> I remember finding the T2k stats for the M1A1 and the damage I came up
> with
> was in the ballpark, so it was a good eyeball. Or perhaps better kudos to
> FF&S, which is still one of my favorite products of any RPG, both for
> doing
> justice to it's our source material aas well as a general sci fi primer
> with all it's alternate tech.
Thanks. It's nice to be reminded of the upside of what we did, and not
just the downside. Unfortunately it is the nature of problems that they
are what usually prompt people to talk to you, and not, "I'm just writing
to tell you how perfect everything is that you've ever done and how
awesome you are."
> In that way, Traveller is definitely an interesting time capsule on small
> arms theory as it was in the 70's and 80's as much as it's computer
> paradigm.
As is anything. No one ever sees the future as it's really going to be,
and even if they did, it would make a crappy RPG. The real future is
generally way more drab, dull, and awful than what an SFRPG would want it
to be. For example, Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 and 2010 novels. Or, as
another example, in 1977 what if Traveller said, "here's the future.
You're going to have an iPhone, and 'the Soviet Union' is now 'Russia.'
Otherwise things are pretty much the same. Knock yourself out."
> Course when you put it way seems easier to rationalize it as localized
> preconceptions on the "right way" to do it... or just to be different.
> Kinda like the Russians perpetuate some of the old Warsaw Pact theory and
> logistics even though the Soviet Empire is long gone.
Yes, BUT that goes a lot farther in imagination than it does in reality.
If we really are engaging in interstellar war, people are going to figure
out pretty rapidly what works better and worse.
> Definitely makes sense. I'e said before, but what you "would have done" as
> line manager isn't nearly as interesting to me as what you would do now as
> a hobbyist unconstrained by the realities of employment with a production
> schedule and deadlines, compromise, etc.
Well, first I'd start with a 336-hour week. :-)
> with
> was in the ballpark, so it was a good eyeball. Or perhaps better kudos to
> FF&S, which is still one of my favorite products of any RPG, both for
> doing
> justice to it's our source material aas well as a general sci fi primer
> with all it's alternate tech.
Thanks. It's nice to be reminded of the upside of what we did, and not
just the downside. Unfortunately it is the nature of problems that they
are what usually prompt people to talk to you, and not, "I'm just writing
to tell you how perfect everything is that you've ever done and how
awesome you are."
> In that way, Traveller is definitely an interesting time capsule on small
> arms theory as it was in the 70's and 80's as much as it's computer
> paradigm.
As is anything. No one ever sees the future as it's really going to be,
and even if they did, it would make a crappy RPG. The real future is
generally way more drab, dull, and awful than what an SFRPG would want it
to be. For example, Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 and 2010 novels. Or, as
another example, in 1977 what if Traveller said, "here's the future.
You're going to have an iPhone, and 'the Soviet Union' is now 'Russia.'
Otherwise things are pretty much the same. Knock yourself out."
> Course when you put it way seems easier to rationalize it as localized
> preconceptions on the "right way" to do it... or just to be different.
> Kinda like the Russians perpetuate some of the old Warsaw Pact theory and
> logistics even though the Soviet Empire is long gone.
Yes, BUT that goes a lot farther in imagination than it does in reality.
If we really are engaging in interstellar war, people are going to figure
out pretty rapidly what works better and worse.
> Definitely makes sense. I'e said before, but what you "would have done" as
> line manager isn't nearly as interesting to me as what you would do now as
> a hobbyist unconstrained by the realities of employment with a production
> schedule and deadlines, compromise, etc.
Well, first I'd start with a 336-hour week. :-)