rust

Phil McGregor, co-author of Space Opera and several other science fiction RPG materials, is currently working on a series of technology supplements for Mongoose Traveller, the Dark Star Catalog. He thinks (as do I) that Traveller's technology assumptions are quite outda- ted, and that the equipment of Technology Level 9 and above will therefo- re be much more "futuristic" than depicted in Traveller. He plans to publish the first part of his Dark Star Catalog of science fiction technology for Traveller (power generators and expedition gear, probably) before Christmas, and more material next year. Others are also working on new technology for Traveller, and for example Flynn's Guide to Robots with a design system for robots and drones will probably be published within the next month or so, and the Translight RPG (a percentile system, compatible with BRP, I hope) with some interesting equipment could also be published late this or early next year. So, there is much good science fiction technology "in the pipeline", but it will not yet be available at the start of my campaign, which is one reason why I designed several ways to introduce it into my setting once it has been published.

An interesting idea, but unfortunately my setting currently has no source of real high tech equipment, the technology level of the background uni- verse's core worlds is only slightly higher than the technology level of the remote colony worlds on the rim of explored space. However, one of the planned campaign events is a first contact with an alien species with a more highly developed technology and (if the player characters do not fumble their Diplomacy rolls ...) an interest in trade. I intended to use this as a means to introduce some new technology from the upcoming Traveller supplements (e.g. the Dark Star Catalog, etc.) in- to the setting, but it can just as well serve as a way to introduce some of the technology from your links. And then there are the alien ruins on Enki II, and once the player charac- ters have discovered and excavated them, they may well be able to sal- vage some few really very high tech artefacts from there (and to use them, provided they have some special successes with the relevant technology skills ...). So, I will introduce higher technology into the setting and campaign "by and by", and some of your ideas will doubtless find their way into the set- ting, too.

Thank you for the idea with the handheld laser, but the only energy weapons of my setting are vehicle-mounted heavy weapons, and there particle acce- lerators are more common than lasers, because they are less disabled by dust or smoke. Besides, a highly developed energy weapon technology would make some of the construction tasks (digging underground facilities) and some of the ter- raforming tasks (building a canal through a mountain chain - a job for my set- ting's road gangs) too easy, because powerful laser drills and thelike would then be available, too. The everyday tech ideas are very inspiring, I may well adapt some of them which are not too high tech for my setting, thank you !

Thank you for the link, interesting stuff ! I will keep Enki II as the planet's astronomical designation (second planet of the star Enki), but will let the players search for a fitting new name for their characters' new homeworld.

Hrrmmph. :shocked: The scout who discovered the planet was a guy named Trelawney (at least Treasure Island is not science fiction ...), and his ship was named "Destiny's Call" ... I will of course let the players decide, but Trelawney's World could be an option ...

Thank you for the links, this is really interesting stuff ! But, Oops, I thought I had come up with something more original ... The similarities caused by using GURPS Space as a sourcebook were to be expected, but the same name ... :eek: In my setting the name came from "N-Key", because the system's on- ly remotely earthlike planet had a numerical description code as a "Non- Habitable Planet" - an "N-Key" in scout parlance. Therefore at least no more Sumerian planet names in my setting's sys- tem ... Well, and the colonists can always give their new homeworld a new ma- me, I think ...

Well, I am "obsessed with realism" (more precisely, complexity and plausibili- ty), but nonetheless I consider BRP the most playable RPG system. Besides, it is not that difficult to write BRP-based games with a rather high level of the kind of "realism" I prefer, just take a look at the Ringworld RPG. And in my own campaigns I use a combination of GURPS technology (by far the most complex and "realistic" I know) and the BRP mechanics, and this works perfectly well. In my opinion the problem with the use of BRP for "realistic" RPGs is that it has rarely been attempted, because the focus of BRP development usually was on "heroic fantasy".

Until about 60 years ago, human spacers used an experimental and somewhat dangerous jump drive that allowed them to jump up to 2 parsec each week through hyperspace [the normal Traveller RPG drive], a drive type which is now only used in some few outdated ships. All modern ships use the hyperdrive that enables a ship to move up to 2 par- sec - military ships even up to 4 parsec - per day through hyperspace [an op- tional drive type in the new Mongoose Traveller RPG], a drive bought from a neighbouring alien race about 60 years ago. Hyperdrives, like contragrav devices, are still very rare and very expensive, and therefore the number of starships is comparatively low, and space tra- vel is somewhat rare. While there is some trade between systems, there are not many passengers, and only the very rich can afford to travel on a star- ship as tourists. To give an example, the colonists of Enki II will travel there in "cold sleep" (which has a small risk to die during the voyage) from Kinsun, about 14 par- sec away, and this voyage of 7 days will cost each of them 2,000 Cr., about an average monthly income. To stay awake during the voyage would cost 25,000 Cr. per passenger, and 50,000 Cr. for a single cabin ...

While I would have preferred to have both settings in the same universe and to make "crossovers" possible, the players wanted a "more hard" science fic- tion with a lower technology level (TL 9 in GURPS and Traveller instead of the TL 11 / 12 of Pharos IV) and a smaller and less organized political scenery, so Enki II ended up in a different universe than Pharos IV.

Since the space corewards of the Federation is inhabited by aliens, any hu- man colonization efforts have to be directed rimwards, into "free" space. However, there are only few suitable planets in this region, and among them Enki II is a good choice, because it has both the potential to become habita- ble through terraforming and the natural resources (aluminum, titan, etc.) to finance the colony and the terraforming with the exports. Besides, during the campaign the discovery of a previously unknown alien spe- cies in the region rimwards of the Federation will give Enki II some strategic importance, too, although the players will of course not know this at the be- ginning of the campaign.

Thank you for the links ! :) Enki II is indeed a kind of Earth-sized Mars, I even use ESA and NASA photo- graphs of Mars as "props" to show the players what the environment looks like. The background universe of the setting is the Solar Federation, an interstel- lar state of ca. 230 mostly autonomous systems within a sphere of about 180 parsec. The state is somewhat modelled after the real world UNO, with a Federation Charta, a Council, a Senate and a General Secretary as chairman of the Fe- deration's government. The individual systems have to adhere to the Federation's charta, but are otherwise quite independent. The Federation mostly controls the relations between its member systems, with a small Federation Fleet and a Federation Patrol that is a combination of police and "coast guard". Enki II is on the rimward edge of the Federation, about 95 parsec from Terra and about 14 parsec from the nearest developed colony planet, Kinsun. There are some few alien species in the region coreward of the Federation, and some trade between these aliens and the Federation in the border re- gion (this is how the Federation obtained both hyperdrives and contragravs, both still very rare and expensive), but humans and aliens usually keep each other at arm's length to avoid potential conflicts. Well, and this is almost all that I know for sure about the universe right now, it is still very much "under construction".

Back from the holiday in Bulgaria, I was surprised by my players, who decided to put our Pharos IV water world setting to the side for a while (:eek:) and start something new, this time a human colony on a barren, lifeless, cold de- sert world - Enki II. The task of the player characters will be to explore the planet, choose a site for a first outpost, establish a (mining) outpost, develop it into a small colo- ny, and at the same time design and begin a long-term terraforming program to turn the barren planet into one with a better climate, a breathable atmo- sphere and some liquid surface water. Their resources will be, as one player put it, "heroic trading and engineering", so the adventures will include interstellar trade (and diplomacy), technology research, development and application, and of course also wilderness survi- val, strange ancient alien ruins, encounters with hostile neighbours and pro- bably raiders, and all the kinds of trouble that can happen in and to a colony on the rim of explored space. The foundation of the campaign will be a "colony simulation" (somewhat like the old Alpha Centauri computer game), with the Traveller sourcebooks World Tamer's Handbook and Pocket Empires as basic material for economy and po- litics, and with the various GURPS sourcebooks (Space, Ultra-Tech, etc.) and the upcoming Mongoose Traveller sourcebooks (Beltstrike, Scout) as basic ma- terial for the equipment and technology. The game system will be the BRP-Traveller-Combination we developed for our Pharos IV campaign, with Traveller's "lifepath" character generation system and BRP's percentile game mechanics - somewhat similar to the excellent ma- terial developed by Soltakss from the RQ and Traveller SRDs. There will also be some additional skills and some new careers, for example "Road Gang", criminals who "volunteered" for a few years of hard work on a remote young colony world instead of serving their time in prison, or "Ranger", the Federation's special colonial police force (think of the marshals of the Old West). I have just started to work on the new setting. The Enki System and the pla- net Enki II have been designed with GURPS Space, there are lots of notes on the politics, economy and technology of the setting, a first sketch of the fu- ture colony region, and more of such stuff. My "weak point" currently still is the terraforming of the planet, but I will ha- ve lots of time to do some research on it, while the player characters are bu- sy to explore the planet and build the first outpost. So, this is what I will be working on for the foreseeable future, I think. Comments, questions and ideas would be most welcome - Thank You !

A really excellent job you did there, almost a complete science fiction RPG in its own right. :thumb: I am currently working on a new setting, a barren desert world this time, and your material has become a very useful reference for my BRP-Traveller-Cross- over System for the new campaign - thank you very much !

Thank you very much for the useful template, it helps a lot to organize a new campaign.

Hello, rust is online again - my computer has a new mainboard, and once I have managed to re-install all the programs and data that got lost in the crash, I will be happy to take a look at all the fascinating posts that I have mis- sed during my absence. Nice to be back again !

Rust is off again, this time to Bulgaria, to find out whether the Black Sea is still black. Unfortunately my computer broke down two days ago, and I cannot have it repaired before the trip to Bulgaria, which means I will be offline until at least the middle of October. So, if I do not react to any post directed at me, the reason is a lack of in- ternet access, not a lack of interest. Until then, then ...

Thank you very much, I will wait for the completed chapter. And then, when the players think the sea is safe again ... >:->

As far as I know, only the specific text of the description is protected, not the content of the description - write the same content of the description in your own words, and you are on the safe side.

One of the companies has put all the material on the web, including the court's first reaction. You should be able to download the entire material from the link at the bottom of this page ("Prozessunterlagen"): Nackter Stahl verklagt Promtheus Games If there should be a problem with the link, as the company may be as- ked to withdraw the material from the Internet, just send me a PM with your e-mail address, and I will mail you the material.

Yep, and now I am on the lookout for that Sea Serpent you mentioned, just in case some characters survive the Kraken and still want to go to sea once more ... >:->

You are of course right. There is currently a case where one small German games company sued another small German games company because of a suspected major pla- giarism. It seems likely that the court will not accept the case, as in the court's opinion the first company until now was unable to prove that any part of its RPG, except for some proper names, is an original creation and was not used in previous fantasy RPGs or in fantasy literature. So, while the second company probably will not in any way be punished for the suspected (and, in my opinion, very likely) plagiarism, the costs to de- fend its position could become high enough to put it out of business. Ironically, the first company that attempted to protect its RPG from plagia- rism will most probably be told by the court that there was nothing worth to protect in the first place, and will also have to cover costs that might put it out of business. Staying out of courts whenever possible seems to be a prudent decision.

More than a few companies have a tendency to declare material as protec- ted that in fact cannot be legally protected. I see this as an attempt to "frighten off" potential "plagiators", and it may well impress those who do not consult a lawyer, but at a closer look most licences and thelike contain lots of "weak spots". Somewhere on the net is a very interesting legal expertise on Wizard's OGL, where the author comes to the conclusion that it is "mostly a legal bluff". This may not be quite true, but it obviously is far from being "watertight".

Thank you very much for the Kraken ! A really mean beast, even in a science fiction setting like mine. :thumb:

The salt water variety of the Kraken would be most welcome ...

I usually prefer to ask authors and artists whether they would allow me to use some of their material for a strictly non-commercial fan project. Thanks to the Internet this has become quite easy, and with one single ex- ception (David Weber, who has a zero tolerance policy concerning fan fic- tion) the reactions have always been very friendly and positive. And then all you need to do is to mention your sources and their copyrights, and you are safe from all potential legal problems. Now, I do not know the "fan fiction policy" of Tolkien Enterprises, and with some bad luck they could say no if you would ask them, but basically this would be the right way to go, I think.