Zeropoint

Re: Religion in Science-Fiction? Do you have a source for this, other than a personal dislike of a universe with random elements?

Re: Religion in Science-Fiction? Hmm, I could be wrong, of course, but that doesn't match my current and admittedly limited understanding of quantum physics. Could you cite some references?

Re: Regenerating teeth On a more relevant note, is there any game-mechanical distinction between healing that magically (or technologically) puts everything back like it was before the injury vs. healing that just accelerates the body's natural processes? In practical terms, if I cast a healing spell on someone with a broken leg, does the bone knit in whatever random position it happens to be in at the time?

Re: Regenerating teeth It's because evolution doesn't care one bit about anything that happens to an organism after it reproduces. Or more accurately, properties of an organism that only come into play after the reproduction is done don't have any impact on reproductive success, and therefore are not selected for or against by natural selection. This is also another point in favor of evolution over intelligent design.

Re: Religion in Science-Fiction? And we now know this to be false--things like radioactive decay are probabilistic, not deterministic. While we can make excellent statistical predictions about the decay of a large population of radioactive atoms, there is absolutely no way to predict when a single atom will decay (although we can determine the probability of its decaying in any given length of time). Furthermore, there is no "cause" or triggering event for the decay. The atom sits there for a while, and then suddenly it decays. Or doesn't. As uncomfortable as the idea might be, God does play dice with the universe.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Ha ha! Stupid ape, you're holding that sign backwards!

Re: Cool Guns for your Games Indeed. that's some good industrial design, there!

Re: Dehydrated Water? I haven't seen anything to indicate that this magnetic flux pinning has anything to do with negating gravity. Where did this idea come from?

Re: Religion in Science-Fiction? I was thinking of that, but it doesn't really solve the ontological problem: the physical book is created once per time loop, but the information is never created.

Re: Science: Particles seen moving at FTL speeds (CERN) I SINCERELY hope that they confirm the FTL excursion, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Makes a good basis for a drive for a sci-fi game, though.

Re: Science: Particles seen moving at FTL speeds (CERN) Exactly. I'd rep you, but my rep stick is out of charges.

Re: Attack vs. Limited Defense in 6E: how to build? Correct. I may not have phrased it clearly, but the concept was an attack that would bypass physical non-magical armor--anything that's just a sheet of tough material--but interact normally with force fields of any description, and also with magical armor. As for the commonality of defenses, the issue is then "all resistant ED" vs "resistant ED excluding non-magical physical armor" . . . it's obvious that the set of rED which would stop this attack is a subset of all rED, and is therefore less common. I apologize if that wasn't clear. Finally, after re-reading the AVAD description, I can see that I was interpreting it too narrowly . . . it seems that a subset of a defense would count as a less common defense for a step down the chart, which answers my initial question.

So, I was looking through 6E's "Attack Versus Alternate Defense" rules, and I couldn't find the ability I was looking for. I was thinking of a sword blade made of magical energy that would bypass non-magical physical armor, but still be affected normally by force fields or magical protection of any kind. Under 5E, AVLD would allow this, but the 6E AVAD doesn't seem to have that option. Am I missing something in AVAD? If not, how would I build this under 6E?

Re: Science: Particles seen moving at FTL speeds (CERN) Ah, it seems that we are in agreement, and I just misunderstood you. Sorry about that!

Re: Where are the Big Dumb Objects in your campaign? Big--the thing in question is VERY large, so much that the sheer size of it is enough to inspire awe or wonder. Obviously, how big something has to be to qualify depends on the setting and the background of the characters viewing it. Dumb--the thing itself has no intelligence whatsoever. In other words, it's not a person, an animal, a god, a robot, a computer, or other such thing capable of holding a conversation or taking action. All it does is exist, and maybe maintain itself a little, but probably not. Object--the thing is a concrete physical thing of artificial origin. Jupiter's Great Red Spot, for instance, is not an object; it's a process. The BDO is a solid thing that you can walk up to and kick, or land on. The Big Dumb Object is a staple of science fiction, because it's a great way to invoke a sense of wonder and at the same time show that there are/were beings of great power and complex intentions in the universe. "Who could have built such a thing . . . and why?"

Re: Science: Particles seen moving at FTL speeds (CERN) Reference frames explicitly ARE multiple choice, and the correct answer is "all of the above". That's one of the things that makes Relativity kind of hard to wrap one's head around: any frame of reference is correct. All frames of reference are correct. Of course, the laws of physics must hold up correctly in all frames of reference. However, I think that article missed a point: in the reference frame of the GPS satellite, the neutrinos had a shorter distance to travel on the moving earth . . . but the clock on the moving earth was ticking slower as well. Hmm . . . I guess that's not really the big question. I should be asking, "did the two events (generation and detection) have a timelike or spacelike separation?" IF I understand Relativity correctly, and that's a big "if", events with a timelike separation (i.e. light could get from event A to event B before B happens) have a timelike separation in ALL frames of reference. If the generation and detection of neutrinos have a timelike, or slower than light, separation in the GPS satellite reference frame, there shouldn't be ANY reference frame in which they appear to have a spacelike (FTL) separation . . . I think. Would anyone with a better grasp of Relativistic physics care to correct me on this?

Re: "Neat" Pictures Oh dear, looks like yet another Megadeus is causing trouble. Big O! It's showtime!

Re: Cursed to be sexually repellant I'm more interested in how I'd go about buying it off . . .

Re: What FTL Drives do people use in their campaigns? And what techno bable do you us I will use the Bachman-Turner "Overdrive".

Re: Effects of "Heightened Libido"? I didn't even know I was missing!

Re: Religion in Science-Fiction? Well, if you're going to worship something in nature, you could do a lot worse than the Sun, you know. It binds the solar system together with its gravity, and is the source of (nearly) all life on Earth.

Re: Effects of "Heightened Libido"? You know, I don't think there's really as much biological difference between the male and female sex drive as some people here seem to be assuming. In ancient Greece, everyone "knew" that women were the horny gender, always trying to drag men away from important things off to the bedroom. In Victorian England, everyone "knew" that women had no sex drive at all and derived no pleasure from sex. The "men pursue, women hold back" thing is cultural. I can see how having a HIGH sex drive would be a problem for a girl of her upbringing, but I raise an eyebrow at the idea that a MALE sex drive is not only inherently stronger, but qualitatively different. What about someone who'd like to have sex but can't get any?

Re: Science: Particles seen moving at FTL speeds (CERN) I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, but I can't help having a little sliver of hope that this could lead to an FTL drive someday. It's PROBABLY nothing--a fluke, a bad reading, or something. But . . . it MIGHT not be?

Re: Transplanted Immortality What if you go on an adventure, and don't come back, so they activate your backup? And then, your backup takes over your life where you left off, working at your job, raising your kids, loving your wife and so on . . . and then you finally make it home from your adventure?

Re: Blasters: why? Everyone seems to forget that those stormtroopers on the Death Star were under orders to ALLOW the main characters to escape, so that the tracking device planted on the Falcon would lead the way to the Rebel base. The discipline required to stand there and deliberately miss when your buddies are dying beside you is phenomenal.