assault

What happened to the Zeus that would turn into a cow & pick up chicks?

One of the classic cases is the Ancient Greek Hoplite. Most had some degree of training, although the amount of that could vary from Spartan to almost none.

Hoplite spears seem to have been longer and heavier than those used by most of the infantry used by the Persian Empire. Many of the latter used bows instead, of course, but there were plenty of spearmen.

9 hours ago, DShomshak said:

If you could ask an ancient Egyptian priest to reconcile all the different, conflicting versions of the gods, I suspect he'd say the Egyptian version of "Wut?" and give you a blank look.

So, Wut is the true sun god?

15 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Unless you're asking if they could all be "true" for a specific fantasy world, and if so, then how?

Yes, this is what I meant.

Something that has long bothered me: if the Sun is a Chariot, Boat or Beetle Pushing a Giant Flaming Ball of Dung, why are there so many Sun Gods?

Canada... that's the buffer zone between Reality and Chaos, isn't it?

Deer causes chaos after breaking into Melbourne home before becoming trapped

Deer are a feral species in Australia.

5 hours ago, tkdguy said:

Point buy is another issue. While folks who play HERO or GURPS prefer this method, people who play other games hate that method of character creation. I don't understand why, but they find it restrictive for some reason.

One of the issues with 5e D&D point buy is minmaxing.

You can put all your points into, say, Strength, Dexterity and Constitution and leave everything else at the base level. Obviously, the resulting muscle moron sucks in a sensibly DMed game, but you aren't supposed to do that.

Thinking: actually this could have been an issue in The Fantasy Trip too. Memo to self: build a bunch of Fantasy Hero characters that are one-sided combat monsters, and a leader that isn't an idiot.

Naturally, I like the D&D point buy system, even though the characters aren't all that compared to what you can create using other methods. I just hate dump stats for most character concepts.

52 minutes ago, Sundog said:

If by "sailing ship" you mean a square-rigged tall ship, by the time of those they could make a planed bottomed small craft fairly easily. Rather than launch from the ship, use a crane to lower a boat-bottomed ornithopter (basically a flying boat) over the side and let it take off under it's own power. Reverse the procedure for recovery.

 

Wrong kind of ship.

However, since ornithopters are technological anomalies, the option of flying boat/seaplane type builds for them are possible, and look like the most viable option from what people have suggested. The cranes involved are a bit unlikely though.

Ninja or not, there's nothing unlikely about him having come from the Australian colonies.

He might have travelled to California in pursuit of a bushranger. There were several cases of similar characters fleeing or being exiled from the Australian and New Zealand colonies. And once they are in California...

Australian Golden Age characters would sometimes move to the US too.

3 hours ago, Scott Ruggels said:

There have been  two RPG systems that had developed social and social combat systems, boit by designer P. Kidd , using very different mechanics. The Ties and Antipathies system from the Albedo SF game, and using the deuling cards in his later Lace & Steel game.

Pauli Kidd came out as trans some time ago, so "her" Lace & Steel game, even though she wrote it before coming out, and it has an older name on it.

She's also a Hero System fan.

10 hours ago, Old Man said:

And most importantly, whether they are African or European.

This bit is easy, since I am working with southeast Asian and Pacific island inspired vessels.

They're neither African nor European!

Roosting on the spars wouldn't be an option giving the sail rigs involved.

I wouldn't use the drone approach. I'd rather use birds you can talk to for that. Or humans that can take bird form.

Short version: no double discount.

The smaller vehicles would either get the 1/5 for being components of the larger one or be built as separate vehicles depending mainly on readability.

No double dipping.

I have no idea if that is strictly RAW, but it is compatible with the general approach used in the rules.

19 hours ago, GDShore said:

The "crab claw" is a rather primitive sail tig, in certain circumstances, very efficient. However it does not scale up. 

Yes, it might be better using one of the related rigs. Some were used on much bigger vessels.

Just for fun, All At Sea in the Dark Navy.

I'm not sure what this is about.

Looking back at this, I might have an issue about Planetary Romance.

And Michael Moorcock.

Could be worse 

I must say, that's lame.

The Dark Empire sneers 

I don't have as clear an image of the ornithopters.

I'm thinking that folding wings and floats are a good idea. That's fine: ducks are birds too.

Beyond that... I don't know.

Now I have finished work, I can go into more detail about the ships.

I'm more or less basing them on the Papuan Lakatoi design. These vessels were used in coastal trade along the south coast of New Guinea. There is evidence that they sometimes reached Australia.

They could carry more cargo than Polynesian outrigger canoes, but were less seaworthy, since they were basically a bunch of canoes lashed together and at risk of falling apart in heavy seas.

The cool part is that they were built with Stone Age (Neolithic) technology.

Magic allows them to be bigger and better of course.

They used "crab claw" sails, similar to those used by both the Polynesians and various cultures in South East Asia.

Landing would be nice too.

If it helps, the ships are basically catamaran hulled sailing canoes. Since they are held together by magic and duct tape, they can be of arbitrary size.

Today's dumb question: suppose you had ornithopters (aircraft that fly like birds), but were restricted to sailing ships on the surface. Ignore the why - it's fantasy weirdness.

Most of the space above the decks of your ships is covered by masts, sails and ropes. Your ornithopters have aircraft like wing spans.

How would you go about launching 'thopters from such a ship?

I have some ideas, but I would like some more.

The Great Net Book of Real Heroes still exists.

Older edition versions, mostly 4th, but still interesting and useful.

A bit late for Old Man.

1 hour ago, Opal said:

Typically "world with you in charge," seems like? 

Done poorly, yes.

Anything can be done poorly.

20 minutes ago, Opal said:

Imagine an even worse world and scare everybody with It?

True, but you still need some idea of what you want to change to.