From: Michael Bauser <MBAUSER@KENTVM.KENT.EDU> Date: Sat, 10 Sep 94 21:58:01 EDT Subject: Something to get the ball rolling (I hope). Okay, I've had three people write to me agreeing we should exchange some ideas/files/whatever, so skimmed through my meager files and pulled out a small one to share. I came up with this one either while taking a physical anthropology class, or reading the _Weekly World News_. Whatever. Relp TYPE: Large Omnivore NUMBER: 1-5 MOVE: Slow IM/RS: 5/45 STAMINA: 120 ATTACK (AD): 60 ATTACK (ZG): Column +4 DAMAGE: 4d10 or 6d10 SPECIAL ATTACK: None SPECIAL DEFENSE: None NATIVE WORLD: Rupert's Hole--forest DESCRIPTION: Relps (Rupert's Extremely Large Primates) are 3.2 meter tall humanoid mammals found in the forests of Rupert's Hole. Living (near watering holes) in small family-like groups, relps are the most advanced animals native to the planet. They appear as large, thick limbed humanoids with short fur that becomes long at the end of their limbs. The fur is dark brown to black. Relps eyes have large pupils, allowing them to see well in the dark, but without any of the daylight sensitivity problems that plague Yazirians. Relps have a mass of 430 kilograms. Relps are peaceful primates, who do not care to enter civilized areas. Their diet consists primarily of leaves, nuts, and any animals they can catch with their hands. Their appetites are huge and their reactions to characters quite variable. If the relp is hungry and the characters are moving slowly, the relp will probably consider them a food source. On the other hand, and quickly moving character is ignored being too hard to catch. Relps will flee from loud noises such as explosions. Their are unconfirmed reports of relps mistaking Yazirians and Hummas for young relps, and treating them accordingly. If attacked, they will fight back with their incredible (STR 200) strength, either smashing their target with both fists (for 4d10 damage) or with small logs (6d10 damage). Relps seldom hold onto such clubs for long, and are only found carrying them about 10% of the time. Relps have no language and are not considered sentient. Like most primates in the Frontier, they are a protected species on their homeworld. Yeah, it's a bit odd, but I've always thought prehistoric primates had an untapped potential as gaming monsters. Now it's somebody else's turn to share. Who's up to it?
From: roymeo@iastate.edu Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 03:09:02 -0500 Subject: Biosocialist When Zebulon's Guide: The Incomplete came out, my group converted our characters. Unfortunately, everyone's character fit into one of the new prefessions relatively well, except for mine. I was originally in the Biosocial PSA, and I didn't really split well into either scispec (which kinda fit) or explorer (which didn't fit at all). This class was developed by my group as a whole, when we took a good look and found the new professions to be lacking in that area (thus, this wasn't just a change to make my character more powerful cuase he'd be able to keep more xp by buying them cheaper, but something others saw as kinda lacking). Thus class now contains skills from the Envronmental, Medical, and Psycho-social. Kinda "everything you need for promising young Space Driuds". Biosocialist Profession skill pre-reqs Analyze Ecosystems Biology 3 (Botany 2; Zoology 2) Archaeology Biology Botany 2; Zoology 2 Botany Chemistry Communication Empathetic Understanding Find Directions Geology Hypnosis Intelligence* or Charisma* Making Items/Structures Medical Diagnosis Medical Treatment: Disease Medical Diagnosis Medical Treatment: Infection Medical Diagnosis Medical Treatment: Infestation Medical Diagnosis Medical Treatment: Miscellaneous Medical Diagnosis Medical Treatment: Poison Medical Diagnosis Medical Treatment: Wounds I Medical Diagnosis Medical Treatment: Wounds II Medical Diagnosis; Wounds I Medical Treatment: Wounds III Medical Diagnosis;Wounds I;Wounds II Persuasion Psycho-pathology Stealth Survival Tracking Zoology
From: "M.P. Soulier" <u9008759@@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 00:35:01 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: Something to get the ball rolling (I hope). Wow, we've started a Star Frontiers dist. list! Cool! I haven't played the game in so long, and I was thinking about trying to drum up some interest in my university club. I've got some ideas actually. One main problem with SF is that there are no real effects for Stamina loss. Has anyone come up with an idea for wound effects? Also, using ZG, I modified the rules to allow more realistic defense during melee and HTH combat. Instead of attacking on your skill column alone, you attack on the column of (attacker's skill - defender's skill). I mean, two equally skilled combatants should have a hard time with each other, not beat each other's brains in until one of them dies! Also, what does everyone else do to incorporate Knight Hawks spaceship skills into ZG format? I was thinking about dropping the skill prerequisites, because I find it silly that you have to be a marksman with a hand weapon to use artillery scale weaponry on starships. Also, the prereqs would have to be filled out of the ZG skills, which is difficult to convert. Wow, I'm going to have to dig out all my old stuff! :)
From: roymeo@iastate.edu Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 02:07:34 -0500 ok, to answer a couple of Mike/u9's questions: One Dragon Article did deal somewhat with STA loss. Kinda. A Shot In The Arm ended up to be more of a 'crit-hit' or hit location system. Not all hits do 'specific' damage, but if you do get a broken arm and a shoulder wound, they must be healed seperately and the penalties from woulds don't go away for a while after that. (this is from Dragon 124) On the Knight Hawks thing... well, while I see your point, why should someone have to spend 63 xp on Beam in order to shoot an spaceship gun (I think they should take several levels in 'three dimensional thinking':). But on the other hand some prereqs should be required for someone who is going to be flying the ship. I think it's absurd to say the guy piloting the ship can't do anything when you hit an atmosphere with that streamlined ship. I made a list up of the new 'prereqs' once, and then decided that that was far too much of an experience point drain (even if the old pilot had to commit 96 xp to prereqs, he got a lot for those. You can't do much with a lot of extra Vehicles: Atmosphere levels. So, then I made a 'Quick' list, so my current group of players can hopefully get their butts into a ship and fly it. Old system: Pilot: Tech 6 Com 2 (96) Astrogator: Com 6 (84) Engineer: Tech 4 Rob 2 (52) Rocket: Prog 4 Gyro 2 (39) Energy: Beam 6 (63) (I also thought it silly to pay so much more for energy vs. rocket) Quick Astrogator Astrophysics 2 2 Computers: Display Information 2 Computers: Interface 2 Computers: Program Manipulation 2 Mathematics 6 5 Physics 5 (64) 4 (37) Energy Weapons Weapons: Beam 8 (57) 6 (31) Engineering Engineer: Mechanical 5 3 Engineer: Nuclear 4 3 Machinery Operation 2 2 Machinery Repair 5 4 Physics 3 (65) 3 (37) Pilot Astrophysics 2 2 - Computers: Display Information 3 2 - Computers: Program Manipulation 3 3 - Engineer: Mechanical 3 3 - Engineer: Nuclear 2 2 - Machinery Operation 3 - 2 Mathematics 2 2 - Physics 3 3 1 Vehicles: Atmospheric 4 3 6 Vehicles: Machinery 4 (70) -(40) 3 (42) Rocket Weapons Weapons: PGS 7 5 Weapons: Missiles 4 (56) 3 (28) You'll notice there are two type of pilots...those who have studied space, and those who just fly by the seats of their pants... I still don't know...I'll probably knock that down some more, as I'm still asking the pilot to spend 20 some xp on advancing piloting skills they aren't really needing... Oh, I created Mathematics as a skill as well as Astrophysics. the PR for astrophysics is of course Physics (2) and Math (1) They basically just give understanding and use of math and knowleged of Void travel, etc. I've got a lot of questions... (1) How do you guys understand the 'void'/FTL system. They supposedly spend most of their time accellerating and decellerating. and just a couple of seconds in the void. But if void-speed is %1 the speed of light or whatever they listed, then you'd be able to travel between any two systems in a constant number of days. But if they need to speed up a lot for the real far jumps, that would pretty much make it hard to a pirate ship to catch someone who had just accelerated for 4 days (unless the pirates shadow ships starting from insystem. Just makes most of the battles pointless, as everyone is moving with 3 days of deceleration when they fly past each other. I'd give them one shot, but they'd have to somehow know the ship was coming. Am I making sense here? Or do I just put them into some sort of 'hyperspace' after about a day of acceleration? Can battles be fought there? When is it that they get blue streaks in their hair from drinking water while 'in the void' if the void isn't a 5-15 sec thing, but a 2-14 day thing? ack (2) Homeworlds. Where are these people from? I don't buy 'well, we all just sort of forgot where we came from.' Since the timeline gives a list of when all the planets are discovered, (except they forgot Kraatar(Tristkar)) so they can't be (intended to be) from there. Plague planets? That's where I put them...I turned the extra one into the Whorl system, where I am putting the planet Solaris (based on Solaris 7 the battletech game world). but the plague was cured, so I decided I needed to 'get rid of' the homeworlds for good. The Yazirians discovered it's moon was in a deteriorating orbit, and in 23 years it would trash the place. So, they up and transported as much ecosystem as possible to Hentz(Araks) (which later became the home of GodCo the terraforming company). So they at least have some of their natural ecosystem (I decided that Hentz was uninhabited to start out with.) The Dralasite world interacted with the blue plague and IS permanently off limits. The plauge reacted on a genetic/molecular/something level with the ecosystem, and if players land there, they're pretty much stuck, as I'm basing that off of Crystal Singer/Kilashandra books my Anne McCaffrey. The Humans had been fighting for a while before the plague, with a couple tense situations with nukes and the like. They nuked themselves to oblivion fighting over the antidote to the plague. Destroyed the entire planet such that nothing survived, even the moon is too close to the radiation. The Vrusk planet is only a couple light years away from the Ebony Eyes binary black holes (from dragon mag, it's two lightyears over from Epsilon) which made astrogation a hastle to their planet, people kept missing it. Because of the trade problems, the waning resources of the planet, and pure and simple Vrusk Aestetics, they decided to leave the planet, return as much of it to it's pre-Vrusk civilization state as possible, and turn it into a big park that no one ever goes to. It's a 'conceptual park' which they'd probably like. The system will be well defended from pirates and the like who think it'd make a good base (via robotic mini-ships, etc. whatever it is they did during the plague), but I was also considering there being a Secret Vrusk Lottery, and once a year, a few (50 tops) lucky Vrusk would get to visit it. This is hush-hush, but would be interesting if a PC got selected, just took off with some bugs in a van and wasn't heard from for a couple months. Either the players follow and cause problems, or just let him go and find a much relaxed and focused bug when he returns. (3) Where have others found Star Frontiers 'Canon'? Someone mentioned Ares and early Polyhedrons... I will certainly be willing to post all my SF sources (Dragons, etc.) and compile a mega-list of stuff. (Another option is photocopying, which I once had a guy covering my cost to p-copy and mail all the stuff from Dragon I have) (4) Robots, Bionics, Cybernetics, Spacers, and Powered Assult Armor will be covered in future editions of Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space. But there is only one. PAA was later in an article in Dragon. How about the other stuff? Well, I suppose that's enough for tonight...
From: "M.P. Soulier" <u9008759@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 13:48:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: your mail On Tue, 13 Sep 1994 roymeo@iastate.edu wrote: > ok, to answer a couple of Mike/u9's questions: > One Dragon Article did deal somewhat with STA loss. Kinda. A Shot In The Arm > ended up to be more of a 'crit-hit' or hit location system. Not all hits do Yeah, I saw and have that article. I found it rather lacking, personally, and difficult to incorporate into ZG. > On the Knight Hawks thing... > well, while I see your point, why should someone have to spend 63 xp on Beam > in order to shoot an spaceship gun (I think they should take several levels > in 'three dimensional thinking':). But on the other hand some prereqs should > be required for someone who is going to be flying the ship. I think it's > absurd to say the guy piloting the ship can't do anything when you hit an > atmosphere with that streamlined ship. Good point. Although, it would be easier to just chuck out all of the prereqs instead of changing them. I'll look over your extensive ideas below. :) > I've got a lot of questions... > (1) How do you guys understand the 'void'/FTL system. They supposedly spend You seem to understand it pretty well. First of all, the void idea is ludicrous, because if it were true, then any matter that was accelerated to .01c would disappear into it. So, I just said that a small piece of equipment had to be added to every ship to allow entrace into the void. Something that was easy to create and doesn't really affect the game, y'know? Anyways, if you accelerate into and out of the void at a constand 1G, then it will take you roughly 3.5 days to reach "void speed", and another 3.5 days to decelerate into the system. Since it only takes seconds to travel in the void, every trip that you take will take roughly one week, unless you want to be _very_ uncomfortable and accelerate faster. > (2) Homeworlds. Where are these people from? I don't buy 'well, we all just Dunno. > (3) Where have others found Star Frontiers 'Canon'? > Someone mentioned Ares and early Polyhedrons... > I will certainly be willing to post all my SF sources (Dragons, etc.) and > compile a mega-list of stuff. (Another option is photocopying, which I once > had a guy covering my cost to p-copy and mail all the stuff from Dragon I have) Why don't we compile a master list, and then we can snail mail photocopies to the people who need it. I got all mine from Dragon mags. > (4) Robots, Bionics, Cybernetics, Spacers, and Powered Assult Armor will be > covered in future editions of Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space. > > But there is only one. PAA was later in an article in Dragon. How about the > others stuff? I wish we could get to a TSR source and see if there are any old ideas or material lying around that we could have. I've been thinking of not using ZG just because all of the Dragon articles are based on Alpha Dawn games. It's annoying to try and convert then most of the time.
From: roymeo@iastate.edu Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 00:47:02 -0500 Subject: Star Drives and Resources List (hopefully you aren't ALL going to be getting this twice. mbauser probably wil will be, though, at the least.) I too decided there must be some sort of 'void module' which made the ship zap there. I don't think anyone intended the .01c thing to mean EVERYTHING went into the void then, just that with the right 'frequency/warp field/jumping up and down flapping your arms like a chicken' effect you could then go into the void. I still like the idea of different systems being 'further apart' when you are travelling. That way there is still almost a month lag for travel from one end of the frontier than the other. What I HAD hidden in a file about it was: Jumping: days necessary to go tween planets: The speed reached when activating the void unit determines how far you go. The speed needed to jump is measured in days. Heck, I may toss somethign in there about having to get the ship to resonate (or the module to resonate) for a certain length of time before jumping (but that still doesn't cover slow-down time...) Any one else gonna propose some ideas here? I'll start the Resources Master List. Send me (or include in a post) a list of all the places you have articles about the game. From good things you use, to bad things you don't, to 'dispel confusion/sage advice' Q&A type things. I already have all my magazines and other game stuff on several different databases, so adding the info others send won't be a problem. This will also allow us to trade photocopies of articles and the like, so I don't have to bid $4 for a polyhedron magazine just for a cheesey little adventure (on that note, anyone have polyhedron 13, 14, or 18? if you can copy me the relevent stuff, you'll save me $12.:) I also have access to a photocopier to copy things on, so if people can send me a good copy of stuff, I can then provide duplicates of everything we have (or just whatever you need) at cost. I've got about 115 pages of stuff from dragon mags already.
From: Michael Bauser <MBAUSER@KENTVM.KENT.EDU> Date: Wed, 14 Sep 94 00:47:00 EDT Subject: Religion, skills, Homeworlds, etc. >something others saw as kinda lacking). Thus class now contains skills from >the Envronmental, Medical, and Psycho-social. Kinda "everything you need for >promising young Space Driuds". This doesn't have anything to do with skills, actually. Roy's comment about "Space Druids" reminded me: Has anybody put any thought into religions in the Frontier? There are a couple of vague mentions in the books (so at least we know the Frontier isn't all atheist), but no real detail. I came up with a few ideas, so here they are (the notes in parentheses were just written tonight): _The Exodites_ are a Yazirian religious group that believes Yazirians were the subjects of an unidentified insectoid race who ruled the Yazirian's homeworld. According to Exodite teachings, a female Yazirian named Anarla Erkon heard the "voices of the stars", and led the Yazirian people on an Exodus to the Frontier. In addition to insectoid Overlords, Exodite theology also speaks of one-eyed demons whose purpose was to hunt and kill Yazirians. (The Overlords are Clikks and demons are heliopes, from SF 3. This one ties into some complex campaign background I was working on, namely what the Homeworlds were like.) _The Family of One_ is an offshoot of the Exodite Church who believe that the planet Hentz is the divinely appointed home of the Yazirians, and that the only point of the Exodus was to bring them to Hentz. All members of the Family consider themselves related and use the terms Brother and Sister to address each other. All members of the Family must live on Hentz (although they may visit other worlds) and wear uniforms denoting name, age, profession, rank in the church, etc. The Family of One owns the Galaxy Overall Development Company, a terraforming megacorp. Although the consider Hentz the true and perfect creation of God, the Family of one sees all other worlds as open to terraforming. Other religous groups have disagreed with this stance and formed a new cult, the Defenders of the Divine Will, to oppose terraforming. (The Family of One gets mentioned in Alpha Dawn & _Zeb's Guide_, GOD Co, in _ZG_, and the Defenders in a _Dragon_ article.) _The Warrior's Path_ is an ancient Yazirian religion that holds there is a hierarchal structure to the afterlife, with varying levels of paradise spread around a Worldtree. Those "who follow the warrior's path" believe only in the traditional forms of life-enemies, rivals or opponents that one endevours to destroy. The Warrior's afterlife shows this; the highest level of the Worldtree is for those who destroy their life-enemy. The suceeding levels are (in descending order) for those who die fighting their life-enemies, those who die for other reasons without defeating their life enemies, and for those who never pick a life-enemy. Followers of the Warrior's Path often use archaic melee weapons. Non-Yazirians are allowed in this cult, and many Humans, Hummas, and Saurians have begun to join. (Sorta inspired by Viking mythology.) _The Vrusk Church_ is an ancient social institution of the Vrusk people. It holds that a divine entity (referred to as the Divine Imperiatrix), rules the cosmos and decides the final fate of each soul before it is placed on the mortal plane. The Vrusk also believe that this final fate is foreshadowed by its sucess in life, meaning Vrusks sucessful in business are destined for Heaven. (For the most part, this allows Vrusk to be as ruthless as necessary in their business dealings, as they try to prove they belong in Heaven. Furthermore, the belief that they don't control their own fate allows them considerable latitude to create codes of behavior, because they do not fear offending the Imperiatrix.) (Have mixed feelings about this one myself. Mostly I was trying to invoke a sense of extreme "capitalist Protestantism". The idea of giant capitalist insects strikes me as very Social Darwinist, but I've never been able to work it out to my satisfaction.) Now for the other questions of the day: FTL/Void: Yeah, I did the acceleration math once and it didn't work out for me, either. Never came up with much of an alternative, though. Knight Hawk Skills: Has anybody thought of breaking them down into into smaller skills, like the Alpha Dawn skills were? I know some the Piloting and Astrogation subskills would just be splitting hairs--maybe some of them could be lumped together.... My Homeworlds: I had them all "off map", so it wasn't too big an issue. I did decide the Yazirian homeworld was conquered by the Clikks from SF 3 (mostly because I figured they came from the same direction of space). I've actually got a fair amount of background for that one, if anyone wants to see it. Since the Vrusk and Dralisite Homeworlds are apparently near each other, I was thinking I might put them at war with each other, but I never came up with a good way to start one. As for why nobody can find the Homeworlds, it's a conspiracy, I tell you! I just gotta figure out who's behind it.... Hmm. I just got in a message from Roy labeled "more members". Guess I've got to update my nickname file before mailing this. Hope nobody's too confused by starting in the middle of three discussions....
From: roymeo@iastate.edu Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 01:01:38 -0500 Subject: The Overlords Michael said: (The Overlords are Clikks and demons are heliopes, from SF 3. This one ties into some complex campaign background I was working on, namely what the Homeworlds were like.) I do have one small problem/whatever with that. In SF3 (sundown on starmist) it mentions that the Heliope culture is so primitive because the heliopes had to start over from nothing when then were dumped on Starmist(Sundown). Since that was only 400-500 years ago, they haven't been able to develop very far. If the yazirians were slave-race of the Clikks, wouldn't they be at somewhat of a similar disadvantage? or are you saying the Yazirians escaped the enslavement of the planet with the techno-toys and culture?
From: Michael Bauser <MBAUSER@KENTVM.KENT.EDU> Date: Wed, 14 Sep 94 02:11:19 EDT Subject: Re: The Overlords This is Roy's comment on my text: >far. If the yazirians were slave-race of the Clikks, wouldn't they be at >somewhat of a similar disadvantage? or are you saying the Yazirians escaped >the enslavement of the planet with the techno-toys and culture? Well, actually, yes. Judging from the five-year old notes I'm looking at, I gave the Clikks a small empire (a half-dozen systems) that included the Heliope and Yazirian Homeworlds, and the Yazirians who settled the Frontier were actually rebels who had translated the first Human/Vrusk transmissions and were fleeing a civil war (in which the Heliopes were taking over, and retaliating against Yazirians for serving the Clikks). Awfully bloody complex, isn't it? I think the point of it was that somewhere out there, there would be a bunch of hi-tech heliopes and a subjugated Yazirian homeworld. Never got a chance to subject any PCs to that mess, though. I will dig up that whole background file and send it out sometime this week. Right now, I've got to go get some sleep.
From: rwood@nyx.cs.du.edu (robert wood) Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 14:58:54 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: the Void, Homeworlds, et al Personally I've found a modification of the "wedge" theory to be the most appropriate for interstellar travel and the reasons for varied times and distances. The basis for the theory is found in the _Honor Harrington_ series by David Weber. Basically the field in its crudest state allows a smooth transition from one level of the spacetime continum to the next (each level being a macroscopic "quantum state". The field is not required but allows much more control over where you wind up and in what state.) Also energy invested to transfer between levels does not impart any velocity at each levvel. The net result provides a number of new aspects in space travel without disturbing any existing rules. 1 The more energy you vimpart to the field the higher (or lower) in the states you go. (each higher state has less points in space than the one before making the other points closer togather) ie to get from point a to point b faster you increase your quantum state 2 The transfer costs velocity. Each time you cross states the ship is noticeably slowed (it is definately not a good idea to come to a dead stop in hyperspace!) 3 Further developments allow things like grravity wedges. A wedge is a modification of the travel field that transfers gravitational energy from parallel to the ships motion to a wedge, allowing greater acceleration and a form of shield if the ship is accelerating.
From: "M.P. Soulier" <u9008759@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> Date: Wed, 14 Sep 1994 17:01:12 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: the Void, Homeworlds, et al On Wed, 14 Sep 1994, Frank Schober wrote: > As to the concept of the void, I was heavily influenced by Star Wars. Instead > of spending so much time accelerating and decelerating, I assumed that most > of the voyage time was spent in the Void proper. To incorporate this, I Actually, this was one of the things that I liked the most. I've got the Star Wars RPG, and if I want to play it, I will. I prefer SF's realism over a lot of material in SW. Until Zebulon's Guide though, SW was a much superior game. I wish that they had completed the books! > able to modify the rules to get the desired affect. Has anyone else tinkered > with this approach to starship combat? I thought about tinkering with it, but it wasn't really worth it for the SF system. Again, if I want SW, I'll play it. :)
From: roymeo@iastate.edu Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 09:42:00 -0500 Subject: Spaceships, etc. I've never actually ended up using Knight Hawks, because the groups I've been in, we start with beginning level characters, and everyone loses in interest/breaks up before we'd gotten to the space skills part. so, though I have heard that the ship system is kinda clunky (and it looks like it some) I've not had first hand experience with it...yet. I'm also of the mind to not try to change the system into Star Wars, (no offense) or any other game/origin. I prefer the 'space is still really big and it still takes a while to get around' idea best. That is what makes it a Frontier to me. Not the 'Frontier must mean there is a whole civilization just off the map which these people are just a tiny expansion of'. Cause if that were true, the players/people living there would eventually want to return to the homeworlds/bring back a bunch of exotic things and sell it and get rich. I see the Frontier part of it like the old west frontier. Space to move, places which no one has been to. Sure you can have that on the border of a huge civilization, but then the impact of finding a new planet is no big deal. I prefer the somewhat scientific feel of SF to the science fantasy of SW. This doesn't mean I couldn't play SW and have fun, rather that MY campaing universe is gonna be the SF one. no magic, no mentalists (gag).
From: roymeo@iastate.edu Date: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 23:53:10 -0500 Subject: Shrap Calculators When i was in high-school, I often borrowed a friends calculator. It was a nice looking Sharp that could do everything we needed way back then. (this was early hs) I really started looking at its design one day and realised that the company name wasn't SHARP at all. It was SHRAP. The font used and the color, and everything else was taken directly from the Sharp logo. but this was a cheap immitation, and my friend paid for a sharp. From this, a new star frontiers mega-corporation was born... Oni-Senada (O-S) Oni-Senada formed from the merger of two smaller corporations: Onidata which designed less expensive ways to produce products and simplfied designs of existing products and Senada Manufacturing which was the producer of medium to lower quality merchandise. The combination while profitable isn't necessarily the first name in quality. But for those who can get by on less fancy products, have little money, or need equipment where having it is more important than quality, they're the supplier of choice. Oni-Senada specializes in look-a-likes, generic versions, quality look with cheap construction, and buttons which do nothing. One of the major benefits of the corporation is that they rarely put their logo where it is immediately visible or use front companies with similar yet legal look-a-like logos. Not all products made by Oni-Senada are low quality, they are just best known for the low quality ones, "No wonder...Oni-Senada!" being a cliched punch-line and "Oni-Senada?!? Oh Shit!!!" being famous last words. Low-tech and mass produced items as well as less complicated lower yield high-tech items are their specialty. Many mega-corps do not appreciate Oni-Senada. They flood the market with cheaper merchandise lowering prices and often lower public opinion of the other mega-corps products with their look-a-likes. But Oni- Senada is like a hydra, as soon as one area becomes non-profitable or risky they move on to the next area just as quickly. Since their production methods are cheap there is little damage that can be done. Despite these annoyances to the other mega-corps, Oni-Senada does also benefit mega- corps as the public learns to distrust no-names and buys directly from chain stores. Headquarters: Lake Geneva, Rupert's Hole (Cassidine) Chief Executive: Ernie G. Xagyg Subsidiaries: Look-a-likes of virtually every mega-corp or manufacturer of quality. Allies: None Enemies: Makers of quality merchandise and name-brands Occasional Opposition: Anyone with taste
From: roymeo@iastate.edu Date: Mon, 19 Sep 1994 00:27:19 -0500 Subject: Language Language Level Cost Comprehension Notes 1 7 33% Basic comprehension and vocabulary. 2 5 66% Better understanding; increased vocabulary. 3 4 80% Understanding of structure. 4 3 90% Uses language correctly, but accent is still obvious. 5 3 100% Native speaker. 6 4 Studied the language. 7 5 Eloquent. 8 7 Verbal and/or literary genius. Languages come in 8 levels of mastery. The cost of language levels is unlike ordinary skills as the table indicates. The first level costing a large amount as basic comprehension of a new language is not easily gained. >From there, new levels cost less or the same as the previous level until advanced levels of the language are gained. A beginning character starts with level 2 in their (1) racial language and level 2 in Pangal, with 15 + 2d10 more points which may be used to purchase language levels. These points do not HAVE to be spent on language, and half of the 2d10 can be used towards racial abilities. A character of a certain race may not be able to physically speak all languages. Language Options: Racial languages listed most common first. Dralasite; High This is the language in which Dralasite use to speak of intellectual topics. Dralasite; Common This is the 'base' language in which a Dralasite uses to speak of mundane subjects. Human; Modern The most common human language. Human; Sub-Cult The language used by the fashion, legal, and illegal undergrounds. Human; Archaic This is a virtually dead human language, somewhat like Latin. Human; Ancient This is a dead 'eastern' equivalent. Humma Ifshnit Osakish This language is so complex that so far, only Osakar have been able to speak it. Pangal This language was created by PGC, which quickly became the most common language of all Frontier races. Saurian Vrusk Yazirian; Argonian Yazirian; Gnarsh Proficient Languages: Certain languages are easy for other races to adapt to. These languages can be spoken by a race beyond 4th level. Dralasite is still only verbal, thus 'accent' is detected when in person. Dralasite: Human, Ifshnit, Yazirian Human: Dralasite, Humma, Ifshnit, Yazirian Humma: Human, Yazirian Ifshnit: Human Osakar: All Yazirian: Human, Humma Unspeakable Languages: Due to physical limitations, certain races are unable to replicate all of the sounds necessary for a language. The written form of a language is not limited by such constraints. Each races limitations are: Dralasite: Osakish Human: Osakish Humma: Ifshnit, Osakish Ifshnit: Humma, Osakish Osakar: None Sathar: Able to speak Human, Yazirian, Pangal Saurian: Osakish Vrusk: Humma, Osakish Yazirian: Osakish critique welcome. I just made up the 'named' Yazirian language....haven't really gone into the history of that yet....should there be more Yazirian languages? I figured the vrusk would only have one as that would be the most convenient business practice...though vrusk aestetics being what they are, I could see some pretty complicated ones there, too...
Thu, 29 Sep 94 14:31:00 EDT RE: Knight Hawks From: Michael Bauser <MBAUSER@KENTVM.KENT.EDU> About the Knight Hawks rules being more "naval" than "aireal:" One of the problems with space battles in science fictions and games is that our popular notion of dogfighting is based on real-world aircraft, which are launched from land bases or naval carriers. The big ships (the carriers) are slower than the fighters mostly because they're *boats*-- they simply can't get fighter speeds (for something that big) in the water. Now space battles, on the other hand, have all the ships in the same medium (space), and one without many aerodynamic concerns, at that. In that kind of setting, it really stands to reason that the fighters won't have signif- icant speed advantage over bigger ships. That's part of our problem. (The only game I know that explicitly discusses this design issue is Star Fleet Battles. Anybody who's played it knows how technical it gets.) The limited amount of weaponry on assault scouts (or any ship) is probably related to the scale of the hex map. One 10k hex is a little smaller than the planet Earth (12k diameter). Those missles have to be pretty big to cover the distance they do, and carry huge warheads to be useful (I'm assuming that "hits" in KH don't always mean "direct hit"--as some of those missles carry nuclear weaponry, a near miss should be serious enough). Similarly, beam cannons probably need some serious power generators (and heat sinks to deal with waste energy, come to think of it--ouch). TSR probably picked 10k hexes so that they didn't have to worry too much about multi-hex planets, atmospheres, and gravity wells, like Star Fleet Battles. Even the miniature rules only give it a passing mention. Now I think the 10-minute shoot-and-wait turn system has potential if you can roleplay the tension of firing a missle and watching it cross the radar screen (I'd also suggest playing up the chief engineers repair missions). There was a story in _Dragon_ many years ago (I think it was called "Ships in the Night", but I'm not sure) that portrayed such a battle. I used to keep a copy of that story around for my players to read, but I can't find it right now. On the other hand.... Assuming I'm on target here, we know why KH uses large hexes, minimal weaponry, and long turns. Somebody else has talked about a bit about the physics and g forces involved. Let's take a flying leap of faith and say that fighters and scout ships could be equipped with short-range, high firing rate, but still dangerous weapons. Couldn't we come up with some close-quarter "dogfighting rules" that could be used when opposing ships are in the same hex? It could fit in the naval-type rules without replacing them, and we could squeeze in some details like acceleration stress on pilots, spaceships in atmospheres, and maybe even duking it out with planet-based aircraft. Anybody up to that? I don't know the physics well enough to do it on my own.
Thu, 29 Sep 1994 14:26:10 -0500 (CDT) RE: Re: Knight Hawks From: BERGGREN BRYANT RUSSELL <ber0566@rs6000.ivcc.edu> On Thu, 29 Sep 1994, Michael Bauser wrote: > TSR probably picked 10k hexes so that they didn't have to worry too much > about multi-hex planets, atmospheres, and gravity wells, like Star Fleet > Battles. Even the miniature rules only give it a passing mention. True. But I think you're neglecting to mention a point... We're dealing with FTL travel here. We're dealing with possibly sentient robots. We're dealing with sentien amoebas the size of humans who can exist outside water. In short, we're not dealing with -science- -- this is science -fiction-. I think a little realism can be sacrificed for a more exciting, "kickass" game. I don't think it's too crazy to ask for powerful missiles roughly the size of modern air-to-air missiles, that can be mounted on one-man spacefighters, in the tradition of Star Wars, Star Blazers, and a horde of other sci-fi classics. I also don't think energy weapons of similiar size and usefulness are too insane either. > Now I think the 10-minute shoot-and-wait turn system has potential if you > can roleplay the tension of firing a missle and watching it cross the radar > screen (I'd also suggest playing up the chief engineers repair missions). > There was a story in _Dragon_ many years ago (I think it was called "Ships > in the Night", but I'm not sure) that portrayed such a battle. I used to > keep a copy of that story around for my players to read, but I can't find > it right now. I'd rather roleplay the thrill of a high-speed dog fight, in preparation for an attack run on the Sathar mother ship. :-) > On the other hand.... > > Assuming I'm on target here, we know why KH uses large hexes, minimal > weaponry, and long turns. Somebody else has talked about a bit about the > physics and g forces involved. Let's take a flying leap of faith and say > that fighters and scout ships could be equipped with short-range, high > firing rate, but still dangerous weapons. Couldn't we come up with some > close-quarter "dogfighting rules" that could be used when opposing ships > are in the same hex? It could fit in the naval-type rules without replacing > them, and we could squeeze in some details like acceleration stress on > pilots, spaceships in atmospheres, and maybe even duking it out with > planet-based aircraft. Anybody up to that? I don't know the physics well > enough to do it on my own. Sounds too much like SFB to me. How about a smaller scale version of Knight Hawks, with some decent medium and short range weapons, that you can use when you don't HAVE big fat planets around to worry about? Just a thought...
Thu, 29 Sep 1994 16:16:21 -0500 RE: passing in the night From: roymeo@iastate.edu I checked my dragon article database, and there was no 'ships in the night', but there was a 'passing in the night' in dragon 102. I'm wondering if that was the one meant...If it's from a dragon I don't have, i wouldn't have it listed...
Fri, 30 Sep 1994 14:04:29 -0400 (EDT) RE: Re: Knight Hawks From: "M.P. Soulier" <u9008759@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> To: Michael Bauser <MBAUSER@KENTVM.KENT.EDU>, frontiers@crow.csrv.uidaho.edu On Thu, 29 Sep 1994, Michael Bauser wrote: > physics and g forces involved. Let's take a flying leap of faith and say > that fighters and scout ships could be equipped with short-range, high > firing rate, but still dangerous weapons. Couldn't we come up with some > close-quarter "dogfighting rules" that could be used when opposing ships > are in the same hex? It could fit in the naval-type rules without replacing > them, and we could squeeze in some details like acceleration stress on > pilots, spaceships in atmospheres, and maybe even duking it out with > planet-based aircraft. Anybody up to that? I don't know the physics well > enough to do it on my own. I once creating some dogfighting rules for SF. I based it on the same-hex dogfighting ideas from SFB. I could try to find them and see what you guys think... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mon, 24 Oct 1994 15:08:12 -0500 RE: New [Communication] Equipment From: roymeo@iastate.edu This is more stuff which resulted from several players wanting specific items and then hunting the urban jungle of shopping malls for said items. Name Duration Ammo ROF Range Mass Cost NET Chrom 5km --- 200 NET Chrom III 10km --- 400 NET Ears 60 hr. cont. 1km --- 30 NETracers 3 mo cont. 5km --- 40 NETracer Gun 1 Tracer 1 A --- 30 NET Chrom: This chronocom from Nesmith Enterprises of Triad has the regular chronograph, calculator, and communicator equipment, as well as a compass which can be programmed to point to a magnetic pole or a specific frequency (such as NETracers). It has the standard chronocom range. NET Chrom II: This chronocom improvement has twice the range of the standard chronocom (and the NET Chrom) as well as a fairly accurate range locator for the distance to the frequency transmitter. NET Ears: This small (2cm x 2cm x 1cm) electronic bug can transmit all sound within it's hearing (slightly better than a human ear in whatever location it is placed) on some preselected channel. It will continue to broadcast for 60 hours continuously. NETracers: These small (2cm x 1cm x =cm) tracers transmit a signal for a 5km radius. They are able to do this for a total of 3 months continuously. This signal is subject to such limitations as concrete, being enclosed, etc. One side of the small box is sticky allowing it to attach itself to many surfaces. NETracer Gun: This gun is advertised as energy efficient--and it is. It uses spring force to propel a NETracer towards the target. It must be reloaded and the 'firing pin' pulled back for every shot.
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 01:56:36 -0500 From: RobertH508@aol.com Subject: New Weapons Here are some new weapons Me and my brother came up with over the last couple days. Let me know what you think of them. <Projectile Weapons> Weapon Damage Ammo SEU Rate Defence PB/Short/Med/Long/Ext ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shotgun 4d10/3d10 10 - 2 Inertia 0-5/20/50/100/- /2d10/1d10 shells Flamethrower 3d10+1d10 20 - 1 1/2 RS 0-2/10/20/40/- X 3 turns fuel tank Check Assault Pistol 2d10 8 - 3 Inertia 0-10/40/100/150/300 rounds <Beam Weapons> Weapon Damage Ammo SEU Rate Defence PB/Short/Med/Long/Ext ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shock Pistol 3d10 Clip 2 3 Gauss 0-5/15/30/60/150 Shock Rifle 5d10 Clip 4 3 Gauss 0-10/40/75/120/200 <Gyrojet Weapons> Weapon Damage Ammo SEU Rate Defence PB/Short/Med/Long/Ext ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rocket Pack 5d10 6 round - 2 inertia -/10-20/21-100/200/500 box ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shot Gun: This a semi-automatic shot gun. The shells are usually 00 buckshot. This weapon can be fired at multiple targets. The number of targets that can be hit depends on range. At point blank range only one target can be hit, 2 at short range, 3 at medium, and 4 at long range. For each additional target 1d10 damage dice is added, and the damage is divided by the number of targets. Flame Thrower: This weapon consists of a backpack with 2 tanks, and a nozzle connected to the tanks. The tanks hold a sticky flammable substance and a high pressure propellant. Anything hit by the flaming gel stream takes 3d10 damage and an additional 1d10 damage for the next 3 turns. Assault Pistol: This is a large caliber pistol carried by officers of the UPF marines. Shock Pistol/Rifle: Also known as a Lightning Gun. This weapon shoots a spherical charge of electricity. A gauss screen will absorb all damage from this weapon. Rocket Pack: AKA "six-pack". This weapon is a 30cm x 20cm x 100 cm box containing six mini rockets, each of which will inflict 5d10 damage.
Thu, 15 Dec 1994 11:22:03 -0500 RE: Alpha Dawn Psionics, Part 1 From: JohnAslan@aol.com Inspired in part by the Many-Colored Land series of books, and written at about the time Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space came out (I had hoped to get it into the Dragon magazine). I noticed from some of the Sci-Fi exchanges that there are others out there who remain interested in this forlorn game. I exhumed this would-be article and here it is. If you like this information, write and let me know. I've more where this came from, including a listing of new equipment. This information follows the original (better) Alpha Dawn Rules set-up. -J --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mind Your Own Brainwaves, Vrusk!" Psionics in Star Frontiers by J. Phillip Aslin, Jr. Introduction The abilities of the human mind have never failed to excite both scientists and writers, and though not yet proven by modern scientific method, the concept of psionics is almost a standard fixture in modern science fiction, and science fiction games. The Star Frontiers supplement SFAC 3, Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space, introduces, among other subjects, the Mentalist profession. The Mentalist rules published in Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space describe the powers of a psionic character using the same format as the new skill system, also introduced in Zebulon's Guide. This article follows the original skill format of the Alpha Dawn rules set, and may be used by those who do not have access to Zebulon's Guide, or who are interested in an alternative system of psionics. Psionic Potential A character possesses psionic capabilities if she is created with a Intuition score of 80 or greater. Other characters who increase their Intuition to 80 or greater by spending experience points may also use psionic disciplines, but with a restricted capability. Intuition has been chosen over Logic as the governing character ability because rationality and scientific thinking, as typified by Logic, tends to inhibit the individual's performance of psionic feats. However, a high Logic score does not hinder a psionic character in the use of his or her powers. Not all of the four races in the Frontier have the same psionic capabilities as humans. Dralasites have no psionic ability at all. This is because the loosely organized nerve bundles which form the Dralasite brain are very different from most other races. This also means that Dralasites are immune to psionic powers which affect the mind, like Compulsion, E.S.P. and some of the Shaping sub-disciplines. Dralasites are still affected by psionic abilities which have physical effects, like Psychokinesis and Succor. Yazirians, on the other hand, gain disciplines more easily than humans, because they need to spend fewer experience points to gain an operational psionic capability. This is because the Yazirians have a positive racial adjustment to their INT/LOG ability. The Vrusk are the best psychics of the four races of the Frontier. Vrusk pay only the Primary discipline experience point cost to increase any of their psionic disciplines. This is because the Vrusk brain is highly organized to coordinate their multi-limbed bodies, and this organization increases the race's psionic proficiency. Other alien races also have different psionic potential. Many are less inclined to express psionic talents. The Sathar are weak psionicists because of the negative racial adjustment to their INT/LOG ability. Because of this, the Sathar must work harder, spending more experience points, to gain psionic disciplines. Psionics Psionic disciplines in Star Frontiers work much like skills; they have levels which can be increased by expending experience points, and they are broken down into specific areas of ability. There are five different psionic disciplines that a character can learn. Each discipline has at least four separate sub-disciplines. Some disciplines are more useful in combat and others are more useful in role-play situations. Psionic disciplines are bought like starship skills, but instead of needing to have certain levels in certain skills, the character requires an Intuition of 80 or better to be able to purchase these disciplines. Training for psionic disciplines can only be done with a teacher or through practice. The player always chooses his character's disciplines, to be sure the player is happy with the selection. A character who was created with his psionic capabilities can choose his primary discipline during creation. Experience allows this character to acquire additional secondary disciplines of his choosing. Characters who master psionic disciplines during game play can choose only one discipline, and increase that discipline by paying the greater secondary discipline experience point costs. Whenever a discipline is gained, whether in character generation or later during game play, the new discipline starts with level 1 experience. All psionic disciplines have six levels of mastery. The level of a character's discipline helps to determine her chance of success when using a sub-discipline. For example, a character with Psychokinesis of level 4 attempts to use her 'Fine Manipulation' sub-discipline. Her chance of success is 10% plus 10 times her discipline level, or 50%. The costs of obtaining secondary psionic disciplines and increasing primary and secondary disciplines are listed on Tables 1 through 3 below. Table 1. Experience points needed to purchase secondary disciplines; Compulsion 60 E.S.P. 30 Psychokinesis 50 Shaping 70 Succor 40 Table 2. Experience points needed to increase a Primary discipline; To Level: 2 3 4 5 6 Compulsion 60 120 180 240 300 E.S.P. 30 60 90 120 150 Psychokinesis 50 100 150 200 250 Shaping 70 140 210 280 350 Succor 40 80 120 160 200 Table 3. Experience points needed to increase Secondary disciplines; To Level: 2 3 4 5 6 Compulsion 120 180 240 300 360 E.S.P. 60 90 120 150 180 Psychokinesis 100 150 200 250 300 Shaping 140 210 280 350 420 Succor 80 120 160 200 240 The use of any psionic discipline or sub-discipline takes one action, so a psionic character may not fire his blaster and teleport all in the same combat turn. Psionic powers which do not require a dice roll to use, such as Psychic Sense or Force, take no time as they are automatic. Please be aware that, in the case of the Force sub-discipline, this represents the raising of the defensive shield only; making force attacks is an action. Disciplines----------------------------------------------------------------- Compulsion : The power to make other characters do as the player's character wishes by overpowering the target's conscious mind. This power is the one most feared by the public-at-large, and most suppressed by governments and law-enforcement agencies. COMMAND Success rate: 20% + 10 x skill level This sub-discipline enables the using character to force the performance of actions by another individual. The user simply states the action he wishes the other character to undertake, such as "Untie me" or "Jump out the window", and makes his dice roll. If the psionic character is successful in issuing his command, the victim will carry out the action. If the action endangers the target's life, like jumping out the aforementioned window, the victim can attempt to resist by rolling under their Intuition score on two dice. Target characters who are not affected, or who have resisted a lethal command, are free to respond as their players or the referee sees fit. Gagging the psionic character is one recommended action. The intended victim of a Command use must be able to physically hear the order, otherwise they will be uneffected. DOMINATION Success rate: 0% + 10 x skill level (-10 x target's skill) Domination allows an attacking psionic to seize control of her target's mind. The successful use of the sub-discipline completely overcomes the conscious and unconscious mind of the victim. The psionic can then use the target to perform any action she may desire, provided she stays within her control range of the controlled individual. A psionic's control range is equal to her Intuition in meters. Only psionic characters can attempt to resist the successful use of this power. The disciplines of the resisting psionic do not alter their chances of successfully resisting the attack. The skill level of the resisting psionic times 10 is subtracted from the attacking psionic's chance of success, as shown in the formula above. PUPPETRY Success rate: 30% + 10 x skill level Using this sub-discipline allows the psionic character to gain control of an individual's body, but not their mind. The target's body can be used to perform almost any action, so long as that action does not go against the basic nature of the controlled victim. Peaceable characters cannot be made to harm or kill others, and honest ones cannot be made to lie or steal. Any attempt to force a character to act against their nature automatically frees the victim from the psionic's control. A character cannot be controlled beyond a range equal to the psionic's Intuition in meters. TRANSFERAL Success rate: 10% + 10 x skill level - target's STA/10 Should the need arise, because of sever injury or circumstances, a psionic character with this sub-discipline may attempt to flee his own body and take possession of another character's body. If the use of this power is successful, the victim is dead, their mind and personality destroyed when the psionic moves into the target's body. The mental abilities, Intuition and Logic, Personality and Leadership of the victim are changed to the scores belonging to the attacking psionic. All other abilities, the first two pair of scores, remain the same. Control of the altered character is then given to the player, or the referee. If the use of this power fails, then the psionic may be unable to return to his own body. A roll under the psionic's current Stamina on two dice is required for the character to be able to re-inhabit his original body. Also, that target can never be possessed by the psionic; all further attempts to do so automatically fail. The psionic must return to his body before he can try to transfer to a different individual. A character cannot be attacked in this fashion beyond a range equal to the psionic's Intuition in meters. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extra-Sensory Perception (E.S.P.) : This power's name says it all. It represents sensory functions beyond the normal five sense's abilities. For example, Far-sense allows the psionic to see and hear as normal, but at greater than normal ranges or through intervening matter. Another sub-discipline, Telepathy, enables the psionic character to sense the thoughts in other minds. Governments may also try to suppress this power as its secrets become harder to keep when members of the populace can simply read them from the minds of its officials. FAR-SENSE Success rate: 40% + 10 x skill level Far-sense enables the Espers, characters with E.S.P., to witness events taking place in a location far removed from her own. The psionic can both see and hear what is happening at the target location as if she were present. Only information that could be gathered with sight and sound can be gained from using Far-sense. If an Esper should fail in using this sub-discipline, the referee should feel free to show the character a random location, or nothing. In most cases the range of this power is limited to a planetary scale. However, rare individuals, those with an Intuition score of 95 or better and a E.S.P. of level 6, have been known to be able to far-sense within a stellar system. PREMONITION Success rate: 10% + 10 x skill level Psionic characters with E.S.P. are able to determine an individual's intentions on a subconscious level. Also on a subconscious level, Espers are able to examine a situation from other people's points of view, enabling the Esper to spot a danger he could not detect himself. Whenever an Esper is in a dangerous situation, where others intend to harm the psionic or hidden physical threats exist, the referee should roll against the character's success rate in this skill. Success means that the psionic is alerted to the threat. If the roll fails, then the Esper remains unaware of his danger. PSYCHIC-SENSE Success rate: 100% Esper characters can always tell if another individual is psionicly active, that is, possessing any of the psionic discipline groups. A psionic character can attempt to disguise herself as a non-psionic by rolling 10 times her skill level or less on two dice, regardless of discipline. Anytime an Esper enters a situation where another psionic, who wishes to remain unknown, is present, the referee should roll for the attempted disguise before notifying the Esper. Only if the disguise roll is failed should the Esper be informed that another psionic is present, and who it is. TELEPATHY Success rate: 60% or 20% + 10 x skill level Espers are able to read surface thoughts with great ease. Surface thoughts are those loosely connected thoughts which "voice" themselves throughout every waking moment. The success rate with a base of 60% is used when an Esper tries to read surface thoughts. The other success rate, base chance of 20%, is used when the psionic character goes into the target's mind after deep thoughts. Deep thoughts are those which are recognized without being "vocalized"; emotions are an example of deep thoughts. Surface thoughts can be used to shield deep thoughts from a prying psionic; rhymes, a shopping list, or even counting over and over can block mind reading attempts. Any character who is aware, or even just suspects, that he is the target of telepathy use has a chance equal to one-half times his Logic of shielding his deep thoughts. If the victim can successfully shield his deep thoughts, then all the Esper detects is the target's surface babble. A Esper cannot read minds beyond a range equal to his Intuition in meters. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psychokinesis : The ability to move objects, other individuals, or even herself with the power of the character's mind. Most of the time the item moved in this manner can be seen as it moves sailing smoothly through the air; only the Teleportation sub-discipline moves things without travelling the distance in between. FINE MANIPULATION Success rate: 10% + 10 x skill level This represents the sub-discipline of a psychokinetisist, a character with the Psychokinesis discipline, to perform very delicate or small scale movements. Actions that might normally not be performed by the character without special equipment or tools are covered by this sub-discipline. Examples could be unlocking a door by moving the tumblers, or crashing a computer by altering the electron flows in its circuitry. FORCE Success rate: 100% In combat, or in any dangerous situation, a psionic character with psychokinesis can generate attacks using her psychokinetic strength. Attacks made with this sub-discipline are ranged combat, and the chance to hit is figured normally, except that the character's level in Psychokinesis is used in place of the weapon skill. Treat "force" attacks as a Sonic Stunner for determining the range modification. Damage from the attack is equal to 1d10 for every 50 kilograms the character can manipulate using her Gross Manipulation sub-discipline plus the character's punching score. Treat these attacks as "blunt weapon" melee attacks for the purposes of determining a knockout. Skeinsuit and inertia screens are the only defenses against Force attacks. In addition, a defensive "shield" can be erected by a psychokinetisist using this sub-discipline. This shield acts almost exactly like an inertia screen except that it also reduces energy attacks, such as lasers or electrostunners or even sonic weapons, by one-half. The chances of a knockout remain the same despite the reduction in damage. Please be aware that this shield cannot be used at the same time as a regular defensive screen. This is due to the energy wave interference created by a functioning defensive screen. Any psionic attempting to use both a screen and her shield will develop a severe headache; the referee should feel free to penalize ability checks and combat rolls. GROSS MANIPULATION Success rate: 30% + 10 x skill level This represents the power of a psychokinetisist to move items, such as books or boxes, as if she were handling the item in an ordinary fashion. Any action that could be done by hand or with general tools, such as a hammer or saw or screwdriver, can be performed by this sub-discipline. A psychokinetisist can manipulate a weight in kilograms equal to his Intuition. The rules on encumbrance should be applied normally while the Psionic uses this power. TELEPORT Success rate: 40% + 10 x skill level It is theorized that this sub-discipline allows a psychokinetisist to travel through hyperspace, an extra-dimensional reality where distance has no equivalent, moving instantly from one point to another. The success rate above is used for situations where the teleporting character can see her destination, such as teleporting from one side of a street to the other. In a situation where the teleporter cannot not see her target area, she is considered to be making a "blind" teleport. Teleporting "blind" reduces the chance of a successful 'port by -40%. If the psychokinetisist additionally possesses the E.S.P. discipline, then she can use her Far-sense sub-discipline, requiring a successful roll to view any destination within range, and negate the "blind" teleportation penalty. The maximum distance a psionic can teleport is a number of kilometers equal to her Intuition divided by 10, rounding normally. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shaping : this represents the power to create illusions, to shape natural energy fields to produce energy attacks, and to reorder the mass and matter of one's own body, sculpting it to any form. The possibility of important leaders in the government being influenced or even impersonated has caused this discipline to also be heavily suppressed by governments and their agencies. AURA Success rate: 100% The Shaper, a psionic who has the Shaping discipline, who possesses this sub-discipline may, at will, project a psionic energy field which causes an emotional reaction in most other intelligent life forms. The actual emotion produced must be chosen by the psionic before she begins using her Aura sub-discipline. Only strong emotions, such as awe, fear, hate, anger, jealousy, desperation, and so on can be produced. The effected player characters should be told only what emotion is effecting them; actions taken while under the influence of the Aura should be closely watched by the referee. Those characters who correctly respond to the chosen emotion should be awarded an extra experience point for good role-playing and sportsmanship. The referee should make sure that this power is not abused by the player characters, perhaps dominating the other characters in a group with fear. In any case, no psionic can influence another character beyond her Intuition score in meters. FLIGHT Success rate: 100% By shaping the lines of a planet's magnetic field, and amplifying her body's own electromagnetic field, a psionic with this using this sub-discipline can negate the effects of planetary gravity upon herself. Stated simply, she can fly. The psionic can carry up to her normal carrying capacity, based on her strength, while flying. The character's maximum flight speed is equal to one-half of her Stamina in kilometers per hour. The Shaper can stay aloft for a number of hours equal to her Intuition divided by 10, rounding down. How high a character can fly is limited by the planet's atmosphere; on an Earth-like planet an character can breathe unassisted to a height of some 5,000 feet. The referee will have to decide the height limit for each planet the psionic visits. PSI BEAMS Success rate: 100% This sub-discipline is very much like the attack power described under Force in the Psychokinesis discipline. By shaping the electromagnetic fields of a planet, the psionic can channel spurts of electrical energy into beams, with which she can attack others characters. Attacks made with this sub-discipline are ranged combat attacks and the chance to hit is figured normally, except that the character's level in Shaping is used in place of the weapon skill. Treat these attacks as a Laser Rifle for determining the modification "to hit" by range. Damage from the attack is equal to 1d10 for every 10 points of Intuition the character has. Treat these attacks as ranged attacks for the purposes of determining a knockout. Gauss screens are the only defense against Psi Beams. SHAPECHANGE Success rate: 70% + 10 x skill level This sub-discipline allows the psionic to reshape her own body into almost any other living thing. The psionic can assume the shape of any kind of creature, real or fictional. The Shaper can also imitate specific individual characters, though this deception may be spotted. If the imitating Shaper has less than a 100% success rate in this skill, a suspicious character rolls two dice, trying to roll under the imposter's skill subtracted from 100. Thus a level 2 Shaper would have a 10% chance of being detected. All shapechanged characters may be identified in this way. If the psionic has a success rating over 100%, the imitation is not detectable. The Shaper's Ability scores are not altered in any way when she changes her shape, nor are any special abilities gained, aside from the move and any natural attacks, should the Shaper imitate an animal. A minus is applied to the success roll if the animal is larger or smaller than the character's current size. Subtract 10% for every doubling or halving of the character's current size. The psionic can remain shapechanged for any length of time. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Succor : This discipline is unique in that it is not feared, but actually desired by the populace of the Frontier. However, this desire sometimes has darker aspects; kidnapping, slavery, and illegal breeding programs are often the fate of a less-than-careful Healer, as these psionics are called. AID Success rate: 30% + 10 x skill level By the successful use of this sub-discipline, a Healer can restore stamina that has been lost by combat or injury. However, restoring Stamina in this fashion is costly to the Healer; for every point of Stamina that the Healer returns to the damaged character, she loses a point of her own Stamina. The Healer must be in physical contact with the injured character to use this ability. PSYCHIC SURGERY Success rate: 20% + 10 x skill level If the use of the Aid sub-discipline would drain the Healer too severely, then Psychic Surgery can be used. This surgery requires no biocort or surgical equipment. However, this sub-discipline does require medical knowledge for the psionic to correctly perform the surgery. If a Healer without Medical skill attempts to operate using this sub-discipline, a penalty of -30% is subtracted from her success rate. Additionally, the character operated upon must pass a current Stamina check, or die. As with Aid, the Healer must be in physical contact with the injured character to use this sub-discipline. Any amount of damage can be restored in this manner. However, the Healer must make a current Stamina check after the surgery or fall into a comatose state for 1d10 hours. PURGE Success rate: 40% + 10 x skill level Healers may, through the use of this sub-discipline, kill all inflections, infestations, and diseases. This sub-discipline can also neutralize all toxic substances. Physical contact is necessary to use this sub-discipline. A successful use of this sub-discipline causes the Healer to lose one-half her current Stamina. REVIVE Success rate: 0% + 10 x skill level A Healer may be able to return a dead character to life, though the risk to herself is great. Physical contact is required to use this sub-discipline. If successful, the dead character is restored to life with one point of Stamina and all other Ability Scores at one-half their normal values. Only rest will heal the resurrected character. Stamina heals at the normal rate while resting. After the character's Stamina score has completely healed, an ability check against all other Ability Scores is required. A successful ability check means that the Ability is unimpaired, and the Ability Score is returned to its normal value. An unsuccessful ability check means that some damage to the brain or nervous system has occured, impairing that specific body function; subtract 10 points from the original Ability Score to reflect this impairment. If the recuperating character rests at a hospital, all ability checks are made at +15%. Successful use of the sub-discipline requires at Stamina check at - 20% by the psionic. Success indicates that one- half of the Healers current Stamina has been lost. Failure means that the psionic has lost all but one point of Stamina. Lost Stamina may be recovered by normal resting. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psionics and Society As noted above, few of the psionic disciplines are well accepted by the populace of the Frontier, or by its various governments. In most cases, the possession of psionic powers is not illegal; after all, the empowered character can scarcely alter her genetic code. However, testing for psionic powers is possible with current technologies, and required when a character obtains her ID card. The character's psionic status, as well as any disciplines the character may possess, are recorded on her ID card. This helps the local law enforcement agencies to track the movement of suspects of psionic crimes. Defensive screens for government officials and law enforcement operatives are usually available. These Psi screens reduce the success rate of a psionic discipline by 60%. They work by emitting an energy field which blocks the alpha wave projections of a hostile psionic. Vehicles, rooms, even whole buildings can incorporate Psi screens into their construction. A Psi screen costs 6,000 credits, weighs 3 kilograms, and uses 3 SEU per minute. Vehicle and other larger screens cost proportionally more and can weigh up to 500 kilograms. These screens can be purchased legally by private citizens. They are automatically issued to members of governments, law enforcement officials, and members of the military by the planetary government. Healer's powers cannot operate through a functional Psi screen. Often, psionics will be drafted into service by the government of the psionic's homeworld. Indoctrination, or brainwashing, depending on the world's government, usually results in the psionic wanting to perform these services. Services, such as spying, interrogation, negotiations, and many other jobs using psionic disciplines, gives the government and its representatives an edge. Of course, the treatment, and suppression, of psionics and their abilities varies from world to world; the referee should feel free to devise the treatment psionic characters will receive in her campaign. Final Thoughts Psionics are meant to enhance the Star Frontiers game, not dominate it. The referee is free to impose any limitations or restrictions to psionic abilities if she feels the players are abusing the system. A limit of one primary and one secondary discipline per character is recommended. If the referee decides that changing any part of these guidelines will improve them or achieve a better game balance, then she should feel free to do so. Remember, psionics should bring spice and danger to a game, not god-like power to the player characters.
Last modified: 96Feb13 20:15