Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-31-2013, 03:21 PM   #11
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
That could be an interesting game: Create a submarine crew, and then pit them against a demon that was accidentally summoned by the on-board reactor.

EDIT: For added pressure, it's a ballistic missile sub, with nuclear weapons in the missile tubes.
You're not even likely to get a demon that can magic his way around launch code protections. Even a Gremlin would need more than the Machine Control Spell, He'd probably need a very high level of Computer Programming and uninterrupted time physically touching the computer too.

Anyway, I'm trying to construct he setting and not destroy it.
__________________
Fred Brackin
Fred Brackin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 03:40 PM   #12
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcarson View Post
A homemade or poorly maintained stolen/blackmarket nuke could have a low yield from inefficiency. So tweak to suit.
This has plausibility problems. It's really difficult to reliably set off a nuclear explosion that's much smaller than about 20Kt. It takes exquisite precision to get it right deliberately. A bomb that doesn't work right is 99% likely to have a trivial yield - 10t or less. This is still bad for anyone in the vicinity - that's 20,000lb of TNT after all - and it will also act as a "dirty bomb" - but would it start a Hellstorm?
johndallman is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 04:36 PM   #13
VulpesFulva
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

Hm. Perhaps the Jerusalem detonation is because the bombers were on their way to Tel-Aviv from wherever and got stopped by Israeli patrols in Jerusalem?

A side -effect of why the demons from the Hellstorm aren't so bad initially could be one of the Israeli soldiers blurting out a "Schma Yisroel" in counterpoint to the terrorist reciting a blasphemous "sura" he thought was real?

Flat-out... I see the terrorists setting off the bomb as dupes. Barely literate, probably sent to one of the organization's Madrassas for "orthopraxy training." Much like the "Sunday School" of places that don't teach what's in the Bible, but thump one anyway...

Hell it could be something as simple as someone getting cute with the circuitry and soldering patterns.
VulpesFulva is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 04:58 PM   #14
Prince Charon
 
Prince Charon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
You're not even likely to get a demon that can magic his way around launch code protections. Even a Gremlin would need more than the Machine Control Spell, He'd probably need a very high level of Computer Programming and uninterrupted time physically touching the computer too.

Anyway, I'm trying to construct he setting and not destroy it.
True, but it could still be an interesting game, even without the edit (though admittedly, I was thinking of mind-control/possession, not computer control).
__________________
Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
Prince Charon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-31-2013, 05:58 PM   #15
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
True, but it could still be an interesting game, even without the edit (though admittedly, I was thinking of mind-control/possession, not computer control).
I skipped past mind control or possession because ballistic missile launches depend on a 2 key system. That'd require casting an expensive spell twice (at best).

It's also quite obvious and gives the rest of the crew a chance to object.

I'd call the main effect of the nuclear reactor/demon connection in either Merlin-1 or Merlin-2 to be fear of what could theoretically happen rather than what has happened.
__________________
Fred Brackin
Fred Brackin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 06:14 AM   #16
tantric
Banned
 
tantric's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Athens, GA
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

I've always wondered why one can't "Create Uranium/Antimatter" in this setting. Controlling the spells is a neat way to go about nuclear non-proliferation. Even if this is impossible (conservation of energy?), separating out the different isotopes should be trivial.

It's hard to imagine what kind of religious backlash would result from destroying Jerusalem.
tantric is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 08:15 AM   #17
Hans Rancke-Madsen
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Anyway, I'm trying to construct he setting and not destroy it.
That comes later. ;-)


Hans
Hans Rancke-Madsen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2013, 11:04 AM   #18
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Merlin-2 Working out the details

Quote:
Originally Posted by tantric View Post
I've always wondered why one can't "Create Uranium/Antimatter" in this setting. .
You can.

You have to know the right spells of course. The Antimatter would have to be Create Fuel/TL11 and is not available because of the TL factor.

However, Gurps Magic plainly says that Create Fuel TL/7 turns rocks into uranium.

The original Technomancer rules stated that it was not very practical. By the example in that edition enough enriched (only reactor grade and not bomb grade) Uranium to run a 10 MW plant for a year would require 10,000 energy.
__________________
Fred Brackin
Fred Brackin is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
infinite worlds, technomancer

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:10 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.