Merovign

Re: Gemini Ascendant: Reborn UPDATE I just talked to Nolgroth, he had server problems, OS problems, and now internet problems. He also has to get up very early in the AM, so it seems unlikely we'll have the server up. I'd do it myself but we never have been able to get anyone to log in when I'm hosting. Nolgy will call me if he gets the server up but I don't expect that. He said he's planning on being ready next week, though. I do have one request, as I may be running next week if Nolgy doesn't have the session ready or if we have another odd roster. Have a character *concept* for a member of the crew of a spaceship - medical, command, security, maintenance, whatever. Don't bother working up any stats, I'll be working up stats and we'll have to coordinate on skills after we start. As long as you know "who* the character is, you're good to go. Sounds odd, but it's an odd concept pretty much specifically designed to reduce workload on the players and make it easier to have people come and go as needed. We'll see if it works. I'm working on some maps and descriptions.

Re: Gemini Ascendant: Reborn And does anyone know what kind of modem/router he needs (looks at pile).

Re: Gemini Ascendant: Reborn James' system is hard-locked and we're trying to get it back up in safe mode to remove the video drivers. This will take at least a half-hour, longer if he has to do a James Special and reinstall Vista. I will update here but it's looking like gamus interruptus. Damit.

Re: Gemini Ascendant: Reborn Looks like the second I got MapTools running again (maybe), Nolgy's connection dropped. What a freakin' day. Looks like my new motherboard is getting flaky, too. (HEADDESK)

Re: Tesunden Isles We're trying to get the server back up, looks like there was a Port Conflict for online software in the Cook Household. Check back on the server to see if it's up every few minutes, he's restarting.

Re: Tesunden Isles Server should be up in a few minutes, for those checking here for updates.

Re: Tesunden Isles

Re: Tesunden Isles WAAAAAAAH! Shucks, now I don't get to die horribly this week.

Re: Behold, the Apocolypse Pod! Either I don't know what "apocalypse" means, or he doesn't. 'Cause I looked, and my dictionary doesn't say "the minor inconvenience of bad weather." And also, sharp corners are a stress point. The future is round!

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Nobody can speak to me, I'm like the wind! And also, working like 300 hours a day. I'm going to try to get off "on time" Wednesday, if I can. Of course had Much New Work on my lap at the end of the day yesterday. Got home at 9 last night. (sigh)

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Again I must salute you for your insanely over-the-top dedication to doing everyone else's homework, Mr. Ghost Angel-person sir!

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Re: Other e-mail - I'm not disagreeing on any particular point.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign AHHHHHHH (runsincircles runsincircles runsincircles) Well, that's poo. I have no idea what I'll be doing, but I got home at 8:30 tonight. We're going though IT contractors like foul-tasting, incompetent, lazy candy, and I'm still not catching up. Hopefully I'll be available for at least a discussion even if we don't have a full session. If that happens. Ah, well, the vagaries of life.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I felt a compulsion to post on Wednesday, no matter how late. Need to be in the habit. Hopefully, by the time I get started they will have hired me a PFY and I won't be supporting 560 users anymore, and I can get home in time for GAME. I'm pretty sure Nolgy has a copy of Killian now, and everyone's e-mail address. If not, we'll get you a copy of Killian somehow, GA. I think he may have wanted to go over K one last time - that was literally the most-revised character I've ever had. Also, why not "sixer" or "6er" (which would inevitably become "ber")? Or Hexer? HexE (pronounced "Hexie")? Or Hix?

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign What is it about me and rules? My brain glazes over. I'll re-read the rule stuff later. But what I can tell you is that Killian is rigging a self-arming proximity fuse to a fuel rod and turning an auxiliary grav plate assembly into a railgun to fire it. I think we'll strike a good balance here, I like both the sciencey and artsy approaches. In reverse order, 1) Air and water are more a matter of energy than anything else when you reach the tech level we're talking about. It's not just CO2 scrubbers and filters, you can break down and reform anything below iron on the periodic table relatively easily. Food's probably cheaper to store than make. 2) You don't have to explain the fuel cells, you can just accept the packets of mega-energy. We can surely skip the Treknobabble. I like The different drive systems and the "pockets of commerce" idea. 3) Jump gates: very expensive and vulnerable as targets - one a few and very heavily defended. Long-range between pockets? 4) Smaller and denser systems might make "trade lanes" similar to Freelancer, a series of superconducting rings that amplify a carefully-balanced distortion wave that alters the mass/relativity relations and allows ships to accelerate and decelerate faster. Cheaper than jumpgates, slightly risky, shorter distance (could be used to get ships from a very heavily trafficked system out of the gravity well faster. (What was that I just said about Treknobabble?) 5) Tugs would be ideal for carrying ships out of the gravity well with a full fuel load. 6) Long-range ships would have "fuel drones" that could make fuel from raw materials en route. Small robotic ships that gather material - if a ship uses fusion, they put out massive "nets" and gather hydrogen, if a ship uses exotic matter fuels, the ship would probably travel near stellar nurseries and send out drones designed to collect samples and stuff. Okay, out of brain now, back later.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign 1) Awesome pic. I sense a new screensaver at work. 2) I may actually have this weekend off. As in all of it. Hope to spend a little time on The Game, as I have done so little so far. Holy noodle, I've worked something like 120 hours in the last two weeks. It's gonna be a nice paycheck, but everything else got left behind. Sorry I've been such a dweezle.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign One foot in front of the other. Too early to schedule a practice session / get-together / shindig?

Re: The Unending City Thief DS is one of my favorite settings.The mood is awesome, the design of the place is both creepy and fascinating. Myself I'd use the soundtrack as much as I could during the game, but then I get a lot of inspiration from music. It would be fun if you could share video to use FRAPS to grab a few set pieces, background conversations, etc. from the game to set the mood. It's a bit cheesy, but I get a kick out of them. I keep finding new ones I missed before. Had I plenty of time, I'd grab as many of them as I could and then use them as interludes. You could share them beforehand or put them on YouTube or what-have-you.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign There's one lady at work interested in joining a weekday evening game, but I promised her nothing. Well, nothing game-related. Depending on our schedules, we should consider a couple of "practice sessions" over the next month or so to get a grip on macros, test stuff, get some small percentage of random goofiness over with, etc. Also, Nolgy, let me know if you need any copies of any files I had related to the game. I save everything. Not that you don't know that. Cheerio and Happy Independence Day everyone!

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I think I smell the smelly smell of a team coming back together. Hey guys, good to be back. Life is still crazy, just much less crazy than when we left off in mid-combat. I don't see any problem with Dralasites, some aesthetic changes and one or two cultural quirks, rename and go. Lots of shapeshifters. What was the critter in Unreal II called? It was a parasitic intelligence inhabiting a sluglike muscular critter - which presents its own interesting possibilities and allows most or all Dralasite features.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign 1) I apologize for my almost complete absence. In addition to trying desperately to hold together the threads and bits and pieces in my spare time, my work has consumed me. I am the sole full-time site support technician for a facility of approximately 540 people. Industry standard is 110 per technician. BUT I'm told I may have a PFY to help out soon, so demands on my time are expected to become more reasonable. 2) While Shadowrun is my "happy place" system, continuing in Hero 5 seems most reasonable to me. 3) I'll take some time to "write up" the notes I have on Killian's background more thoroughly, if only just for fun. 4) Hey, everyone! How ya doin'?

Re: Black holes as high-tech power sources Well, if you'd accept amateurish pseudo-science, you could consider that black holes that spin rapidly can "jet" material and energy at their "poles," which could mean that if you can maintain or increase the spin rate of a singularity, you could, hypothetically, use it like a battery or fuel cell. If you could contain it and recover the energy. If. Also, you could use the gravitational energy of the singularity, were you sufficiently skilled at gravitational engineering, to create a "time-space pocket," in other words create a universe (which is easier than it sounds) that has different "rules" than ours. You might even be able to create a series of shell universes around the singularity, and structure the laws of physics in each to create a variety of opportunities for tapping energy, or even channeling the energy inside the singularity. Which is all more or less gobbledegook, but there you are. I don't know about micro-singularities, though. From what I understand, they require a lot of care and feeding or they collapse and disappear. Which is a nice fail-safe mode, I suppose.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Still down as last I heard. I'll check back in here in a bit. Edit: He's already rebooted everything and double-checked his drivers, etc. He said this has happened a few times this week. I've been saying for months how everything happens on Thursdays. A huge percentage of the last-minute job calls I get are for Thursdays.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Well, crap. As of about 5:30, James' internet connection dropped. He hasn't been able to get back on, but will keep trying. I'll update at about 6:00 and after if he gets the connection back. "Luckily" I'm home sick with the flu so I can post updates. Gaaaaah.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Up.