[M&M 2e] Red Sands Chronicles. (OOC)

[Relique du Madde]

Yes. Treat the webly as a heavy pistol and the eliphant gun as a +6 ballistic damage rifle and the hunting knife as a +2 damage knife.

 

[Blackrat]

James arrived at the designated place just in time. He carried a backpack, a large bore hunting rifle at his back and a revolver and knife on his belt.
He had exchanged his usual suit and tie for something more suited to the desert. His equipment seemed to be in good order and sensibly chosen.

Hehee... I'm now imagining James looking like this:

 

[Binder Fred]

Binder, remember that running is 4x base speed. So the mecha should be able to go 36mph flat out. Not far behind the crawler speed.

Hm, correct my math, please: Beast base speed = 45 feet per round. Running = 45 X 4 = 180 feet per round. Divide by 10 for MPH (as suggested on p.32) = 18 MPH running full out.

 

[Shayuri]

Ahh, I see the point of confusion, though the confusion may well be mine.

I was under the impression that the conversion to MPH was to double the base speed, then divide by 10.

Lacking my books, I can't check that, but since you cited a page, I'll assume you did, and that's not what it said.

My bad then.

 

[Binder Fred]

The "Precise" method gives 20.5 MPH.

Your OK on riding the heavy crawler?

 

[Shayuri]

Whatevs. It's not a big deal.

 

[Binder Fred]

Trader's Guild = Sends caravan's outside and into Victoria Town for trade and wants to control all facets of commerce within the city. They own most airships in Victoria Town (exception being those operated by the Transportation Guild and the Union itself). They often lease airships from the Transportation Guild.

Transportation Guild/Union = Runs airships between all cities and is rumored to operate out of a "Mobile City". Tey are a neutral party and does not want to get overtly involved with politics in any city state.[/COLOR]

Alright, NOW I'm confused. To the heart of it: what's the role of the Merchant's guild in all this? I wouldn't have thought so, but are they the same as the Trader's Guild? We *are* trying to rescue a Merchant's guild caravan hired by the Union to get their goods into Victoria Town, right?

I was under the impression that the Merchant's guild controlled trade (which happened mostly by way of ground shipping), while the Traders/Transportation guild controlled the majority of the air traffic (high profit, low weight/volume goods). Thet two are of course trying to steal business from each other at every opportunity. In that context, the lack of available airships (no helping a competitor, that'll teach the Union to pay *our* higher fees instead) and the (semi-forced) solidarity of private airship owners made sense to me (you were asking them to go against the big boys, and probably the ones with the best access to parts and repair/maintenance facilities too). Where did I go wrong?

 

[Relique du Madde]

Alright, NOW I'm confused.

It's meant to be confusing.

So look at it in simple terms:

The Union is the government of Victoria town. The government is made up of all of the guild leaders (except the transportation guild). Each member of the government acts on their own self interest and are not afraid of throwing rivals, entire industries, or even entire sections of society under the bus. Local 310, Lord Burroghmeister, and the merchants and their caravan were just thrown under the bus.

The traders guild essentially controls international trade for Victoria Town.
Merchants guild essentially controls domestic trade for Victoria Town.

Both the Traders and the merchants are fighting over different aspects of trade that they feel they should govern....

Transport Guild is an multi-national airline/cruise line that declared independence. In order to work in Victoria Town they have to follow the Union's laws (as dictated by the traders) and thus are acting as pawns... or are they?

 

[Binder Fred]

How about this for the Astrolabe and the Balloon (1 PP total cost, figure I'll trade in a rank of Luck for it)?

Clockwork Astrolabe (tells precise time and counts as 'proper tools' for Survival\navigation, Only when stars or sun are visible, 5min activation -3) 1/8 ep.

Overwatch Balloon (Medium sized vehicle) 3.6 EP
Str 10, Speed 0, Tough 5, Defense 10, Crew 1, Communication: wireline to Heavy Crawler
Powers: Air bladder: Flight 1 (10MPH, Levitate -1, 1/2 PP)
The High View: Super Sense (Extended sight X1000 (-1 Notice per 10 000 feet), Radius, 4 PP)

I would also like to buy a searlight for the balloon, as it could come in very handy in case of night raids, etc. Would ANYBODY like to contribute a single PP to this worthy cause?

Search Light: Environmental Control Light 2 (10' radius Daylight, PF Improved Range 1 (2 000' max range), Standard, Sustained, 5 PP) 1PP in vehicle

The second airship mentioned was owned by the Transportation Guild. They did not rescue the stranded caravan because they don't want to place all their ships traveling to and from Victoria Town at risk.

Alright, I think I'm grasping the basics now. Just the bit above still puzzling me though: I can understand the Transportation Guild going for a strict non-interventionist policy (I take it they always travel their own routes and don't rent out airships for missions outside these routes, right?), but if the stranded caravan IS under one of their routes, doesn't it break their non-interventionist policy to REFUSE to carry (air-dropped) cargo and personnel to a spot along their route? That seems to be their entire raison d'etre. Or is the next scheduled trip along that route so far into the future as to make it useless?

 

[Relique du Madde]

Let's look at it using a real world example, Trucking.

If a full semi (Semi A) enounters a broken-down semi (semi B) on an highway would the semi A unload their own cargo and abandon it to take semi B's cargo two hours down the road? Most likely not, however they would do offer to help semi B, and if unable to they would contact others who can.

Now, what if Semi A had an exclusive contract with Pepsi and Semi B was a Coke truck? Would the driver of semi A load the Coke shipment next to their pallet of Pepsi knowing that doing so would break their contract (which states that Pepsi has the right to inspect your truck anytime one of their employees sees it traveling down the road, and Pepsi can forcibly seize your truck if they find a Coke product on board)? *

I'm pretty sure that some truck drivers *might* risk breaking the contract, but if they are on a tight schedule, the likelihood goes down exponentially.

* This parenthesis would only really apply in a totalitarian corporatocracy ruled by Pepsi Cola Co, but it is essentially the deal that the Traders Guild have with the Transportation Guild.. And yes, in that Pepsi Cola corporatocracy the only way to get Coke would be to have "Coca-Cola runners" and through bribery.