Who will replace the Hymenopterans?

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

Errrrm. Wow! Not sure what else to say. Wow!

My favourite Jack Vance books were the five "Demon Prince" novels. Now just imagine we could have TFT Sci-Fi in the Demon Prince Universe. Drools....

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

My favourite Jack Vance books were the five "Demon Prince" novels. Now just imagine we could have TFT Sci-Fi in the Demon Prince Universe. Drools....

Steve Jackson already previously secured my favourite Vance setting - Tschai - for GURPS. It would be great to see that revived as a TFT-compatible guidebook as well.

I agree that the Demon Princes make a good campaign setting. In fact the whole of the Gaean Reach is a marvelously rich environment for gaming, though there is already a game system based on it.

[David L Pulver]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

Shadekeep - Got your mail, and I shall be in touch. Thank you! I am definitely a Vance fan, and I love the idea of a respectful treatment of his work.

Very cool. If it happens, neat!

[zot]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

Just heard back from Jack's son John, the executor of the Vance estate, and he is happy to allow the "dragons" from The Dragon Masters to appear in The Fantasy Trip. Obviously they would be used under permission of Jack's estate, and with credit to Jack. If Steve Jackson is reading this thread, I would be happy to speak directly with him as to how this might work.

I am further discussing with the Vance estate the idea of creating a full-blown Dragon Masters supplement book, with the beasts as well as the characters and settings from the story. This would include stats for TFT, and possibly other systems, depending on how the arrangement with SJG pans on the inclusion of Vance's Dragons directly into the system.

I'm excited, can you tell? ^_^

Any movement on this?

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by zot

Any movement on this?

Don't want to say too much, but things are afoot.

[noirFan]

I too am a great fan of the Hymenopteran (Chitin:I).

I don't know if this was mentioned but in Dragon #41 theres a variant article that uses Melee for dragon vs dragon Dragon Masters fights.

Just thought I'd throw that into the mix.

[zot]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

Don't want to say too much, but things are afoot.

Awesome! Pedal increases are encouraging!

[David Bofinger]

I think the hymenopterans and Vance's Dragon Masters, together, include three main ideas for societies.

1. Humans domesticating intelligent non-humans.
2. Intelligent non-humans domesticating humans.
3. Giant eusocial telepathically-linked multi-caste intelligent arthropods, inspired by Heinlein's Starship Tropers and eusocial arthropods like bees, ants and termites.

Individually these ideas are pretty simple. #1 and #2 are pretty common in fiction, with the slaver in each case typically being the story's villain. I've argued previously that the hymenopterans of Classic TFT are #3 plus the names from Vance.

I think TFT could do better. To come up with something new we could combine the ideas.

• #1 and #2 together is a society where the humans and non-humans each own members of the other species. Perhaps they aren't by law allowed to own their own species.
• #1 and #3 together would be a paragraph in a description of hymenopterans, saying that some humans have tried to enslave hives of hymenopterans by various clever tricks, but there are risks.
• #2 and #3 together are a story where hymenopterans kidnap humans, or perhaps human babies, or breed humans to raise from babies, and by some mechanism or other make them loyal to the hive. It would be easy to imagine this leads to a lot of friction with nearby human societies, who might make raids to rescue slaves who don't want to be rescued.

[Shadekeep]

Originally Posted by zot

Awesome! Pedal increases are encouraging!

Ha, thanks! The work has been laborious but rewarding, and I really want to be sure I do justice to the source materials. As a lifelong fan of Jack's work, I owe that to him and his legacy.

I've been working with Spatterlight Press for a number of years now as a cover artist, and am thrilled to be working on this new kind of collaboration.

[zot]

Originally Posted by Shadekeep

Ha, thanks! The work has been laborious but rewarding, and I really want to be sure I do justice to the source materials. As a lifelong fan of Jack's work, I owe that to him and his legacy.

I've been working with Spatterlight Press for a number of years now as a cover artist, and am thrilled to be working on this new kind of collaboration.

Vance was undenyably versatile, few authors could write both Ellery Queen and Dying Earth...