The Orichalcum Universe...Basics

[Johnny1A.2]

MATRIX PERCEPTION continued...

OK, we've seen that Matrix Perception is a tremendously powerful
ability, and we haven't plumbed the depths of its potential yet, but
it is also dangerous. Even skilled fluxons use it with caution. To
get a better idea of just how dangerous it can be, let's go back to
our example upthread, in which Ylarines hit a critical failure on the
Matrix Perception skill roll (case 4). In the information overload
described above, he got off pretty lightly, picking up a quirk-level
phobia about pandas and being physical and mentally week for five
days. Let's now see how bad it might have been, shall we?

Instead of a '9' on the duration roll, the GM in this replay gets a
17! The overload will last 17 turns, almost twice as long, which
means Ylarines gets to roll vs. Will 17 times! This time, he hits 9
failures, three critical failures, and his personal Will hits zero on
the 16th roll. Now he's down to 1 Fatigue point, barely conscious,
his Will leveled, his mind numb, and he's taken some serious
psychological damage. (We’re assuming he went into this with his
normal Will of 15 already weakened, not smart.)

His player must now roll vs. his normal Will of 15, and he has to do
so 9 times! He fails 7 rolls and three of them are critical failures
(he’s having a rotten day)! So now the GM must assign four new quirks
and three new mental disadvantages to Ylarines. PLUS, since Ylarines’
Will reached zero during the overload, the GM assigns a new mental
disadvantage for that as well.

Four new quirks, four new mental disadvantages, none of which provide
any points, by the way, though they can with GM permission be later
bought off with earned character points like any other.

The GM decides what the quirks and Disadvantages are, and their point
value. For our example, the GM decides to give Ylarines quirk level
panda phobia (as above), plus quirk level thalassophobia, quirk level
fascination with sharks, and an insistence on wearing blue at all
times. So much for the quirks.

The GM assigns Ylarines the following psychological Disadvantages:
Berserk, Gluttony, Agoraphobia at serious intensity, and Nightmares at
-5.

He will require 12 days to regain his physical and mental strength,
and since his Will reached zero during the overload, he doesn't get to
make a roll to try and extract some useful information, and has no
idea his girlfriend is cheating on him with a lackey and planning to
kill him.

Flux power is rather like fire, a useful but dangerous servant and a
dreadful master. Using it carelessly can have unfortunate effects.

[Sword-dancer]

This is a very interesting and rich setting.

But which roles have the pcs?

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Sword-dancer

This is a very interesting and rich setting.

But which roles have the pcs?

My guess is, the PCs are modern-day folks who have to deal with the Unity.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

My guess is, the PCs are modern-day folks who have to deal with the Unity.

There are quite a few setting where PCs can play, the modern-day is one of them.

Playing in the Atlantean setting has a complication, of course, in that the 'end of the story' is written in stone. But for a party content to play at a level that doesn't shape the whole world, there are lots of possibilities.

[D10]

I gotta say, me and a friend are seriously thinking about using your scenario, probably for some interstellar action, any advice ?

[Johnny1A.2]

The ancient Eosian Hegemony was the first Homosapient civilization to reach the
stars and the Eosians were nothing if not ambitious. Though their Hegemony, at its
height, never came anywhere close to filling the Galaxy, they created a mapping
system that covered the entire galactic disk, and since they were the first technical
civilization Homosapients produced, this system passed down the millennia to
outlast their civilization, and would eventually be adopted even by interstellar
voyagers from Earth.

The Standard Mapping System surrounds the Milky Way Galaxy with an imaginary
sphere, centered approximately on Sgr A* and extending outward to a radius of
105,205 light-years (the odd figure is because they weren't using Terran years
as their ‘time-distance at c’ baseline).

The 'equator' of this imaginary sphere is the approximate plane of the galactic disk.

The sphere is divided into 1000 segments, like the sections of an orange, with the
'axis' of the sphere perpendicular to the 'equator', the segments narrowing to the top
and bottom, and all the segments coming together at the imaginary line through the
galactic axis.

The segments are the Galactic Regions, which the Eosians numbered from 000 to
999 (the Eosian numerical system translates perfectly). Predictably, the Eos System
is in Region 000, with the numbers increasing as one circles the Galaxy, until one
comes back to Region 999, adjacent to Region 000. [1]

Each star mapped by the Hegemony was assigned the 3-digit Region number, a
symbol to indicate whether it was 'north' (above) or 'south' (below) the galactic plane,
a set of digits to indicate radius from galactic center and angle from the plane of
the galaxy, and another set marking time of mapping and astrographical features.

Though they went to the trouble of setting up a mapping and classification system
for the whole galaxy, the Eosians never expanded beyond Regions 000, 001, and
999, with scouts entering the edges of 002 and 998. Nor did they thoroughly explore
even Region 000, the sphere of stars centered on the Eos System filled only small
parts of Region 000, 001, and 999.

Their ambitions were cut short by their encounter with the Beasties and the action
of NEMESIS. But the system endured and outlasted their civilization.


[1] For what it’s worth, Sol is in Region 806.

[D10]

Thats very interesting and usefull, goes to show how big the milky way is

[Johnny1A.2]

Continued from psi-gate discussion on page 1.

Range matches the standard Telepathy Range Table, save that a minimum of Power 5 is necessary to even try to create a psi-gate. Every five levels of Power gives the option of raising the 'speed' of a psi-gate to the next quantum level. Level 1 is light-speed, level two is 2^2 c, level 3 is 3^3 c, level 4 is 4^4 c, etc. So a psion with Power 6-10 could potentially create a psi-gate bridging to points at 4 times light-speed, a Power 11-15 psion could potentially bridge a distance at 27 times the speed of light, etc.

Psi-gate range is based on the Telepathy Range Table, with a minimum of Power 5 necessary to open a gate at all. This means that usually, the speed of a psi-gate will be a moot point, since very few psions have enough Power to bridge more than a few miles or tens of miles anyway.

(There is a reason for the extra rules, though, psi-gates can be opened by other means, and there are always gestalts and other means to obtain increases in Power...)

To open a gateway, a psion must roll vs. skill. A normal success creates a psi-gate Power feet in diameter or less (at the psion's discretion), which lasts for Power minutes. (The psion can close the gate at any time.) It takes 5 seconds for the gateway to form and stabilize, after which anyone small enough to fit, or anything (with a few special case exceptions) small enough to fit and light enough not to overload the gate, can pass through the gateway in either direction. Very long-range psi-gates suffer high skill penalties, and Teleportation Power above Power 20 cost 15 pts/level, representing the immensely greater power needed to deal with velocity and potential energy differences).

On a critical success, the gateway will remain open for 1D6 X Power minutes, and range and mass capacity is increased by 1D6 X Power. On a normal failure, nothing happens, the gateway doesn't manifest. The psion can try again at the usual skill penalties, of course.

On a _critical_ failure, the gateway forms, but goes somewhere other than the psion wanted. The GM can use his/her discretion as to where, or roll again to determine how bad the news is.

Travel by psi-gateway is incredibly effective and convenient, but not
altogether without risks. Another psion with Teleportation
Power of 5 or more can try to deliberately disrupt the gateway at any
time, forcing the originating psion to roll again vs skill to maintain it. If the originating psion makes his/her skill roll, the gate remains stable. If he/she fails, the new psion has disrupted it, and it collapses.

On a critical failure of the defense roll, the attacking psion has taken control of the gateway, and can close it or hold it open at will, regardless of the originating psion's intentions.

Some natural phenomena can also disrupt a psi-gate. A lightning strike could probably do it, or an explosion nearby might do so. Trying to carry unshielded orichalcum through a psi-gate is unwise, since on any but a critical success roll, it will disrupt the gate violently, resulting in an explosion that will do 3D6 damage to the immediate area. To transport orichalcum by gate safely requires special preparations.

A psion could try to 'blink' through a psi-gate, or exoteleport something through the gate, since it brings distant points close together in space. On a critical success, it works fine. On a success, the psion 'bounces', reappearing where he/she started from. On any failure, the psi-gate is fatally compromised, with the matching explosion as if orichalcum had been passed through the 'gate'.

Telepathy does work through a psi-gate, at -2 to skill, since the gate brings distant points close together. The only range that counts is the total distance between telepath and subject on either side of the psi-gate. Psychokinesis does not work, it tends to fatally disrupt and detonate the gate if someone tries to use it through the gate. It's safe to use it near the gate, though.

Note that gate-travel is a 'noisy' psionic effect. Almost any psion with any sensitivity at all will perceive it if they are close by, ESPers can feel it for miles even at low Teleportation Power levels.

[Greg 1]

Have you considered writing up an intro to the setting?

It is hard to get a general sense of things.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Greg 1

Have you considered writing up an intro to the setting?

It is hard to get a general sense of things.

I posted one, see here: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...81#post2094481