Gentlesophonts:
Mike Basinger (kin to Kim? :-) [email removed] asks:
> 1. I know ALOT of people dislike T:TNE. Is it due to the system, or
> the world?
I dislike it for two main reasons. The first is that I *really* liked
the Imperium campaign. This has always been the most appealing aspect
of Traveller to me - the incredibly-well-developed campaign background.
I haven't messed with rules in more than a decade but I followed
the development of the campaign background from a few worlds in Regina
subsector to the entire Imperium and beyond - even if quality suffered
in the MegaTraveller era - intimately and with great eagerness. From
the moment I read the last TNS news brief in the latest issue of *JTAS*,
and later *Challenge*, I *couldn't wait* for the next issue to arrive.
I picked up the Supplements - at least the `background' ones, I never
bought *Animal Encounters* for example - as soon as they came out. In
a sense I have *lived* in this world for the last fifteen years.
The Rebellion seemed to put much of this at risk initially but eventually
things settled down. The Domain of Deneb was relatively stable and seemed
to be in good hands with the folks at DGP. After a while I moved into
MegaTraveller and even ran a long-running pbm campaign based upon the
`Nail Mission' in the *Rebellion Sourcebook*.
TNE takes all of this background, all of this history, and basically
throws it in the toilet. The Imperium is gone, the Virus has wiped
the surface of most worlds clean, and I find myself in a situation
similar to that of the `imaginary' folks in the Imperium campaign. I
feel toward GDW as they must feel toward the Virus - except that I'm
not `afraid' of GDW and can hinder it's `spread' merely by not buying
it's products.
(And then of course there is the further point that I believe we established
several weeks ago here that TNE, from the point of view of background,
doesn't offer anything over what could have been done with a series of
`frontier' sourcebooks and without destroying the Imperium.)
The second reason I dislike TNE is that I've been through this process
of `new and improved' evolution before and find it rather disingenious
the second time around. I first entered the realm of role-playing with
the three little *D&D* books: "Men and Magic" (or "Characters and Combat"),
"Monsters" (or "Starships"), and "Wilderness Adventures" (or "Worlds and
Adventures"). This `evolved' into the `new and improved', wallet-grabbing
*"Advanced" Dungeons and Dragons* (or *MegaTraveller*) in full-format
books. I had abandoned *D&D* for *Traveller* by the time the next iteration
appeared and I've abandoned `official' *Traveller* now that *TNE* has
appeared. As I've said here before, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool
me twice, shame on me."
> 2. What would people change in the current Traveller version?
For me, own up to the mistake, abandon the `New Coke' of TNE, and bring
us Bobby(?- the Patrick Duffy character on *Dallas*) back in the shower.
I realize though, that this ain't gonna happen. That's fine, but I ain't
gonna buy TNE either.
> I think GDW needs to do something to regain support of the people
> they lost
Not really, unless *TNE* really isn't selling and they *really* want to stay
in the *Traveller* business like they say. Of course, it might be that we
`old timers' weren't buying enough products to keep *Traveller* viable (but
anyone who has taken Marketing 101 will tell you where the solution to *that*
problem lies) and that's what prompted the move to *TNE* in the first place.
> and maybe the T:TNE bashers need to be more understanding
> to change.
I disgree. There is no *inherent* value in change - especially if it costs
me money to do so. *TNE* forces me to abandon something I already like
without any commensurate improvement, IMHO. So why be understanding? Change
merely for the sake of change is called "chaos" - or poor marketing. :^)
> Just comments (no flames please)
No flames intended. I appreciate the opportunity to explain my view.
(Sorry to all you folks who've heard this before. It's the first time
*I`ve* sounded off though.)
Peace,
David Johnson
Houston, Texas, USA