Question - What does TGG stand for?

[Borgholio]

I know that TGG is some sort of massive, all-encompassing crossover of doom but one thing has me puzzled...what exactly does TGG stand for?

[Mayabird]

The Great Game.

I wrote this down in the C & C story listing announcement, but it's kinda far down the list.

[Coyote]

There was a real political conflict in history called the Great Game; there was also (a few years ago) a fun Roleplay-Story; ideally it was "original" although a lot of stuff could be based on other sci-fi series. There was an Ottoman Empire in space, a small Israel government (mine ), a Byzantine Empire, a Holy Roman Empire, etc-- all remade as space-faring nations.

To get around the "I have Star Wars tech and you based yours on Star Trek tech so I win" arguments, we just had everything be about the same power level for story purposes.

[Master_Baerne]

If you're interested in playing a game similar in concept to TGG, head on over to the STGOD forum - we always need more victims participants for SDNW4.

[Borgholio]

The Great Game.

I wrote this down in the C & C story listing announcement, but it's kinda far down the list.

Thanks! My first attempt at Googling "TGG" brought up references to The Great Gatsby.

[Borgholio]

Sorry if this counts as a necro, but I read several of the TGG stories (enjoyed greatly, btw...) but found no info whatsoever on exactly which universes are involved in the story. I gathered some of the obvious such as Mechwarrior, Star Trek, and Babylon 5 but what about the others such as HE or SE and whatnot? Is every universe based on existing Sci-Fi or are some of them made up for the story? Is there a list of the players somewhere?

[Simon_Jester]

Quite a few of them, including the ones that figure most prominently in interuniversal affairs (the ADN, the Talorans, the Habsburgs) are original-fiction universes, often ones inspired by the writers' participation in collaborative online 'roleplay your nation' games in the misty past.

[Coyote]

Sorry if this counts as a necro, but I read several of the TGG stories (enjoyed greatly, btw...) but found no info whatsoever on exactly which universes are involved in the story. I gathered some of the obvious such as Mechwarrior, Star Trek, and Babylon 5 but what about the others such as HE or SE and whatnot? Is every universe based on existing Sci-Fi or are some of them made up for the story? Is there a list of the players somewhere?

I based the HoNi (Hegemony of New Israel) on a mish-mash of Star Wars, Space: Above & Beyond, some Aliens, a bit of Star Trek flavor and some of my own, original sci-fi setting. Overall the tone was Trek-ish for the most part.

I re-used a lot of it in another SpaceBattles RP, the short-lived Star Trek: The Omega Protocol from around 2007 or so. Obviously, made it more "Trek" but kept subtle influences from the rest.

[fgalkin]

Slavia was Russia in SPAAAACE with Cossacks and crazy Serbs thrown in for flavor. My Imperium was....strange. Original and fairly grimdark.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Simon_Jester]

That said, does either state figure all that strongly in the stories?

[Coyote]

In the original one in SB.com, the HoNI was a major player but only in certain, regional situations. It was a tiny "nation", with a small power projection base. I had them working a lot with the Ottoman Empire, which was convenient since in real life, Turkey and Israel were on good terms, and the Duchess was playing the Ottomans, and I have always gotten along well with her. So the influence of my guys was limited: deeply involved in some areas, virtually unknown of in others. We did a bunch of clandestine stuff, though, too.

Our biggest operation was getting deeply involved in the Race War; the lizards of "The Race" from Turtledove's WorldWar series. They were picking fights with a lot of people, and many of the players were involved in ops there.

It was a fun game, and my first introduction to online RP's. The Duchess talked me into it, and I enjoyed it immensely. Since then I've been doing a lot of online RP's, mostly at SB.com but some here and a little bit at a Na'vi board.

[Borgholio]

I saw in another thread that someone was asking if Star Wars was part of the multiverse and he was told "most certainly no". I agree since SW takes place in a totally different galaxy and the multiverse takes place in the Milky Way. With that said, there are plenty of Sci-Fi universes would make neat additions to TGG. Terminator, Aliens, Space : Above and Beyond, Starship Troopers... Be nice to see some of those someday.

[Coyote]

I saw in another thread that someone was asking if Star Wars was part of the multiverse and he was told "most certainly no". I agree since SW takes place in a totally different galaxy and the multiverse takes place in the Milky Way. With that said, there are plenty of Sci-Fi universes would make neat additions to TGG. Terminator, Aliens, Space : Above and Beyond, Starship Troopers... Be nice to see some of those someday.

I, for one, used a lot of Star Wars elements (my front line warships were based on cruiser versions of the Acclamator) but again, all the technology levels were considered "comparable" since the focus was on the story-- politics, diplomacy, brinksmanship, characters and dialogue --rather than combat where tech decisiveness was a factor. So a "heavy turbolaser" by any other name was in the same power range as a "heavy phaser" or "heavy disruptor" and so on, to prevent any SW vs. ST arguments from breaking out. Basically, everything was kept maxed in the petawatt range.

Mixing and matching tech was fun; my fleet had Hammerhead fighters from "Space: Above and Beyond", the frigates were based on the Sirocco from "Aliens", I threw some of my own stuff in for ground forces... Others had very Star Trek-based fleets or stuff that looked like Wing Commander.

[Borgholio]

I, for one, used a lot of Star Wars elements (my front line warships were based on cruiser versions of the Acclamator) but again, all the technology levels were considered "comparable" since the focus was on the story-- politics, diplomacy, brinksmanship, characters and dialogue --rather than combat where tech decisiveness was a factor. So a "heavy turbolaser" by any other name was in the same power range as a "heavy phaser" or "heavy disruptor" and so on, to prevent any SW vs. ST arguments from breaking out. Basically, everything was kept maxed in the petawatt range.

So a galaxy class starship can perform a BDZ? Really?

*ducks*

[Coyote]

So a galaxy class starship can perform a BDZ? Really?

*ducks*

It was one of those "you can call it whatever you want; BDZ. nuke site from orbit only way to be sure, etc..." They were just considered comparable. Like I said, the purpose of the story wasn't a comparison of Trek vs. Wars vs. Bab5 vs. whatever-- it was just the story. They didn't want want some guy to be able to show up with a Star Destroyer and dominate the entire quadrant, since it wasn't 'that kind' of story.

So really, it was more like "my ships look like ISDs/Galaxy class/Galactica/etc" but they all had the same basic light, medium, and heavy weapons-- even if they were named "turbolasers" or whatever. Interchangeability of weapons made diplomacy and brinksmanship a must.

Actually if anything there was a lot of Honor Harrington influence, now that I think of it.

[Borgholio]

They didn't want want some guy to be able to show up with a Star Destroyer and dominate the entire quadrant, since it wasn't 'that kind' of story.

Oh yeah I agree completely with that. There is a BSG / SW crossover on these boards which involves a small shuttlecraft being hurled into the middle of the Cylon war...rather than a large Stardestroyer. That removed the technological edge and made it a far more entertaining story. I think it'd be doable if for instance, rather than being completely destroyed, part of the Outbound Flight made it's way into the multiverse...

Oh and speaking of BSG, I wonder if they'll get more than a passing mention as they did in the Stargate / TGG story...

[fgalkin]

Hm? There is a huge nBSG/Taloran crossover by Marina. The Twelve Colonies are located in the Taloran home universe and the Earth they are seeking is already part of the Empire.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Borgholio]

Oh hmm I must have missed it...the only one I saw was the snippet in the SG-1 story. My bad.

[fgalkin]

Oh hmm I must have missed it...the only one I saw was the snippet in the SG-1 story. My bad.

Here you go. Mari's When Two Worlds Collide featuring the Rag-Tag Fleet.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Tanner]

It been a while since we saw any new TGG stuff are you guys post any new stuff in the near future?

[Coyote]

I participated in the game version of the story back on SB.com, which had folded sometime around early 2003 or so. It was awhile later that the fanfics started coming out, and when they did I was in Iraq and unable to participate. I switched to the "Star Wars: Rebuilding of Empires" story over at SB.com to fulfill my wish to participate in ongoing collaborative storylines. It was easier for me to sustain that under the circumstances.

A lot of fanfics based on TGG have come out since, and I wasn't aware of them for some time. Marina and Steve wrote most of them, I think, and I haven't been able to keep up, so I have no idea what the status is of that, or if anyone's even mentioned my faction's name in passing. Chances are my old government isn't even a presence in the original fictions.