Tolan

Re: Mass Effect Shields? I knew I was making it more complicated than it needed to be! Thanks Gent, and everyone else who gave tips, it's much appreciated. The adders and whatnot don't make it quite exactly like a ME shield, but I think definitely get close enough I don't feel bad using it in the same way. Again, thanks all! -Tolan

Hey guys! I'm a HS newb looking for some input in the first game I'm GMing for my friends and myself that's set in the Mass Effect universe. I've got a couple questions that I'll probably post over time (I was making a huge thread for everything, but the forum/my connection ate it. --; ) but for now one of the things that's giving me the most trouble in how to make them are shields. Brief shields for though who don't know (Probably none of you): Immaterial barrier around body that stops high-velocity things (ie, bullets) but not low velocity things (ie, grenades, punches, low velocity projectiles). Has a set amount of damage it can take, but taking cover and not being hit for a few seconds allows the barrier to recharge to full capacity. I've tried to puzzle out how to work this, and the nearest I can come up with is some kind of PD, resistant, only against ranged, requires END, END reserve, OAF. Then the end reserve simulates capacity, the REC of the reserve indicates recharge rate (Though it would be constant, not dependent upon if the player's recently taken fire), and resistant/only against ranged means it's essentially only for RKA, which is almost certainly only going to be taken up by guns. ... All that said, that feels clunky to me, and I kinda get the impression I'm missing an obvious, simpler way to do it. Also, if anyone's look for a little extra element to add, the shield mechanic, whatever it winds up being, will probably be pretty similar to the barrier mechanic (Barriers, for those not ME-fluent, are essentially shields but based in biotic power, which gives them some funky properties--exploding when a certain biotic attack is used on them, among others), and while I could copy it wholesale, it'd be interesting if there was some way to recognize it as a skill instead of an object. Maybe loose OAF, make it based on player's End, so it becomes a skill, and instead of buying shields, they would buy barrier amps that would give some kind of END reserve only for that skill? That sounds slightly more like how I understand barrier to work, but I'm still interested in what others make of this. ... Eesh that wound up longer than I thought. Anyone will to give some pointers? -Tolan

Re: Societies forming around advanced/alien/forgotten purpose technology? Surprised no one's mentioned yet, but the whole Mass Effect universe is built on this idea with the Citadel and the Mass Relays. -Tolan

Re: The answer to the most important question in Space Sci-Fi Very interesting and informative! Thanks for the link, I may try and include this one of my campaigns at some point. Does make me curious what sort of biological adaptations one could have that would prolong survival in a vaccum... -Tolan

Re: Shoule NASA be nixed? The thought of NASA shutting down completely is, to me, simply horrible. The history of the agency alone is worth preserving, and the work it continues to do and to fund is invaluable. That said, my main concern is that work, not the name, so if it were re-booted or replaced with a different agency with the same basic premise of doing space research and exploration, I'm all for it. The main issue, as has been said, is funding, but that starts getting into a politics debate I don't want to start. Regardless, Sundog is right--a guaranteed budget would do wonders for NASA. As for focus, it lacks focus simply out of lack of purpose. Their job, mainly, was to go to the moon and build satellites, and they did both, which is why they've since been floundering. The problem is they really lack the ability to commission themselves, and no one else with the authority to tell them to focus somewhere really can afford to. If the President, or even a body of congress, were to tell them to go back to the moon, or to Mars, or look for life on whichever moon it is that might have it (Titan, was it?) I'm sure they set about to it right away. But in absence of imposed direction, they're attempting all direction at once, and NASA has never worked quickly when going in any but one direction. -Tolan

Re: Planets not orbiting stars Aint that the truth. As I believe was said earlier, planets flung out of their system by supernova stars always seemed a more likely way to produce rogue planets, but I suppose rogue gas giants could indeed form in a nebula, seeing as most proto-stars are gas giants at some point in their life. Interesting to think how they got ejected before they could go star, though... One does have to wonder what they're like in deep-space, though. Once they start to cool, they should be able to get pretty cold, barring subsequent recapture.I don't know if the science works, but would it be possible for there to be a planet that was so cold in deep space the surface or near-surface was liquid gas? Though I suppose it would have to contend with internal heating from pressure. Quite interesting. -Tolan