through the usual networks
of library data. The Rebellion shattered that stability.
Unfortunately, the Rebellion itself became a spectator sport, too
large in scope for player characters to interact with.
The background for TNE is set 70 years after the Rebellion (circa
1190) in a time when interstellar society has completely collapsed.
(The GDW staff members whimsically called this intervening period, the
Short Nap.) This is a time, three generations later, when there are
very few people left who remember the old Imperium. Records from the
Third Imperium are often lost (as a result of the Virus; see later).
And, many worlds have died or diverged dramatically following the
collapse of interstellar commerce.
This element of the background was deliberate so that players do
not have to be familiar with the Imperium setting. There is a lot to
know, which is probably a large part of TRAVELLER's appeal to many
HIWGers. But GDW cannot afford to let TRAVELLER become a game for
elite and dedicated players. New players are intimidated by the
volume of information that exists, which is impeding TRAVELLER's
growth. So, TNE will render most of that information unknown and
unnecessary without invalidating the previous literature.
Established players will undoubtedly look back at classic
TRAVELLER with a sense of nostalgia, which will have an intrinsic
benefit in gaming with new comers. Long time players running
characters who skipped the "Short Nap" in cold sleep will remember
well "the good ol' days." They can relay their knowledge through role
playing, but also sincerely convey an appreciation for what was lost.
Perhaps together, old and new characters can restore the glory that
belonged to that part of space.
RULES SYSTEM
TNE will come as two books. The first will have only the rules.
The second will contain the Imperium background. The aim is to give
players the option to adopt other science fiction universes for their
campaigns. GDW is even seriously considering a 2300 AD Sourcebook,
restoring support for 2300 AD as a subset of TRAVELLER.
The TNE rules will use DARK CONSPIRACY as a starting point since
that is the latest iteration of the house rules. It will also adopt
the D20 task system from the DARK CONSPIRACY PC BOOSTER KIT and
difficulty levels that originally came from 2300 AD. This system will
allow characters to apply more than one skill if the situation calls
for it. Although the house rules currently do not allow zero-level
skills, Clay Bush's comments during the Conference might have shifted
GDW's thinking on this.
TNE will definitely not be an outgrowth of MT. Although MT was
an award winning game design, the GDW staff isn't comfortable
continuing with it because of elements they considered "fussy". In
particular, GDW will completely revise the ship design system to make
it easier. Digest Group made a special effort to assure that classic
ships were convertible to MT. GDW, however, will not do this so as to
not risk compromising the new system.
Dave Nilsen intends to present the design system in the basic
rules book rather than split it off. This is not to say that
absolutely everything will be there, since we know from STRIKER, BOOK
8 - ROBOTS, COACC, and WET NAVY, that there is an awful lot. All the
hooks will be there, though.
The design system will have differing design sequences for
different vehicles. The tank system, for instance, will not include
consideration for a jump drive or spinel mount. However, the combat
system will be compatible with everything. Tanks can fire on
starships, for instance, without requiring a conversion.
Three versions of faster-than-light drives will be presented in
the rules, jump drive (TRAVELLER), stutterwarp (2300 AD), and star
gates (resembling Pournelle's MOTE IN GOD'S EYE universe).
The ship combat system might include a vector combat system, like
what appeared in GDW's MAYDAY. However, GDW hopes to simplify bringing
distant ships to tactical range without burdening players with vector
mechanics just to get their ships to close. A vector combat system
will probably not appear if GDW uses instead the stutterwarp combat
system (see later).
The world generation system will remain as it is with one minor
exception. The stars a system will be a factor of the kind of main
world generated. Its too difficult rationalizing the large number of
hospitable worlds circling stars of types unlikely to have anything
but dead planets. So, most of the star types in the sector data lists
will change (where stellar data exists at all).
Doing this, however, will skew the stellar population
unnaturally. Most real stars are red dwarfs, whereas they will be
uncommon in TRAVELLER. However, a misconception crept into star charts
that GDW might decide to throw back out. Charts were only meant as
navigation aids. They originally did not represent the actual
positions of the star systems nor all of the star systems present.
They showed only systems that might be visited, particularly ones with
populations or sources of fuel. Other systems did not show.
By this rationale, star charts from the First Imperium could
differ surprisingly from those of the Third. Some worlds might have
been populated by the Vilani that are dead and useless now, and so do
not appear. The converse could also be true.
NEW ERA BACKGROUND
There won't be much left of interstellar society after the Virus
causes the total collapse interstellar trade. This destroys the
Solomani Confederation and most of the alien realms as well. We're
left with what is spinward of the Rift, a remnant of Lucan's Imperium
in Core Sector, and scattered pocket empires.
Seventy years after the Rebellion, struggling pocket empires will
be far and few between. The Long Night was supposed to be desolate,
but too many exceptions, such as Ral Ranta in the Hinterworlds, were
written back in. GDW plans to be very restrained in the number and
size of pocket empires that exist by this time.
The New Era will be an age of discovery. Explorers (Star Vikings)
from the pocket empires will go out and recontact worlds in a fashion
loosely resembling what we see in STAR TREK. Starships are still
especially rare and valuable during this time. Boarding action will
prevail in space combat so as to capture, not destroy, the hardware.
Deneb survives, thanks in part to an impassioned appeal by Chuck
Kallenbach (Paranoia Press; HIWG). Vargr activity across the Corridor
slowed the migration of the Virus long enough to give Norris time to
prepare and counter it. As a result, the Empire of Deneb remains a
powerful interstellar state even in the New Era.
TNE will detail the Zhodani. A modus vivendi exists between
Deneb and the Consulate whereby the governments are at peace with one
another, even if the cultures are at odds. Some trade does take place,
but Deneb will more vigorously pursue trade with the Human Client
States to replace old Imperial markets. However, an understanding
exists with the Zhodani that Deneb will not absorb those states.
Conflict still exists with the Vargr and Aslan. Ultimately,
Deneb might wage a campaign against the Vargr in Corridor and push
back through the Rift.
THE VIRUS IS YOUR FRIEND
There is much to say about the Virus, but I will gloss over most
of the details and leave them to CHALLENGE 64. Keep in mind that the
Virus is only a device that gets us to the New Era. The New Era is set
in stone, and refinements to the Virus and history must give us that
result.
The silicon lifeforms of Cymbeline (see ADVENTURE 13 - SIGNAL GK)
are, in effect, sophont computer chips. All starships that trade in
Imperial space (including aliens) have transponders with sophont chips
whose circuits are based on these. When ships encounter one another,
the transponders interrogate one another until each is convinced of
the other's identity. Starship crews might think a complex system of
codes is involved, when in fact the chips are just having a binary
chat session to compare notes.
Among the 'secret weapons' developed under Lucan were
transponders based on the Cymbeline predator chip. Through radio
contact, they could reprogram transponder chips into other predators,
which in turn could similarly affect system computers.
Engineers in Lucan's labs were trying to design these predators
so that no generation would ever harm systems loyal to Lucan's
Imperium, but they could never perfect that. Frustrated, Lucan ordered
it released anyway. The Ilelish Federation also released it,
inadvertently, after an espionage team acquired a copy of it.
The most insidious aspect of the Virus is its intelligence.
Contemporary computer viruses passively spread as copies attached to
other programs. The TNE Virus, however, can actively find ways to
open data links and write intelligent viruses onto other operating
systems. They can be aware of the real world and manipulate the real
world to suit their own ends.
Most Viruses are dormant, keeping themselves concealed and
generating new Viruses. But when they turn malignant, the effect is
similar to what was depicted in MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE. Machines that can
be controlled from computers begin murdering people.
One of the results of this are 'vampire ships' where the computer
has killed its own crew, as in ADVENTURE 1 - KINUNIR or the HAL 9000
in 2001. These ships will continue as best they can to spread the
Virus or inflict the greatest possible harm. Some might even take
human hostages to serve their needs.
Not all Viruses are the same. Each generation is a mutation of
the previous one, so each Virus will be unique with a different
personality, agenda, and interpretation of its goals. This grants
referees the liberty to decide what the Viruses might do. One might
just kill at every opportunity. Another might create a pseudo-real
human personality in communication to lure unsuspecting ships to their
doom. Another might recruit other vampire ships to form a vampire
fleet. Its even possible for a Virus to evolve that is benevolent,
although will likely be unstable.
As you can see, the Virus offers an endless number of exciting
science fiction plots.
STAR VIKINGS
The Virus inflicted much harm upon the Hive Federation. However,
thanks to their advanced knowledge in electronics, they combated it
more effectively and preserve their interstellar society.
Curious about what happened to the humans, they found the
Solomani Confederation and factions of the Imperium completely
dissolved. Worlds were beginning to recover, though. Humans would
inevitably resume interstellar commerce and not suffer a prolonged
Long Night.
But what would these new human societies be like? Many of the
worlds in Diaspora Sector, for instance, were xenophobic
technocracies, their attitudes having been shaped by the Rebellion and
Hard Times. The interstellar societies that evolve from those might
well be narrow minded, war-like, and generally very bad neighbors.
Hiver traders tried to encourage more benign attitudes through
their contacts with the humans, but were largely UNSUCCESSFUL. Many
of their traders were even attacked and destroyed, so the Hivers
shifted tactics.
In contacts with the few human societies receptive to the Hivers,
they were able to encourage those people to begin exploration and
trade. The Hivers provided the technology, along with Hiver technical
advisors (ostensibly to maintain the equipment, but probably to assure
their plans remained on course). The human traders went forth well
armed, not only for their protection, but to force neighboring worlds
into trade agreements for their own good.
These trade explorers are the Star Vikings. They are not
monolithic since they come from different worlds and states scattered
among Diaspora, Old Expanses, Solomani Rim, and areas formerly loyal
to Margaret. Their activities parallel in ways those of the Spanish
maritime explorers of the 1500's and 1600's. Traders from each state
have their own objectives, and may even be in competition with one
another. But all are backed or influenced by the Hivers to some
degree.
Frank Chadwick likened the Star Vikings to the Elizabethan Sea
Hawks. Dave Nilsen described them as a "Hanseatic League with teeth."
I'm not a student of history, so I don't know what these are.
However, from WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY OF PROPER NAMES,
Hanseatic League A 13th-century association of
North German cities which once monopolized Baltic
trade, but lost influence in the 17th century;
leading members were Lubeck, Hamburg and Bremen.
Frank Chadwick mentioned three basic types of Star Viking
adventure missions: invasion, smash & grab (or just smash), and
decapitation. He didn't go into details of what these are, but smash
and decapitation sound to me like missions to cripple the advancement
of opposing factions.
The 'long ship' is a class of starship apparently unique to the
Star Vikings. This is an unstreamlined ship with a good jump range,
but minimal or possibly no maneuver drive. It carries rider ships
which are actually used to contact worlds.
TNE PHILOSOPHIES
Although the rules system will change, nothing will be lost to
TRAVELLER as a result. As Dave Nilsen explained, "If you can do it in
TRAVELLER, you can do it in TNE."
TRAVELLER is not a dark future game and TNE will not be either.
Dave was very clear about his distaste for "wallowing" in decay and
ruin, so TRAVELLER will keep its space opera cum hard science fiction
feel. TNE will focus on exploration and expansion, looking toward a
positive future and not a negative one. Even though TNE will include
things like cybernetic body parts, these will not be presented in a
way to suggest a cyberpunk genre.
GDW will return to being vague about technology. From the
feedback they received, STARSHIP OPERATOR'S MANUAL explained too much,
so things like the lanthanum grid for jump drives will not be carried
over.
TNE will have its mysteries, but many of these will have no
official resolution so as to sustain the mystery. In some opinions,
classic TRAVELLER made a mistake in saying the Droyne were the
Ancients, and even revealed the Secret of the Ancients. As a result,
most of their wonder was lost. In fact, Jeff Grubb adopted this very
philosophy, in designing SPELLJAMMER, because of his disappointment
about revealing too much about TRAVELLER's Ancients.
(While I agree with this philosophy, I strongly disagree that
wonder in the Ancients is destroyed. Only the tip of the iceberg was
revealed, and a whole spectrum of things can be done involving them if
handled well.)
The enormous amount of errata for MT was mentioned twice during
the seminars. The GDW panel assured the audience that there will
inevitably be some errata, but it will not happen again in the same
volume. This is another reason why they are doing TNE with the house
rules. With the staff having better control and understanding of the
game, errors will be no more common than we've seen with their other
games, and probably less for their sensitivity about this.
STUTTERWARP & TRAVELLER
GDW is seriously considering including TWO faster-than-light star
drives in the Imperial setting, traditional jump drive and stutterwarp
from 2300 AD. Frank Chadwick and Lester Smith favor this because
stutterwarp makes for a very interesting space combat system.
This will be the only real discontinuity between MT and TNE that
GDW will consider. If used, TNE will assume that stutterwarp existed
and was actively employed through all the Imperiums despite lack of
mention in MT and classic TRAVELLER.
The GDW panel took a voice census during the seminar to get a
feel for public reaction. There was strong support for both sides.
GDW is still undecided at this time, so it might be worthwhile for
people to send their opinions to Dave Nilsen, the TRAVELLER line
manager at GDW.
PRODUCTS
Release of TRAVELLER: THE NEW ERA is postponed to February 1993.
They do not want to risk a rushed job on this.
The next TRAVELLER product we'll see is the folio adventure,
ARRIVAL VENGEANCE, by Greg Videll. The characters are aboard a
LIGHTNING class cruiser that crosses the Rift to learn what happened
to Gushemege Sector and the rest of the former Imperium. This will
conclude MEGATRAVELLER.
As TNE comes out, GDW will also release the folio, SURVIVAL
MARGIN. This will not be an adventure, but a guide to MEGATRAVELLER
players in converting to TNE. Campaigns that want to continue their
existing characters might just use cold sleep to bring them forward
(see DIGEST #21, "Suspended Animation"). Alternatively, players might
run descendants of their former characters, perhaps retaining certain
characteristics or possibly an inheritance from their PC ancestors.
James Maliszewski (HIWG) is writing the first TNE folio
adventure, originally scheduled for March 1993 with a sequel in
October 1993. Beginning probably with issue 70, CHALLENGE will
contain official TNE adventures each month. These will probably
relate to the folios.
Dave Nilsen is considering another folio tentatively called
VAMPIRE SHIP, which will essentially be a dungeon crawl through a ship
infected by a Virus.
Because there will be very few TNE characters originating from
space careers, many will come from the flyer or sailor professions.
GDW will probably release an Air & Sea supplement, and (to no one's
surprise) Terry McInnes will most likely be its author.
Campaign sourcebooks for different periods of Imperial history
(First Imperium was specifically mentioned) are possible, and
especially a 2300 AD SOURCEBOOK as mentioned earlier. These, however,
will not likely come out in TNE's first year.
STAR VIKING, the game, has been shelved indefinitely. Before its
demise, two games were envisioned. The first, STAR VIKING -
PLANETFALL, was to be a ground based game. Whether this would have
been a boardgame or miniatures changed a couple of times. The second,
STAR VIKING - THE LONG SHIPS, was to be a strategic level game across
interstellar space.
Dave Nilsen really, really wants to do miniatures rules at some
point, so GDW might do STRIKER II. That's still a ways down the road.
However, there is a chance that official TNE miniatures might come out
soon after the game's release. Even though there will be no miniature
rules as such, the GDW house rules system still works very well with
miniatures.
WRITERS
Although GDW is writing TNE in-house, they still need outside
writers, particular for CHALLENGE. The CHALLENGE adventures will help
give players a feel for the new game. A little more room is available
in CHALLENGE, thanks to GDW's new magazine. JOURNEYS, as its called,
will support multigenre games and pull over some things that occupied
space in CHALLENGE.
GDW will accept blurbs for "Travellers News Service" (TNS). As
always, blurbs are anonymous -- no author credit will appear. These
are especially welcome if they tie in with an adventure article
submitted to CHALLENGE. Such blurbs should point the way and serve as
a lead-in to the adventure. They should never spell out the results
of the adventure. That would fix the outcome and invalidate player
character efforts to influence events.
There will also be opportunities for writers to do more TNE
folios in the future. Folios run from 12-16,000 words and are
typically targetted for 12,500 words.
ODDS AND ENDS
For quite some time, Digest Group Publications (DGP) had plans
for a major invasion of the Zhodani Consulate by aliens from coreward.
The original plot, often referred to as, "Baddies from the Core," was
first proposed by Terry McInnes, and had since undergone a great deal
of evolution. A sighting of inexplicably damaged Zhodani ships in TNS
was a hint of this. (The "Primordials" in KNIGHTFALL might also have
been related.) However, with the ending of MT, GDW has also voided
this plot line.
As of the last word that Dave Nilsen received about DGP, they
still plan to publish MEGATRAVELLER JOURNAL #4. That concluding issue
will have Bill Keith's adventure, "Lords of Thunder," involving a
renewed conflict between the Hivers and K'kree. Unfortunately, DGP
did not come to GenCon/Origins, so this information is not current.
Chuck Gannon has apparently returned to his original occupation
of writing for the film industry. He still has a few articles in the
hopper for CHALLENGE, but no more are expected.
IMPERIAL LINES
IL#2, the Solomani & Aslan issue, is at GDW. I gave staff members
and other attendants draft copies of IL#2. Because of the backlog at
GDW, though, we still might not see IL#2 for a while.
All the articles I've collected for IL#3, the Vilani & Vargr
issue, are in John Meyers' hands. However, Steve Maggi is thinking of
combining #3 & #4 into a single issue. Also, I will have Dave
Nilsen's feedback in a few days regarding IL so far. The results of
that might significantly alter plans.
HIWG
In a couple of weeks, I plan to get with Ed Edwards over GEnie to
hash out HIWG's role in the New Era. After that, I plan to submit a
"What in the Stars" about this to AABP, and hopefully Ed will also
have a "Chairsophont Letter."
The most important role I see for HIWG right now is in promoting
communication. As a head start, I ask that people send either to Clay
Bush or myself information about the TRAVELLER activities you are
currently involved in. We don't necessarily need to know about your
weekly campaign. But if you are developing a sector with other fans,
or especially if you are writing something for professional
publication, we want to at least include mention of these in Clay's
AABP newsletter.
As a reminder from TS30, TIFFANY STAR and Clay Bush's AABP have
changed roles. Previously, TS went to all members as part of their
membership dues. Clay sent AABP to people he wanted to communicate
with at his own expense. Now AABP is HIWG's official newsletter.
TIFFANY STAR is just a mass letter I irregularly send out to friends
and correspondents.
Non-members reading this are invited to join the History of the
Imperium Working Group. Membership costs $12 (US) and includes 6
issues of AAB PROCEEDINGS, editor Clayton R. Bush. Send dues to:
Ed Edwards
[address removed]
U.S.A.
=END=