McCoy

Re: When I Am the Benevolent Ruler....

...Benevolent Ruler. Not Evil Overlord.

Isn't that really for history to judge?

Re: What is the building in which a mason works called?

They call it an uncompleted building. Once they are completed' date=' he gets another commission, and starts a new building. :-)[/quote']

That was my thought.

Re: When I Am the Benevolent Ruler....

Wait Wait!! the Evil overlord kills everyone and the Benevolent Ruler dose also!!

 

Is this just a function of goverment?

 

Lord Ghee

Just as a gangrenous limb must be amputated, sometimes it may be necessary for someone to be permanently removed from the kingdom. This si not a step to be taken lightly and all alternatives must be considered first.

When I am the Benevolent Ruler, once it has been determined that a person must be euthanized for the good of the country, they will NOT be publicly/painfully executed "as a warning to others." If already in prison they will be pardoned, in all cases they will be offered positions in the government, treated like family, and showered with gifts. Sooner or later they will develop a minor illness, at which point I will order my personal physician to treat them. Treat them to a fatal overdose of opiates. Their happy and painless passing should preclude any curse with their final breath, their death by apparent natural causes should forestall any heirs seeking revenge, and public displays of my grief at their elaborate funeral would prevent them becoming a martyr for the rebellion.

Re: Orbital Mechanics and stuff: Check my understanding of spatial relations

The real planet Uranus has its rotation axis fixed in space' date=' but with a long orbital period (84 years) for extended times one pole is pointed sort of toward the Sun and the other pointed away; it alternates sunward poles, with episodes of "barrel roll" rotation in between. [/quote']

OK, I got that wrong.

 

The blue giant ... it isn't a binary as you are used to thinking of that. With a separation that wide (about a third of a parsec)' date=' the orbital period is immensely long (a couple of million years or more). [/quote']

I said 5 million, I got that right.

 

At 1 l-y (about a third of a parsec) that blue giant will have an apparent magnitude of about -10. This is not quite Full Moon brightness' date=' but it is within the range of brightness (and toward the brighter end, actually) that the Moon goes through over the course of its monthly phase cycle. It will still be a point source, however (that is, a star, not a disk).[/quote']

And i got that one right! Three-for-Two!

 

If you take that 14000 year period at face value' date=' with a total of 9 solar masses to the system, the orbital size would be about 1200 AU. And that would make the blue giant have an apparent magnitude of about -19, which is MUCH brighter than the Moon; in fact, closer to the Sun than the Full Moon in brightness. At that distance the eye could not tell it was a disk, and neither could Galileo's telescope, but Herschel's could, as it would appear comparable to (slightly larger in angular size than) Uranus.[/quote']

I said about a degree every 14000 years, or an orbital period of over 5 million years.

Re: Orbital Mechanics and stuff: Check my understanding of spatial relations

I read somewhere about a binary system where the smaller' date=' dwarf star is actually just trailing along behind the primary giant, not exactly orbiting at all.[/quote']

That's -- interesting.

 

So I was using that as a basis' date=' but again, it doesn't terribly matter at the distance involved, and, like us, the cultures on the planet have only really been around 10,000 years or so at best.[/quote']

Even if climate change isn't part of you storyline, there will be folklore of warmer and cooler times. If your "elves" are living to a thousand years old, they will be observing the changes in their lifetime. It's a throwaway detail, but can add depth to the worldbuilding if you chose to use it.

 

Likewise, if any of your cultures have astrologers, they would see the Bright Star moving slowly against the "fixed" stars a degree every 14000 years.

Re: Orbital Mechanics and stuff: Check my understanding of spatial relations

Yeah, at a light-year distant I don't even know if it really qualifies as a binary system. The orbital period of the system would be on the order of billions of years, I'd bet, assuming there was enough gravitational influence between the two at that distance.

 

Remember, Alpha Cenutari is four light-years away from the Sun, and we're not classified as a binary system with them (Isn't Centauri a trinary system? I forget, my last astronomy class was a loooooonng time ago).

The blue star probably masses more than Sol and the Centari system put together. Binaries can have a great separation, light years even, as long as there is enough mass that they are gravitationally connected.

With an average orbital radius of 1 light year, arbitrarily assuming Yellow and Blue add up to ten solar masses, I get Yellow orbits Blue every half million years [edit:Woops! make that every 5 million years!]. But with any eccentricity in Yellow's orbit, Blue might not affect the seasons but it would affect the ice ages.

Re: Orbital Mechanics and stuff: Check my understanding of spatial relations

the idea of two suns' date=' [/quote']

Um, check with Cancer, but I believe at a light year distance, the blue star is going to be a very, very bright star, no disk naked-eye visible. Might be a light bright enough to cast shadows, but I think less than a full moon.

Re: Orbital Mechanics and stuff: Check my understanding of spatial relations

The planet has a (likely impossible) rotational axis / orbit - the south pole of the planet always faces the sun, at about a 40 degree axial tilt. So, the south polar region never sees night, the north never sees the light of the closer sun. The planet wobbles a bit on its axis as it revolves around the host star, such that you have some variation in night / day in the middle latitudes, but not much.

 

And, YES, I know this is likely if not actually impossible using real physics.

Isn't that Uranus? South pole always points toward the sun?

Re: VPP Frequency?

I can totally see that' date=' but I'd usually build such a character with a moderate sized MP and a decent Power and/or Inventor Skill roll(s).[/quote']

Yes, could be built as a MP with new slots added with XP. But the MP approach doesn't allow for powers to be added "on the fly." IIRC Spidy once went up against Lava Man, was taking damage from LM's damage shield every time he punched him, whipped up some webbing boxing gloves. "Extra ED, only vs damage shield."

 

If the GM allows adding MP slots on the fly, then it's a moot point.

Re: VPP Frequency?

In the source material, seems like many characters have a VPP. That's how I would build, for example, Spiderman's web shooters. Most of the time he uses them for swinging, or as an entangle. But also has used them as a limited form of stretching to retrieve an otherwise out of reach object, or fired webbing into someone's eyes as a flash attack. Every once in a while will use them in a way he never has before, like the first time he made a parachute.

Building powers as a VPP encourages the player to think about their Sx and push the envelops in entertaining ways (IMHO).

Re: Kung Fu Hustle

You Missed Me/ Hit Me Harder - PD and possibly Nonresistant PD Damage Reduction

That seems to me to be the defining characteristic of the character. He has to be able to shrug off the average roll of your PC's best attack. They need to get extra dice from some technique (using a megaphone with Lion's Roar, the Buddah's Palm) to have a chance of taking him out.

Re: 7 deadly sins

But wouldn't the Dr. D link with Pride also apply to V'han? Afaik one of her core concepts is that she knows better how people should live then theyself do.

That's how I've always seen her, the Nanny State gone monstrous. "Nanny knows what's best, poppets, so be good boys and girls and do as you're told. It's for your own good, and you don't want Nanny to be cross now do you?"

Re: Looks more dangerous than he really is.

Maybe Striking Appearance' date=' where the striking thing is his apparent combat ability?[/quote']

That would work. Can't rep you yet.

Re: Looks more dangerous than he really is.

Reputation is more of a 'history"' date=' not a "first time encounter" [/quote']

I disagree, could be both.

 

Imagine pulling up to you local convenience store. In the parking lot there is a motorcycle, parked. Man you have never seen before is sitting on it, bearded, no helmet, full leathers, Glock on his hip. You've never seen him before. But the Rep for the class, "bikers," is going to inform your opinion about him.

 

Agree, it's a very limited Presence.

Re: Looks more dangerous than he really is.

I was thumbing through an old RQ module (Duck Tower) and one of the encounters is a chaotic with the ability to seem deadly in combat (90% about a 12CV by my guess). When the characters really fight him they discover that his CV is really a 3 (25%).

 

A general "look dangerous" is easy enough in the traditional "Lotsa PRE or a minor mind control build" but this is too specific for that. Maybe a small mental illusion?

I'd call it a Special Effect, but if you want to cost it out, how about Reputation?

Re: More space news!

Multiple planets around most stars in the Galaxy? Wouldn't that tend to blow up Drake's Equation a bit?

One of the factors in the equasion is the number of planets (or moons) per star where life is possible, next factor is on what percentage of these does life actually appear.

Attempting to draw a graph from one data point, I say our solar system has 4 life-potent worlds (Earth, Mars, Europa, and Titan), and life is known to have occurred on .25 of them.

Re: Boot Blade?

HKA with invisible power effect (first attack only)?

Re: Jokes

Two facts most people don't seem to know about that hot coffee incident:

 

1) The coffee served by McDonalds (in that area, at least) at that time was 40 degrees F hotter than standard - Enough to cause severe burns within seconds, rather than merely being painful.

2) The McDonalds lawyers were insufferably rude.

 

Common Sense is all well and good, but Facts are better.

3) The woman maimed by the hot coffee (her burns required surgery) got a fraction of the awarded settlement, the exact amount is the subject of a non-disclosure agreement.

Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?

There was also this device that "healed by transfering life force"' date=' but needed to kill the donator to cure terminal illnesses or very severe damage. Basically you use the Life of the executee to save another life.[/quote']

Or in Niven's books executed criminals were parted out to the organ banks, which lead to lowering the bar on capital crimes.

Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?

Not dying' date=' but not quite living either: a kind of Purgatory.[/quote']

So they are aware of the passage of time while in suspended animation?

 

I always heard it as they went to sleep, woke up, they haven't aged but a bunch of people they really weren't that attached to were now decades older or dead. "I missed my children's growing up!" Like they were going to be around, or even send an occasional support check, if they weren't in suspended animation.

Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?

There are quite a few ways that advanced societies deal with their lawbreakers' date=' including suspended animation, virtual jailing, and genetically engineering out the traits that led to said law breaking. What are some more examples?[/quote']

I have never understood how suspended animation is punishing the perp.

Re: More space news!

I just used my Basic Biology Schoolknowledge about the development of life:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life

 

It all begins with non-organic processes forming the building blocks of the first organisms. If the environment does not supports these or similar struktures, then life can't start on it's own.

And last I heard, we had not been able to replicate that process. We do not know the environment that DOES cause abiogeneisis, so it seems a little presumptuous to state categorically that a particular environment CAN NOT support abiogenesis.

You may be right, but I really believe you are assuming facts not in evidence.

Re: More space news!

I fear they need a environment a little bit closer to earth to develop first. they are pretty advanced/specialised bacteria and the environment might not even allow simply bacteria to form - so they can never develop to more complex ones.

If you can state that as a fact then I am absolutely in awe of your knowledge of biology. I would prefer to study a few more independent examples of abiogenesis and evolution before I offered an opinion.

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster

Needs a missile weapon. One of those rocket-propelled chainsaws with the five-shot magazine and optional burst fire mode would work fine.

Are Mind Flayers no longer psionic?

Re: Science: Particles seen moving at FTL speeds (CERN) (non-climate change thread)

Considering that this is the second error found in the time measurement' date=' I wouldn't get my hopes up. They will propably find a few more and the endresult will propably be "it's STL".[/quote']

FTL, STL, I just want the experiment repeated rather than "Found the error, case closed, moving on now."