two random questions

[Ron Edwards]

I can't believe you guys are discussing the plausibility of interspecies fertility in the Orbit setting.

They can interbreed because (a) it lends more substance to the much more fundamental point that they can inter-fuck, and (b) it provides for even funnier-looking characters.

I mean, we're talking about Orbit, right?

Best,
Ron

[xiombarg]

I mean, we're talking about Orbit, right?

Which is exactly why I said I might be taking a too "hard science" attitude for Orbit. And even my most gonzo bugfuck players will ask me these questions, because even my most gonzo bugfuck players have reflective moments.

Also, Jeff doesn't seem to mind, and it seems like he wants a certain level of plausibility, so the gonzo bugfuck action isn't stopped by these sorts of questions. What do you think, Jeff?

The real question is the starship one -- I can just buy the Roddenberry Hypothesis (mentioned by Mike, tho I considered mentioning it in my original post) for wargs.


So, Jeff, I take it then, that the way travel should REALLY work is you use the time listed for all travel -- EXCEPT between-system for wetlight and stardrive plasma, which goes at lightspeed, and therefore takes years. Am I correct in this?

Given this, is is possible to get a cheap "Phase Widget" to allow a wetlight or stardrive plasma ship move through Void Space? Still slower than the other drives, of course...

[Ron Edwards]

Ask away, Kirt. I'm enjoying the thread; my interjection isn't much more than an excuse to say "inter-fuck" and get away with it.

And to celebrate the game that has plenty of it. (Yes, I saw the little rat-fellow in the street scene illustration, Jeff!)

Best,
Ron

[xiombarg]

Ask away, Kirt. I'm enjoying the thread; my interjection isn't much more than an excuse to say "inter-fuck" and get away with it.

Just as my response to you was an excuse to say "gonzo bugfuck", mostly. ;-D

Anhow, we're drifting a touch. I look forward to Jeff's answers to my questions above. I have another one, but I need to go home and look at the book for that one.

[JSDiamond]

xiombarg wrote: "I might be taking a too "hard science" attitude for Orbit. And even my most gonzo bugfuck players will ask me these questions, because even my most gonzo bugfuck players have reflective moments."

I don't think you're being too hard-science.  'Wet-light' was something I thought up because light was discovered to have atomic weight.  I thought that was a cool real-life science fact, so I thought if it could be intensified you'd have a drive source.          

xiombarg wrote:"Also, Jeff doesn't seem to mind, and it seems like he wants a certain level of plausibility, so the gonzo bugfuck action isn't stopped by these sorts of questions. What do you think, Jeff?

I don't mind at all.  

xiombarg wrote:"So, Jeff, I take it then, that the way travel should REALLY work is you use the time listed for all travel -- EXCEPT between-system for wetlight and stardrive plasma, which goes at lightspeed, and therefore takes years. Am I correct in this?"

My take was that it would be used mostly for planet-hopping and system hopping within the expanse of the starmap as shown on page 37 (travel time as per the time-length indicated for each engine) --because if anyone wanted to role-play a journey that required cold-sleeping for years they could just make it up.  You know, like if the Game Ref says your engines are super fast, but this planet is so far beyond the Fringe that it just takes longer.  

What I wanted to avoid is needing to measure on that starmap (square by square, or hexes or any of that).

Beyond the map, you can make it weeks, months, years, etc., whatever you want for your campaign.  But on the map, it's as indicated.  

xiombarg wrote:Given this, is is possible to get a cheap "Phase Widget" to allow a wetlight or stardrive plasma ship move through Void Space? Still slower than the other drives, of course...

Sure and I can get you one cheap!  Traxxian-built --fast, though it makes the ship smell like egg-salad.

Ron Edwards wrote:"I'm enjoying the thread; my interjection isn't much more than an excuse to say "inter-fuck" and get away with it.

And to celebrate the game that has plenty of it. (Yes, I saw the little rat-fellow in the street scene illustration, Jeff!)"

I just like the term 'inter-fuck'!  And I'm glad you like that scene --it's my homage to Crumb, Bode, Bakshi and just underground comic books in general.

Like page 175 is my homage to the Dungeon Master's guide.  Besides the whole composition, if you look close you'll notice the key.

I hope I've answered your questions well.  Please do not hesitate to ask about, or comment on, anything.

[xiombarg]

Okay, that all makes sense, thank you.

My take was that it would be used mostly for planet-hopping and system hopping within the expanse of the starmap as shown on page 37 (travel time as per the time-length indicated for each engine) --because if anyone wanted to role-play a journey that required cold-sleeping for years they could just make it up.  You know, like if the Game Ref says your engines are super fast, but this planet is so far beyond the Fringe that it just takes longer.

Oh, okay, you just pointed out something I missed. 1 square = 1 week travel, sub-light. Okay, so the star systems in the main Orbit universe are very close to each other, only light-weeks away from each other. I get it. So we're in a very dense, star-rich part of the galaxy, eh? Sort of like the Frontier in Star Frontiers?

Man, by that standard the map is less than a light-year square! That's a lot of stuff in a very small space, galactically speaking. Not that that's bad, but it's interesting.

My only problem with this is Sol is within striking distance of all this stuff, which doesn't make sense -- the Sun's closest neighbor is several light-years away. Is Sol really farther than it is on the map? I notice it's on the edge, after all.

For the record, I LIKE not having to count squares, I just want to understand what we're not counting. ;-D


Okay, all that aside, I have a question not related to travel. It's related to the Abbormog. I'll leave some spoiler space in case people honsetly don't want to hear about stuff from the GM section.

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Okay, so, on p. 223 it says "The First Abbormog coup ended in cannibalism and then finally starvation" -- "an ignominious end for such a fierce form of sientient life". If they starved to death, how did they survive to create the Abbormog race? For that matter, if they come from the warrior caste of the Arach only, how do they reproduce with no queen? Perhaps I don't understand Arach breeding correctly.

In essence, I find the whole Abbormog entry confusing. I don't understand how the warrior caste can breed without the other castes, and how they managed to splinter off if they died of starvation. The story of the Abbormog revolution is very interesting, but I don't understand how it ends with them successfully invading lots of planets all over known space. Did I miss something?

[JSDiamond]

Game Ref spoilers
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The Abbormog

The First Hive Wars (a failed coup really) included just one hive (or nest) on one planet --not the whole arach civilization.  With regard the that planet's other hives the respective queens knew of the power these hybrids held, so although they (the abbormog) were outnumbered they were offered banishment as an alternative because the queens feared the losses that would be suffered if they simply gave the chemical-pherome order to "kill the re-born".  The abbormog meanwhile accepted the banishment because they knew war was futile.

Meanwhile, within the hive that was taken over, not much was getting done.  The soldiers -and the abbormog in particular, had no other skills or aspirations except to conquer and rule.  They died out because they had no other plan beyond the coup itself.

Some may have survived and I imagine that as far as reproduction goes, the abbormog that were banished have since taken (or offered shelter to) rogue queens ever since.  With the instruction of course that those queens rule as puppet-sovereigns only.

I like to think that (via multiple rebirth processes) that first rogue general survived and evolved into the figurehead and emperor of the abbormog, with a cadre of reborn rogue queens, and an army waiting and growing in the cold, distant darkness of space.

Dude, I gotta' write an exansion for that!

[xiombarg]

Okay, that makes a lot more sense -- thank you.

Dude, I gotta' write an expansion for that!

Please do. I love insectoid aliens. ;-D

Any comments on the whole "crowded galaxy" thing I was talking about above?

[Mike Holmes]

They can interbreed because (a) it lends more substance to the much more fundamental point that they can inter-fuck, and (b) it provides for even funnier-looking characters.

Of course.

But then, knowing why, having a plausible reason is important to coming up with plot hooks around that idea. You want a hilarous adventure? Have the players go off on a quest to ask the ancient aliens why they decided it was a good idea to have all these species who could inter-fuck. Encourage speculation from the PCs along the way as part of quest.

Remember that all Urban Legends are based on a kernel of plausible irony. A " that's just so stupid, it could happen" sort of attitude.

We're not debating this so that we can discuss the philosophical ramifications. We're just extrapolating stuff about the hilarious universe.

Mike

[JSDiamond]

Any comments on the whole "crowded galaxy" thing I was talking about above?

Kirt, you are exactly correct about that assessment --and that's exactly what I intended for the setting.  It's so that travel time can be easily calculated --and that it's just long enough (but not too long) for there to be a window of opportunity for role-play during transit (if the players want to).

That's why the engines have set speeds.

[xiombarg]

Okay, sorry I'm following this up so late, but I was re-reading this thread and something struck me about the Abbormog...

spoiler space
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The First Hive Wars (a failed coup really) included just one hive (or nest) on one planet --not the whole arach civilization.  With regard the that planet's other hives the respective queens knew of the power these hybrids held, so although they (the abbormog) were outnumbered they were offered banishment as an alternative because the queens feared the losses that would be suffered if they simply gave the chemical-pherome order to "kill the re-born".  The abbormog meanwhile accepted the banishment because they knew war was futile.

Wait wait wait -- what does the rebirth process have to do with it? I thought the abbormog were just some sort of experimental variant of the warrior caste. Are all the abbormog reborn or something?

[JSDiamond]

You nailed it.  See, reborn aren't ostracized from their hives because they still share their parent hive's genetic signature (scent) or whatever you want to call it.  That's how it was in the beginning and that's how it is now, too.  

But this means that the entire Abormogg race 'sprang' from the gene pool of those first rebels.  So, naturally over time their core (arach) genetics began to take over and presto: the spidery-humanoid abormogg!