My previous post was intended to voice my opinion that picking apart the GDW
background for Traveller is kind of like complaining about the weather; every-
body does it, but nobody does anything about the problem! To give examples:
Some people don't like the fact that thrusters now use fuel. Fine! use the
Thruster Plates from Fire, Fusion and Steel.
Some folks don't like the Virus, and this is their main objection to TNE.
Fine! Come up with some OTHER reason for the Collapse to have occured.
Some people don't like the Collapse at all. Fine! Write your own course of
events for the Rebellion. Perhaps have a less lethal form of Virus around, and
use it to explain why crews are larger on most ships.
Finally, some people don't like TNE at all. Fine! Play Classic Traveller
or MegaTraveller! Just because Challenge only prints TNE adventures doesn't
mean some other gaming magazine, such as Pyramid or White Wolf, will. There
might still be possibility for support for the older systems (especially if
adventures have stats for all three versions!)
People who cry "You can't do that! That's not in the rules!" are right
ONLY if you're running the "off-the-shelf" Imperium Universe campaign. What
you do in your own campaign is YOUR right. I frankly know very few campaigns
that a dedicated critic couldn't rip to shreads for "inconsistencies", real
or imagined, if they want to. If the campaign is fun for the players and allows
them to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy themselves, it's fine.