Dholcrist

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas Awesome, awesome idea. I thought about using automotons like in that, but using the society? Great thinking. My interest in this project has just risen quite a bit. Also, I may have skimmed over this bit of information, but did you say how the Jovians live? Like, are they beings that fly around in the gas giant, or do they live in floating cities (and if so, where did they originally come from?), or by "Jovians" do you mean beings inhabiting the moons around Jupiter? Sorry if I just missed that skimming back over your info.

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas I agree with this mostly, though I think the general idea of the Aether is pretty cool, but definitely does need a bit more explaining. Would you be able to survive in it without protection, a la Flash Gordon? Hell, I think basing a lot of it off of Flash would be pretty cool (though I've only really seen the 80s movie and a few of the original shorts), having asteroids containing their own species living on "islands" in the aether, each a different kingdom or somesuch. I also agree with the Victorian era being the most appropriate choice.

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas Once again, very cool idea. Love everything about it, especially the different races on each of the planets. Are you going to use automotons of any kind? Perhaps robots like Robbie in Forbidden Planet? Or maybe like the robots in Metropolis (original)? Very interested in hearing more about this project.

Re: Currency . . . of the Future! Exactly correct. Maybe you can't take your credit card up there right now and expect to be able to buy an Icee without any problems, but I don't think that's a possibility yet anyways. Maybe when they finish the ISS.

Re: Currency . . . of the Future!

Re: Currency . . . of the Future! Never, never make reference to Highlander II again, kind sir. Other than that, of course you are correct. But we print money on paper, don't we? Seems like the same concept to me. Though I did fail economics in high school. So your solution is to put into use ball bearings of precious metals as currency?

Re: Currency . . . of the Future! Seems simple enough to fix. Just make money out of rubber. Done and done. Now, am I going to get royalties for this idea, and when should I be expecting the check?

Re: A Game on the Run? Played in a few sort of like that, but never so focused on the chase. Mostly our old Cyberpunk games we all played outlaws pretty often, and more than once had entire corporations after us (thanks to the random events in the character creation). It's resulted in many an untimely character death. A personal favorite of mine was a "Wild West" CP game where we had to keep meticulous track of fuel and equipment (where we would usually just fudge), and were chased by a myriad of mafiosos, police, corporations, nomad packs, and their ilk all the way across four or five states. Though we did eventually settle down in Salt Lake City. Champions also works well when you're playing an X-Men knockoff team, in a world that hates and fears them for being different. And lastly there was a DC campaign where our supers (street level) were all wanted by the police, which made things difficult.

Re: Night's Dawn Trilogy Hm, I was afraid of that. I've read very similar things in a few reviews of the books, but didn't have anything to read at the time, so figured might as well. I very much hope I enjoy it more than you did, though I already don't think it's a phenomenal series, so hopefully my hopes won't be dashed too far. Regardless, I'm really in it for the background right now.

Just finished reading the "Reality Dysfunction Part I" of the Night's Dawn Trilogy, by Peter F. Hamilton, and was wondering if anyone on here had read it and possibly used it in a game. I've been working on a Terran Empire campaign for a while now, and while reading this I was just blown away by his use of Nanotech and the biotechnology that he calls "bitek". The entire Edenist culture, with its living starships ("Voidhawks") and their captains that are literally born from their ships (in vitro fertilization, then the fetus is placed into the ship's "uterus", where it grows for 9 months before birthing, then moving to their real parents and being raised until the age of 18, when they are placed in command of the Voidhawk they were birthed from), and living sentient space stations are just the definition of cool for me. I'm currently working a toned down Edenist culture into TE, but emphasizing their reason for being outcasts from the rest of the Empire, thus limiting their power in the setting. (I'm thinking that they get their biotech originally from reverse engineering Xenovore tech, which scares a great many people). I'd also like to implement more nanotech, as he has done, but I'm worried that the importance the "Adamist" civilization places on nanotech in the series would be a hinderence in game. Interested in hearing any reactions/ideas, or input at all really. And for those interested in the books but hadn't read them, here's the wikipedia entry (beware spoilers): Night's Dawn Trilogy

Re: Japanese Powered Exoskeleton Wow, that's incredibly cool. Not speaking Japanese, did they say its lifting capacity or anything along those lines? I'm very interested in what the actual technical aspects are. Either way, damn cool piece of tech. Can't wait till they put them into public (or even military) use. But dunno about this whole Cyberdyne thing. Miles Dyson still working there?

Re: Serenity RPG Had a friend who normally doesn't GM buy it and tried to sell us on it, but it went the way of most of his games that use specific brands like that. Wheel of Time never took off either. I'd love to see Firefly, Starship Troopers (for a D20 system that's not a bad one, had a few fun games with it), and Last Starfighter Hero supplements (hell, even Digital Hero translation would make me happy). And I know, I know. I can dream of a Last Starfighter rpg, can't I? I can dream.

Re: Vehicles, Cockpits and Seeing Things I'd say that all the above I agree with, except with the statement that the removal of a forward "glass" (transparisteel, what have you) viewing with the replacement of an electronic simulacrum is nothing but positives. While I think it'd be mostly advantageous (and I'd certainly rather be in the center of the ship), the downside would be the possibility of flying blind increasing. If you somehow lose power, you lose all knowledge of where you are in space, whereas if you had a "traditional" cockpit, you'd at least be able to see where you were going. Also, there's the possibility of someone actually tampering with what you're seeing. Hacker perhaps hooks into your sensors and makes you think you're flying through Oz, when in fact you're hurtling into Luna? Sorry, dragged that out longer than intended, but basically what I'm saying is: perhaps a good build should represent both the advantages (a hit to the sensor array won't kill you like it would in a normal cockpit), and the disadvantages (put your faith in the electronics with no way to verify with your own eyes). I'd suggest how to do that, but I'm terrible at Builds.

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Soylent Green Butter Flavour: By people, for people, is people. But hey, better than that recycled food crap. "Eat recycled food". Yeah, right.

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign Mind sharing the 'corn? I'll get the next bucket.

Re: [character review] Pidge Wait wait wait, aren't you getting the Princess Allura and Pidge the hacker mixed up? Pidge was a little boy in the Green Lion, the Princess was in the Blue Lion! Yeah, okay, not funny. Sorry everybody.

Re: How do you become a Jedi Yeah, it would've made a lot of sense for Lucas to set it up that way. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case. Since almost all of his creations have been made wonderful only through the filter of a studio or other person's vision, I sincerely doubt that that was his original intention. Also, note that the first place this was written (that I know of, at least) was in the KotOR game, and then subsequently made canon (again, this is according to what I've read, so I could be wrong). Still, I'm a huge fan of the way they constructed it. And, while slightly off-topic, while looking up the Trials I stumbled upon an article that claimed that Anakin, being the Chosen One, fulfilled the prophecy by destroying the Sith in RotJ, bringing balance to the Force. I was always convinced that the "Balance" that was actually referred to in the prequels was actually a balance between "good" (Jedi) and "evil" (Sith/dark siders), which previous to Anakin was obviously imbalanced (thousands of Light Siders scouring the Galaxy, 2 Sith), and so taking the Jedi down to a mere handful (maybe down to only 2 once Obi Wan died, possibly only leaving Yoda and Luke, then only Luke to find his own apprentice). I guess what I'm saying is that if "balance to the Force" is actually killing all Sith, that seems pretty lame to me. You can't have light without dark. And I've rambled. Sorry for the rants folks, we now return you to your previously aired thread.

Re: How do you become a Jedi As far as the Sith code, I've always really liked how they handled it in KotoR (and subsequently in the newest SWRPG book) Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. Sets the Sith as less Evil, and just as willing to attain greater connection to the Force through allowing ones emotions to help you by embracing them, instead of denying them (like the Jedi). Anyways, the Trial of Spirit and Trial of Compassion aren't bad ones. Trial of the Heart? Or something similar. Edit: Alright, just looked up the Jedi Order on Wikipedia, and I completely forgot about these other Trials that were named in the EU (though I forget where originally): the Trial of Flesh, the Trial of Courage, the Trial of Skill and the Trial of Self (also known as "facing the mirror"). The Trial of Self was what Luke went through in Empire when he fought Vader/himself on Dagobah. Anyways, hope that helps. That should round out your Trials.

Re: How to start a War Love your campaign idea, very fleshed out and original. \ As far as names for the Alien Race goes... Prometheans? Naturally one given to them by Humans (or maybe they chose it as a translation for Humans after scanning human mythology). And naming them after some obscure Trickster god is also a very cool idea. And lastly, what about if instead of the Judge convening with a jury physically as others have suggested, why not the Judge actually be made up of various Mortals who have been combined into a single being. The best and brightest of a planet molded into one ultimate being tasked with the guiding of their parent race. This way it would be a single being with a single voice, but would at all times be holding session within itself, the various conciousnesses arguing their own points, while the lead Judge conciousness controls the physical aspects. Just a few thoughts. Keep up the good work. Kudos!

Re: The Future of Dark Champions I second the motion to just pick up Alien Wars. But I'm kind of hazy on exactly the kind of setting you're looking to create. If you're looking for an interstellar war type setting (a la Starship Troopers), then Alien Wars sets you right up. But if you're looking for a near-future interplanetary military sci-fi, then you're going to have to make up your own equipment anyways. Saying "the Future of Dark Champions" makes me think next hundred years or so, but listing Starship Troopers and Farscape as inspiration makes it sound much bigger than that. If that's the case, then, once again, just pick up Alien Wars and/or the Star Hero book.

Re: The Sky is FALLING!!! Kind of weird, but I had a Dark Champions character a year or so ago who was a Moon Knight clone, but in his backstory he was resurrected to fight the evil egyptian god Apophis and stop him from "bringing down the heavens and covering the Earth in a never-ending darkness" sometime in the next twenty years or so. This was long before I ever heard about this. Guess I'd better get him back to work.

Re: Is Gotham City a substitute for Sin City? Actually, in a few of the more recent Batman comics Bats does indeed save a few "working girls", and obviously knows them all by name, hinting at having saved them numerous times. So this wouldn't be a stretch at all from the comics. Also, if anyone has read the abomination that is the All Star Batman & Robin series that's going on right now, Frank Miller has written Gotham EXACTLY like Sin City now. Police are completely corrupt (ridiculous car chases where the Bat kills dozens), and the city is just a complete dump. Personally, I prefer Frank Miller's depiction of Gotham as he wrote it in Batman: Year One. It's a nice in-between of the modern Gotham and Sin City (which I'd bet he based off of Gotham).

Re: [Review] Terran Empire Excellent review, I'm a huge fan of the book, and the setting. They provide a huge amount of information, while still leaving plenty of room for tweaking and simple injection of your own areas of the universe without having to bend things much at all. Only gripe I had (and something I hope they expand upon in the future), is I do wish that they would give more detailed information on some of the other Empires. I'd love to see a Perseid Empire or Ackalian Empire book someday. Or even an Alien Empires book would be fantastic. And yes, the Worlds of Empire book is out, and is also a great resource.

Re: Orbital Skydiving! Read that article in the magazine like a week ago, extremely cool. Immediately started thinking of using them for covert insertion onto an enemy world in a future game.