clarence

There's a new review of M-SPACE on RPG.net, written by Joakim Waern. He gives it five stars out of five : )

Read it here: https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/17/17010.phtml

Having read an early version of this I can warmly recommend it. It's creepy, takes a good deal of thinking, and brings some hard sci-fi goodness to Mythras.

Yes, I also wondered about the title. Laureline is in many ways driving the story in the comics, with Valerian mostly getting into trouble. Otherwise the trailer looks very promising. And as you say, what can go wrong when they have The Fifth Element on their CVs?

Back on topic, or slightly less OT at least, I read up on the Saga comic. It seems the creators, Vaughn & Staples, have declared they're not very interested in porting to other types of media. Not ruling it out completely, as they did initially though. 

Speaking of Valerian & Laureline, Luc Besson released the first trailer for the Valerian movie yesterday (based on the comic):

http://io9.gizmodo.com/luc-bessons-valerian-looks-like-all-your-scifi-dreams-c-1788781880

Excellent Paolo!

Valerian and Laureline would be an excellent choice. One of my favorite comics of all time. The basic premises may be too similar to Luther Arkwright though. Or why not Saga (the comic)?

(OT: I spent a couple of hours in a comic book store in Paris a few weeks ago. The number of high quality comics I had never heard of was staggering...) 

Here's a new review of M-SPACE posted by UbiquitousRat:

http://ubiquitousrat.net/?p=3685

Short version: He enjoyed the systems for alien creation, starship design and organizations. He disliked that the chapter on weapons and equipment was so short.

Follow the link above to get the whole picture! And while you're there, check out his enthustiastic play tests of Classic Fantasy and Mythic GM Emulator if you haven't already.

10 hours ago, Thot said:

So the simple logarithmic formula doesn't work here, I would say.

Aha, I see. Perhaps this kind of formula isn't as useful here either, as we have very few real world energy weapons. Still enjoyed your reasoning though : )

Interesting. How would it translate to (fictional) energy weapons?

Good start. To me, drawing starship plans is much more fun, but also slightly more difficult, than I imagined. Looking forward to see how your design develops.

Well, the tech in M-SPACE is well beyond near future - but it is shaped from a classic sci-fi standpoint, ie. before computers, smartphones and networks became ubiquitous. So, the short answer is no, it doesn't really cover near future high tech. But it's quite simple to update the gear list to work for that. Otherwise, River of Heaven is closer to the tech seen in for example "The Expanse".

Obviously I read too much tech news. My impression was that AIs already had solved automated translation - in the coffee breaks between self-driving cars and image recognition...

The first reviews of M-SPACE have started to appear, and here’s one on the Spanish site Mundos Inconclusos:

http://mundos-inconclusos.blogspot.se/2016/10/m-space.html?m=1

If you, like me, don’t read Spanish, try Google Translate to get the big picture.

A short quote: "A combination of the D100 system and classic science fiction. Thoroughly recommendable. Hopefully M-Space will inspire the emergence of more publications by third parties for Mythras. With the level of this game, I welcome it."

I’m actually surprised the translation between Spanish and English isn’t working better. Drop me a line if you know of a more accurate tool than Google! 

Lots of good questions there Belgath. And good reflections g33k. Designing aliens can be tricky. To come up with interesting results, you need to shortcircuit your creativity a bit. Ask questions, apply some randomness, and accepting apparent contradictions is a good start. I think the system in M-SPACE provides a backbone to avoid too human-centric results, but it's not a replacement for creativity. 

What I would add to the questions in the first post, is one or several major conflicts. Just like humanity seems to struggle with similar issues throughout its history, other (intelligent) species will probably do the same. It's also a good way to make a species less homogenous and to include some scenario hooks at its core. 

It's just for Initiative. It used to affect Pilot skill too, but I found that unnecessary with the system for dynamic Initiative (ie. changing Initiative depending on who won the previous roll).

Engine and Maneuver is completely separate. Most of the time I start with the same number of modules to simplify the process, and then make small adjustments, but that's just me. 

Don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions. Good luck with the pitch. 

The updated character sheet is now available on our webpage.

Sorry for the confusion.

Evade/Dodge: It should be Evade everywhere. 

Medicine: I'm adding that to the character sheet on our webpage. The new version will be uploaded later today.

Unarmed: As TrippyHippy says, it's in the combat box on page 2 of the character sheet.

Pilot skill: This is a professional skill and it just ended up in the wrong place on page 24.

Acting: Again, as TrippyHippy states, all professional skills must be picked to start at STAT+STAT or STAT x2. Otherwise they remain at zero.

Regarding the starship design rules, I would say they are pretty straightforward. But for Engines and Maneuvering, and their connection to the stats Speed and Handling, you need to bring out the calculator. There´s a detailed walkthrough you can download from our webpage (www.frostbytebooks.com) that might clear things up a bit.

The basic concept is that every thruster module, both Engines and Maneuver, has an efficiency called Thrust Rating (TR). For  example, for a very simple shuttle with 10 Modules (let's say 2 Cockpit Modules, 8 Passenger Modules) we try adding 2 Engine and 2 Maneuver modules. The new ship total is 10+2+2=14 modules, that is Size 14

Starting with an Engine TR of 70: 70x2=140 as the total TR for the Engine. Divide that with the total number of ship modules: 140/14=10. Resulting in Speed 10.

The calculation for Maneuver is the same here, resulting in a Handling of 10.

Does that make things clearer?

Congratulations! Good work Paolo. Really looking forward to this.

Sorry... I had actually seen that, but replied much later, when it had fallen out of my memory. Oh well : )

Thanks, both of you! And yes, Matthias Utomo is a really talented illustrator. I'm in discussions with him about doing the cover for the first M-SPACE scenario, so there's more to come. 

Aha, I see. I use the Habcat coordinates for the star maps in Odd Soot, but I kept distances as is. With the information we have today about habitable systems, that turned out quite good as I compressed everything into a classic 2d map (the way Traveller always did it).

On a side note, I still find it amazing the number of exoplanets and potentially habitable planets they keep finding. With a good candidate for life just four lightyears away (Proxima B), we really need to send some micro-probes soon...

Is that star map based on true 3d coordinates? That's what it looks like to me at least...

Good observations, both of you. I often use this simplified table for NPCs I have not prepared:

Low-level NPC: Stat 6, Skill 30%

Mid-Level NPC: Stat 11, Skill 50%

High-Level: Stat 16, Skill 75%

(That's the most relevant stat (like CHA in a social conflict) and skill (Influence for example)).

Or sometimes the sneaky "values three fourths of the opposing PC's".

Combining rolls and talking works very well. And for people not into acting it out, they will at least give a good description of what their character says, making the situation much more than a series of dice rolls.

Interesting idea. Reminded me that I should get Elder Godlike...