Ringworld

[jasper]

Originally posted by Tom Kalbfus:
A better example: Do I need permission from H.G. Wells to talk about Time Travel? The Time Machine was his book after all and his concept, he invented it just like Larry Niven invented the Ringworld. I've read lots of books about time machines, do they have permission from the Wells Estate? Or do they just go ahead and write a time travel story without authorization from the originator of the concept?

Now if you are going to use Wells's charactersm the Morlocks or the Eloi, then I imagine you would need some sort of permission.

No H.G. Wells works and most literary works before 1936(not sure of year) are out copyright protection so you could rewrite h.g. wells book as long as you could show you did not read any verision of it printed after a certain date. Basically this the Shakespeare law. I can not grab the QLI published version of Hamlet and Great Classics Comicbook version of Hamlet and use them as source for my version of Hamlet. But if I obtain the copies of the folio( the original stuff put out when Elizze I was still kicking around) I could do my own version.

Niven's Ringworld works are fiction are still protected by copyright law. If he only wrote one short story published once and the maginzine went bankrupt as soon as that issue hit the stands he would be protected. Old copywrite law was life of author plus 21 years. But Disney and other estates have lobby the PTB to extend certain parts of the copyright laws. Mainly because under the old version since Walt Disney is dead deader deadiest Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters would be open to be use.

Now you can use Cinderalla and Alice in Wonderland but you can't make them look like the ones in Disney cartoons.

You are also confusing patent and copyright law. Patent law is generally 17 years with an automatic extension.I can patent an idea or item which can be touch but not a story. Also remember in the Wright Brothers time all I had to do was slap another engine or change how the wings look to get a new patent.

 

[TKalbfus]

The ringworld is an idea or invention, I am not using the setting, but a ringworld of my own and since patents run out in 17 years and the Ringworld Novel was written in 1970, I'm covered. Anyone can use a ringworld in his story or setting so long as its not Larry Niven's Ringworld set in his "Known Space" Setting. With that here is the conclusion of the Primitive equipment lists.

Class Tools and Skill Kits
Alchemist’s lab: 500 cp 18 ¼ kg
Artisan’s tools: 5 cp 2 ¼ kg
Artisan’s tools, masterwork: 55 cp 2 ¼ kg
Climber’s kit: 100 cp 2 ¼ kg
Disguise kit: 50 cp 3 ½ kg
Healer’s kit: 50 cp ½ kg
Holly and mistletoe
Holy symbol, wooden: 1 cp **
Holy symbol, Iron: 30 cp ½ kg
Holy symbol, Silver: 525 cp ½ kg
Hourglass: 25 cp ½ kg
Magnifying glass: 100 cp *
Musical instrument, common: 5 cp 1 ¼ kg
Musical instrument, masterwork: 100 cp 1 ¼ kg
Scale, merchant’s: 2 cp ½ kg
Spell component’s pouch: 5 cp 1 ¼ kg
Spellbook, wizard’s (blank): 15 cp 1 ¼ kg
Thief’s tools: 30 cp ½ kg
Thief’s tools, masterwork: 100 cp 1 kg
Water clock: 1,000 cp 91 kg

Clothing
Artisan’s outfit: 1 cp 1 ¾ kg
Cleric’s vestments: 5 cp 2 ¾ kg
Cold weather outfit: 8 cp 3 ¼ kg
Courtier’s outfit: 30 cp 2 ¾ kg
Entertainer’s outfit: 3 cp 1 ¾ kg
Explorer’s outfit: 10 cp 3 ½ kg
Monk’s outfit: 5 cp 1 kg
Noble’s outfit: 75 cp 4 ½ kg
Peasant’s outfit: 1 ip 1 kg
Royal outfit: 200 cp 6 ¾ kg
Scholar’s outfit: 5 cp 2 ¾ kg
Traveler’s outfit: 1 cp 2 ¼ kg

Food, Drink, and Lodging
Ale
– 4 liters: 2 ip 4 kg
– Mug (½ liter): 4 tp ½ kg
Banquet (per person): 10 cp –
Bread, per loaf: 2 tp ¼ kg
Cheese, hunk of: 1 ip ¼ kg
Inn stay (per day)
– Good: 2 cp
– Common: 5 ip
– Poor: 2 ip
Meals (per day)
– Good: 5 ip
– Common: 3 ip
– Poor: 1 ip
Meat, chunk of: 3 ip ¼ kg
Rations, trail (per day): 5 ip ½ kg
Wine
– Common (pitcher): 2 ip 2 ¾ kg
– Fine (bottle):10 cp ¾ kg

Mounts and Related Gear[/I]
Barding
– Medium-size creature: x2 x1
– Large creature: x4 x2
Bit and bridle: 5 cp ½ kg
Cart: 15 cp 91 kg
Dog, riding: 150 cp
Donkey or mule: 8 cp
Feed (per day): 5 tp 4 ½ kg
Horse
– Horse, heavy: 200 cp
– Horse, light: 75 cp
– Pony: 30 cp
– Warhorse, heavy: 400 cp
– Warhorse, light: 150 cp
– Warpony: 100 cp
Saddle
– Military: 20 cp 13 ½ kg
– Pack: 15 cp 6 ¾ kg
– Riding: 10 cp 11 ¼ kg
Saddle, Exotic
– Military: 60 cp 18 ¼ kg
– Pack: 15 cp 9 kg
– Riding: 30 cp 13 ½ kg
Saddlebags: 4 cp 3 ½ kg
Sled: 20 cp 1 ¼ kg
Stabling (per day): 5 ip
Wagon: 35 cp 181 ¾ kg

 

[TKalbfus]

Here is the mount and related Gear table again with the heading properly bolded:
Mounts and Related Gear
Barding
– Medium-size creature: x2 x1
– Large creature: x4 x2
Bit and bridle: 5 cp ½ kg
Cart: 15 cp 91 kg
Dog, riding: 150 cp
Donkey or mule: 8 cp
Feed (per day): 5 tp 4 ½ kg
Horse
– Horse, heavy: 200 cp
– Horse, light: 75 cp
– Pony: 30 cp
– Warhorse, heavy: 400 cp
– Warhorse, light: 150 cp
– Warpony: 100 cp
Saddle
– Military: 20 cp 13 ½ kg
– Pack: 15 cp 6 ¾ kg
– Riding: 10 cp 11 ¼ kg
Saddle, Exotic
– Military: 60 cp 18 ¼ kg
– Pack: 15 cp 9 kg
– Riding: 30 cp 13 ½ kg
Saddlebags: 4 cp 3 ½ kg
Sled: 20 cp 1 ¼ kg
Stabling (per day): 5 ip
Wagon: 35 cp 181 ¾ kg

Now for the equipment of the advanced ringworld inhabitants. Compared to their primitive neighbors, the technologically advanced inhabitants are filthy rich, consequently they are on the gold standard instead of the copper standard, their starting equipment is shown below. I use the Traveller classes in this case instead of the D&D classes. One more thing I should mention. Ringworld doesn't have native grav technology, nor does it have reactionless drives or jump drives. Their are spaceships and equivalents to Traveller Starships, except that the ringworld versions of these starships can only accelerate at their maximum acceleration for 1 hour above or outside of ringworld's atmosphere. Ringworld starships and small ships use reaction drives instead of the standard Traveller Maneuver Drives. Reaction drives behave the same as Maneuver Drives within an atmosphere except for the high pitched whine they make. Reaction drives suck in the Ringworld's atmosphere and use them for reaction mass to achieve the same atmospheric speeds that Traveller Starships achieve within an atmosphere. Also each Ringworld spaceship has a standard amount of stored reaction mass onboard that allows them to accelerate outside the atmosphere at maximum acceleration for only 1 hour. Ringworld Starships have no jump drives, and all spaceships possess magnetic superconducting coils that allow them to hover 250 meters above the ringworld floor silently without using reaction engines. Typically a ringworld spaceship would rise up off the ground on its magnetic coils and once maximum altitude is reached it engages its reaction engines. Spaceships are the fastest means of travel on Ringworld. There is nothing else in the Ringworld system except the shadow squares so there is no place else ringworld spaceships can go anyway except to another place on Ringworld.

First however I'll list personal weapons and armor. That's all I have time for today.

Advanced Ringworld Equipment

Ringworld Coins
Copper piece (cp) = 1 cp = 1/10 sp = 1/100 gp = 1/1000 pp
Silver piece (sp) = 10 cp = 1 sp = 1/10 gp = 1/100 pp
Gold piece (gp) = 100 cp = 10 sp = 1 gp = 1/10 pp
Platinum piece (pp) = 1000 cp = 100 sp = 10 gp = 1 pp
Exchange Rate 1 gp = Cr 20

Table 1: Starting Equipment
Class Amount
Academic 3d6 x 5 gp
Army (Mustering Out Benefits)/20 gp
Barbarian 4d4 x 10 cp
Miner (Belter) 6d6 gp
Marine (Mustering Out Benefits)/20 gp
Mercenary 6d6 x 5 gp
Merchant 3d6 x 5 gp
Navy (Mustering Out Benefits)/20 gp
Noble 15d6 x 5 gp
Professional 8d6 x 5 gp
Rogue 8d6 x 5 gp
Scout (Mustering Out Benefits)/20 gp
Traveller 15d6 x 5 gp

Starting equipment for characters above 1st level
Character Level – Wealth
2nd 900 gp
3rd 2,700 gp
4th 5,400 gp
5th 9,000 gp
6th 13,000 gp
7th 19,000 gp
8th 27,000 gp
9th 36,000 gp
10th 49,000 gp
11th 66,000 gp
12th 88,000 gp
13th 110,000 gp
14th 150,000 gp
15th 200,000 gp
16th 260,000 gp
17th 340,000 gp
18th 440,000 gp
19th 580,000 gp
20th 760,000 gp

Available Weapons
Item: Cost
Melee Weapons
Dagger: 5 sp
Blade: 25 sp
Foil: 5 gp
Sword: 8 gp
Cutlass: 5 gp
Broadsword: 15 gp
Bayonet: 5 sp
Spear: 5 sp
Halberd: 4 gp
Pike: 2 gp
Cudgel: 5 sp
Bows
Sling: 5 cp
Short Bow: 3 gp
Long Bow: 8 gp
Military xBow: 18 gp
Sporting xBow: 8 gp
Repeat xBow: 10 gp
Handguns
Revolver: 8 gp
Auto Pistol: 10 gp
Body Pistol: 25 gp
Snub Pistol: 8 gp
Shotguns
Shotgun: 8 gp
Rifles
Rifle: 10 gp
Carbine: 10 gp
Auto Rifle: 50 gp
Assault Rifle: 15 gp
Accelerator Rifle: 45 gp
ACR****: 50 gp
Gauss Rifle: 75 gp
Machine Guns
SMG: 25 gp
LMG: 60 gp
Laser Weapons
Laser Pistol: 50 gp
Laser Carbine: 125 gp
Laser Rifle: 175 gp
Support Weapons
LAG***: 30 gp
Grenade Launcher: 10 gp
RAM Launcher: 20 gp
Disposable Launcher: 10 gp
High Energy Weapons
PGMP-12: 500 gp
PGMP-13****: 3,250 gp
PGMP-14: 15,000 gp
FGMP-14****: 5,000 gp
FGMP-15: 20,000 gp

Grenades and Explosives
Plastic Explosive: 25 cp
Flechette/Fragmentation (case of 20): 10 gp
HEAP (case of 20): 12 gp
Smoke (case of 20): 8 gp
Tranquilizer (case of 20): 20 gp
Aerosol (case of 20): 10 gp

Modern Armor
Light Armor
Jack: 3 gp
Mesh: 8 gp
Flak jacket: 5 gp
Reflec: 75 gp
Medium Armor
Ablat*/***: 4 gp
Cloth: 13 gp
Combat Env. Suit: 75 gp
Vac Suit
Combat Armor-11: 1,000 gp
Combat Armor-12: 1,500 gp
Combat Armor-14: 3,000 gp
Hostile Env Suit-12: 900 gp
Hostile Env Suit-14: 7,500 gp
Tailored Vac Suit: 450 gp
Vac Suit-9: 450 gp
Vac Suit-12: 400 gp
Vac Suit-14: 350 gp

 

[Whipsnade]

Tom Kalbfus wrote:[QB] The ringworld is an idea or invention, I am not using the setting, but a ringworld of my own and since patents run out in 17 years and the Ringworld Novel was written in 1970, I'm covered.[/QUOTE]


Tom,

As the original poster pointed out, you are completly confusing patent law with copyright law.

However, you have managed to get one thing right. Because you're not using Niven's Known Space setting you are covered. The idea of a ringworld is not covered by anything; patent or copyright, so it may be used. The idea of Ringworld complete with kzin, puppeteers, Teela Brown, and all the rest is covered by copyright law and, given the laws the Disney Nazis have paid for, copyright law is another kettle of fish entirely.

For the unintended consequences of copyright law run amuk may I suggest an Analog short story entitled Melancholy Elephants?


Sincerely,
Bill

 

[Whipsnade]

Tom,

By the way, your ringworld idea is a damn good one. Please write it up, put all the goodies in one document, and submit it to the fLibrary here. I'm sure Hunter would jump at the chance of hosting it.


Sincerely,
Bill

 

[TKalbfus]

Ok, its almost finished. Once I finish with the Equipment. Simply pricing the items already found in the T20 Book and then describing the unique equipment, then it should be possible to run an adventure. I probably should describe the character classes "Wizard", "Sorcerer", "Cleric", and "Druid" more fully. These are pretender classes, a wizard gains status in his society if he pretends to have powers and uses hidden technology to reinforce this claim. A wizards knowledge is limited to operating a few tech items and making simple repairs. For instance the Wizard might know what part he needs to fix his broken laser pistol, but he doesn't really understand how a laser works. Why getting a certain replacement part for the pistol would fix the gun, he doesn't know, that is just what the repair manual says, but the wizard is competant in a number of items equal to his level. Oh and he needs to aquire a new item in order to advance a level in Wizard, having enough experience is not enough.

The more advanced civilizations on Ringworld are few in number. There are at least 100,000 primitive inhabitants for every 1 advanced technological inhabitant of ringworld. Since a ringworld has a surface area of 3,000,000 Earth's, there maybe from 1 to 30 advanced civilizations on Ringworld, each surrounded by a "sea" of barbarism, the exact number I leave up to the GM. The main reason is the lack of metals on the Ringworld. There is sufficient iron to make sword and armor for knights, since the cost of the craftsmanship is just as significant as the scarcity of the metal, but where more efficient methods of producing steel is discovered, there is simply not enough steel to work with and the society cannot advance beyond a preindustrial tech level. The advance civilizations are the exception to this rule, they are centered in areas where there are an unusually high concentration of metals for Ringworld. Grav vehicles don't work on the surface of Ringworld, so the advanced societies have never developed a grav based technology, since reactionless maneuver drives and the Jump drive are also on that same path of development, they didn't develop those either.

Probably some sort of trade will develop between the Ringworld and what ever merchant companies from the OTU make contact with them. the Primitives are a source of cheap labor (sort of like China) and the merchants will buy that labor with metals they bring with them. the danger lies with the unpredictable nature of these societies and the few wizards with really dangerous artifacts in their possession.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Tom, I 'm currently working on developing ideas for the Ringworld at Leenitakot for my current campaign, but I don't intend to publish.

I've been a big fan of the Niven series, and even used to play the Chaosium game, and I think your work here is VERY cool! (I was a Puppeteer.)

For my game, Im focusing more on the political ramifications to the structure to the area of space that it is in. I intend to expound on what has been put down in OTU (or OTUish?) works, like Challenge 39.

Facts that I got so far:

1. The ringworld is incomplete, there is no viable habitat on its surface.

2. It was built by Ancients, to what end it not known.

3. It is "owned" by the Outcasts of Whispering Sky, a non-human race that closely guard it from intruders.

4. Many races want things from it. Hivers want to study it (so bad that they have a nearby Federation sponsored bunch of worlds called the "Ring Pact" which I have turned into a sort of homeworldless political entity.) Imperials just sort of seem to want it, IE they want control of it, but this is difficult as there are only two Imperial Systems in the entire Sector.

5. It is rumored to hold many "secrets", but these have been hard to plumb, as the Outcasts tend to destroy all intruders they find.

That's all can divulge at the moment.

I worked for a while on a space game in which Ringworlds were the first stage to Dyson Spheres, a sort of foundation for them. I had it that advanced cultures start with the Ring, move on to a "Plate" stage, where the Ring is expanded above and below the star, working towards Enclosing the star in a 1 AU Sphere. It was intended to be a construction project for those with incredibly long lifespans, and ususally took up the raw materials of several systems to complete.

 

[TKalbfus]

Well, you've got the basic physical structure of my ringworld in my first post, it is 1 AU in diameter, 1,000,000 miles wide, with walls 1,000 miles high to hold in atmosphere, pretty much as the Ringworld described in the T20 book, it has a surface area of about 3,000,000 Earths. 3,000,000 Earths is a bit overwhelming for the Imperium which has only 11,000 worlds, so most of the Ringworld is at a D&Dish tech level or less. When D20 Past comes out, items in that can be used also. I'm not saying exactly how many advanced technological civilizations are on it, I want to leave room for other people to make a contribution, but there are no more than 100, probably between 1 and 30.

The land area of a civilization is probably equal on average to 3 or 4 Earths. A civilization may be comprised of a number of nations or just one. The way you categorize a civilization on Ringworld is the same way you do the UPP of Traveller with the following modifications:

Civilization Generation Checklist
1. Assume there are at least 10 civilizations
2.
A. Find the Starport - roll 2d6 as you would normally and write down the result, whether A through X. Starports service spaceships. Most spaceships are under 1,000 tons and are areodynamic, designed mostly for operations within an atmosphere. What makes them spaceships is their ability to leap above the atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory, they can't go into orbit around the sun as that would require about 31 hours of continous acceleration and they run out of reaction mass before that (about 1 hours worth of acceleration is standard) Spaceships also have no gravity control, and since they mostly fly around like airplanes they don't need it.

B. Check for Naval Base. A Navy on Ringworld is a fleet of magnetically levitating non-spaceships, call them skyships if you will. Basically these things cruise around at about 250 meters above the ringworld floor as measured from their bottoms. Ringworld Magships have a number of functions, one of which is that of they spacecraft carrier, others launch missiles, fire cannons or even launch magnetically levitating torpedoes. Navy ships do not travel in space however. There is a wet Navy too, but that is rendered obsolete by ships that float in a sea of magnetic fields rather than water.

C. Check for scout base Ringworlders have their own scout ships, since there is 3 million Earths worth of territory to explore, there is plenty for them to do.

D. There are no Gas Giants - The Gas Giants were used to build the ringworld.

3. Name Civilization

5. Determine Trade Routes

6. Generate Universal Planetary Profile - For the purposes of calculation:

Size is 8
Atmosphere is 6
Hydrographics is 6

Now role population and adjust it accordingly.
Role Government
Role Law Level
Role 1d6 for tech level and add modifiers. Generally were only considering Tech Levels above 4 as these civilizations are the exception rather than the rule. There are too many Tech Level 0-4 civilizations to count.

 

[MichaelSTee]

Tom, I've enjoyed the write-up of your Ringworld.

Just thought that I would share an idea I've had about a (non-OTU) campaign around a Ringworld. This could work with any Traveller ruleset, or GUPRS, Hero, etc.

Mankind invents FTL drive about 2020 AD. The advanced nations of Earth begin exploring and planting colonies on nearby worlds. Then a Ringworld is discovered (about 20-30 parsecs from Earth - far enough that several colonies were started before the discovery, but near enough that few or no few alien races were found). The Ring is inhabited by humans (probably transplanted by the Ring builders) as well as alien races of many types; most civilizations are low tech (not as much metal to be found), although there are quite a few industrial civs and even a few fairly high-tech ones (roughly equal to or just a bit more advanced than Earth). Of course, the nations of Earth see the Ring as a possible trove of very high-tech, and begin plans to explore and even colonize (there's lots of open space in between "native" civs). But the nations of Earth are not working together, and may be very competetive in searching for technology.

The natives are made up of humans, geneered humans, and non-humans, which can be of a multitude of races. The builders are probably long-gone, although a few may remain. Why was the Ring built? The reason I had in the back of my head is: like Niven's universe (or Traveller's Empress Wave), there is an explosion in the Core that is spreading out. The Ring was built to protect the inhabitants. Possibly more Rings have been constructed around the rim of the galaxy. But this is GM's information, not available to the characters.

So the PCs are agents of an Earth government, setting up base camps, exploring rim spaceports, looking for "repair centers", meeting natives, and looking for any signs of useful technology. Adversaries can come from teams from other Earth nations or from the more advanced civs on the Ring. (As a StarGate fan, I figured there could even be a race like the Goauld trying to control the Terrans to get control of their technology and spaceships.) Other adversaries can include other space-faring aliens who compete with the Terrans. Terran PCs and NPCs can include explorers, diplomats, traders, tech experts, scientists, military, and all types of colonists.

All manner of civs can exist, every government type from Traveller and then some. The size of the Ring gives new ideas, like having a large river (maybe 50 miles wide and thousands of miles long) with an entire civilization of traders who live on large riverboats and travel up and down the river; or large plateaus, with a land area comparable to Earth's, cut off from the surrounding area by huge 2-5 mile cliffs, where the air is thinner (possibly hiding a repair center).

But of course, this is just a dream campaign at this point. I might write it up and post it on the Web when I'm not so busy with family/house/work/school/"goofing off".

Michael

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Tom Kalbfus:
The main reason is the lack of metals on the Ringworld. There is sufficient iron to make sword and armor for knights...

Tom,

Sufficient iron? How? Why? Did the Builders dot the countryside with megatonnes of ore?

Or is it from scrap metals perhaps? Mucking about in ancient rubbish tips looking for bits that can be melted down? Will they be able to convert the high-tech alloys they find into plain old everyday steel?

Inquiring minds want to know!


Sincerely,
Bill

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

Ore sources ?

Millions of iron core asteroids catched by the ringworld placed in the ecliptic ?
Perhaps illegal ancient waste dumping (who needed those crude metal elements in ancient times) ?
Perhaps the ancient simply scrambled one or the other planet in order to get some terraforming layer for their ringworld basement ?

Regards,

Mert

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Larsen E. Whipsnade:
Sufficient iron? How? Why? Did the Builders dot the countryside with megatonnes of ore?

Well, if I was building a ringworld I'd include some geological recycling process somehow. If you could make the rocky 'crust' about 100 km thick and throw in a geotherm somehow (liberal sprinkling of longlived radioactive isotopes, with more at depth?) to make things partially molten at the rock/scrith border then that would give you enough room to have subduction, volcanoes, crustal recycling etc. Though you'd have to wait a few million years for the processes to actually create things like mineable ore bodies and mineral veins.

But if you don't have something like that to create mountains and volcanoes and so on, then your huge surface area would eventually become flattened by atmospheric erosion, which would make for a rather dull ringworld

But while you're waiting for the geological processes to finish cooking, you may want to either leave lowtech 'scrapheaps' for your descendants/inheritors to smelt for metals, or just plant mineral veins and ores around the place when you're building, which makes construction a little more involved ("see, the mineral veins would provide raw materials for the colonists. Oh, and if you view it from above they look like my signature...".)

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I always considered that the local asteroid sources in system and rockballs would have been stripped bare/assimilated by huge automated materials processing machines, basically ships that eat asteroids like coco puffs. These devices in turn would be recycled to become part of the overall structure at the end of thier usefulness.

 

[ChaserCaffey]

Originally posted by Larsen E. Whipsnade:
Sufficient iron? How? Why? Did the Builders dot the countryside with megatonnes of ore?
l [/QB]

I like the idea of there being some kind of geological processes on the Ringworld, which could account for some of it. On the other hand, if the Builders for some reason of social engineering didn't want most of the inhabitants of the Ringworld to advance beyond a certain level of technology, then they might seed the structure with enough resources to sustain a certain level of technology, but no more. Although really, I'd think the biggest obstacle to a civilization trying to advance itself on a Ringworld would be the lack of fossil fuels- even if the construct was old and had the right geological processes, I don't know if there would be enough heat and pressure to convert the fossils into fuel.

The real question is, why are the inhabitants of a construct like the Ringworld at this level of technology? Obviously, there had to be intervention from a much, much higher technological level. Did someone else build it, and keep inhabitants at a lower technological level? If so, why? Are they the regressed descendents of the Builders, and if so, why did they regress? It would have to be something pretty devestating to knock such a high-tech civilization back into medieval times. Did they get hit by the TNE Virus, perhaps?

As Larsen/Bill said, inquiring minds want to know.

 

[TKalbfus]

The answer could be machines and nanotechnology. Humans built the machines which built the ringworld, the machines got smart enough that they were able to invent a time jump drive for the whole ringworld system. The ringworld then visited the distant past and aquired some dinosaurs and other things, and then visited the Traveller Era. The origin of the ringworld is some 50,000 years in the future from the OTU. The original timeline may or may not have included the OTU. My thought is that in the original timeline, before ringworld went into the past. There were no other alien races and very few Earthlike planets. The intelligent races of the galaxy were humans and the machines they built. Since their was nothing of particular interest outside the solar system. The humans stuck to the solar system, and built robots and nanotechnology. The robots were smarter than the humans and did all the work. Humans got lazy and their numbers went into decline. Robots realized this and began work on a ringworld. By the time the ringworld was finished, humans were extint, except for humans in cold sleep and those who were ill and frozen for medical reasons. Following their programming, the robots realized that humans require challenges in oder to survive. The robots built a time jump drive and traveled into the distant past. Since the Earth was in a different location, they began a systematic search for it and in the process spread life to other planets that originally didn't have it in the ringworld timeline. From ancient primitive life, new alien life evolved on those alien planets including the ancients and all the familiar alien races we know of in the OTU. The Robots then revived the humans with Nano technology and still are. After collecting various creatures from a number of past Earths, the ringworld then moved forward in time until reaching the OTU era. Machines continue to run the systems of the ringworld, but they deliberately avoid making the human's lives directly easier, they simply provide the environment in which they can survive. Alien races are welcome as they provide additional challenges to the ringworld humans, the only time they invoke the ringworld's defenses is when they threaten the ringworld itself. Doing a timejump is not easy, it requires the accumulation of energy from the sun over hundreds of years. Since the ringworld just jumped, it can't jump again for another 250 years. The humans on the ringworld are either revived frozen humans or descended from revived frozen humans. In addition their are visitors from the OTU.

The concentration of iron comes from recycling centers of prior human civilizations which stretch back in ringworld time for thousands of years. Along the sides of the ringworld are star ships that are actually capable of leaving the ringworld system. They are in the cold vacuum of space and are controlled by robots. The starships controlled by native ringworld humans have no jump capability. I'm not sure what happens when humans climb the 1,000 mile high walls of the ringworld. Perhaps nothing, perhaps they haven't figured out how to use the true starships, or perhaps the robots won't let them. I haven't decided yet.

 

[TKalbfus]

My guess is, tghe ringworld robots have jump drives, they have artificial gravity and grav vehicles or the knowledge of how to build them. The ringworld inhabitants do not have these technologies however and the robots aren't giving it to them. The main reason the inhabitants don't have it themselves is that grav vehicles don't work on ringworld, they negate gravity, and gravity is not what's holding everything onto the inside of ringworld, centrifugal force is. Although centrifugal force behaves similar to gravity for the ringworld's inhabitants, its not the same thing. The ringworld inhabitants have no incentive to build grav vehicles and they don't, since they don't they haven't learned other things about gravity while building grav vehicles, namely how to build reactionless maneuver drives and jump drives.

As for the robot built starships, the robots build starships as they need them; when they don't need them they take them apart. The robots don't really need to stockpile starships as they can build starships quite quickly. The ringworld itself is stabilized by reactionless manuever drives on the outside of the ringworld itself.

The ringworld itself started out as a project by humans who did not want to leave their Solar System. As time went on the robots did more and more of the work, humans lost interest as the robots took care of them and they also continued the project due to prior orders. Reactionless drives, artificial gravity, grav vehicles, and jump drives didn't exist when the ringworld project began. Living humans dwindled in number, they had few or no children and eventually died out. The robots needed a purpose to continue operating so they continued following their last orders. Robots were smart, but they were not free willed, they were not curious either. Robots later developed artificial gravity because it helped them take apart planets, but they never considered building a Dyson sphere with artifical gravity instead of a ringworld because their orders were specificially to build a ringworld and so they did. Toward the end of the project they robots began to worry that there would be no humans to give them further orders once the ringworld was complete, this forced the robots to become more free thinkingand they worked on ways to revive the human race. Some tinkered with genetics while others did research on time travel. The robots did realize that they caused the decline of the human race by following their every order and doing everything for them, so when they brought humans to the ringworld, they stayed away so they could not receive orders form them, they needed just one or a few humans to give them orders so they have a purpose, but they did not want to imperil the supply of humans by mingling with them so they stayed away and abducted a human when they needed one to give orders.

Robots can look human if they want to, they can infiltrate human society, both on the ringworld and without. Robots can also build spaceships that look like the ones from the Traveller OTU. To humans and visitors from other stars, it looks like the robots aren't around although they reason that they must exist, they just never happen to be evident where they look.

The humans and near-humans are left to work out their own technologies on the ringworld's surface. While metals are scarce, they are concentrated in a few spots, and certain metals are untirelu absent, specifically metals like Uranium and Plutonium which can also be derived from Uranium. Tech Level 7 societies therefore can't build nuclear reactors and bombs because they can't find any Uranium. There is plenty of fusion fuel though, so fusion reactors are invented at TL 8 and so are room temperature superconductors, the superconductors allow for cheap magnetic levitation. Prior to TL 8 there is no mag lev technology of any significance, the naval bases indicated are for wet navies that sail on Ringworld's oceans. There is slightly more ocean than land, about 6 parts out of 10. The ringworld's surface is dotted with continents varying in size from Australia to Eurasia. Oceans stretch all the way to the spill mountains which line the rim walls of the ringworld, they form a linear landform that stretched around the entire circumference of the ringworld and some human and near-human societies live on the shores of these spill mountains. There is a mechanism that recycles sendiment from the bottoms of oceans to the walls of the ringworld. The mountains tend to slump since they have no bedrock to support them, they are all loose rubble and dirt and landslides are a common occurance.

 

[TKalbfus]

Also I forgot to mention that the Spill mountains are the one place where even the mag-lev vehicles don't work as the dirt and rock is thicker that 250 meters from the ringworld floor. Other vehicles such a helicopters, planes and cars are needed to make the final leg of the journey toward the rimwalls.

The conventional directions on Ringworld are the same as on Earth. Instead of using terms like spinwars, and antispinward as Larry Niven does, I simply refer to one of the rimwalls as the North Wall, the opposite wall is the South Wall West is to the left when facing North and East is to the right.

The ringworld is 939,995,341 km in circumference, this divides into 360 degrees of 2,611,098 km per degree. Each degree further subdivides into 60 arcminutes of 43,518 km per arcminute. Minutes also subdivide into 60 arcseconds of 725 km per arcsecond. One can locate a civilization within one 725 km square if its small in area or one 43,518 square if its large in area. coordinates are typically included when describing a ringworld civilization.

 

[TKalbfus]

If you don't like the robots explaination for how the ringworld came to be, that's fine. I'm more concerned about what's on the Ringworld than its history. How else could a ringworld with these parameters come to be? Can anyone invoke a history without time travel?

Let me try.

The ringworld parameters are the same. Same diameter, same 24 hour daylength etc. this time the Ringworld didn't teleport into existance, instead, its found at the edge of charted space. Anyone have a suggestion as to where to put ringworld?

This time the ringworld was created more recently. Who created it? A human with an alien technology that she discovered how to use. The alien technology is a form of nanotechnology. the kind that Eric Drexler talks about. The human is a female explorer from Earth, or at least she was until she encountered the alien technology on a distant planet. Somehow she was able to fashion a ringworld out of the planets of this system. Ever since that day, she has been collecting humans and other creatures and placing them on the ringworld. She even created some creatures entirely from scratch, she recreated the dinosaurs etc.

The ringworld is for whatever you want to put on it.

 

[TKalbfus]

Here are the rest of the equipment lists for ringworld denominated in gold pieces.

Equipment
Personal Equipment
Artificial Gill: 200 gp
Cold Weather Clothing: 10 gp
Combination Mask: 8 gp
Filter Mask: 5 sp
Oxygen Tanks: 25 gp
Protective Suit: 35 gp
Respirator: 5 gp
Swimming Equipment: 10 gp
Underwater Air Tanks: 40 gp
Personal Devices
Artificial Psionic Shield Helmet: 200 gp
Bull-Horn: 6 gp
Hand Calculator: 5 sp
Hand Computer: 50 gp
Handcuffs: 2 gp
Inertial Locator: 60 gp
Long Range Communicator: 25 gp
Magnetic Compass: 5 sp (Yes these things work on ringworld, it points to the North Rimwall)
Medium Range Communicator: 10 gp
Metal Detector: 15 gp
Radiation Counter: 13 gp
Short Range Communicator: 5 gp
Wrist Watch: 2 gp+
Vision Aids
Binoculars: 4 gp
Cold Light Lantern: 1 gp
Electric Torches: 5 sp
Gas or Oil Lamp: 5 sp (runs on synthetic hydrocarbons or alchohol)
IR Goggles: 25 gp
Light Intensifier Goggles: 25 gp
Torches: 5 cp
Tools
Carpentry Tool Set: 15 gp
Chain Saw: 25 gp
Disguise Kit: 50 gp
Electronic Tool Set: 100 gp
Janitorial Kit: 13 gp
Lock Pick Set: 5 sp
Mechanical Tool Set: 50 gp
Medical Kit: 50 gp
Metalwork Tool Set: 75 gp
Shelters:
Advanced Base: 2,500 gp
Pre-Fabricated Cabin: 500 gp
Pressure Tent: 100 gp
Tarpaulin: 5 sp
Tent: 10 gp
Food and Overhead Per Day
Average Restaurant Meals: 5 sp
Excellent Restaurant Meals: 1d3 gp
Prepare Own Meals: 3 sp
Canned or Packaged Rations: 1 gp
Dehydrated Rations: 2 gp
Dismal Lodging: 1 sp
Average Lodging: 3 sp
Good Lodging: 4 sp
Excellent Lodging: 5 sp
First Aid Kits
TL0-4: 5 cp
TL5-7: 6 gp
TL8-12: 13 gp
TL13-15: 25 gp
TL 16+: 100 gp
Field Medical Kits
TL5-7: 50 gp
TL8-12: 63 gp
TL13-15: 125 gp
TL16+: 250 gp
Limb Regeneration TL12+
Toe: 500 gp
Finger: 1,250 gp
Foot: 2,500 gp
Hand: 5,000 gp
Forearm: 5,000 gp
Shin: 5,000 gp
Entire Arm: 125,000 gp
Entire Leg: 25,000 gp
Cloning TL 12+
Skin: 500 gp
Hand (TL13+): 5,000 gp
Foot (TL 13+): 5,000 gp
Arm (TL 13+): 12,500 gp
Leg (TL13+): 25,000 gp
Internal Organ (TL13+): 5,000 gp to 50,000 gp
Entire Body (TL13+): 1,250,000 gp
Standard Vehicles and Robots
Personal Robot (TL12): 8,740 gp
Battledress (TL13): 4,520 gp
Jeep (TL5): 127 gp
Ground Car (TL5): 270 gp
Small Cargo Truck (TL5): 614 gp
Wheeled ATV (TL12): 2,442 gp
Tracked ATV (TL12): 2,362 gp
Wheeled AFV (TL12): 3,352 gp
Tracked AFV (TL 12): 3,272 gp
Hovercraft (TL7): 7,180 gp
Primitive Biplane (TL4): 592 gp
Cargo Plane (TL4): 18,188 gp
Cargo Jet (TL7): 79,700 gp
Helicopter (TL5): 4,138 gp
Air/Raft (magnetic TL8): 13,660 gp
Pressurized Air/Raft (magnetic TL8): 18,636 gp
MCarrier (magnetic TL8): 25,144 gp
Speeder (magnetic TL8): 197,350 gp
Mag Belt (magnetic TL12): 462 gp
Small Steamship (TL4): 16,890 gp
Hydrofoil (TL7): 9,860 gp
Submersible (TL6): 93,750 gp

Example
Air/Raft (magnetic TL 8)
Class: Magnetic Levitation Vehicle
Cost: 13,660 gp
Tech Level: 8
Size: Huge (6000vl)
Streamlining: Standard
Pressurized? No
Climate Control? No
Drive Train: Superconducting Magnetic Levitation Field Coils
Crew: 1
Passengers: 3
Cargo Space: 4001.2vl
Fuel: 420vl
Range: 1 week (20,160 km at Maximum speed)
Speeds:
Acceleration = 12kph
Offroad = n/a; Very Slow = 12 kph; Slow = 30 kph
Cruising = 60kph; Fast = 90kph; Maximum = 120 kph
Maximum Altitude: 250 m above Ringworld Floor Material
EP Output: 10 (2.8 excess)
Agility: 0
Initiative: +0
AC: 8 (-2 size)
AR: 0
SI: 63
Visual:
Sensors:
Comm:

Huge Magnetic Levitation Vehicle
TL8, 13,660 gp, 6000vl. A light mag-lev (magnetic) vehicle which uses superconducting magnetic field coils (often known as “magnetic field coils”) to counter-act centrifugal force for lift and propulsion. An air/raft (magnetic) can cruise at 60kph (but is extremely subject to wind effects, and it can pick up iron, steel, and nickel objects that it passes over which stick to the bottom of the undercarriage and add weight), with some capable of higher speed to about 120kph. An Air/raft (magnetic) has a maximum operating altitude of 250 meters above the ringworld floor material, in places on the ringworld, the crust above the floor is thicker than 250 meters and consequently the air/raft (magnetic) cannot fly over these places. Range is 20,160 km at maximum speed, requiring refueling once per week. An air/raft (magnetic) can carry the pilot and up to 3 passengers plus roughly 4 metric tons of cargo. They are usually unpressurized and open-topped

Smallcraft Designs
Launch (lifeboat TL 9): 492,100 gp
Ship’s Boat (TL 9): 1,518,100 gp
“Slow” Boat (TL 9): 1,284,100 gp
Pinnace (TL 10): 2,276,100 gp
“Slow” Pinnace (TL 9): 1,670,100 gp
Modular Cutter (TL 10):
- ATV Module: 90,000 gp
- Fuel Module: 50,000 gp
- Open Module: 100,000 gp
Shuttle (TL 10): 2,721,000 gp
Fighter (TL 15): 1,365,000 gp
Ringworld Spacecraft
Scout/Courier (TL 11): 2,112,900 gp
Seeker (TL 11): 2,112,900 gp
Far Trader (TL 11): 3,369,200 gp
Free Trader (TL 9): 2,532,000 gp
Safari Ship (TL 11): 3,665,300 gp
System Defense Boat (TL 14): 10,118,000 gp
Yacht (TL 9): 3,715,300 gp
Laboratory Ship (TL 11): 10,151,900 gp
Patrol Cruiser (TL 12): 11,312,000 gp
Subsidized Merchant (TL 9): 4,843,700 gp
Subsidized liner (TL 12): 11,733,700 gp
Mercenary Cruiser (TL 12): 20,469,750 gp

 

[selunatic2397]

I've tried using the chaosium ringworld IMTU and the main things I noticed were that I couldn't use it at the height of it's tech/power as it's way beyond anything in CT other than grandfather, and if I used it after the fall of it's civilization it degenerated into a version of loot-plunder-pillage over and over again. With over a million earth equivilents of space to explore it was just too big. I tried to strand my players once and it took me half a year to rebuild the goodwill I squandered in the attempt. In the end it was just another Gee Whiz roadside tourist attraction and my players left seeking something more to their tastes. You've put a lot of work into this Tom, but personally...if I want elves and wizards I'll stick to D&D and if my players want elves and guns...they want Shadowrun. You've got some good ideas here Tom...keep fighting the good fight! As it's 415am hers I'll have to go to work...try not to be too jealous...type at ya later