From: redden@ttidca.TTI.COM (John Redden) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp Subject: Other Suns : 21 Date: 12 Oct 90 14:15:04 GMT Reply-To: redden@ttidca.tti.com. (John Redden) Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica ------------------ OS.20 ---------------------------------------- This is being posted to the net by myself for Niall Shapero. Others Suns is copyright by Niall Shapero. This gaming material is distributed on a shareware basis. If you do not use the material you owe the author nothing. If you do use it please pay him what you think it is worth at a fair price becasue it took a damn lot of work to develop and playtest. The USmail address is: Niall Shapero 2536 Short Ave Los Angeles CA 90066 USA Those of you with modems can dial into his BBS using this phone number: (213)822-6729 Please email any comments to my electronic mailing address and I will pass them on to Niall. ---------------- end of preamble ------------------------------------------- Armor does not protect against tumbling damage. If a jumping roll is made, reduce the damage done by 3D6 and allow the player to select the location(s) landed on. If a roll of LUC x 1 on 1D100 is made, halve the damage -- and the luck roll may be repeated until a roll is failed (the damage being halved for each success- ful roll). Damage from tumbles is resolved as per falling damage: i.e. it is done to the location struck until that location is down to zero END points, then hit point damage is done to that location until it has been reduced to zero hit points, and this procedure is repeated with the next logical hit location until all locations have been reduced to zero hit points and zero END points. The initial location struck then takes hit point damage until it is at -8 hit points and remaining damage points are allocated to the next logical hit location, (moving on to a new location each time the current location has been reduced to -8 hit points). The base damage done by tumbling is based upon the speed at which the adventurer is moving when he falls as follows: (1) at speeds up to 40 kph, damage is 1D6, (2) for 41 to 55 kph, damage is 2D6, (3) for 56-70 kph damage is 3D6, (4) for speeds up to 100 kph, add 1D6 damage for each additional 10 kph above 70 kph (or frac- tion thereof), (4) for speeds above 100 kph, add 1D6 for each 5 kph or fraction thereof beyond 100 kph. If, in addition, there is a simultaneous fall from a height involved, use the Falling rules (section 14.2.2 in Other Suns) to determine additional falling damage -- and add this to the total tumbling damage before the jumping and luck rolls to reduce damage are attempted. Endurance: The charts provide information on Endurance costs of various types of movement. This is covered in more detail in a later section of this booklet. Using the Movement Charts: When calculating travel speeds and other information, two tables must be consulted. Table #1, Ter- rain, gives movement rates multipliers, Endurance costs, and skill roll modifiers for movement over various terrain types. These values have been selected under the assumption of no snow cover on the ground. Table #2, Snow Cover, gives movement rate multipliers, Endurance costs, and skill roll modifiers for move- ment over various types of snow cover. Movement rate multipliers are cumulative: the Basic Movement rate for the character is multiplied by each applicable modifier. The result is then rounded to the nearest tenth of a kilometer per hour. Thus, a human moving over rugged terrain in wet deep snow cover on foot moves at 0.75 (Rugged Terrain modifier) times 0.5 (Wet Deep Snow modifier) times 3.75 kilometers per hour (Basic Movement Rate) for an overall travel rate of 1.40625 kph, which rounds to 1.4 kph. The largest Endurance expenditure given for the applicable ter- rain and snow cover is used. The human character in the preceding example uses the Very Heavy activity Endurance expenditure rate (1D6 per hour). The terrain and snow cover tables also provides skill modifiers for movement skills (snowshoeing, skiing, vehicular operations, etc.) under the specified conditions. These modifiers are cumula- tive. VEHICLES IN ARCTIC CONDITIONS The use of vehicles in an arctic setting can be hampered by considerations of surface conditions or weather. Some vehicles are better suited to the environment than others, and many types have their own unique advantages and/or disadvantages, as noted below. In the Hegemony, vehicles are powered by total conversion (TC) -- either directly, or through batteries charged using TC power generators. The batteries, unlike those of 1st Century Atomic Era (AE) Earth, are unaffected by cold. And moving parts on the vehicles are lubricated using non-freezing lubricants. In short, under conditions that would freeze First Century Terrestrial internal combustion powered vehicles in their tracks, 18th Cen- tury AE Hegemonic vehicles will operate without problem or hesi- tation. ICE WORLD I (PART 10 OF 28) Wheeled Vehicles: Wheeled vehicles are the least effective form of wilderness transportation, and in arctic conditions can be particularly unreliable. The movement charts include entries for wheeled vehicle movement. The movement multiplier for wheeled vehicles in the Movement Effects Tables is applied to the maximum speed assigned to the vehicle in the equipment descriptions. This regulates the top speed at which the vehicle may move safely; the top speed at which they driver may drive, however, can be less than this -- HIS maximum safe speed is 1 kph per 1% vehicle skill level (as limited by his Arctic Travel skill). Vehicles may be driven at above these two safe speeds; however for each kph above the safe vehicle speed or above the driver's safe speed, deduct 1% from the skill level of the driver. Thus for each kph above the larger of these two values, the driver's skill is reduced by 2%. The endurance value reflects the endurance expenditure assessed against the driver and all passengers, in accordance with the rules on endurance. The skill modifiers indicate additional adjustment to the driver skill level. For each 20 minute period (or fraction thereof), the driver of each vehicle must make is vehicular operations skill roll (as limited by Arctic travel, and as modified by speed of travel, terrain and surface conditions). If the skill roll is failed, roll for tumbling/falling damage for the driver and all passengers (as per skiing and skating earlier in this booklet) where the vehicle speed is reduced 1 kph per 1% skill of the driver, as modified by circumstances (if the result- ant effective speed is less than 1 kph, no damage is done). Jumping rolls may not be used to reduce this damage, though luck rolls (as per tumbling/falling) may be attempted. If the skill roll is fumbled, roll for tumbling/falling damage as with fail- ure; the resultant damage minus the vehicle armor is taken by the vehicle and double the rolled tumbling/falling damage is done to the driver and each passenger (vehicle armor is NOT deducted from the damage to the driver and passengers). Tracked Vehicles: As the Movement Effects Tables show, tracked vehicles are significantly more effective in both wilderness and arctic terrain types than are wheeled vehicles. All procedures, however, remain unchanged from those described above; only the movement multipliers and condition modifiers are different. Ground Effect Vehicles: GEVs (or hovercraft) are vehicles which ride on a cushion of air over the ground, rather than using wheels or tracks in contact with the ground. The effects of snow and ice are thus minimal on hovercraft performance. But the nature of GEV movement does make it very susceptible to difficul- ties associated with terrain. A Ground Effect Vehicle is at its best over water, ice, or broad, open plains (such as most typical tundra regions), but is at a severe disadvantage in rugged or mountainous terrain. Because the air cushion that supports the vehicle is only a few feet deep, the vehicle must skim low over the surface. Sudden changes in ground level can wreck a hover- craft almost without warning. And, in addition, GEVs are diffi- cult to handle in high winds, showing noticeable instability when wind velocities mount to the levels common in the arctic. The procedure for handling GEV movement is basically the same as previously presented for the other vehicle types. There are, however, no modifications applied (either to speed or skill level) from the Movement Effects Table for Snow Cover; the skill level of the driver is, however, reduced by 1% per kilometer per hour of wind. Snowmobiles: Snowmobiles are small vehicles especially designed for travel over snow and ice; typical models are included in the Equipment section of this booklet. Snowmobiles use the procedures discussed above for wheeled and tracked vehicles in determining movement and skill modifier effects, but standard snowmobiles may be used only when snow cover is shallow, deep, or hard packed, or on ice. In the absence of sufficient snow, a snowmobile cannot ordinarily be used. However, special adapter kits -- described in the Equipment section -- permit the addition of wheels or tracks to the standard snowmobile. If such special gear is installed, the snowmobile can be handled on ground where insufficient snow is present and the appropriate wheeled or tracked sections of the Movement Effects Tables are used. Sleds: Animal-drawn sleds are a primitive but fairly efficient form of transport in arctic conditions. The basic movement rate of the sled depends upon the speed of the animals drawing it; this, in turn, is determined using the same process as the foot movement rates discussed earlier. Thus the Length, Movement Class, and Locomotory mode of the animals must be determined for the animals in question in order to establish their basic speed. The movement modifiers on the Movement Effects Tables are then used to modify this basic movement rate. ICE WORLD I (PART 11 OF 28) Because the animals in question are drawing a burden, the Encum- brance (ENC) of the animals and the Endurance of the animals should also be determined. The mass of the load being drawn should be halved (as it is being pulled, rather than carried) and then divided equally among the animals used for purpose of deter- mination of load for each animal. An average END figure may be set for the animal team, and then the Endurance expenditure rules applied to the team to track its ability to maintain a long or hard pace. Like snowmobiles, sleds are designed to move over snow and ice, and so require either ice terrain or shallow, deep, or hard packed snow to move. Wheels can be mounted if desired; sled movement over bare ground (or spotty cover) is at half the sled movement rate. A failed skill roll using a sled means that the driver has tum- bled (minimum 1D6 tumbling damage, jumping and luck rolls ap- plicable as earlier).