Are we all dead?

[BlackJaw]

hmmm I think were all dead.

 

[ax0n]

It mihgt be an idea to finally publish all your work under the OGL as OGC. I loved some of the stuff you were doing but I fear it will die with you. If you publically released it as open content someone else could possibly take over the mantle at some time in the future.

 

[BlackJaw]

thank god my DSL is hooked up now... I'm still downloading all my missed e-mail for the past 2 weeks. (STILL is the key word there... man that's a lot of spam!)

 

[barsoomcore]

I'm not dead yet.

Actually I just finished off a big project and can hopefully spare some time. Still got a lot of components to get through.

Hey, there's two (three) of us and we're not getting paid. There's a limit to how fast we're going to work.

 

[BlackJaw]

I know, I know... I wasn't yelling at anyone. I don't expect updates every day around here. I don't expect progress on a weekly basis... but I do think we should get back to making at least a showing every now and then so people know were still here and working. I'm guilty of going forever without showing up too.

Anyway: here is my current plan. In the next 3-4 days (please hold me to this!) I will update the webpage, and get it back up on the Enworld site (note that it isn't there because it hasn't been updated in forever).

In about 1 month I will be sending my PCs (my home game that I DM) into the underdark on a new and fun quest. about a month after that they will have reached the goblin city, where I have say another 3 weeks worth of adventures planned... after that I will be testing the full vehicle rules we have at that time. That is, the goblins build flying machines, and the PCs will be getting some made. What's that you ask? Flying machines underground?! YES! Basic D&D fly rules test will work wonders. spellcasters with flying rules, others with flying vehicles and even a flying mount (God love my PCs for the mixed bag that they are). they will probably build 1-3 flying vehicles (I suspect 1 larger craft and maybe some smaller personal crafts.) Then I will run a a few air-based adventures (underground).

Anyway: I figure I'd like to have something to show them in 2 months, 3 weeks. <Flips through calendar> Sunday Sept 21st sound like a goal for a playtest set of rules? Can we get components (well chunk representing the core "manditory" ones) by then?

Or am I off my rocker on this one?

PS: Later this month we will have to deal with making 3.5 updates.

PSS: I'm glad your still around!

PSSS: I turned 23 last week and boy is my Liver tired.

 

[barsoomcore]

September is perfectly doable. I am likely to going ahead with a playtest in and around that time frame as well, so we can compare notes and see how it's working.

Components will be done in the next few weeks. I'm almost done with Support and then it's on to Drives.

Slowly but surely! Let's do it right if we're going to do it at all.

 

[Wyvern]

Sorry I've been AWOL for so long. I've had other projects to occupy my attention, and to be perfectly honest I'm kind of burned out on the Cosmonomicon after writing two and a half chapters. Chapter 7 isn't done yet, but at this point I may never get it done, so I've gone ahead and uploaded what I have. I've also uploaded the latest revisions to my previous chapters (now renamed so the file names match the chapter numbers).

Chapter 3 is just a sidebar with optional critical hit rules, to be added to the combat chapter.

Chapter 5 is Setting Design. Significant changes since the last revision are as follows:
- added more details on effects of medium, including hull breaches
- added section on Magic vs. Tech, Kelrac's Law, Craft Gadget feat
- added a rule for the effects of gravity on atmospheric pressure (under Altitude)

Chapter 6 is Character Design. Changes include:
- changed the name of the pilot class to aviator (though I'd prefer a name that doesn't exclude pilots of starships and submarines; if I think of something, I'll let you know)
- changed aviator's hit die from d6 to d8
- changed skydancer's 10th level ability to feather fall 3/day
- removed feats that aren't directly relevant to the Cosmonomicon
- removed references to skills that are no longer used in 3.5e
- changed the rule for using explosives to breach a hull; now requires damage equal to 2x the armor bonus rather than equal to the hull material's hit points (so it's easier)
- added control climate, create air and purify air spells
- removed XP cost of gill spell
- renamed glassee and glasteel to glassight and steelglass
- added more detail on effects of patch hull spell
- renamed restore vessel to restore object
- added breath mask to the equipment section

Chapter 7 is Campaign Design. Some of it is still in outline form (the complete outline is included at the beginning to show what I had intended to cover), and the sample vessels don't have any stats, since the vessel design rules are still under construction. Whenever you get those finished and posted, I might pick up where I left off and do some stat blocks. The sections on campaign themes and integrating Cosmonomicon rules into an existing campaign, I leave for you guys to fill in.

Although I'm essentially finished all the writing I intend to do for this project, I can still offer my services as a proof-reader (something I'm very good at, as you might have noticed). I can't promise anything though, since I'll probably be moving overseas before the end of the month and I don't know if I'll have my own computer, let alone reliable internet access, for the next year or so. But I'll try to keep in touch if and when I can.

Wyvern

 

[BlackJaw]

Hot Dang!

This is a welcomed posting. You've done a lot of work here and we are happy to have it!

I just got back from a Metallica Concert, so I'll be sleeping now, but I got Monday off work to let my sun burns and ear drums regenerate, so I'll dig through your chapters then.

Good luck with your move!

 

[BlackJaw]

My computer had worms... buts it better now. Just finished reading through the chapters and I'm very happy with 95% of it.
another 4% is completley birlliant. Example: Kerolac's Law sidebar is GREAT great stuff.

my only complaint are the constant refrences to other works (the reading list is a good thing by the way) for reasons of:
1) my paranoid fear of stepping on copyright laws etc
2) there are people that don't know what all those refrences mean. There are a few that refrence things i've never played, and a few that I've never heard of.
It might be better if we rewrite those?

Then I just have a few clarification issues. simple things like does the gill spell provide speach (and thus spellcasting) in water or just breath? or does the last line of the spell "Create Air" mean you can't use it counterspell or that it doesn't provide protection from couldkill and the like?

Lastly there are a few spots I think we could leave some helpful refrences. Example: the equipment section might mention that there are weapons from various time periods (basic stats) in the Core rules already. We might even want to list what tech period (in the tech chapter) each table of guns in the DMG connects with, to help with world/game building.

But once again, great work!

 

[Wyvern]

My computer had worms... buts it better now. Just finished reading through the chapters and I'm very happy with 95% of it.
another 4% is completley birlliant. Example: Kerolac's Law sidebar is GREAT great stuff.

That's Kelrac's Law. It's an anagram of Clarke's Law.

my only complaint are the constant refrences to other works (the reading list is a good thing by the way) for reasons of:
1) my paranoid fear of stepping on copyright laws etc
2) there are people that don't know what all those refrences mean. There are a few that refrence things i've never played, and a few that I've never heard of.
It might be better if we rewrite those?

"Constant references" is an overstatement. Outside of the reading list, there are two references each to Earthdawn and Starshield, one to Shadowrun, and one to A Fire Upon the Deep, spread across three chapters. None of them detract from understanding what's being said if you're not familiar with them, and none of them violate copyright law. (Mentioning something in passing is not remotely close to a copyright violation.) If anything, they might conceivably be a violation of the d20 license, but I doubt it since none of them are properties owned by WotC. If it is a violation, and WotC cares enough to get after us about it, it'll be simple enough to excise them. Unless that happens, though, I'd prefer to leave them in. For those familiar with the sources referenced, they're helpful illustrations, and those unfamiliar with them might be encouraged to broaden their reading horizons. That's a good thing in my book.

Then I just have a few clarification issues. simple things like does the gill spell provide speach (and thus spellcasting) in water or just breath?

Well, it essentially grants water breathing as an extraordinary ability. (On reflection, the duration should be changed to "Instantaneous" so it can't be dispelled.) If that spell allows you to talk underwater (which I would assume it does, though the spell description isn't explicit), then so does this one.

or does the last line of the spell "Create Air" mean you can't use it counterspell or that it doesn't provide protection from couldkill and the like?

Both.

Lastly there are a few spots I think we could leave some helpful refrences. Example: the equipment section might mention that there are weapons from various time periods (basic stats) in the Core rules already. We might even want to list what tech period (in the tech chapter) each table of guns in the DMG connects with, to help with world/game building.

If you or barsoomcore want to add those, feel free.

But once again, great work!

Thanks.

Wyvern