clarence

Haha, well, I realized that reading about distant cultures, whether backward or forward in time, is surprisingly similar. Many historical cultures are so different from our that they just as well could have been on a different planet. Or even alien. Add technology to that and it can get quite interesting : )

While I do think it would be a cool subject for a book, I don't believe I'm the person to write it. Even though I have spent most of my life reading sci-fi, it feels like I have only scratched the surface. My method these days is to skip sci-fi and read New Scientist and history books at the same time : )

No problem Heath! I'm just happy to help. Just a note: the rules for Tasks in Mythras and Extended Conflicts in M-SPACE are not related. They can be used in similar situations, but work slightly different.

1. Only characteristics for Conflict Pools. Skills are used like 'weapons' to afflict damage to the Pools. 2. Yes, Pools heal like hit points, only a bit faster. A lowered Pool will not lower correlated skills though. (A Pool reduced to half will result in a skill penalty however, but that's something else). 3. Yes, that's exactly how I would do it : )

Ok, I'm not sure I fully understand the situation, but I'll give it a try. And remember, stacking several conflicts can be fun, but it's quite taxing on the characters. Compare it to running several fights in quick succession. Approaching the site with the ship: To avoid depleteing the pilot's Conflict Pools, I would make this a simple (hidden) skill roll or even assume it succeeds bar a fumbled roll. You do want them to arrive at the site after all. I would run the following two conflicts simultanously. One round for the pilot vs. the guards, then one round cutting the window open. And so on. Hovering the ship above the site without being detected and have the person dangling below in the right spot: Conflict Pool: DEX x2 Skill: Pilot Damage: 1d6 I would use the average INT x2 of the guards as the opposing Pool, with average Perception as the active skill. The reason for doubling the Pools, is that this Conflict contains the window-cutting. Preferrably, the guard's Pools shouldn't reach zero too quickly, as it will take away some of the challenge. Now, if the Pilot's Pool reaches zero first the guards have detected the ship and they start shooting. Within 2-3 rounds they will notice the person tethered to the ship and fire at him/her as well (and a backup PC sniper would be nice if this happens). (To increase the difficulty, every time the pilot's Pool is lowered the person cutting the bars will be unable to make a skill roll. A fumbled Pilot roll has the window-cutter take 1d4 hit point damage, as he's being slammed into the wall). Cutting the barred window while dangling under a ship: Conflict Pool: DEX Skill: Athletics or xx Damage: 1d6 The opposing force here is the sturdiness of the bars. How difficult do you want it to be? For a normal difficulty, use a Pool of 11 and a "skill" of 50% (in this case, these values are an abstract representation of the bar's security level, including how well they were installed). For every successful roll, one bar is removed. The trick is to reduce the window's Pool to zero before the pilot's Pool reaches zero. As the last bar is removed it takes two more rounds to grab the person inside the room and raise them to the ship. Or they can be left dangling during the following pursue : ) Race from the site: Normally, I use DEX as a Conflict Pool for races. Here, the pilot's DEX Pool is already lowered (or at zero) due to the previous conflict. So I would go for the average of INT+POW instead (unless you want the pilot in a really bad situation - use DEX in that case). Conflict Pool: INT+POW/2 Skill: Pilot Damage: 1d6 The followers use the same. I would tie the number of followers to how good the guards performed in the first Conflict. If their Pool ended up at zero they are obviously not very active/skilled, and there will be low numbers of followers. Perhaps one follower per two Pool points they had left? Every follower that reaches zero is out of the race (crashes or gives up). If everyone but the PC is at zero, the character's ship gets away. If the PCs Pool reaches zero, any remaining followers have caught up. This could mean a number of things: they are in firing range, the PC ship is forced to land, an even stronger force arrives (the sheriff?) and so on. This entirely depends on the scenario.

Here's a link to Rust's waterworld careers - several with Boating and at least one with Seamanship:

Splendid : ) There's a sci-fi book with a world like that in the supporting cast. Just can't remember which one... Could it be by Iain M Banks?

I also think it's good to have both. Roleplaying social conflicts when it works, using dice when needed. In M-SPACE, I usually suggest a combination. You play it out to the degree you're comfortable with, using dice to determine the actual effect. This way, the extroverts don't take over and win all the time. Very much looking forward to the mechanics you are working on Lawrence : ) I'm also a bit envious of Alex. I wish I also could dream up new rules now and then. It sounds very efficient.

This is what a purely mathematical route provides: (-25x3)+(-10x4)=-115 -115/7=-16.4 So, let's round it down to -15%. But as the heavy armour pieces cover the core of the body I would say -20% is more realistic.

I'm happy to hear that. And don't forget, if you've got the print version, the PDF is free.

Looking forward to this : )

That would be Rust I believe. He did a thorough presentation of a waterworld setting some time ago. I can't remember if any careers were included though.

It's not intentional in the way 'no one can have these skills to start with'. They just didn't fit any of the cultures or careers. That being said, I'm quite generous regarding what the bonus skill points can be used for. If players have a good reason for adding another professional skill I will often let them do that. And you can of course add new careers including any missing skills or skill combinations if you want to.

That sounds interesting : ) I haven't read your original supplement yet but I will give it a shot later this week. Do you have a plan for how the Pelacur and Kubotaur will enter the M-SPACE universe?

Very cool Heath : ) Really handy for Special Effects in starship combat.

As Paolo says, M-SPACE was originally written for BRP. Starships, vehicles and alien design only saw very small changes in the transition to Mythras. I'm sure you can use character creation and combat from almost any BRP clone without trouble. Compatibility is one of the good things with the BRP family of games.

Good read. Looking forward to seeing more.

This is on top of my reading list now : )

Good read : )

BTW, don't forget to write reviews for REFLUX on Lulu and DTRPG! It really helps.

Thanks, signature updated : )

Six pre-generated characters are now available for download on the FrostByte webpage! Easy to use with REFLUX, if you want to get started quickly. Download here (in the Download section): www.frostbytebooks.com - Power Level: Beginners - Stats for Simplified Combat, to suit new players - Two Passions are provided for each character, with a third to be added by the player - All characters share a common background in the Keren System, not far from Anobe, the starting point in the REFLUX scenario. - Gender-neutral names - 10 portrait images (5 male, 5 female). Mix and match freely with the character sheets

Good review! Congratulations.

(I have updated my view of Combat Styles recently. Using styles for weapon categories (for example Pistols or Rifles as suggested in the rules) work fine but I find the method below to be easier to handle). The way I see it, Combat Styles is a way to simplify weapon skills but also to reflect the way characters have been trained in combat. A scout might have the Combat Style Scout Training (Blaster, Blaster Rifle, Unarmed), reflecting her battle training. A xeno-archeologist, on the other hand, might have Infrequent Self-Defense (Blaster), showcasing a more casual relation to violence. The number of weapons included in a style is up to the player and GM to agree upon. My rule of thumb is to let characters with professional training in combat/security include more weapons (around 4), while non-violent careers will have 1-2. But if a player has good reasons for a journalist to be a multi-weapon equilibrist, that's fine - the cultural packages allow for this. So far, I have not used traits much. But they are really just icing on the cake. A smuggler might have Street Fighter (Blaster, Dagger, Unarmed) with an added From the Hip trait to reflect her constant preparedness.

Nice character sheets and a very fine portrait. The starting point for the campaign sounds perfect. Is the planet (and star system) mostly a clean slate or are there any lifeforms to take into account?