On 08/13/2020 12:17 AM xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:

But as we've already recognized, CT has at least one boundary that is significant (the NoTU to the original OTU)... I have seen quite a difference as to what the universe looks like to those who started playing without any real description of the Imperium, then those who got the earliest supplements or articles and then built their understanding there (and pasted in lots to fill the gaps), and then those who were later CT joiners where there was a lot of the OTU laid out in many products.

So CT, by itself, has at least 2, and possibly 3, differing understandings of what the TU was and is.... for many are happy with where they entered and didn't like subsequent filling in...

(I experienced this in D&D with the Forgotten Realms boxed set - the initial set had lots of flavour but an awful lot of mentioned but not developed other areas and possible adventure ideas... which made it exciting... then they proceeded to write a metric pantload of the boxed product, regional modules, etc. until every corner of the world was covered in overwhelming detail... making it much less interesting....)

Just looking at how some of our conversations go here, there is a lot of divergence even in those who look to different flavours of CT as to how the Imperium should work. So just saying 'the CT setting' is still going to be a bit ambiguous.

I have to apologize, make a correction and a clarification. My apology is that there was a Traveller Universe in 1977 based on the final sentence on Book 3 Worlds and Adventures 1977 p. 40 which is "Congratulations on your entrance into the universe of Traveller." The correction is that the framework of the 1979 TU was undefined and left up to the Referee and players to fill in. The Clarification is when discussing CT the year of publication and/or the edition is added. CT LBB 1 1977 versus CT LBB 1 1977/1981.

In my opinion the Official Traveller Universe (OTU) is MgT and T5 since new products are being published. Of course Marc Miller has the final say as to what or which one is the OTU.

IMTU is an established abbreviation for In My Traveller Universe indicating that their TU varies from CT, MT, TNE, T4, GT, T20, MgT, T5 and could could be a combination of one or more of them as well as from any other game system the person likes.

I like to keep things simple which is why I will try to avoid using OTU and stick with using abbreviations for the various versions of Traveller with date of publication and/or edition/revision number being added when needed.