DT's The Undiscovered Frontier

[Voda Vosa]

I'm really liking this, but I'm in a quite time consuming stage of my thesis (the final week) so I'm not able to produce quality posts. And wont be until the end of November, so bare with Sarpot please.

 

[Shayuri]

Just play it as you are. The basis of your powers is another one of my unrevealed reveals. So is your identity. I missed an opportunity to add that Mellisande mixed her movements working with the machine to rhythm and music she was hearing in her head. <sigh>

Hehe, no worries.

Strictly from an RP perspective then, with magic being science, when I have Mellisande roll Arcana, should I have her talking in 'fantasy wizard' terms or in 'weird science' terms?

Should she be saying things like 'thaumaturgic resonance causing the wards to shatter and releasing a necromantic overload' or 'quantum subspace fluctuations that broke the zero-point barrier and allowed inert coolant substrate to flood?'

Just for flavor, of course.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I would think that it would change from fantasy to sci fi as Mellisande comes to understand and then accept the reality around her.

 

[Shayuri]

Hmm...I guess my question is based on the notion that they're still two different things, which is a false assumption on my part.

It's just weird having a character who is well 'educated' (ie - high skill in knowledge) but doesn't understand reality. In my head, those are two mutually exclusive states of being.

I will think on this.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

There was an argument going around on whether Traveller RPG or Metamorphisis Alpha was the first science fiction game. However, this was resolved when Jim Ward declared M.A. to be a science fantasy game, as hard science and realism was not as important to the game as it was to Traveller RPG. I hope that helps. And right now Mellisande is probably as befuddled as you are in the balancing of the thought. As for Knowledge- Arcane, I see it as the equivalence of understanding computer and technical languages. Use Magic Device is the equivalent of having a functional knowledge of a high tech device. If you haven't figured it out yet, your wands of magic missile are laser pistols with auto-seeking, your belts of shield are force fields which help deflect blows and magic missiles, your staves of fireballs are the high tech equivalent to rocket propelled grenades and your healing devices are med-kits, fast acting liquid gauze or stimulant injections. And so it goes.

 

[Shayuri]

Right...that all makes sense.

It's the window dressing that I was stumbling over.

In my head, the science gobbledegook was something distinct and separate from the magic gobbledegook, but the reality is in this setting, they are the same.

Had to wrap my head around that.

I think I'm good now.

 

[Queenie]

There was an argument going around on whether Traveller RPG or Metamorphisis Alpha was the first science fiction game. However, this was resolved when Jim Ward declared M.A. to be a science fantasy game, as hard science and realism was not as important to the game as it was to Traveller RPG. I hope that helps. And right now Mellisande is probably as befuddled as you are in the balancing of the thought. As for Knowledge- Arcane, I see it as the equivalence of understanding computer and technical languages. Use Magic Device is the equivalent of having a functional knowledge of a high tech device. If you haven't figured it out yet, your wands of magic missile are laser pistols with auto-seeking, your belts of shield are force fields which help deflect blows and magic missiles, your staves of fireballs are the high tech equivalent to rocket propelled grenades and your healing devices are med-kits, fast acting liquid gauze or stimulant injections. And so it goes.

I hadn't figured that out at all but it's quite awesome!

I have to say, normally I would immediately pass over a sci-fi game without giving it a glance.

As this game slowly evolves from fantasy to more sci fi I am just loving it. I am a big fan of Firefly and Star Wars and Star Trek so it's not like I don't like the space theme. Melding them together has been a perfect transition for me and it's really helped expand my imagination - I can actually play sci fi and love it.

So thanks!

My character upgrade is almost done, I've been working on it every night. I am going back and forth and am stuck choosing 3rd level spell and a feat. The 3rd level spell I am thinking either Dispel Magic or Haste. There are maybe 10 feats I'm thinking of but nothing is jumping out at me as awesome. I like to pick things that will be useful - aka Haste would be used way more often than DM but of course DM is something very useful when you need it.

Any suggestions from the crew would be welcome!

 

[Shayuri]

We're talking about the level 6 update, right? Must be, since that was very recent...

I do need to go back and check to see what items Mel has taken. Haven't been tracking that well...'m bad.

One question I have is whether or not adjustments need to be made to my/our sheets. For example, Mellisande knows a pretty huge pile of languages, all with droll fantasy names like Gnome and Draconic. Similarly, she has race features like bonuses to fight kobolds and goblins... Maybe we could borrow alternate gnome features from Pathfinder or something...

Queenie, Mellisande has Dispel Magic and can spontaneously cast it. Doesn't mean we can't both benefit from it, but since we're both spont. casters, you might want to get spells that aren't doubled up.

Not sure, offhand, if she has Haste...Beguilers have funny spell lists.

OH, one other thing...can we still take Prestige classes? I was thinking of a Mindbender dip. It might still work, especially if Mellisande's "magic" is really psionics.

 

[Queenie]

Queenie, Mellisande has Dispel Magic and can spontaneously cast it. Doesn't mean we can't both benefit from it, but since we're both spont. casters, you might want to get spells that aren't doubled up.

Perfect, thank you! I don't think we both need to have that spell, as long as someone can cast it, it doesn't make sense for both of us to have it. I'm glad I asked. I may take a look at what beguilers can cast and go from there. I played one once but it was maybe 2-3 years ago so I don't recall (please, I can remember yesterday as you guys can tell from Lea's dumb questions lol).

I'm not really familiar with all the extra books so I wasn't sure if maybe someone had a cool suggestion for a spell or feat. I've looked them over briefly but nothing fabulous caught my eye.

I'm bad with my sheets too. I never finished updating from the last update so that is why I have so much to finish. Life has been insane here and I'm doing the update myself - as you have all seen Fenris has been absent and he doesn't have much time to even help me with my character. School has been kicking his butt this semester (he's a University Professor).

I'm sure once school is over in 2 1/2 weeks he'll have more time - but I don't know if it's too late for him to join back up with us or what. He's got to figure that out with DT.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

We can muddle along without Fenris for a little bit, and I can NPC his character. We want him along since his subconscious skill sets are going to become quite important after the ziggurat. Don't worry about languages as they translate to Star Frontiers languages, so Draconic is actually a dialect of Vrusk and so on. These will come into play later and be important once you decide the fate of the CS Warden.