schir1964 Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Except that when a single stride is 18 meters, even if you can only take one step per Phase you're now moving faster than base movement.... Hence - Really Large Characters logically move further by virtue of having strides measured in meters instead of inches or feet. Using basketball players is only useful if you stay relatively close to Human Scale. It's one thing to compare a seven foot guy to human movement. It's completely another to compare a fifty foot tall guy to the same. Ditto. - Christopher Mullins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Okay. Somebody's given a physics opening. Don't act like you didn't ask for it. A leg, when walking, generally behaves like a pendulum. The length of a stride is proportional to the length of the leg. The period (time it takes to take that stride) is proportional to the square root of the length. Dividing the two, you get that walking speed is proportional to the square root of the length of the leg. Running changes things a little, but probably not enough to upset the basic relationship. So height should increase Running speed a bit, but not linearly (doubling height should roughly multiply speed by one and a half--actually 1.414...). BTW, nowhere have I seen a anything stating the number of strides per phase, or even that it is necessarily greater than or equal to one. Hero Movement is an abstraction, and that is okay. EDIT: Oh, and runners do tend--generally, not always--to be pretty tall. Unlike gymnasts. There are reasons for both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajackson Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Dividing the two' date=' you get that walking speed is proportional to the square root of the length of the leg. Running changes things a little, but probably not enough to upset the basic relationship.[/quote'] Well, it can -- the inverse square rule only applies if if strength to mass ratio is constant, and for anything that follows the square/cube law, the ratio is not constant. At typical real animal designs, the scaling is closer to the sixth root of linear scale. Of course, comic book giants don't generally follow the square/cube law. As another point: longer limbs also take longer to strike. 'Realistically', a SPD 3/run 6" human, scaled up to 50' (about 9x) would drop to SPD 1, run 54". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers What if the Large character is "top-tall?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balok Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Clearly' date=' this is a pic of some futuristic RPG suit. The guy's obviously role-playing... he's got hex maps and everything! [/quote']He's playing 60th edition... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Well' date=' it can -- the inverse square rule only applies if if strength to mass ratio is constant, and for anything that follows the square/cube law, the ratio is not constant. At typical real animal designs, the scaling is closer to the sixth root of linear scale. Of course, comic book giants don't generally follow the square/cube law.[/quote'] Walking speed has very little to do with strength-to-weight ratio. Legs are built to swing like a pendulum to conserve energy, and generally do so even at a run (though usually there is also some springing involved and the knees bend to reduce the period of the pendulum a bit). Elephants can't jump, but they can certainly haul ass. Now relative strength may make quite a difference for sudden acceleration, like for a cheetah, but if we're talking about the general relationship between size and speed rather than being specialized for speed.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajackson Posted August 2, 2009 Report Share Posted August 2, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Walking speed has very little to do with strength-to-weight ratio. If you look at what I quote, I was actually commenting about running speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Random thought of the day: The Transformers had some mighty expensive Shape Shift. The Wonder Twins, though (at least the originals), couldn't afford it (hence the purple color plus face and/or ugly hairdo on every form). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaws Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Like the general Idea of making things match what they are meant to be closer instead of focusing on bottom line costs, since int he end it forces more work at creation time to make sure they do in the end. Great Work! Love the art! I am getting more impatient at getting my copy every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilFleischmann Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers Random thought of the day: The Transformers had some mighty expensive Shape Shift. The Wonder Twins' date=' though (at least the originals), couldn't afford it (hence the purple color plus face and/or ugly hairdo on every form).[/quote'] No, that was only on the base form. Zan could only assume forms made out of water (or ice or steam, and in some cases, ridiculous things that really couldn't have been made out of ice), and Jana could only become animals - and they looked like normal animals - no purple faces or hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted August 4, 2009 Report Share Posted August 4, 2009 Re: Sixth Edition Showcase #5: Body-Affecting Powers No' date=' that was only on the base form. Zan could only assume forms made out of water (or ice or steam, and in some cases, ridiculous things that really couldn't have been made out of ice), and Jana could only become animals - and they looked like normal animals - no purple faces or hair.[/quote'] Ah. Okay. Hmm. I seem to remember lots of big purple elephants and gorillas, but it's certainly been a long time. Didn't Zan always have an evident face? Maybe only Jana could afford the actual Shape Shift. LOL. Oh well. It was just an idle thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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