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clarence

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Everything posted by clarence

  1. clarence
    Oh, that's an unexpected turn of events! And really a nod towards Sverre (Trifletraxor) for maintaining a great forum. Congratulations Sverre, well done! This will indeed bring some changes...
  2. clarence
    I like the reasoning behind that. But I also think you are missing one very basic driving force for humanity: Curiosity and the resulting drive to explore. I'm thinking about what will happen once we have a good enough space-based telescope (or long range probe) to give us photos of another Earth-like planet. Once we know it is there, can we really stop ourselves from going there? Regardless of the cost and the time it will take? Even if only the construction of the ship will take fifty (or a hundred) years, and countless resources and man hours, I think we eventually will want to see it with our own eyes. Explore it. The James Webb telescope scheduled for 2016 (or is it 2017?) is not that telescope, I think. It will give us much more information about exoplanets, but not a photo of a blue-green sphere. That will at best be with the next generation of telescopes. A fast probe, on the other hand, will take at least 130 years to get there (unless we find even more powerful engines) and so far we're not really in a position where we can build them. Looking forward to reading the thread on RPG.net!
  3. clarence
    Some very good info there! Thanks Paolo and Simon. You did a good job : )
  4. clarence
    I will be there : )
  5. clarence
    Yes, I've emailed a bit with Jeff. But no final word on licensing or BRPE yet, so I'm not changing anything until I know more. Let's hope for a statement soon : )
  6. clarence
    From the above I would say Chaosium is making a smart move rules-wise: They leave the BGB to the tinkers and (hopefully) make a slim set of basic rules available for licensees. Handing over reasonably sized book, focused both in content and graphically (CoC, Mythic Iceland and eventually BRP Space), will be much more likely to happen. I think your analysis is sound. So, have anyone heard rumors about when we can expect BRPE to be out? Jason said in another thread he had read an early manuscript… (yes, I asked Chaosium but haven't got a reply yet).
  7. clarence
    Yes, I agree. The reason it's coming up here and now is because the conditions have changed considerably. BRP Starships used to be a small book being used together with a quite extensive rulebook. It didn't even have a chapter on characters until recently. Now it's going to be a free standing game in 200 pages. This outcome had never crossed my mind until a couple of weeks ago. I guess it just takes a while for me to get used to. Thanks for making it a bit clearer to me.
  8. clarence
    Thanks, both of you! I think it makes sense to integrate BRPE as much as possible. It gives a much more polished impression, and probably makes it easier to use the book in play too. If Chaosium makes it easy to use BRPE in this way, I think it's the way to go for BRP Space. The more I think of it, as most of the chapters are pretty self-contained rules wise, it boils down to integrating the chapters on characters, while Combat will be added as a new chapter. This brings me to another interesting question: How to order the chapters. Generally in RPGs, unless it's a scenario/campaign, the chapter on characters comes first. Both in BRP Space and in a sci-fi campaign I'm writing at the moment, I have instead put the most prominent feature first. In BRP Space it's starships, in my campaign it's alien descriptions. How do you feel/think about this? Is it just dumb to deviate from the classic structure? Or is it a good thing to focus on what's unique?
  9. clarence
    So far Chaosium is my first choice regarding licensing. Going with Revolution d100 is very tempting, as I'm very impressed with it so far, but I think it will take a bit of getting used to. A later update will hopefully include guidelines for using them together. With Chaosium, BRP Essentials will be the rules to include. At 32 pages I don't think they will differ much from traditional BRP. But, as someone pointed out, the final decision about licensing and what can be included is in Chaosium's hands. I'm currently in contact with Jeff about these questions. So far, a majority here wants a book with all the rules included. That's my own preference too. Exactly how to do it seems a more open affair. I guess I'm worried the book will look cheap if I just copy the BRPE and paste it into BRP Space... I wonder how they will do it in Mythic Iceland - integrate it or keep setting and basic rules separate?
  10. clarence
    With the news that BGB is being set aside in favor of a much more compact BRP Essentials based on RQ6, I've been pondering how BRP Space should encompass these changes. Here are some of my thoughts so far, though crippled a little by the lack of information about new licensing policies and the actual content of the rules. The easiest way would be to just make a minimum of necessary changes in BRP Space and refer readers to the PDF of BRP Essentials. A quite tempting solution, but it feels a bit like a missed opportunity to make the book self-contained. A step up from this solution is to add BRPE, as is, in the beginning (or end) of the book and just make the absolute necessary changes. The book will be a complete game, without setting, but with some possible quirks relating to professions appearing in two different places for example. A third way is to actually integrate the two books. Mostly I think it will consist of combining the BRP Space chapter Characters with the chapter on character creation in BRPE. Personal combat I guess will be a completely new chapter, and probably some other stuff need to be added here and there throughout the book. A lot more work, but also a much more elegant end product. Either way it will add 30-40 pages to the book, thus ending up at around 200 pages. What do you prefer? Should it be a seamless integration or a core with separate sci-fi rules? It's also worth pointing out that nothing has been revealed yet about when BRPE will be released, so it's hard to predict when the final version of BRP Space will be available. Can we hope for BRPE to be out in time for christmas?
  11. clarence
    I have started a thread over at RPG.net about Revolution and mentioned Paolo might show up to answer questions. My humble suggestion is that we all help out to keep that thread as active as possible : )
  12. clarence
    Thank you both for your reports! Very appreciated. So, BRP Essentials will be based on RQ6 - you're sure about that Sverre?
  13. clarence
    LOL. Yes, rollspel.nu is the correct address! Thanks Hans.
  14. clarence
    I read the new post on conflicts with a big smile on my face Paolo! A few weeks ago I expanded my own system for social conflicts into something very similar. When I looked at my writing, I thought: "This might be what Revolution will be like. I'll wait and see what Paolo's come up with..." I think it's a brilliant move to have, in essence, all characteristics as "hit points" for different types of conflicts. It opens up a range of possibilities for creative playing and gives renewed meaning to the characteristics. I can't wait to playtest this! In my system it also made picking a "hit point" value for static opposition very easy: Normal difficulty 11, Easy 6-ish, Hard 16-ish. Very quick.
  15. clarence
    Excellent work. I might find some use for this in a BRP Space campaign I'm working on at the moment...
  16. clarence
    Yes, that is how I think of them too. And the more you strip away from them, the more similar they get. At 30+ pages I believe it might even be hard to tell them apart; or if they took the best parts from each and found a middle road.
  17. clarence
    I'll admit that it's very tempting to write for Revolution. I'm very curious about the conflict resolution system and I think it could really add some interesting new dimensions to BRP. I will look out for the new thread in Hype Machine tomorrow! Oh, and I posted a blurb about the crowd-funding at rollspel.se, the biggest rpg site here in Sweden. Let's hope it attracts a couple of BRP heads.
  18. clarence
    I'm in too : ) Very much looking forward to this. Good work, all three of you. BTW: What's the link for the thread on rpg.net? I just couldn't find it...
  19. clarence
    Yes, this is very much BRP! And it is THE roleplaying game in Sweden, much more popular than Dungeons & Dragons have ever been here. I pulled down my Drakar och Demoner box from 1984, essentially the same version they are relaunching now, and at 68 pages they have both monsters (12 pages), general advice (14 pages) and magic (9 pages)! We're awfully close to the page count of BRP Essentials in other words. Does it work? Very much so. It was the only game I played for several years. In 1987, when they switched to d20s with the Expert box, I had taken the RQ route instead for more detailed rules.
  20. clarence
    A slimmer rulebook sounds good, though 32 pages seems a bit too crammed for my taste. Will supplements without full rules be possible? I guess it boils down to the amount of fluff, as somebody already mentioned, but it will be a bit more challenging. In my eyes, it makes Revolution more tempting to write for, at least before we know what BRP Essentials will contain. This move kind of makes BGB a reference tome for writers & tinkers...
  21. clarence
    How long is the spine; how many decks? It sounds like it must be enormous, if each biosphere is 50 miles... I've been trying to figure out the simplest way to draw deckplans. As long as the outer shape of the ship is relatively basic I think it's quite manageble. Everywhere I read, two tools keep cropping up: CAD programs and Adobe Illustrator (or similar vector programs). If you don't want to do it by hand of course. Setting up some re-usable parts seems the way to go, like cubicles, hangars, sick bay and so on, and then just drag and drop them. I suppose SketchUp could work too, but doing them in 3d might make the job considerably more difficult. Old deckplans for (sea-going) ships are quite good as reference!
  22. clarence
    As many of the uncertainties as possible would need to be ironed out by probes long before the colonists arrive; or even better before they start their journey. It will be a waiting game though: 130 years for a probe to go to Alpha Centauri. Transferring data back to Earth would be another 4 years or so, assuming light speed communication (laser?). A lot can be gleaned from orbit of course, but I doubt anyone would spend such enormous amounts of money to go there unless the probe has actually landed. Getting detailed atmospheric data, soil samples, a bacterial & virologic analysis and a more general chemical data set I think will be needed to really convince people it's worth going there in person. Even more information can be gained if another probe or two are sent halfway during the journey. Perhaps even a future version of Curiosity driving around would be possible, detailing flora, fauna, mapping out good locations etcetera.
  23. clarence
    Regarding food, I think near-future cultivation techniques will lessen the risk of food shortages. There are some interesting large scale tests with growing vegetables both underground and in air-filled greenhouses just below the surface of the sea. While this might not be functional in all cases, I would say that with a controlled atmosphere (inflatable greenhouses) loosing a crop will not be as likely. Food production will rely more on "industrial" cultivation and less on farmers ploughing. At least for a start. But, as Ethereal points out, it also depends on how well organized and funded the expedition is. About landing the behemoth or not, I think the main benefit of putting it down is to be able to re-use all materials and tech. Feed a few super 3d printers with all that metal and the colonists will have all the machinery they need for a while. Housing can hopefully be built with local materials, packed soil if all else fails.
  24. clarence
    Yes, I counted them as colonists, just with their hibernation tanks a bit easier to get in and out of perhaps. Is 10 enough do you think? Or 20, so if a few are lost during the mission there would still be enough crew members to handle things? I guess those will be the characters? Putting together a nice deckplan is probably a bit more time consuming. Some thoughts on the overall layout: I suppose cargo holds and sleeper chambers could be vast halls with a minimum of leftover space for repairs; maybe put the sleepers in the ship's core for maximum protection? Engines at the rear for simplicity, and the relatively tiny crew areas plus AI in front. Turbolift shafts every 500 meters, with emergency stairs/ladders along the inside of the hull every 250 meters. Oh, and a bunch of airlocks for hull repairs of course! Perhaps an EVA or two, as in 2001?
  25. clarence
    Ok, this is what I came up with in BRP Space: Sleeper Ship 2000 colonists: 2000 Modules (Using the module requirements for an autodoc) Cargo: 8000 Modules (4 tons per colonist) 10 crew (x4 for cubicles): 40 Modules Open space (10 people, roomy): 20 Modules Bridge (10 people): 10 Modules Computer/AI: 5 Modules Self-repair: 80 Modules Engines (TR 100): 400 Modules (EM Drive plus 400 MWe power plant, nuclear or fusion) Maneuver (TR 100): 400 Modules SPEED 4HANDLING 4SIZE RATING 15 (11 000 Modules) Hit points: 11 000Shields: -Weapons: -Armor: -Hyperspace: -Streamlining: Yes Length: 1500-2500 m (4 decks, 2500 modules per deck. 0.7 decks with frozen colonists, 3 decks cargo, 0.3 decks with engines, small additions for crew area). Height: 20 m Fusion reactor reference: http://news.mit.edu/2015/small-modular-efficient-fusion-plant-0810 (Initially I found it ridiculous with s ship of this length, but with present day aircraft carrier ships being over 300 meters it might even be too small).
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