TNE vs CT/MT background

In Archive-Message-Number 6958, [email removed] (David
Johnson) writes:

>Are there any folks out there who are more interested in campaign
>background rather than rules and such?

I have always been attracted to traveller because of the background. It
is this attraction to the campaign background that I think generated so
much heated argument over the TNE background.

>...here's a question:  What is there to recommend TNE (vs. MT or CT)
>from a 'background' point of view?
>
Well... when I first realized that GDW was killing the Imperium and much
of known space and history, I was shocked.  After a while though I've
come to believe that the Imperium had to be killed.

MT and CT has explained away much of the mystery of the ancients, and as
others have said, there were few frontiers.  The only really interesting
exploration seemed to be part of the Zhodhani core expiditions.  Of the
frontier and ancients mysteries, the ancients "history" particularly
bothered me.  Am I alone, or does the grandfather story sound lame?  I
never liked that story line, and it ruined the "ancient" mystery for me.

So, there was no mystery, and the imperium seemed impregnable.  They
intriduced the Rebellion to "liven" the setting up.  It was pretty
evident after a while that they were heading towards a dark age.  The
virus simply quickened things so they could start anew much sooner.

With the TNE setting, the entire imperium is a mystery outside of the
Spinward Marches or whatever little pocket empire you use as your
setting.  We don't know what the jeck the black curtain is.  We don't
know what happened to the Solomani.  We don't really know what's going
on in the Aslan Hierate.  There is a lot of mystery out there, lots of
stuff to work with.

While I have problems with timing (I don't buy some of the timing
elements associated with the spread of transponder technology necessary
for the virus to have spread; I also think the timeline should have been
advanced another 100 to 200 years to have allowed for more alien
cultures to have evolved in isolation) I think the background changes
offer greater potential for different types of adventure

I wonder if Project Longbow may be the reason they chose to advance
history to where they did.  Probably.

Despite my timing reservations, and questions about the virus, I am glad
they restored mystery to the background.  I still have a strong love of
the old imperium, and I do think that the old background is useful for
planning a new era campaign.  It can be fun trying to figure out what
happened to various worlds.

- - Ron Dawson

[email removed]