Recent events on TML

Seth the Lesser [email removed] writes:
> Ah, but protium (hydrogen-1, the most common isotope) is useless for
> fusion unless you use a carbon-nitrogen cycle or some such.

This is one of the things that was covered in the "Traveller Done Right"
discussions; available in the archive is a good capsule description of how a
protium fusion power plant might work.


[email removed] (metlay) rants:
> ... The customer must be pleased, and
> communicate this pleasure to the seller.

This customer was not pleased, and has communicated this displeasure to the
seller.  If GDW wants to hear nice things, then they should publish only
those games that they can stand behind with pride (Twilight:2000 definitely
does fall int this category; unfortunately, it is not a genre in which I
enjoy playing.  The same goes for Dark Conspiracy).

Or are you telling me that I should only say good things about FSSI?  Well,
I suppose the artwork was OK; but the fact of the matter is that it was a
shoddy product that should never have been allowed out of the door.

There have been very few MegaTraveller products where I felt satisfied with
my purchase.  For reference, these exceptions have been the DGP Alien
volumes, the Flaming Eye sourcebook, and the GDW Hard Times.  I have also
just purchased Diaspora and Assignment: Vigilante (and detailed comments
will follow shortly) and my overall impression of these two is good.

> ... and I am NOT advocating that the TML scale back to the
> pulled-teeth wimpiness of the GEnie round tables.

Good!  I should certainly hope that TML will not change significantly in tone
or character.  A good amount of useful information gets exchanged here; and
refusing to discuss the flaws of a poor product out of "consideration" for
GDW's feelings will not help TML or GDW in the long run.

> If I sound overly sensitive about this,
> it's because of the one last factor in this issue that I haven't mentioned
> yet: the glass wall you're staring at right now as you read these lines
> of text. I've broken through it, and have done for over ten years.

If you're ever in the Washington DC area, send me E-Mail or call me at home
[phone removed] and we can try to get together.  I'm always interested in
meeting TML members whenever it can be arranged; if there is anybody else
lurking out there that will be in the area, give a call and we'll at least
talk!

I don't believe that I've ever written anything (either for TML or for any
other public net.forum) that I would not have said in a print letter to or
in a face-to-face conversation with any of the persons involved.


[email removed] (Ameer) writes:
> [about the settlement of the sword worlds]

Perhaps the configuration of the sword worlds was so tempting (in terms of
easy jump-1 accessability, mineral resources, etc.) that the only fly in the
ointment (the existance of the Darrians nearby) was overlooked.

> Lastly from a lack of response can I presume that no one knows when
> the Solomani "Gene War" occured.....??

I don't know of anything published that nails down the date of the Gene
War.  But I have a proposal about the "Gene War".  Perhaps it could refer to
a war in wich a tailored bioagent was used in an attempted genocide?  The
Sword Worlders, being of fairly uniform ethnic background, would have made a
good target for such an attack.  Being the first such attempt, it may not
have been lethal enough to kill everyone infected.  On the other hand, after
surviving such an attack, I would certainly not stick around to see if the
enemy could get it right.  Perhaps such a war would have been over religous,
cultural, or philosophical differences; humans always have been, and still
are, and probably will be forever killing one another for reasons like
these.


[email removed] writes:
>     Despite what people think or decide to believe. I do believe that
> GDW has TNE's best interests at heart, and it does look like they'll be
> opening up playtesting to other people, and hopefully here on the TML
> as well.

I don't know about anyone else, but I can see the rationale behind the new
rules set and the New Era background.  If well thought out, competently
written, and properly edited, it will be enjoyable to play and to write
for.  I want to do everything I can to make sure that TNE is the best game
that it can be.

>     Everybody already knows what a kludge MT was, so what's the sense
> in repeating that all the time? (I think by now even the densest person
> would get that point). Even Joe Fugate got to admitting what a
> mistake it was.

Speaking for myself (but I suspect that this is true of many others here as
well), I wouldn't be giving GDW so much heat if I didn't care about them
and about their products.  GDW has done some pretty amazing things in the
past, and (in my opinion) *SHOULD* still be capable of them.  This makes it
awfully dissapointing when products are so poor.  Recent MegaTraveller
products (in particular: Hard Times, Assignment: Vigilante, and Diaspora
Sector) have given me hope that GDW can remember how to do good work.

However, it bears repeating (yet one more time) that a careful editing job,
combined with outside playtesting would have caught almost all of the
crippling problems with MegaTraveller before they grew to embarrasing
proportions.

>     At the moment my main concerns are how open the playtesting will
> be, and hoping GDW doesn't rush the product out before the bugs are
> mostly removed at least (I'm more tired of others of seeing errata/updates
> put out because the product was rushed out to meet some deadline).

I have to agree.  It is in this area that GDW will make or break Traveller:
The New Era.  I, too would rather wait than have to put up with the kind of
mess that accompanied MegaTraveller.  If that sort of thing happens again,
it will probably kill Traveller.  Dead.  Forever.  And that would be bad.

Specific suggestions for GDW include:
  (1) A careful internal edit and review.  Preferably get someone who is
      interested but not already familliar with the material; this is the
      best way to quickly spot many types of errors.
  (2) Outside playtesting involving a large number of players of a broad
      range of experience levels.  This means getting TML and HIWG
      involved as well trying to pull in people who have never even seen
      a rpg before.
  (3) Remain open to outside ideas; nobody can think of everything all the
      time.  I am willing to bet that at least one playtest group comes
      up with an new idea that would significantly improve the game in
      ways the designers never even considered.


[email removed] (Jeff Zeitlin) writes:
> To date, I have not seen the "complete" virus story.  I saw part of
> it (what I would consider a lead-in to it) in the insert in
> Challenge 64, but....  I would appreciate it if someone could
> synopsize it here.  I'd also appreciate seeing the alternate story
> you propose.

Believe it or not, I haven't had any comments on my virus posting yet.  For
this group, that is shocking!  Come on, folks!  If it was that bad, tell
me so and I'll shut up about it; if not, then tell me where it needs
fixing!

Come to think of it, I haven't heard anything on the starport traffic and
facilities generator, nor have I heard back on the vector movement system.

Aha!  My virus story took over everyone's computers and reprogrammed them
into artificial intelligence machines.  The newly-intelligent computers are
paranoid about role-playing games, and so are removing all references to
my postings from TML.  (to be taken with a *BIG* ;-)


[email removed] (metlay) writes:
> ... I, for one, am
> going to be watching to see not only who makes either a deliberate
> effort to be polite OR obnoxious now that GDW is here, but also
> to observe which formerly cantankerous posters suddenly lose the
> will to go head to head with the Keepers of the Canon Law. It should
> be a blast. |->

So far the only people whose postings are significantly different from
usual has been you and me! ;)

> (Five will get you ten that Bart Massey was referring to me, folx.)

Probably, but we like you anyway. :)


Cynthia Higginbotham [email removed] (acutually Steve?) writes:
> No, but if I can read a copy in advance, and find out that it has a
> lousy starship combat system, I won't buy my own copy.  And if the news
> (rumours) going around about TNE don't imply that it has definitely
> shaped up from MT, I won't buy one UNLESS I can read it first and
> determine whether it is worth buying.

I've got to agree with Cynthia here.  MegaTraveller has cost GDW a good bit
of my trust; I feel as if I have been taken advantage of.  There was once a
time when I would buy a GDW product in a shrinkwrapped box, sight unseen.
Now I won't.  I used to recommend Traveller to my friends and acquaintances.
Now I can't.

> BTW, I missed something:  "pay for the privilege"?  What was that
> supposed to mean?

Loren Wiseman gets TML through the Genie<=>Internet mail gateway.  He
(presumably actually GDW) has to pay for each and every byte.  Ouch.

> If Loren Wiseman
> wants us to treat GDW like "people", then he should try posting
> occassionally.  Maybe after we nattered with him a while, we'd
> understand GDW's problems a little better, and care a little more what
> they thought of us...

This would be a good idea.  We're not talking about any sort of big
"secrets" here; most new TMLers (at least, the ones that don't begin by
asking questions) post something where they tell who they are, what they
do, how they feel about Traveller, and what they hope to get out of TML.

> Perhaps the "Official History" says
> they knew of the Darrians, but they were really caught flat-footed when
> they discovered their next-door neighbors (whom they didn't really
> want), and changed history to imply that they had planned it that way
> all along.

Hmmm.  This could work.  Or perhaps they did only a cursory survey (which
noted the existance of low-tech human settlements) and failed to notice the
remnants of the previous high-tech Darrian civilization.  Figuring that a
couple of backward planets wouldn't be too much to handle if ever there was
a need to, they went ahead and settled next door.


[email removed]
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                                                 Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                         in the Far Future