26 Reply by Blackronin

(83 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

From the diary of the Lt-Captain Afonso Miranda Teles, Captain of the Light Cruiser "Cidade de Lisboa" and Commander of the Venus Expedition:

April 26, 1912.
The Ainduren launched their first Aether ship today. A beautiful frigate. Like all things Ainduren, is sleek and looks fragile. But looks are deceiving. I spent all day in her teaching the crew of women that manned her. Will her main gun work against the Martians? That is my biggest fear. Followed closely of being troubled by the inexperience of the crews.

Sa'atia is angry. Being pregnant makes her stay away from things. I agree with this and with the High Council. She's in that women's mood that tells me to say yes to everything she says although I'll do the opposite in more than half the issues.

There is a tension in the air everywhere. Everybody knows that they are coming. The Ainduren touch my arms when they pass me by. At first I didn't understand. Now I do. They do this to all the Earthlings. A way to say thank you. To bless us. To assure themselves. In the fleet, these days, nobody speaks of going home anymore. As if they understand that we are doing what we must. Mr. Pessoa offered me a poem. I transcribe it here.

Storm

What lies in the abyss beneath the aether above?
We, aliens to aliens, the possibility of becoming.
What restlessness from the depths lifts us up?
The very wish of being able to become.

This, and the mystery of this night is the splendor.
But suddenly, where the aether wind roars,
A lightning bolt, beacon of the above, for a moment
Shines and the dark space thunders.

Disclaimer: I translated a poem from Fernando Pessoa Message book. He is one of the greatest Portuguese poets. I modified it a little to make it integral to the IS universe. I don't pretend to have written it or to offend in any way Fernando Pessoa as a poet.

Go to forum: Iron Stars

27 Reply by Blackronin

(129 replies, posted in Game Design)

My vision of the Arachnae.

Eight legged. Check.
Energy stealer barbs. Check.
Energy like colouring. Check.
Psychic antennae. Check.
Mean demeanor. Check.

What do you think?

[attachment=0]Arachne.jpg[/attachment]

Go to forum: Game Design

28 Reply by Blackronin

(129 replies, posted in Game Design)

I like the name arachnae.  smile 

I would call it "energy stealers" and I agree with your description.

About the Dukes of the Marshes (as in bog, fen, mere, morass, muskeg, quag, quagmire, sough, swamp, moor, flush, marish) my idea is that millenia ago they make a coup against the Empire. Instead of kiling them all, the Emperor exiled them into a terrible part of the galaxy. The Marshes. They strived and after some time they become again a full part of the Empire. Some o them are loyal, some of them want a payback. A millenar payback.  :evil:

So, this way, after the Starmada Universe, we can make an RPG with a Dutchess heroine from the Marshes.  big_smile

Go to forum: Game Design

29 Reply by Blackronin

(41 replies, posted in Discussion)

That is the good part of being born is a country that wass born much before fireworks were introduced in Europe. Nobody cracks a bomb. China already have them by the time. On the other end, when there are regional parties, music and bad singing goes around all night long....  sad

Go to forum: Discussion

30 Reply by Blackronin

(83 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

Gashai Class Cruiser
Gashai means Deep Fang in Karroom language and it is the name of a big hunter of the deep that Karroom fear and worship.
The Gashai class cruiser is a joined venture with technology from three different cultures. Earth technology, Karroom and Ainduren. Although it is Earth technology that ensures the frame of the vessel, it is built with Karroom combat philosophy. The weapon systems are a mix from the three cultures. Earth well tested cannons and torpedoes, the very experimental Electric Cannon from the Ainduren and the very effective Suicide Torpedoes from the Karroom. The Martian attack prove the Gashai class effectiveness, but how will it behave against other more common aether ships?


[attachment=0]Karroom cruiser.jpg[/attachment]

Gashai-class cruiser (55 pts)
Hull: 15
HVP: 2
TR: 4, AV: 2
Primary: 4/d8(x2)
Secondary: --
Light: 8/d4(x1)
Torpedoes: 6/d12(x3)
Equipment:
Suicide Torpedoes (3)
Electric Cannon
[Hull] [Armour] [Thrust] [Primary] [Secondary] [Light Guns]
[1-12] [13] [14-15] [16-17] [--] [18-20]

New Weapons

Suicide Torpedoes (Saraesh Barsh)

Saraesh Barsh means “lances of will” and it is a Karroom weapon. A big torpedo guided by a suicide Karroom pilot that will drive the enormous warhead against an enemy hull normally doing a terrible amount of damage.

The Suicide Torpedo will hit an enemy ship in a 5+ in a D6. If it fails the first attempt and it isn't destroyed by enemy fire it can attempt one more time. If it hits roll a D6. If the number exceeds the Armour Value of the target, the Torpedo will make that exact number of hits. It will travel at 12” each turn and can make one 360º turn each movement phase. It will move as per the fast attack craft movement. They must try to ram the nearest enemy ship. They can be targeted as fast attack crafts.
It costs 10 SU and the modifier to point value is (Thrust+8)x2 to OR.

Electric Cannon

The Electric Cannon is an Ainduren invention. Upgraded to fit a aether ship, it was Mr. Sakamura who made the changes that made it a very effective weapon. The Ainduren wanted to call it Sakamura Cannon, but Engineer Sakamura wasn't very thrilled with the idea.

Due to its very heavy components it must be fixed as a Keel Bombard. It only fires in the front arc of the ship. A D12 is used to hit the target and target's Armour Rating will be ineffectual.  It will make 1 hit and a roll of 1D6 will subtract from the target Thrust in its next activation phase. Also a target successful hit by the Electric Cannon will move only in a straight line in its next activation phase.
It costs   12 SU and the modifier to point value is (Thrust+20)x3/4 to OR.

Note: These two weapons were designed by me. Not official or officially. I played only once with it and it felt good but by no means indicates ballance or a lot of play testing.

Go to forum: Iron Stars

31 Reply by Blackronin

(83 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

From the diary of the Lt-Captain Afonso Miranda Teles, Captain of the Light Cruiser "Cidade de Lisboa" and Commander of the Venus Expedition:

April 17, 1912.
The first Venusian Aether ship was launched today. Everybody is in a party mood.Everybody is drinking and dancing and probably making more Ainduren sons and daughters. I'm writing this down now because Sa'atia pregnancy needs her to rest. She is sleeping while I'm writing and I look at her for a moment. We danced together in the launching party, Ainduren dances and Earth dances and we had a good time forgetting all about the trying times we have ahead.

The Reconciliation, Varah'bah in Karroom tongue, climbed steadily through the cloudy skies of Venus. It's a Gashai class cruiser and I'm proud of it. Almost completely proud. Mr. Sakamura made me a tour in her yesterday. He looked like a proud father. When we reached the Suicide Torpedo chambers I asked him where were the retrieval doors.”Retrieval”, he exclaimed, “the Karroom don't pretend to retrieve them.” And we both walked away silently.

Next week, the first Ainduren ship will be launched and all the others, ten in total, will be sky ready in two weeks. We will have one month to train the crews and then hope that we have a fighting chance. Mr. Sakamura says that the Martians will not attack again with asteroids. That this time they will come in ships. He seems to think that it better for us this way. I don't understand why.

Sa'atia speaks softly in her sleep. She told me we will have a daughter. Will I ever going to see my daughter, I wonder. Suddenly, while I'm having this thought, Sa'atia opens her eyes looking at me. “You better”, she says fiercely. Then she smiles and I put down my pen, leave my desk and embrace my wife from another world.

Go to forum: Iron Stars

32 Reply by Blackronin

(129 replies, posted in Game Design)

thedugan wrote:

Your Leech idea sounds very much like Heinlein's "Puppet Masters".

The idea was used elsewhere - notably in "Next Generation" Trek episode.

Nothing wrong with it, just noting parallels. Not real crazy about the name, but a useable concept. Similiar in concept to SFO's 'Kalmari'.

I had forgot Heinlein's Puppet Masters. So let's change things a little. This hidden enemy is a very powerful species. They need gargantuan amounts of energy to nurture them. So, in a matter or years they harvest the energy of stars, leaving only white stars and dust on their trail. Although the species of this galaxy don't know, the nearest galaxy is almost consumed (as light travels very slowly, the game galaxy has information millions of years old). This hidden enemy (The Devourers(?)) has one weakness, they are few and as soon as the other species understand what they are doing will turn against them, so they are masters on manipulation.

How about now?

Go to forum: Game Design

33 Reply by Blackronin

(83 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

From the diary of the Lt-Captain Afonso Miranda Teles, Captain of the Light Cruiser "Cidade de Lisboa" and Commander of the Venus Expedition:

February 09, 1912.
We mounted the electric cannon in the bow of “Cidade de Lisboa” and we tried it against a large empty container we ejected into the aether earlier. The electric cannon fired a beautiful ray of blue light that crossed the space in a curved trajectory. We had to fire it seven times to hit the container. The ray is erractic, but devastating at close range. The container exploded in a most enjoyable way. We returned very confident with the prospects of the weapon. If we have time enough to build all we need to build the Martians are in for a big surprise. Mr. Sakamura made also another experiment while in orbit. The manned self propelled missile created by the Karroom. A suicide torpedo. I'm against the use of such a barbaric weapon, but the Karroom are adamant. If it can stop the Martian invasion, they will use it. The torpedo moved in a smooth way around our ship. Everybody in the crew felt the same dread. A terrible weapon to be used against any kind of aether vessel. I patted “Cidade de Lisboa” in a reassuring way that I didn't felt.

We landed at the construction site. Ainduren and Karroom working together. The hulk of 10 aether combat ships are lined side by side. The engineers saluted us as we left our ship. I smiled and a joyous shout erupted from the group. They patted each other. I smiled.  Four month ago they were fighting to death and now they were embracing celebrating a joined victory. I must feel grateful to the Martian for being the murdering bastards that they are...

Go to forum: Iron Stars

34 Reply by Blackronin

(11 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

I've got some ideas. As I see it IMHO:

1) L'armade de Lys vs. US Aether Navy- the French Aether Navy and the US Aether Navy clashes in the aether when the French build a station in orbit over the USA.  (1913 - 1914)
2) The Great War (1014-1918) The assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist ignites the conflict. Austria-Hungary's resulting demands against the Kingdom of Serbia activated a sequence of alliances. Within weeks the major European powers were at war; their global empires meant that the conflict soon spread worldwide. The aether fleets join the fray bombing several cities. The fleets guard the space above their nations. In the ground, the first part of the war is fought in the trenches, but by 1916, the use of the new technology changes the face of the war. Paris is invaded and in a strikeback, Vienna is heavily bombed. As the war reaches it's climax, the Martians launch their new assault. A state of ceasefire is achieved and a kind of peace descends upon the land. The humans rally around the society of nations to defend against the invaders.
3) The Second Martian Invasion (1918-1923) "This time they arrived with sky ships that shadowed the sky." The Martians arrive with a powerful fleet of aether ships. They landed in Island and fortified it. Only the combined effort of all the modern nations of earth is enough to destroy them.
4) Avenging journey (1923 - 1932) Earth launches an attack on Mars. A lot of resources is chanelled to this punitive expedition. The sucess is lower than it is expected. Meanwhile on earth a man starts his path to victory through race purity. Adolf Hitler has some powerful counselours and they are not humans.
5) The Rise of Martianism (1933 - 1945) Adolf Hitler is eleted fuher of Germany. In his pocket two ideas. Racial Purity, Friendship with the Martians. Against all expectations, he is elected Chancelor. German starts rearming with strange new weapons. The first Martian diplomat arrives to Berlim. Hitler demands the return of lost territory lost in the Great War and the French and British politics acept. In 1938, Germany invades Checoslovakia and in 1939, after invading Polland, The Second World War starts. In 1943, with the arrival of Martian aether ships to help the axis and Venusian Aether ships to help the allies, it becames the First Solar War.

What do you think? Am I feverish?

Go to forum: Iron Stars

35 Reply by Blackronin

(129 replies, posted in Game Design)

I am sorry I'm late in this topic. I read it all and here's what I think.

1) The destruction of the Empire:

Aliens? - Big acid bugs.
Silent death? - Violence sensitive bugs.
Starship Trooper? - Bugs.
Genestealers? - Bugs imitating Aliens.
Independence Day - Stupid Bugs with overwhelming tech.

There is a lot of bug threat in Sci-Fi fiction and Sci-fi games.
Why not something more intense?
The Dukes of the Marshes infiltrate during hundreds of years the Secret Imperial Police. Take down the Emperor and take over the Empire for themselves. What they don't know is that they are being used by powerful creatures from the unknowed space. The Shadow Leeches. Terrible creatures that enslave all the sencient creatures they encounter. But the empire was too powerful for a direct attack. For centuries they conspired, used, killed, to destroy the Empire. Attacking key Intelligence positions fragilized the Empire and it crumbled. Now it is ripe for attack.

2) The Name of the Empire

I think that the Empire, before becoming "The Empire", had a name. Probably the name of the species or the planet from which emerged. It can be called simply the Empire or it can have a proud name like "The Kashari", "The Garini Archipelago", "The Summit", "The Arm", "Shamar United", "Barnar Unification".

3) Religions and Belief
There is no dark between the stars that doesn't appeal to the gods. What makes the original trilogy of Starwars great is the force and the archetypes. The diferent belief systems in Star Trek. And so on.

And some tech will be "like" divine to some species and it is not necessary to explain it. Maybe telepathy is used to interstellar communication. Everybody uses the skill from the Garazenii, a species that can use telepathy to enable comms to work in instant time from star system to near star system, but nobody knows how they do it and it is revered as blessed.

4) The contenders

a) The Emperor in Exile (I liked Dan's idea)
b) The Dukes of the Marshes (As I stated above. Not many, but with a strong and elite military)
c) The Mechanical Regiments (A well guarded secret of the Empire. All the elite troops of the empire that died or were wounded beyond slavation were introduced in a mechanoid body. Along the years, the mechanoid become aware. When the Empire colapsed, the Regiments moved to restore it. And at the head of the regiments is a man that claims working for the emperor.
d) The United Systems (as the Dan's idea)
e) The Pirate Kingdoms (ragtag of former imperial systems that united in a low tech low law brotherood. The leeches control them.
f) The Leeches (Cold, powerful and deadly. They are coming)

5) The Stage

a) The Empire falls.
b) The Emperor clashes against the Dukes of the Marshes.
c) The United Systems and the Mechanical Regiments fight over territory.
d) The borders start to clear in a new galactic map.
e) The Leeches launch their first attack.

Go to forum: Game Design

36 Reply by Blackronin

(11 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

cricket wrote:
ussskip wrote:

My concern is that this signals an end to Iron Stars. It looks to this outsider as if the company is being forced to streamline into one game system. I will support whatever Majestic Twelve does.

I can't tell you what the future holds for Iron Stars (since I don't know myself at the moment), but I can tell you that the Starmada supplement is not intended as a replacement for the game system.

I surely do hope so. I invested a lot in IS, and I don't mean money...

Go to forum: Iron Stars

37 Reply by Blackronin

(83 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

Hi:

I didn't decide stop writing things up. I had an accident and with recovery and work I didn't had time or mood for it. I'll be back shortly with more.

Go to forum: Iron Stars

38 Reply by Blackronin

(6 replies, posted in ARES)

Thanks, Kevin.
I'll sit at your doorstep and I'll wait...

Go to forum: ARES

39 Reply by Blackronin

(5 replies, posted in Starmada)

Boxes...
Little boxes...

"Let the renderer render."

Go to forum: Starmada

40 Reply by Blackronin

(11 replies, posted in Game Design)

That's a kind of rain, I suppose.
It's raining lack of interest...
It happens.

Go to forum: Game Design

41 Reply by Blackronin

(11 replies, posted in Game Design)

Is it still raining?

Go to forum: Game Design

42 Topic by Blackronin

(1 replies, posted in Defiance)

That's all I wanted to say.

Go to forum: Defiance

43 Reply by Blackronin

(6 replies, posted in ARES)

And were you able to incorporate the unofficial Grimoire rules into an unofficial troop generator and send it to me, uhn? Uhn? (with a John Cleese accent).

Go to forum: ARES

44 Reply by Blackronin

(50 replies, posted in Discussion)

Sagres - Stupidly iced. The rest is small talk.

Go to forum: Discussion

45 Reply by Blackronin

(6 replies, posted in ARES)

That's a pitym because, without it, undead will stay... uhm... dead.

Go to forum: ARES

46 Reply by Blackronin

(11 replies, posted in News)

Thanks, Daniel. I think it will give people a more confortable window of opportunity.

Go to forum: News

47 Topic by Blackronin

(6 replies, posted in ARES)

Is it ARES: Grimoire a official supplement?
And if it is someone able to update the Ares Troop Generator with the new abilities and spells?

Thanks in advance.

Go to forum: ARES

48 Reply by Blackronin

(11 replies, posted in News)

I've bought the PDF file from Mj12Games. It was nice. One thing though. The link only stays active 24 hours?
The service provided by RPGNow.com gives a link with 5 downloads. It's a safety net that maybe MJ12 should add.

Anyway, thanks!

Go to forum: News

49 Reply by Blackronin

(83 replies, posted in Iron Stars)

From the diary of the Lt-Captain Afonso Miranda Teles, Captain of the Light Cruiser "Cidade de Lisboa" and Commander of the Venus Expedition:

January 03, 1912.
The first design of a Venusian Ether Ship is done. With several Karroom and Ainduren engineers helping Mr. Sarakura I think the heavy works will start in less than ten days. The technical staff is strangely more capable of handling the social and racial differences between us all. Mr. Sakamura is more alien to me than some of the Karroom, so that must be why they coexist so well together. The rest of us are having more problems with the new co-existence between all of us. Some Ainduren women were caught trying to poison some of the Karroom lakes. Happily Sa'atia had anticipated these kind of problems and we had guards there. On the other side wave Eater told me that the Karroom military tried to grab the reins of power.
The fleet wants to go home, but the men are divided. How will I handle this? I need them. I will need them very soon. We are testing the electrical weapon the Ainduren invented. We will try to use it in the ether ships in the next weeks. Commander O'Dunagan asked me if I wasn't scared that the weapons we were giving to the Venusian could be used against Earth. I told him that now I was more assured that the weapons from Earth would have more difficulty being used against the Venusian. Commander O'Dunagan nodded as if he confirmed something he already suspected. Do you find me a traitor, Commander? I asked him. He smiled. You aren't a traitor, captain, but you'll have a hard time convincing the brass back on Earth. And he left.

Go to forum: Iron Stars

50 Reply by Blackronin

(3 replies, posted in Discussion)

I would say (and a compliment it is) that it is more Crimson Skies alternative '30's assault bomber. I like it.

Go to forum: Discussion