What are you working on now?

[seneschal]

Because the moon is not in a fixed geostationary orbit. It still has it's "forward" velocity. The reason why the moon orbits the Earth is that is moves "forward" at the same rate that it "falls" towards the Earth, about 750m/sec or 2700kph. So unless the push was very, very great the forward movment would push the moon far enough out of line to miss the Earth and zip off into space. The effect it would have on the Earth while doing so would be cataclysmic.

THe major problem with that scientifically is that the moon is so massive (7.34x10^19 metric tons) that you would need an incredible amount of energy to move the thing a meaningful distance. 25 years of nuclear waste would be like Sort of like tieing a bottle rocket onto an aircraft carrier. You might leave a scorch mark, but you can't move the thing a measurable distance. You'd probably need to set off a small continent to get enough energy to get the moon moving.

So ... even if the Moonbase Alpha folks had managed to escape, they wouldn't have had an Earth, or at least not the one they knew, to return to? ;-(

[Trifletraxor]

I'll see what can fly. But then with you in Norway, you have a lot more freedom in this regard than I do in the US with some of it new draconic laws. It actually a felony to buy and sell used DVDs now. Not that most people are aware of some of the "oopses" of the DMCA and PIRATE Act.

Well in Norway the guy who cracked the DVD-code, so DVDs could be copied and burned, was prosecuted but not found guilty. As long as I don't personally earn money from any copyrighted material, I'm pretty much in the clear.

SGL.

[Atgxtg]

So ... even if the Moonbase Alpha folks had managed to escape, they wouldn't have had an Earth, or at least not the one they knew, to return to? ;-(

That is actually mentioned by the newscaster in the last few minutes of the pilot episode, too. Specifically:

The totally unforeseen accident on the lunar surface has caused very serious repercussions here on Earth. The gravity disruption, the earthquakes in the United States along the San Andres fault, and in Yugoslavia, as well as Southern France, has caused enormous damage to life and property.

There are even a few times in the series where they even wonder if Earth was destroyed, although a latter episode confirms that it did.

[soltakss]

THe major problem with that scientifically is that the moon is so massive (7.34x10^19 metric tons) that you would need an incredible amount of energy to move the thing a meaningful distance. 25 years of nuclear waste would be like Sort of like tieing a bottle rocket onto an aircraft carrier. You might leave a scorch mark, but you can't move the thing a measurable distance. You'd probably need to set off a small continent to get enough energy to get the moon moving.

Well, yes and no. The major problem with moving the Moon is that it moves to another Solar System or, in fact, to other Solar Systems in the lifetime of the inhabitants. This means that they would be moving incredibly quickly, they had to have jumped to another part of space or the writers weren't that interested in the Physics of the movement.

Hmm, I wonder which one is true?

[Atgxtg]

Well, yes and no. The major problem with moving the Moon is that it moves to another Solar System or, in fact, to other Solar Systems in the lifetime of the inhabitants. This means that they would be moving incredibly quickly, they had to have jumped to another part of space or the writers weren't that interested in the Physics of the movement.

Hmm, I wonder which one is true?

Actually that isn't a problem. THat has to do with relativelity and time dilation. As a object's speed increases time will pass slower for that object relative to a "stationary" object. So, for instance, a trip to a star system 10 light years away at .75c would take something like 4 years 4 and a half months for the occupants, even though ten years would elapse on Earth. So if Alpha was travelling at a near light speed it would be able to go vast distances in months, while centures would pass for the rest of the universe.

THey even mention this a few times in the series too, and in the episode where they contact Earth, something like 20 years have passed, even though it has only been a couple of years on Alpha.

Plus the moon does go through a few stellar phenomena that shift it's position.

But, such speed causes some other problems for Alpha. One being that it would bee almost impossible for them to land an Eagle on a planet, and make it absolutely impossible for an Eagle that did land to make it back.

But then, this is Sci-Fi.

Still, they could have avoided all this if they has stuck with the original premise for the series.

[Zane]

Still, they could have avoided all this if they has stuck with the original premise for the series.

What was the original premise?

[Atgxtg]

What was the original premise?

UFO:1999

Back in 1970 Gerry Anderson did a TV series called UFO, about a secret organization that was trying to prevent aliens from abducting humans (and using their organs for spare parts). The organization SHADO, had a base on the moon where it kept interceptors that tired to shoot down the alien ships. A fleet of submarines with fighters and SSTs that carried laser equipped ground vehicles would also hunt down the aliens.

The series did well in US ratings, and CBS was interested in doing a second series/season. The concept was that the situation would have escalated, and the moonbase expanded so as to try and cut off the aliens before they got to Earth. The interceptors, each of which only fire one shot (but it was a tac nuke) were going to be replaced with newer, better craft (think Eagles and Hawks).

When the ratings of UFO started to slide (not surprising since it was reapting the same 24 episodes over and over, and certain mysteries were never quite solved), CBS pulled out.

At that point the story splits off depending on which source you listen too. Either the remaining backer was opposed to a second series of UFO and was sold on the "lost moon" concept, or someone in the staff mentioned the idea offhanded while they were still working on UFO:1999 and everyone got taken with with idea.

There are quite a few similarities between the two shows, and enough common ground between the two shows to suggest that Space:1999 and UFO take place in the same "universe" and share the same continuity. This is helped a lot by the fact the Gerry Anderson did reuse some stuff from UFO on Space:1999 giving both series an similar look. The Stand SHADO and Moonbase Alpha uniforms are very similar, and the space suits aren''t much different, down to the lack of oxygen tanks. Both series had Barry Gray providing the musical score (at least for one series) so they have a similar feel, too. Generally if you like one series you usually like the other.

Adding more to this. UFO also reused some stuff from a movie Anderson had made called Doppleganger (or Journey to the Far Side of the Sun in the US).

Coincidenaly, and somewhat interestingly, Doppleganger featured Roy Thinnes, who has recently starred in the US TV series The Invaders. It was about a reporter who discovers that aliens from a dying planet are on the planet disguised as humans and attempting to take Earth. That isn't much different from UFO. IN both series matters were complicated by the fact that it was almost impossible to get physical evidence. Alien bodies and equipment would decay on Earth after a short time. It would not be hard to look at the Invaders as occurring in the same universe as UFO.

[Zane]

The series did well in US ratings, and CBS was interested in doing a second series/season. The concept was that the situation would have escalated, and the moonbase expanded so as to try and cut off the aliens before they got to Earth. The interceptors, each of which only fire one shot (but it was a tac nuke) were going to be replaced with newer, better craft (think Eagles and Hawks).

Now that would have rocked! I definitely like UFO, though I didn't see the whole thing till I bought the DVD set a few years back.

[Atgxtg]

Now that would have rocked! I definitely like UFO, though I didn't see the whole thing till I bought the DVD set a few years back.

Keep you fingers crossed. There have been several attempts to revive both Space:1999 and UFO over the years. One guy just about had it worked out. He had Gerry's approval, and had Ed Bishop all set to reprise his role as Straker, although now in a position similar to General Henderson.

And the Message from Moonbase short film was something of a sales pitch for a Space: 1999 sequel.

From an RPG perspective, I am thinking of tacking UFO after getting Space:1999 working. And the idea of a UFO:1999 setting as a variant has possibilities.

That is kind of why I mentioned The Invaders. It could all be strung together as a single campaign time line.

[rust]

Since September I have been working on a science fiction setting. It is a

young colony on a water world on the edge of the "Honorverse" of David

Weber's books.

I use Call of Cthulhu / Cthulhu Rising for character generation and roleplay-

ing and various GURPS supplements (especially from the GURPS Traveller li-

ne) for the technology.

Until now "my" players and I have played this setting for fifty-one "game ti-

me years", and we now have about fifty pages of "canonical" backgound ma-

terial (astronomy, geography, biosphere, society, etc.), several maps and

lots of notes - all of it in German.

We currently plan to "translate" the entire setting into BRP as soon as it be-

comes available, and I am just busy with preparations for this - and with

browsing this forum, searching for interesting ideas, of course.

[Gnarsh]

I'm getting ready for another series of adventures in my current RQ campaign.

The setting is based on a mixture of Glorantha, Questworld, numerous random 3rd party fantasy stuff (Harn, Lum and Vecna from AD&D lore, Sanctuary and the Ranke Empire, etc), and a ton of original material we've added over a few decades.

Dorastor in our world fell into a sub-plane during the Arkat wars. There are a few planar connections, two of which enter on our plane. One in the Lunar Empire (of course!), and the other was opened up when a Demon broke the world near the kingdom that the adventurers currently call home. That one opens up in the mountain north of Forth Wrath in Dorastor and the entrance on this end is a huge chasm surrounded by miles of broken lands. The kingdom has built some defensive fortifications along the chasm itself and a small keep/village about 10km south (closest point where people can actually kinda live off the land). These defenses were tested recently when Ralzakark sent a pretty decent sized assault force through to their "side", resulting in some significant damage and lots of fighting. Some player adventures occurred as they attempted to stop scouting parties of the bad guys from finding routes around the kingdom's defenses. Also they learned that some Bat cultists have re-appeared nearby, which may lead to some other "bad things"...

Meanwhile, one of their enemies to the south is taking the opportunity to move on them. Well. Not so much "opportunity" as planned. A previous group traveling through his lands "accidentally" saved one of the sons of their enemy. Oops. Turned out that he seems to be a nice guy (demon weapon notwithstanding). He was being hunted by some creatures that looked like semi-formed broos (no horns, but otherwise broolike). He mentioned that his brother had sent him off to patrol the area when his squad was attacked. Hmm.... Could there be a good brother and a bad one? Nah.... No plot plan here.

The boo creatures are actually the result of experiments on criminals (and the good brother thought that his father was doing something right what with the recent reduction in crime...). A Thed advisor from Ralzakark is conducting them and working with the ruler. Of course, his attack was supposed to be a distraction for Ralzakark and not the other way around, but bad guys don't always work well together...

In the midst of all of this, the party will have to deal with roving broo creatures, figure out what's happening, deal with a couple random nasty things that have nothing to do with the main plot, but will put them in the right locations to get them information they need, try to help the good brother while stopping the plots of his father and brother, and otherwise get themselves into as much trouble as possible.

Hah. And that's just the backdrop opening stuff for a much larger and longer story arc I'm working on...

[Nightshade]

I'm putting together a campaign called "House of Falling Stars" inspired by Andre Norton's Witchworld novels (particularly Three Against the Witchworld and its two sequels) about the scouts of one of a group of five clan/houses in a country that is overrun by invaders, who have to travel beyond the long-taboo Firefall Mountains to find a refuge for their kinsmen, and find a strange land leftover from a long ago conflict between a magical race that were their own ancestors. Its using a hybrid between RQ3, RQ:AIG and some interim versions earlier in the "RQ4" playtest.

[dracopticon]

My own roleplaying world of EBROS and system with the same name (which is a BRP clone) is now some twenty to twentyfive years in the doing. I have my own website which shows something of the content so far. The address link is: hem.passagen.se/drakfisk (it's not on www). The documents made so far is somewhat disparate and talks about different starting years, but other than that, the site shows the character generation system made until now.

What isn't shown is the magic system, with five different basic ritual systems and 36 different kinds of magic organized in 12 magic schools. But these schools were active some 1500 years ago, and their old knowledge are today almost totally shunned by everyone alive. Almost everyone atleast... The reason is that the old Empire of the High King Emperor was brought down by magicians, so they're still forbidden everywhere.

Well, perhaps I will put it all together before my last breath comes. I don't know, it's really a gigantic work for one person. My brain keeps producing new ideas for the setting anyhow. I like it.

Erik Brickman.

[punc_e]

Running a weekly CofC campaign

Adapting Space: 1889 to my own homebrewed "cinematic" version of BRP.

[Trifletraxor]

My own roleplaying world of EBROS and system with the same name (which is a BRP clone) is now some twenty to twentyfive years in the doing. I have my own website which shows something of the content so far. The address link is: hem.passagen.se/drakfisk (it's not on www). The documents made so far is somewhat disparate and talks about different starting years, but other than that, the site shows the character generation system made until now.

Another site for the link list!

I'll add it later today!

SGL.

[TRose]

I am working on

1)Keeping wife happy:)

2)Playing Call of Cuthulu when time permits.

3) Trying to find a time to start Rq campaign that does not conflict with too many of other people schedule . Game starts in Knightsfort just after battle of Moon broth . Pharoeh agents are worried about Lunar expansion into Prax and have decided to try to make life interesting for the Lunar garrison. they are hiring Prax nomads, Sartar rebels , Trolls etc. and other proxies to do their work so they can of course deny any involvement

[Turloigh]

1.) For several years I've been working on my RuneQuest homebrew (a mix of Stormbringer and RQ3, with a few ideas gathered from the MRQ playtest thrown in). I'll probably return to that project as soon as I get the new BRP in my sweaty hands.

2.) In the near future, I'll launch a little campaign with a D&D homebrew (Basic Fantasy with skills, a few feats, spell points, and a sort of wounds/vitality system). The setting is inspired by this thread over on RPGnet.

Other than that, not much, as I prefer to spend time with my GF these days.

[dracopticon]

Another site for the link list!

I'll add it later today!

SGL.

A huge thank you for that!

Erik Brickman.

[Turloigh]

I always wondered why, if the nuclear waste that caused the propulsive explosion was stored on the dark side of the moon, the satelite wasn't pushed into the Pacific instead of knocked out into the cosmos?

But, the moon doesn't really have a... oh, never mind.