Nick: got it, and already responded to it. When Gary sends me Map 1, I'll send it to you.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 03:53 pm: Edit

Making a little progress. I got the changes made to chapters 3 and 4, but now I have to reflow the text as things got longer and some art is going to have to change size to fit. I got the comments on the rough draft of 10 and put it into pagemaker; I sent it to Gary for his comments but won't send it to Robert until I have the graphics.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 05:21 pm: Edit

STATUS as of 4pm, Monday, 13 May
Chapter 0: Done except for checking playtester list one last time.
Chapter 1: Done.
Chapter 2: Done.
Chapter 3: Added the missing traits; need to reflow the text, order art.
Chapter 4: Added the missing traits; need to reflow the text, put gray bars on charts, order art.
Chapter 5: Insert gray bars into charts.
Chapter 6: Medals vs reputation points decision needs to be made.
Chapter 7: Make changes that are marked on the hard copy. Order Art.
Chapter 8: Insert Deck Plans. SFB conversion rules.
Chapter 9: Waiting for reports from Gary, Alex, and Robert.
Chapter 10: Waiting for last items from Gary; need to do graphics, order art.

By Sean Bayan Schoonmaker (Schoon) on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 07:29 pm: Edit

Steve: Thanks for the continued updates.

While it doesn't make the waiting bearable , it helps none the less.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 08:19 pm: Edit

In theory I'll check off a few more of those tomorrow. Probably 7, then 3 and 4.

I got one of the reports on 9 (from Aaron, who wrote most of it), but still need the ones from Gary and Robert.

By Robert Herneson (Herneson) on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 10:57 pm: Edit

Steve, just a silly question, but since we kicked 'look & feel' around so much, are you guys allowed use one of the Trek-like fonts in places if you wished? A couple from TOS & FJ were in common use before Trek, so PMount can't totally claim them.
Clearly though, not something to delay production even 1 second on, just a curriousity.

Robert

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, May 13, 2002 - 11:41 pm: Edit

Robert: We use Eurostyle a lot, and it was a fairly common trek font. Paramount has issued its own unique fonts and doesn't like us using them.

By Aaron Hendricks (Aar0n) on Tuesday, May 14, 2002 - 01:14 pm: Edit

SVC: Tractor beam rules are give in GRUPS Space (3rd edition) p.124.


The rules are pretty vague but I think that a page reference to it is about all we need right now.


Later I would publish a more detailed rule system for it. It's just when I think about how tractor interactions work in SFB's I cringe at how long the rules would be to explain it.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, May 14, 2002 - 01:54 pm: Edit

Aaron: And that is already in Chapter 9 (where you put it). I'm not sure what you're getting at or answering.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, May 14, 2002 - 03:30 pm: Edit

Update: at 2:30pm, I finished the changes to chapter 7, which ends at page 120. The first 15 pages of Chapter 8 are finished except for some art, so the "last finished page" has incremented up to 135 (out of 176, yes, it got bigger from the original 160).

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, May 14, 2002 - 05:06 pm: Edit

STATUS as of 4pm, Tuesday, 14 May
Chapter 0: Done except for checking playtester list one last time.
Chapter 1: Done.
Chapter 2: Done.
Chapter 3: Done (except for art)
Chapter 4: Added the missing skills; need to reflow the text, put gray bars on charts, order art.
Chapter 5: Insert gray bars into charts.
Chapter 6: Medals vs reputation points decision needs to be made.
Chapter 7: Done except for Art.
Chapter 8: Insert Deck Plans. SFB conversion rules.
Chapter 9: Waiting for reports from Gary and Robert.
Chapter 10: Need to do graphics, order art.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 12:38 am: Edit

SVC, I thought I had already made my answer clear re 6 above:

Doing something heroic or professional may earn you points, Heroic Rep or ProRep (or both) as appropriate. Sometime you get a medal -- icing on the cake.

But earning a medal should NEVER earn you additional rep points on top of the ones you already got! You earn rep points for successful actions, period.

By Robert Herneson (Herneson) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 02:30 am: Edit

Steve. actually (and I can't find where I've packed my books right now guys, sorry) I'm sure Gary is correct as the rules note that a character's actions may change the character's reputation, but that any addition must then be paid for with character points.

Would someone with a Basic book check this, please?

Robert

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 02:34 am: Edit

Gary: You're off track. You sent me comments (as did others); you are not the one who will make the decision. The note in #6 is that I need to read them and decide how it needs to work. My decision to make. You may have made your answer clear, but you're not the one who will give the final answer. I am.

If you do "something cool" on a mission, you get some points. These points may well be reflected in a decoration (medal, award, subscription to Playboy), but points is points. The main question is how to translate heroic rep points into silver stars, bronze stars, and so forth. How many points would a Gold Star cost? Trick is, you cannot accumulate points over several missions. Let's say we decide it takes 7 points for a silver star and you get 9. Fine, you get a silver star for your wall and you still have 9 points. If the GM is clever, he might find something separate you did that could give you a commendation for the other two points.

By Robert Herneson (Herneson) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 02:44 am: Edit

Steve, I don't think that the existing GURPS rules have taken the approach you are suggesting. If I remember how it was discussed in Special Ops, the decoration is a by product of the rank/status/reputation system.
Of course GPD hay handle it totally different, but I thought I might note where I had seen data on this topic in GURPS before.

Robert

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 10:19 am: Edit

There are several systems in GURPS and we'll do our own to meet our own needs. Like Gary says, you don't really need to get points twice, but you do need to get medals.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 11:54 am: Edit

Which is why I said above that this was my "answer" not my decision.

The way you phrased the 5:06pm status post above, it looked like you were looking for input and/or opening it up to the people here for comment/debate.

I just wanted to get my two cents worth in early!

By Aaron Hendricks (Aar0n) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 01:25 pm: Edit

SVC and GARY

I have not read chapter 6, so this is probably way off.

At the end of most GURPS games, the GM will assign a number of character points to each player (ie experience points). This is partly to reward players who roleplayed well or contributed creatively to the game session but also to allow the character to grow.

These points are used just a character point we used to build the character.

Why would a player spend these precious experience points on a medal, when they could be spending them on weapon skill, or engineering skills or IQ.

Now, if each medal acted like a trimmed down version of the advantage "reputation" then it might be worth some character points.


Star of good hope: +1 reaction role when warn

Leaf of Toval: +2 reaction role when warn

Tigar claw Honnor: +1 reaction to feds -1 reaction to Kzinti

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 04:22 pm: Edit

Aaron: in addition to character points (which the player can spend any way they want) the GM also has the option of awarding reputation points. if you want to look at these as CPs awarded specifically as reputation points, that's OK too.

We do it that way because, as you pointed out, very few players are going to use CPs to buy a medal. But medals and awards are a fact of military life.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 06:36 pm: Edit

Gary: Where did you get the idea that points would be "used" to buy a medal? Have I said that? NO, I have said the opposite, that you could "buy" a medal but that the points ARE STILL THERE, you just cannot use them to buy a medal twice.

Or think of it this way. Whenever you are awarded a Heroic Reputation Point, you are simultaneously awarded a Heroic Medal Point, which you can use (or lose) immediately to buy a medal. If you get a Professional Reputation Point, you also get a Service Medal Point, buy a medal now or lose the point. The medals are nice window dressing but have no game meaning; people still react to the points and the points can still be used for whatever they could anyway.

Please quit confusing people by explaining why things I never said don't work. I know they don't work which is why I never said them.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 08:20 pm: Edit

Basically, medals are a game world special effect of the Reputation advantage.

A player would not buy a medal. But he would go, "Mr. GMman, I want to buy a level of Reputation." The GM thinks over the last half-dozen adventures, decides this is merited, and approves it. The points are spent, the level of Reputation is bought, and sometime in the next session or two the character is awarded the appropaite commendations.

OR

The character does something really spiify and noteworthy during an adventure, that is in and of itself medal-worthy. During wrap-up and awards, the player is awarded X bonus character points (general use improvement points) and Y points directly to the appropiate Reputation, while the character is suitably honored in game.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 08:23 pm: Edit

That works.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 08:24 pm: Edit

STATUS as of 7pm, Wednesday, 15 May
Chapter 0: Done except for checking playtester list one last time.
Chapter 1: Done.
Chapter 2: Done.
Chapter 3: Done (except for art)
Chapter 4: need to reflow the text, put gray bars on charts, order art.
Chapter 5: Insert gray bars into charts.
Chapter 6: Medals vs reputation points decision made; see Alex.
Chapter 7: Done except for Art.
Chapter 8: Insert Deck Plans. SFB conversion rules done.
Chapter 9: received reports from Gary and Robert.
Chapter 10: Need to do graphics, order art.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 11:38 pm: Edit

A note on medals, speaking from very personal experience -- one can do something worthy of a medal, one's superiors can put one in for said medal .... and the paperwork can get lost in the system, thus one may never see the medal one deserved.


Garth L. Getgen, MSgt USAF

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica) on Thursday, May 16, 2002 - 11:50 am: Edit

Yup. My father was due a medal for his participation in the Cuban Crisis (he was a Marine aboard the guided-missile cruiser U.S.S. Boston in the blockade, and as the leader of a shore fire control party, he was on deck and about to go ashore when the order came to stand down). Due to the standard bureaucratic flubs, nobody aboard the Boston got their medals...but I finally pursued the paperwork and was able to have his medal to him just in time for his birthday last year.