I dig FTL Now, but my one hitch is with the book's take on 9/11; I think a few other folks have similar hangups, though possibly for different reasons.

Firstly: does anyone know why the Comet event was set up the way it was? (i.e. ultimately killing billions of people on Earth)

Secondly: any suggestions of how you'd modify the 9/11 event in the setting?

A lot of Cold Space / FTL Now is built on making (diverging) parallels between the evolution of our world and our-world-with-FTL. I'm not sure what the right metaphor is for the Oikumene vs post-9/11 world. (America::::Oikumene) I suppose I'd tone down the Comet's death toll greatly; you wouldn't need to a huge amount of dead in order to still spur on some major changes in the world. I'd also like to keep the whole Angel movement, because that seems like a cool setting element, but what would Oikumeners be doing on Earth if there wasn't a truly awful event back home?

Quote from: DevPI dig FTL Now, but my one hitch is with the book's take on 9/11; I think a few other folks have similar hangups, though possibly for different reasons.

Firstly: does anyone know why the Comet event was set up the way it was? (i.e. ultimately killing billions of people on Earth)

Hi DevP! Glad you like the game!

My intention was to leave that open to individual interpretation, and won't disclose the reason I had in mind. One suggestion I heard from a customer that I liked, though, was that the strike was only intended to hit the US. The setting off of the Ring of Fire, which caused far more worldwide devastation, was an accident. I think that has some interesting repercussions.

Quote from: DevPSecondly: any suggestions of how you'd modify the 9/11 event in the setting?

A lot of Cold Space / FTL Now is built on making (diverging) parallels between the evolution of our world and our-world-with-FTL. I'm not sure what the right metaphor is for the Oikumene vs post-9/11 world. (America::::Oikumene)

Pundit interpreted it this way - America:Rest of World::Earth:Oikumene. That's an astute observation.

Quote from: DevPI suppose I'd tone down the Comet's death toll greatly; you wouldn't need to a huge amount of dead in order to still spur on some major changes in the world. I'd also like to keep the whole Angel movement, because that seems like a cool setting element, but what would Oikumeners be doing on Earth if there wasn't a truly awful event back home?

You could do with that customer's suggestion - localize the event. Restrict it to the inital comet attack. Let the eruption of the Ring of Fire never happen. That does mean the colonies of the rest of the world would not be isolated, which changes the flavor considerably, but that's your call.

-clash

Hmmm - looks like I shouldn't have posted. Killed it off with a bullet to the brain...

Apologies!

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceHmmm - looks like I shouldn't have posted. Killed it off with a bullet to the brain...

Apologies!

-clash

You and your succinct eloquence!

I'll hash out my take on the America:Third World::Earth:Oikumene thing later.

BTW, where does "Oikumene" come from?

Quote from: DevPI'll hash out my take on the America:Third World::Earth:Oikumene thing later.

BTW, where does "Oikumene" come from?

Oikumene is a Koine Greek word:

Oikoumene
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oikoumene, from the Greek οἰκουμένη, which is the present middle participle of the verb οἰκω, meaning "I inhabit".

In Alexander the Great's Hellenistic Age, Oikoumene refers to the part of the earth that is inhabited, by all men or by only a subset of men. Often it referred to the lands inhabited by Greeks, excluding therefore the lands inhabited by barbarians.

In the Koine Greek of the Roman Empire and the New Testament, oikoumene literally means world, however it was generally understood to mean the Roman world.

In Hebrews 2.5 oikoumenen ten mellousan is used to refer to the future kingdom of Christ (the world to come), as: For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.

One of the most interesting uses of Oikoumene was by the Byzantines to describe their empire, see also Ecumenical council.

The concept underlies both the title Ecumenical Patriarch (Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον) given to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the process of ecumenism.

You're the  first person to ask me that.

-clash

Bump

Anyone else have an idea for DevP on this, now that we're all here?



-clash

I was refraining from posting because I worried a "my take on FTL" would be more like "my take on GEOPOLITICS" but I'll give it a shot:

So America:ThirdWorld::Earth:Oikumene. What does the "third world" mean to most Americans, particularly after 9/11?
- an emerging market
- newly independent lands, free from the interference of superpowers and eager to pursue their own idenity
- where the poor people come from
- a geopolitical chessboard
- a big desert where people who want to kill us are hiding

So, I'll portray the Oikumene in this light, and relations to Earth should roughly come out of these things.

The Oikumene is isolated from Earth. Given the above, why is that?
- If there's no longer a Cold War to fight, Earth has less incentive to interact with the Oikumene, and probably only helps out worlds that can help them back. (And, some colonies may prefer impoverished isolation to becoming dependent on Earth-side America.)
- Ramp up the space security measures (understandably, given the catastrophic potential of orbital terrorism), and you've greatly chilled free trade and exchange between the colonies and Earth.

And what about those Angels?
- Make them like the Falun Gong: an cultural phenomenon that some governments actively repress and other merely are wary of. (I'm told that the FG practice a mix of reasonable and odd practices, which would be similar to how the Angels would be perceived.)

So, that's one spin on things.

Quote from: DevPI was refraining from posting because I worried a "my take on FTL" would be more like "my take on GEOPOLITICS" but I'll give it a shot:

Excellent! That's a fascinating set up! That would work well!

-clash

Quote from: DevPI was refraining from posting because I worried a "my take on FTL" would be more like "my take on GEOPOLITICS" but I'll give it a shot:

Cold Space is a breeding for gamers to give their take on GEOPOLITICS, IMO Yours, sounds pretty interesting. I'm not intending to run a campaign in FTL Now...in fact, I can't even discuss your ideas, because my players are apparently reading through a lot of CS material - which I didn't even know we had - and so, I'm really unfamiliar with the setting.

Damn it. I'm the GM, instead they treat me like the Ringo Star of the group

Regards,
David R

Quote from: David RCold Space is a breeding for gamers to give their take on GEOPOLITICS, IMO Yours, sounds pretty interesting. I'm not intending to run a campaign in FTL Now...in fact, I can't even discuss your ideas, because my players are apparently reading through a lot of CS material - which I didn't even know we had - and so, I'm really unfamiliar with the setting.

Damn it. I'm the GM, instead they treat me like the Ringo Star of the group

Regards,
David R

Hehe! Politics is very important in CS. I tried to make it enough like our world that you catch on quick, but different enough to make it interesting. You'll pick it up fast.

BTW, Ringo was vastly under-rated.

-clash