As a former writer for 2020 I can say that the idea for exotics came from other source material and not the furry “culture” as it were.

This is one of the many reasons why the lab ship design makes no sense.

There isn’t really a consensus. There are as many “haters” as well as “lovers” of each timeline and ideas. I didn’t much care for IW, but I know and respect people who do. For me, a little chaos in the Imperium was sorely needed.

The everything from MT and TNE were definitely disliked. I thought the Hard Times setting was really fantastic.

There are three major dislikes, and all of them came from MegaTraveller and The New Era. The Empress Wave, the Assassination of Strephon, and the Virus. All of these are catastrophic changes in the setting, they rob the players of agency, and remove huge chunks of continuity.

Although I think there are some huge landmines in the road to this product, I also think it could bring a lot of people into the Traveller universe, and that could be very positive. Actually I believe that’s the main reason they’re doing it.

you might have hit a server that was having an issue.

The way these servers are federated may be the issue. As federation becomes more prevalent this may become more robust.

Fair, thanx for your response.

That’s fair. Just curious, do you also disregard publisher forums as well?

I absolutely do, and moderate the Traveller group here as well. I like having multiple sources of news and engagement.

Digg is its own thing. I don’t know if they plan on RSS support, but I can ask.

Worked on, or owned?

Of course that’s possible, but it could be that the smaller development team had a more unified approach.

RPGs, much like SF, have always been a mechanism to explore social issues in philosophy, governance, and thought. In Human society I don’t personally believe that “politics” can be avoided in any group anywhere. —of course that’s just one man’s opinion.

This is a fantastic bundle for $16 and I purchased it immediately.

The iPad has a variety of sizes up to 13”.

My amazing iPad does this well. You can get a 10th generation starting about US$250. ALSO, look out for November deals.

Scatter ideas… players are unlikely to move in any specific order or direction because that’s what’s expected. Most experienced players are terrified to do what the GM wants because they believe they’ll all die. Players and GMs are commonly perceived as adversaries, but they should be collaborators. So the GM can scatter ideas and little bits of business al over the place and then the group can choose. Members of the group can ask for elements and the GM can choose. Create the series together, allow the players to affect change in the setting, and never let an NPC do what a player does. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Hollow World wasn’t strange from either perspective. There have always been fantasies involving the hidden civilizations under the earth. There was also among designers a fetish for the pulpy adventure stories. See also, Doc Savage, the Nile Empire for TORG, Justice Inc and Lands of Mystery, various Buck Roger’s iterations, Thrilling Places, Hollow Earth Expeditions, Spirit of the Century, as well as a few dozen others. Hell, even Traveller is based on the pulpy SF like Dumarest and Lensman.