On 1/12/21 06:44, Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson at port.ac.uk
(via tml list) wrote:
>
>
> Hi Alex,
>
> Am now setting a macro for my 'sorry to be so slow replying... life'
> excuse which must be wearing pretty thin. It's certainly not that I
> don't appreciate your responses.
>
Collision,

You have nothing to apologise for.  I'm trying to improve my own Trav-fu
by helping you improve yours.

>
>
>     That's how Parental Advisory has swung over to exploration - I
>     straight
>     up asked Herr Sweep, Easy Frag, Wombat, dingus and Eddles "WHAT DO?",
>     then paid attention to their answers.
>
>
> I should do that more, perhaps.
>
Beats trying to read minds while lacking telepathy.
>  <snip>
>
>
>     Ceilingrat: Rant about being outsmarted, out-thought, and
>     out-cunninged.
>
>     Herr Sweep: "And you're comparing yourself to three _perfectly
>     normal_,
>     _average_ blokes, right?"
>
>     Ceilingrat: *beat*
>
>     Eddles and I fell out of our chairs and hit the floor, pissing
>     ourselves
>     laughing.
>
>
> LOL!
Those rants got rarer as Ceilingrat became a better GM overall, and
better able to keep up with us in particular.
> <snip>
>
>     >
>     If you can string multiple modules together (as you said, two LBBS
>     in/around SoTA), why not have your cake, eat it, and make off with
>     the
>     bakery as well?
>
>
> Nice image!  Yes, I think I'd like to do that.  Perhaps I could make
> it easier on myself by not doing the write ups for TML which can be
> quite demanding - at least in terms of time.  You've probably detected
> that they're a bit stream of consciousness in terms of planned
> writing.  However, I think they're how I reflect on the experience so
> even if no one reads them, they're useful for me.

Is session reports from someone who _is not me_.  If you work best with
stream-of-Collision, then stream-of-Collision it shall be.

> <snip>
>
> Ah, now scale is one thing I'd want to discuss with players should we
> continue.  I can't help feeling I'm not bad at the 'slice of life'
> type thing that Traveller merchant adventures rather tend towards. 
> But would they maybe like more grand ideas? more changing (defending?)
> the universe?, more science fiction?   more epic adventures? Not
> saying I can do that, but it would be an interesting conversation.
>
See above re: non-telepaths reading minds.
>
>     Daring to be stupid and small scale also has worked out
>     brilliantly in
>     PA <snip>
>
>
> We've certainly lent into somethings along those lines (yes, the
> toilet rolls for example) although the downside of real player
> knowledge - with at least two of my players at least - can be me being
> rather out of my depth in being convincing in those areas.
The other option is to admit their greater experience, admit when you
goof it (Easy Frag didn't GROW HAIR about my goofs, and appreciated the
efforts - helped the slice-of-life for him), and try to weave it in.
> <snip>
>
>     I think you've done a much better job than you give yourself
>     credit for.
>
>
> THank you, that's kind.  I am of course too close to it all.
What do your players' actions say?  Do they keep returning, or have the
original lot all buggered off?
>
> <snip>
> The interstellar wars?
>
> It's not a period that particularly grabs me as it seems to imply lots
> of combat.  Perhaps more than I could face. But there might be
> something for us in navigating the interstices of the big players. 
> But that's one of the problems of Traveller - how on earth do you pick
> what period to play in?  There's so much choice! <snip>

That's one of _your_ jobs as GM - tackle the paralysing breadth of
choice so your players don't have to.

Yes, in my case, I was informed by prior experience of the culture-shock
factor.

More unsettled eras means that small, PC-sized, groups can _make a
difference_ - discovering Teapot, frinstance, and opening up a way for
the Terran Confederation to expand _away_ from the ZS.

I would like to see someone else's take on the ISW (even if the March
Harrier's jump drive booms Sarf London Dubstep thru the 3-week-long
misjump to get them there).

As I've tried to show, outwitting a threat can be as rich a source of
roleplaying as outfighting one.

<snip>
>
>     >
>     I've run multiple systems (mainly modern/scifi - eg Spycraft 2.0,
>     Shadowrun 4A/4E, GT, MGT2, Infinite Worlds) for multiple, diverse,
>
>
> I do sometimes wonder what knowing different systems would do for me...
Well, I can personally speak to cross-pollination of ideas (such as PA's
Multi-Edition-Mashup nature, pulling in gubbins from 6 separate Trav
editions), lifting something from system A, taking a file to the serial
numbers, and dropping it into system B.  It's the same reason I read
voraciously - hoover up data _now_, while waiting for later context to
turn it into information.
>
>     groups (having a nearby FLGS with twice-weekly RPG nights for a few
>     years massively helps) over that time
>
>
> ... and different groups... in terms of learning faster/wider.
It definitely wasn't the same year N times over.  Different players,
different expectations (and gleefully subverting same), different
systems, and all sorts of WTF.
> <snip>
>
>     >
>     >     - Likewise, tagging along with a Solomani recon expedition
>     to the Rim
>     >     (as Milky Way's radius is now lower-bounded by 30 kpc, that's a
>     >     good 20
>     >     kpc walkabout).
>
>
> Oooh, now oddly I'd not really thought about going in that direction. 
> I like that it does away the need for Zhodani (or explaining why the
> PCs are NOT Zhodani on a core expedition type thing), but somehow feel
> there's nothing 'out there'.  But that's my failure of imagination. 
> Or having stopped to think about it for two minutes.

Mongoose until very recently seemed to be wedded to "Golden Age in
Charted Space or GTFO".

That seems to fly (at least for non-Vilani humaniti) in the face of
"Because.  It's.  THERE." as sufficient reason to take a look.

A small-scale start might be buggering off from rimward edge of
Terran/Solomani Confederation turf (J-3 makes it a lot more ...
interesting ... than J-6) to proceed to the rimward edge of the Orion
Arm.  Such an expedition's nominal goal would be to secure a base of
operations to remotely recce a possible route from the Orion Arm into
the Perseus Arm.

As for "nothing out there", do I have to dob you into the FSA for
violating bans on short selling, namely the GMing capabilities of one T.
Collinson?

Alex