From: Greg Benage [gbenage@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 2:52 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Market Exposure -----Original Message----- From: tun kai poh To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Date: Monday, May 11, 1998 9:54 PM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Market Exposure [snip] >That's why Archipelago should've been in the making long ago, and should have >been out earlier. Even with any setbacks from late freelancers, Biohazard ought >to have had backup plans to make sure it came out not more than six months >after the main book. Thanks for the comments, Kai Poh. In an ideal situation, we'd have had several supplements ready to go when Blue Planet was released. The big companies always schedule their releases months or years in advance. I don't want to go too deeply into the business side of things, but the reality of a small press operation like Biohazard is that you don't always have the financial resources and personnel to do things the way you'd like to. While the product line is growing slowly, to be sure, I think we'll be able to build on our successes, such that the lag between supplements will grow shorter with each release. Stick with us, and we'll do our best to give you products that make you glad you did. Greg Benage Biohazard Games www.biohazardgames.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: BIOHZD [BIOHZD@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 1:04 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - GM screen Hey Fred, We are always looking for talented artists. Have him/her send us some samples if they are interested - photocopies will do. Jeff Barber Biohazard Games *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: John M. Kahane [jkahane@comnet.ca] Sent: Monday, 11 May, 1998 15:14 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Skill Missing? On Mon, 11 May 1998 11:03:50 EDT, Disturbnce wrote: >In a message dated 98-05-11 10:01:38 EDT, you write: >> I've been trying to compile a list of skills from the BLUE >> PLANET system to have handy as a handout during character generation >> for my players, and I've got a question... >Character generation in general is a bit clunky, I've found. I'm working on >something to streamline the process, but no news as yet. Mainly, the >information needs to be gathered together in table form, so there's less page- >flipping. I don't personally think the Character Generation process is all that clunky, although I agree with you that there is a good deal of page flipping that goes on during the process. Streamlining isn't really what's needed, and tables wouldn't work all that well, imo, simply because there's a lot of information about character generation that you can't impart in tables. >Yeah, why is there no Marine Biology skill, as separate from general Biology? >I also saw no Ecology skill, which I would think would be very important. Good idea. I think that Marine Biology and Ecology are skills that should be added, in addition to Oceanography. >new BP owner who spent hours last night doing character creation to >familiarize himself with the system, and has the beginning of a Rogues' >Gallery So, do you have any rogues that you'd like to share with folks? I'll be creating a couple of pages for my BLUE PLANET website which will have characters submitted to me by players and others. Similar to the pages that I've already done for FADING SUNS. ... "What's a headache?" - Adam JohnK jkahane@comnet.ca http://www.comnet.ca/~jkahane *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: John M. Kahane [jkahane@comnet.ca] Sent: Monday, 11 May, 1998 15:18 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Skill Missing? On Mon, 11 May 1998 23:59:31 +0200, Max Kalus wrote: >John M. Kahane wrote: >> Why is is for a game system that deals with a waterworld, >> there is no skill called Oceanography? :) >Yes, I missed something like that, too. There is Geology, for example, and >Meteorology, if I remember right. But both do not cover the special knowledge required >for a water world, which would mostly include water currents, salt content, >temperature, etc. Exactly my point. These are the little things that are missing from the game system at this point. But you would think that a skill like Oceanography would have been mandatory in this game. :) ... "I gave up grave-robbing when I took up journalism." - Daniel Larwood (SC) JohnK jkahane@comnet.ca http://www.comnet.ca/~jkahane *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Kevin C. Carpenter [keepiru@nationwide.net] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 8:11 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Game Supplements I don't think it should be taken that people can't continue to enjoy Blue Planet without new supplements, but that new supplements are fun to read, systematically useful and also helpful economically to the game's success. I suppose one could just take the basics given in the rulebook and expand from there, but you'd see a divergence of game worlds and a lack of continuity among Blue Planet players. So, I don't think it is any kind of comment on the players here on the list other than that they're enthusiastic about the system and the background, and would like to see more of the same. - Kevin >My last thought before I go stomping off into the hydrofoil is this: are people >really that pro-product as it seems they are from what i've been hearing lately >on this list? DO you guys really need continuance, both thematically >speaking and as consumers? I think there are lessons to be learned in this and >applied to the setting. >--- >rhogan@mnsi.net >Do we chase our tail or the moon when we follow the path of self-modification >with out objectivity? *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Kevin C. Carpenter [keepiru@nationwide.net] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 8:18 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Cetacean Culture Skill One could actually divide that skill into a dolphin and an orca culture skill. Their cultures seem quite different, given that they are quite different beings, despite their outward biological similiarities. Again, that might be an example of too much skill division, and you could just as easily say that the Cetacean Culture skill just covers all forms of it. - Kevin >Yeah, I've been adding Cetacean Culture to a couple of the characters I'm >building. Come June, we'll see what I run, after the relocation... Blue Planet >is high on the list. Still need to develop a Combat Tracking form, some sort >of grid with round numbers down the side, so I can keep track of who moves >when, and when moves resolve. > >Andrew *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Hilarion [rhogan@mnsi.net] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 9:32 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: RE: [BLUE PLANET] - Game Supplements On 12-May-98 Kevin C. Carpenter playfully chanted: | I don't think it should be taken that people can't continue to enjoy | Blue Planet without new supplements, but that new supplements are fun to | read, systematically useful and also helpful economically to the game's | success. I suppose one could just take the basics given in the rulebook and | expand from there, but you'd see a divergence of game worlds and a lack of | continuity among Blue Planet players. | So, I don't think it is any kind of comment on the players here on the | list other than that they're enthusiastic about the system and the | background, and would like to see more of the same. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic or caustic, but making a general reflection on what I think I'm seeing. The reactions on the list lately have been very curious sociologically (to me). I think we can safely say that since we're all "listed" here, we all think there's something good to support. Is divergence all that bad? It adds to material. Not everybody can use everybody's material, but within the same scope, it's that directed divergence everybody hopes to achieve from official channels and supported them in economic ways. (This has nothing, I think, to do with Biohazard making some coin; I want to get away from that as I think that's utterly and absolutely justified, all rights being equal...) What I find curious is how people are reacting socioeconomically in terms of that semi-necessary direction. What I meant earlier was that it is these seeming reactions that make Incorporate states what they are in the book and that this is my first practical real-world example in having seen some prototype to understand WHY this is believable as a story element. (Sorry if I stepped on any feet... *mumble* *shuffle*) --- rhogan@mnsi.net Do we chase our tail or the moon when we follow the path of self-modification with out objectivity? *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Disturbnce [Disturbnce@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 9:53 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Skill Missing? In a message dated 98-05-12 07:58:17 EDT, you write: > really what's needed, and tables wouldn't work all that well, imo, > simply because there's a lot of information about character > generation that you can't impart in tables. Actually, there is. If you took, for example, all the Origins and Background options, and made a reference table out of them, an experienced GM could whip through that part of character generation by looking at two pages -- maybe one if the type were small. The same could be done for the Professions. I'm not saying that the extant text should be eliminated. I'm saying that there should be a quick reference version of the same information, without all the descriptive passages -- just the numbers. This could be available perhaps as a PDF from the Biohazard website. *hint hint* Andrew *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Disturbnce [Disturbnce@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 9:53 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Rogues In a message dated 98-05-12 07:58:17 EDT, you write: > So, do you have any rogues that you'd like to share with > folks? I'll be creating a couple of pages for my BLUE PLANET website > which will have characters submitted to me by players and others. Give me a few days to get the sheet worked up in VISIO, so I can have JPGs of the character sheets available, and I'll post the URL when they're up. I'm working on a storyline that may turn into a scenario, I dunno... avoiding real work at the moment. :) The situation is beginning to revolve around a group/village of squids that have abandoned land and are living in open water, in a primitivist movement type of thing. What sort of changes occur when you have babies born in open water, who don't breathe air or walk on land until they're several months old? Just an idea I'm kicking around right now, more as it develops. Andrew *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Heivilin, Jim [banzai@missouri.edu] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 10:04 To: Blue Planet List (E-mail) Subject: Characters Everyone, I see the opportunity for an idea I saw on the Deadlands list that I thought was pretty damn cool. They proposed a 'hero of the week' sort of thing where players could post their favorite heroes. With a game like Deadlands where character generation can be a quick thing (or for REAL role-players like us, a much more involved thing) that's fine but for Blue Planet, the idea rocks (since we all pour so much more of our soul into our characters). AND this will allow GMs to have a pool of other characters they can use as NPC. What do you think? We could also create a section of the web pages to put them in. Jim Jim Heivilin, Webmaster Biohazard Games ccbanzai@showme.missouri.edu http://www.biohazardgames.com From: Heivilin, Jim [banzai@missouri.edu] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 10:07 To: 'blue_planet@MPGN.COM' Subject: RE: [BLUE PLANET] - Skill Missing? > -----Original Message----- > From: John M. Kahane [mailto:jkahane@comnet.ca] > Sent: Monday, 11 May, 1998 15:14 PM > To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM > Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Skill Missing? > I don't personally think the Character Generation process is > all that clunky, although I agree with you that there is a good deal > of page flipping that goes on during the process. Streamlining isn't > really what's needed, and tables wouldn't work all that well, imo, > simply because there's a lot of information about character > generation that you can't impart in tables. > [MHO] I find that if you (both as a player and as a GM) know the character generation system well (you've gone through it a bunch of times) then tables allow you to refresh your memory and get it done more quickly than if you don't have everything in one place. I usually create my own in excel or something similar and then make a few copies so we can have one or two books for people in the group who have questions and the handouts for everyone else so we can get all the characters generated in one session. Jim Jim Heivilin, Webmaster Biohazard Games ccbanzai@showme.missouri.edu http://www.biohazardgames.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Hilarion [rhogan@mnsi.net] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 11:22 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: RE: [BLUE PLANET] - Characters On 12-May-98 Heivilin, Jim playfully chanted: | AND this will allow GMs to have a pool of other characters they can use | as NPC. | | What do you think? We could also create a section of the web pages to | put them in. Definitely sounds cool. The more resources, the better the information overload, I say. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm not curious as to Disturbnce's flair for characters. Since some of us are `chasers,' (ie, don't play all the characters we make) should we differentiate between the played and non-played? (ie, so some can be assured of the practicality of some characters, or have appendii to the fact that they've been fun in some situations, and that the others are uncharted territory?) Each of little dissertated annotations could be construed as "Access Denieds" as well and be cannibalized for plot ideas and hooks. --- rhogan@mnsi.net Do we chase our tail or the moon when we follow the path of self-modification with out objectivity? *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Heivilin, Jim [banzai@missouri.edu] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 10:18 To: Blue Planet List (E-mail) Subject: RE: [BLUE PLANET] - Rogues > -----Original Message----- > From: Disturbnce [mailto:Disturbnce@aol.com] > Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 9:53 AM > To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM > Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Rogues > Give me a few days to get the sheet worked up in VISIO, so I > can have JPGs of > the character sheets available, and I'll post the URL when > they're up. I'm > I have html documents of the character sheets if anyone would find them useful. You can find them at; http://yoda.cc.missouri.edu/data/bh/character/character.html and http://yoda.cc.missouri.edu/data/bh/character/character2.html and compiled (with all the html and images) at http://yoda.cc.missouri.edu/data/bh/character/character.zip Jim Jim Heivilin, Webmaster Biohazard Games ccbanzai@showme.missouri.edu http://www.biohazardgames.com From: Disturbnce [Disturbnce@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 11:27 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Characters In a message dated 98-05-12 11:14:05 EDT, you write: > What do you think? We could also create a section of the web pages to > put them in. Go for it. Pregen NPCs are always a good thing to have in stock. There was a project very much like this for White Wolf, the Great Minds Project, that had its own listserv and website (unofficial), where pregen NPCs were posted and stored. Darn useful. Andrew *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Disturbnce [Disturbnce@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 11:30 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Rogues In a message dated 98-05-12 11:30:40 EDT, you write: > and compiled (with all the html and images) at Thanks! I grabbed the zip file and will see what I can do with it. Andrew *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Fred Langen [flangen@cisco.com] Sent: Tuesday, 12 May, 1998 13:40 To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Skill Missing? If everyone were ocean scientists, I'd definately say that oceanography was required. It's a specialized Science skill. So is planetology, and I could push that planetology would be almost as widely required. Many of my solid rock mass cohabitants don't know a lot about geology, and yet we exist just fine. As for most of Posiedon's inhabitants aren't oceanographers anymore than I am an atmospherist. Or a planetologist. They might know local currents and temperatures, but I don't think they'll really notice just like I don't notice if I'm living on bedrock or slate. (actually, bedrock. Living on the San Andreas makes a person concious of that. But I'm STILL not a geologist!) -fred Space Seeker John M. Kahane *mentally* communicated earlier: > >On Mon, 11 May 1998 23:59:31 +0200, Max Kalus wrote: > >>John M. Kahane wrote: >>> Why is is for a game system that deals with a waterworld, >>> there is no skill called Oceanography? :) > >>Yes, I missed something like that, too. There is Geology, for example, and >>Meteorology, if I remember right. But both do not cover the special knowledge required >>for a water world, which would mostly include water currents, salt content, >>temperature, etc. > > Exactly my point. These are the little things that are >missing from the game system at this point. But you would think that >a skill like Oceanography would have been mandatory in this game. :) > >... "I gave up grave-robbing when I took up journalism." - Daniel Larwood (SC) > > JohnK (O} ================================------------> \| ^^^^^^ \:W/------------------------------------------------------'''''' o