Evyn--
I think I saw some old posts from you on the Mongoose or
RPG.net/com/whatever boards today as well.
And something I noticed on the boards re: your comment is that the fanbase
was pretty divided over our science and engineering efforts. Some thought
it was great, others thought it was too much detail, made the game too
complex, others thought we were lame-o, because we didn't know as much
about science and engineering as they did, so we didn't take it far
enough.
But as you observe you did, handing the players hard questions to think
about, I think we deliberately tried to do that, the TNE fans on the
boards liked TNE for that reason, and a couple of them even quoted me
saying that was one of the deliberate themes in TNE. I don't remember
coming out and saying it directly, but they said I did, and it makes sense
that I would have. (Then several of them went on to accuse me of being a
"good writer" for being able to get at these eternal issues of politics
and governance, morality, etc. Reading those boards, I never know whether
to shoot myself or appoint myself king.)
Again, some people really "GOT" TNE, which I will always be very happy
about and grateful for, and I'm glad that you are one of them. Thanks for
being a kindred spirit. (I know you can't help it, it's who you are, but
that doesn't mean I can't tell you I appreciate it.)
Your question about the Hiver sounds like the set up to a joke, actually.
The backstroke? Kidding. If you can unpack the question a little more, I
will try to answer it.
I'm aware I'm running a backlog:
1. Bardbear's "where was TNE going" question that I made longer than he
intended,
2. Jim Kundert's "why have a background at all" topic
3. Eamon's Covenant of Sufren question.
I WILL get back to all of them as soon as I can.
Dave
> On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 10:38 PM, <> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I assume, for example, that part of the reason MJD was taken with TNE
>> was
>> the way it was written. Water several times over the dam, anyway.
>>
> For me it was the writing, and the fact the people writing the game had
> read more than a little current SF. In that I had a rude surprise when I
> joined the Online Traveller Community in 89-90ish that the previous 13
> years of running Traveller that I had was all wrong, at least to a certain
> subset of the Fan Community. Low and behold a grand crunchy new edition
> was
> out, and the architects of it had heard of Not only Science Fiction
> literature, but science and engineering as well. (note I received
> MegaTraveller 1st edition release the day before a 9 month cruise in the
> Indian Ocean, you could hear my disgruntled mumblings all they way back in
> the States...)
>
> But I digress, TNE had the room for the very Cyberpunk-ish Traveller I had
> been running all along. Handing Players all sorts of icky hard questions
> left and right and seeing what they would do with them.
>
>
>>
>> Also, I like the wild Hiver idea as well. One question, though: when you
>> say, "when they were found a century later it was quite a shock," do you
>> mean by other Hivers, or humans? Also, and I think this is what you were
>> getting at, did the larvae grow up without adult Hivers to teach them
>> Hiver culture, i.e., the adults died or went away and the larval Hivers
>> evolved their own new Hiver society? If so, what did you have in mind?
>>
> So, with the above we now have this, my question is what does a Hiver with
> a Direct Neural Interface when you are jacked into the same network with
> it?
>
> --
> Evyn
>
I think I saw some old posts from you on the Mongoose or
RPG.net/com/whatever boards today as well.
And something I noticed on the boards re: your comment is that the fanbase
was pretty divided over our science and engineering efforts. Some thought
it was great, others thought it was too much detail, made the game too
complex, others thought we were lame-o, because we didn't know as much
about science and engineering as they did, so we didn't take it far
enough.
But as you observe you did, handing the players hard questions to think
about, I think we deliberately tried to do that, the TNE fans on the
boards liked TNE for that reason, and a couple of them even quoted me
saying that was one of the deliberate themes in TNE. I don't remember
coming out and saying it directly, but they said I did, and it makes sense
that I would have. (Then several of them went on to accuse me of being a
"good writer" for being able to get at these eternal issues of politics
and governance, morality, etc. Reading those boards, I never know whether
to shoot myself or appoint myself king.)
Again, some people really "GOT" TNE, which I will always be very happy
about and grateful for, and I'm glad that you are one of them. Thanks for
being a kindred spirit. (I know you can't help it, it's who you are, but
that doesn't mean I can't tell you I appreciate it.)
Your question about the Hiver sounds like the set up to a joke, actually.
The backstroke? Kidding. If you can unpack the question a little more, I
will try to answer it.
I'm aware I'm running a backlog:
1. Bardbear's "where was TNE going" question that I made longer than he
intended,
2. Jim Kundert's "why have a background at all" topic
3. Eamon's Covenant of Sufren question.
I WILL get back to all of them as soon as I can.
Dave
> On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 10:38 PM, <> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I assume, for example, that part of the reason MJD was taken with TNE
>> was
>> the way it was written. Water several times over the dam, anyway.
>>
> For me it was the writing, and the fact the people writing the game had
> read more than a little current SF. In that I had a rude surprise when I
> joined the Online Traveller Community in 89-90ish that the previous 13
> years of running Traveller that I had was all wrong, at least to a certain
> subset of the Fan Community. Low and behold a grand crunchy new edition
> was
> out, and the architects of it had heard of Not only Science Fiction
> literature, but science and engineering as well. (note I received
> MegaTraveller 1st edition release the day before a 9 month cruise in the
> Indian Ocean, you could hear my disgruntled mumblings all they way back in
> the States...)
>
> But I digress, TNE had the room for the very Cyberpunk-ish Traveller I had
> been running all along. Handing Players all sorts of icky hard questions
> left and right and seeing what they would do with them.
>
>
>>
>> Also, I like the wild Hiver idea as well. One question, though: when you
>> say, "when they were found a century later it was quite a shock," do you
>> mean by other Hivers, or humans? Also, and I think this is what you were
>> getting at, did the larvae grow up without adult Hivers to teach them
>> Hiver culture, i.e., the adults died or went away and the larval Hivers
>> evolved their own new Hiver society? If so, what did you have in mind?
>>
> So, with the above we now have this, my question is what does a Hiver with
> a Direct Neural Interface when you are jacked into the same network with
> it?
>
> --
> Evyn
>