Fitz Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 I've found the most excellent way of keeping a running tally of END and STUN during the game -- an abacus. I found this little toy abacus for a couple of bucks at a local educational toy store; it's about the size of a pocket notebook (A6) and has six rows of beads, enough to keep track of up to 999 END and 999 STUN (or 999,999 of either). It saves me a lot of erasing; I just have to make sure that my current totals are noted on my character sheet at the end of the session. Yay for ancient technology Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Shopping from time to time in my local Chinatown, I still see older Chinese in the markets who tally prices using an abacus. It's amazing to watch how quickly they can make those little beads fly to calculate a figure. Reminds me of how my old college physics teacher could make his sliderule do everything but sing opera. Ancient technologies that have lasted so long, last because they work well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueBuddha Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 Now you need to create a Champions character with an EC based on Abicus powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenixcrest Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Originally posted by BlueBuddha Now you need to create a Champions character with an EC based on Abicus powers. Suh, ah accept your challenge! Not Champions, though, he's goin into my current campaign, a kind of weird "high school with super powers in the distant future" thing. He'll be the president of the math club.... and his name... His name shall be... Mervin Nicholius Frink! *dramatic bolts of lightning, and the sound of abacus beads clicking faster than the human eye can perceive* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oruncrest Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Originally posted by BlueBuddha Now you need to create a Champions character with an EC based on Abicus powers. I once created a V&V character named 'Abacus'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigitalGolem Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 So, is there going to be an "official" Hero System Abacus product in the works? DGv3.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted December 19, 2003 Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 RPN The day they come out with an Abacus that operates with Reverse Polish Notation I am chucking my computer. That would be heaven. ;-) Ah the good old days when calculators actually were made right! RPN is great. I am under the impression the Abacus is one operation at a time. RPN lets you delay calculation so you can do sub-calculations. i.e. D/(A+B+C) is easy in RPN but probably not easy on an abaccus. Can someone let me know if I am right or if this is not right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted December 19, 2003 Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 I recall hearing about a competition, back in the 70s I believe, where skilled abacus users whupped the pants off skilled calculator users in at least some speed trials. I also know of an Arthur C. Clarke short story where the captain of a ship that's stranded in space with a ruined computer has the entire crew learn to use the abacus so they can perform enough calculations to get home safe-like. Definitely some adventure possibilities in the ol' abacus. And never let it be said that the Hero boards don't cover some mighty eclectic ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrickstaPriest Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 Originally posted by BlueBuddha Now you need to create a Champions character with an EC based on Abicus powers. Sadly... I probably could, given enough time. One thought that keeps coming to be involves breaking the acabus, though. Of course, there's also how a pair of acabi were used in Peace Maker Kurogane... makeshift rollerblades. Perhaps a character who zips around on a pair of acabi and has another that he takes apart to flick the beads like sling-stones at the enemy? Hmm... well, I have made some potent powers based on some very... odd themes. I'm rather proud of one power which uses a "philosopher" theme, and another one based roughly on... dammit, I can't even think of how I would name the concept. Division on personalities? Anyway... acabi? I'm sure something interesting will hit me eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 Hmm... what comes to my mind is someone versed in both Taoist philosophy and the I Ching, and modern quantum mechanics and chaos theory. He has a revelation on how to synthesize the two to manipulate probabilities and states of matter and energy, using calculations on an abacus as the focus for his effects. That could justify quite an interesting power set. Have to ponder the possibilities for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farkling Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 Some of my players use magic beads... We started using them for Exalted Essence scores and it just bled over. One color for tens, one color for ones. If everyone did, it'd be four colors necessary, and at least 10 beads per player for the entire group, so roughly 70-80 beads of each color would hold for quite a while. Maybe a couple extra groups for charges...hmmm. I'll have to consider that at the next convention... The others use scratch sheets. I use a large scratch sheet. We throw them out after combat. Mine gets thrown out at home...just to be on the safe side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted December 21, 2003 Report Share Posted December 21, 2003 Old Hat Originally posted by Lord Liaden ...modern quantum mechanics and chaos theory. Pah, old hat. M-Theory covers Quantum Mechanics now. Read "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene - perhaps the most approachable physics book on the planet for those who don't have a lot of math under their belt. M-Theory is also known as Membranes, Magic and other juicy 'm' words! Certainly you could cover general categories with ks:mathematics, ks:chemistry and ks:physics and then branch for further knowledge with ks:put your favorite flavor of String Theory Here and so on. Now then, if the abacus is made of exotic materials - not just alloys and bonded molecules but also trace amounts of hyper exotic elements... hmmm all sorts of ideas! Perhaps its the interface to some exotic alien computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catseye Posted December 21, 2003 Report Share Posted December 21, 2003 Originally posted by Steve Long I recall hearing about a competition, back in the 70s I believe, where skilled abacus users whupped the pants off skilled calculator users in at least some speed trials. When I was in high school (and dinosaurs roamed free) there was a national mental-math competition (speed and complexity). The kid who won it was asian-american and explained that the way he did mental math was by picturing an abacus. Lets see these modern high-schoolers get the right answer by mentally picturing a calculator Sometimes modern does not mean better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catseye Posted December 21, 2003 Report Share Posted December 21, 2003 Re: Old Hat Originally posted by CorpCommander Pah, old hat. M-Theory covers Quantum Mechanics now. Read "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene - I watched the Nova adaption. Most understandable common man explanation of String Theory I've ever seen. But I don't remember an M anywhere. Did i miss something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted December 21, 2003 Report Share Posted December 21, 2003 5 String Theories You probably didn't. I haven't seen the show but I am sure they glossed over the fact that there are in fact 5 Major String Theories. Think of the arms of a Star Fish. The M-Theory is the one that brings them all together. It's only about 5 years old and they probably need another 20 years of Mathmatics research to be able to describe it properly. It's great stuff - but very cutting edge. Most of the physisists don't understand the math as well as the theory which is why mathemeticians and physisists have to work so closely together on developing the theory. Pardon my spelling, its too early on a sunday morning! Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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