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Old 12-31-2019, 12:19 PM   #11
beetle496
 
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Default Re: Car Wars Setting

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Originally Posted by 43Supporter View Post
I prefer the "alternate history" approach -- CW-time diverges from Reality-time in 2000.
That approach is seriously off-putting to anyone who is not a hardcore gamer. So much so that even a well-established franchise like Star Trek could not stomach the idea.

Plus it means 6e universe skips right over the most interesting and fertile CWC years from 2029-2035 (per 1990 chronology), instead of having those events in the just recent past.

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That will be a Good Idea for example in 2030 Federal government moves to nationalize dwindling supplies of oil and natural gas production. Legislatures in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana react by seceding, and move to nationalize these resources themselves. Pitched battles with federal forces follow, resulting in the destruction of several oilfield sites on both sides of the newly-established border.

Then In 2033: U.S. forces stopped in the hills of central Texas, ending bloody "Gulf or Bust" campaign. Rebel forces begin to retake lost territory.

And So On, etc.
Exactly!
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Old 12-31-2019, 01:21 PM   #12
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Default Re: Car Wars Setting

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That approach is seriously off-putting to anyone who is not a hardcore gamer.
Please don't generalize like this, especially when you're posting something negative. I'm sure there are plenty of casual gamers who would be fine with that approach. Clearly, you're not one of them, and that's fine.
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Old 12-31-2019, 01:22 PM   #13
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That approach is seriously off-putting to anyone who is not a hardcore gamer. So much so that even a well-established franchise like Star Trek could not stomach the idea.
How so? The "infinite rebooting" of _ST_ you mention is more the result of "how can we keep putting out commercial product" than anything else (and we've seen how well *that's* worked out...).

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Plus it means 6e universe skips right over the most interesting and fertile CWC years from 2029-2035 (per 1990 chronology), instead of having those events in the just recent past.
How can those events be "skipped over" when they haven't happened yet (so to speak)?

Looking at the timeline in the old _GURPS Autoduel_: 2020 is smack in the middle of the "Big Spinout" -- cities mostly abandoned; US biker gangs "invading" Canada; unemployment at its nadir; the only bright sign is the development of cloning. Joe Harshman won't become famous for another three years; the AADA won't be formed for another five. It's the least-optimal time to be a Civilized Person... and that's what makes it interesting.
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Old 12-31-2019, 05:42 PM   #14
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Let me explain the timeline:

See in 1985 Marty McFly hops in the DeLorean creating timeline #2 which supplants timeline #1.

Then Doc jumps from 2015 which negates timeline #2 and starts timeline #3.

Crazy Jo Harshman isn't until 2023 as 43 correctly stated. We'll call this timeline #4 for simplicity.

Timeline #5 is the new CW timeline.

So clear, I don't understand how this could confuse anyone.
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Old 12-31-2019, 05:53 PM   #15
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I was hoping for something new and interesting when they were talking factions with specific miniatures & whatnot. So i am kind of disappointed that didn't happen
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Old 01-01-2020, 01:35 AM   #16
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I was hoping for something new and interesting when they were talking factions with specific miniatures & whatnot. So i am kind of disappointed that didn't happen
I'm of the opposing view: I don't like "faction lists", as it's one fewer choice the player gets to make -- let each player come up with his preferred design(s), and let the player who can use his designs most effectively take the win.
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Old 01-01-2020, 07:25 AM   #17
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Happy New Years everyone!

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How so? The "infinite rebooting" of _ST_ you mention is more the result of "how can we keep putting out commercial product" than anything else (and we've seen how well *that's* worked out...).
Actually, Trek is the only continuing-franchise example I can think of. And yeah, Trek is a mess anyway you look at it. But I truly did not follow why they thought they had to retcon and twist the timelines for them to have suitable settings for the stories they wanted to tell/sell.

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How can those events be "skipped over" when they haven't happened yet (so to speak)?
I think we agree that playing during the rapid rise of Autodueling would be the setting with the most potential. That is what we had in the 80s.

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Looking at the timeline in the old _GURPS Autoduel_: 2020 is smack in the middle of the "Big Spinout" -- cities mostly abandoned; US biker gangs "invading" Canada; unemployment at its nadir; the only bright sign is the development of cloning. Joe Harshman won't become famous for another three years; the AADA won't be formed for another five. It's the least-optimal time to be a Civilized Person... and that's what makes it interesting.
I seem to have (relatively recently) hidden my copy of GURPS Autoduel from myself. Does it have any significant different chronology than is in Compendium or Classic? That 2020 setting is pretty bleak and does not IMHO seem at all interesting for an RPG setting! There are plenty of post-apocalyptic games of course, but they all imagine “falls” that are much more dramatic than CWC circa 2020. Maybe Gaslands is compatible with CWC 2020 era, but I would rather be playing in CWC 2030.

I submit that it is a problem for 6e to be set in the CWC timeline if the 6e year (per the KS page) is 2070.
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Old 01-01-2020, 07:47 AM   #18
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Default Re: Car Wars Setting

Here is how @Magesmiley introduces the setting:
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Start with a really short background to the game: I usually start with something like: "Car Wars is a game of the roads of the future, where the right of way goes to the biggest guns." One of the most popular forms of entertainment is drivers matching their skills in arena combat. You are those drivers. Your objective: Eliminate the other players before they eliminate you."
Works as well for 6e as it does for CWC!
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Old 01-01-2020, 02:17 PM   #19
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Actually, Trek is the only continuing-franchise example I can think of. And yeah, Trek is a mess anyway you look at it. But I truly did not follow why they thought they had to retcon and twist the timelines for them to have suitable settings for the stories they wanted to tell/sell.
That part is easy -- Doohan, Nimoy and Kelley are dead; Nichols is on her last legs (a shame -- I've met her before); and I don't know how long Shatner, Takei, and Koenig have. As the actors age-off, the Company has to find replacements, or the series becomes moribund.

This is not a problem board games suffer from -- a _Piranha_ from the OG Pocket Box _CW_ is just as useful now as it was back in '81. ("Old Duelcars Never Die -- They Get Upgrades." ;) )

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I think we agree that playing during the rapid rise of Autodueling would be the setting with the most potential. That is what we had in the 80s.
It would be Interesting, to be sure -- esp. if some of the more-up-to-date Tech was available from the get-go, even if in limited quantities (for ex.: HESH and HEAT ammo are available, but *extremely* hard to come by unless one has an ammo-production facility nearby). As the line from _Chassis & Crossbow_ says: "Searching for more-powerful weapons could be an ongoing campaign theme", except instead of having to dig up samples, one has to perform in the arena to convince the sponsors to make available to one's team the more-advanced product.

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Originally Posted by beetle496 View Post
I seem to have (relatively recently) hidden my copy of GURPS Autoduel from myself. Does it have any significant different chronology than is in Compendium or Classic? That 2020 setting is pretty bleak and does not IMHO seem at all interesting for an RPG setting! There are plenty of post-apocalyptic games of course, but they all imagine “falls” that are much more dramatic than CWC circa 2020. Maybe Gaslands is compatible with CWC 2020 era, but I would rather be playing in CWC 2030.
_GA_'s timeline details when some of the more-significant events of the OG _CW_ Timeline occur -- for ex.: The "big news" in CW-2020 is the development of Cloning by Amalgamated Meditech, and the associated legal ruling in the US that a clone which has the original's memories in it is legally a "continuation of the original".

Meanwhile, the Collapse has reached "bottom"; things will slowly improve from here. And that's what makes it Interesting to me -- "we choose to go to the Moon in this decade, and do the other things, *not* because they are Easy, but because they are *Hard*". Being one of The Few who stands in the way of the Collapse -- not a bad way to spend an evening, eh, lads? :)
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Old 01-01-2020, 10:22 PM   #20
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Default Re: Car Wars Setting

Please move the Star Trek discussion to Geek Culture if you want to continue. It is off-topic here.
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