Merovign

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Not to self: convince GM to let me have Precise Sprayfire II.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign WRT The New Game, I'm planning on having driving, mechanical and electronics skills. I think we'll be pretty well-covered in that regard. I'll send the character when I've got a "working draft," it's been slow going and I've concentrated mostly on character history and less so on getting the numbers / math done. Nolgy just lent me the Ultimate Martial Artist. Heh. Heh. Heh.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Schweet. Whichever's easier for you, and thanks!

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign In my usual catching-up-not-keeping-up kind of way, regarding the AI, I much prefer the AI from Andromeda. And not just because I can look at Lexa Doig all day long. I'm on-line now and crossing my eyes liberally at MapTools, BTW.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign 1) That's Terrie - not much signal, but the signal-to-noise ratio is incredible! 2) Sure, I plan and execute (in concert with the daring Marine RP) the first two-man takeover of a Yazarian battleship in 30 seconds or less, and you go and push the BRS on the Red Queen! Sure, call me a cynic. I've known this GM for decades, I've seen what he can do!

Re: Shooter, aka gunbunny, Archetypes Just make sure Father Longfellow gets his St. Gabriel Possenti medal (patron saint of handgunners - the medal is given to people who defend others using marksmanship). St. Gabriel Possenti, the Savior of Isola Hard Boiled was the starting point for a lot of people. My characters tend to be based on motivations rather than game roles or loadout, so I'd think more in terms like: The Brooding Avenger (The Punisher) The Hard-Boiled Cop (Hard Boiled, of course) The Professional ( The, uh, Professional? Also The Long Kiss Goodnight for a twist...) The Soldier ( Soldier ) You get the idea...

Re: Some spaceships for ya Oh, and for steampunky worlds: Classic-Space LEGO: Concept Art : Steam I just thought this one was cool - lots of artwork there (not lego models, actual sketches / artwork)...

Re: Some spaceships for ya And there's a lot of talent on the boards as well (not to blow my own horn)... http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1385690&posted=1#post1385690 A couple of 3D craft done by board-members on the Gemini Ascendant thread...

Re: Some spaceships for ya Check out: http://outalance.battleclinic.com/index.php For a lot of images, semi-statted ships, etc. Also: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/ For a lot of images of models, small and very, very large. And, for the very, very patient: http://www.hlj.com/top/Sci There are a lot of images of cool obscure anime stuff there, but there's no real usable index, so you have to go through the subject list one, by one, by one...

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I'm also working on the destroyer, but no reason we can't all have fun.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Here (just before game-time) are a few preliminary shots of the fighters docked on the destroyer Washington. The fighter is designated SSF-171 (nickname TBD) and the pics are a dual-cockpit version (and unfinished) - the standard version has a weapons pod in place of one of the cockpit pylons. There will be a few more detail changes and texturing, of course, but Out Of Time...

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Heh. I was called up at 4:30 to return to a job site I did the network rack and servers for yesterday because someone came in this morning and jacked up all my cable management. It's Coincidence Day. At least I get paid for this one... I'm glad James is getting to spend time with his family, though, that's more than worth a missed game session.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign LaSt PoSsIbLe SeCoNd NoTiCe; My work is all screwed up. One boss didn't give me any work today or tomorrow (oh no!), the other decides I need to be in Oakland tomorrow early (also oh no!). I found out about Oakland at about 4:15 pm today. I have no idea when I'll be back in town - but last time we were back in time for Rush Hour so I might be online at 6pm. It's all down to luck now. It's a one-day trip, I'm just not sure I'll be back in time to start at 6... To paraphrase the Protoss Archon: "Work in Chaos."

Re: Need Book Recommendations Spencer - I got started on McCollum with Antares Dawn (then the rest of the series). It's a "Jolly Good Wheeze" to put it a certain way. I'd call it good solid sci-fi with a definite adventure/pulp angle - kind of positive but not chirpy. Made me happy. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/michael-mccollum/ As to Heinlein, I have mixed feelings about that. A lot of adult themes, and since the OP brought that subject up I'm guessing it's important. I also have mixed feelings about Heinlein because I read John Steakley's Armor before I read Starship Troopers, and you can guess how disappointed I was with ST at that point. Armor's a bit on the adult side, too, but any warfic is going to be. Bester and Gaimon are good. Pournelle and Niven, also carefully selected. Ursula K. LeGuin is actually a great writer, but her male readers have been known to suffer from estrogen poisoning and develop breasts and have periods. Best to follow her books with a few Soldier of Fortune magazines to even things out. Check bookstores for old "Sci-Fi Annuals" anthologies - many of them are absolutely terrific.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I think Starwolf has exceeded my level of medical competence. With all the medicine interactions and treatments, I would be an idiot to offer anything other than sympathy and a few tidbits here or there. I have a fair amount of information on general metabolic issues (because that's what I've dealt with for years) as well as Apnea and autoimmune intolerances (as opposed to allergies). But with 8+ prescription meds, I couldn't begin to work out the med interactions, even if I knew what they all were. There are some surgical solutions for OSA (obstructive sleep apnea), but there's some wobble room on my tests suggesting I have both OSA and CSA (Central Sleep Apnea). The difference is OSA is - naturally - because of obstuctions and CSA is dictated by the central nervous system - and no one has any idea what the mechanism is, AFAIK. I have my own peculiar developing ideas on diet, but so does everyone else, and some of them are pretty darned scary. A blood allergy test would make a lot of sense if you haven't had a comprehensive one. Do you have a good "pro" level glucose meter? The "Walgreen Specials" can be off by 30-60 points. Also remember I'm Pretender to the Throne of the King of the Research Junkies, so if nothing else maybe I can help find information that you've been having a hard time finding. Bestest of Luckets! Hope Lunesta works out for you if you try it - I assume you've tried Ambien? One of the Littlest-discussed annoying facts about medicine is that people react differently to different meds - and even differently depending on their condition. That's one reason for the "shotgun" approach with meds - while basic chemistry is the same the world over, the human body is awfully complex and can do amazing things with those chemicals, sometimes unexpectedly.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Starwolf: You may have to talk to a doctor about that. Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes? What treatment are you undergoing? There's a pretty well-documented connection between Diabetes and sleep disorders ( http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/515398 for example ). Sounds like all the other symptoms are pretty consistent with the Diabetes. If the sleep problem is Apnea, it's treatable (annoyingly, with variable success). The RLS is also highly correlated with Diabetes, apparently. Oh, and I'm not a doctor. I don't even play one on the Internet. Ghost Angel: I tried to go without sleep when I was a kid because I thought it was wasteful. Now I wish I got more sleep. I have a love-hate relationship with sleep, because I need it bad but I get beat up doing it (Apnea+related stuff).

Re: Inspiration: One-storey skyscraper Actually, I'd say there's a huge raft of problems with the design, even with elevators, but since it's fantasy anyway I figure it's good for a "laugh!" It would be nice for stories, CGI work, movies, animations, games.... Imagine the car chase into that building! 12 miles to the roof, through offices! Bicycles would be an obvious transportation aid, though when people talk about disabilities they assume wheelchairs - there are many other conditions. I think between the ADA, lawyers in general, and building codes, we won't see offices like this - except in games, film, art... at least for a while. I imagine some useful smaller scale versions could come about, several stories or even 2 or 3...

Re: Square Nebula Since we're talking Sci-fi a lot here, what could that be, in a sci-fi world? A beacon? Navigational marker? Maybe it's a magnetic lens and we're seeing it slightly off-angle, like it's aimed as a trade gate at a system near us? Maybe it's a distress call, some massive machine-mind stellar engineering vessel is trapped near there and can't move, so they've modified the nebula to signal for help? Maybe it's art?

Re: Need Book Recommendations Check out used bookstores for older SciFi - the plots tend to be more linear and there's often less objectionable material. Also less abstract, on average. Also lots of positive role models, relatively speaking - less feet of clay. I always thought Poul Anderson was good for the Younguns (when I was a Youngun, at least), and Michael McCollum (I went completely nuts over the Antares series when I was a lad). If he's a fan of a particular TV series, there are often books about non-series events in those universes - some are crap, but some of the authors are quite good and include some famous names. They tend to follow the standards of the show, for obvious reasons, and are generally in the "cheapie" section of the bookstore.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign We need to have a conversation about sleep sometime. The solution totally depends on the cause - and that can be a PITA to determine without lots of expensive tests. I've researched sleep issues to death, however, as I have Apnea. And I'm a research junkie. Starwolf - do you have any other ongoing conditions, other than insomnia and RLS?

Re: Andromeda Ascendent Write-up Check out: http://www.saveandromeda.com/allsystems/ It obviously won't give you HERO stats, but it has a lot of info. You just have to decide how detailed you want to be. Statting a ship made to run with over 4000 crew and manufacture its own weapons, fighter drones, etc... it's like a medium-sized city, in wartime. Nice hobby if you enjoy it, though.

Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Once again, I have derailed the thread as we know it.

Re: Predictions for the year 2000 It's always fun to play with alternative histories - and there are plenty of them out there to play with. You could have a really fun campaign (or at least fun designing one) based on some of these "future lists" from the past, World's Fair predictions, alternate history books, etc. Interestingly enough, regarding fast food, they had "burger joints" in ancient Greece, where they served fresh-cooked hamburgers (with pine nuts!) on buns to passers-by. Some of these predictions came true, and it's an interesting intellectual exercise to figure out why the ones that didn't, didn't. Some of them are obviously physics, some obviously economics, some human nature. But it's always fun to think about "worlds of tomorrow!" It's no great surprise that a circa-1900 list was of a highly ordered world, Victorian or late 40s-50s worlds tended to be optimistic and highly technically-based, and 60s predictions more pessimistic. Oh, and the 70s. Buck Rogers, need I say more? Each and every predicted future could be a campaign, a strange world visited in a campaign, etc. You could do a "Star-Trek"-style "Strange New World of The Week" campaign for quite a while based on nothing but predictions of the future world from our own history.