rust

Using Flynn's Guide to Alien Creation, a very useful supplement for Mongoose Traveller, and determining the features of a typical Varunian creature mostly by random die rolls and occasionally by choice, the template finally looks like this: A warm blooded, cold resistant aquatic creature, life bearing with two genders and the ability to change gender during hibernation, usually of medium size, with an armoured radially symmetric body with six limbs, armed with claws, swimming at average speed, almost blind but able to sense its environment through sound and vibrations. The flyers of the family of species use lighter than air methods to fly. This will be the dominant family of species of Varun, most Varunian animals will have these basic features in common, whether they are herbivores, om- nivores or carnivores, big or small. Looks good to me. Nothing really spectacular, but such "specials" can be added to specific species, and not too close to typical Terran creatures to make a sense of wonder impossible.

Here is the entire GURPS Space data set for my water world, now renamed "Varun" to avoid confusion with the earlier "Pharos IV model". I have chosen an "Indian theme" for the names of the star and its planets, partially because I intend to have the majority of the colonists come from a planet with an "Indian" background culture, with Jainism the dominant religi- on, "Indian" customs, and so on, in order to get a background culture that is different enough from previous settings that it feels fresh and interesting. While the authors of GURPS Space obviously expected me to design all the system's planets in as much detail as the mainworld Varun, I will not do this - all I will note are their general descriptions (e.g. "hot rock ball"), their dia- meters, surface gravity and atmospheres. If the player characters should decide to visit one of these planets, there will be sufficient time to calcula- te all the other data that are needed. The data set for the colony itself (population, government, per capita inco- me, etc.) is just as long as the physical data set, but these informations will be created during the campaign, heavily influenced by the decisions and activities of the player characters - right now Varun is still unexplored and uninhabited. Star Chandalini Type : F 7 V Population: Intermediate Population I Age : 3.1 billion years Temperature: 6,300 K Luminosity: 2.94 Radius: 0.0067 AU Star Mass: 1.23 Chandalini System Orbit 1 - 0.28AU : Aiman Orbit 2 - 0.41 AU : Bimal Orbit 3 - 0.82 AU : Charu Orbit 4 - 1.46 AU : Varun Orbit 5 - 3.21 AU : Etash Orbit 6 - 5.77 AU : Farid Orbit 7 - 10.40 AU : Gadin (Gas Giant) Orbit 8 - 18.72 AU : Hari (Gas Giant) Orbit 9 - 33.69 AU : Iham Planet Varun Orbital Radius: 1.46 AU Orbital Eccentricity: 0.11 Orbital Period: 581 days Axial Tilt: 11 degrees Rotation Period: 25 hours 30 minutes World Type : Standard (Garden) Diameter: 14,928 km Gravity: 0.97 G Density: 4.58 g/cc Atmospheric Pressure : 1.29 atm Atmospheric Composition: Nitrogen-Oxygen, occasionally polluted by volcanism Hydrographic Percentage: 100 %, kein Land Climate Type : Warm Temperature Range: 21° C – 42° C Volcanic Activity: Moderate Tectonic Activity: Light Resource Value Modifier: Abundant (+1) Habitability Score : + 5 With that done, the next step will be the planet's biosphere, beginning with the "templates" (e.g. how many limbs, how many genders, etc.) of the pla- net's dominant and most common families of species.

Well, actually ... :shocked: However, CoC obviously is the BRP version that does something right, so we should take a look at it, and the line "compatible with Call of Cthulhu" could well influence sales of BRP material over here. On the other hand, BRP supplements like Rome - well researched and well pre- sented - are as good as the CoC supplements and cover the historical genre without having to mention the Mythos, so the main problem here is probably to tell the potential customers that they do exist.

Yes, exactly - suitable locations have to be found, explored and secured, the construction teams have to be protected, their camps will look like the station in "Outland" and will have similar problems with drugs and crime ... >:->

I am thinking more of the kind of volcanism that exists in deep sea trenches, like for example the "black smokers" with their own unique ecosystems based on chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis. And I also think that on a planet without any continents to weaken them the storms and waves would probably get powerful enough to destroy everything close to the ocean surface, so coral reefs could probably not form within a few dozen meters of the surface. But in the end these are all rationalizations, I just decided that the planet is without dry land and has some very shallow regions at best, because this is how I imagined it first, and make up potential reasons why this could be so.

The submersible spaceship is on my list, too, although it seems that a transfer point on the ocean surface, where passengers and cargo would be transferred from the spaceship to a submarine, would come cheaper in the long run - at least in the Traveller system. However, air dock, partially submersible dock and submersible spaceship do not really solve my problem in the short run, because they only become pos- sible once the colony has begun to either gain income from trade or to deve- lop its own industry, because importing the necessary materials would require a lot more money than my economic model would allow the colony to have. Until then, the occasional tramp trader from a neighbouring system, with a spaceship that is not designed to handle "water landings", will need a way to trade with the colonists, and this is where I think I need the "antigrav magic" - although I will make it possible for spaceships only.

Thank you, a very interesting idea. I am not sure whether the weather (hurricanes, etc.) would make such a kind of dock possible, but on the other hand a dock floating on the ocean surface would be in an at least as bad environment - unless it could sub- merge deep enough beneath the waves without destroying the ships that are docked at it at the time. There are several concepts I am playing around with, and you have added another good one, but all of them will become possible only after the colo- ny has already been established and has begun to start some major con- struction projects. Until then I see no really good way to avoid the "antigrav magic", but it al- so does not really worry me - if I use a faster than light drive that is some- how based on the manipulation of gravity, I can just as well add this fea- ture to it, I think.

I think this illustrates what I mean:

Several documents mention the introduction of the bayonet as the reason for disbanding the pike formations, because the musket with the bayonet was now used to protect the infantry soldier from cavalry attacks. To do this successfully, musket plus bayonet need a certain length, they have to reach up to the horse's body with the stock on the ground and the barrel inclined towards the attacking cavalry. However, I have no idea whether this worked because the rifle plus bayo- net had this length anyway, because especially long bayonets were deve- loped to reach the required length, or because it influenced the decisions concerning the length of the rifle and its barrel - probably a combination of all three.

I remember a discussion during my military days, when some soldiers complai- ned about the new submachineguns that had replaced their rifles. In their view, the lighter and smaller submachineguns were useless both as "silent weapons" (e.g. when hitting someone over the head from behind, I guess ...) and in close combat once one was out of ammunition. All the advantages of their shiny new submachineguns did not impress them at all, they wanted something big and heavy ...

Having started this thread, I can just as well continue to ramble ... With the planet itself as the "main NPC" of the setting, one needs (or at least wants) some information about it. The amount of detail offered by the world design system of a science fiction roleplaying game varies widely, with Traveller at one end and GURPS at the other end of the scale. For example, my newly discovered water world looks like this in Traveller: X96A000-0 Ba, Wa It has no starport, is of above average size, has a breathable atmosphere, is entirely covered by water, has no population, government, law level or technology level (yet) and is treated as a barren water world for trade pur- poses - and this is all the information one gets about the planet and its system. This may be sufficient for an occasional visit during a planet hopping space opera campaign, but not for my purposes, and so I turn to GURPS Space for a more detailed data set, and once my trusted pocket calculator has defea- ted the hordes of hostile formulas, I get this: World Type: Standard (Garden) Diameter: 14,928 km Gravity: 0.97 G Density: 4.58 g/cc Axial Tilt: 11 degrees Atmospheric Pressure: 1.29 atm Atmospheric Composition: Nitrogen-Oxygen, occasionally polluted by volcanism Hydrographic Percentage: 100 % Climate Type: Warm Temperature Range: 21° C – 42° C Resource Value Modifier: Abundant (+1) Habitability Score: + 5 - and this is only the physical "makeup" of the planet, the data sets for its (future) population and for all the other bodies of the system will be just as comprehensive, if not more so. While this is almost too much of a good thing, it helps to imagine the world, and provides some inspiration for a campaign there. For example, an atmosphere occasionally polluted by volcanism ... sea mount volcanoes, seaquakes and tsunamis ...

True, of course. However, for those players who were interested both in mo- dern historical or pseudo-historical settings and in the BRP system, Call of Cthulhu was the only available supported system, and it usually also had by far the best researched supplements - and this has not really changed yet. For example, if you want to play something like "Casablanca", the "Secrets of Morocco" supplement is the best setting material you can get, and if you want to send your Victorian adventurer into the Himalaya, nothing beats "My- steries of Tibet" when it comes to details about the local culture. This combination of system and supplements has convinced many players to use Call of Cthulhu as their favourite "modern world game" while ignoring the Mythos part of it. And I think that many authors of Call of Cthulhu supplements were well awa- re of this, because the Mythos stuff is often just added to the end of an otherwise perfectly "non-cthulhoid" setting description.

This is what I like most about CoC, one can use it for the entire roleplaying spectrum, from historical campaigns through "soft" and "hard" horror up to fantasy (especially if one includes more magic and the Dreamlands) and even some science fiction - typical BRP, one good rules system "to rule them all".

Each of the three history chapters contains a description of important events and developments of the period, then a more detailed look at the Holy Roman Empire, and this includes events in Italy, although it is not mentioned often - except when it comes to the Popes, whoever wrote that part of the book really loved detail. Then follow shorter descriptions of what happened in Scandinavia, Russia, By- zantium, The Caliphate, the Iberian Peninsula and the British Isles, usually one half page to one page each. Finally each of the history chapters has a description of something especially important for the age or especially useful for roleplaying. In the early middle ages this is the Viking Raids, in the high middle ages the Crusades, and in the late middle ages the Plague. In the end, I think that Italy (except the popes - every single one of them got a few lines) and the Provence are mentioned "in passing" whenever an event there was important for the Holy Roman Empire, but there is not much detail about them.

In a way, yes. It contains chapters about the Early Middle Ages (600 - 1050 AD), the High Middle Ages (1050 - 1250 AD) and the Late Middle Ages (1250 - 1600 AD), about Secular Life (e.g. cities, knighthood, etc.), about Religious Life (e.g. the Vatican, monasteries and orders, etc.), about Non-Euclidian Life (the Mythos part of the book, about 30 pages), about Medieval Characters (in- cluding professions, skills, equipment, etc.) and two adventures. The regions outside of Europe (the Caliphate, etc.) are mentioned and des- cribed, but not in much detail, the focus is on Europe, and here understan- dably on the Holy Roman Empire.

I never bought Dark Ages, but according to what I did hear from others, "Mittelalter" has no connection at all with Dark Ages. Besides, the Mythos is hardly mentioned in "Mittelalter", it is mainly a very good history book with roleplaying material.

It is an original one, no translation.

The recently published German CoC supplement "Mittelalter" (= Middle Ages) contains more than 300 pages of background information, medieval profes- sions, adapted skills, equipment and everything else one would need for a historical campaign in Europe between 600 AD and 1600 AD. Whether one uses the Mythos material is purely a matter of taste.

The player characters can do whatever a player character could do during the period. If one simply ignores the Mythos altogether, Call of Cthulhu is an excellent "BRP Gaslight", "BRP 1920" or "BRP Now", with all the gaming opportunities of the historical period between the Victorian Age and today. The Mythos, going insane and all that stuff is just one way to play CoC, it can just as well be exploring Dark Africa, running guns to Latin America, tramp trading in the South Sea or searching for Jack the Ripper - you name it, CoC does it.

Yep, especially when you were on the "receiving end" of a cavalry charge, and were attacked with sabres or lances, both still quite common on the battlefields of the period. Since the use of the rifle to defend against such attacks was a part of a soldier's rifle training, and he would probably have fought much worse if he had to use a club or spear instead of his rifle, I would allow the Rifle skill for the parry.

As for using muskets or rifles to parry, most European armies of the period trained their soldiers in "Gewehrfechten" (German, means "rifle fencing" - I did not find the English word), techniques to use a musket or rifle with a bayonet as a close combat weapon, similar to a combination of a club and a spear, and this included techniques to parry similar weapons.

Sir, I will have to challenge you to a duel now, for insulting my favourite roleplaying game. :eek: As the insulted party I have the choice of arms, and I decided to use poi- soned marshmellows at a distance of 250 feet. :cool:

A somewhat obscure source: An article about the Jewish Company of the Shanghai Volunteer Force in 1863 mentions that this force was armed with a "short version" of the "30-03 Enfield". It seems they either mean the Musketoon version of the 1853 Pattern Enfield, or - more likely, I am afraid - they went astray completely and confused the Enfield of 1853 with the Enfield of WW II ... Otherwise I have found no connection between "Enfield" and "Shanghai", al- though I suspect that Ward's and later Gordon's Ever Victorious Army was armed mostly with 1853 Pattern Enfields, because the unit of up to 6,000 soldiers is mentioned as using British arms - and these would probably be En- fields. It would be logical if the Chinese had attempted to copy the Enfield, as the rifle used by most of the foreign soldiers in and around Shanghai, but this is of course only speculation. By the way, shouldn't this one have the information we are looking for: Osprey Publishing - The Taiping Rebellion 1851–66

My most reliable (= academic) source has only the information below - sorry, copy and paste was disabled. More could probably be found here, but I do not know how to get access to this: Thomas Kennedy, "The Establishment and Development of the Kiangnan Arsenal, 1860-95" (Columbia University Ph.D. dissertation in History, 1968)

No, not really. I have made a "full turn" and am now back to the setting I started the series with in 2007, therefore the "revised" above ^^. There has been so much excellent roleplaying material published since 2007, both for BRP and my other favourite system Traveller, that I decided to ma- ke a complete overhaul of this setting, introducing both that material and all the things I had learned about setting design and campaigns during the last three years.