Bundle: 457
Archive-Message-Number: 5440
From: metlay@netcom.com (metlay)
Subject: First thoughts after reading _Survival Margin_
Date: Mon, 10 May 93 10:44:28 PDT


"A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping...she is 
weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are no more."

Hi, gang. Let me start off by thanking Loren Wiseman for his prompt note
about the print run of TNE; such news is always appreciated.

I read _Survival Margin_ from cover to cover on Saturday, and spent a 
surprising (to me, anyway) portion of the next two days brooding.
SM (and _Arrival Vengeance_, which I got at the same time) affected
me very deeply, in a way no Traveller book has done since the Rebellion
began. While I applaud Dave Nilsen for at least being able to do THAT,
I am saddened by the fact that the emotions he evoked were those of
revulsion, disgust, and yes, even hatred.

I hate this game setting. I just hate it.

I want to make very clear what I am saying here, and make even MORE
clear what I am NOT saying here. I am not saying that GDW produced yet
another substandard piece of Traveller material. Far from it; I think
that SM was excellently put together, clearly organized, and
accomplished its task, namely as a bridge from MegaTraveller to TNE,
eloquently and effectively.  Its reprinting of previously published
material meshed very well with the newly written pieces and produced a
coherent and useful whole that was a very worthwhile read. The
behind-the-scenes journals and extra data filled in a lot of holes
that I had wondered about, and finally removed IRIS as a de jure (if
not de facto) force in the Imperium, a move which alone is worth the
price of the book. I will ignore for the moment my personal disgust at
the utterly pointless annihilation of the Antares Regency (my own
favorite spot in the MegaTraveller milieu), and simply say that if
future releases hold to this level of quality, I will gladly give GDW
my business and encourage others to do so as well. I am also not
saying, although some mean-spirited part of me would LIKE to, that
this is the final nail in Traveller's coffin as a rules system. I
think that in the light of the current market trends in RPGs, GDW is
making a very wise move here in updating Traveller from its admittedly
long-in-the-tooth beginnings and attempting to compete on a
fundamental level with the heavy hitters like GURPS and Shadowrun. If
the prior problems of poor proofreading and unprofessional artwork are
licked, and it looks as good as SM reads, then I think that GDW will
have a solid competitor on its hands, and I wish them well.

What I AM saying is that I hate the game setting. HATE IT!

On the Pocket Empire mailing list, we have held our breaths for
months, pausing in midstride as we waited for GDW to officialize the
tantalizing hints we received about how things are to work. We do not
agree 100% with the decisions made there, but we are abiding by them,
and the list is now swinging into high gear, awaiting only the rules
themselves to begin applying hard numbers to the ideas and frameworks
we have devised. Why, then, am I suddenly completely uninterested in
doing any more work there? I don't want to let these people down; my
contribution is admittedly small but I would like to think that it is
important enough not to simply drop without notice. What has happened?

What has happened is that I have seen the future and it STINKS.

I am not stating facts here. Only my opinions. And I loved the classic
Traveller universe. It was civilized; it was intelligent; it had solid
background and a sense of depth to it that other games lacked. This
was a huge, exciting, beautiful universe, from the Core to the Rim,
from spinward to trailing! There was so much to see and do, so many
different kinds of life to reflect, so many possible campaigns to run.
It was balanced; it gave characters a chance for excitement and fun at
whatever power level they wanted, up to and sometimes even including
the governance of whole worlds. And, pivotal to any long-standing
campaign with realistic characters, it allowed people to rest once in
a while.  There were places one could go to relax and enjoy the beauty
and wonder of this universe, and if adventure sneaked up on you while
you were working on your tan, so much the better.

Now, what do we have? A map of the Imperium smeared with grey paint,
with a big black SPLOTCH in the middle and a little chunk in one
corner or another that the paintbrush didn't reach. The grandeur of
Capital, the intrigue and espionage of the Solomani Rim, the exciting
new possibilities of the Hinterworlds and Gateway, the battle and
diplomacy of Reaver's Deep, the worldshattering implications of the
Aslan revelations, the horrible reality of the K'Kree and their plans
for humaniti-- all gone. Nothing left but piles of dead bodies and
rusted metal, scrabbled over by bands of savages and man-eating
computers. Big fat hairy goddamn deal. 

It just makes no sense to me on an artistic level. I know why they did
it. I've read their reports and I've tried, believe me, to support
them as wholeheartedly as I did in 1987 before I read about the
assassination of Strephon and watched the universe to which I'd
devoted years of my gaming career start to unravel. But it just makes
no sense. If all they wanted was a ruined-empire universe where
everything was forgotten, why not hire some writers and build one from
scratch?  FASA did that with the BattleTech universe, and did very
well for themselves: no one yearned for the Star League when the game
was predicated on its aftermath. Why did they feel the need to hack up
the best gaming campaign setting in the history of roleplaying and
throw the carcass to the vultures? It wasn't necessary. It really
accomplished nothing, except to absolve GDW of responsibility for
maintaining consistency in a game universe that had grown too large
for them to control. It substituted grand, far-reaching excitement for
petty, animalistic excitement, thought-provoking political and
economic problems for simple military exercises and head-smashing, a
broad view for a narrow one. And I hate it with a passion. The Imperium
is dead-- long live the Dawn League and the Star Vikings? No thank you.
I quit. I'm leaving. I can not deal with this now, call me a coward, a
stick-in-the-mud, an elitist, an old fogey, whatever you want. 

That having been said, what am I going to do now?

To be honest, I just don't know. I will continue to read the
TNE-Pocket material, and will see if the little spot of color we are
preparing to add to The Big Grey Map inspires me enough to start
working again on my part.  I will remain on the TML, and I will almost
certainly continue to playtest the TNE rules I have until I can obtain
the published versions. When those rules are in hand, I will begin to
type up the text of a sourcebook for TNE on the unbroken Third
Imperium, an idea that may or may not ever see approval by GDW and
which I will not discuss here until its future is known for certain,
one way or the other. I will finish running my MegaTraveller campaign
to its end, and see if the last set of people I care about in the
Traveller Universe, Grant and Company, make it to safety in Deneb
before the end (it's ironic that in Hector, the CymBiotic who ran
Grant's computer for him, I anticipated the Virus by over three
years). The PBEM I run with Mark Cook will continue-- the characters
have left the known Universe anyway, and we have time to consider what
sort of homecoming they will eventually endure.

And after that, when TNE is finally here? Who knows?

Perhaps I will take refuge in the old Imperium and dust off my ratty
old Classic Traveller books, and try to pretend none of this ever
happened. But I doubt it; that smacks of cowardice. Perhaps I, like
many others of my stripe, will take comfort from the highly unlikely
but metasatisfying pre-rebellion status of the Regency of Deneb, and
actually grow intrigued with the new mix of races and ideas there--
and perhaps I will learn to ignore the iron wall surrounding my new
little universe, beyond which there is nothing but grey paint. Right.

Perhaps my idea for a universe/campaign module allowing the unbroken
Third Imperium to be played using the newer (and hopefully better) TNE
rules set will fly, and I will be able to produce a work that both
serves those saddened by this turn of events AND provides GDW with a
worthwhile product that will generate good revenue. I hope so; in a
Universe once full of my grand designs, I now find that that little
as-yet-nonexistent book is my only real dream.

But one thing is certain: in my current ambivalent state, I am of no
use to anyone here as a resource, and must now officialize what has
been a de facto state of affairs since my mistakes in answering
questions have become more frequent and handled with more consistency
and accuracy by many others, all of whom have my thanks. I am hereby
resigning my post as Historian of the Traveller Mailing List, and am
remanding my duties to those who feel they can continue what I once
took joy in doing. I salute you all, and I'll see you, in some state
of mind or another, in the New Era.


Mike Metlay goes off the air immediately. I keep the flame. Good luck.
Communication ends.