Well its the location of the American operations on Mars. I am trying to get a good plot hook that was found there that directed the US to concentrate its Exploration to what would become the American Arm. I don't want it to be powerful but more of something that opens up alot of questions and adventures that would link what Colin did for the Beta Aquila cluster. One of the idea I have is something simmilar to the Zhodani map projector to the core. Any good ideas?
Olympus Mons
- Thread starter JBRocky
- Start date
Why? Seriously why?
Why rope in some artifact that you'll have to eventually explain away when the reason always has been rather mundane? The US "concentrated" on exploring the American Arm because of the "head start" France/ESA and Manchuria enjoyed in the other two arms.
Look at the post-1860s Scramble for Africa. The explorations and land grabs by European imperial powers involved all centered around the territories each power was already familiar with and any "collisions" between the powers only occurred when they ran out of unexplored/"un-grabbed" lands.
The US chose the direction it did because it wasn't in the same direction as the other major powers had already chose.
Great googly moogly...
The Ancients are completely over-used in Traveller and this over-use began well before whoever designed MgT's chargen decided to hand out Ancient Artifacts like breath mints at an AA meeting. Anytime anyone needs to explain anything the least bit weird or even things not the slightest bit weird at all, they trot out the old Ancients "excuse". It's beyond tired, it's sickeningly repetitive, and, quite frankly, it's utterly insulting to the intelligence of the players. Repeating that same Ancients Mistake in your 2300AD game is Not A Good Thing(tm).
You can and should do better.
All that being said, the plot of the Echoes of the Past adventure in the Nyotekundu Sourcebook involves a Medusae artifact and it's effects on the personnel aboard a mining platform/mass driver orbiting a gas giant.
Yup. Make the reason for why the US chose to explore the Arm it did a solid geopolitical one and leave any spookiness out of the picture. If anything, it should save you the cost of those theremin rentals...
So whats over that hill?
How about they got their first?
Was anything rumoured to have been found during their excavations on Mars?
Could have easily asked what caused the others to head for their respective arms?o:
Did they find parts of some ancient cache of navigation data and they each bid during a special episode of Storage Wars to see who got what?:CoW:
So I'm assuming France took the first pick....
How about they got their first?
Was anything rumoured to have been found during their excavations on Mars?
Could have easily asked what caused the others to head for their respective arms?
o:Did they find parts of some ancient cache of navigation data and they each bid during a special episode of Storage Wars to see who got what?:CoW:
So I'm assuming France took the first pick....
An in between possibility (alien artifact, no ancients)...
IIRC the Yii had been exploring stars from long time ago, and some ruins have been found in some places.
As Operation Back Door shows, there's a way to go from Yii space to American arm (though a Brown Duarf and with tugs).
Might the Yii have explored it (perhabs because they were blocked by Kafers in other directions ,as, again IIRC, the Kaffer-Yii war lasts for some centuries) and left some artifact that the US found and sparked its interest on this specific arm (as having found a derelict ship with a map showing part of this arm, etc.)?
I don't believe it to be found in Mars, but perhaps in US first space probes and explorations...
IIRC the Yii had been exploring stars from long time ago, and some ruins have been found in some places.
As Operation Back Door shows, there's a way to go from Yii space to American arm (though a Brown Duarf and with tugs).
Might the Yii have explored it (perhabs because they were blocked by Kafers in other directions ,as, again IIRC, the Kaffer-Yii war lasts for some centuries) and left some artifact that the US found and sparked its interest on this specific arm (as having found a derelict ship with a map showing part of this arm, etc.)?
I don't believe it to be found in Mars, but perhaps in US first space probes and explorations...
BRJN
SOC-12
Sounds vaguely like the Traveller: Interstellar Wars explanation for why the first US Jump Drive expedition decided to investigate Barnard's Star instead of Alpha Centauri / Prometheus:
They had {SECRET} information that there was something interesting to be found there.
Don't try to explain too much; let your players speculate over it. If they come up with a cool answer, let THAT be the truth.
Or go this route: they “found” “something” at Olympus Mons ... but completely mis-interpreted the data. The “secret formula” guided their explorations up to the point the formula was proven bogus. The secret now becomes the cover-up that hides the embarrassing facts from the public.
Easy in-universe 'Scientific' answer is they developed a specialized brown dwarf/exoplanet detecting sensor lensed by the thin Martian atmosphere atop the Mountain, powered by a specialized geothermal system made available by the caldera.
They thus detected the 'Backdoor' Brown Dwarf and found that the comparatively small American Arm was actually much larger than thought, and kept it as a state secret for future negotiations of expansion along the varied arms.
Years later, come the Kaefer War, the Americans use their secret not for peaceful expansion - but to fight their own piece of the war...
They thus detected the 'Backdoor' Brown Dwarf and found that the comparatively small American Arm was actually much larger than thought, and kept it as a state secret for future negotiations of expansion along the varied arms.
Years later, come the Kaefer War, the Americans use their secret not for peaceful expansion - but to fight their own piece of the war...
AtlanticFriend
SOC-12
Thtat is a nice idea. It could go like this : US agencies think there is something big there, because of sketchy, ambiguous reports, a compelling sense of adventure/opportunity, and an all-too human tendency to cobble together unrelated snippets into some big, earth-shattering fact. They connive to be the first there against rival Franco/Manchurian attempts to go there just because, and when they arrive they realize 1) that the initial expectations were way overblown, but 2) still discover something more mundane but that allows American interstellar expansion. Like Columbus' 1492 discovery : he thinks he'll find an expressway to China/India, but he's wrong. He nevertheless discovers something that will change the world in a major way.
AtlanticFriend
SOC-12
How about a buried magnetic anomaly . . . ?
The flat-screen version of the Zhodani projector?
AtlanticFriend
SOC-12
Looks like they all made it!
https://thehill.com/opinion/technol...nwen-1-and-nasas-perseverance-arrives-at-mars
https://thehill.com/opinion/technol...nwen-1-and-nasas-perseverance-arrives-at-mars
Well, there goes US exclusivity on Mars Rovers... and thus also places a strong dent in the credibility of NASA's Planetary Protection Policy.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Ever play the GDW game Double Star? MWM sees into the future once again:
AtlanticFriend
SOC-12
Double Star? No, I never heard of that game. Was it a wargame like Imperium?
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
Yes, very similar to but different in mechanics
AtlanticFriend
SOC-12
Most of my GDW wargames were contemporary warfare. I remember tracking down Star Cruiser for months but never were able to find it in French stores, even in Paris.
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