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Re: When you hear Urban Fantasy...

Re: Designing Magical Traps I really don't understand the question. If the trap activates only when something enters/crosses the circle, then "crossing/entering" is the trigger. The trap will remain set until it is triggered, so it is in effect a delayed effect, not for a period of time but rather until a condition is reached.

Re: Hero Talk Magazine Very very cool

Re: How to reconcile... If I may put in my 2 cents, I think it is the wrong question. You don't look through the powers to find a ability. You determine the effect you wish to acheive and then use the nearest game mechanic to build it. In this case you are actually talking two completely different things. EM says that you will move freely it doesn't say you will circumvent. It's example about ice and plus the statements about avoiding penalties, doesn't mean that he can simply move as if it doesn't exist. It means that he will always seem to find firm footing and will not trip when scrambling/running through a tunnel. But I can't "crawl on the tunnel ceiling" to avoid a tangle of rubble. If the PC gets into a fight in a sewer space I would not assign penalties for footing, if he was running all out I would not assign penalties for debris in the tunnel or the need to duck. Cling will allow me to "crawl on the ceiling" so I could move quicker along the tunnel or on the wall of a space. But in battle nothing will prevent penalties for tripping in the rubble if the PC fights on the floor of the tunnel. Two totally different things. In the end though the answer is basically: Just how much do YOU think the abilities will help? Exactly how did they define the ability before they "built" them? My personal opinion is both would benefit. For straight moving around the EM would be best, but both would be good if there is a ceiling or clear walls. In combat EM would benefit most in an enclosed tunnel system. Cling could help, but not as much as EM. Clear as mud eh?

Re: When you hear Urban Fantasy...

Re: When you hear Urban Fantasy... In my mind I can understand what you mean. But to me I just don't grok pre-steam as "urban". Just really big towns. I have run successful games in ancient or medieval cities, but they are pretty much just larger versions of a town with a healthy increase in crime and political intrigue. I begin to think of it as "Urban Fantasy" when I start factoring in modern tech: steam, electricity, cars, subways, common use of iron/steel everywhere, aircraft, trains, 20 story plus buildings, telephones and so on. Yes Constantinople and Rome were indeed "urban", but nothing happening there in a RPG is handled significantly different from any where else. While using magic in a more modern urban zone brings many problems. Especially the common use of ferrous metals. Just an opinion of course

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! Great write-up.

Re: Attuning to Magic Items What if the items themselves do not inherently perform the magic, but rather absorb "essence" from their wielder that gains expression as a power. For example. You create a magic sword that has combat bonuses and damage adds. I'm not going to stat it out but lets say that after all the calculations is has +4 to hit and +4D6 damage and lets say each +2 to hit costs 1 active point and each +1D6 damage costs 3 points. So you preplot the sword. +2 to hit +1D6 +1D6 +2 to hit +1D6 +1D6 when the PC first picks up the sword it doesn't do anything. But as the game plays and the character gains experience he can choose to give points to the sword. As the total paid rises the swords power "awakens". When the first point is paid the sword gains +2 to hit. The next 3 points will awaken the first +1D6. after that another +1D6 and so on. The actual powers and costs can be kept secret or not depending on your style of play. If another player picks it up it is just a sword, but when you pick it up "It remembers" you and you are still attuned to it and able to invoke its power.

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! I normally go with a duel time thing like in post 22. All "trips" take time. But the amount time the crew/ship experiences (ShipTime) is different that the time that passes in the outside universe (RealTime). Since we were knocking ideas around, I dropped the time after reading #23. I usually have the system use closed routes. It makes it easier for me as a GM. For dropping out mid point I make it due to accidents and malfunctions. Also using fixed "routes" lets me use things like blockades, convoys and such.

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! Sundog I never heard of it before. Cool idea. and yes, a lot of Weber as well as anything else that features "good" space combat. I lean toward space opera rather than the stories that try to turn you into an engineer. For that I prefer non-fiction. Scifi I read for fun.

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! A quick note. I just typed up what I was thinking. Since I read WAY too much scifi, almost everything is heavily influenced by those books and websites. So if you are reading this and suddenly realize this mirrors your stuff. It probably is yours. I just don't remember where I saw it. Please jump in and point out your link

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! Great idea. It would make last minute course changes fall into the "really bad idea" zone and something done only in desperation. Here are a few more ideas. I just made up the the numbers and distances so the examples made sense, so they would have to be changed to fit a campaign. One example talks about a jump range of 500ly. I wouldn't allow that large of a distance in a single transit if I was running a game, but it work out to that in the example. But what if the transition portal was both spatial and time? And if the distance from the mass and the current state of the local "subspace" also played a role? Here are a few “laws” governing our “drive” 1) no ship can generate a hypershunt alone. 2) the correct combination of gravity, subspace fields and radiated energy can provide what a drive generator needs to create a hypershunt. This “correct combination” exists around stars. 3) the closer to a stars center of mass, the “better” and “easier” the conditions for the creation of a hypershunt. But this zone does not extend all the way to the star, but rather stops before reaching the surface. 4) The point at which a drive generator is too close to the star to create a hypershunt is called the Endpoint. 5) The farthest point from the center of the star that a hypershunt may be formed is called the “Threshold”. 6) The area that extends from the Threshold to the Endpoint is the Hyperzone. The Hyperzone is broken into “bands”. Each band reflects the quality (rating) of drive that can function at that level. The range of bands can vary, depending on the star and local subspace, but always starts with the Alpha Band. Example One: Ganstans End’s primary is relatively young and turbulent, and has a Hyperzone that extends from 41million miles to 21 million miles from the systems primary. This makes 41 million miles the Threshold and 21 million miles the Endpoint. Not only is the range between the points narrow, but subspace dynamics workout so that there are only four Bands. Distance Band (in millions of miles) 41-35 A 35-29 B 29-23 C 23-21 D Example Two: Safehold is a placid and calm system with very stable star. Its Threshold extends all the way out to 160 and its endpoint dips deep to 15. Its bands are: Distance Band (in millions of miles) 160-152 A 152-144 B 144-136 C 136-128 D 128-120 E 120-112 F 112-104 G 104-96 H 96-88 I 88-80 J 80-72 K 72-64 L 64-56 M 56-48 N 48-40 O 40-32 P 32-24 Q 24-15 R 7) A ships drive rating is not just the quality of drive generator, but the sum of the hardware, ships mass and balance. If a coveted Stidosky Technologies drive system is installed into a Terran Federation Navy Corvette hull, the ship would most definitely be rated as a Alpha class ship. The exact same drive installed in the hull of a Wescot Imperial Heavy Cruiser hull may be rated as a Echo class ship. While an immense bulk carrier (though why anyone would waste such an expensive drive system on a bulk carrier) might only be rated as a Lima class ship. 8) Under nominal conditions a ships rating indicates the first point that it can form a Hypershunt and transit. For each Band they dive deeper they extend their range(for this example we will assume the range doubles for each band). Example: The ISS Defiance is a Wescot Imperial Battlecruiser of the Prince Consort class. More battleship than cruiser, her class defines “pocket battleship”. Even though her drive system is one of the best available in the Empire, her mass, volume and weaponry result in a drive rating of Delta, and her legs (base drive range) runs at two. If she was in the Safehold System and wanted to transit, she would have to close to within 136 million miles of the primary (Band D) in order to create a hypershunt. A transit in the delta band would allow her to reach another system as long as it was within 2 light years (base drive range). If she waited until she reached the Golf Band (112 million miles) a hypershunt transit would reach a star within 16 light years. Juliet Band would allow a 512 light year range. If the ISS Defiance’s drive was rated “Echo” she would never be able to reach Ganstans End since its lowest Band is Delta. 9) Under normal transits a ship will exit within the same relative Band in the target system as they left. A ship leaving Ganstans End that transits at 31 million miles (Beta Band) going to Safehold, will emerge in the Beta Band (152-144 million miles). 10) Under normal circumstances a transit is effectively instantaneous. 11) Maneuvers, damage and natural conditions will affect the accuracy of a transit. 12) The “deeper” the band the more stable the conditions. Diving deeper can offset penalties caused by damage or maneuvering. 13) Under severe conditions the transit can “Fail”. This can be anything from simple failure to transit, failure to transit and the drive “burns out”, “Missjump” where the ship exits at the wrong star (but still within the drive range potential), “Timeskip” (where the transist succeeds, but they emerge hours/days/months after they left. The ship still only experiences the trip as a few seconds), “Shortjump” (where a ship appears in a much higher band than they left) or the dreaded “Wildjump” (where the drive completely fails and transits the ship with no regard to “natural laws” , a ship that should only be able to reach 40 light years under perfect conditions is suddenly slung 1000 light years into the unknown. Some never find their way back and are “Lost”). 14) Some stars have an active and turbulent sub-space or gravitational field. These “shoals” or “reefs” can also impact the result of a transit.

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! Since the hyperpoints are not fixed to a location or a destination. And since they are not generally detectable. How about this. Instead of the hyper points being natural they are created. Each ship carries its own hyper shunt generator. The problem is power. The amount of energy needed to actually create the portal is immense and out of the reach of human technology. However there is a way to “cheat” this requirement. If the generator is within X distance of a sufficiently powerful gravity source and within a suitable energy/radiation field, say a star, it can create a short duration and extremely fragile portal. This portal opens a temporary “tunnel” connecting the two star masses the generator is borrowing energy from. If the resultant field has had its parameters correctly “set” then a ship passing though it will “exit” after a period of time light years away form its origin. Since any, and I mean any, variation of any parameters will change not only the portal size, but distance and direction. And since everything from ship course, speed, size, the stars current radiation output, distance from the star are all parameters. There can be no “standard” or “pre-plotted” programs to generate the portal. Each one has to be re-computed at the time of jump. To an observe, the portal will suddenly appear next to the generating ship, suck it in and disappear. At the other end the portal will suddenly appear, disgorge the ship and collapse. Being too small is almost as bad as too big. A tiny ship would simply have to devote too much of its mass to the generators to be worth it beyond a built for purpose courier. But the vast hulls contain “too much”. The calculations necessary for an “accurate” jump are just too extensive compared to a smaller vessel. The result is most starships are in the smaller ranges though huge mega-cargo ships do exist. A standard starship will generally complete its jump at approximately the same distance from the new star as the one it left, since the portal “connects” the two systems as far as the ship jump generator is concerned. The more aggressive the plot, or the closer to the star, the faster the passage. This applies to most ships until a certain level of mass is achieved. For the really large ships and bulk transports everything works the same except the exit. It can be anywhere in the general vicinity of the star. For example: Case 1: A corvette of 300 tons plans an easy trip to Sol system. Steadying on course at 50 million clicks from the primary, they go ballistic and shut down all nonessential systems. Allowing the astrogator to take his time they execute the program, generating the jump portal and drop into jump space. 72 ship hours and 82 realside hours the corvette “breaks out” into normal space 50 million clicks out from Sol at the same velocity and general course in relation to the solar mass. In game terms the only skill roll would be looking for a fumble. Case 2: Same Corvette as in Case 1. The TFN Alert shudders and twists in its deadly dance as it falls directly towards the systems primary, drives howling as they wildly exceed their design limits. Alert had found the Gbabe concentration point, now they only had to survive to report. And the three Gbabe attack ships in direct pursuit would do anything to stop them, not to mention the cruiser class deeper in the gravity well maneuvering to intercept. Chief Astrogator Simmons rocked against his restraints as yet another enemy missile slipped past the defense net. One eye on the threshold monitor, he frantically updates the jump plot trying to compensate for everything. The erratic course changes, damage to the ship and detonation of enemy warheads not being the least of the problems. Ten hellish minutes later the Alert slips past the threshold and its accumulators finally reach minimum levels to generate a portal. Without hesitation Simmons slams the emergency jump and the Alert lurches into the jump portal trailing venting atmosphere and debris. 27 Ship hours and 186 real space hours later the Alert vomits into normal space tumbling on an outbound course and approximately 142 million clicks from the system primary. Even though they have escaped this is not the time to relax. The average transit ship time is 70-80 hours. They were only in 27 hours. Is this the target system, or were the calculations off enough to cause a miss jump? In game terms multiple skill rolls could have determined the outcome of the jump. Engineering rolls for damage to the drives. The astrogation and comp skills to plot the jump. And so on. Case 3. The One million ton bulk carrier MS Samson is preparing for it regular run to Ceti Station. Lining up on a direct course toward the sun, it goes ballistic and shuts down all non-essential system, every little bit helps after all. In no hurry she continues to free fall long after passing the outer threshold marker. The deeper she goes the more precise the jump. Plotting a reciprocal exit, they delay as long as possible, then jump somewhere around 31 million clicks. 91 ship hours and 104 Real Side hours later The MS Samson “breaks out”. Seven hours later astrogation reports the position, in the target system and only 9.3 AU’s out from the primary. A good jump for a ship of their mass. Time to break out the cards. It will be at least a few weeks to work their way back in system to the colony. What do you think?

Re: Needed: Input To add to Doc's notes. I have used this type of device in my games. But it always is very specific to exactly what it can absorb. Basically each "cage" is custom made for the targeted hero. And the villain can only plan for what the villain "knows". Every hero has more than one ability, so that is usually their way out. The villain may know about Stupendous man's super strength, but have no idea about his eyebeams.

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! Will the speed/duration of transit be a constant. Constant based on mass. Constant based on mass and drive class. Or variable based on the same list? Do the entry points "drift" or are they stable. Are they easily detectable or require specialized sensors? Entry only, exit only or bi-directional? Do vessals require a minumum mass or be torn apart or can any sized ship enter a hyper-point. Just some questions to add confusion to the discussion

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much. Oops, my bad. You were replying to "Titanic". Which I brought up in the first place. I was thinking "Starship Troopers". which means I feel really really stupid Please disregard large portions of the above I shall be slinking off to my corner now

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much. I don't remember hearing that either. It would really explain alot (one word one word BWAHAHAHAH!!!).

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much. It is? I never knew that. Of course I never looked either. Well I have said before it was a funny (to bug hunt). My biggest objection to it (and the main reason I dislike it) was the bait and switch thing. Ditto with Pearl Harbor and Titanic. I just dislike being swindled. Jerry Springer was popular too Sorry, had to go there

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much.

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! Another consideration you might take in while you are deciding how you want your starships to work is GM load. One way I have actually used more than any other is split the norm space and FTL completely. Norm space is free maneuver where they can set the course and go in any direction. But for the FTL is used variations of the wormhole warp point thing. To travel between stars they have to use closed transit channels. Not as cool I admit, but as a GM is allows me to have at least a chance of keeping up. If a system has only three transit points, I only have to have enough info/maps/etc prepared to cover three possible destinations during that session. If they are able to free navigate (Star Trek/Star Wars/etc) they can really blindside you sometimes and while you can compensate it can create a lot of extra work. If you have the time available, free movement is best IMO. But if it isn't, then I go with closed transit.

Re: Converting Players to HERO MSPub I have This will be the first item of constructive use it has ever seen As for HD geniuses, I am NOT one of them. But since I just don't have enough free time to learn the whole HTML thing I have decided to pick up one of the web page builder programs. Since I have an old copy of the MSFrontpage I never used, I am going to load it and upgrade to the newest version (cheaper route for me) and see if it will do the "heavy lifting" for me. I have five copies I use as handouts. You can't beat it for intro and quick reference.

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much. I don't remember ever hearing about that. I really wish I had though

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much. Actually this is not the same. You are correct in that it was apparent by the HotO thing, though people held out a little longer just in case. and making a movie about a WWII love story isn't a problem either. The problem is they already took the money for a service they did not provide. That is fraud. They advertised the "story of the Titanic" the delivered an fictional love story. When I ask for my money back 15 minutes into the movie, the theater refused. Of course I admit fully I didn't expect it. If you paid me $23,000 for a Mustang, and it gets delivered in a 3" box stamped Mattel I think you would be upset. Now I rarely go to the theater on opening weekend. If I really want to see a show on the big screen rather than rent/netflix I now wait until I can talk to a few people who actually watched it. 300 is an example of the right way to do it. Nothing anywhere says it is about Thermopoly (Sp?). Everything says it is based on Millers graphic novel inspired by Thermopoly (Sp?). "Based on" and "inspired by" are two completely different things. When I pay X$ and sit in the theater, I will not expect a realistic anything. I will expect a kick ass action flick. In most industries and businesses "bait and switch" is generally illegal. In the movie industry it is "artistic license".

Re: Pimp My Stardrive! Honor Harrington universe. Wedges, Warshawski Sails! Roll ship, port broadside fire! Missiles away. Ha!

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much.