I've been reading the various threads on "our" background over the last few
days with both interest and amusement, and thought I'd like to share a few
thoughts with everyone.
The FT/DS/SG background (or "GZG Universe" if you like) certainly seems
to generate some very polarised reactions, and rattles more than a few
patriotic cages in several parts of the globe! While most of the comments
seem to be in the right spirit (ie: very tongue-in-cheek), I do get the
feeling that just a few people are genuinely miffed by the way their
respective countries are treated in the timeline!! So, to clear up a couple of
things first:
1) We (that is, myself (Jon) and Steve Blease, a friend who contributed a
great deal of the original timeline ideas) wrote the background when FT was
still a small system destined (we thought) to sell most of its copies within
the UK; this was long before our distribution deal with GeoHex to cover the
US, and the game was written mainly with the UK market in mind.
2) Like any author of an SF novel, we designed the timeline to suit the
sort of military/political situation we wanted to end up with; in our
case, to give lots of excuses for various nationalities to still be fighting
each other 200 years in the future, with enough variety and racial variations
to allow maximum flexibility both for us as writers and for the players. We
specifically DIDN'T want to have a simple two-sided war situation, of
the
"Earth against the Colonial federation" type, or a two-superpower
faceoff with all the other players in very minor roles. The idea was that
humanity is to be just as fragmented as it is now (maybe even more so), so
that
players could take virtually any two fleets/powers and find at least
some
reason, somewhere in the timeline, for them to need/want to fight each
other!
So, that is ALL the background is: a SEMI-serious set of excuses for
loads of fun battles!! If we can have you all accept FTL travel, then I'm sure
you can accept the NAC....:)
Oh, and it is Free Cal-Tex because a) it is easier to say, and b) it
doesn't sound so much like an oil company....
On the subject of the NAC, we chose CNS (Confederation Navy Ship) as being
just a bit less Anglo-centric than HMS, though on reflection we could
always revert to HMS when we do FTIII (hey, it's our universe...).
Incidentally, NAC was originally going to stand for New Anglian COMMONWEALTH
rather than Confederation, and even I'm not quite sure how or when it got
changed...
There were several powers/nations/parts of Earth that were "left out" in
the FT timeline - some by accident, some deliberately and some because
we just couldn't fit everything in! As has been mentioned, Scandinavia is one
such area - the ideas of a Scandinavian Commonwealth/Federation/League
sounds a good one, and any further feedback from the residents of these
countries on the list would be very useful.
I'd quite like to detail a bit about religion within the GZG universe as well
as politics (especially as it is responsible for so many wars), but I
realise we're treading on tricky ground here - I don't think we can
approach this with the same tongue in cheek attitude as we do the political
side without risking actually upsetting some people, which I certainly don't
want to do. Opinions, anyone? [Vatican MegaCorporation, with its Military arm,
MafInc......hehehe]
Someone mentioned that the ideas behind the formation of the NAC were
"silly"; sure they are - as I mentioned above, they were the means to an
end. However, I think they are a good bit less "silly" than the sort of
situation in (say) Star Trek, where all the peoples of Earth live happily and
peacefully together with no greed or rivalry.... yeah, right.
One important point about the GZG timeline is that there are NO GOODIES OR
BADDIES (at least not in an absolute sense). Even though it might seem that we
soemtimes treat the NAC (and more specifically their British side) as the good
guys (hey, I'm as nationalistic as anyone), the assumption is that
ALL powers have good and bad in them (OK, maybe not the French... ;) -
all the governments are probably corrupt to a greater or lesser extent, and
NAC Military Intelligence have likely as not had their sticky little fingers
in many cases of "political unrest" elsewhere in settled space.... As they
say, Guy Fawkes was the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest
intentions...!! One good friend even suggested to me once that of all the
powers, the Islamics are probably the most "moral" (by their own standards) of
the lot, because they would be most likely to adhere unwaveringly to their own
beliefs and ideals rather than resort to underhand and hypocritical methods
for their own gain!
Just don't take ANY of this too seriously!
OK, there are a few thoughts. I'm working on "fleshing out" the background,
both for future publication and to provide writers' guidelines for anyone
who wants to submit anything in the way of scenarios and/or fiction set
in the "official" timeline. If any of you would like to submit any ideas on
how you see your personal favourite powers in the background, please feel
free to email them directly to me - everything will get read and go into
the general melting-pot from which hopefully something will emerge in
due course!
> Ground Zero Games wrote:
I think everyone here wasn't being serious. At least I hope so.
> 1) We (that is, myself (Jon) and Steve Blease, a friend who
Oh, sure, forgot about us eh? ;-)
> 2) Like any author of an SF novel, we designed the timeline to suit
We
> specifically DIDN'T want to have a simple two-sided war situation, of
OK, we give.:-) One thing though, in the timeline the only states
mentioned are Texas, New Mexico, and California. What happened to Arizona?
> On the subject of the NAC, we chose CNS (Confederation Navy Ship) as
Navies (most military services in fact) are strong traditionalists, so I think
HMS probably would continue.
> There were several powers/nations/parts of Earth that were "left out"
in
> the FT timeline - some by accident, some deliberately and some because
as
> the good guys (hey, I'm as nationalistic as anyone), the assumption is
The NAC explanation isn't silly, just needs to be better explained. And your
universe IS a lot better than the "faschists with smiley faces" of Star Trek.
> Just don't take ANY of this too seriously!
What? Tha GZG rulebooks aren't the Holy Grail? ;-)
> OK, there are a few thoughts. I'm working on "fleshing out" the
One of the things that I would like to see is an explaination of how big human
space is, i.e. how many inhabited planets there are etc.
> Jon (GZG) - feeling especially patriotic right now, having been
I would like to express my condolences to all fellow list members, indeed
everyone from the UK who is feeling the loss of Princess Di right now. Are
hearts go out to you.
> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 19:08:07 +0100
> I've been reading the various threads on "our" background over the
Hmm this begins to sound like a certain like a certain Ambassador Molari's
quote about letting everyone except the Centauri burn. In my case this would
be everyone except the Irish. A great pity as I'll miss french wine, German
beer (occasionally), citrus fruits, and everything else we can't produce. We
should be OK for potatoes (how do you spell that word?) and Guinness though.
And rain. Don't forget the rain...
People seem to be getting a bit over-sensitive about the timeline.
Tis only a game. A very good one mind you. I find it amusing really. Since
most of the rulesets are US based and therefore US focussed its something of a
change to have a timeline that doesn't have that focus.
> Jon (GZG) - feeling especially patriotic right now, having been
How very odd that Diana of all people should be a unifying force around the
globe. Life can be strange. I live in a small (and I mean small) country
village and even here there were people signing condolence cards to be sent to
the British embassy as its too far away from any major town to sign a book of
condolence.
I see Mother Theresa died yesterday as well. Another huge funeral is likely.
Another sad event.
In a message dated 97-09-06 15:30:21 EDT, you write:
<< people seem to be getting a bit over-sensitive about the timeline.
Tis only a game. A very good one mind you. I find it amusing really. Since
most of the rulesets are US based and therefore US focussed its something of a
change to have a timeline that doesn't have that focus.
> [quoted text omitted]
As a Yank I thought the focus is a good one. I get a kick out of the Second
Civil War as it would be political in origin as well as solution. The idea
that politicians would be themselves ( greedy lying lawyers) is always very
very believable. Besides I like the variety, it gets boring in all those USA
dominated history backgrounds. It makes it easy for me to get into "other"
national groups!!
[snip]
> 1) We (that is, myself (Jon) and Steve Blease, a friend who
No, just didn't think at that time that you'd give us a second glance
against the shelf-fuls of TSR, GDW and all the rest!!! :)
> [quoted text omitted]
[snip]
> One of the things that I would like to see is an explaination of how
Well, this is something I've always resisted tying down too closely,
because if we ever to an "exhaustive" planets/colonies list and/or a map
then it really limits players' and scenario writers' possibilities for
introducing their own settings. My own preference is that there are a
handful of Inner Colonies (10-20 systems at the most) the majority of
which
are settled by several different nations - there is a LOT of room on one
planet, look at the one we've got now! Moving outward we have the
Outworlds, which are more numerous (assuming human-explored space to be
an expanding sphere) but mostly will have only very small settlements, usually
from one nation, corporation or whatever. Most systems reasonably close to Sol
will have some kind of settlement, on orbital stations if there is no
remotely-habitable world insystem. The few real "garden worlds" will, I
think, be quite heavily colonised because they will be quite rare; less
habitable real-estate may have only a few tiny scientific or mining
bases.
Corporations, fringe groups, political/religious refugees etc. may all
have their own little settlements, which might be in remote regions of the
Inner Colony worlds or may be true outposts of humanity on the Outworlds.
> > >One of the things that I would like to see is an explaination of
less
> habitable real-estate may have only a few tiny scientific or mining
Well if I remember rightly you can travel a light year in a day? So if you
spent an entire year in Hyperspace you could get out to 365 light years from
earth. Now this doesn't take into account how far you can travel before
refuelling. To refuel of course requires colonies or bases properly equipped.
Or perhaps with fusion power
maybe all you need is a certain amount of water. In any case we
could assume that no ship travels for an entire year in Hyperspace. Perhaps we
should halve the time allowed. Then we are talking about
approximately 150-200 light year sphere of exploration for humanity.
Of course they may well have explored beyond this but perhaps we could regard
this as the core of humanitys expansion. The distances involved and the time
required to travel from one side of the sphere of the other would mean that
you would need sector fleets to patrol areas of space. These are only vague
ramblings so if anyone would care to refine and correct any errors in my
thinking feel free.
By the way Jon did the guy with the FT program/Game get in touch with
tou about it yet? It sounded interesting but due to the copyright issues
involved it might be nice to hear what you make of it.