Basil

Re: Twisted magic items Some based on Fantasy Hero. Armor of Heels: This armor can only be worn by untrustworthy, sneaky sorts; rogues, ne'er-do-wells, heels, etc. Batty Shield: It can only be used by the slighty insane. Elixer of Giant Ego: Turns the imbiber into the worst egotist you ever met. This only effects little-e "ego", not all-caps EGO. Potion of Underwater Comfy-chair: Poured out, it creates the most *comfortable* overstuffed chair you've ever sat it. This big ol' thing is just a perfect fit, not to hard nor too soft; you just want to curl up in it a relax. Unfortunately, it only creates the chair when poured into water at least 4 hexes (8 meters) deep. And it is a big overstuffed chair --- as in, 100 kg. It's hard (but not impossible) to get it out of the water before it becomes too soggy. Oh, and it's 1 Continuing Charge of 1 hour. Star with Sapphire Ring: The wearer somehow lands up with a major role in every movie Sapphire is in. However, it grants no acting ability, nor any improvement to looks. Wand of Fastening: It glues itself to the wielder's -- or should I say victim's -- hand the first time he picks it up. Removing it takes a STR vs. STR roll against a STR of 30. And it does HKA when you get it off. Irresponsible Blade: The wielder doesn't really care who or what he hits. Roll randomly to see what the target is, each Phase. And one not specific to any game system. Ring of Three Fishes: The wearer of this ring can Summon a fish of any sort (including sharks but not including cetatians) by rubbing the ring and crying out the name of the type of fish. It has only three Charges the never recover --- once the third fish appears, the ring crumbles to dust. Do not confuse this with the Gin Ring: that causes a shotglass full of cheap booze to appear when activated. It also has 3 Charges, but they "recharge" every dawn. But only if the wearer is hungover.

Re: Change of Speed Nope. 5th Ed., p.87, in the list of all Powers, in the line for Characteristics, under the column for END, says "Varies". In the Rules FAQs there's a question: "Q: If a character buys extra SPD that Costs Endurance, does he have to pay the END every Phase, or just on the extra Phases he gets from the extra SPD itself?" Obviously, if SPD as a Power auromatically cost end, this question would be meaningless, and Steve would point out why, rather than answering it at some length.

Re: Something Star Hero needs, but hasn't. Interesting. Unfortunately, they don't say what G is in #16, nor g in #17. The Starflight Handbook has formulae for relativistic acceleration, but I won't inflict them on you unless someone asks.

Re: Something Star Hero needs, but hasn't. Ah, OK. When you said "quadratic equations" I was thinking of x=(-b ± sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/2a That is, I thought you were talking about "solve for x" sort of thing. As for time not being proportional to distance, but to the squareroot of the distance; it seem obvious to me, when you remember this is for constant acceleration. If you're always going faster, it doesn't take as long to go *this* km as it did the last km.

Re: Average Seperation Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy had this as an underlying assumption. However, even with no FTL, different "branches" of the human race may meet as different "zones of expantion" run into each other.

Re: Twisted magic items Orb Of Drag-and-drop The wielder of this approimately 50cm sphere (made out of some truly weird looking stuff we're not to speculate about) can, with but a thought, pick up anything of up to 1 ton in mass. However, he must drop it (not set it down) within one Turn, or it slips from his "grasp" and drops. It can only be used a dozen times per day. TK, 28 STR, 12 Continuing Charges, OAF, etc. Do not confuse this with the Orb Of Dragon Droppings!

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... Oops. Misunderstood some notes I took from an article in a book by, I believe, Niven &/or Pournelle. Unfortunately it was a library book, so I don't have it to refer to. However, The Starflight Handbook mentions 10^5 ions/cubic meter as a typical interstellar medium. Which is a long way from "fairly ionized" as I first said, but still, it is ionized, and it will carry a shockwave.

Re: Change of Speed Hugh Neilson, to be blunt: I'm afraid you completely missed both my point, and the general subject of this thread. I said that taking the POV "'Fractional SPD' exists on the character sheet, not on the gaming table." would simplify playing SPD Drains, Aids, etc. A complex example of various ways to build characters is, frankly, irrelevant.

Re: Something Star Hero needs, but hasn't. D'oh! Of course! Still, with all the work put into the existing stats in AW, TE and SpT, I would prefer simply changing the rubber science explanation to "shunt into another universe which moves (maybe: "rotates"?) at superluminal speeds relative to our own, stay there for a while being dragged, then return when desired". Higher class hyperdrives would allow to shunt into even faster hyperspace universes. (If you like the idea, feel free to use it at no cost. ) Yeah, I've always liked that FTL. And if you make the Hyperspaces discrete, each one giving a faster result, you account for the performances of the different Hyperdrives much better than at present.

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was...

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... Um, OK, maybe I missed something else, but in 2104, what's "the Senate" if it's not Earth's government?

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... Check out Star Hero; it has a method for treating "inches of Flight" as acceleration. Certainly, it's the only sensible method.

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... You have taken what I said completely out of context. Here is the context restored: Is it obvious? While I see no way the Solar System will be (in the future of the real world) settled solely by rockets, there is nothing obvious about extensive use of non-rockets in the invented 'history' given in Alien Wars. Indeed, there's no sign the author even knew of non-rocket, non-rubber-science STL drives that are, even now, known to be workable (some have even been experimented with). Considering what is actually in the book, especially the fact that "Hyperdrive" provides no propulsion of its own (as described in the text), and that rockets are all that is mentioned, and I think it reasonable to ask whether there's anything "obvious" about non-rocket STL having been developed and then abandoned. Indeed, I can't believe in such a scenario.

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... The point is the Senate knew there were worlds to be colonized and so they passed the Colony Act before people began to be shipped to those worlds. The Senate wanted control of those worlds. The Earth Government allowed them to have the act because they knew it would take decades before many well-established colonies could be formed. As you said, at 0.5c you are looking at several years to get to Alpha Centauri alone, and there is supply, terraforming, etc. The Earth Government knew that it could all be settled at a later date. It was just a way of the Government getting something for free and then thinking they could fix it a century down the road to better suit them. Unfortunately a century later hyperdrives appeared and things got more complicated. Now they were not talking about 4 years to Alpha Centauri or Vega or where ever. It would seem to make a lot of sense that the Senate would try to get the Colony Act passes before there were colonies. They wanted the control, and they got it, but they had to pay for it. Again, a possible explanation. However, my original post, and what I've been trying to get people to consider, is that the book as written has a timeline that will not work unless either FTL existed before 2203, or The Colony Act was --- contrary to what is said --- passed by a "Senate" when there were no Senate Worlds. Frankly, the errata for Alien Wars needs to correct the use of "Senate Worlds" on page 7; or at least point out that the Act as (first) written referred to "Senate Nations" (or whatever you want to call it), and was later amended/interpreted to refer to "Senate Worlds"

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was...

Re: Superhero Images Of course, if the picture is ever pulled/lost/etc., you end up with a vey tall&skinny 'blank spot', with the red "X" way up at the top. Looks weird as heck.

Re: Average Seperation It was me that said that. I don't recal exactly where I saw it, it was one of the things I came across through the links above. I don't know what page I finally got to that said that though, sorry. In any case, if I'm wrong, then the source I read was wrong, or else I inferred something from it that I shouldn't have. Ah, OK. No harm done. Hmmm... I believe I have that disease too. Thanks for covering matters in more detail than I would've thought to.

Re: Help with Racist Slang Somehow I see the kids as getting a lot of giggles out of (over) using the expression "Chinese fire-drill."

Re: Things I'd like to see more of in fantasy gaming A sense that there's an entire world, not just a big (or not so big) place with dungeons in Too many campaigns I've been in/seen/heard of/read the book(s) for don't have any sense of the hugeness, the complexity, the unpredictability of a real world. For example, most settings from gaming companies have the feeling that the world stops at the edge of the map. Contrast to Tolkein, where there's a feelling there are lands, unknown to the area around Gondor/the Shire/etc; areas with cultures and history. Heck, look at the map of MIddle Earth---there's the sea of Rhûn that we're told nothing about. In most RPG products there'd be the feeling the artist wanted to fill in space. With Tolkein, you end up wondering what the folks there are like; you may even find yourself inventing a history and traditions for it. A feeling of time; the feeling there's been stuff happening long before your characters exist, and that stuff will keeping happening after they're gone. Too many campaigns lack this. Too often, there's a "weird legend" or "old story" that's either nothing but a plot hook, or a bit of window-dressing that has a connection to neither the present nor any other "tale from the past." Admittedly, it's hard to give a feeling of the depths of time at Tolkein's level, but I find it so rare to see any attempt at a feeling of history. And tossing out a dozen names of bygone kingdoms/kings/archmages just shows up how little history the setting has. (As well as usually sounding stupid, from the grab-bag nature of those names). Related to the last point: Lengends, stories, tales, etc, that aren't just plothooks &/or hints I know of nothing that brings alive a world faster, with few words, than the GM having an NPC drop a passing reference to some old story "everyone knows". {using a know legend} GM (as Farmer Amico): "You'd've ne'er thought that there runty pony coulda pullt that cart outa that there ditch, but then you'd've ne'er thought that there half-growed King Arthur could've pullt that sword outa that there stone." {different setting, invented legend} GM (as Farmer True): "'Tis true mine horse looks too smal to pull your wagon from out the ditch 'tis immured in. Yet, forget not that Liendra didst remove the Crown of Talkon from out the grip of the Everfrozen Lake!" See how it goes? And the tale of Liendra doesn't have a bloody thing to do with the PCs, their predicament, their advancement, or anything else. It's just part of the world. Of course, it's even better if the legends are a direct steal from real-world ones, but I'm too tired to go to that effort.

Re: Twisted magic items This is part of a sentence from Tery Pratchett. It's stuck in mind since I read it, even though I forget which book it's from. "...flaming swords that burn all the way up the hilt..." I'll leave someone else to design it in Hero System terms. Bag of Moldy Anything put into this medium-large leather sack instantly becomes old, decrepit, and covered with a thin film of mold and mildew. Major Transform that lowers DEF of objects to about half, reduces PRE and COM of living things, etc. Wizard's Stuff A whole lot of useless flotsam and junk slowly accumulates around the person carrying this staff. It accumulates more rapidly the slower the possesor moves, and will eventually make it very difficult or impossible to move. If the owner takes it into his/her home, watch out -- s/he will need to be unburied in a few days! Major Transform, air into junk. EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot--- Wand of Blunder The owner of this wand keeps falling down, dropping stuff, etc. Don't let him near a hammer and nail! Drain DEX, Continuous, plus Mind Control, One Command (Keep this wand!!!)

Re: Change of Speed I think it simplifies things if you take this POV: "Fractional SPD" exists on the character sheet, not on the gaming table. By which I mean: "Fractional SPD" is a concept that relates only to designing the character (and 'redesigning' it when spending XPs). When that character is in play, when the player is sitting there moving the character, fighting, interacting, "Fractional SPD" is meaningless. As a comparison: if my character has 4d6 EB, AoE Radius, and is hit with a Drain, it's 10 Active Points per die that Drain is affecting. Now, yeah, I'll probably land up keeping track of, say, 16 points of Drain and how my character recovers from it, and how many dice of EB I have now, and so on. However, I don't have to introduce "Fractional EB, AoE, Radius" to do that. Similarly, I don't need "Fractional SPD" to account for Drains, Aids, etc. It's just a 10 Active Point per (not die but) point 'o speed Power; account for 16 points of Drain just as you would any other 10 Active Point per die Power. As for pre-5th-Ed. speed changes: Here's what 4th Ed. says: "OPTIONAL SPEED CHANGE If the GM wants to allw a character to change his SPD within a turn, the following optional system should be used. It is much more comples, but lets characters with Special Powers (like Multiform and Duplication) use their abilities to the fullest. Under this system, a character can change his SPD on any Phase he has an action. Changing SPD is a 0 Phase action. After he has changed his SPD, the character cannot act until he has had a Phase for both of the SPDs. Once he has taken an action at the new SPD, he can be considered that SPD for the rest of the Turn." Now, I've always thought this means that a speed-changed character gets a Phase on the next Segment he would at his new SPD, so long as it's a Segment after or simultaneous with one he'd have gotten at his old SPD. So, to go back to the original example, of someone dropped from SPD 6 to SPD 5 on Segment 2: if he were hit after his action, or had volutarily dropped his SPD, his next Phase at SPD 5 would be on Segment 3. However, he wouldn't have acted until Segment 4 if he'd stayed at SPD 6, so he doesn't act on Segment 3. Thus, he doesn't get to act until his next possible Phase at SPD 5; Segment 5. Now, if the character is Drained (Suppressed, etc.) before he gets to act in Segment 2, I believe that Segment 2 counts as his "would have had a Phase" for SPD 6. Thus, when Segment 3 rolls around, that's his "would have had a Phase" for SPD 5, and he gets to act. The example in 4th Ed. certainly accords with the way I've described. However, it also accords with what the FAQs for 5th Ed. clearly states: no action until a simultaneous Phase. Which makes Draining someone just after his first Phase of a Turn an overwhelmingly effective tactic. Decreasing a character's SPD by one right after his first Phase of the Turn means that he won't act until Segment 12 for original SPDs 2-5, until Segment 8 for original SPD 6, and Segment 6 for original SPD 8. Original SPD 7 gets his next Phase on Segment 4, just like he would have anyway, and SPDs 9-11 it's Segment 3 (Segment 2 for SPD 12) the character is "delayed" to. So, higher SPDs aren't as effected, but there are darn few characters with SPDs that high. Oh, and if a character with original SPD of 2-6, 8, or 10 is Drained to SPD 1 in one shot, he'll never get to act at all! At least not until he 'heals' enough of the Drained points.

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... No, but I see nothing else mentioned anywhere. Indeed, I'm sure the settlement of the Solar System will not, and reasonably could not, be done with rockets alone. The matter of propellent is too grave for dependence on rockets alone. Thus, there was no settlement outside the Solar System, and hence no manned flight outside the Solar System until Hyperdrive came along. So, I guess one must assume the statement in AW, page 7, that The Colony Act did said that Senate Worlds were responsible for colonization, is wrong, and that the Act said members of the Senate (I guess separate nations) were so responsible. Which brings up a number of other question, such as what nations managed to colonize, when did Earth get a true one-world government, etc.

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... The fusion plant informatin is in both books. Mars getting a colony is mentioned in Terran Empire. Allow me to repeat what I was responding to: I thought it clear, in the context of the discussion, that I was referring to the specification of the dates. There is nothing in either Alien Wars nor Terran Empire that says when those two events occured. Which, to my mind, is important information; information that certainly could easily have been included.

Re: Alien Wars: Before hyperdrive, there was... From Alien Wars, page 7: "The Senate itself created the conflict between federalism and planetary rights by passing the Colony Act of 2104. The Act stated that individual Senate Worlds {emphasis added}, not the United Earth government, were wholly responsible for establishing and administering Colony Worlds." Now, one could assume the Colony Act created the concept "Senate Worlds", even though there weren't any, and also said they would be responsible for all colonizing efforts. That, however, raises the question of who/what is responsible for colonizing the "Senate Worlds". Sorry, that won't fly.

Re: Average Seperation Why do you need to "escape the compression waves"? Yes, they are the site of star formation, and thus of the death of short-lived stars (like O's and B's), and thus supernovas, and thus have slightly higher background radiation levels. However, the difference is too slight to be an overall concern. Now, if a star system is within a few lightyears of a supernova, any life on it is pretty well kaput. However, even though supernovas are commoner in the arms, that doesn't mean they're common. Just a little bit less rare. BTW, could you tell me where you read that Sol was moving at the same speed as the spiral arm? I think the shock-wave is faster, and in fact Sol has been in and out of spiral arms a number of times in its 4.5 billion years of existance.