Scott Ruggels

I was always leery about allowing "Non-Danger-worthy" characters in Fantasy Hero games. There was a type of player we would run into in the Bay Area on occasion that would play a "wacky character"  as a way to grab attention, and would skew the tone of the game.  Some of those players would  moderate their behavior after the rest of the group objected to their previous antics.  Then they would play characters that were useful but weak, requiring security provided by the other characters (and therefore attention). It got to the point where I would reject "whimsical" characters out of hand. DNPC's were not "Adventurers" in my view. This did mean my FH games were a bit serious and grim, but they ran smoothly.

15 hours ago, DShomshak said:

Asteroid material soon to be delivered to Earth... if all goes well. Also (as noted in Champions forum) an excellent "origin event."

 

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/22/1200803124/nasa-osiris-rex-mission-bring-home-asteroid-rocks-returns-utah

 

Dean Shomshak

THis will be live streamed 10 Am Eastern on Sunday on NASA's Youtube Channel. My only concern is isn't this how Andromeda Strain started?

https://www.nasa.gov/content/live-coverage-of-nasa-s-osiris-rex-sample-return

co-ordination roll? 8 or less, and THEN roll for dex?

24 hours from satellite in a warehouse to satellite in a stable, useful orbit is a very impressive achievement. 

Boy, you folks like to overthink.   It could be as simple as a race of monsters that eat human flesh.  We really don’t like having anyone above us on the food chain.  You can keep the relationships simpler.  

This is fantasy, not comics code comics. This is where characters are using earlier frames of reference.  Just be sure to read the room correctly 

17 hours ago, Drhoz said:

Apparently. But there's a difference between 'you're not going anywhere because this is consensual bondage' and 'you're not going anywhere because these barbed chains impaled you to the wall while I get out the artistic vivisection kit'

I guess it depends on where in the relationship you are?

https://pathfinder.fandom.com/wiki/Kyton?file=Kyton.jpg
 

Wow. Paizo can get away with that? Daaaaang. 

16 hours ago, DentArthurDent said:

I’ve just realized that every colonized planet would, in just a few years, kill every colonist.

 

Now I’m wondering what it would take to create effective xenovaccinations.
Highly mutable anti-viruses? Universal antigens? Intelligent antibodies? Nano-submarines with pulse lasers?

If our bio chemistry is significantly different, the viruses probably wouldn’t jump, like most viruses stick with their host creatures. It took millennia for creatures to evolve to eat, wood. Our Carboniferous age was caused by piles of dead vegetation and trees becoming compacted in situ, eons before something evolved to eat them. 

Saw M3gan (Unrated), on Amazon Prime.  Interesting meditation on Artificial Intelligence, as well as attatchment theory.  Little girl loses parents in a car accident. The Mother's sister, an engineer at a toy company is given custody, but is unequipped to be a parent, especially during a product's crunch time. She enlists the litle girl to assist in bringing a new product to life.  

 Russia’s Lunar Lander Crashes Into the Moon: The robotic Luna-25 spacecraft appeared to have “ceased its existence” after a failed orbital adjustment, the space agency Roscosmos said. “The Luna-25 lander, Russia’s first space launch to the moon’s surface since the 1970s, entered lunar orbit last Wednesday and was supposed to land as early as Monday. On Saturday afternoon Moscow time, according to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, the spacecraft received orders to enter an orbit that would set it up for a lunar landing. But an unexplained ’emergency situation’ occurred, and the orbital adjustment did not occur.”

Nah. I am comfortable in my own skin, and can entertain myself. I am complete without a relationship. I made peace with my selfishness. 

The old advice was to never marry outside of the hobby. I had a ton of odd spouse repellant hobbies like gaming, war gaming, amateur film, and WW2 re-enactments.  After a long term relationship I still got dumped and I figured out that my own happiness depends on me, and I was too selfish with my time for a proper relationship.  So the advice is avoid relationships? 

India lands on the moon successfully!

https://www.space.com/india-chandrayaan-3-moon-landing-success

Traveller had a  slightly more detailed  tech level system, with several categories. (This also shows why people used to run Westerns using Traveller rules). their speculation on the future might be a little off, as the first iteration of this was in 1977, but it has been massaged a little in subsequent editions. This is the framework most of the older gamers remember, and what Star Hero borrowed from.

https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Tech_Level_Comparison_Chart

6 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

 

It was only after posting that I realised that Scott might have been talking about reading the rules rather than the extended onversations that went on about them...

3rd edition has fewer pages of rules. 3th edition is still manageable, as the last third of the book is that big adventure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/20/science/russia-moon-space-crash.html?smid=url-share

 Russia’s Lunar Lander Crashes Into the Moon: The robotic Luna-25 spacecraft appeared to have “ceased its existence” after a failed orbital adjustment, the space agency Roscosmos said. “The Luna-25 lander, Russia’s first space launch to the moon’s surface since the 1970s, entered lunar orbit last Wednesday and was supposed to land as early as Monday. On Saturday afternoon Moscow time, according to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, the spacecraft received orders to enter an orbit that would set it up for a lunar landing. But an unexplained ’emergency situation’ occurred, and the orbital adjustment did not occur.”

It's these sorts of discussions that chase me back to want to use 2nd or 3rd edition rules. Much less to read.