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Old 04-19-2021, 05:56 PM   #21
Prince Charon
 
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Default Re: [Supers] A More Scientific Golden Age

Something that I'm working on, that I hope some of you might have suggestions for:

Work in Progress: Space Agencies of the Great Powers

USA: The National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics is not so much a space agency in and of itself, as a coordinating agency for the various US space programs (Army Rocket Artillery Corps, Naval Research Laboratory, NOAA Satellite Office (which mostly uses NRL launch vehicles), Post Office Department Rocket-Mail Service, et cetra), relaying information between them and making them work together. It is only the lead agency on big projects like the Moon Landing and Project Ares (preparing transportation and infrastructure for a retaliatory invasion of Mars), where the individual agencies each do separate parts of the work, to avoid wasting money and other resources on duplicated effort. <more stuff?>


UK: The British Interplanetary Society was originally an independent body of enthusiasts and a few gadgeteers, depending financially on donations and later on launch fees once they'd proven that artificial satellites were viable. In 1933, after Ming's attack, the BIS made an agreement with the incoming First MacAdder Government, accepting a significant amount of government money in return for allowing His Majesty's Government to appoint some members to the BIS Council, and thus strongly influence the Society's agenda (becoming what modern Homeline's UK would call a qango). The MacAdder Governments ran things with a fairly light hand, but Chamberlain has become quite concerned since being informed that the Second Martian Invasion is on the way. He has appointed Winston Churhill and Lord Blackadder to the Council, neither of whom is particularly inclined to sit quietly. <more stuff?>


Germany: The SS-Raumabschnitt is the only national space agency that is technically responsible to a political party rather than the government, though by this point there is little difference between the Nazi Party and the government of the German Third Reich. <strong dislike between Luftwaffe and SS-Raumabschnitt; something about Mars plans>


USSR: The Soviet Rocket Forces are a full military branch, like the Red Army and the Soviet Navy, responsible for space warfare, and the military use of rockets considered too heavy to be carried by to men in the field. <more stuff; something about Mars plans>


France: The French Ministry of Space was founded in 1930, largely as a matter of national pride (which had been stung by the BIS getting a satellite into orbit). <something about space stations and Moon plans; something about Mars plans>


Italy has a complicated (but politically reliable) arrangement of space programs, theoretically under the Regia Aeronautica Italiana, though drawing personnel and resources from the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of the Colonies, Ministry of Corporations, and lesser influences from anyone else who can find an excuse. The best that can be said is that they aren't working against each other. <more stuff?>


Japan has two rival space agencies, one run by the Imperial Japanese Army and one by the Imperial Japanese Navy (who hate each other to the point of actively sabotaging each others' programs and assassinating each others' officers), and no effective means of making them work together. This has left them mostly on par with Italy (despite having to functional space stations to Italy's one, as the stations they have are smaller), when a single program with the combined resources of the army and navy programs would be a match for the BIS. <more stuff?>


Thoughts?
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Old 04-19-2021, 08:00 PM   #22
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Default Re: [Supers] A More Scientific Golden Age

Those all seem reasonable. In the 30s Brazil was still closer to a major power. Battleship navy, aircraft development etc. I'd expect they would have a small space program. And is Australia doing anything. They are not an industrial power but could be useful for the UK like in our timeline with all the empty land.
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Old 04-21-2021, 09:51 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcarson View Post
Those all seem reasonable. In the 30s Brazil was still closer to a major power. Battleship navy, aircraft development etc. I'd expect they would have a small space program.
Due to their equatorial position and economic strength, I've been thinking of adding Brazil to the list above as a sort of 'Great Space Power' (a middle power/major regional power that for purposes of space programs, is effectively a Great Power). Not sure I want to call that a 'Great Space Power,' but I'm not thinking of anything better.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dcarson View Post
And is Australia doing anything. They are not an industrial power but could be useful for the UK like in our timeline with all the empty land.
Oz has contracts with the BIS for that reason. A lot of testing is done there, though for climate reasons, training for personnel who will work and fight on Mars is done more in Northern Canada and the Himalayas.
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"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.
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Old 04-22-2021, 05:47 AM   #24
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And Brazil has a company named Viagens Interplanetarias since there is a Gurps Planet Krishna book about the de Camp series.

Last edited by dcarson; 05-07-2021 at 07:06 PM.
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Old 05-06-2021, 05:20 AM   #25
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OK, this might be complete, unless someone points out a change that I agree with (quite possible):

Space Agencies of the Great Powers

USA: The National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics is not so much a space agency in and of itself, as a coordinating agency for the various US space programs (Army Rocket Artillery Corps, Naval Research Laboratory, NOAA Satellite Office (which mostly uses NRL launch vehicles), Post Office Department Rocket-Mail Service, et cetra), relaying information between them and making them work together. It is only the lead agency on big projects like the space station, Moon Landings, and Project Ares (preparing transportation and infrastructure for a retaliatory invasion of Mars), where the individual agencies each do separate parts of the work, to avoid wasting money and other resources on duplicated effort. Croatoan, the USA's space station, is the largest by overall volume. Their current plan for the Moon mission is to assemble a modular rocket at the space station (having a separate lander and command module), and send it to the Moon directly once complete.


UK: The British Interplanetary Society was originally an independent body of enthusiasts and a few gadgeteers, depending financially on donations and later on launch fees once they'd proven that artificial satellites were viable. In 1933, after Ming's attack, the BIS made an agreement with the incoming First MacAdder Government, accepting a significant amount of government money in return for allowing His Majesty's Government to appoint some members to the BIS Council and have final approval of new Directors, thus strongly influencing the Society's agenda (becoming approximately what modern Homeline's UK would call a qango). The MacAdder Governments ran things with a fairly light hand, but Chamberlain has become quite concerned since being informed that the Second Martian Invasion is on the way. He has appointed Winston Churchill and Lord Blackadder to the Council, neither of whom is particularly inclined to sit quietly. Britain's Space Station Victoria is the largest by habitable volume, partly due to being the oldest. Their current plan for the Moon mission is to put a space station with a lander or two into Lunar orbit, and shuttle between the Earth-orbiting station and the Moon-orbiting station.


Germany: The SS-Raumabschnitt, founded in 1933, is the only national space agency that is technically responsible to a political party rather than the government, though by this point there is little difference between the Nazi Party and the government of the German Third Reich. Prior to the creation of the SS-Raumabschnitt, the Luftwaffe had been trying to establish a space program, but never quite received the budget for it. This has lead to an increase in the dislike between the SS and the Wehrmacht, particularly as Hitler's and Himmler's plans for the invasion of Mars involved the Waffen-SS being in overall command, with at best a few Wehrmacht units placed within Waffen-SS battalions. Their current plan for the Moon mission is similar to the American plan, save that the lander and the command module will be a single vehicle, with only the main fuel tank and connecting truss being separate (to be ejected once spent).


USSR: The Soviet Rocket Forces are a full military branch, like the Red Army and the Soviet Navy, responsible for space warfare, and the military use of rockets considered too heavy to be carried by two men in the field. They have the largest space station by mass, and are believed to have the most launch failures, and the most casualties in orbit (though as they do not report them, it is difficult to be sure). Their current plan for the Moon mission is basically the British plan, though delayed due to manufacturing difficulties.


France: The French Ministry of Space was founded in 1930, largely as a matter of national pride (which had been stung by the BIS getting a satellite into orbit). Their space station is, much like the German station, very middle-of-the-road. Their current plan for the Moon mission is ambitious: a series of unmanned landers will go first carrying supplies, followed by a dangerous Direct Ascent with a single large manned rocket (though refueled at the French space station). This vehicle will not have the fuel for an Earth Return, and thus will become the first component of the French Moonbase; they will then keep sending supplies while the gadgeteer on board builds something to get the crew home (they already have too many mad scientists volunteering for this). "L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!"


Italy has a complicated (but politically reliable) arrangement of space programs, theoretically under the Regia Aeronautica Italiana, though drawing personnel and resources from the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of the Colonies, Ministry of Corporations, and lesser influences from anyone else who can find an excuse. The best that can be said is that they aren't working against each other, and their space station leaks less than the Soviet station. Their current plan for the Moon mission is basically the German plan.


Japan has two rival space agencies, one run by the Imperial Japanese Army and one by the Imperial Japanese Navy (who hate each other to the point of actively sabotaging each others' programs and assassinating each others' officers), and no effective means of making them work together. This has left them mostly on par with Italy (despite having two functional space stations to Italy's one, as the stations they have are smaller; the IJA's station is slightly bigger than the IJN's), when a single program with the combined resources of the army and navy programs would be a match for the BIS. The army's current plan for the Moon mission is roughly identical to the British plan, while the navy's plan is very similar to the French plan, despite this requiring an expansion of the IJN's space station to allow sufficient fuel storage.


Brazil, while technically a middle power or a major regional power, has a sufficiently robust space program that it would be reasonably accurate to call them a Great Power when discussing space. The National Institute for Space Research is roughly on par with the French Ministry of Space, save that their plan for Moon missions is to first see what happens when others go, and then make plans to avoid the mistakes that more hurried powers made. Their space station is quite new, but is already bigger than Italy's.


Thoughts?
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"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.

Last edited by Prince Charon; 06-20-2021 at 10:28 AM.
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Old 05-24-2021, 05:00 PM   #26
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Default Re: [Supers] A More Scientific Golden Age

On the subject of the British Interplanetary Society, just found a new video on YouTube (about six and a half minutes long) on the OTL BIS Moon Suit. As noted in the video, the suit they made would have been the Mark I version, while a BIS suit that would have walked on the Moon (in this timeline or in a more realistic alternate history) would have been several redesigns later. Still, this is the Mark I design which the BIS started from in the A More Scientific Golden Age timeline, and the version that will be used (the Mark VII*) should look somewhat similar.


Thoughts?
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-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 05-29-2021, 08:02 PM   #27
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One of the characters that I've been working on is probably ready:

Reginald Victor Smythe-Wallace III, 1938

Age: 23

Attributes

ST 10 [0]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 12 [20]

Secondary Characteristics

HP 10; Will 10; Per 10; FP 12

Social Background

Languages: English (Native) [0]; French (Accented) [4].

TL: 6^

Cultural Familiarity: 20th century Western [0].

Subtotal: 44


Advantages

Independent Income 5 [5]
Luck (Ridiculous) [60]
Patron (Papa; Built on 150% of points; 12 or less) [20]
Status 2 (Includes +1 for Wealth) [5]
Wealthy [20]

Talker Talent 4 [20]

Perks

Honest Face. [1]
No Hangovers. [1]

Subtotal: 132


Disadvantages

Bully (12) [-10]
Callous [-5]
Cowardice (15) [-5]
Delusion (Major: 'Laws are for poor people.') [-10]
Greed (9) [-22]
Post-Combat Shakes (12) [-5]
Reputation ('Bad seed,' upperclass British people, all the time) -2 [-5]

Bad Businessman Anti-Talent -3 [-15]

Quirks

Imaginative. [-1]
Likes blondes. [-1]
Mild Lecherousness. [-1]
Tends to blame the victims. [-1]
Wine Snob. [-1]

Subtotal: -82


Features


Skills

Accounting [IQ/H] [1] 5**
Administration [IQ/A] [2] 7**
Carousing [HT/E] [1] 12
Connoisseur (Wine) [IQ/A] [4] 11
Detect Lies [Per/H] [1] 12*
Diplomacy [IQ/H] [4] 14*
Driving (Automobile)/TL6^ [DX/A] [1] 10
Economics [IQ/H] [4] 7**
Fast-Talk [IQ/A] [8] 16*
Finance [IQ/H] [2] 6**
Gambling [IQ/A] [2] 10
Games (Golf) [IQ/E] [1] 10
Guns (Shotgun)/TL6^ [DX/E] [1] 11
Hobby Skill (Stamp-collecting) [IQ/E] [2] 11
Literature [IQ/H] [1] 8
Market Analysis [IQ/H] [1] 5**
Mathematics (Applied)/TL6^ [IQ/H] [1] 8
Merchant [IQ/A] [1] 9
Psychology [IQ/H] [1] 12*
Riding (Horse) [DX/A] [2] 11
Savoir-Faire (High Society) [IQ/E] [2] 15*
Sex Appeal [HT/A] [4] 13
Smallsword Sport [DX/A] [2] 11
Sport (Golf) [DX/A] [2] 11
Tracking [Per/A] [1] 9

*Includes +4 from Talker Talent.
**Includes -3 from Bad Businessman Anti-Talent.

Techniques

Blame-deflection (A) Fast-Talk-0 [2] 18

Subtotal: 54

Total: 148


Equipment

Notes

Bad Businessman is an Anti-Talent (Power-Ups 3: Talents pp19-21) covering a range of business skills: Accounting, Administration, Economics, Finance, and Market Analysis.

A social villain of a particularly annoying type (what we'd call an 'affluenza brat' nowadays), though he can nonetheless be dangerous to unwary PCs - just not physically. As noted in the linked article, he can also be the principal of an escort mission, or other plot hook. Blame-deflection is probably a very common technique in that sector of society.

As the name suggests, Blame-deflection is the technique of convincing people in the moment that someone else is at fault. Sometimes, they will continue to believe it later, or will pretend to believe it because changing their minds would be embarrassing (or because the bribes have been paid). The maximum level is Fast-Talk+5.


Thoughts?
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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.
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Old 05-30-2021, 05:46 AM   #28
johndallman
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Default Re: [Supers] A More Scientific Golden Age

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
Reginald Victor Smythe-Wallace III, 1938

Post-Combat Shakes (12) [-5]

Thoughts?
He's going to pick up new quirks reasonably frequently if combat happens around him, due to his Post-Combat Shakes. Of course, this may be entirely in character. I'd add +1 to his Fright Check Table rolls for his Cowardice.
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Old 05-31-2021, 01:18 AM   #29
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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
He's going to pick up new quirks reasonably frequently if combat happens around him, due to his Post-Combat Shakes. Of course, this may be entirely in character. I'd add +1 to his Fright Check Table rolls for his Cowardice.
That's intended, yes. This is a guy who is basically no threat in a combat situation (even if you need to protect him, he's mostly just inconvenient and not terribly skilled), but for characters that aren't well-connected and run afoul of him, he is absolutely capable of making their lives much harder.

I don't see many social villains in RPGs, and it occurred to me that someone like him could be useful for a GM.
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"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
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Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
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Old 06-09-2021, 08:15 AM   #30
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Already posted this to Five Earths, but it occurs to me that this is also relevant here:

How William Fairbairn Created the Modern SWAT Team in Warlord Era Shanghai (a bit over 21 minutes long). W. E. Fairbairn is still with the Shanghai Police in 1938. He's one of those very rare larger-than-life pulp heroes that actually existed in real life.


Thoughts?
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"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.
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