seneschal

I will have to check that out. The presence of non-human aliens and the existence of a giant star empire don't necessarily have to go together. Asimov's Galactic Empire was humans only. Traveller's Third Imperium began as humans only, mixed in human variants such as the Solomoni (Soviet style Earthers) and Zhodani (psychics who know what's best for you), and finally introduced full aliens such as the Hivers. Star Wars always had both, though those ambitious, aggressive humans seem to dominate politics.

Droids You are a sentient machine created to serve humanity. The bad news: You are a virtual slave, can have your memory wiped, and must have any damage you suffer repaired by a qualified technician. The good news: As long as your memory core remains intact your consciousness and memories can be installed in a new body. Your mechanical strength is often greater than that of your fleshly masters. Your metal skin resists wear and damage, and you are immune to poisons and disease. Whether you can suffocate or drown depends on your specific design. Stats -- STR 5d6 (17-18), CON 2d6+6 (13), AC -- 5 (metal skin, vs. kinetic and heat) Skills: Language (Machine Language) INTx5. Other skills per profession.

I have the original MS: DOS version of Master of Orion but actually played more of a Windows game, Ascendancy, which covered the same territory.

So ... when do we play?

The Star Wars and Master of Orion franchises are both well-done but they have different emphases and thus a different feel. Morality in Star Wars is supposed to be black and white because Lucas was attempting to recapture the childhood joys of old Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers movie serials. In fact., his initial plan wad to do a Flash Gordon remake but he couldn't get the rights. He ended up having to come up with his own thing, and Star Wars is the better for it. Ironically, the success of SW paved the way for a 1980 live action Flash Gordon film by Dino De Laurentis. Flash was certainly fun but it didn't have the franchise power of Star Wars. Master of Orion in contrast is a tale of interstellar competition among assorted sentient races, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. It isn't necessarily Game of Thrones dark but the rivalry and desperation for survival is real. It could make a good movie if each species was given irs moment to express its goals and desires. Maybe a Babylon 5 feel?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.

R.U.R. is a stage play that debuted in 1921 and introduced the world to the word "robot." The acronym stands for Rossum's Universal Robots. Author Karel Copek's idea of a robot resembles our notions of androids or Blade Runner style replicants. Rossum's creations are artificial human beings whose synthetic organs and tissues are grown in vats and assembled like car parts. In the far future of A.D. 2000 robots are essential to the global economy. They initially don't mind working with their hands to serve mankind, thwarting the efforts of civil rights groups to free them. Eventually, however, they decide they've had enough and revolt. So that trope has been present from the beginning. So what does all this have to do with Cthulhu, you ask? Well, Rossum invented his artificial protoplasm in 1932, still within the usual CoC era. He was interested in creating artificial pets and animals; it was his business saavy nephew who conceived of using the process to mass produce cheap labor. In summary, you've got a mad scientist with a monster-making technique that works quite well, thank you. You've got his greedy, unscrupulous nephew with dreams of making big money. You've got artificial people who can't easily be distinguished from normal humans and who may have agendas of their own. You've got an isolated lab filled with vats of living body parts and God only knows what sort of creatures penned up; If you can't assemble something out of that for your Halloween gaming session, I don't know what to tell you.

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2009/07/17/declassified-documents-reveal-kgb-spies-in-the-us https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacklisted_by_History

Ian, Q-woman, this is the Star Wars thread. Please take your political stuff to Skull Inn. Joerg and I touched briefly on this while discussing the Empire's weaknesses then moved back on topic. So far, it doesn't seem as if either of you are enthusiastic about Chaosium product or eager to talk about the joys of role-playing. I am here to discuss games and get away from all the real-world garbage. And neither of you will restrict my free thought and free expression while talking about games. That is Trif's job if it is anybody's. Please contribute usefully or move on.

Lawnmower porn! Ssssshhhhh! We don't want to give anybody more bad ideas. Meanwhile, at my local Walmart a janitor bot sweeps and mops (poorly), replacing 2-4 human employees. If one of them had given the same performance he would have been summarily fired. There is also an inventory robot, complete with glowing red Cylon-like red eye.

Robots have no emotions and can't be offended. Cyberism is a non-starter. 😉

Sounds like another GM call to add color to a scenario.

I was running errands on a rainy early afternoon a few days ago and glanced over at a corner gas station. Trundling across the damp lawn was a four-wheeled contraption about 22 inches wide, smaller than a briefcase. It was a robot lawnmower, carefully working its way around yard signs and other obstacles, ensuring that the station's grass was putting-green smooth. Mowing in the rain, taking some 14-year-old's job. The future is here. Where are Rosie the robot maid and my flying bubble car?

Pod people need love, too, you know. Well, that and maybe some Miracle Grow every other week.

Not sure. A lot of the family stuff comes from Clone Wars and/or Rebels, neither of which I've had the opportunity to see. Apparently there is a Twi'lek hybrid character in the mix who has to deal with parental issues. But I feel you. Before starting my write-up research I had only seen the dancing girl Oola and Jabba the Hutt's majordomo Bib Fortuna, both from Return of the Jedi. I assumed the head tentacles would be some sort of brain extension and that BRP characters would enjoy INT of 4d6 or 5d6. Fortuna had to do something to gain his position, didn't he? But nope, it is either rubbery hair or an extra pair of limbs useful for those extra busy mornings where you've got to finish the boss's pet project and get the kids to school on time.

I don't know. Should we take a vote? Twi'leks get APP/CHA of 2d6+6.and/or a shot at having an extra set of arms hanging from the backs of their heads? 🥴 We've never seen them do anything but dangle in the movies. I don't know about TV shows like Clone Wars. But according to Wookiepedia, lekka are supposed to be fully functional manipulatory limbs. Otherwise it is like having calamari for hair. 🤨 🤔

Twi'leks Also known as Rutians or Rylothians, the Twi'lek are tall, willowy "bumpy forehead" humanoids native to the Outer Rim planet of Ryloth. Because of galactic geography they frequently find themselves thrust into conflicts between the Galactic Empire and the Rebellion. Their most distinctive physical feature is a pair of thick prehensile tentacles that grow from the base of their skulls called "lekka". These lekka can also grow from the crown of their heads, and some rare individuals have four. Twi'leks come in a broad variety of skin tones ranging from pasty white to bright poison frog colors. Females have cone-shaped auditory organs while men posses normal human ears. For cultural reasons, men tend to file their teeth into sharp points. Females are considered beautiful by humans and are commonly sold as slaves. Twi'leks are perfectly capable of mating and producing healthy children with humans. In addition to their language and Galactic Basic, they can also speak a kind of sign language with their lekka. All info from starwars.fandom.com. Stats/skills -- Mechanically, Twi'leks are indistinguishable from regular human player-characters, except they have an extra pair of arms. You could dig through the Big Gold Book's chapter on assorted powers to try to model that. But it would be simpler and easier for the Game Master to occasionally allow a Twi'lek character to to perform some action that a person with only two arms just couldn't do. Update: After consultation with my fellow gamers, we will give Twi'lek characters 2d6+6 or 2d6+8 (GM's call) APP/CHA because humans in the Star Wars universe consider them so drop-dead gorgeous. The jury is still out on whether lekka are actually useful or whether they just dangle. I am inclined, based on what we see in the movies, to let them just dangle.

Yes, we want to stay focused on Star Wars. Besides, Joerg, how do you know I'm not one of THEM? 😱 (It's OK, really. I'll just place the pod outside your window tonight and you won't feel a thing.). 😉

Re: Joseph McCarthy. History and time have demonstrated that perhaps we've been unfair to poor, old Joe no matter what Hollywood, the news media and academia keep proclaiming about him. It is the folks who tend to be sympathetic to Communism telling the story, after all. Following the fall of the Soviet empire, Russian documents were unearthed that confirmed that McCarthy was telling the truth: 1950s America was indeed crammed with Communist agents bent on undermining our society, and many of those people had embedded themselves in (can't you guess?) Hollywood, the news media and academia. Roosevelt and Truman had been aware of the infiltration in the 1930s but either didn't consider it a problem or were distracted by more urgent priorities. McCarthy is accused of persecuting the hapless, defenseless Reds but most of that was actually done by the House (of Representatives) Un-American Activities Committee. Joseph McCarthy was a member of the U.S. Senate. Now, does that mean McCarthy was a warm and loving fellow you would want to invite over for Thanksgiving dinner? Uhhhhh, maybe not. But he was a patriot. Which brings us to: 3a. The Communist Chinese Model We've seen that the Persian style of empire was pretty decentralized and afforded its subjects a modicum of freedom even if it didn't provide them with representative government and democracy. The King of Kings was concerned about your obedience and your ability to pay your taxes. He didn't try to tell you what to think or how to raise your kids. Modern Communist empires are the opposite. They not only want you to obey and pay, they want you to like it and tell all your neighbors and friends how much you adore the State for taking away your liberty and paycheck. China is a prime example. And George Lucas' Empire tends to be like China. Don't want to belabor the China angle because we want to stay focused on Star Wars. But it has become a high-tech tyranny that uses its advanced gear to attempt to monitor and control each one of its roughly 1.4 billion citizens. That's expensive, difficult, ties down a lot of government employees, generally generates a lot of work that you wouldn't have to do under a different management style. And that's what the Empire is doing. Ever notice that all Imperial officers of any rank are always stressed out? No one seems to be enjoying his or her rank, position, luxury land speeder, art-or high-fidelity-filled private condo on the high-status end of the ship. Why engage in ruthless conquest if you don't get to wallow in the ill-gotten fruits of your efforts? Taken together, these three factors may be why the Empire (like George Lucas and Disney) seems out of fresh ideas. "The Rebels destroyed our first Death Star. Oh, I know! We will build another one, only BIGGER, twice!" With a Senior Staff like that, who needs enemies?

3. I Can Micro-Manage That For You Both George Lucas' Evil Empire and Traveller's Third Imperium were inspired by Isaac Asimov's original Galactic Empire, the setting of his Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation). The Star Wars version and the Asimov polity do share some similarities. They both encompass the population of an entire galaxy. They are wealthy, culturally and technologically advanced, not necessarily concerned with citizens' individual rights and freedoms. They both tend to go huge, whether we're talking about architecture, engineering projects, or starships. That's in part because of the technology available at the time Asimov was writing his novels. When you are talking about bus bars and vacuum tubes, bigger really is better. "The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers." On the other hand, they have an essential difference in how they approach the management of their territory, what I will call the ancient Persian model and the Communist Chinese model. Long before McDonald's the Persian Empire had the whole franchise thing down. The Emperor was literally "King of Kings" because the provinces that acknowledged his rule were actually run by sub-kings, satraps, changed with collecting what amounted to federal taxes, contributing their share of trained men and funding to the imperial army, and maintaining public order. As long as he could manage to do those things a satrap's job was pretty cushy, because he was relieving the Boss of worry and responsibility. The Persian Empire was a rather cosmopolitan and multicultural place. With his military and bank account well maintained the Emperor didn't care what language his subjects spoke, or who or what they worshipped, or what regional and local customs they observed. Of course, if a riot or rebellion broke out the satrap's name was mud, and he and his severed head would soon be planted in the mud. Traveller's Third Imperium is like the Persian model, while Asimov's Galactic Empire is sort of a more laid-back Roman Empire, firm but not outrageously cruel. And it is very stable. The Galactic Empire has ensured peaceful and orderly civilization for 12,000 years -- and even when it falls the fall takes 500 years and the people affected barely notice. Lucas' Empire is a different beast.

2. If At First You Don't Succeed, You're Dead We've seen it throughout the Star Wars franchise. One of Darth Vader's or Kylo Ren's underlings -- always a veteran officer or civil servant -- makes a decision or takes an action the boss dislikes and is summarily murdered and replaced with an instantly promoted junior employee. This policy is apparently approved by upper management because no one since Grand Moff Tarkin has ever attempted to restrain it. "What's the problem?," you say. This is the Evil Empire, after all. James Bond foe SPECTRE has a similar human resources strategy. Terror motivates henchmen to peak performance, doesn't it? Well, the issue is that Darth Vader -- First Servant of the Emperor -- is systematically culling the Imperial forces of their most experienced leaders. Officers are not living to learn from their mistakes. That means that the Rebels are always up against inexperienced Imperial commanders, amateurs. Assuming that FN-2187 manages to survive the latest skirmish, he's already at advantage during the next confrontation.

Three Reasons the Empire Tends To Lose Star Wars protagonists tend to be brave, noble, self-sacrificing types. However, it is possible that the Rebellion could send out Homer Simpson and Lou Costello to fight the good fight and still win. Here's why: 1. Walmart Syndrome Remember Moff Tarkin boasting that the remnants of the Imperial Senate could be safely swept away because the bureaucracy would hold things together? Now think about how things are at your local Department of Public Safety or Department of Motor Vehicles. Limited operating hours, nine windows but only two customer service agents on duty, an extremely leisurely work pace from said agents. Take a number and wait endlessly to accomplish a task that only takes five minutes to complete. Pray fervently that your number gets called before the joint closes early at 4 pm -- mid-week. You are encouraged to schedule an appointment in advance -- they only see so many customers per day -- but doing so makes absolutely no difference as to when or whether you get helped. Your tax dollars at work. The Empire may once have been an efficient military organization. This is not your Daddy's Imperium. In fact, it is somewhat like another large (though much smaller) terrestrial organization. Sam Walton founded his empire with a focus on customer service. He opened his stores in small, rural towns and provided goods -- food, tools, toys, etc. -- that the isolated citizenry couldn't get from existing Mom and Pop businesses and would have to acquire either by mail order or by a long drive to a larger town. Today's global retail giant is focused on pleasing shareholders rather than customers. Upper management is ignorant of local conditions and customer needs. Employees, who once enjoyed generous perks and benefits, are now treated to a one-size-fits-all approach that benefits the company rather than the worker. They are thoroughly disposable. That's the entity that Luke Skywalker & Company are fighting. No wonder Stormtroopers are such inefficient soldiers. They're getting skanked by both their officers and their opponents.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.space.com/amp/9051-solar-sail-spacecraft-explore-solar-system.html Did some more research. A solar sail craft would be much faster than the International Space Station. Accelerating over a period of three years, it could reach speeds of 150,000 mph (240,000 km per hour). That means our Space Hispaniola could reach Pluto in five years or less. A ten-year round trip is much easier to prepare for than a 40-year jaunt The sail would have to be hundreds of kilometers across per side to generate those speeds, and we still don't know what the crew and cargo capacity of such a craft would be or how much fuel tankage would be required to supply a decade's worth of life support and equipment usage. But we are making progress. Our solar sail would be a giant, rigid electronics-filled Triscuit cracker that uses energy fluctuations along its surface to steer. Not what I initially imagined, but it is what real-life space programs are sending out.

On the other hand, perhaps that fits what we see on screen. Our movies focus on a tiny percentage of the Imperial population that can channel and direct the Force. Most folks don't even know it exists, much less how to use it to affect the world around them. In that sense, the Skywalker family is sort of like the X-Men. Both are a tiny group of people with strange abilities outsiders either deny or fear. That's why other Imperial officers aboard the Death Star dared to sneer at Darth Vader. To us, the audience, he's the big bad. To them, he's an old cripple in a life support suit who bitterly clings to discredited religious beliefs. They can't understand why or how Lord Vader has managed to win the favor of Grand Moff Tarkin and the Emperor. And, dang it, he's standing in the way of their next promotion.

Joerg, Thot, it is quickly becoming apparent that much as I love Traveller, that game's starship rules can't handle the realities our research is turning up. 😭 I think that the lifespan and healthcare that our young Jim Hawkins can expect are key here. If people now normally live to 120 or 130 in relatively good health and activity, then returning at 65 isn't as big a deal. Age 65 is the new 40; and we all know life doesn't begin until 40. Hawkins can expect to launch a second career, assuming space doesn't kill him first. Since a lot of folks today aren't getting married and starting families until their 30s or even early 40s, Hawkins could even enjoy domesticity after his voyage. Although freezing crew members' sperm or eggs beforehand might still be a wise precaution. We don't know what the various energies surging through space might do to human reproductive capability. If we go with the virile/nubile scenario we open up a bunch of other possibilities (cans of worms?). Suddenly Star Trek becomes a CW show, with horny youthfully spacehands dealing with all sorts of distractions from the mission. Or at least Robotsch Macross.