Pyramid #3/96: Tech and Toys IV

[PK]

The rules stay the same
But the gear always changes;
"Luddite" means "loser."

— Ravi Silver, current N.A.C. champion

We wouldn't have the "sci" in sci-fi if not for our idealized (or portentous) visions of what technology the future will bring. That's why we've drawn from this well a few times already, and will no doubt continue to do so in the future . . . because the only limits here are our imaginations and the elasticity of our suspended beliefs. So come dive into Pyramid #3/96: Tech and Toys IV to see how old-school history, new-school attitudes, and future-school science can make your games even more fun:

• GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics provides realistic rules for designing and erecting buildings. Yet while material technology has changed significantly, the basic requirements for High-Tech Buildings remain the same: load-bearing walls, internal partitions, floors, and a roof. Matt Riggsby (co-author of Daily Life and Economics) provides everything you need to design modern and futuristic structures, with an article that can work with those existing rules or be used on its own.
  
  
• Guns may dominate our battlefields, but millennia-old bows remain a popular weapon for sport, hunting, and silent action, and there's little reason to expect that to change. In fact, as Kelly Pedersen shows, The Arrow of Progress can make these weapons even more useful. Learn how new materials allow for powerful new bow options (with TL10-12 statistics for sport, combat, and covert-ops versions), why arrows are even better than bullets for exotic warheads and loads, and how to blur the line between "arrow" and "drone."
  
  
• Continuing the "old to new" theme, David Pulver expands on his previous armor-building systems with some Ultra-Tech Armor Design. This month's Eidetic Memory focuses on TL10-12 (with a splash of TL9), including how to determine important stats like radiation Protection Factor and power cell requirements. Create anything from a barely armored environmental suit to combat armor made of hyperdense laminate with an electromagnetic layer to disrupt shaped charges.
  
  
• Old-school cyberpunk games often had a rule: If you die in the 'net, you die for real. So technology that offered a way to get around that "minor" problem would be a real game-changer, eh? Enter Hexopersonality, a means to copy your brain onto the 'net so that it dies instead of you. But if you leave that copy on its own for too long . . . it might start to get ideas. J. Edward Tremlett has packed this article with plenty of adventure hooks and classic lingo; are you runners ready to Hex into some corp's netspace?
  
  
• When some brawler is twice as strong and tough as you, that's a pretty intense challenge. But if you scale that up to battlesuits and kaiju, "twice as strong and tough" usually equates to a one-shot fight! So if you want to see more evenly matched Titan Fightin', you'll want this Appendix Z from Timothy Ponce which takes a logarithmic approach rather than a linear one.
  
  
• And we've just completed the prototype of our Random Thought Table, which offers ways to have your tech go beyond "gear" by actually altering the way a campaign feels and plays.

—

Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-2696
Preview PDF: http://www.warehouse23.com/media/SJG37-2696_preview.pdf

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by PK

GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics provides realistic rules for designing and erecting buildings. Yet while material technology has changed significantly, the basic requirements for High-Tech Buildings remain the same: load-bearing walls, internal partitions, floors, and a roof. Matt Riggsby (co-author of Daily Life and Economics) provides everything you need to design modern and futuristic structures, with an article that can work with those existing rules or be used on its own.

This is amazing. Seriously.

Originally Posted by PK

Guns may dominate our battlefields, but millennia-old bows remain a popular weapon for sport, hunting, and silent action, and there's little reason to expect that to change. In fact, as Kelly Pedersen shows, The Arrow of Progress can make these weapons even more useful. Learn how new materials allow for powerful new bow options (with TL10-12 statistics for sport, combat, and covert-ops versions), why arrows are even better than bullets for exotic warheads and loads, and how to blur the line between "arrow" and "drone."

One of my PCs is a super-archer in Aeon and he's going to DROOL over this. Kelly did an amazing job.

Originally Posted by PK

Continuing the "old to new" theme, David Pulver expands on his previous armor-building systems with some Ultra-Tech Armor Design. This month's Eidetic Memory focuses on TL10-12 (with a splash of TL9), including how to determine important stats like radiation Protection Factor and power cell requirements. Create anything from a barely armored environmental suit to combat armor made of hyperdense laminate with an electromagnetic layer to disrupt shaped charges.

And this...this is so well-timed. So damn well-timed.

[Fred Brackin]

The only thing that slowed me down while buying this one was having to go to the other room to get my credit card.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The only thing that slowed me down while buying this one was having to go to the other room to get my credit card.

Awesome! Can't wait to hear what you think of this issue.

[Pseudonym]

It sounds like a pretty good issue. I got a year and more subscription from the I want it all on the kickstarter. Is this going to be included in that? Otherwise, this one sounds like one I might enjoy, especially for the LTC 3-alike bit, the armor design, and the bow stuff. Other stuff sounds kinda neato too.

[Tomsdad]

excellent loved the whole issue.

I'm a big fan of the armour design articles and this one completes the set.

Cheers

TD

[Mailanka]

Wow, what a fantastic issue! Nearly every article is fantastically useful to my campaigns. I've loved every Tech & Toy magazine, but this one was especially great.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Pseudonym

It sounds like a pretty good issue. I got a year and more subscription from the I want it all on the kickstarter. Is this going to be included in that? Otherwise, this one sounds like one I might enjoy, especially for the LTC 3-alike bit, the armor design, and the bow stuff. Other stuff sounds kinda neat too.

I am wondering that myself and money is tight this month.
However I think no since we havent received the PDFs yet.

[dbm]

I'm also wondering about whether this issue will be available as part of my new subscription, so any official guidance on how this should work would be appreciated.

(For info, I'm a $250 backer, since I know that affects the process on SJG's side)

[Humabout]

Originally Posted by PK

GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics provides realistic rules for designing and erecting buildings. Yet while material technology has changed significantly, the basic requirements for High-Tech Buildings remain the same: load-bearing walls, internal partitions, floors, and a roof. Matt Riggsby (co-author of Daily Life and Economics) provides everything you need to design modern and futuristic structures, with an article that can work with those existing rules or be used on its own.
...

Continuing the "old to new" theme, David Pulver expands on his previous armor-building systems with some Ultra-Tech Armor Design. This month's Eidetic Memory focuses on TL10-12 (with a splash of TL9), including how to determine important stats like radiation Protection Factor and power cell requirements. Create anything from a barely armored environmental suit to combat armor made of hyperdense laminate with an electromagnetic layer to disrupt shaped charges.

I'm particularly looking forward to these two!

Originally Posted by PK

[*]Guns may dominate our battlefields, but millennia-old bows remain a popular weapon for sport, hunting, and silent action, and there's little reason to expect that to change. In fact, as Kelly Pedersen shows, The Arrow of Progress can make these weapons even more useful. Learn how new materials allow for powerful new bow options (with TL10-12 statistics for sport, combat, and covert-ops versions), why arrows are even better than bullets for exotic warheads and loads, and how to blur the line between "arrow" and "drone."

You have not failed this system.

Originally Posted by PK

[*]Old-school cyberpunk games often had a rule: If you die in the 'net, you die for real. So technology that offered a way to get around that "minor" problem would be a real game-changer, eh? Enter Hexopersonality, a means to copy your brain onto the 'net so that it dies instead of you. But if you leave that copy on its own for too long . . . it might start to get ideas. J. Edward Tremlett has packed this article with plenty of adventure hooks and classic lingo; are you runners ready to Hex into some corp's netspace?

I wish my current project had more cyberpunk aspects so I could mine this. Maybe it'll worm its way in anyway....:)