From: Auberon [fskln1@uaf.edu] Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 9:40 PM To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Character Generator Ml10@aol.com wrote: > > The current plan that I have is to place it online and act as a character > archive for GMs. The idea is that in exchange for using the program, a person > would submit the character for inclusion into an online archive so that other > GMs would have a nice resource to draw from. I like it. A lot. > So I have a question for all the GMs out there. Would you prefer an actual > character sheet for each character or a blurp( much like what appears in > Undercurrents)? I ask because there are a few real tricky hurdles to For NPC purposes, I'd like the full brief. For generating my own character, I'd like something that vaguely resembles the character sheet, for copying purposes. > formating the data to look like a character sheet. It looks like it would be > easy to do, but the character sheet isn't very robust. Before I start on the > full backend, I wanted see if there was any value added for GMs Actually, what you could do for this is actually try to figure out postscript. You could print the PDF character sheets to a PS file, and work your program such that the data from the generator was added to the appropriate places and a new postscript file is generated, and d/led to the web client. It'd be a pain in the butt, but as far as the programming goes, it'd be a great little hack. That might be something to put off to about 5.0, now that I think about it. -- +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= "I never get involved in my own life. It's too much trouble" - Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5) *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: stevie [Stephan.Aspridis@stud.uni-hannover.de] Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 7:31 PM To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Damage Results [much very interesting stuff deleted] O.K. thanks to all. I think, I got it. I was slightly unsure because the graphical descriptions go only up to level 5, but I should have thought of it: If you do maximum damage with the analog of a .50 Cal. Big Bore Dino Killer, there is nothing left but smashed bits if the unfortunate target happened to be human sized. So, if I got that right - Level 8 damage on a scale 1 target = no need to roll, it's sushi. Ciao, Stephan *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Jason A Werner [c577200@showme.missouri.edu] Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 6:29 PM To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Damage Results warning: Possibly longer than necessary. stevie wrote: > Did I get that right - if I hit someone of scale 1 with, say, a hunting > rifle and get a damage result of 8 (maximum), does that mean this person > gets damage level 5? I thought this was what I read in the rules, am I wrong > here? First off: welcome to the list! Second, just in case...doing level-8 damage to a scale 1 organism is kind of like swatting a fly with a buick. The general idea is that average human beings are scale-5. The reason we did it that way (and I'm going from memory here. If I'm wrong about this, somebody feel free to correct me) is that it's too hard to model greater whites, orcas, humans, fish, and stinging insects on the same 100-point scale if you intuitively set the average human value at 50. This applies to pretty much every attribute, whether constitution or whatever. So, the average human (scale five) has a 50/50 chance (before any modifications) of completing a task which requires manual dexterity. Orcas, which have a scale-0 dexterity have essentially no chance of doing anything more complicated than bonking snout-first into a good sized panel. By the same token, humans (scale-5) have a hard time running a marathon, which is what? 20-something kilometers? Whereas an orca (scale-8 endurance) does that every morning on his way to the breakfast table. Now, after carefully reviewing your post, I note that you're probably talking about _damage_ scale, rather than a scaled attribute. So, your scale-1 organism is actually apropriate. You're talking about your typical soft, squishy human being. Not, for example, the described damage scale-3 hovercraft or a damage scale-20 Prosperity Station. So, you'll note the 1:1 correlation of rolled damage rank to what's actually done on the table on BP 316. If you smack a human for 8 levels, he basically explodes into little juicy pieces. Alternatively, if you hit that damage scale-3 hovercraft for 8 levels, it's the equivalent of doing 2 out of the available 5 levels of damage. Think of it this way - We've set it up so that everything in existence can take 5 levels of damage. Now, how do those five levels compare to the five needed to take out the average human. For a damage scale-20 object, it's a 20:1 ratio. For a damage scale-2 animal, structure, or vehicle, it's a 2:1 correlation. An amount of damage that will just take out a human will be just under half of what's necessary to wreck a damage scale-2 vehicle. So, back to your orriginal question. If you hit a damage scale-1 organism for 8 levels, it takes all 8 levels, and it's goin' down. Now, you can roll out for level-5 damage effects if you want that extra graphic demonstration. But remember, no matter how bad things are on level-5, you've done another 3 levels of damage. Things are, therefore, that much worse. Anything over 5 levels, and that's more or less all she wrote. And that's all I wrote. [one caveat: I'm not the rules god around here. He's on vacation. If someone thinks I'm in error, feel free to point it out as voiciferously as you want. I could probably use the correction. I'm just here for the song and dance.] -Jason Werner Biohazard Games ------------------------------------------------ I lacked the courage to investigate the weaknesses of the wicked, because I discovered they are the same as the weaknesses of the saintly. - Wm. of Baskerville -------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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@aol.com Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 5:44 PM To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Damage Results Hey Stephen, Welcome aboard! You write: Did I get that right - if I hit someone of scale 1 with, say, a hunting rifle and get a damage result of 8 (maximum), does that mean this person gets damage level 5? I thought this was what I read in the rules, am I wrong here? >>>>This is numerically correct, but here is what is really happening. For a scale 1 target (human durability) the conversion is one to one - each level of damage result is one level of damage. The damage tables go only as high as level 5, which is usually quite sufficient to kill/destroy the target. The scale conversion simply allows us to use the same damage tables for all (well, living anyway) targets. In the case of scale one targets (the most common) you can assume the target in your example actually takes 8 levels of damage if you want to. I usually do this, as it makes the trauma rolls realistically hard to make as the severity of the injury increases - I mean hamburger is hamburger ; (. From the Depths, 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: Ml10@aol.com Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 9:39 AM To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Character Generator In a message dated 12/13/98, 7:48:49 AM, blue_planet@MPGN.COM writes: <<> > I am up to version 2.0 of my Javascript web based one. (I am holding off on > Java as Sun and Microsoft are still in court over it) The character creation > rules have some very nasty quirks when one is trying to create abstract data > contructs so it is taking me longer than I first thought. I have about half of > the professions, all the bio-mods, and the backend left to go. Have you got it up anywhere? What's the URL? >> It only exists on my PC. ( I don't need people breaking things on me) I do plan to finish it this year. But like most hack.., err... computer freaks, I tend to have a half a dozen or so "hobby" projects going on at once (not to mention the stuff that I get paid to do), so I am not going to make any promises. The current plan that I have is to place it online and act as a character archive for GMs. The idea is that in exchange for using the program, a person would submit the character for inclusion into an online archive so that other GMs would have a nice resource to draw from. So I have a question for all the GMs out there. Would you prefer an actual character sheet for each character or a blurp( much like what appears in Undercurrents)? I ask because there are a few real tricky hurdles to formating the data to look like a character sheet. It looks like it would be easy to do, but the character sheet isn't very robust. Before I start on the full backend, I wanted see if there was any value added for GMs Mike Z . *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Adam Lewis [adamswork@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 8:16 AM To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Damage Results ---stevie wrote: > I am not only new on this list, but on Blue Planet entirely (bought it last > Saturday). Welcome to the list! > Did I get that right - if I hit someone of scale 1 with, say, a hunting > rifle and get a damage result of 8 (maximum), does that mean this person > gets damage level 5? I thought this was what I read in the rules, am I wrong > here? Good question! I don't remember reading this but I assumed that a level 5 wound was the maximum, except when dealing with extrodinary circumstances (i.e. point blank to the head, fall of 500 ft., etc.) == AdamL There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.” _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.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: stevie [Stephan.Aspridis@stud.uni-hannover.de] Sent: Sunday, December 13, 1998 7:10 PM To: blue_planet@MPGN.COM Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Damage Results Hi folks, I am not only new on this list, but on Blue Planet entirely (bought it last Saturday). I've been playing RPGs since 1984 now and especially like well made SF RPGS - unfortunately, there aren't many, so I used a homebrew setting with CORPS until Blue Planet came about. I really like it. Scientific reasonably accurate and very detailed and realistic. O.K, enough rambling, I've got a question, too: Since the damage rules work in a way I am unaccustomed to (and 350+ pages are quite much to read in a single weekend), here comes my question: Did I get that right - if I hit someone of scale 1 with, say, a hunting rifle and get a damage result of 8 (maximum), does that mean this person gets damage level 5? I thought this was what I read in the rules, am I wrong here? Ciao, Stephan *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.