gurps vorkosigan plasma arcs

[fifiste]

I happened to read this cut-out from gurps vorkosigans on the technology/weapons section about plasma-arcs.

Quote:"Note that only totally sealed armor fully protectsa target from a plasma arc; lesser cover may help some-what, at the GM’s option."

Soooo what should the ruling be -
a)no DR if you are not fully covered you get the full damage with maybe some fiddling by GM
b)plasma-arcs produce large area-injury use the rules for that from basic (average your torso and worst DR)
c) something else?
The direct wording is for A but it seems bit fiat, also we have already the large area injury system in place. What are your thoughts?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by fifiste

I happened to read this cut-out from gurps vorkosigans on the technology/weapons section about plasma-arcs.

Quote:"Note that only totally sealed armor fully protectsa target from a plasma arc; lesser cover may help some-what, at the GM’s option."

Soooo what should the ruling be -
a)no DR if you are not fully covered you get the full damage with maybe some fiddling by GM
b)plasma-arcs produce large area-injury use the rules for that from basic (average your torso and worst DR)
c) something else?
The direct wording is for A but it seems bit fiat, also we have already the large area injury system in place. What are your thoughts?

<shrug> Vorkosigan was so long in production tat it was originally written for 3e. The text you quote is close to 3e rules about flamers which were substantially different than the 4e rules.

Another 3e influence can be seen in the plasma weapons damage which is lots of dice but no armor divisor as compared to 4e philosophy of fewer dice with a divisor.

Errata was lter issued which lowered the dice drastically but added no divisor. This was definitely a mistake. Any armor even the generic stuff from Basic 4e would resist plasma arcs then.

My advice for a fully 4e Vorkosigan is to ignore the example tech in the book and substitute the UT equivalents while removing the "explosive" modifier from the plasma weapons. TL for most gadgets is TL11^ rather than the peculiar claims of 9 or 10 in the book.

The exception is Bio-tech which TL9. I know bio-tech is important in Vorkosigan but that doesn't mean it's advanced by Gurps' standards.

Anyway, use TL11^ armor and weapons and things will balance out decently. This is far, far easier than writing House Rules to make sense of the flavor text.

I might not replace the stunners with Gurps Nerve guns though. The simple auto-stun you get in the book is far closer to the source material than the HT-3 you get from UT which was probably done that way to allow PCs a chance to avoid being stunned (which is a thing that simply does not happen in many SF settings).

[fifiste]

Yeah as I waws looking at the stat block for weapons vs. the background text for setting - then they seemed to be heavily conflicted. As in the laser rifle there was pretty much in every aspect better than the plasma arc that was in the text supposed to have replaced the laser weapons.
Ill take a stroll in the UT then. THanks for suggestion.
On the other notes - has anybodey here gamed the Vorkosigans universe and has anyone used the GURPS Vorkosigans book for it - how have been the experiences?

[Woodman]

Actually the Plasma Arcs have the exact same stats as Plasma Flamers from UT except for the skill used. The only improvement to the tl9 chem pumped laser i can see is the lack of the chemical power pack so I dont see why the plasma weapons would be better.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Woodman

Actually the Plasma Arcs have the exact same stats as Plasma Flamers from UT except for the skill used. The only improvement to the tl9 chem pumped laser i can see is the lack of the chemical power pack so I dont see why the plasma weapons would be better.

Because the Vorkosigan setting is more than TL9. It shows most of the hallmarks of a TL11 setting in one form or another. Contragravity tot he exclusion of conventional wheels, extremely powerful space propulsion, well developed Force fields, Advanced energy weapons including gravitic, etc.

Even if all the armor tech was TL9 flamers wouldn't be the dominant weapon technology. Slug-throwing guns wouldn't be obsolete and viable lasers would still be in the future.

Vorkosigan is not TL9 or even 9^. It's a much higher TL and you need to use higher TL gear.

[Flyndaran]

Most of your examples are pure superscience, and therefore could enter a setting at any TL.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Most of your examples are pure superscience, and therefore could enter a setting at any TL.

They aren't entrance technologies though. They are well-developed with multiple generations of history.

Force fields could have been emergent superscience at TL9^ as mass shields but they've developed over long periods of time into Sword-swallower and even Plasma mirrors date to the generation before Miles' birth.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

They aren't entrance technologies though. They are well-developed with multiple generations of history.

Force fields could have been emergent superscience at TL9^ as mass shields but they've developed over long periods of time into Sword-swallower and even Plasma mirrors date to the generation before Miles' birth.

That still doesn't make them TL 9. That simply means they've experienced significant advancement since their introduction.
In reality some technologies advance obscenely fast within years or decades of invention. Kitty Hawk to WWII planes is barely more than a single generation.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

That still doesn't make them TL 9. That simply means they've experienced significant advancement since their introduction.
In reality some technologies advance obscenely fast within years or decades of invention. Kitty Hawk to WWII planes is barely more than a single generation.

We've had that much of a generation since we saw the surprise appearance of plasma mirrors during Aral and Cordelia's story . You have to go even farther back to get sword-swallower and farther than that for mass shields.

That's what makes force shields _not_ TL9^ in Vorkosigan.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

We've had that much of a generation since we saw the surprise appearance of plasma mirrors during Aral and Cordelia's story . You have to go even farther back to get sword-swallower and farther than that for mass shields.

That's what makes force shields _not_ TL9^ in Vorkosigan.

I've reconsidered my opinion. In this setting alone, I agree that such superscience can be defined by specific TLs.