Topic: SpaceMaster Express

[markc]

IMO if you did a RMFRP/RMSS lite you could have an add-on SM:P lite to go with it. Sort of a 1-2 punch, since if you did have the fantasy portion you would not have to go threw all the combat rules ect.

MDC

[David Johansen]

I built a single MK # based attack table for Supermaster the other day.  But it relies on armour effects being treated as damage resistance and specific critical effect reductions.

For instance Chainmail might be -5 damage, -1 hit per round bleeding

I had to go this route because of the staggering variety of effects and scales a super game needs to manage.

One question about the acclerator on the Guild Companion, the link to the character sheets doesn't work for me on any of three computers, does anyone else have this problem?

[ironmaul]

Taking a look at my SPAM core book I find ...
30 or so pages of attack tables and critical charts,
...

For SM:Express you could creating a distinct setting:

A fight for freedom in a star system (No FTL).
The Tech pages counts would drop if only one kind of weapons is allowed
(Blasters or LASER) and only one SPAC and one or two amored vehicles (AFV).

The fight of freedom could be a civil war (only one race),
a fight for supremancy against their droids or
against an alien invasion (this would need more pages: Alien AFV etc).


It would be easy to find a place in the Imperial / ISC Timeline
for a "distant planet to plot revolt"

Yep, I was thinking along the same lines. Just perhaps three factions, humans, cyborgs and droids. And instead of including various alien races, just have basic rules for creating them. I've always liked the idea of settings without FTL capabilities. As for weapons, I agree with the lasers and blasters but I do like my projectile weapons (gives it that gritty feel IMO).

[ironmaul]

One question about the acclerator on the Guild Companion, the link to the character sheets doesn't work for me on any of three computers, does anyone else have this problem?

Yes, I have the same problem.

[yammahoper]

Lasers, blasters and fire arms could easily have one table each, or two tables each, one for pistols, one for rifles/assualt, assuming there is the room.  Ten Million Ways to Die has very nice condensed tables built on this theme.  They also include ALL armor types for RM and SM, making them great for cross over games.  Anyway, those tables could be inserted into a SM Express, thus saving Defendi from having to make new attack tables.

lynn

[David Johansen]

Yes, I have the same problem.

hmmm...that's bad, I'll have to put them up on my website or something.  All the skill costs are on the character sheets and since most of them are actually packages of skills that's pretty important.

[Marc R]

Of the three models you suggested, the "One race" one likely would need signifigantly less space than either the "Men vs Droids" or the "Men vs Aliens" models.

[ironmaul]

Perhaps "Men vs Droids" would be the priority. The "Droid" aspect would give an introductory insight to Robotics Law, maybe? Are we wasting our breath on this Would a poll be of any benifit to ask if people would like to see SME?

[David Johansen]

Those who saw the original version of the Accelrator that I posted on this board will know that I originally went with a more generic set of races than those found in SPAM.  For the final version I went back to the SPAM races because I didn't want to create confusion for new players.

SPAM is the Privateers setting and I believe that the introductory version should also be set there.  Though I'd probably put most of the setting description in the adventure.

An alternate setting is certainly a product that should be explored but I don't think it goes in an introductory product that points to an existing product.

I suspect that's something Tim and I can agree on.

[David Johansen]

On a side note, if we were building a new kernal from which an entirely new edition was intended to arise I could certainly see using a different setting.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

If they build it, I will play it.

I will also pimp it to the max with my KFG group.

[Marc R]

a good first step might just be to take the current PDF and cull pages. . . .if you can take the complete system and delete out entire sections (removing references later) you'll get to the first step of where you need to be.

After that it's a bit more involved to trim down the actual sections. (Ala "we'll only be using this list of skills"), but, having done that step 1 you'll have a much better idea how small you can cut to.

[Elton Robb]

By setting it in the Solar System, you are very close to Cowboy Bepop.  Right Yammahopper?

[yammahoper]

A solar system ala Cowboy Bebop setting would be great.  Any solar system setting with bounty hunters could look like bebop, but to be bebop, ya needs style.

lynn

[Elton Robb]

What about a spiritual descendant?

[shnar]

I have forgotten the SM:P attack tables, did they break them out into specific weapon tables like Arms Law, or were they condensed like SM2? i.e. one table for all Plasma weapons that just had max vs. armor types? I always liked those tables over Arms Law tables (which I hear is how 10 Million Ways To Die is, though I was never able to procure that suppliment) since it made the game a bit faster, plus you could have cool hyper-weapons relatively easily (some small weapon that damage on Rank 2 instead of 1 or something).

-shnar

[PiXeL01]

The main book had a table for 3 tables for every class of weapons for instance Assault Blasters, Pistols and Rifles where in those tables were modifiers for the "weight" class of the weapon. All the melee weapons had its own though.

[Monteblanco]

Why bothering with a setting? Rolemaster don't have it as well as Traveller in the beginning. Considering a edition with only three species, reduced number of professions, limited equipment list, very limited psionic rules and no rules for starships other than a short list of main routes, it can be written to fit in 96 pages. I would go further and remove the skill categories to make it closer to Rolemaster Express.

Would ICE accept volunteers for this job?

[danbuter]

I'd like to see humans and bugs. Robotics could be added in a pdf extra.

[ICEBruce]

Spacemaster Classic is an idea I am open to at some point in the future, but it would need a totally new background.

Spacemaster Express should be doable before then though so we can get more fans entering the system.  Getting it down to a useful size is not going to be easy and probably precludes much of a background which is very difficult with a Sci Fi system as Rasyr says.