GDW:
First, I'd like to say I've really liked reading Loren Wiseman's
replies to comments on the TML. This time last year, I was feeling
quite discouraged by what seemed to be a general lack of interest
and/or antipathy on the part of GDW in what TML participants thought.
Loren's interest and thoughtful answers have dispelled that feeling
for the most part. I look forward to Loren's and GDW's continued
interest in TML commentary.
Zhodani:
Mostly due to my friend, Scott "2G", I took an interest in the Zhodani
after reading parts of his _4.5th Frontier War_. Jim Kelleher and I
have spent many pleasant hours evolving an adventure putting five of
our "Denebian" imperials from Spinward on a shared mission with a bunch
of Zhodani. (The setting is post-Rebellion, but pre-TNE - more on this
later.) Since we're both deeply into character-developement and role-
playing, we've discussed at length how the neo-Regency and Zhodani cultures
clash. We've come to a few basic conclusions, which make us happy, though
I'm sure other Zhodani fans may disagree. (Feel free to disagree! After
all, this is our version of a Traveller universe - yours has every right
to be different :-)
I don't want to hog too much post-space, so I'll restrict my comments for
now to the Tavrchedl': right off the bat, we decided the glottal stop after
the "l" on the end of the word is impossible to pronounce. I myself tend to
drop it when writing up our adventure summaries. Trivial comments aside, we
feel that based on the write up in the old Traveller Alien Module 4, the
Tavrchedl' is kind of like Judge Dread. The Tavrchedl' officer comes knocking
on your prole's door in the middle of the night, and takes you away for
adjustment, being essentially judge, jury and "executioner" (metaphorically
speaking). <I bet the Zhodani don't have lawyers! ;-) > To have such wide
powers over the population, the Tavrchedl' must be damn near omnipotent in
Zhodani society (and if you don't like it, the Tavrchedl' will come and
"counsel" you to adopt a more healthy viewpoint...).
We've also decided that individual members of the Tvarchedl' must be
rather rightious and upstanding moral individuals, very dedicated to
insuring the health and happiness of Zhodani society. After all,
people who need re-education are actually unwell in their
heads, and the Tavrchedl' exists to help them get over their mental
illness. That's a pretty major head trip, and most Tvarchedl' officers
really believe in their organization's mission. Where the Tavrchedl'
must view themselves as being the good-guys (after all, it's their job
to insure the health and happiness of all Zhodani society), most imperials
think of them as the thought police, who contain and oppress the Zhodani
population through thought control. A tavrchedl' officer
confronted with an emotionally distraught (from the Zhodani view-point)
imperial would probably be inclined to "help" that person into a more
"normal" (ie, generic peaceful Zhodani) and healthy state - this sort of
interaction is ripe for misunderstanding.
An example:
< "I can't help but pick up on how violent you feel towards
your mother-in-law. This kind of anger and hatred toward
a family member causes much dissention and unhappiness in
your home - I'm sure you have noticed it yourself," the
tavrchedl' officer said kindly. "A happy home life is
essential for your well-being. Please, it would only take
a day or two for me to reconcile you and your mother-in-law,
and to adjust your home to a more harmonious state," he
offered sincerely.
"No!!! I've heard all about the way you use thought control
on your own people! I don't want to turn into a brainless
automaton! Stay away from my head, you evil brain-sucking
Zho! Arhg!" >
Ah, character clashes - the spice of role playing... ;->
Comments on how other people play Zhos are always appreciated.
The Rebellion
From reading the TML, I get the feeling that I must belong to an atypical
traveller group. We've been playing in the Rebellion setting in Spinward
for several years now, and enjoyed it greatly. On the otherhand, the
people I play with seem to enjoy political intrique, societal uncertainly,
and intense role-playing - all of which fall out of the rebellion
background. I have noticed that the whole "hard times" flavor of the
rebellion gets editted out of our scenarios, though, and I think this is
an implicit decision on the part of the Ref and players. Playing in
Spinward probably helps buffer the whole "hard times" schtick. I'm in
two campaigns right now, one set in late 1118 (for the moment) and one
that's run up to 1130 (which started in 1127 on Delphi, and has proceded
continuously to take the characters into Zhodani space). Both involve
Zhodani; the latter takes a hard look at how the Denebian imperials
react to the sudden Zhodani about-face and peace overtures.
I've not noticed that we have problems bringing new players into our
traveller games, even with the vast onus of traveller history and material
that's out there. We have two new traveller players in a campiagn right
now. The Ref gave them some basic ground rules, and there is occassional
coaching in background during gaming sessions, but in general it's never
looked like that big of a problem to me. If you break your players in
right, they don't get swamped. On the other hand, if you give them
over fifteen years of traveller reading to do, they'd probably go running
from your campaign screaming and never return to traveller.
Having played in previous "classic" traveller campaigns and in Rebellion
ones, I've never noticed a significant difference between the two. I
suspect, however, that the quality of the games has had a lot to do with
the quality of the refs. I have come to the opinion that the "traveller
flavor" of the games, regardless of time-period or rules set, has far
more to do with having a good ref than it does with the imperial date
or the specific rules used. Just an opinion, folks.
I suspect we may try out the TNE rules in the 1118 campaign sometime
soon. As many people have already pointed out, you don't have to play
in the new-era to have a traveller campaign, even with the new rule set.
This post has gotten long enough! See ya'!
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catie Helm
Stable Isotope Lab, University of California, Davis
[email removed]