Lloyd Dupont

Another thing to consider.. sci-fiction literature and RPG need not limit itself to Star Wars (or Star Trek for that matter) for inspiration (or creative ideas). It's a rather sad day for creativity today, as it happen.. As it happens I chose Master of Orion deliberately, to avoid all that I dislike and disbelieve in Star Wars, while still having some sort of "magic power" (Elerian have Psionic powers, and Psionic power can be gained through biotechnology).

You like the Mandalorain and Star Wars? Hey, good for you! Even I like it, I will confess. However... I still believe a scifi space empire that is 90% medieval 10% spaceship is quite implausible and, most importantly, completely incompatible with Master of Orion. I am still nowhere near believing that a medieval setting with spaceship is the only scifi setting that is interesting to develop. And I am still not interested in GMing it...

You make good point that such a planet could exist as it is... My point is that such a planet would at best be an outlier... My second point is that (too) many Star Wars places are medieval with an occasional space ship. And I'm like "what"?! Not interested.... Even though it's occasionally conceivable, it's not a fantasy that attracts me and that I buy into. Although.. That might be my limited thinking... one can think of North Korea or Mao's China to make it happen in a scifi world.... But then, I find it disheartening to play a scifi RPG and endup living like it is 1499! Also now, I am at work! might check out your youtube later... Is Pitch Black in the Chronicle of Riddick, I like and remember the last 2 (it;s a 3 movie series, right?)

Even if warp speed ship have some sort of extremely energetic FTL warp signature picked up by a detector. I would assume that, at best, detector are behind the ship.. which make an CPU firing a rocket already at least few light-days (in term of distance) too late before it can fire anything.... And space is so big, one can't reasonably make a good cover... all of Jupiter's matter turned into detector around the solar system will barely cover a few 0.0000001% of a dyson sphere around the solar system As for FTL, it would use "alcubierre drives" to normal speed.. doesn't change momentum at all. But yeah planetary bombardment is a very cheap (for an interstellar civilisation) and dangerously efficient strategy. My current view on that is that, planetary bombardment is like nuclear war today, once you start it, unstoppable retaliation and abysmal devastation will follow and it is generally avoided. Also the most developed planets have planetary shields which offer some level of protection. This is all true... But it is not was alluding too. When I watched Star Wars movie, there are lots of scene happening on desert plant with nothing of interest. Yet people are not stuck, spaceship seems to come and go, yet local populace live in absolute misery barely scrapping for survival. If space travel is hard, why go to all the trouble for nothing. Like for example today, nobody bother to start a human colony on Antarctica, even though travelling there is not that hard, but it's not worth the bother. Yes there is a small scientific outpost. But it's not a colony...

The Mandalorian is excellent and I see 3 difference with my inspirations.. - there will be frontier planet with similar lack of order, but my initial interest will be more urban - Unlike Star War, I plan to make space travel much harder, so no planet hopping on a whim please (maybe it's a literary choice, but 1. it hurts my mind, 2. it goes against secret planets / solar system, which I plan to have) - Unlike Star War, I wouldn't settle people on desert planet with no resource of interest, no nice biome, no water, no ancient alien relics, nothing worthy...

Hi G33k! PREAMBLE: I am still at the planning stage.. finishing a campaign in the world of dark elves, and then another player will GM a D&D5e campaign for a little while... MoO is my background inspiration. I wanted something fantastic other than Star Wars (I don't like the emo Jedis, the "good vs evil" conflict of the force, the unbelievably unproductive wilderness where apparently people chose to live in) and I was inspired by MoO. And I though screw human, let's make it a Bulrathi empire, and then I thought even being Bulrathis players should not have it too good (socially), what good is brute strength against tech? and most Bulrathis would be lower class clone. I plan to have no ansible in the main Bulrathi empire... But that's not too important, since (way more importantly) than ansible, there is no FTL detection method to detect spaceships travelling at warp speed in the deepness of space for any nation (it hurts me to imagine such method.. spaceship are smaller than microbe in the wild untamed depth of space and at FTL speed you have no time to see them and even if you do they are already too far before anything can be done...).. but, of course, spaceship have FTL (I plan on 100 lightspeed for most ship, maybe 300 for fast military one and maybe up to 900 lightspeed for some of the most advanced foreign races, some of which - Psilon - have worhmole - planetary gates - and ansibles). So the control of the Bulrathi empire is much more lose than in MoO and, anyway, the Bulrathi empire is now disintegrating, Ursa has suffered both a coup and a devastating Antarian attack... And there are very few truly interstellar organisation (100 lightspeed is way too slow). I chose this speed so that space travel and space empire is possible, but it is still expensive (slow) endeavor. And also travel time is easy to calculate. I think it also enable to have "secret solar system" which are out of the main space routes and under military secrecy... (like the old Elerian native world, and the Illithid world and maybe some Orion ruins) Most adventure I plan for now, are more or less planet bounds investigation. I am trying to make it less about fighting and 4X empire management, and more about investigation various power struggles in the fallen empire, and maybe space pirate once or twice. But fighting in the future is best left avoided for it is very lethal and thrown upon by the authority (when there are some, one could probably fight with impunity in space and on frontier planets). And when I think about it, space travel would probably mostly be between neighbouring systems...

I am watching it again! 😮 (in the dubbed English version this time, watched this subtitle first time) 2 things I would critic.... - I don't get Isolde's father. At best, he seems to behave erratically.. - (spoiler) all the strange events that push the story forward (the poisoned water story line) seem to be completely avoidable and unnecessary (from the main character point of view) Other than that it definitely seems set for a season 2.. can't wait! What will happen to the Jutul family? What about Magne's dad and Isolde's mom? and what about these 2 strange old people in town?

... The investigators were suddenly arrested for a most heinous crime! They had smuggled Kinder Surprise Chocolate egg in the country! This shall not be tolerated! How to shock and horror your players, hahaha.... Sorry, just watched a video on how kinder surprise are illegal in America and thought such antic would be a fun and infuriating way for a corrupt cop to imprison investigators! 😛

I was thinking o have exactly such faction... and I guess you incidentally nailed it... it is present in some places and absent in some others... and, why not, it could be present on the player's planet! although I plan to offer a difficult political choice (honest, no particular preference, basically be caught or not in a grab for powers between kleptocrats) so I am not sure being member of such an ethical organisation would be... interesting for the story... although.. might be a way to add a third faction.. power to the people? mmm....

I am trying to work on my scifi settings... Inspired by Master of Orion, the gist of it happen in an interstellar fragmented former galactic empire now in disarray. Multiple alien races. A Kleptocracy of Bulrathi nobility, lots of lower class Bulrathis clone and a melting pot of Human, Elerian, Psilon, Ssakra, and Alkari (also some Illithid - aka D&D mindflayers, Geth - aka mass effect murderous space robots, Klackon, Darlock and Antarian - aka big bag voodoo in MOO, a little bit unclear about the realism of their motivation; as occasional protagonists). (Master of Orion races: https://masteroforion.gamepedia.com/Races ) (Note psionic power are suppressed and possibly unlawful, hence PC Elerian will have none.. or maybe telepathy, at best) The keyword here is kleptocracy and "law and order" is barely good enough for a declining former space empire. Now I am thinking to have the player characters be some sort of unofficial investigator. Be it militia, insurance, private detective. Now I have a hard time finding either realistic and looking for feedback.. Like I have trouble judging what the minimal (and corrupted) law order would do or not do, how would they see the players occupation (unacceptable competition? indifference? helpful supplement?). Is there enough funding really for player job's really? Or maybe it's part time (in case of militia, which would enable even more background). And while I plan to circle on big conspiracy in the end... not sure how mundane should it starts... gang war and theft perhaps? Any idea!? Also, say they are some planet with lots of R&D going on... what sort of "better gear" could one find there? After it's an heavily industrialised society.. and that would spread quickly.. plus I don't want to keep introducing "more powerful device" that make whatever current gear player have obsolete...

I stumbled on that on Netflix yesterday and binged watched it all! Ragnarok https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9251798/ I really like the atmosphere of mystery, and suspens... It's more of a murder mystery than a super hero movie, but the gods of old influence add another dimension to the already good story.. It's a Norwegian show... I say that so you know to expect something different that the usual American action style... This TV Show makes me want to utter the famous quote, "it's not paranoia, if they are really out to get you"!

I am not really a Cthulhu player.. (mostly BRP, RevolutionD100, Mythras) but like to read Cthulhu thread out of curiosity and, of course, I haven't read this adventure.. hence take my opinion with a grain of salt... I would say logic is not too important, it could be what you want for best impact.... - maybe the players have enough problem as it is and nothings happen. - maybe something appropriately horrible happen, like their mind is unravelled leaving hem like a baby or a vegetable... - maybe the player destroyed the illusion of rationality and had a glimpse at the true nature of reality.. hence gaining mythos point and losing sanity.... Also, most importantly, the spell was not undone. And probable no alarm bell was raised either since the targeting totally failed...

I haven't played BRP in a few month now (doing RevolutionD100) and checking BRP.. mm... it might be different.. I can see luck is you use for ordinary event as well.... I was thinking luck as a life saver. In CoC7 luck increase like an ordinary skill, you can increase it after an adventure (using check mark or xp, your mileage). And then you can consume it, each % consumed (i.e. skill permanently lowered) to alter a dice roll by the same amount... but hey it can increase after an adventure again like any skill.... I like the clear and deterministic slow rate and increase and how much it cost! I guess one could add any sort of extra use like luck armor (cost to be determined...) And still use like in BRP The only thing I will clearly change is the starting value is 3d6x5. I would prefer something like 20+POW

I like how they handle luck in CoC7 and the fact you could be dying instead of dead when at 0 or less HP.... But anyway, I am curious to learn about your creative story writing effort! I'll bet it will make more sense... Mmm.. come to think of it... The Cthulhu writer are horror writer (which is often only vaguely rationale, so, there is that)

Right, "thresholds" -- the requirement to display a level of mastery of a skill before even trying something more complex. I always liked those, though they could lead down a path to excessive crunch. Interesting that both came out of French game design from the '90s and that you see the influence farther afield in the decade thereafter. !i! Well.. the idea lives on! Revolution D100 has skill & stunts (this is a slot system, a bit different from other D100 system), Legend has legendary ability with stiff skill requirement, Blood and Tide (BRP supplement) has stunts with no particular requirement (it's in the power section thought they are like powerful combat manoeuvre, mostly). Me think of having a stunt system to BRP, with easy requirement (50% or 75% perhaps) that take its inspiration from everything (such as Blood and Tide, D&D5e)

There are many variation of the luck point system, almost each D100 variation has its own implementation... I guess the consensus seems to be ... while everybody like luck, nobody quite like the way it works (i.e. there is no common implementaion that is the general favorite)! So you are not alone... I guess you will have to experiment hey? As for me, I found the latest CoC appealing. Maybe not the starting luck value... (which I would arbitrate to, say .. 20+ pow?), but I like how it increase / recover (1 improvement roll after the adventure, which cost XP since I use XP) and is consumed...

What about the Psionic power in BRP? Or Mysticism rule in Legend/Mythras? Additionally I like the stunt concept of Revolution D100 or feat from Blood Tide, and I am thinking it would be nice to add a range of power (maximum INT of them) and I am thinking to make a list of power gated various skill at, say, 50% or 75%, maybe inspired from D&D classes's power or Mysticism

Barak, I will hypothesise... since I dunno what is the real problem you have in game.. But it might be a little like me.. Since I only really GM a D100 game only recently... But I was always keen because HP don't change and are not too high! (though I am still contemplating every now and then use the CON+SIZE option instead of (CON+SIZ)/2 for HP) On one hand it's not very unrealistic (in fact it is realistic!) to die to 1 or 2 sword stroke.. (though it is definitely unrealistic to die, on average, from 3 punches), on the other hand it's. somewhat uncomfortable to kill the player characters almost on a whim and rather quickly... so if this is what annoys you, this is how I am slowly getting ok with it: - 1: Luck points, very important, lot of ways to die quickly and nastily in BRP. And maybe damage are a tad much sometimes. But hey, that why you use luck point to avoid the situation altogether! Use CoC 7 rule for luck point, it's gud! - 2: Another CoC 7: 0 HP or less doesn't necessary mean death! - 3: finally (optional) location HP kind of give more life to a character.. though it is somewhat problematic with high damage / spell. undecided here...

BRP, RevolutionD100, ClassicFantasy

Well.... Melbournian always boast to have 4 seasons everyday! 😮

Hey Paolo, To answer your very first question at the top.... - when I look at the RD100 forum flooded with my question I feel self consciously bad about it! - I both like and BRP and RD100 and kind of undecided between them... but while I am firmly with RD100 for my Dark Elf campaign now, I plan to use BRP for the upcoming Scifi one and many of my question have my scifi campaign in mind now... this one too, though the armor part was quite relevant to the Dark Elf campaign as well.... Anyway thanks for pitching in... I have to say I had only one full read of the RD100 rule (the first time, when I was confused...) I have trouble reading it again or finding section of interest.. 😮 Like the rule on page 73! And the (new) sunder effect! we were looking for something like that! And I misread the damage weapon rules, I though you had to have a better quality weapon! But equal will work as well hey? Cool!

It has been foretold, the end of time is nigh! 😮 Seriously, hoping it doesn't cause too much trouble.. 😕 It has been years since I have seen snow! 😮

BTW I only knwo the name of "Command and conquer" and that is a game.. 😮 As for Overwatch... I played almost non stop for the last 3 years until recently.... At the start I was aiming for the same amount of hours in every heroes, I am a jack of all trade.. 😂 So I have more than one favorite! Those days most my favorites are in the DPS camp... anyway, here we go: - Pharah: she can fly, enough said! Plus fire rocket and she is, of course, cute - Tracer: she can zip around unstoppable. In a pinch she can rewind time. Awesome abilities! Her weakness is that she is what one would call a glass canon and have stupid short range weapon. - special mention: Zarya. well times bubble can save many lives. And make her an unstoppable force on the battlefield! - special mention: Mei: she is smart, cute and a mad inventor like Iron Man!

Good time to share that video too!

Or maybe make nerf guns looks like the real thing! 😮