clarence

I just found this neat crowdfunding campaign:

https://unbound.com/books/wonders-and-visions

Two sci-fi critics have collected book covers from the history of science fiction and are turning them into a book. 300-350 covers will be included, from all decades of sci-fi publishing.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. 

Good work. I have missed the Campaign Logger - what is it?

Affinity Publisher or Scribus are my best recommendations, so I'm not much of a help here. Although you might want to check out any of the web based alternatives to InDesign that exist, but they come with a monthly subscription too. Much lower than Adobe's of course, but still.

Rod's advice sounds very good. I usually go with 1d4 for most normal stuff like chairs, umbrellas and baseball bats. For sturdier objects made of wood or metal I use 1d6. Anything with a sharp edge might be best to compare with a traditional melee weapon and just downgrade damage a bit.

Good read!

The good thing about Mythras is that it's already quite gritty. Changing the sci-fi tone is really not that difficult.

Most of the difficulties with running hard sci-fi is the GMs knowledge of astronomy and astrophysics – or lack thereof. M-SPACE will not help much there I'm afraid, but if you can get hold of a book or game to get the basic facts right, the rules are quite adaptable. If you have a reasonable grip on hard sci-fi, A Gift From Shamash is a good start. It covers space walks, radiation and a few other handy rules. Highly recommended.

For starship combat, hard sci-fi often turns to long range conflicts of stealth and waiting. And sudden bursts of deadly violence. Unfortunately quite incomprehensible to many players and sometimes outright boring. On the other hand, hard sci-fi works fine without starship combat – it might feel even more realistic without it.

Sweet!

Very nice.

Yeah, reviews haven't been exactly glowing either. 

Yes, it looks very good : )

It looks very good! Looking forward to more photos : )

10 hours ago, Conrad said:

What most articles on terraforming Mars don't mention is the fact that you need a denser atmosphere than Earth's to block solar radiation that is harmful to living things.

Hmm, why does Mars need a denser atmosphere than Earth for protection? 

Yes, that would be cool.

Creepy Terminator-ish cover : )

Thanks for sharing Rod! 

Here are Laureline's stats finally. Let me know if you have any objections. I will post the final versions on FrostByte's webpage in a few days.

Laureline

STR 12
CON 13
SIZ 11
DEX 16
INT 17
POW 15
CHA 21

Action Points: 2
Damage Modifier: –
Experience Modifier: +2
Healing Rate: 3
Initiative Bonus: 17
Movement Rate: 6 m

Hit Points: 12
Power Points: 15
Luck Points: 3

Culture : Rural (Medieval France)
Career : Thief & Spatio-Temporal Agent

Combat Style: 
Thief (Medieval Longbow) 90%
STS Agent Training (Energy Weapons, Unarmed) 80%

Normal skills: Athletics 70%, Drive (Vehicles) 60%, Endurance60%, Evade 70%, First Aid 80%, Influence 100%, Insight 90%, Locale (Arelaune Forest) 90%, Perception 90%, Ride 80%, Stealth 70%, Willpower 90%

Professional skills: Astrogation70%, Courtesy 90%, Demolitions 70%, Knowledge (Alien Psychology) 90%, Knowledge (Animal Handling) 100%, Knowledge (Fashion) 80%, Knowledge (Galaxity Law) 60%, Mechanics 70%, Pilot (Spaceship) 70%, Research 90%, Science (Astronomy) 70%, Science (Time Travel) 70%, Seduction 90%, Sensors 70%, Survival (Temperate Forests) 90%, Track 80%

Traits: 
Interspecies Charm. Strangeness penalties do not apply when social skills are used on alien species.
Language Mastery. Knows hundreds of languages.

Passions: Love (Valerian) 90%, Loyalty (Galaxity) 60%*

*= Waning as the comics develops over the years.

Equipment: Blaster, Disintegrator Rifle (3d6, Range 30/100/300), Stunner (1d8 stun only, see M-SPACE p 190. Range 5/10/30), Ultra-Light body armour/vaccsuit (AP6), MedPak

No problem. I'll see what I can come up with. Do you mind if I borrow your characteristics?

I haven't seen the movie but my guess is you can enjoy it without having read the comic. That being said, the albums are well worth reading. They have aged surprisingly well and is up there with the greatest Franco-Belgian comics like Tintin and Asterix - but targeted more at an adultish audience (not because of nudity, but the slightly more complex stories and concepts). Not least, it's interesting to see how much it has influenced Star Wars. 

If you've got the chance to read a couple of the comic books before you see the movie, I would recommend it. You can dive in almost anywhere. There is a metaplot, so grab the early ones first, but the exact reading order isn't that important. Apart perhaps from 'The city of shifting waters' and 'The living weapons', I find them all very enjoyable. 

@Mugen Are you taking a shot at Laureline's skills?

1 hour ago, Raleel said:

I'm not sure how this is different  

Not much different, really : ) It's mostly a matter of taste and style, I suppose. To me, using a Trait signals that a character does not have actual training in all weapons, but has a knack for figuring them out on the fly.

Here's an updated version. Let me know what you think.

Valerian

STR 13
CON 15
SIZ 13
DEX 17
INT 14
POW 13
CHA 16

Action Points: 2
Damage Modifier: –
Experience Modifier: +1
Healing Rate: 3
Initiative Bonus: 16
Movement Rate: 6 m

Hit Points: 14
Power Points: 13
Luck Points: 3

Culture: Urban
Career: Spatio-Temporal Agent

Combat Style: 
STS Agent Training (Energy Weapons, Unarmed) 90%. Weapon Mastery Trait: Can use any personal weapon, regardless of Tech Level and culture, without skill penalties.

Normal Skills: 
Athletics 80%, Drive (Vehicle) 90%, Endurance 80%, Evade 90%, First Aid 70%, Perception 70%, Ride 80%, Stealth 70%, Willpower 100%

Professional Skills: 
Acrobatics 80%, Astrogation 70%, Demolitions 80%, Knowledge (Galaxity Law) 80%, Knowledge (Time Travel) 90%, Language 70%, Mechanics 70%, Medicine (Genetic Engineering) 90%*, Pilot (Spaceship) 80%, Pilot (Airplane) 100%, Research 80%, Sensors 70%, Science (Physics) 70%, Track 80%

*= Only in his own high-tech lab.

Traits: 

Language Mastery. Knows hundreds of languages.

10 hours ago, g33k said:

Ummm... does that leave out ANY weapons?  I'm not quite down with something that amounts to "Combat Style: Anything" (or even "... Almost Anything").

To be clear:  I have no problem with the concept, but as a "Combat Style" mechanic that is b0rked!  As you noted, that's a good thing for a "Traits" or similar mechanic ...

 

Good point. How about this:

Combat Style: STS Agent Training (Energy Weapons, Unarmed). Weapon Mastery Trait: Can use any personal weapon, regardless of Tech Level and culture, without skill penalties.

23 minutes ago, Raleel said:

Or just very broad weapon groups and piloting groups. then again, I have no experience with it really.

Yes, that would do it!

Combat Style: STS Agent Training (Firearms, Energy Weapons, Melee Weapons)

1 hour ago, Mugen said:

I originally put a 14 in DEX, but I thought it was not in line with Laureline's origins, and the fact she was a natural archer.

Sounds good!

I will be back tomorrow with a set of skills for Valerian.

2 hours ago, Mugen said:

Which Valerian are we statting ?

SIZ 12 seems a bit too much for Dane Dehaan, but not enough for the comic character, which deserve 13 or 14.

I would not give the comic Valerian such a high DEX either.

I'm thinking the comic book version, mostly because I haven't seen the movie yet. SIZ 13 sounds ok : ) 

Regarding the high DEX, it's partly an attempt to model his seemingly endless capacity for using new weapons and piloting strange vessels. So, either a high DEX or some kind of Traits – like Weapon Mastery (no penalties for using unfamiliar weapons) and Pilot Ace (can pilot anything).

I like your take on Laureline. I would probably have lowered STR, CON and DEX one step each, but YMMV.