I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date Sent:17-Jan-1994 10:33am
From: Alistair Langsford
LANGSFORD ALISTAIR
Dept: Information Services
Tel No: 289 7870
TO: Remote Addressee ( _traveller@engrg.uwo.ca )
Subject: Traveller Settings
Anthony Neal [email removed] asks:
<A strange question...
<
< Does anyone know the memory capacity of the current Compact Disk (CD
<ROM)?
<
< Anthony
I think it holds about 600Mb.
==========================================================================
"KMCCARTHY" [email removed] writes:
<Subject: Converted 2300AD Weapons
<
< Subject: Time:8:10 AM
< OFFICE MEMO Converted 2300AD Weapons Date:1/14/94
<Some time ago someone offered to send stats on 2300AD weapons converted to
<T:TNE format. If you are still out there, please email them to me.
I wouldn't mind a copy either. I don't remember seeing them posted on the
list (I could easily be wrong though) - so if they exist a posting to the
list might be the way to go.
Otherwise, post me a copy at: [email removed]
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[email removed] writes:
< Next, a personal plea from little me, for I am an ecologist
<and know little of the arcane arts of technology. It seems to me that
<quite a few people out there are somewhat hardware obssessed. The point
<of an RPG is surely to interact with people/aliens....
[snip]
< I would like to see more on the various culture people have come
<up with. The purpose of Travellers is travel. This pursuit will rapidly
<lose its interest if everywhere is like late 20th century America.
First, thanks to those h/w freaks who post their designs to the list. Since
I lack the patience to work through designs most of the time I appreciate
having a source I can steal extra designs from.
Now, to address AFP123's request - I not an expert on culture so I'll just
give you some scenario settings I have used:
Probably the most memorable Traveller I ever ran was based on Western
movies. Simply called 'The Mexicans', PCs were members of the scout service
of a colony descended from Scouts/Colonists. Their culture was 'Hispanic',
whenever we needed details. However, they as PCs were the 'heroes',
wandering around an area loosely based on the Hollywood version of the
American West. There were also some 1920s gangster elements mixed in. So,
at least a little different: late 19th/early 20th century America.
Another scenario was based on Western Europe in WWII. A lot of WWII war
movies provided background for that. The plot was sort of borrowed from
Star Trek: a Balkanised planet within an area known as the Neutral Zone was
being used as a testing ground by one of two rival planetary alliances.
Each of these alliances existed within an overall body known as the
Commonwealth(it wasn't a standard traveller universe). Meddling in the
Neutral Zone was of course a no-no as far as the Commonwealth was
concerned. The PCs were 'special forces' types (ie MERCENARY generated
characters) sent in by the alliance which was losing to gather evidence of
the other alliance's meddling in the Neutral Zone. Their tech was of course
limited to that of the locals, except for some miniaturised high tech comms
gear.
Both of these worked quite well. Both were different - not just the fact
that both were lower tech than Imperial norm either. I hope you can make
use of them.
Another setting I have used in SF is inspired by the 3 Aliens movies plus
Blade Runner. This for me tends to define what the Early Stellar tech code
is like. While it may not be standard Traveller, I don't have a problem
with modifying 'low passage' a bit to allow for passengers and crew to
travel relatively safely.
As you can probably guess by now I get a lot of inspiration from movies: I
find they are a good way to convey 'look and feel' and the general 'spirit'
of a setting to the PCs. And with the availability of films etc on video,
if people didn't see the movie that is something fairly easily remedied.
Anyone else have some good settings/cultures they'd like to share?
Alistair,
[email removed]