So the Paul Brunette MS did exist? I was just having a discussion about
that with Wayne's Books, and I didn't know. He did explain to me that Marc
pulled in a new author to write the third installment, which I thought was
sad. It would have been nice had Paul been able to finish his series. I
did
talk to Paul a couple of times when I was working for the Army at Fort
Knox. The printer we used wanted to finish up the series, even though GDW
was done by then. The story was going to do with the loss of one of SecGen
Maggart's daughters on a mission, and the crew of the Hornet was looking
for them. Since Maggart and his daughters were based on real people, Paul
had some detail questions for me. I regret to say that my last
conversation with him took place under less-than-ideal circumstances. I was
running late for a meeting with the Armor School Doctrine Division (I did
the electronic staffing, publication, and distribution of their stuff), and
was driving and trying to call them on my cell phone to tell them I was
running late, and my battery was dying. At that moment Paul called me. My
response, "I don't have time, my battery is dying, I have to call someone
for my real job," was rather more stressed and rushed and irritable than
polite. That was the last time I spoke with him (for some reason I could
not recover the number to call him back, maybe cell phones didn't do that
well back in 1996), and I still regret the way that happened.
The intent behind the factions was to add depth, rather than to set up a
planned plot device. But the thing about details like that is that
sometimes they take on a life of their own and get bigger than you
originally thought. And that's a good thing.
There was a funny story shortly after Poland joined PfP or NATO in the
'90s, about German force deployment, how it was going to be deployed vs.
the Russians now that an ally was on their Eastern border instead of a
WarPac nation. Their response was something like, "Naah, we're going to
leave them where they are. If we have to, we'll just charge right across
Poland to fight the Russians on Polish soil." Those Germans, looking for an
excuse to invade Poland again.
On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 22:06:38 +0200, Błażej Mazur <> wrote:
> Well, I like my players to have at least basic understanding of the
> world they’re playing in, so I don’t have to explain every little
> thing to them. The basics covered in the Rulebook, and the essays on the
> Coalition, its people and politics from PoT really helped me in
> introducing Traveller to them.
>
> The politics of Coalition is something I wanted to ask about. We have
> those Centrists and Federalists which give us a wide range of political
> intrigue to play with. I don’t know if you’re aware, that The
> Backwards Mask was published through FFE on dtrpg.com. I had the
> privilege of reviewing them. Them, because there are two versions – the
> original by Paul Brunette, and a new by Matt Carson. In the latter, Matt
> explores the differences and divisions between those two parties to a
> point of a betrayal of the Coalition by some high-ranking officials from
> one of those parties. My question is: Were there any plans to dig deeper
> into that kind of matter, or it was just to put some depth to Coalition.
>
> And WE are even more glad that we are in NATO. (But it doesn’t change
> the fact, that we wouldn’t pull a Red Dawn type of attack on you
> guys)(I think).
>
> I’ve been to Norway on my honeymoon and we drove from Narvik to
> Stavanger, but Norwegian brands I seem to recall are only Hansa and CB.
> Perhaps Roger could enlighten us on that topic. Another thing worth
> trying (but in moderation) is Akvavit, Norwegian caraway vodka. I still
> have a bottle of it in my cocktail cabinet.
>
> If Roger insists we could meet on his ground, or somewhere in between. I
> live 2-hour drive from Berlin.
>
> FROM:
> [] ON BEHALF OF
> SENT: Sunday, June 10, 2012 9:18 PM
> TO:
> SUBJECT: RE: [Traveller_TNE] Question for the group
>
> Blase--
>
> Thank you very much for that, and you made me laugh out loud again.
>
> By the way, I'm glad you guys are in NATO now, and not the Warsaw Pact.
>
> That's an interesting reaction from your players, and one that reminds
> me
> that we weren't being completely stupid when we tried to simplify the
> game
> for newcomers. The funny thing is, my Traveller players never felt like
> they had to learn anything about the game background. As the GM, they
> just
> expected I would let them know what they needed to know, and I guess I
> was
> cooperative. Of course my campaign wasn't in the Imperium anyway.
>
> Actually, I didn't really put Hard Times together in a day, it took a
> lot
> longer than that. But that was the date on the schedule when I got
> there.
> But yes, we did have to do a lot of work and re-work under a lot of
> really
> tight deadlines to make things work.
>
> So, Blase, what do you and Roger think about the relative merits of
> Polish
> beer vs. Norwegian beer? :-)
>
> Dave
>
> On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 20:22:26 +0200, Błażej Mazur wrote:
>> Yes, I was rather overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data published
> for
>> Traveller. And bear in mind, that Poland in the early 90s was not a
> place
>> where you could find things you wanted just like that. It was time
> before
>> ebay; well, I remember that in 1994 there was 1 (one) private computer
>> with internet connection in my town of 70,000.
>>
>> Right now I have 3 shelves of Traveller books from different editions
>> and when I showed them to my new group they said something along the
>> lines of: “there must be more information to remember in those books
>> that in Encyclopaedia Britannica”, and “instead of reading this
> get a
>> life”.
>>
>> But to me the richness of the background makes it now the biggest
>> advantage of TNE over the other editions. Even if some players get
> their
>> hands on something from CT I can just use what I like and say, that
> due
>> to Collapse your data on this system is slightly outdated.
>>
>> And as for the errata, GDW did something that some companies still
> have
>> to learn. You valued your customers. And just for the fact that GDW
> had
>> published for 22 years with one book, game or supplement every 22 days
> on
>> average (taken from FFE’s website) and your stories how certain
> things
>> had to be put together in a day or two before they were sent to
> printers,
>> one should be grateful that you commit to making a mistake and try to
> fix
>> it.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Blase
>>
>> p.s. If you’re in Germany, or anywhere in Europe for that matter,
> feel
>> free to come over. I owe you at least a pint of good Polish beer, and
> a
>> tour of the places you wrote about in T2K
>>
>> FROM: [2]
>> [ [3]] ON BEHALF OF
> [4]
>> SENT: Sunday, June 10, 2012 7:40 PM
>> TO: [5]
>> SUBJECT: RE: [Traveller_TNE] Question for the group
>>
>> Thanks Blase. Your message made me laugh out loud at one point.
>>
>> I think it's really cool that, with all of the T2K stuff we did in
>> Poland
>> (which to the American players was just one more place they'd never
>> visit),
>> that it actually allowed you guys to play in your own back yard.
>>
>> One thing you said that really piques my interest is, " Since we have
>> started playing Traveller less than 20 years ago (which makes me a
>> youngster in Traveller community), our main concern was the
> overwhelming
>> depth of materials published for Traveller over the previous 15 years.
> "
>>
>> So would you say that you were one of the people that DID find the
>> Imperial Traveller background intimidating or off-putting? Because as
>> I've
>> said, we did a lot of things to deliberately address that perception,
>> but
>> I'm curious to hear from someone who might say, "Yes, I was definitely
>> one
>> of those guys, and here's how it felt."
>>
>> On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 17:54:21 +0200, Błażej Mazur wrote:
>>> So here’s my point of view.
>>>
>>> Since we have started playing Traveller less than 20 years ago (which
>>> makes me a youngster in Traveller community), our main concern was
> the
>>> overwhelming depth of materials published for Traveller over the
>> previous
>>> 15 years. TNE gave new players a great opportunity to jump right into
>>> this game without the need to look for hundreds of supplements. You
>> could
>>> just start an RC campaign with your character’s knowledge very
>> similar
>>> to your knowledge of what’s happening outside.
>>>
>>> Also, I have always envisioned RC setting as very similar to T:2000.
>>> There’s been a war, you have no idea who’s still out there and
>>> who’s not, and you’re pretty much on your own. (As a side note I
>>> should point out, that in T2k we didn’t play the American remnants
>> of
>>> the 5th Div, but chose Polish 1st Free Legion from Leszno, which is
> 50
>> km
>>> (30mi) from where I actually live now. Their main goal was to survive
>>> first, and after that you can try to rebuild some sort of
> civilization
>>> – sounds familiar?)
>>>
>>> For those who longed and pined for the Imperium there was always
>>> Regency. So when we finally got our hands on some Traveller resources
>>> from previous editions, we started a Regency campaign.
>>>
>>> What could you do with MT? Over the years I’ve heard that all
>>> materials for MT where in desperate need of errata, so, from
>> publishing
>>> point of view I think, that a fresh start was something that was
>> needed.
>>
>>>
>>> Probably the most controversial issue was the Virus, but you already
>>> know this from the wars on the Internet and names you’ve been
> called
>> by
>>> some people. To me Virus is not as inconceivable as some say. Given
>> the
>>> data you had on Cymbeline chips, the need for a force that could put
>> an
>>> end to the war (in one way or the other) is plausible at least.
>> Besides,
>>> knowing how technology and computers have changed over the past 20
>> years
>>> I say you were right. And all those people who couldn’t suspend
>> their
>>> disbelief for Virus, yet still believed in Cat-samurai, psionics and
>>> wolfs in space can go f…ishing.
>>>
>>> As stated in PoT, the Virus is not what runs the Traveller Universe.
>>> “Finally, and most importantly, avoid filling your campaign with
>> Virus.
>>> The effects of Virus are omnipresent, but the actual reality of Virus
>>> should be very rare…” PoT p.143
>>>
>>> The “Shower incident” is what GT did to Traveller. If I were an
> MT
>>> player or referee I would most probably feel at least a little
>> offended
>>> if you said: “Hey guys, you remember the last couple of years worth
>> of
>>> books? Well, it didn’t happen.”
>>>
>>> All in all, you made a good and reasonable decision to move Traveller
>>> forwards.
>>>
>>
>>
>>