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Old 04-26-2008, 03:03 PM   #11
Hai-Etlik
 
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Default Re: Magical Airships

Quote:
Originally Posted by DAlillama
I now have the image of clans of wind mage nomads/gypsies, who travel around in airships passed down through the generations, serving as traders and messengers.
Sounds like the more recent Shannara books. Except the magic is more alchemical and uses sunlight for power.
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:27 PM   #12
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Default Re: Magical Airships

The balloon seems safest. A would-be medieval balloonist might not know what helium was, though; helium and hydrogen were isolated by chemists much later. Perhaps Heat would be better; a metal bar "radiator" heated for an hour with just 2 points of Power would reach a temperature of 1200 degrees, quite enough to heat the air in a well-sealed gasbag. Give it a "thermostat" that turns it on or off by comparing the temperature in the bag (Measurement spell) with the setting of a physical device set by the operator, maybe?
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Old 04-26-2008, 03:57 PM   #13
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Perhaps an alchemist could come up with an alchemical alternative to lift gas. It needn't even be in gas form; the anime series Visions of Escaflowne featured anti-gravitational stones used to create airships as well as flying castles.
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Old 04-27-2008, 12:58 AM   #14
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The zeppelin-inspired "carrier suspended from lifting mechanism" approach needn't be the only one. The individual perma-vaccuums, or whatever, might be inside the body of the ship in separate compartments. The surrounding materials give physical DR, obscure the location of the lift mechanism, and might have Fortify and all sorts of other protective spells on 'em.
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Old 04-27-2008, 05:29 AM   #15
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Default Re: Magical Airships

It might by good to wait for GURPS Thaumaturgy as it may as well contain some cool enchanting and Alchemy options to use.
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Old 04-27-2008, 03:48 PM   #16
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Default Re: Magical Airships

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Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2
Rowboats are enough for most purposes, too, but large ships were still built. And yes, speed is one of those factors.
I had the impression, that your goal was to have a setting similar to medieval economy.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2
Economics are also a factor. People with Magery 3 are scarce and expensive. The options I outlined could be done by people with Magery 0 or even by non-mages in a high-mana zone. Much cheaper.

Besides, if the Wind spell is used for propulsion (only four prerequisites, none requiring Magery), then Wind Controller can be a low-cost occupational template for airshipmen with Magery 0.
If you are happy with things that are just a given, like relics from a precursor civilisation, I have no objection. But to build these things in a medieval economy is just not possible. Either it is by far a too big project or the economy is not medieval.
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Old 04-27-2008, 04:09 PM   #17
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A localized negate gravity spell that moves with the subject would do the trick, if there were such a thing.
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Old 04-28-2008, 09:40 AM   #18
Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2
 
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Default Re: Magical Airships

Quote:
Originally Posted by garfield
I had the impression, that your goal was to have a setting similar to medieval economy.

If you are happy with things that are just a given, like relics from a precursor civilisation, I have no objection. But to build these things in a medieval economy is just not possible. Either it is by far a too big project or the economy is not medieval.
Actually, a medieval economy could build them. The basic design is simply a large building with extra supports - any shipyard could handle that part. As for the magic, that would require a very very wealthy sponsor - most likely a Crowned Head. I was visualizing nation-states like Yrth's Araterre or Megalos building the first ones, then selling them to private interests as they became obsolete or having them go privateer. And if the spells and principles of LTA flight were well-known enough, civilian airships could begin to pop up.
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Old 04-28-2008, 10:28 AM   #19
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Default Re: Magical Airships

In my particular cooked up fantasy setting "The Werlde" an ancient elemental dragon of air gave his life in combat with an evil (but once irritable and tempestuous) undead sea god, however his neckbone was given (post mortem with the dragons spirit approving somewhat) to a relatively powerful wizard to enchant as the body of the ship. It had innate flight ability because of the handwaved physical properties of dragons in my world. Essentially dragons in my world defy their inability to fly rationally with antigrav lifter module equipped bones.

Interestingly enough, it has recently been upgraded with a necromantically reanimated "Boreal" or tree-ent like figure that died on the roof after rooting in the structure of the ship during a battle with my vaguely cthuloid bio-suited minions of the aforementioned evil undead sea god. Since Gurps doesn't directly address any of this, I feel free to ignore the limitations of it's non-syntactic magic system for spells/alchemical agents supporting this kind of fantastic engineering and go with what feels right and will earn me the results required to tell a good story.

So essentially I say just come up with something and hammer it in using the syntactic magic rules with respect to the flight advantage as a baseline enchantment cost computation method.

I also highly encourage players of Mages to learn syntactic magic as a long time high fatigue cost method of creating *any* of the spell effects that are "canned" or "rote" spells in the books. I find the spells in the book (save for the link and another) as being rather limited in scope but efficient in cost. If you want to do the truly nifty magical stuff, go outside this system and you'll get something useful.

Here's hoping that Thaumatology expands on this in a way that is compatible with what I've already done.
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Old 04-28-2008, 10:57 PM   #20
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Default Re: Magical Airships

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2
Use a permanent version of the "Atmosphere Dome" spell ... The "Atmosphere Dome" spell allows the caster to decide on the composition and pressure of the gasses inside the dome, selectively keeping out (or in) the ones he wants. So cast the spell to keep out the standard atmosphere and set the internal pressure to zero. Result - a Vacuum Balloon, with even better lift than hydrogen!
I also like the idea of envisioning the interaction of the dome(s) with surrounding atmosphere. For some reason, I keep thinking that the interaction of the atmosphere and the dome should condense vapors out of the air, so the ship is constantly trailed by clouds and shrouded in mist.
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