Strange New Worlds

[Supplement Four]

Here's something interesting if you're running a CT game right now. A section of Grand Survey deals with using UPP data to create the feeling that players' characters are adventuring on truly different planets.

GM's, here's some considerations in making alien planets into strange new worlds in your campaigns...

Gravity Most regular ship runs adjust their gravity gradually in jump space to accustom passengers to the gravity of the destination world. Correct response to new gravity takes two weeks to develop at minimum.

Marksman ship skills require 1D -Skill weeks (minimum of 2) of daily practice to restore full proficiency. Scouts and Marines in active service may waive this rule.

Lower gravity than characters are used to will cause them to aim high and lose footing easily (-1 to -3 on DEX depending on percentage difference of gravities). Lower gravity increases projectile range dramatically. It also reduces potential damage from falls and increases payload capacity on air/rafts and muscles.

Higher gravity also reduces DEX. END is reduced in proportion to the gravity difference. Aim will be too low until players adjust. Damage from falls increases proportially to gravity. Payloads of grav vehicles decrease.

Atmosphere Native life on thin atmo worlds wil have means of preventing moisture loss through their outer surfaces. Radiation is stronger through a thinner atmo and mutation is more likely.

Dense atmo have much more powerful winds than std. atmospheres, with 3 to 10 times more kinectic energy. Operation of air vehicles is more hazardous in dense atmo. Dense atmo also cause distortion of light, which may affect the aiming of weapons. In Dense atmo, divide by the atmospheric pressure to get the maximum laser range.

Magnetic Fields Rocky and icy bodies have no magnetic fields (the way molten core bodies and gas giants do), so they have higher background radiation...which will mess with a lot of gizmos, especially compasses!

Multiple Star Systems Binaries rarely create the dramatic effects pictured in fiction. A distant binary companion will supply no more light than a large moon and look like no more than a bright star. Closer binaries are treated as gravitational points for purposes of planetary orbit, so both will usually be in the sky at the same time.

 

[Supplement Four]

Here's something interesting if you're running a CT game right now. A section of Grand Survey deals with using UPP data to create the feeling that players' characters are adventuring on truly different planets.

GM's, here's some considerations in making alien planets into strange new worlds in your campaigns...

Gravity Most regular ship runs adjust their gravity gradually in jump space to accustom passengers to the gravity of the destination world. Correct response to new gravity takes two weeks to develop at minimum.

Marksman ship skills require 1D -Skill weeks (minimum of 2) of daily practice to restore full proficiency. Scouts and Marines in active service may waive this rule.

Lower gravity than characters are used to will cause them to aim high and lose footing easily (-1 to -3 on DEX depending on percentage difference of gravities). Lower gravity increases projectile range dramatically. It also reduces potential damage from falls and increases payload capacity on air/rafts and muscles.

Higher gravity also reduces DEX. END is reduced in proportion to the gravity difference. Aim will be too low until players adjust. Damage from falls increases proportially to gravity. Payloads of grav vehicles decrease.

Atmosphere Native life on thin atmo worlds wil have means of preventing moisture loss through their outer surfaces. Radiation is stronger through a thinner atmo and mutation is more likely.

Dense atmo have much more powerful winds than std. atmospheres, with 3 to 10 times more kinectic energy. Operation of air vehicles is more hazardous in dense atmo. Dense atmo also cause distortion of light, which may affect the aiming of weapons. In Dense atmo, divide by the atmospheric pressure to get the maximum laser range.

Magnetic Fields Rocky and icy bodies have no magnetic fields (the way molten core bodies and gas giants do), so they have higher background radiation...which will mess with a lot of gizmos, especially compasses!

Multiple Star Systems Binaries rarely create the dramatic effects pictured in fiction. A distant binary companion will supply no more light than a large moon and look like no more than a bright star. Closer binaries are treated as gravitational points for purposes of planetary orbit, so both will usually be in the sky at the same time.

 

[Supplement Four]

Something else from Grand Survey...

Many worlds have more than one starport, and there can be many reasons why a party of characters will prefer one over the other.

It is usually possble to land at ports other than the main starport on a world. However, throw higher than the law level on 2D to obtain permission to do this, to represent quarantine restrictions or other special cases.

 

[Supplement Four]

Something else from Grand Survey...

Many worlds have more than one starport, and there can be many reasons why a party of characters will prefer one over the other.

It is usually possble to land at ports other than the main starport on a world. However, throw higher than the law level on 2D to obtain permission to do this, to represent quarantine restrictions or other special cases.

 

[flykiller]

Lower gravity ... increases payload capacity on air/rafts and muscles.

yes, a greater mass could be carried. of course this can make stopping difficult.

 

[flykiller]

Lower gravity ... increases payload capacity on air/rafts and muscles.

yes, a greater mass could be carried. of course this can make stopping difficult.

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
Lower gravity than characters are used to will cause them to aim high and lose footing easily (-1 to -3 on DEX depending on percentage difference of gravities). Lower gravity increases projectile range dramatically. It also reduces potential damage from falls and increases payload capacity on air/rafts and muscles.

And if it's low enough (moon-like or less) then you'll have problems with dust getting everywhere, walking/running being tricky (bunnyhopping (as a lot of the astronauts on the moon did) is actually a lousy way to move. Apparently Harrison Schmidt - one of the last astronauts on the moon - discovered that a ski-like motion is better)

Also remember that inertia is the same regardless of gravity. A two-ton block may be easier to move around in microgravity but it will still crush you to death if you're flattened by it.

Damage from falls increases proportially to gravity.

I think it's a hell of a lot more likely that you'd break bones just by falling over while standing up in 3 or more g. Not that you'd ever really encounter that high a gravity on a rocky planet though.

Dense atmo have much more powerful winds than std. atmospheres, with 3 to 10 times more kinectic energy.

That said they need a lot more energy to actually get the winds moving in the first place too. But if a storm does start on a world with a thick atmosphere, it'd be pretty nasty.

Dense atmo also cause distortion of light, which may affect the aiming of weapons. In Dense atmo, divide by the atmospheric pressure to get the maximum laser range.

Eh, not so much. You don't actually get light distortion due to pressure/atmosphere density till you're in the 'hundreds of atmospheres' range. You would have more attenuation of lasers though at lower pressures, because the light's being absorbed by more molecules - is that what you meant?

Magnetic Fields Rocky and icy bodies have no magnetic fields (the way molten core bodies and gas giants do), so they have higher background radiation...which will mess with a lot of gizmos, especially compasses!

Well if they have no magnetic field, then a magnetic compass won't work to start with

. Inertial ones are the way to go there.

Multiple Star Systems Binaries rarely create the dramatic effects pictured in fiction. A distant binary companion will supply no more light than a large moon and look like no more than a bright star. Closer binaries are treated as gravitational points for purposes of planetary orbit, so both will usually be in the sky at the same time. [/qb]

It really depends on the actual configuration of the system. If the companion is exterior to the planet then it'll probably be far enough away that it doesn't provide much extra heat, but if close/bright enough could still provide enough light to turn night into day (which would obviously affect life on the planet). So for half of the planet's year night may not ever fall, until the planet swings round on its orbit so that the companion is on the same side of the sky as the primary.

Also, if the companion orbit is inclined w.r.t. the planet's orbit then you could get some serious eccentricity/inclination cycles going due to the Kozai mechanism (basically the star gives the planet's inclination and eccentricity a kick each time it approaches).

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
Lower gravity than characters are used to will cause them to aim high and lose footing easily (-1 to -3 on DEX depending on percentage difference of gravities). Lower gravity increases projectile range dramatically. It also reduces potential damage from falls and increases payload capacity on air/rafts and muscles.

And if it's low enough (moon-like or less) then you'll have problems with dust getting everywhere, walking/running being tricky (bunnyhopping (as a lot of the astronauts on the moon did) is actually a lousy way to move. Apparently Harrison Schmidt - one of the last astronauts on the moon - discovered that a ski-like motion is better)

Also remember that inertia is the same regardless of gravity. A two-ton block may be easier to move around in microgravity but it will still crush you to death if you're flattened by it.

Damage from falls increases proportially to gravity.

I think it's a hell of a lot more likely that you'd break bones just by falling over while standing up in 3 or more g. Not that you'd ever really encounter that high a gravity on a rocky planet though.

Dense atmo have much more powerful winds than std. atmospheres, with 3 to 10 times more kinectic energy.

That said they need a lot more energy to actually get the winds moving in the first place too. But if a storm does start on a world with a thick atmosphere, it'd be pretty nasty.

Dense atmo also cause distortion of light, which may affect the aiming of weapons. In Dense atmo, divide by the atmospheric pressure to get the maximum laser range.

Eh, not so much. You don't actually get light distortion due to pressure/atmosphere density till you're in the 'hundreds of atmospheres' range. You would have more attenuation of lasers though at lower pressures, because the light's being absorbed by more molecules - is that what you meant?

Magnetic Fields Rocky and icy bodies have no magnetic fields (the way molten core bodies and gas giants do), so they have higher background radiation...which will mess with a lot of gizmos, especially compasses!

Well if they have no magnetic field, then a magnetic compass won't work to start with

. Inertial ones are the way to go there.

Multiple Star Systems Binaries rarely create the dramatic effects pictured in fiction. A distant binary companion will supply no more light than a large moon and look like no more than a bright star. Closer binaries are treated as gravitational points for purposes of planetary orbit, so both will usually be in the sky at the same time. [/qb]

It really depends on the actual configuration of the system. If the companion is exterior to the planet then it'll probably be far enough away that it doesn't provide much extra heat, but if close/bright enough could still provide enough light to turn night into day (which would obviously affect life on the planet). So for half of the planet's year night may not ever fall, until the planet swings round on its orbit so that the companion is on the same side of the sky as the primary.

Also, if the companion orbit is inclined w.r.t. the planet's orbit then you could get some serious eccentricity/inclination cycles going due to the Kozai mechanism (basically the star gives the planet's inclination and eccentricity a kick each time it approaches).

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
Also remember that inertia is the same regardless of gravity.

Grand Survey refers the reader to GDW's Belter module for rules and info on Trace gravity.

FYI.

-S4

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
Also remember that inertia is the same regardless of gravity.

Grand Survey refers the reader to GDW's Belter module for rules and info on Trace gravity.

FYI.

-S4

 

[The Shaman]

Coriolis effect. Planets tidally-locked to their primaries have a weak Coriolis effect due to their slow rotation.

(Edited for clarity.)

 

[The Shaman]

Coriolis effect. Planets tidally-locked to their primaries have a weak Coriolis effect due to their slow rotation.

(Edited for clarity.)

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by The Shaman:
Coriolis effect. Planets tidally-locked to their primaries have no Coriolis effect to deflect wind and water.

A planet IS rotating if it's tidally locked though, it's just rotating with an rotation period equal to its orbital period around its primary. A tidelocked world orbiting a star is probably going to have a very weak coriolis effect as a result (given the orbital periods are of the order of 50-100 days), but one orbiting a gas giant (where the orbital period is of the order of 1-7 days) may be a different story.

I don't know whether the coriolis effect would manifest differently in that sort of scenario, but I think it's false to say that there is NO coriolis effect just because the world is tidelocked.

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by The Shaman:
Coriolis effect. Planets tidally-locked to their primaries have no Coriolis effect to deflect wind and water.

A planet IS rotating if it's tidally locked though, it's just rotating with an rotation period equal to its orbital period around its primary. A tidelocked world orbiting a star is probably going to have a very weak coriolis effect as a result (given the orbital periods are of the order of 50-100 days), but one orbiting a gas giant (where the orbital period is of the order of 1-7 days) may be a different story.

I don't know whether the coriolis effect would manifest differently in that sort of scenario, but I think it's false to say that there is NO coriolis effect just because the world is tidelocked.

 

[The Shaman]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
I don't know whether the coriolis effect would manifest differently in that sort of scenario, but I think it's false to say that there is NO coriolis effect just because the world is tidelocked.

You're right: "weak" is a better way to describe it than to say "no effect" at all.

 

[The Shaman]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
I don't know whether the coriolis effect would manifest differently in that sort of scenario, but I think it's false to say that there is NO coriolis effect just because the world is tidelocked.

You're right: "weak" is a better way to describe it than to say "no effect" at all.

 

[Supplement Four]

Here's something useful in a game...

There's a table, pg. 40 of Grand Survey that tells you if it will rain or not (and other weather conditions) and a single roll of the dice.

The table cross-references UPP Atmo code and hydro code, with some DMs for certain things.

If a GM is in a pinch, or just doesn't want to mess with detailing any more of the world, a simple roll on this table will give weather conditions for the hex.

GMs who want more detail, or specific tables for specific worlds, are encouraged to create them using the rules (in both Scouts and Grand Survey).

-S4

 

[Supplement Four]

Here's something useful in a game...

There's a table, pg. 40 of Grand Survey that tells you if it will rain or not (and other weather conditions) and a single roll of the dice.

The table cross-references UPP Atmo code and hydro code, with some DMs for certain things.

If a GM is in a pinch, or just doesn't want to mess with detailing any more of the world, a simple roll on this table will give weather conditions for the hex.

GMs who want more detail, or specific tables for specific worlds, are encouraged to create them using the rules (in both Scouts and Grand Survey).

-S4

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
Here's something useful in a game...

General movement rates for various modes of transportation are given as well--with modifiers for weather.

 

[Supplement Four]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
Here's something useful in a game...

General movement rates for various modes of transportation are given as well--with modifiers for weather.