Jump to content

Ian Mackinder

HERO Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,607

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Ian Mackinder

  1. Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

     

    After they return to the Rose Tattoo and all resistance has been squashed, they decide on their next move. Dropping one of the burnt-out space stations on a convenient fault line, thus triggering volcanic, tectonic, and climatic devastation, would seem an appropriate reaction.

     

    Astropath Adrik
    : We should inscribe some kind of message on the front, before we drop it on the planet.

    GM
    : 'Hi there!'

    Jak Frost
    : 'A present from the
    Rose Tattoo
    '

    Senschal Jaranthine Hamerin
    : 'The Emperor Orders You To Die'

     

    Senschal Jaranthine Hamerin
    : Hey guys! It's 1940, you're London, and you left your lights on....

     

    I would have suggested 'HAVE A NICE DAY'. My Sororitas character has this inscribed (in Latin) on the business end of her Heavy Flamer.
    ;)

  3. History of Space Opera, aka Finally an io9 article that doesn't suck.

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: History of Space Opera, aka Finally an io9 article that doesn't suck.

     

    Yeah.

     

    They.

     

    Don't believe me? Try it. Go to any RPG forum on the web and make an oblique referrence to MT or TNE in a SF RPG discussion: it'll trigger an instant off-topic hate-fest/thread derail, guaranteed.

     

    I'm sorry if you consider me to be guilty of a hatefest. You made comments about individual Traveller editions / versions, and I responded with my point of view. Strange that. Suppose 'someone' COULD have said "Hey, let's NOT compare individual Traveller editions this time", but you did so. Noting also that I very specifically did NOT go into the whole TNE thing. Now, kind of wonder now if I should have, just so you could have had something to have a proper cranial explosion about.

     

    Might I very respectfully suggest. XO, that you switch to decaf before continuing your discussion on what you consider to be Space Opera? I'm out of this thread, so you needn't worry about my alleged de-rails.

  4. History of Space Opera, aka Finally an io9 article that doesn't suck.

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: History of Space Opera, aka Finally an io9 article that doesn't suck.

     

    Traveller's bastard offspring (MegaTraveller and The New Era) tried very hard to deliver space opera-style adventure on a much larger scale than the original game' date=' but the fans (or at least an extremely vocal subset of the fans) were unhappy with this approach. As a fan of the space opera genre, I was disappointed they weren't received well.[/quote']

     

    As a long-time Traveller player, I can say that it was small wonder they were not received well. Two great things about pre-MT Traveller was (a) a nice simple starship design system (one could work up a design on the back of an envelope in ten minutes, or refit an existing design mentally. Easy), and (B) a marvellously rich and varied background with a real sense of historical "depth".

     

    If GDW had wanted to work up an all-new game (and background) from scratch, they could have done so.

     

    No, wait, they sort of tried that with 'Traveller 2300' - and it didn't sell. Largely because they fooled the Traveller fanbase into believing that it had Traveller material and, when it became clear that this was most definitely not so, a lot of people dropped the game HARD.

     

    So what did we get?

     

    MT had a vehicle design system that was, put bluntly, totally incomprehensible. Also, the emphasis seemed to be less about introducing Space Operatic elements and more about physically destroying everything about the game that people actually LIKED - especially the baclground stuff. There had been a lot of background material worked up officially and semi-officially over the years - back-stories, worlds, sectors, subsectors, etc. - and all of that was basically torn up and flushed away.

     

    TNE, way worse. Design system was even more incomprehensible. But, VIRUS was the big offender there. Trust me, you DON'T want me going into another 'Why VIRUS was so ####### stupid" rant. You really don't. ;)

     

    That 'GURPS Traveller' and 'MongTraveller' both did tolerably well by keeping close to the original background, and deciding that "VIRUS Never Happened", says a great deal, IMO.

  5. Ultra-Tech Punishments?

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?

     

    Sedation and incarceration in a virtual prison--perhaps something set up to teach/rehabilitate the criminal(interesting premise for an RPG' date=' I guess.)[/quote']

     

    Had this in the 'Cyberpunk 2020' rpg. Called "Braindance".

     

    Originally intended as rehabilitation via behaviour modification. Inevitably, as society and the world in general went downhill, it was soon being used as a straight-out punishment/deterrent. Supposedly very nasty stuff.

  6. Ultra-Tech Punishments?

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?

     

    Memory implantation.

     

    Couple of examples of this in Star Trek. One gave the offender very detailed false memories about a long and extremely unpleasant jail term, then letting the offender go. Not sure how this was supposed to work in terms of rehabilitation but, if deterrence without having to run an actual prison system is your culture's thing, it has possibilities.

     

    The other was, for a murder, giving the offender the victim's memories of the event, then forcing the offender to replay this repeatedly.

  7. Brainstorm: Artificially Slowed Time

    in Star Hero

    Posted

    Re: Brainstorm: Artificially Slowed Time

     

    It is a very interesting idea, and seems quite reasonable on the face of it.

     

    One thing occurrung to me is how this condition would affect their view of the outside universe.

     

    I assume that navigation / astrogation would be handled via the ship's computer, which would automatically correct / compensate for this in the data it presents. However, if they ever need to "go manual", any readings taken of the outside universe would be skewed. For example, objects would seem to hurtle past the ship at a MUCH higher speed than they really are and, when one tosses in relativistic effects (or apparent lack thereof) as well, it can get rather weird trying to keep track of that stuff.

     

    .... Hmm, yeah, it could be weird all right - considering that light-speed would SEEM to be 360 times faster than it should be. A number of corrections would be needed before any manual readings make sense. If, for some reason, the people do not realize that they have been "slowed", then it could get really REALLY weird from their points of view.

     

    Man, this makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

     

    Another thought is that these android bodies may not necessarily have to be humanoid-shaped. There may be very good psychological reasons for doing so, but for activities that (for example) involve scrambling around the ship's exterior and/or in zero-g, something arthropod shaped (spider, crab, insect) might be better. The 'Eclipse Phase' rpg includes a wide selection of such bodies for characters to link with or download their minds into.

     

    Alternatively, the android bodies might be humanoid, but be modularized so they can be configured for specific tasks or situations. For example, if going into zero-g, being able to swap out the body's feet for graspers would make a lot of sense. Or swapping out one or more fingers for some kind of tool (Cyberpunk 2020 has a few ideas here).

  10. "Neat" Pictures

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: "Neat" Pictures

     

    Those can't be Stormtroopers. The shots are actually hitting Superman' date=' and one is even hitting Cap's shield.[/quote']

     

    The stormtroopers who made those specific shots rolled critical fumbles. You DON'T want to know what happens to them in the next panel.

  12. Zeppelins

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Zeppelins

     

    I think the real potential the USN saw in aircraft-carrying airships in the 1930s were as search / recon platforms. They could travel a lot faster than any ship and, with their aircraft, could scope out huge areas of ocean at a time.

  13. Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

     

    Seneschal Jaranthine Hamerin: I dread to think what he's going to look like if he ever loses all that weight.

    GM : All those skinflaps?

    Seneschal Jaranthine Hamerin: *shudders*

    GM: He could hold them with his fingers and toes and flap around the ship like a bat

    Seneschal Jaranthine Hamerin: Argh! Brain Bleach! Brain Bleach!

     

    GM : I can picture Netzach floating in some kind of big tank, flabby little arms sticking out to the sides, and occasionally bouncing off the glass like that manatee

     

    manateesquashp1.gif

    see more Gifs

     

    More brain bleach over here, please.

     

    Great stuff, Drhoz. As usual, I would rep ya if I could.

  22. Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

     

    An AD&D game, many many years ago.

     

    Things had been going well for the party. They had gone really really deep into the dungeon, well past what was previously known. There had been persistent rumours of various wonders yet to be found, including a ferocious wyrm and gateways to other worlds - all of which the PCs were determined to find.

     

    They break into a new tunnel, totally unlike anything they have previously seen. This tunnel is huge, several metres high and wide, arched at the top and very regular in shape. Part of the dragon's lair, they guess, doubtless worn smooth by the vile creature's comings and goings. The party are just starting to check their surroundings, including some odd things about the floor, when they see the glare of the dragon's eyes down one end of the tunnel, and hear its roar as it charges towards them.

     

    Being experienced dungeoneers, they immediately fall into standard battle formation. Close-in fighters in the front rank. Polearm guys right behnd them in the second rank. Spell-lobbers powering up at the rear of the formation. They've fought dragons before, and they know the drill.

     

    The entire party is then hamburgered by a commuter train in Sydney's underground railway system.

     

    Lord knows what the police investigation made of it all.

     

    Yeah, the GM worked for the railways, and he thought it would be funny to teleport the party to an area he knew well - specifically, the stretch between Wynyard and Town Hall Stations (known to be an ... "interesting" place, anyhow).

     

    The Players almost killed him for that - before working up new characters to head down there and try to avenge their predecessors.

  23. A Thread for Random Videos

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: A Thread for Random Videos

     

    That seems to be pitching around a lot more than I'd expect for a cruse ship. Don't they have stabilizers that keep the whole ship fairly stable?

     

    They do. Been around for quite a while, too. But it is rather like shock absorbers on cars - when things get rough enough, you still get some effects.

     

    Also, it is possible that the stabilizers were not being used at this time. Temporarily shut down for maintenance, perhaps, or because the ship is moving close alongside something else (the stabilizer fins stick out several metres from the ship's underside, so there are times they DEFINITELY need to be retracted).

     

    Well-designed table, though. Does a VERY nice job at staying completely level despite what the rest of the ship does.

  25. "Neat" Pictures

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: "Neat" Pictures

     

    "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

     

    "I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, uh. . . people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over HERE in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children."

     

    She should go into politics.

     

     

    The fact that the compere didn't beat this idiot to death with his microphone is a triumph of self-control.

×
×
  • Create New...