06-13-2009, 02:11 AM | #41 | ||
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
Before lapsing into further pedantry, I would like to note that in my opinion this game book looks like an excellent product about a great series.
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As far as I know the best officially published map is the one in The Vorkosigan Companion. Which has at least two minor differences from the GURPS Vorkosigan. Ah well. It does show the Cetagandan Empire has internal connections of some kind. There a bunch of fan created wormhole maps out on the web. Googling: Code:
bujold nexus wormhole map Last edited by cptbutton; 06-13-2009 at 02:13 AM. Reason: clarification "officially published" |
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06-14-2009, 09:48 PM | #42 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
Yeah, the Cetagandan Empire actually is territorially contiguous, with 8 inhabited worlds and four exits. If that's not clear on the map, it's a fairly major omission. (though, again, not really the publisher's fault) Admittedly, I don't think that three of those planets have ever been named, but eh. Another minor and pointless map quibble is that the plot of Diplomatic Immunity requires that the Komarr/Rho Ceta connection is broken up by a three way junction, with another pathway leading eventually to Eta Ceta.
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06-15-2009, 11:27 AM | #43 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Harrisonburg VA
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
Is the GURPS Lite in this book the same old same old GURPS Lite?
Or has it been tuned up a bit...? |
06-15-2009, 12:45 PM | #44 |
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Austin
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
Nope. This is a customized Lite.
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Paul Chapman |
06-15-2009, 01:21 PM | #45 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Austin, TX
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
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06-15-2009, 02:08 PM | #46 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Harrisonburg VA
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
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06-18-2009, 12:05 PM | #47 |
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: *Classified*
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
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06-19-2009, 12:18 PM | #48 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
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And that's without worrying about serial fictions with multiple writers, some of whom just plain screw up (and aren't caught by the series editors).
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-- Phil Masters My Home Page. My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG. Last edited by Phil Masters; 06-19-2009 at 12:37 PM. |
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06-19-2009, 12:47 PM | #49 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
The tuning was an ... interesting ... exercise. Maintaining consistency with a set of already-designed character sheets while trying to keep withing approximately 32 pages or so...
I'm actually rather proud of the result. Even if it ended up as 44 pages.
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-- Phil Masters My Home Page. My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG. |
06-19-2009, 01:36 PM | #50 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Re: GURPS Vorkosigan PDF released TODAY
Actually, the Vorkosigan books are very tight in internal consistency. There's only one major consistent error that I've ever spotted, though there's a couple of minor ones here and there. They literally can be counted on one hand, though.
I think I qualify as a geekish fan here. I've read the book, generally enjoyed it. The coverage of Barrayar is good. I've reported the outright errata, but there's Stuff That Bugs Me that's not quite errata but I want to mention. I'm dubious about the speeds in the space conversion. Vorkosigan is space opera, not hard SF and while most of the space stuff is completely handwaved, the only actual figures for speed in the books are much higher than those given. The Dendarii fleet can cover 4.2 AUs in 12 hours if it's in a hurry and fight a battle afterwards, which is... not consistent with the 6G acceleration the Ariel is statted with. The speed at which ships cross various systems to get to wormholes also argues for higher acceleration. In contrast, the included parts of GURPS space seem...optimized for lower speeds? I note the helpful chart only goes up to 10Gs. It would be nice if the book acknowledged that non-white people exist in the Nexus on a level higher than Planet of the Space Muslims (they do). Aside from a mention the Duronas are Eurasian, it doesn't. At all. And it's a little, er, noticeable. The calm assertion that Earth Eastern Hemisphere governments are either a) part of a Euro-dominated consortium or b) completely irrelevant is not supported in the books. There's this general feeling I get from reading this book that "stuff not mentioned in the novels is not important", and I think the feeling I should be getting is "the Nexus is a big place"... More ships - should it really be assumed that the Dendarii ships we know about are even on the same scale as a major space navy? The Ariel is considered irrelevant to the slugging match with the Cetagandans in The Vor Game, and Aral Vorkosigan's war cruiser back in the day had a crew of 150, as opposed to the twenty or so of the Ariel. There may be a subtle distinction between "fast cruiser" and "war cruiser" that wasn't picked up on... |
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