Solar Space Update
Sep. 1st, 2005 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalI'm a bit bogged down at the moment. I've got the fair beginning, and a longer outline, but niether is complete yet. I'm also a bit conflicted. Most of the work I've done for Pyramid is strictly for GURPS, the system I know best. My first instinct was to write everything for GURPS and try and get it sold as a SJGames e23 project. But after reading through Chad Underkoffler's Truth and Justice I'm not sure this is the best route.
For starters, GURPS is a traditional stat-heavy system, linked to the old rpg/wargaming roots of it's predecessors. T&J uses Chad's PDQ system, which is exceedingly stats light (it doesn't even have hit points!) and is very dependent on cooperation between the GM and players. It also follows Chad's personal preference for a system that rewards cleverness, imagination, and good deeds over having the best stats or killing the most monsters. Those ideals slot nicely into Solar Space, which tries to emulate the Clever Solution style of stories that were the backbone of Astounding/Analog. Heinlein's YA stories, Rocketship Galelio and Between Planets aside, were fairly low violence books. The emphasis was on problem solving, personal integrity, and (in many) getting along in a group.
It's also vastly appealing for another reason. With the PDQ I can safely handwave most of the vehicle stats, which until Vehicles 4e comes out would have to be pretty bare-bones anyway. Frankly, skipping past the gearhead contingent of GURPS fans would be a big plus from my perspective.
On the downside, I'm not quite sure how to stat out aliens using the PDQ system, without forcing any PC playing them to severely restrict their character design choices. That and I don't have a real relationship with Chad. We've traded a few comments on Pryamid and LJ, but he doesn't know me, and I don't know him, and ultimately Atomic Sock Monkey is his baby. At SJGames at minumum I can at least count on Steven Marsh and Elizabeth McCoy to be familiar with my work.
For starters, GURPS is a traditional stat-heavy system, linked to the old rpg/wargaming roots of it's predecessors. T&J uses Chad's PDQ system, which is exceedingly stats light (it doesn't even have hit points!) and is very dependent on cooperation between the GM and players. It also follows Chad's personal preference for a system that rewards cleverness, imagination, and good deeds over having the best stats or killing the most monsters. Those ideals slot nicely into Solar Space, which tries to emulate the Clever Solution style of stories that were the backbone of Astounding/Analog. Heinlein's YA stories, Rocketship Galelio and Between Planets aside, were fairly low violence books. The emphasis was on problem solving, personal integrity, and (in many) getting along in a group.
It's also vastly appealing for another reason. With the PDQ I can safely handwave most of the vehicle stats, which until Vehicles 4e comes out would have to be pretty bare-bones anyway. Frankly, skipping past the gearhead contingent of GURPS fans would be a big plus from my perspective.
On the downside, I'm not quite sure how to stat out aliens using the PDQ system, without forcing any PC playing them to severely restrict their character design choices. That and I don't have a real relationship with Chad. We've traded a few comments on Pryamid and LJ, but he doesn't know me, and I don't know him, and ultimately Atomic Sock Monkey is his baby. At SJGames at minumum I can at least count on Steven Marsh and Elizabeth McCoy to be familiar with my work.
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Date: 2005-09-01 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 03:30 am (UTC)You could always talk to Chad about it, why not?
[/Zoidberg]
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Date: 2005-09-02 07:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-14 04:19 pm (UTC)CU
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Date: 2005-09-15 06:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-15 01:05 pm (UTC)CU