As to details of the K'kree manipulation, you might be able to find the old thread on this list where I and another member (whose name unfortunately escapes me) between us came up with a detailed process by which it could have been accomplished.
On 9 May 2016 09:38, "Richard Aiken" <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The canon example is misleading, since the actual manipulation was to convert a large population of K'kree into meat eaters. The K'kree subjected to the manipulation remained blissfully unaware of it. That this was then used to intimidate the K'kree interstellar government was not part of the manipulation per se.
>
Hi Richard and thanks for the response.I'm thinking more along the lines of the first manipulation, by M. Primus, where it suggested that a road be built connecting all of the city-states which ultimately led to political unity on Guaran. From CT Hivers p.8.
The manipulation of the K'kree, as a group initiative, isn't technically a Manipulation, that aside however, we simply hear about the Consequences--meat eating K'kree/enjoyment of isolation--but not the Deed/s. Whereas with M. Primus, we are told about of a very specific Deed with a clear connection to the Consequence. I'm not aware of any other material where the Deed is specified.
It's this kind of colour that I'm interested in capturing. And I'm secretly terrified that any fan material that has been written is now at the end of a dead link, or worse. I'm hoping to dig up something in one of the various magazines which I've recently acquired and never had a chance to read before.
On a tangent, there's some interesting material in one of the later books (GURPS or TNE? my guess is TNE because of the flavour) where it's suggested that the original actions against the K'kree were actually faked with drugs etc to buy enough time to perform the real Manipulation--which was never revealed to the K'kree.
> Out-of-game, it strikes me that a manipulation/counter-manipulation campaign - from the point of view of the players - wouldn't be any different from a typical "secret skullduggery" campaign. They don't need to know that there are any Hivers involved, even at the end.
Agreed. It also makes the job of refereeing easier, which is nice. Although I do want the players to have some chance at working out that there were some Manipulations and possibly have a go at bringing down the Shadow Nest.
I'm setting up the Shadow Nest as the antagonist for one of the major story arcs--inspired by Dave Nilson's later TNE mailing list contributions c.2004--maybe steering the expansion of the RC away from potential allies and towards powerful enemies (Solomami psychos?) after/while weakening it with civil war.
>The only significant difference that I can think of would be that the PCs would be required to submit very detailed reports of their actions, reports which would include indictable details like real names, dates, instructions given, etc. Of course, this alone might be enough for canny players to guess that something hinky is going down.
>These are brand new players. New to RPGs and to Traveller. No alien or psionic PCs. The Hivers will be NPC allies and adversaries. This idea would be great further down the line if anyone is brave enough to step up.
I really need to proofread before pressing send. How embarrassment.
AR
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