Tom Carman

If you are confused about why a warhammer is Killing Damage while a quarterstaff is Normal, then you don't know what a warhammer really is. You are probably envisioning a blunt impact. A warhammer has a spike and is intended to punch through plate armor that would likely deflect a sword edge.

In the only sci-fi campaign where I had a voice in the universe-building (as opposed to buying source material and using it as given), I use a "jump" drive, which is instantaneous for the ship and its occupants, but is extraordinarily disorienting to any mentality that experiences the jump while conscious (so most entities take a jump while sedated). This is the FTL drive mode in C J Cherryh's stories. My partner GM insisted on that flavor, though I was free to make up whatever fake physics I wanted.

C J Cherryh's FTL drive is pretty definitely not instantaneous. You set your destination course very, very, very, very carefully because your destination's stellar gravity well is what pulls you back into real space. Then you set up your IV and drug yourself senseless because most races can't deal with FTL conditions. I recall from the Chanur books that getting your ship infested with vermin that can breed and move about in FTL was really bad.

That latter is notable in the Vorkosigan books by Bujold. Ivan Vorpatril, a secondary character in many of the books (and the main one in one), notes at one point that the first rule of stunner tag is shoot everybody. You can always apologize and offer a headache tablet to any friendlies.

 

Adnantage #5 : No firing hesitation.

 

All but the most hardened or well trained personnel will probably hesitate before taking a life. Stun shot? No need to worry about it!

Also noted in that series was the drawback of being armed ONLY with a stunner: enemies won't hesitate to try to overwhelm you with numbers, then stomp you to death.

So making humans obsolete is a bad idea.  

Oh, not necessarily. Check out "Saturn's Childen" and "Neptune's Brood" by Charles Stross, in which humanity's successors are just as much a bunch of obnoxious a**holes as we are. It was mentioned in the former novel that when the human race went extinct, "human" civilization didn't even miss a beat. (Explanation: humans couldn't figure out how to make a true functional artificial intelligence, so they made self-aware robots by copying human neural structures into synthetic forms.)

Afaik they are, but it is not as awesome as you seem to think it.

It is really just another way to convert electrical energy into chemical energy. And we know a dozen of those already.

There are clear advantages: most importantly no major reworking of the consuming machines and maintaining existing machines for long time, even if the oil supply is uncertain and we totally switch to fusion power everywhere else.

 

But still just a chemical energy storage, not a source. You still need to get that electricity from somewhere and incur all the usual storage & production losses.

Nuclear reactors. A big carrier already has what? 2-4 of them? And they are the ships that want that permanent supply of jet fuel.

Zelazny's "Doorways in the Sand" (I think) had an alien lifeform/artifact that had to be mirror-reversed to activate it. Which was awkward because it was bonded to a human host at the time... Getting proper nourishment was a problem for a time, but the protagonist did discover that some common food item tasted absolutely fantastic in reversed form.

There are some hidden side effects of Cornucopia-produced food and drink, but it is nothing like Axonite.

 

The initial scans of human biology taken by the Cherubim allow the Cornucopia to produce basic survival foodstuffs that are a bit bland, but the menu steadily improves as additional food items are scanned and added to the database. In addition to producing normal carbohydrates, fats and proteins as well as vitamins, they are also able to produce foods composed of "left-handed" molecule versions of these nutrients as well. Thus Cornucopia food tastes and has the consistency of normal food items, but a meal 100% composed of left-handed carbohydrates, fats and proteins can't be digested. The ratio of normal nutrients to their left-handed versions is tailored to each user for optimal health. So someone who likes to eat a lot will still be losing weight until they reach their optimal level. It is possible to starve someone to death by only feeding them food with zero nutrient qualities.

Protein comes in left and right hand versions, but I'm pretty sure that carbohydrates and maybe fats do not.

D-T fusion is way easier than D-He3. I would be fine with a D-T reactor barely reaching (or even a bit under) breakeven, burning up "spent" fuel. Inherently safe with no self-sustaining fission chain reaction, and waste disposal for the existing LWRs.

Fusion pretty clearly needs a spend-like-a-drunken-sailor budget and a smile-graciously-at-Aunt-Mabel's-ugly-sweater attitude to the (interim) product it produces. That's the kind of approach we haven't seen since the space race. It would be nice to see it back. 

Maybe, maybe not. The reason they think that they can get results in a decade is that the reactor is small enough to build, test, repeat on a not-ridiculously-long schedule. The necessary budget may also scale down in similar fashion.

It's been a while since I read the books, but I seem to recall that ships came thru a jump with little relative motion. This became an issue when the Moties started trying to jump out of their system thru the Empire's blockade: the Moties managed to make the jump at some considerable velocity to try to evade them.

I've built and played it both ways, it seems mathmaticly identical...Multi(40) AP + 1/2 vs Multi (60)...if anything the second build is more flexable, and almost seems like it should be more expensive...not worth worrying over for me...

...

 

Seems like a "style" issue....(IMHO)

I would disagree. I noticed some argument up above about distinctions between "Reserve Points" and Active points in the reserve. If the reserve is just bought straight up to the Active Point value required, instead of trying to inflate the reserve with an Advantage, this confusion would not be an issue.

are you sure you're not thinking about Variable Power Pools?

No. I just pulled up my 4th Edition PDF to take a look. For both VPP and Multipower, the reserve or point pool equaled the maximum Active Points of any power in it. Putting a limitation on the entire Multipower could reduce the cost (not AP size) of both the reserve and slots. There was no mention of putting an advantage on a Multipower reserve to increase its size; in the example given of all slots having a common advantage, the reserve was simply bought larger to accomodate the increased Active Point cost of the slots.

Some years back in a long-defunct heroic campaign, I gave some thought to dropping money tracking but never fully fleshed-out the details. The basic idea was to figure up a character's annual income by perk and complication and allow any purchase up to 1% of that figure as "free". As purchase prices increase, a roll would be required to complete the transaction. A roll bonus would apply to purchases that only slightly exceed the "free" level, dropping and changing to penalties as the prices rose. Also, the bonus/penalty would get worse for each subsequent transaction within a defined period (about a month, I was thinking). Failing a roll would not exactly cut off purchases, but the next roll would be 3 levels harder not just one. "Money" gained in an adventure would be in the form a favor-perk, redeemable as a single no-roll transaction (one or a set of purchases) up to the monetary value of the favor.

I haven't read Elfhome, but I'll check them out. Thanks for the suggestion.

Don't start with Elfhome, it's actually the third in the series. The previous books are Tinker and Wolf Who Rules. There are also some short stories on the Baen Books website and in the Kindle store.

Have you read any of Wen Spencer's Elfhome series of novels? In those, anyone can cast a "written" spell: a scribed pattern channeling a magical flow and activated by a trigger word. Metal in the pattern can dangerously distort the effects and you don't want anyone talking while you prepare to cast. The effects are limited by the local magical resources. Healers draw healing spells on injured people in ink. Some warriors have shield spells tattooed on their arms.

The domana caste can cast some spells by gesture. They are genetically engineered to link to "spell stones" inscribed with spell patterns and built on powerful magical sites. They use finger positions to select a spell, then speak the trigger word to cast. Since they also draw power from the stones, their spells can be vastly more potent than normal casting.

Thank you all very much for your help.

 

 

Forgive this silly question...but who/what is Fred?  

FREd = Fifth Rules Edition. It was a retronym. 4th Edition Champions was called the Big Blue Book (BBB), and there was a discussion about what nickname the upcoming Fifth Edition would have. Steve Long said "I don't care if you call it 'Fred' as long as you buy a copy!"

I just have to point out that 50-60 pt. Of power is fairly easy to achieve in a fantasy game. A martial artist with 15 STR = 3 DC + sai 3 HA (3DC) + wf. Sai which allows you to buy we. Sai which allows you to add that offensive strike damage = 4DC total 10 DC attack which is equivialent to 50 pts.

 

Its not nessecerly the amount of points spent but how they're spent is what is important.

I'm not at all sure about this simple addition construction. HA as a straight add to STR is pretty standard in superheroic games. Fantasy games, on the other hand, usually employ Real Weapons with STR Min. And isn't the damage of martial maneuvers either in place of STR damage or defined in terms of strength? (Things may have changed, and I only have an old edition PDF as ready reference.)

If we should manage to reset our civilisation by about 100 Years from a dissaster, there is a chance we will never get past a certain point again. We have mostly used up the Oil, Coal and Uranium that is nessesary to fuel our lifestyle/development. If a later generation would have to start the industrial revolution from scratch, there would be no material to fuel it.

I recently read that the majority of America's untapped coal reserves are "inaccessible" not for technical reasons but because they are under National Parks and the like. So we may be in potentially better shape for a post-disaster renaissance than you are projecting.

I was born into the "German Democratic Republic". Wich was basically a communist Police State. Luckily it broke down when I was 5. I like to call it the "German (not quite so) Democractic Republic".

Given the socio-economic structure and political modus vivendi, I can see a name involving both "Socialist" and "Nationalist"... (And why they wouldn't... just entirely too appropriate in some respects.)

 

I remember that! "The Dagger of Burning," from Three Hearts and Three Lions. One of my two favorite Anderson novels, along with The Broken Sword (which covers very similar subject matter).

And it had a fully opaque basket hilt. With the hilt protecting the hand and a heavy cloak protecting the face and head, it was possible for elves to use the magnesium dagger against other elves.

The bureaucratic issue is not the one I was thinking of (though it's also a serious concern).  The problem that "flying cars" are supposed to solve is taking traffic out of everyday commuting by replacing it with flight.  But unless your home and office are both right next to airfields, roadable aircraft aren't going to do anything about that, and in every case so far, roadable aircraft have been poor aircraft and poor automobiles.

Short of practical antigravity, I don't see road traffic being simply replaced by flight. But with a compact and powerful ducted-fan V/STOL "car", a flying limo or taxi (or ambulance) is more likely. You still have the dual-license issue, but then you aren't trying to get *everyone* into the sky.

Looking back over this thread I noticed a severe lack or restraint devices.  Here is an early model that hopefully will be downsized as later refinements become possible that is known as SMUD (String Me Up, Danno):

 

3d6 Entangle: Backlash; No KB; Vuln-fire (Common); 16 Charges; OAF; STR Min 13; 2-Handed; Real Weapon

AC - 45; RC - 11

 

Basically this is an enhanced version of the silly string that people can get as a party gag, just upgraded to have real stopping power (if only they were able to get rid of that nasty prob with fire).

Reminds me of the tangle guns in Alan Nourse's "Raiders from the Rings". You fire a pellet at the ground by a target's feet and it sprays out streamers of sticky tape. I think the tapes just stuck to other tapes, not the target so you could safely grab and carry off a tangled victim. A neutralizer device could be used to selectively deactive some of the tapes.

I watched that like 3 times but just could not understand what they were saying. After watching the other two at least that one part is clear.

I wasn't listening closely to the beginning bit either... but I think they were discussing the merits of a beefalo or buffalo burger when someone else suddenly expressed an opinion on the matter.

"Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There!"

Perk?

Summoning?

Triggered Teleport?

All of the SW material I have been exposed to has regulars at the bottom with the 'named' heroes standing far far FAR above them (the Han Solo's and Boba Fets) and then equally far above them were Padawans (like Asoka) and then at even more rarefied heights were the actual Jedi.   In the universe portrayed on the screen (both sizes) a normal is about as equal to a Jedi as a 50 year old pot bellied ex-CPO is to Superman.  Not at all.

I'm not sure I would agree with this. In the first movies to be shown, Jedi are fantastically capable. In the prequels, it's quite a different story: some are extremely good, others got slaughtered in droves. So, aside from the true masters, I would peg the common Jedi as top-of-the-line agents or street-level supers with some fancy perks and weapons. The Jedi in the original trilogy were the survivors of the purge that took out the less skilled, not the standard.