Ian, there's been a lot of talk about those sorts of Trav games over at the Classic Traveller forum on Citizens of the Imperium.  One clever chap came to the conclusion that the Scout Service and the Travllers Aid Society are the only canonical (to books 1-3) interstellar institutions.  His setting has no Imperium and only the smallest of multi-system polities mostly separated by independant systems.  I thought it was a very cool approach.

Quote from: jrientsOne clever chap came to the conclusion that the Scout Service and the Travllers Aid Society are the only canonical (to books 1-3) interstellar institutions.  His setting has no Imperium and only the smallest of multi-system polities mostly separated by independant systems.  I thought it was a very cool approach.

*shriek!* I'm in love!  Now just give marines Blade-1 instead of Cutlass-1 and I'll die a happy man.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaA couple of years back, Paul Elliott (a.k.a. Mithras) proposed developing a variant "canon" based solely on the apparent premises presented in the core three LBBs (one week spent in Jump-space, cold sleep berths and the Cold Sleep Lottery, marines with Cutlass-1 skill, suppressed psionics use, etc.), and having nothing to do with the 3rd Imperium.  I wish I could find my notes on it, but it was a pretty cool setting idea that seemed to fuse a lot of concepts from Dune, WH40K, and Empire of the Petal Throne -- I especially liked the Eternal Legion, an elite unit of battlesuit-armored marines kept in cold sleep berths indefinitely.  Much as I like the springboard that the 3rd Imperium provides, I'm tempted to make a new Traveller setting wholecloth like this.

!i!

That's been my approach to making my setting; I have an "Imperium" in my galaxy, but it's shunted off to the edge of my sector map and not detailed beyond basic UWPs at all.  The campaign is taking place in a region dotted by a few polities, most of which have 10 or fewer member worlds.

The first few adventures will be taking place within the same star system, as the PCs try to smuggle an arms cache to a group of revolutionaries on a gas giant's moon.  Many of the GG's moons are held by small independent groups, and two major polities have interests here, as well.

When I first started delving into Traveller at the beginning of the year, it seemed to be a natural thing to start designing my own sectors, starships, professions, etc., as rules for most of those things were included in the base books.  When I started getting in touch with the existing fanbase, it really floored me how many people are completely devoted to the game's setting, and don't create their own universe.  Of course, it's all personal preference; I just have a dislike for "canon" settings in any game, and I really really seriously dislike Trav's alien races (I plan on stealing the lot from 2300 AD for my game if I need them).

Quote from: KenHR...and I really really seriously dislike Trav's alien races (I plan on stealing the lot from 2300 AD for my game if I need them).

In my last Traveller campaign, I sort of used the Spinward Marches as a springboard, but I took great liberties with the aliens.  I fused the Aslan with the Kafer from 2300 AD, retaining the "Aslan" name and making them vaguely "lion-like" in appearance, but retaining the weird, instectoid nature of the Kafer.  I also interpreted the Vargr as uplifted canines who had, over the course of a few thousand years, successfully sued for independence from their original human masters and were actively engaged in continued genetic modification of their morphology and intellect.

Le sigh.  I guess what we're getting at here is nostalgia for the days when you bought a game for the rules and not the setting/metaplot.

!i!

Quote from: jrientsIan, there's been a lot of talk about those sorts of Trav games over at the Classic Traveller forum on Citizens of the Imperium.  One clever chap came to the conclusion that the Scout Service and the Travllers Aid Society are the only canonical (to books 1-3) interstellar institutions.  His setting has no Imperium and only the smallest of multi-system polities mostly separated by independant systems.  I thought it was a very cool approach.

This looks very close to the setting I used waaaay back, which eventually evolved into the setting for StarCluster. I had almost completely forgotten about it, but I opened up my LBBs a year or so ago, after a 20 year interregnum, and found these design notes throughout, along with system names that were all eventually used in StarCluster, two decades later. It all came back to me in a rush. The funny thing is, while creating the system names for StarCluster I never thought of this campaign setting, but I had somehow filed virtually every name away and re-used it. Wierd!

-clash

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaLe sigh.  I guess what we're getting at here is nostalgia for the days when you bought a game for the rules and not the setting/metaplot.

!i!

Indeed.  It's a time issue for many; I know that I have taken about four months creating my little universe so far and have produced an amount of material that I would have been able to whip up in about a quarter of the time back in high school (that said, I like to think it's of a higher quality!).  But there's just something about the process of creating a campaign world that I enjoy immensely that I don't want to give up...and being able to run a game without some canon-monger telling me that, if I had only read page 23 of supplement 52, I should have known that my whole plot was invalid because the prince prefers to crack the fat side of his hard-boiled egg.

btw, I really like your interpretation of the Vargr.  I might have to find a few worlds for them to occupy now...

Quote from: Mr. AnalyticalSorry, I meant "For those of us who have lives, what extra utility is wrung from the idea that you ran the game in the way the original authors intended?"

The same thing that makes D&D's pre-existing large customer base an advantage. A common ground to start from to avoid trying to sort out what rules are what when you come to a different game table.

Quote from: blakkieThe same thing that makes D&D's pre-existing large customer base an advantage. A common ground to start from to avoid trying to sort out what rules are what when you come to a different game table.

Is that the same advantage that makes McDonald's America's top-selling fast food restaurant?  Because no matter how popular it is, their food goes through me like shit through a goose.

!i!