Conrad

I'd rather see good old hard SciFi, and drop the Opera part.

Penn

Do you like it HARD then Penn?

Maybe we aught to take a poll of how many of us would want to see a BRP supplement like the setting in Mindjammer? Or is Cthulhu Rising sufficient for a space setting?

Sarah did write The Chronicles of Future Earth, which is being released for BRP.

This is technofantasy, not modern space opera.

i.) The impact of extreme longevity on humankind

ii.) Ubiquitous and cheap AI

iii.) Easy geneering

iv.) Ubiquitous PSI or pseudo-PSI*

v.) Stop being impressed by computers - the future probably won't even perceive them as discrete objects, they'll be everywhere and invisible

vi.) Heaps of artificial lifeforms, and blurring of distinctions.

vii.) Dimensional technology, including instantaneous travel in certain cases, harnessing of gravity, as yet unknown tech, a la Rudy Rucker

viii.) Relativistic effects meaning temporal integrity is not required in societies - people may be out travelling for 10 years whilst 1000 years pass locally. Different evolutionary / technological levels constantly clashing, returnee culture shock, etc.

ix.) Extreme evolutionary, social, philosophical and linguistic divergence as humanity spreads out over millennia. Not just Asimov-type divergence, but *major* freakout stuff.

x.) Money as an interstellar lingua franca, but not really used within societies themselves.

*This is pretty much round the corner right now. Some of the brainwave-reader control interfaces for PCs, contact lens sized HUDs, direct optical nerve transmission, and spatial interaction interfaces mean that transmitting messages or control directions by thought and receiving data, imaging, etc, directly into the optic nerve are probably less than a decade away. I'd expect a half-decent SF setting to be wayyyyy ahead of this.

All of the above would blow the Traveller OTU out of the water, which is as it should be as the OTU is very 70s-retro. I'd really like to see a SF RPG which sets its sights *ambitiously*. We should be able to play something which raises the same issues - and allows you to play through them - as a good SF novel. We demand as much from fantasy**, so why not SF? :thumb:

This is what I want to see in a BRP setting, and this setting looks good too: http://d101games.co.uk/2010/02/22/d101-presents-the-river-of-heaven/#more-510

After seeing Mindjammer ( for Starblazer Adventures) I hope one day that Sarah Newton will write something like it for BRP.

Take a look at the setting: http://www.cubicle-7.com/acrobat/mj01_intro.pdf

I meant to include the quote originally Posted by Shaira in this thread (see below). Worlds Beyond, Cthulhu Rising and Future World are all a bit dated in the type of setting they represent. Mindjammer is a more modern type of space opera with more transhuman elements, but not to the point of some games, such as Transhuman Space.

Well I have been here before...I am a 32+ yr D&D DM, and 30+ yr Traveller GM as well too.

Oh the Core book is out there but how often or many of the other books have any of you seen in a gaming store.

If you have the core rules and you are an old time experienced GM, that collects lots of resource materials and buys Mongoose Traveller stuff, you don't need any more support from Chaosium. There is plenty of free Traveller conversion stuff on this site done by Soltakss http://www.soltakss.com/rq_scifi.doc, Stefan Matthias http://www.basicrps.com/links/stefan/brp.html, and Vile http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=109, and you can easily convert your Traveller game to BRP. You could even check out Cthulhu Rising http://www.cthulhurising.co.uk/downloads.php which is full of useful things for a space based campaign, and its free!

Solardog, you should have linked to this Storn cook site: http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Storn/

How does it going?

See my blog for the Vance alien stats converted from an old Traveller Space Gamer article, Solardog.

There are some cute spaceships on the Oolite web page. If it is something different from the standard Traveller spaceship designs you're looking for, check these out!

http://www.dcmstarships.com/gallery-star-vessels.html

Well, when you finally finish your monograph you've got at least one person that will buy a copy.

Have you playtested the setting yet LT? How is the monograph coming along?

Are you going to keep us all in the dark as to wether your monograph will be out this year, or will you grace us with some news on its development?

More weapons from the Ringworld setting would be interesting.

These weapons are non piercing and so can be used as defensive weapons onboard a starship, without the fear of rupturing a bulkhead.

MERCY PISTOL

(Bellepax, Inc., Earth [now defunct])

WEIGHT: 300g

VOLUME: small pistol -- 3cm x 10cm x 15cm

RANGE: short 15m, medium 30m, long 40m

DAMAGE DONE: Unconsciousness

ENERGY USED: none

POWER SUPPLY: memory-plastic spring

ARMOR: none

HIT POINTS: 4

APPLICABLE SKILL: Handgun (projectile)

COST: 55 stars (2100 a.d. currency); ammunition costs 2 stars per 100

rounds; illegal to private citizens

The mercy pistol was developed to serve the needs of Terran police

agencies worldwide during the 21st and 22nd centuries. As transplant

technology advanced, it soon became possible for humans to extend

their lives indefinitely. Ensuring a steady supply of organs became

something of a problem, until the establishment of organ banks, since

a steady supply of organs and tissue was necessary. Violent criminals

became the first victims of the organ bank laws; they were soon being

executed by physicians in combined hospital-jails, to fill the demands

of the organ-hungry public.

Police needed a method of apprehending criminals in a way which did

not harm their valuable organs and tissues. Until the development of

the sonic stunner, mercy weapons were the standard armament of police

officials worldwide. They were also utilized by "organleggers"

criminals who sold human body parts on the black market -- parts taken

from unwilling donors.

Mercy weapons fire tiny needles of crystalline material which quickly

dissolve in the bloodstream of the target, rendering it unconscious.

Each crystal is micro-encapsulated in a safety coating which prevents

dangerous concentrations of the sedative from building up in the

target's bloodstream, making it nearly impossible to die of an

overdose.

Mercy weapons are powered by a spring of memory-plastic, and fire once

per impulse. A dial near the trigger controls the quantity and spread

of the needles fired, up to a maximum of 20. A single needle is enough

to knock out any human target, but a wider spread gives the firer a

better chance to hit. Mercy weapons usually had settings which fired

1, 5, 10, 15, or 20 needles. Every five needles fired increases the

chance to hit by five percentiles. Set to 20, the weapon fires a burst

of projectiles in a conical area with a one meter base at a 15 meter

range. Medium range is 30 meters, and anything beyond 40 meters is

considered long range. Beyond 40 meters, the light projectiles may be

unable to penetrate even light clothing, due to loss of momentum. The

weapon's magazine holds 100 needles, giving a skilled marksman plenty

of shots.

The weapon's main disadvantage is its inability to penetrate armored

targets. The crystalline needles ignore any armor protection less than

3 points, but cannot penetrate armor with any higher rating. The

protective value of armor at a particular hit location is important,

however, since the needle may hit an unarmored area.

If a mercy weapon is fired at a target at point-blank range, the

gamemaster might rule that the target could suffer 1d4 hit point of

damage from such an attack.

On the Ringworld, it is likely that if an advanced people developed

mercy weapons, they could fire ammunition which affected only certain

species or sub-species of humanoids.

--------------------

Tangler Gun

(Bellepax, Inc., Earth - now defunct)

WEIGHT: 2.2kg

VOLUME: short, bulky rifle -- 5cm x 17cm x 48cm

RANGE: short 15m, medium 30m, long 50m

DAMAGE DONE: entangle + possible 1d2

ENERGY USED: 5/shot

POWER SUPPLY: 100/5/350g/N + 20 round magazine, sold as one unit

ARMOR: 3 points

HIT POINTS: 12

APPLICABLE SKILL: Rifle (projectile)

COST: 200 stars (2210 a.d. currency); ammunition/power supply units

cost 6 stars each. A backpack version, for controlling very large

crowds, costs 28 stars, weighs 5kg, and has 120 rounds of ammunition.

Tangler guns were the precursors to mercy weapons. They fire a

projectile of memory plastic which is designed to entangle and

immobilize a target without causing it significant harm. The 2.5cm

round bursts upon impact in a 1 meter radius pattern of strong

adhesive memory plastic ribbons, which almost instantly curl around

the point of impact then rapidly tighten. When struck by a tangler

round, the target should make a Luck roll. If it succeeds, it takes no

damage; otherwise, the impact of the rather weighty projectile does

1d2 hit points of damage to the hit location struck. Note that a

tangler's tangling ability is effective regardless of the hit

location. An entangled target must make a balance roll at half its

skill rating every round to remain standing. Furthermore, the target's

arms will be pinned to its sides unless it overcomes the entangling

ribbons' STR rating of 25. The GM may decide if the target gets one

try to break the tangles, or one try for each arm. Finally, the

entangled victim will be stuck [sTR 25] to any surface he or she falls

to, and if both limbs are trapped, he or she will be unable to squirm

away from the area. Sinclair monofilament cable cuts through

entangling ribbons fairly easily. A hullmetal knife would do so

extremely slowly, rquiring over an hour of work -- work most likely

impossible to an entangled victim. The proper way to free oneself of

"tangles" is to spray a solvent on them.

On the Ringworld, weapons similar to this may be found in the

possession of Healers, City-Builders, and any other reasonably

advanced species.

A crueler variant of the weapon might employ strands of monofilimant

wire in the projectile, or simply fire a large tangle of monofiliment

wire. Such rounds would be expensive, but deadly.

Actually, I had expected a bit more of a seemless system. My bad.

The magic and sorcery weren't really written specifically to fit together. One set of rules is from the old Worlds of Wonder game ( you can download it if you click on the link in my sig) and the other from the Elric! game.

May you receive plenty of playable gifts this year!

:party:

Cheers!

Sverre.

I was beginning to think that there was a distinct lack of Xmas spirit on this site until I bumped into your post!

Happy Xmas and good gaming in the new year Sverre!:thumb:

Thanks for reading.

I just can't wrap my head around the BRP rules for magic equipment vs. sorcery equipment. Permanent magic equipment/enchantments like 'protection' vs. 'sorcerors armor'. 'Protection' requires 5x Pow sacrifice vs 'sorcerors armor' only needing 2x Pow.

First of all happy Xmas and good gaming in the new year!

If you don't like those those rules quoted above ( from pages 245 and 246 of the BRP book I assume), then may I suggest that you change them. Its your game after all. Just be careful that you don't inadvertantly unbalance your game.

Hopefully, I am just not comprehending a simple issue. What/how do you do to deal with enchanting armor/weapons/wands/staves/rings/etc? Is there a link to errata or a better approach?

The rules for wizard's staffs, wands, rings are on page 91 of the BRP book, and the Equipment with Powers section (already mentioned above) has the rules on enchanting various items. If you don't like them then change them to suit your tastes.

Does that help?

:thumb:

I will have to post my Planet of Adventure aliens (Pnume, Chasch and Dirdir), converted from a Traveller article in The Space Gamer sometime. Typing it all up is time consuming.

I am a djimbe drummer, improv theater actor, hitchhiker, backpacker, ballroom dancer, don't own a tv, listen to vinyl 33s, compose on my typewriter, and dabble in psychedelics.

Been dabbling in psychedelics lately?

is it a free game??

As well as Soltakss' SpaceQuest rules there is Cthulhu rising, which is a free game that has an Aliens style setting.

[ CTHULHU RISING: Game Downloads ]

There is also a BRP Traveller scenario by Stefan Matthias here:

http://seegras.discordia.ch/Roleplay/Traveller/Adventures/TheAlgol.txt

I've been running a very Traveller like game using BRP and the Worlds Beyond setting. Searching about on the net for some way to convert classic Traveller npcs into BRP format I discovered this, on hackslash.net (Mike Hensley's website):

"I just recently got the new Basic Roleplaying book and, like I do with all generic systems, my thoughts turned to how I could use these rules to play D&D and/or Traveller. I'm getting a bit burned out running my D&D 3.5 campaign at the moment, so let's try a bit of Traveller.

The first step in learning any rpg is to roll up a character. I really like the life-path character generation system found in Mongoose Traveller, so I'll keep that and just convert the characters created with it to BRP stats. I rolled up a character some months ago here, so I'll just use him as a test case. Here he is again:

Drake Tungsten - 38yo retired Scout (5 terms)

STR- 7

DEX- 7

END- 9 (+1)

INT- 8

EDU- 11 (+1)

SOC- 4 (-1)

Astrogation- 3, Pilot(spacecraft)- 1, Pilot(smallcraft)- 1, Mechanic- 1, Comms- 1, Energy Pistol- 1, Xenology- 1, Vacc Suit- 1, Streetwise- 1, Jack of all Trades- 1, Navigation- 1, Computer- 0, Trade- 0, Drive- 0, Carouse- 0, Survival- 0

50,000 Credits, TL11 Laser Pistol

First thing to convert are stats. Traveller uses 2d6 to roll up stats but after character creation they can range from 1 - 15. BRP has similar character stats (in a 3d6 range) with the addition of Appearance, Size, and Power. Endurance is renamed to Constitution. Also, Social is a skill in BRP and not a stat. Sanity is not a necessary stat for Traveller. A simple way for converting is to take the Traveller stat and add half of it (rounded down) to get the BRP equivalent. Example- Drake's STR is 7. Add half (3.5 rounds down to 3), so 7 + 3 = 10. For the new stats, roll 3d6 twice and arrange as wanted for Appearance and Power. Size is rolled with 2d6+6. Society is dropped and will be converted to a skill later. With these rules in mind, here are Drake's BRP stats:

STR- 10

CON- 13

DEX- 10

SIZ- 15

INT- 12

POW- 11

APP- 13

EDU- 16

Hit Points are calculated by adding SIZ and CON together, then dividing the total by two and rounding up. Example- Drake's SIZ is 15 and his CON is 13, so his Hit Points are (15+13)/2 = 14.

Next comes conversion of skills. This is surprisingly easy to do as well. Simply take the Traveller skill level and multiple that by 10 and add 40 to it to get the BRP percentile skill level. Example- Drake has Astrogation- 3, so his skill level in BRP terms would be 3 x 10 + 40 = 70%. Here are Drake's converted skills:

Astrogation- 70%, Pilot(spacecraft)- 50%, Pilot(smallcraft)- 50%, Mechanic- 50%, Comms- 50%, Energy Pistol- 50%, Xenology- 50%, Vacc Suit- 50%, Streetwise- 50%, Jack of all Trades- 50%, Navigation- 50%, Computer- 40%, Trade- 40%, Drive- 40%, Carouse- 40%, Survival- 40%"

I've posted the article here as you have to scroll down this page a bit to find it: http://www.hackslash.net/?cat=27

May I suggest that if you don't want to use Jack of All Trades you convert the skill as per above, and then use the skill percentage as skill points to buy whatever skills you deem necessary for the npc, or add the points to already existing skills.

Here is a trailer for my Omnichron setting start up...

The Text is in Norwegian and the music is Lustmord:

I like plenty of krig and dod in my space opera scenarios.

Maybe you can find out by asking him at the next furry convention.

I didn't know that Other Suns was so popular that it had its own convention.

I'll stick with Cthulhu Rising. Tentacles are better than fur, any day of the week!>:->

Posted by KjetilKverndokken:

"10. Epsilon Eridani

Eridani is the newest starsystem found. And it was built up very much like our on Sol system when it came to planets. There is reason to believe the third planet had life just some ten thousand years ago. Two colonies and several bases is being built in this system. And on the edge of this system Aeon Technologies have found the remains of a massive Ship...

Distance: 10.5 LY "

I hope there aren't any Disneyfied cute and furry critters on board this massive starship, or I'll have to dish out some antimatter grenades to the squad of space marines I always keep on standby for first contact missions!

The Disney stuff would go well with Other suns rpg!>:->

"Next up tomorrow, I will tell you more about the different solar systems and the colonies therein."

"The Cataclysm happens...."

I'm a sucker for futuristic timelines.

"And we discover an object between it and its moon Charon. It looks like some sort of enormous gate.."

"2504 – Aeon Technologies discovers a gigantic ship on the edge of the tenth system, dubbed “The Ship”, its over 20 kilometers long and over 17 kilometers wide. And between the anchoring parts of what can only be called its arms is an inactive gate... Aeon technologies and UNSC sends a joint science and military ship to investigate “The Ship”. Six months after the investigation starts, The Cataclysm happens...."

KjetilKverndokken have you been reading any Richard Morgan books by any chance? Your game background sounds a bit like the book Broken Angels, in places.

Furries in space!>:-> Other Suns I wonder who the author was trying to appeal to with this game, adults or children? The setting looks mature, but the "Bambi with a blaster" illustrations and Disneyfied animals as aliens ruins it.:ohwell:

Maybe the game was designed to appeal to the type of Runequester that isn't embarassed playing a duck?:eek: