From: Christopher Gribbon [c.gribbon@dundee.ac.uk] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 5:48 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - new player > Also how was the old system? I see that the new version uses a >different system that is nice and streamlined and I was wondering if >the previous versions players like the new system better. I get the >impression that the system is fairly lethal and that appeals to me, am >I wrong in this assumption? The new system is certainly faster - but I'm not 100% on whether it's "better" or anything. The old system was a percentile one, with a unique "scaling" which took into account the fact that a human, no matter how strong he/she is, is never going to be as strong as even the weakest Orca. On the other hand - an Orca's DEX is always going to be orders of magnitude less than the human's. I liked that part. As for lethality - well the old system was pretty deadly too. It was definitely *not* one of those games where you can run an easy "combat to get the PCs united" thing in the first session. Half the party would end up dead, and the other half hospitalised for a couple of months at least. Nasty!! Another thing the combat had was a radically different Initiative/speed-of-action thing. Instead of "number of actions per turn", you had a "number of turns to take an action" mechanic. It was nice - but a little difficult to get your head around at first. > Any other suggestion to someone new to the world of poseidon would >be appreciated also. - Get the "aquaform" biomod as soon as you can afford it. - Watch out for poisonous coral. - If the animal in front of you is not in your guidebook - run away from it now! It's probably not in the book 'cos no-one has survived the encounter to report it! - Never trust a smiling Dolphin. Christopher Gribbon Vision Research Laboratories Medical Sciences Institute University of Dundee Dundee DD1 5EH UK (01382) 344 229 ____________________________________________________________________ "A scientist is meant to be disinterested, pure; his ambition merely to descry the cement of the universe. He isn't meant to use it to start laying his own patio!" - WILL SELF, The Quantity Theory of Insanity *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Thomas Jeenicke [Thomas_Jeenicke@public.uni-hamburg.de] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 2:47 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Are the aborigines too powerful? (SPOILERS!) Attention: This mail contains SPOILERS for non-moderators! Hello again Let me first stress that I generally like the concept of the aborigines. But I also see some problems. Now I'd like to adress one of the concerns which can be sumed up in the question: Are the aborigines too powerful? They certainly have their weaknesses (as I see it: they are rather unflexible, their culture is static (a possible disadvantage against human dynamism) and obviously they are still quite confused about the strange beings who have landed on Poseidon), but their nanites and their ability to control the thoughts and feelings of other creatures make them vastly superior to individual humans or cetaceans. This can be a serious problem if player characters come into contact with the aborigines. Though the abos shouldn't be the "villains" of the BP setting, there might be conflict with them and then the PCs don't have a chance. And even if the PCs are allied with the aborigines (e.g. a group of natives and eco-terrorists), they sooner or later must get the impression that they are just pawns for beings who could do the work all alone if they only wanted to. It doesn't matter if the players see the aborigines as allies, enemies or a enigmatic neutral force - if they get a notion of their true power, they gonna get frustrated. Of course the moderator can - and should - try to conceal the aboriginal true powers and motives, but that will on the long run only strengthen the impression of aboriginal omnipotence. What are Your experiences with the aborigines? How many people really use them in their BP campaigns, anyway? Thomas *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Christopher Gribbon [c.gribbon@dundee.ac.uk] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 5:56 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Are the aborigines too powerful? (SPOIL *** SPOILER WARNING (Again) *** >It doesn't matter if the players see the aborigines as allies, enemies or a >enigmatic neutral force - if they get a notion of their true power, they >gonna get frustrated. Of course the moderator can - and should - try to >conceal the aboriginal true powers and motives, but that will on the long >run only strengthen the impression of aboriginal omnipotence. > >What are Your experiences with the aborigines? How many people really use >them in their BP campaigns, anyway? When I was running BP, I tended not to use the Abos as antagonists. I had pirates, nasty incorps, mercenary bounty-hunters, ecoterrorists and pharium smugglers. I definately *used* the Abos - but more as wierd what-the-hell-is-going-on stuff to preserve the strangeness of Poseidon, and to keep the PCs on their toes. I agree that they *are* a trifle deus-ex-machina, but I think that's as it should be given the setting. Just remember that, powerful as they are, the Abos are also confused and uncertain. And they also have a lot to loose if the humans get dangerous. Desperation makes for mistakes.... At the very worst, if the PCs discover that the Abos use pheromones to control you - all you have to do is develop a properly sealed suit (like ABC gear) and you're practically invulnerable to the mind-control (if not the soldiers, and the suddenly-viscious local fauna). Christopher Gribbon Vision Research Laboratories Medical Sciences Institute University of Dundee Dundee DD1 5EH UK (01382) 344 229 ____________________________________________________________________ "A scientist is meant to be disinterested, pure; his ambition merely to descry the cement of the universe. He isn't meant to use it to start laying his own patio!" - WILL SELF, The Quantity Theory of Insanity *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Jerome Darmont [jdarmont@dionysos.univ-lyon2.fr] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 5:32 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Are the aborigines too powerful? (SPOIL At 10:55 05/10/00 +0000, Christopher Gribbon wrote: >*** SPOILER WARNING (Again) *** >At the very worst, if the PCs discover that the Abos use pheromones to >control you - all you >have to do is develop a properly sealed suit (like ABC gear) and you're >practically >invulnerable to the mind-control (if not the soldiers, and the >suddenly-viscious local fauna). Don't they manipulate the brain magnetic waves? (Well, you can imagine suits that block that too, but...) -- Jerome Darmont, mailto:darmont@multimania.com http://www.multimania.com/darmont/jdr/ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Malcolm Craig [malcolmcraig@hotmail.com] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:12 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - new player Hello and welcome. Hope you enjoy introducing the game to new players and it's always nice to have new and enthusiastic members on the list. As regards the old system, yes it had its faults but I quite liked it. All the faults inherent in the system I either ignored and just played round them, or modified in some way. That's not to say that I don't like the new system, there are some very good aspects to it, but I'm not certain that a wholesale change of system was worth it. That having been said, I do appreciate that a lott of work went into the new system from the guys at BHG and list members who took part in the playtesting, so by no means do I want to demean their sterling efforts. However, my enthusiasm for BP remains undimished and it's great to see the list growing and an even wider band of keen GMs and players becoming involved. Look forward to hear from you on the list. Cheers Malcolm >From: Imiritish >Reply-To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com >To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com >Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - new player >Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 12:57:49 -0700 (PDT) > >Greetings, > New to the list and to the game I just thought I would send out a >hello and say that I have only read throught the players guide thus far >and overall it looks great. I was introduced to the game through the >president of a different RPG at shorecon (I already have all his stuff) >and was sold on the game, I picked up everything including fluid >mehcanics. (hurray for impluse buying) I am hoping to introduce the >game to the 20 or so players in the area some time over the next month >and I was wondering if the lot of you have any suggestions for 1st time >bp gms. > Also how was the old system? I see that the new version uses a >different system that is nice and streamlined and I was wondering if >the previous versions players like the new system better. I get the >impression that the system is fairly lethal and that appeals to me, am >I wrong in this assumption? > Any other suggestion to someone new to the world of poseidon would >be appreciated also. > later, > Jim > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Photos - 35mm Quality Prints, Now Get 15 Free! >http://photos.yahoo.com/ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Gareth Hanrahan [hanrahag@iol.ie] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:03 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Are the aborigines too powerful? (SPOILERS!) > Let me first stress that I generally like the concept of the aborigines. But > I also see some problems. Now I'd like to adress one of the concerns which > can be sumed up in the question: Are the aborigines too powerful? > > They certainly have their weaknesses (as I see it: they are rather > unflexible, their culture is static (a possible disadvantage against human > dynamism) and obviously they are still quite confused about the strange > beings who have landed on Poseidon), but their nanites and their ability to > control the thoughts and feelings of other creatures make them vastly > superior to individual humans or cetaceans. This can be a serious problem if > player characters come into contact with the aborigines. Though the abos > shouldn't be the "villains" of the BP setting, there might be conflict with > them and then the PCs don't have a chance. And even if the PCs are allied > with the aborigines (e.g. a group of natives and eco-terrorists), they > sooner or later must get the impression that they are just pawns for beings > who could do the work all alone if they only wanted to. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. The Abos are in the same league as creatures of the Cthulhu mythos or something - so far beyond us and so different too us that mutual comprehension, let alone communication, is unthinkable. They're a story element. Asking if they're too powerful is liking asking if the monolith in 2001 was unfair to poor Bowman.... > Thomas Gar http://www.irishgaming.com/warpcon http://chrysanthemumRoad.tripod.com "In addition," Henry noted, "our University has a fine theozoology department. Few faculty anywhere can rival our professors when it comes to studying and classifying new sorts of God!" "How many kinds of God are there?" "One, so far," Henry admitted, "but the Department has just recently constructed a ministerial accelerator that they believe will give rise to as many as seventeen forms of God heretofore unknown." -from The Life and Death of Henry Serrano, by Emily Chen, as recorded in Nobilis *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Dr Ian McDonald [ian.mcdonald@iname.com] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:46 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Chapter 1; Introduction I'll read chapters 7 thru 9 first, then get back to the list. They are mainly economics (if Long John increases in value rapidly its behaviour as a currency is hyper-deflationary, not hyper-inflationary, for example) which might be better explained elsewhere. Brian_Ferrenz@americanchemistry.com wrote: > > Welcome Ian! Could you elaborate on some of the inconsistencies? We'd be > more than happy to help out. > Brian > > > > Hi, > > I've recently got a copy of Blue Planet. I find Poseidon a really > interesting setting, but after reading the first couple of chapters, I > found the introductory fiction a little disappointing. I found a couple > of things badly explained, and a couple of factual errors. Are things > explained better (as opposed to simply in more detail) in the background > information chapters towards the end of the book? > > Thanks, > > Ian > > -- > Ian McDonald > -- Ian McDonald http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~type40/alternative.html http://travel.to/startrekcolony - Star Trek: Colony site & .mov http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~type40/who-rpg.html - Dr. Who RPGs *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Ville.Halonen@minedu.fi Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 9:16 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: VS: [BLUE PLANET] - Fluid Mechanics Mike Z wrote: >It wasn't full of wizbang gadgets like I thought it would be. Then I read about the >pre-fab bioplast construction techniques and realized that it was a lot cooler than a >collection of neat gadgets. > >The pre-fab stuff alone changed how I thought of >terrorist training camps. Suddenly my description of >them became less generic and more unique to Blue Planet. Whew. I was afraid it was going to be nothing BUT statistic and gadgets. Of course, those were my worst nightmares, not my expectations. A tech book should primarily, in my opinion, describe the technology in the gaming world, not the gadgets. The gadgets tend to include only military tech, which, quite frankly, sucks. I'd like to read what the kitchens and washing machines and vacuum cleaners (and such everyday stuff) are like. What better creator of atmosphere is there? Too many games concentrate on fights. I'm not to tell which is better, Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun, but CP beats the living crap out of SR when it comes to attitude and atmosphere. Hell, it says in the price list how much it costs to get moderately drunk! Not to forget Hârn whose price list says who much an apple costs. Blue Planet has done so much I like, with all the non-aggressive fauna and all, and II hope we'll see much of the same. I wouldn't mind a gadget sourcebook, if it included clothing, music and other mass culture. Infact, I'd probably love it. Still waiting for the Fluid Mechanics to arrive, - Ville *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Ville.Halonen@minedu.fi Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 9:23 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Military And to take all the credibility away from my last post, some military stuff follows. I was wondering how big are the military units, like squads, squadrons, battalions, platoons, divisions and such? And, having seen demonstrations and even riots lately, how do the Incorporate and the GEO handle the crowds? I'd figure them to use stun guns and what-are-they-called gel bullets, but what else? Water cannons? Different kinds of gases? How do they treat the demonstrators? Nothing, or little, to do with the military and the "police", but how high are the rents on Poseidon? Of course they vary, but how much do pay for extremely low, low, middle, high and luxury class apartments? Thanks. - Ville *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Ville.Halonen@minedu.fi Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 9:29 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Organisation of chapters Dr Ian McDonald's message reminded me of a complaint on the Player's Guide. It seems it could've been better organised, more like in the way the first edition was: the background first, then the rules. Now there's a lot of stuff in the character creation section that might not open for a newbie during the first read. It doesn't matter much to the more experienced, at least not me. Maybe a short (?) list of things and basic concepts of BP explained on the net might help the newcomers? - Ville *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Heivilin, Jim [banzai@missouri.edu] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 1:53 PM To: Blue Planet List (E-mail) Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: Nerd Word: Touched By A Chip Got this a few days ago. Thought it might be of interest to the BP community. Jim -----Original Message----- ******************************************************* DUMMIES DAILY: Nerd Word of the Day http://www.dummiesdaily.com ******************************************************* TODAY'S eTIP(TM): Touched By A Chip Today's Term: Digital Angel Applied Digital Solutions [http://www.adsx.com] has the patent rights to a miniature Global Positioning System (GPS) chip that can be injected underneath a person's skin. This "Digital Angel" device can read its position from the GPS satellites and report back to those same satellites. In fact, it can also transmit biological data about the person. Clearly, this would be beneficial for finding kids and monitoring ailments, but might also be considered a threat to privacy. http://www.adsx.com [http://www.adsx.com] ******************************************************* *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Heivilin, Jim [banzai@missouri.edu] Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 4:04 PM To: Blue Planet List (E-mail) Subject: [FWD] RE: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: Nerd Word: Touched By A Chip -----Original Message----- From: "J P Prince" To: Subject: RE: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: Nerd Word: Touched By A Chip Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 08:03:10 +1000 I saw something like this a few months ago. They want to chop the elderly with memory problems so they don't get lost and also chip kids so you can keep track of them. I also know there was talk about chipping prisoners (the Fortress). The chips are jellybean sized and placed under the collar bone (oow) or into the buttocks... Jason >-----Original Message----- >From: owner-blue_planet@lists.ient.com >[mailto:owner-blue_planet@lists.ient.com]On Behalf Of Heivilin, Jim >Sent: Friday, October 06, 2000 4:53 AM >To: Blue Planet List (E-mail) >Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - FW: Nerd Word: Touched By A Chip > > >Got this a few days ago. Thought it might be of interest to the BP >community. > >Jim > >-----Original Message----- >******************************************************* >DUMMIES DAILY: Nerd Word of the Day >http://www.dummiesdaily.com >******************************************************* > >TODAY'S eTIP(TM): Touched By A Chip > >Today's Term: Digital Angel >Applied Digital Solutions [http://www.adsx.com] has >the patent rights to a miniature Global Positioning >System (GPS) chip that can be injected underneath a >person's skin. This "Digital Angel" device can >read its position from the GPS satellites and report >back to those same satellites. In fact, it can also >transmit biological data about the person. Clearly, this >would be beneficial for finding kids and monitoring >ailments, but might also be considered a threat to >privacy. > >http://www.adsx.com [http://www.adsx.com] > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.