>You mean that with all the OTHER silly musical names in Gamba sector
>I can't add one more? Why don't we have a balkanized planet named
>Guitar? With the nations Fender, Gibson, and Danelectro? Maybe a
>world named Xpander? Metlay? :-)
Make fun of me at your peril, sonny boy. Make fun of my Xpander and
you've had it. |-> Besides, following your Guitar model, that world
would be named Oberheim. Which has a nice ring to it, but....
My two cents' worth on the "let's do it ourselves" idea is simple:
I don't think it can be done. Witness TDR.
People have too many divergent opinions and are too willing to argue
down into the level of the trivial without agreeing on generalities to
ever produce an alternative to what's published by GDW. People are on
this group because they love to talk and to argue, more so than to
listen. Some people believe that all we need is a new scenario in
which to run our Traveller campaigns. Others believe that the rules
need to be overhauled. Everyone is so fond of pushing their knowledge
of specific social or physical sciences that no idea can get off the
ground without getting shot full of holes. The end result is that a
lot of noise gets made and a lot of ground gets churned up, but no
one actually GETS anywhere. (Kind of like a tractor pull....) You
can't write an RPG by committee. Marc Miller had a lot of holes in
his background, but he got Traveller up and going because he didn't
have to argue with anyone. As long as you have a few dedicated
writers, a lot of scathing but unconstructive critics, and a mass of
lazy jackasses howling for changes they're unwilling to work for,
you shouldn't expect a miracle.
I will state my opinion for the record, and then bow out of this
discussion for good. We should keep the existing rules we're used to
using-- for some, that'll be Classic Trav, for others MT, for still
others homebrew variants (TDR being only one of many), for others TNE
when it comes out (ah, the need to be current), and for still others
completely different rules systems (I know of people running the
Imperium universe in GURPS, Space Opera, and even AD&D). We could
then, as an intellectual enterprise, write the equivalent of a GURPS
sourcebook, based on the simple premise that Strephon never died. But
I predict that this won't get any farther than an argument over
whether the first new historical item should be the declaration of a
new Emperor in Ilelish (assuming Dulinor tried and failed) or
something else (assuming he never tried).
People will accuse me of cynicism and of being a "wet blanket." Well,
maybe. But everyone seems to be in the habit of getting all fired up
about these grand designs and then suffering major letdowns when they
go flat; I think we should enjoy doing things on a small scale, like
Gamba, and enjoy the victories of which we ARE capable. I believe that
if a Strephon-never-died book for GDW is ever going to get written and
published successfully, it'll be done by one person with one vision.
- --
metlay | and she's a master of return hitting
atomic city | giving rhythm to her posts
| so you read her and think hey it sounds good
[email removed] | and wish her posts had a soundtrack too (f. ercolessi)