Ulryk

Re: Heroes of the Turakian Age I'd love to see the logs too, I mean I don't want to be part of ruining anyone else's fun, but on a purely selfish level, I can't play any hero atm so, living vicariously through someone else's game would be fun for me. I work too much, and it makes for a sad life.

Re: How about this sci-fi battle..

Re: How about this sci-fi battle.. Yea the books are even billed as being alternate scenarios from the movies. In the books all three of the last crewmen (and cat) of the Nostromo survive and not just Ripley (and cat). It's an entirely different story, where the aliens infest earth, etc. etc. Not all that well written. Not horrible, mind you... just not that great. True enough, but when I played the game AvP I took out hordes of predators as a human and hordes of preds as an alien (and hordes of both as a predator) But according to at least one canonical reference one middle aged almost retired human policemen who was already wounded took out a predator in single H2H combat. So they can't be all that tough In the last movie they are the focus and end up almost as unkillable as a pre-cat superman. It depends on what version of the predator you reference.

Re: Two Game Master's I'm not a big fan of co-gms but I do agree with making sure the main plot lines are well known by both and all changes/updates are planned by both. But, the only co-gm game I have been a part of that was any fun had seperate adventures/plots that only that GM knew about making it fun for the other GM as well. There should be a share of both instances where the non-active co-gm is clued in and can 'guide' the group or be the straight man to the active Gm, but also have times where the non-active co-gm is as clueless as the other players. It will help turn the non-active GMs gametime into something more than a phone-in effort while he is really thinking about what he's going to do next session. Anyway that's how I see it could be fun...

Re: Heroes of the Turakian Age

Re: How about this sci-fi battle.. According to Aliens EU (Earth Hive if I remember correctly), you can't cauterize the 'veins' on an alien. There is no clotting mechanism. They have compartmental circulation and if they get wounded they bleed out all the acid in that compartment but retain all the fluids in the other undamaged regions. but back to preds vs. reavers... I like to think that there are hordes of reavers. Space is big and there would have to be a lot of them to intercept one by accident when you are purposefully trying to stay out of the space lanes. (yea I know they are a frontier phenomena, but even still the odds are astronomical unless they really become numerous on the frontier) So I am imagining a zulu vs. british empire type encounter. low tech, massive numbers vs. high tech low numbers. You could have a real fight on your hands. And the Reavers would never look at that mountain of bodies it took to kill one predator and think, 'This isn't worth it.'... So just add a slight twist of your own and it becomes a much more challenging fight.

Re: peaple that love star wars come here!! You know you've got a sexy jedi pose poster of Hayden Christensen over your bed...

Re: light saber color signification Could you point me to where this is 'Official'? I work for them and have never seen this in any internal memo or design doc. The only thing Lucas has cared about as far as lightsaber color is red is bad guys, blue is good guys, green shows up against a sky background and purple is SLJ's personal request. Everything else is EU and Fan fiction.

Re: light saber color signification The colors mean absolutely nothing according to Lucas himself. Blue = good red = bad when they started filming RotJ they realized blue wouldn't show up against the blue sky background so they added green for the good side. later, when Samuel 'I continuously play the same character in every role I do, and still they call me a great actor and shovel heaps of cash on me' Jackson said he would do the part if he could have a purple lightsaber, Lucas readily agreed since having this pop-culture icon in his otherwise unremarkable prequels would make up for all the other mistakes. It's basic red/blue symbology with a tad of specialFX and ego stroking consideration. That's all.

Re: Please help critique character (points) Well, having been a part of a really great freelance far trader game during the LBB days I can see both sides of that. While the extra background would have been great (not just the military, but all aspects of life in the early 1100s) I also remember really enjoying watching the setting unfold in front of us. I was reading through my collection of old JTAS and between the TNS entries in the front and the WAR! issue, it really brought back how cool it was that Marc and Loren made you feel like days were passing and events unfolding as you played. I guess that was one of the charms of the old first gen games. Stuff we think of as being gimmicky or hackneyed today were 'cool!' back then. I've seen your site. You come up as a 'linked to' reference to my site when I google it.

Re: Please help critique character (points) Yup, as I explained to the players, if for some fluke of luck the marines start taking casualties, they just pull out, nuke it, and then go back in to sift through the ashes. Unfortunately, the Jubilee celebration was meant to foster peace and goodwill not kill Terrans. The marines were out of their environment and essentially well armored targets. (Which is of limited use when the Solomani terrorists 'found' some cutting edge Light Assault Guns 'lost' by the Confederacy) Between Star Mercs, Ground Forces, and (believe it or not) Sword Worlds you get a pretty good look at Imperial Marine tactics in both good wars and bad wars.

Re: Please help critique character (points) Yes, it is a Traveller campaign. From a Solomani pov. Except the Solomani and Imperium aren't as 'friendly' as they are in Canon. (Put it this way security was much tighter in the Jubilee year visit to Terra, involving several regiments of Imperial Marines, lots of local protests and violence and casualties on both sides.) As far as the owner's manual, It's a bit extraneous since there are data terminals and hand comps that do the exact same thing without having to spend character points on them. In this case however, I thought it would be cool on a slightly cinematic level that this character has the ability to keep a memory module on him at all times (about the size of a fingernail) containing pertinent engineering data his experience deems necessary. Whether this is from palming the chip from the device before it confiscated, or having a number of backups available it all works out the same. The focus ends up being any data device capable of reading the memory chip and as such is as available as any foci.

Re: Pregnancy and combat "a-ah-ah-a-ah-ah-ah-I want the kniiiife..." This moment of inanity brought to you by Ulryk® maker of the Dina Meyer Boob thread. Low-browing threads one post at a time™

Re: The origins of "munchkin" Just remember the term is relative. It can certainly mean the above definition, but when used by a Samwise or an artiste* it simply means “Someone I don’t approve ofâ€, or more plainly “I’m nucking futsâ€. * an artiste is a non-gaming term for someone who excels in their art to the point of convincing themselves they should police it and judge those found in error. An artiste is by definition excellent at what they do, but they allow it to interfere with their perception of reality. They know there are canonical rights and wrongs to their art and anyone that crosses the ‘wrong’ line is automatically a lesser artist without taking their work into account on its own merits. (A hack) Vincent Van Gogh became an artiste when he chopped off his ear. In a modern example, a car-artiste puts Z-rated tires on his un-modded Geo metro because, well… they’re the best… right?

Re: Solar Hero Definately pick it up. if you're strapped for cash just eat ramen noodles for a while. It's an incredibly good title, and abundantly useful for just about every genre out so far except fantasy. It, like the vehicle book, is second only to the core book in usefulness.

Re: Solar Hero Rofl.. yea. Hollywood has a tendency to go with the most dramatic method accepted at the time. Freezing, Exploding, Eye bugging, Blood Boiling, etc. I guess he should have kept a pair of earplugs and his handy 9mm microthruster handy. "Truth is just an excuse for a lack of imagination "

Re: Solar Hero Far more gritty, I would suggest outland. Sean Connery as a down-on-his-luck asteroid sheriff trying to stop a drug ring. Or at least it appears to be a drug ring, until he realizes the depth of the corruption. All very realistic and imaginable, but set on the contrasting unrealistic (for now) asteroid mining base providing for a remote and solitary experience. Maybe we could get some form of generic version of his character in the heroes section of the Solar hero book? (Remember, spacesuits and shotguns do not mix ! )

Re: Science fiction web resources Let us not forget the best space site of them all... The REAL one... www.nasa.gov

Re: Exotic Methods for Executions? Actually that reminds me of another Roman execution method. Placing the victim in a burlap sack with a dog, a monkey and a snake, sewing it all up tight and then throwing the lot into the water. And no I am not a freak... I just watch a lot of history channel... They are the freaks.

Re: Exotic Methods for Executions? In the 'Truth is stranger than fiction" dept... Originally the Greeks and later the Romans had the brazen bull. It was a hollow bronze sculpture with a door on it and the victim was placed inside. The entire contraption was placed over flame. The nose of the bull had tubes that led to the inner chamber and were fluted. As the victim was cooked his screams would be amplified by the nose construction and were referred to as 'songs'. The inventor was the devices first victim as a test of it's effectiveness. There was one Roman leader that regarded the death scream song as the most beautiful music he had ever heard and often required it's 'music' to be able to go to sleep. I first heard about this device on the History channel, but here is a slightly different take on this story... http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Brazen_bull Here are more resources on historical torture devices... http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Torture One torture from antiquity I could not find on that list was ingestion of molten metal. The victim would have molten gold, iron, or most commonly lead poured into their mouths with their head restricted. The gag reflex would force open the throat on contact and the majority of the liquid would pour down into their stomach. After the victim died the molds created would be extracted and kept as a most gruesome form of art. EDIT: Actually the victim was the 'mold' per se, but I think you get my point.

Re: CSLs and the Speed chart... This very question is in the FAQ. Turns out my research was not as thorough as it could have been. Q: If a character applies a Combat Skill Level to increase his DCV, do the changes to his DCV last until his next Phase? A: They last until he decides to switch the CSL to something else definitely until the next Phase, and possibly longer. However, that doesn't change what they apply to; a 3-point CSL with swords doesn't improve a character's DCV versus arrows, no matter how long it lasts.

Re: CSLs and the Speed chart... Thanks for the help guys. I will bring up the point you made on held actions as well JMHammer.

Re: CSLs and the Speed chart... Sorry, your assumption is correct. I meant segment 4 and 8, not phase 4 and 8 in the examples. and by your second paragraph you're saying my example 'house rule' is in fact the actual rule as written? If so, this would completely solve the problem my current group is having.

From my understanding of the rules (and please correct me If I am wrong in this interpretation) combat levels assigned are in effect from your action within a phase until the beginning of your next phase. I.e. If Fred (with a normal DCV of 6) puts 2 8pt CSLs into DCV on 10 dex of phase 4, he will have a DCV of 8 until the beginning of phase 8 (assuming a speed of 3) From the beginning of phase 8 until 10 dex on phase 8 he will have a DCV of 6 at which point he can place those same CSLs back into DCV restoring his elevated DCV of 8. My question is, what if any problems or exploits can the more experienced of you see if a GM were to assume the CSLs stayed in place until the player (Fred in this case) chose to change them from their assignment? I.e. in the above case the rules say from the beginning of phase 8 until dex 10 of phase 8, Fred lost his assigned CSLs and reverted to a DCV of 6. What would be the issues involved with assuming a house rule that the CSLs would remain in place until dex 10 of phase 8 as opposed to being deallocated at the beginning of phase 8? I'm sure this question has cropped up before, but after over an hour of searching the archived messages I couldn't find reference to it, so please excuse the recurring question. I have a second question that I can see problems with on my own but if you find yourself with extra time to help, please consider the same question however, replace the CSLs in question with Manuevers, and expose any possible problems. Thanks!

Re: Light or Dark Future? The best thing about sci-fi is you can do it all. You're not (usually) restricted to one worlds setting. I agree with blacksword though, my favorite is to make it fairly balanced to give more contrast between the genres. Hide todays problems in neon and the pale green glow of the computer screen. But as far as what I prefer on the big screen? Dark, definately. I really dislike the 'everything is coming up roses' Star Trek genre. I prefer Matrix, Pitch Black, Aliens, and other pessimistic views of the future. Not that that's how I think the human race is going to end up, but it's just more interesting to see people dealing with adversity than seeing utopians preaching to all the 'lesser' peoples.