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Old 09-02-2011, 05:15 AM   #21
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Default Re: Reign of Steel is out!

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Originally Posted by Puppetminion View Post
Several of the bots do mount standard weapons more or less externally (Rover and Hoplite for example), and they are weapon mounts. So it looks like the book flags the weapons easy to salvage.
Those tend also to be the few slots that are interchangeable for specific missions. The usual Zonemind approach to "this mission needs weapon fit X" is "send a robot that already has weapon fit X". Changing a Tarantula between laser and gauss rifle is a major undertaking, and most probably it would just build a new robot instead.
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Old 09-02-2011, 06:07 AM   #22
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Work of Art!
Looked at the 3e RoS long ago but now there's a 4e conversion I've bought both.

I especially appreciate the weapon stats - like a guideline on how to reverse "engineer" a weapon into points. TQ

Background info carried over was just enough to make me want the 3e original but, if you own both, that makes for a lot of duplicated info: space that could have been shaved or necessary filler?

The catgirl sequence/ illo from 3e RoS is hilarious, not necessarily in a good way, but, from what I've read so far, the backgrounds not copied across make great reading and I'm looking froward to topping it off with the new stuff.
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Old 09-02-2011, 09:14 AM   #23
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Default Re: Reign of Steel is out!

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Background info carried over was just enough to make me want the 3e original but, if you own both, that makes for a lot of duplicated info: space that could have been shaved or necessary filler?
One of the original goals of this project was to have as little repetition of information from the original Reign of Steel book as possible. When we repeated material verbatim, it tended to be only a few sentences, so you wouldn't need to flip back and forth to the original supplement (and to keep it from being totally mystifying to folks who don't have the original).

Plus, in many cases where ideas are repeated, we tried to go in a new direction. For example, the original supplement had character possibilities with lists of suggested advantages/disadvantages/skills; Roger created actual Fourth Edition mini-lenses for each of those.

To see what we mean, check out the preview. I tend to be pretty stingy with the GURPS stats in the previews, since they're often the most-desired marrow of new supplements and the most expensive parts for us to create. In this case, we were able to give away two pages of wall-to-wall Fourth Edition stats (and another page of differently useful stuff); that's because this supplement had that much all-new "crunch."

This supplement is actually a fairly bold experiment for e23, so I'll probably offer a "behind the scenes" peek at some of the thinking that went into it -- hopefully soon-ish.
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Old 09-02-2011, 09:19 AM   #24
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Default Re: Reign of Steel is out!

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Originally Posted by Puppetminion View Post

Several of the bots do mount standard weapons more or less externally (Rover and Hoplite for example), and they are weapon mounts. So it looks like the book flags the weapons easy to salvage.
"Salvageable vs. destroyed with the owner" is an axis orthogonal to "costs cash vs. costs points." Conflate the two at your peril! Salvageability, transferability, and so on are world-design decisions, in no way encoded by the choice of economies (cash, points, or whatever else) used to price the abilities in question. Indeed, the rules explicitly support items that costs points both working and not working as salvage; see Can Be Stolen (p. B117).

Thus, whether a weapon can be salvaged is a world-design decision on the part of a setting's GM or author. As a GM, I've often done the "It won't work for you no matter what!" thing for external, zero-point-cost gear if said equipment triggers on a sensor scan or a magical divination for the right kind of user, and melts down as a precaution for the wrong kind of user. I've also posited rare fantasy monsters with ability X which could be acquired by eating the creature's heart, drinking a potion made from its brains, or whatever, in effect transferring points. Transferring abilities from a dead robot's character sheet to a Jeep's character sheet can involve points if you want it to, but there's nothing especially weird about hacking out an innate ability that cost someone points and using it as gear after that; a dragon's sting might have cost the dragon points, but using it as a dagger doesn't cost the dragon's slayer anything.

As for the Weapon Mount vs. innate contrast, that's entirely an issue of game balance on the periphery of the above discussion. In a setting where anybody can have just about any weapon, the contrast is "You have a micro-nuke but I have a hands-free micro-nuke mounted on my shoulder!", and that's covered by Weapon Mount. In a setting where the best weapons are built-in or only available to a specific group (robots, supers, etc.), the contrast is "You have an old M16 but I have a micro-nuke!", and that's covered by the expense of an innate offensive ability. However, these could be one and the same micro-nuke, salvageable or not as suits the setting canon.
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Old 09-02-2011, 10:03 AM   #25
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Default Re: Reign of Steel is out!

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Yeah it looks pretty clear from the title and such this is an update and kind of a supplement to ROS rather then a remake so I am quite comfy with that.
Especially since the original is still available and also the text at the bottom of the new books description page points out the value of ROS to this one.
I like the Reign of Steel setting. It's great to see it updated to 4e!
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Old 09-02-2011, 10:08 AM   #26
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This supplement is actually a fairly bold experiment for e23, so I'll probably offer a "behind the scenes" peek at some of the thinking that went into it -- hopefully soon-ish.
I must say, while I bought the book sight unseen, I do appreciate those sorts of extra previews. It's hard to get excited about a book based on the cover, the table of contents, and the index. You have to toss in a few "too cool to not buy" teasers.

For instance, there are 25 books in my "probably buy when released" GURPS Classic wishlist (i.e., a text file I keep on my computer). Probably 5 to 10 of them are books I never owned, so I'm not exactly sure if I want them or not. Given I'm now trying (so far unsuccessfully...) to stay within a budget, it's likely that I might simply pass up the books.

But if I saw some of what makes it "too cool to not buy," I might decide to eat a little ramen for a few days to buy the book, instead. :-)
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Old 09-02-2011, 10:26 AM   #27
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Default Re: Reign of Steel is out!

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I might decide to eat a little ramen for a few days to buy the book, instead. :-)
Try selling your plasma if that's not enough.
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Old 09-02-2011, 10:35 AM   #28
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Try selling your plasma if that's not enough.
High blood pressure ended up taking me off the list. Plus, I've never been paid for donating plasma, whole blood, or bone marrow, and don't plan on starting to charge money for them now.
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Old 09-02-2011, 12:07 PM   #29
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High blood pressure ended up taking me off the list. Plus, I've never been paid for donating plasma, whole blood, or bone marrow, and don't plan on starting to charge money for them now.
Organ market: that's when the real profit begins!
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Old 09-02-2011, 01:25 PM   #30
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I thought you meant sell his Plasma TV!
I think I have an LCD (or whatever it is...).

And having come from a 29" CRT to a 47" LCD (or plasma...), I can tell you: I'm NOT going back! :-D
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