Scott Ruggels

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.

A very technical explanation of Space-X’s deluge system for the Starship launch pad

I’ll let people know about the sphere when Ibgo to Vegas late September. 

Almost bought one of those in the 80s, but looking at the demolition ranch folks they found problems that were not spoken of back then like the less than sterling accuracy, and the number of dud rounds. Still it was quite cool to see that they are indeed lethal.  

From my notes in the current Sunday D&D Campaign

Once past the bridge we hid from another RoboT-Rex. That's the second we have seen. that plus the orcs with the fused weapon arms, and the glowing mouths, mean there is an Alhoun  turning the entire city of Esme into his private hunting preserve. (The comment was, "A supervillain in his building phase).

Figured is better, precisely because of the cookie cutter effect. It makes sure that the characters are within the guidelines, and not too far apart from each other.  The other problem I have, is that in fifth, and before the point system was economic, and in sixth, its more like taxes.  I prefer the looser accounting and bargain hunting from the earlier editions. In Fantasy Hero the Package deals made character creation a lot quicker, where one would just copy down a stack of package deals, and add a few items outside the deals for flavor. Character creation demands  software to create the charactersm now, It is nigh unto impossible if you have poor math skills like me.

Some background from one of my FH Campaigns. THis one is about "tribal" Lupines (Barbarians

 

Tribal Pagan Lupines

The Tribal Pagans on the frontier live primitive, nomadic lives, following the herds of their preferred meat on the hoof, through the seasons. Each tribal group is generally one large, extended family, with ties to other groups by ancestry. Since they are mobile, rarely do they amass much in the way of property other than what they can carry, and they tend to move seasonally, camping in regular spots year, after year.  The Tribal Lupines do not have a strong hospitality custom, and are quite territorial. They will shadow visitors, and confront them if they feel they are taking too much time to cross their territory, or have taken too much of the local game.  They live on the edge of survival, and are not charitable to those that encroach on their hunting areas. Their large appetites force them to restrict who can breed, thus limiting the number of offspring born each year, and breeding rights tend to go only to the Alpha, and the strongest members of the group. If a tribe shrinks, it may bargain with other tribes to acquire females from which to add to their numbers, therefore creating alliances or agreements through kinship with the offering tribe.

Sometimes however, tribes come into open conflict. Those conflicts tend to be resolved in two ways, either single combat, whereupon the losing alpha’s tribes is broken up, with the females added to the winning tribe and the losing tribe’s males scattered (sometimes to be folded into the tribes of close cousins, otherwise left to their own devices), or Single Combat is refused and it’s a short, sharp, war of attrition leaving scattered dead in their wake.  

Amongst their own, however the Tribe is a very mutually supporting environment, with the Tribe following the Alpha’s leadership, and the Alpha supporting each tribal member.  Existence in the camp is social and companionable with small hunting parties orbiting in and out to forage for food, while in the camp, chores are done communally around a central fire, and children are watched and instructed. To prevent much conflict, customs have developed between tribes denoting areas where one tribe can, or cannot hunt, or camp, usually based upon the type of tree found in a forest. It is by the names of those trees that the clans are often named, so that the Pine Clan hunts in Pine forests, the Cedar Clan hunts in cedar Forests, the Birch clan in Birch forests, and so on.  The Rules aren’t hard, as trees can intermingle in a forest, but it gives a tribe a place to camp unmolested from the activities of other tribes.  

Everyone in the tribe is expected to fight, should it become necessary, with the Alpha’s maintaining their status by besting rivals in fights.  A sort of game/ drill among the Tribals is a day, announced at random by the Alpha, called “stick time” where members of the tribe arm themselves with sticks, and try to surprise or ambush each other and engage in mock battles trying to avoid being hit by their attacker and turn the tables on them if need be. Having an Alpha who enjoys calling stick time often, may result in a somewhat jumpy, but tactically efficient tribe, but it would be disruptive to the harmony of the camp if he calls it too often.
 

16 hours ago, greypaladin_01 said:

 

Tried the link but is giving me a 403 error.  I feel rather forbidden.

Looked at their sheet and might up the bite and something to give them more of a frenzy vibe, but the rest I think is just descrptions and selling it at the table.   

Try this:
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/24002078/

In general, a "Heroic" level game will be "samey" by definition. The non-spell casting heroes will have about the same strength and dex,  and the castes will be around the same Int and dex, and speeds will be 3.  Hero ha always lacked granularity around the low end. Differentiation, then tends to be skills, knowledges and Disads.  For monsters, and High Fantasy heroes, it's the powers that lend the differentiation. in "Hig Fantasy" the differentiation is through powers bestowed upon the heroes and the monsters. Giving the Erquigdlit tracking scent, a bite, and low light gight

A new Season of The Dragon Prince has dropped on Netflix, and I Binge watched it all Saturday after the game.  The tone goes darker, and the Sun Elves subplot gets a lot more screen time. Big things are moving about.

I am not optimistic about Blue Beetle.

I've used the  Erquigdlit. Slight reskin as my Lupines. Liited language skils, but otherwise smart, and can track/ hunt.
https://d.furaffinity.net/art/scottruggels/1498836562/1498836562.scottruggels_balphas02.gif

In the old days (1981), Disads were an eye opener, and they were looked at as something to increase the points budget for your character. Two Hundred and Fifty points was the upper limit, but to get there was a lot like scrounging for change in the couch cushions, so I tended to build up to around 220, and then carefully add disads to increase the budget. My most successful Champions character started at 241 points. Careful selection of Disads really forced one to think about the whole character. Not just the powers.

India enthusiaisupport their space program.  

Meanwhile Marcus House explains the Aldrin Transfer Vehicle. 
 

not entirely optimistic about Blue Origin’s Glenn Rocket.  

Edit: As of this morning a BE-4 Engine blew up on the test stand:
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/rocket-report-rocket-labs-next-step-in-reuse-blue-origin-engine-explodes/

14 hours ago, GDShore said:

I reread this thread today, Mr. Ruggels. What famous screwup?

Killing a beloved NPC to demonstrate an antagonists willingness to escalate and encounter, that caused the players to object, and a 20 year old FH campaign collapsed.  

AAAAAAAGH! NOOOOO!

…:and?  …AND?!