Conrad

If only Chaosium would revamp and republish this setting.

Never judge a book by its cover.

Here is the thread where it was discussed before. http://basicroleplaying.com/showthread.php/508-Worlds-Beyond

Not so stupid and silly a question, as it has been asked before, here http://basicroleplaying.com/showthread.php/2291-Difficult-and-Easy-rolls

My latest game setting is a post apocalyptic mutant filled superhero game, set on a new continent called Pacifica. The creation of the continent by a geological anomaly caused huge changes to the planets weather due to large scale vulcanism and the dumping of dust and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. A limited nuclear war has raged due to the famines caused and attempts to annex resources to build arcologies for the remaining populace to live in. The date is 2060, and Americans fleeing the radiation in their blasted country have created a new city on the continent of Pacifica. But the new land holds secrets of its own. And why is the superhero cyborg known as Kron weaving a huge sphere of carbon nanotubes around a nuclear weapon? Is the Tech Guardian priesthood being infiltrated by some dangerous cult? And will Neo Nihon be able to defend itself against the huge reptilian monster when someone has stolen the megamecha that is their only line of defence? (Thanks to Seneschal for his sentai team write up, it came in handy). Who stole it and why? I'd answer these questions but my players would read them and it wouldn't be fun playing in my game.

ROFLMAO;D I'm glad that you're having a joke Soltakss, and not weirdly ranting like Anders Behring Breivik did (see below); because then I wouldn't be laughing. "If praying will act as an additional mental boost/soothing it is the pragmatical thing to do. I guess I will find out... If there is a God I will be allowed to enter heaven as all other martyrs for the Church in the past. I am pursuing religion for this very reason and everyone else should as well, providing it will give you a mental boost. There is no shame in praying minutes before your death. I highly recommend that you, prior to the operation, visit a Church and perform the Eucharist (Holy Communion/The Lord's Supper ). As we know, this ritual represents the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest and eventual crucifixion. You should also solve any issues you might have with God and ask for forgiveness for past sins. Finally, ask him to prepare for the arrival of a martyr for the Church. A hardened atheist may think this is silly, but believe me when I say; you will be extremely glad you did as soon as you realise you may actually die after the initiation of your operation. Sure, many deny God now. But when they're looking death in the face, when they're sick or in an accident or staring down the barrel of a gun, they'll change their mind. They'll beg for God then. There are no atheists in foxholes."

Some things are deserving of ridicule. No one is making anyone read this thread. If someone is offended maybe they shouldn't be reading it? I hope that if this thread comes to an end it will be due to lack of steam (or should that be flame?) and not because sensitive folk badger the moderator to silence legitimate criticism of their beliefs, or those of extremist religious fanatics.

Icebrand. Soltakss just threatened to try to get this thread moderated out of existence, just because he felt uncomfortable. Whatever respect you have for Soltakss, don't let it blind you to the fact that he turns into a control freak and issues threats to to stop comments when he doesn't like them. Thanks for giving us all permission to discuss subjects that you find uncomfortable. Thats mighty charitable of you sir. Now who made you moderator? And why do we need your permission to discuss anything? "It is Liberal types.." Why can I smell frying meat and pipe smoke when I read that ranting sentence? Soltakss announces that because he is uncomfortable with legitimate criticism of some Christians he is going to try to get this thread closed. He's a Christian and he is threatening censorship. That is hardly hyperbole or even extreme hyperbole. And you sir are being oh so dramatic. Flouncing and huffing is very unbecoming of you, Johnny boy. Please feel free to ignore any positive comments about other Christians I've known, your selective reading only strengthens my argument. Yes I have shown contempt for that minority of extremist Christians that would drag our civilization back hundreds of years with their ignorance. Those people deserve contempt. Try googling "Kara Neumann" and see how nice her death was, and why she died. If you support such ignorant lunacy you're a religious maniac. Do you support Kent Hovind and Ken Ham? Do you believe that the world is only 6000 years old? You try to paint me as a control freak and yet I'm not the one calling for the closing of this thread. I think you're just trollin' for a reaction. And you might want to read a dictionary, as you obviously don't understand the word "reason". Next you'll be saying that the only decent book ever for an education is the Bible. Now I know you're trolling, and haven't properly read my posts. Robert M. Price does some good Biblical criticism. You should try to read some and learn the deeper stufff, historical and social, behind the Bibles weirdness. Since you've shown that you haven't understood my posts, your experience is very suspect. Plus several Biblical scholars disagree with your limited and troll like "experience".

Then don't read it Soltakss. Its as simple as that. You might try reading the thread before commenting. Some of us are going to great lengths to show that our comments aren't meant to include ALL Christians. Christian censorship rears its ugly head yet again. Those people whose frail faith makes them sensitive whine like babies when a frank and mature discussion of the actual failings of their religious dogma is had. Just like the minority of insecure Christians would like to ban D&D or other roleplaying games, you'd like to censor our free discussion because it hurts your iddle widdle weak faith. Ahhhh diddums. Grow up!

Dial down the melodrama a bit seneschal. Whenever someone forces you to confront the ambiguities in Christian belief you take it as a personal attack. This is a sure sign of faith becoming dogmatic armour. You are the bigot if you cannot admit that your holy book has glaring inconsistencies. Not ALL Christians are as extreme as the anti D&D crowd (and they still exist after all these years) or the antievolutionists, or the batty Biblical literalist minority. I've known many types of Christian from the frankly mad to the spiritually uplifting so I don't hate them all; in fact I've loved some of them. So get off your high horse and deal with things in a less drama queenish fashion. You might want the whole thread stopped by moderators but that really is about your uncomfortable feelings, not reality. Christian censorship? Nein danke!

The problem with SOME facets of Christianity( Roman Catholic church in particular) is that they'd love to be back in the position that they could burn anyone who objected to their outmoded ideas, like they did to Giordano Bruno, or their power. There are Christians that would drag the USA into a pit of total ignorance when it comes to science (I'm talking about the Intelligent Design mob, and antievolutionists). And some who would adhere so closely to the barbaric laws in the Bible that children would be killed for objecting to their parents ( but didn't Jesus say to give up on your family and come join him?). They may be in the minority but they are an active and bullying minority. And their narrow minded viewpoints are spreading around the globe. So it is good to be able to discuss the various kinds of Christianity and how its varying beliefs affect its relationship to an innocuous hobby like roleplaying. Because you can bet that should any of these extremist minorities ( or the RCC ) ever gain a lot of power RPGs would be a target for their ire, as would a lot of other innocuous hobbies. Now, to get back to roleplaying, it might be interesting to have a sci fi analogy to the D&D cleric from a religion that has real miracles caused by psionics. Psionic training would be part of the religion as would healing by the monks/nuns of this future belief system. I can see parts of Christian and Muslim faiths that could be used to add flavour to such a setting, "Qwisatz Haderach" anyone?

I'm sure there are some "mook" rules for fighting lots of NPC guards/lackeys without getting bogged down or massacred. They're in the Dragon Lines supplement and might be in the downloads section on this site. Can someone help with that?

Your taking umbrage at icebrand's statement shows that you misunderstand it. SOME vociferous Christians ( but not every single Christian in existence ) apparently aren't familiar with the barbarism and misogyny in the Bible. Or else they wouldn't be trying to lord ( pun intended) it over those they consider morally inferior. The God of the Old Testament is a perverted genocidal monster. Jesus must be Nyarlathotep if he represents that angry jealous deity. So Christians must be either ignorant of what is in their holy book, or they actively reject the primitive nastiness of the Old Testament and the other brutally misogynistic events portrayed in the Bible. If they weren't either ignorant of the bad parts of their holy book or actively chose to ignore them then they'd have to face up to their God as an angry jealous monster control freak, and not the "lovey dovey fluffy loves you all" God that Jesus was supposed to promote, though that is based on selective reading. The Bible is a hodge podge of many different attitudes on morality, so if someone is an authoritarian they can pick some passage to back up their control freakery; or if they're laid back they can point out the caring parts.

I wondered why D&D was so much fun! "I'll just grab my+1 whore and commit a morally dubious flanking manoeuvre on that porn dragon!" Dungeon roleplaying just became devilishly cool again. I wonder if there was ever an overtly Christian RPG published to combat this evil tide of D&D games? Saviours & Sabbaths anyone? Nuns & Nuncios?

Here it is in english, with some comments for the space nerds amongst you. The star Turan: Type: F9 V ( this type of star puts out more UV than Sol ). Age: 3.85 billion years Mass: 1,15 Temperature: 6,100 K Luminosity: 2,09 Radius: 0,006 The planet Samar: Yearly length: 676,46 days Day length: 19,34 hours Inclination : 7 degrees Diameter: 15,028 km Extent: 47,188 km Surface: 709 million km Gravity: 0.94 G Atmosphere: Nitrogen carbon dioxide atmosphere Hydrography: 0% (Aquifer and polar ice caps) Climate: Average temperature 12° C Land forms: Rock deserts, sand deserts, mountains. Volcanism: Moderate. Tectonics: Very little. Raw materials: Crystals, light alloys (aluminium, titanium) Biosphere: No native lifeforms. Bioterraforming in progress ( the geneered organisms are resistant to UV and tolerant to salt ). The other planets: Alpha orbit 0.32 Rock world, diameter 6,210 km no atmosphere, no water, no moon. Beta orbit 0.55 Ödwelt, diameter 9,490 km no atmosphere, no water, 2 moons. Gamma orbit 0.93 Greenhouse world, diameter 14,340 km dense toxic atmosphere, water 1 moon Samar, orbit 1.58 Desert planet, diameter 15,028 km exotic atmosphere, polar ice caps and Aquifer. Colony since 2376, Terraforming program, no moon. Epsilon orbit 2.69 Cold rock world, diameter 5,830 km no atmosphere, polar ice caps, 1 moon. Zeta orbit 4.57 Cold rock world, diameter 4,750 km no atmosphere, no water, 3 moons. Eta orbit 7.78 Small gas giant, diameter 48,500 km 4 large moons, 13 small moons. Theta orbit 13.23 Ice world, diameter 2,070 km no atmosphere. No moon Wormhole orbit 36.59 Starsystem Recalada: duration of transit is 3 days.

If you are going to get into the details of your creation Rust, then what type of star does it circle and how many AU is it from that star? What is the axial tilt? Does it have a magnetic field? Moons? How many gigayears old is your planet? What other worlds are there in the system?

I agree. Its life that has changed the atmosphere on this world. Without it we'd probably have an atmosphere that is very like Mars or Venus. Being nearer to the sun than Mars, and having lots of CO2 in the atmosphere would eventually bake the Earth in that case.

No, I'm not failing to see that water is heavier than both hydrogen and oxygen. That is just basic science. You're also telling me lots of things I already know, like minimum molecular weights. I'm also saying that with more elements retained in an atmosphere there is more chance of oxygen reacting with those elements and therefore it will not be in a breathable form(e.g. CO2, CO, FeO etc). What I'm saying, and you're failing to acknowledge is that Rust's atmosphere can form on a largeish terrestrial world. That a gas giant world will have more hydrogen and lighter elements retained is basic knowlege. We aren't talking gas giant worlds here, Rust's world is clearly terrestrial.

If a world can hold hydrogen to some extent and there is some oxygen present then you've got water. This doesn't stop a nitrogen and carbon dioxide atmosphere forming as Mars had, and probably still has, plenty of water locked up in permafrost. Nitrogen is fairly unreactive and CO2 is produced by vulcanism so the rationale for having such an atmosphere isn't too improbable.Higher planetary gravities and higher minimum molecular weights retained doesn't stop elements like oxygen from combining with other elements, and being taken out of the atmosphere. In fact the more elements retained the more chance that these elements may react with any free oxygen (apart from the noble gases).

If anyone wants some rules on atmospheric damages I've just posted some in my blog on this site. http://basicroleplaying.com/entry.php/66-Atmospheric-damage-rules.

I needed some atmospheric damage rules for my last space opera game, and so found something in GURPS Space that I adapted to my game. These rules are fairly loose and need a lot of GM disgression. A slightly toxic atmosphere requires a CON roll every hour or so. Damage should be in the order of 1 to 2 points, either automatically, or after failing against a toxicity level of 4 to 6 on the resistance table. Toxic atmospheres need a CON roll every Full Turn, for the milder atmosphere, to every Combat Round for the deadlier types. Damage is 1d8 either automatically or after failing against toxicity level 16 on the resistance table. Deadly toxic atmospheres would need a CON roll every Combat Round, if the GM is feeling generous, or a luck roll. Damage would be 1d10 upwards plus possible heat (page 223-4 in the BGB) or acid (page 211) damage as well. The toxicicity level on the resistance table should be at least 25, possibly more.

Not necessarily. Remember that oxygen is a highly reactive gas, so if there are no indigenous lifeforms that are producing it, then it will combine with other elements such as iron, as it has done on Mars to form....rust! As for Rust's atmosphere I'd use 1d8 for damage and use the asphyxiation rules (CON X 10 if not surprized by the event of the exposure to the atmosphere) and since there is no oxygen to be had CON X 3 if a failure occurs on the earlier roll or if surprized by exposure to the atmosphere.

Ron Edwards is less of a sage and more of a pretentious clown. I mean an "abashed synecdoche" of a clown. For anyone that wants to know why, and have a laugh while doing so take a look at Jim bob's rebuttal of Edward's crank theories. http://jimboboz.livejournal.com/7305.html

Surely tumescent specials are better?