From: Ville.Halonen@minedu.fi Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 9:37 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: VS: [BLUE PLANET] - Various and sundry... (longish) MikeZ quoted Jeff Barber... >> As a bit of relevant foreshadowing, our intent is to release >> A World of Hurt (the BP Earth book), and its associated >> source books (Luna, Mars, etc) as a stand alone RPG series, >> with all the rules needed to play included in AWoH. The idea sounds great, although I'm not so enthusiastic with including the rules. I know WHY they're there, but I'm so pissed with White Wolf for including the rules in ALL of their game systems, wasting paper and adding to the cost of the books, and I don't want everyone doing the same thing. *I don't want to pay for same material one time after another, especially if they're rules -- and it's not Blue Planet!* As long as you're including the rules only in AWoH, and not in every single supplement. - The Red Planet, includes future history, complete rules, a survival guide to Mars etc. - The Hot Planet, includes future history, complete rules, a survival guide to Mercury (I know it's not habitable) - The Dry, Gray Ballish Thing Orbiting The Earth that Can't Be Called A Planet, includes future history, complete rules, a survival guide to Luna Etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely for the idea of AWoH as a stand-alone, but if there only was a way to NOT include the rules...At least you could discard the IMO most useless part of the Player's Guide, twenty-something pages of premade characters, or at least make it a-dozen-something pages. And now a little bit of spoiler space for those who aren't GM's. 15 10 5 0 Are you sure you wan't to read further? There's still time to turn back... ...and wrote... >Speaking as someone who was never interested in non- >Poseidon material, but who nevertheless was blown away >by the detail & richness of background you had invested >in the non-Poseidon areas of your universe, this is >the best possible way for you to expand. Are you sure? Are you absolutely, positively, definitely sure that the BP universe (hint hint hint The Key Word) hasn't got more interesting places to expand to? - Ville the Wormhole *************************************************************************** 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: Michael Czaplinski [MCzaplinski@npr.org] Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 6:43 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: RE: [BLUE PLANET] - Various and sundry... (longish) > From: BIOHZD@aol.com [mailto:BIOHZD@aol.com] [snip] > 4. I am gratified that players seem to recognize the > distinctions between traditional cyberpunk literature > and BP. We intended BP to be a new take on an overdone > genre, and wanted the sense of promise instilled in the > setting to describe a different sort of future - one > that, though hard and bleak, offered promise instead > of desperation. > > As a bit of relevant foreshadowing, our intent is to release > A World of Hurt (the BP Earth book), and its associated > source books (Luna, Mars, etc) as a stand alone RPG series, > with all the rules needed to play included in AWoH. > The books will still be BP through and through, but the hope > is that they will allow gamers not initially drawn to the > BP setting to get into the game. The series will also > allow us to further explore our take on the cyberpunk > genre and present the BP version of Earth with the same > richness with which we presented Poseidon. BRAVO!!! Speaking as someone who was never interested in non- Poseidon material, but who nevertheless was blown away by the detail & richness of background you had invested in the non-Poseidon areas of your universe, this is the best possible way for you to expand. And now we know where all the BPv1 background essays on Mars & the Belt are going to turn up....;-) MikeC,who sees now that Biohazard/FFG is so committed to recycling that they kept the first edition as a valid 'all-in-one' guide to their new SF RPG universe.... *************************************************************************** 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: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 12:16 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Advanced weapons technology Having read over FluMech, I’ve got a couple of queries, particularly regarding weapons technology in BP. Most weapons in BP are of the conventional slugthrowing type (albeit with the advances and advantages of binary propellant). However, with the technology available in the BP setting (excellent computing, superconducting battery technology), surely there must be the possibility for more ‘advanced’ forms of weapon? OK, I get that when you’re out on the frontiers, having a system which works every time under harsh conditions is better than having a flashy item which may or may not function. That being said, something like a gauss rifle (which to my eyes seems feasible in the BP setting) would be ideally suited to certain specialist/military applications. Lasers are right out as atmospheric weapons due to the ‘blooming’ effects and energy loss of firing through a gaseous medium, but surely there would at least be some attention given to gauss weapons or, at the more experimental side of things, particle beams (perhaps more in a space or vehicle based application). The basic point of this query is to find out if there is any given reason for this (perceived) lack of development (or otherwise) in this area. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some sort of weapon obsessive nut as regards games, just a bit of idle curiosity. Cheers Malcolm _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.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: Michael Czaplinski [MCzaplinski@npr.org] Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 11:48 AM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: RE: [BLUE PLANET] - Various and sundry... (longish) > From: Ville.Halonen@minedu.fi [mailto:Ville.Halonen@minedu.fi] Um, its MikeC, but those two keys are pretty close on the keyboard.... > MikeZ quoted Jeff Barber... > >> As a bit of relevant foreshadowing, our intent is to release > >> A World of Hurt (the BP Earth book), and its associated > >> source books (Luna, Mars, etc) as a stand alone RPG series, > >> with all the rules needed to play included in AWoH. > > The idea sounds great, although I'm not so enthusiastic with > including the > rules. I know WHY they're there, but I'm so pissed with White Wolf for > including the rules in ALL of their game systems, wasting > paper and adding > to the cost of the books, and I don't want everyone doing the > same thing. *I > don't want to pay for same material one time after another, > especially if > they're rules -- and it's not Blue Planet!* [snip a funny "BP as done by WW" list of supplements] You have a point, but the settings of the Earth, Mars and outer space all are different facets of the BP universe, and as such would require different optional rules (IE, zero-G rules are useless for the WOH, whereas a Mars book wouldn't need a bestiary of Genies, for example). But, given the choice of either duplicating the basic rules for each supplement or sprinkling important rules across multiple supplements (such as AEG does with L5R), I'd take the former. >Etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely for the idea of AWoH as a >stand-alone, but if there only was a way to NOT include the rules...At least >you could discard the IMO most useless part of the Player's Guide, >twenty-something pages of premade characters, or at least make it >a-dozen-something pages. Each to our own taste: I think the premade character templates are a godsend, not only as a way to 'jump start' players into the game, but as a quick source of NPC's for the GM and as an object lesson of what a finished character should look like. [snip] > >Speaking as someone who was never interested in non- > >Poseidon material, but who nevertheless was blown away > >by the detail & richness of background you had invested > >in the non-Poseidon areas of your universe, this is > >the best possible way for you to expand. > > Are you sure? Are you absolutely, positively, definitely sure > that the BP universe (hint hint hint The Key Word) hasn't got more > interesting places to expand to? Thats' not what I said at all. All I said was that, so far, I'm not interested in non-Poseidon information, since the planet itself has an infinity of possibilities for the kind of things I'd like to do, narratively. Certainly, there is a LOT of room to expand the BP universe beyond what's been presented so far (I'll not say more to avoid any potential spoilers). In fact, it's precisely this potential for expansion that I see as the most compelling reason to modularize the universe into interlocking and compatible game settings (Earth, Mars, The Belt, Poseidon, et.) that will not force people who are only interested in one aspect of the universe to buy expensive books loaded with things we'll never use to get to the 1 or 2 items we will use. BP & FFG will not be tied down to one area, and will have the freedom to create more and better things that way, and then we'll all be the better for it. MikeC, modular is better. Ask any Linux programmer.... *************************************************************************** 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: BIOHZD@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 9:37 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: VS: [BLUE PLANET] - Various and sundry... (longish) Hey Mike, You write: The idea sounds great, although I'm not so enthusiastic with including the rules. I know WHY they're there, but I'm so pissed with White Wolf for including the rules in ALL of their game systems >>>>The plan is to include the complete rules *only* in the core AWoH book. I know it is *hard* to believe, but some gamers have no interest in a fully realized waterworld full of mystery and conflict. We want to offer an alternative route for these *unbelievers* to join the fold ; ). If subsequent rules are needed, like skills for "martian dust collecting" or "asteroid hopscotch" they will perforce be included in the appropriate supplement. Spoiler... 5 4 3 2 1 Are you sure? Are you absolutely, positively, definitely sure that the BP universe (hint hint hint The Key Word) hasn't got more interesting places to expand to? - Ville the Wormhole >>>>Patience Grasshoppper ; ). Jeff Barber Biohazard Games *************************************************************************** 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: BIOHZD@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 9:37 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Advanced weapons technology Hey Malcolm, You ask: The basic point of this query is to find out if there is any given reason for this (perceived) lack of development (or otherwise) in this area. Donit get me wrong, Iim not some sort of weapon obsessive nut as regards games, just a bit of idle curiosity. >>>>Good question. My take is that once you manage a certain combined level of destruction and efficiency, there is little need to produce, or use, more powerful weapons. Modern BP slug throwers are going to stop anything on the planet (anything you *should* be shooting at anyway) and guided missiles (or properly placed handfuls of gravel for that matter) will stop anything in space. Jeff Barber Biohazard Games *************************************************************************** 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: BIOHZD@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 9:37 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Great White Tooth fighting knife Someone asked: Any other ideas for items made from Poseidon flora or fauna out there? >>>>I had some hardcore natives in the outer reaches making powerful bows out of stone snake ribs... Jeff Barber Biohazard Games *************************************************************************** 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: Alan M. Nuss [amnuss@atl.mediaone.net] Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 10:51 PM To: Blue Planet digest Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - FM vehicles The only thing missing from Fluid Mechanics are vehicle design rules. I was looking forward to making cargo subs. Alan *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.