Loren. I've got a whole bunch of emails to read, but I thought I'd better get my head on straight first. I spent Monday, Monday night, and most of Tuesday camping out near Vogel Canyon, got home after suppertime yesterday, and haven't gotten all cylinders firing yet.

I camp out occasionally to decompress; there is nothing like being the only person for five miles in any direction to achieve this!

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 12:53 pm: Edit

You live is a great camping state too.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 12:58 pm: Edit

That's true. You can find any terrain you want in Colorado, from sand dunes to swamps -- except for salt water beaches, of course.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 02:36 pm: Edit

..for those you have to cross the border into Utah.

By Sean Bartholome (Kana) on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 04:48 pm: Edit

I know this may be a bit out there...but if an when GURPS PD Ship rules are being put together, are we going to try and tie them in or have some form of conversion between GURPS and SFB, or FC?

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 06:38 pm: Edit

Hey, Gary ... why did we see you at Origins this year??


Garth L. Getgen

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 11:24 pm: Edit

Sean. Rules for integrating PD20 characters and their abilities in an FC or SFB game are forthcoming, if that helps.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 01:37 am: Edit

Sean: SFB, yes, kinda sorta. FC, dunno yet. And I am working on the GPD ship rules.

Garth: you didn't see me at Origins, for a number of reasons mostly having to do with money ... or I should say, not having money.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 07:20 am: Edit

Gary,
see my post in PD ship to ship combat on recently released gurps book.
A new book out for GURPS has some interesting Starship combat and design rules:

GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is an official GURPS Fourth Edition sourcebook for the Traveller universe. It includes a detailed timeline, along with rules for tailoring characters to the last days of the First Imperium, starship design, interstellar trade, exploration, and ship-to-ship combat.

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/traveller/interstellarwars/

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 03:03 pm: Edit

Darren, GURPS and GURPS TRAVELLER are two different things. We are licensed to use GURPS material only; the rights to TRAVELLER belong to a different company than SJ Games and we are not licensed to use their material.

This isn't going to change. We would have to get an entire separate license to use GURPS TRAVELLER material, and that is never going to happen.

So while it's great that they have a new book out, it's of no use to us. Not even as an example. As a matter of fact, I don't buy any GURPS TRAVELLER books -- none at all -- so as not to risk cross-contamination and the legal problems that would follow.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 03:20 pm: Edit

GARY: AH, that makes sense. I just saw "ship-to-ship combat rules" in the product description and thought it might prove "useful" in GPD development.
Speaking of which, do you still have me down as a potential playtester for all things GPD or PDd6??

By Sean Bartholome (Kana) on Friday, August 04, 2006 - 11:36 pm: Edit

Gary,

On the GPD Ship Rules, do we have background info the ships and such, like dimensions and such? Any ideas on how they are constructed, IE shipyard facilities and such, and how long it takes to build a ship?

Or do I assume these are questions to be answered...

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Saturday, August 05, 2006 - 01:32 am: Edit

A lot of this has to be approved by the Steves, so I can't release any of it until it goes through the approval process.

By Sean Bartholome (Kana) on Sunday, August 06, 2006 - 05:17 am: Edit

I understand...I was just curious if such questions will be answered...

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Sunday, August 06, 2006 - 01:47 pm: Edit

Dimensions are easy; where and how long to construct is a different matter.

All ships are defined as being some Size Class or another, and many bases are defined as being able to dock so many Size Class XXX ships internally. THAT is where ships get built, for now, because there is no such thing in SFB (currently) as a Shipyard Base which exists for the sole purpose of building (and presumably repairing) ships.

Their existance (or lack thereof) has a major impact on, for example, F&E -- players want to build ships as quickly as possible, the Kzinti players will want to build new shipyards away from the Homeworld, which gets overrun about 75% of the time during the General War, etc.

Adding shipyard bases to the game on ANY level will have repercussions across the entire game system and is a humongous can of worms.

Go ahead and ask questions, in the meanwhile, you might suggest something we take for granted.

And we can always say "no".

By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Monday, August 07, 2006 - 11:02 am: Edit

---

Quote:

All ships are defined as being some Size Class or another, and many bases are defined as being able to dock so many Size Class XXX ships internally. THAT is where ships get built, for now, because there is no such thing in SFB (currently) as a Shipyard Base which exists for the sole purpose of building (and presumably repairing) ships.

---

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Monday, August 07, 2006 - 05:21 pm: Edit

Some parts, yes. Other parts, no.

So now I suppose you want to know which is which?

I don't have an answer for you, yet.

By Robert Bassett (Carnifex) on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 05:47 am: Edit

I'd still like to see something (fairly) official, perhaps in CL, on how to use FC with GPD4.

SFB, by being very detailed, takes too long to easily incorporate into a night of roleplaying, where FC allows for a very tactical battle, but finishes quickly enough to continue on with the roleplay.

And, to whomever is worried about the fiction... It looks like there's a GURPS version of ship combat rules coming which are going to be vastly different from both SFB and FC. That's going to cause the same problems with the fiction as FC supposedly would, so there's going to have to be fiction guidelines anyway. Therfore, there's no reason not to include GPD/FC rules for those of us who want them.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 12:17 pm: Edit

I'd suggest, for any PD group to spend at least some time playing SFB or FC to get familliar with how things work. After that you should be albe to role play most situations and be consistant with how it should work.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 01:26 pm: Edit

Quick Overview: play the battles using the FC rules, as normal. If a character mans a position on the ship, then make the appropriate skill checks to see if he performs up to normal standards (i.e., standard die rolls, standard turn mode, etc.) or not (modify standard die rolls and effects, +1 or -1). Allow department heads to check to modify/aid the skill checks of their department (Weapons Officer for phaser gunners, etc.) and then make rolls for those NPCs as appropriate (NPC phaser gunner makes skill roll, modified by aid of PC's skill check).

In summary: let each character use their skills as they come up, so all are involved, but keep it all within the realm of possibilies of FC (i.e., only minor die roll modifiers, +1 to turn mode for bad piloting roll, etc.).

By Sean Bartholome (Kana) on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - 05:59 pm: Edit

"The VDS playtest ended some months ago. IIRC, the author has finished his post-playtest revisions, but it hasn't gone to an editor yet."



Hey Gary P,

Found this in a post over at SJG forum. Any word on you recieving any info so that work can start on the GPD Ship rules?

I also agree that FC would be a better choice for a SFB/FC/GURPS PD crossover.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - 11:25 pm: Edit

I got them a while ago, Sean.

The vehicle rules are the length of a full hardback GURPS book -- I am NOT exaggerating -- and it is taking me a while to digest. Even if I ignore stuff like calcuating wheel traction on a slope and so forth.

I also have my convention coming up in two weeks, and that is doing a wonderful job of eating my time very nicely until then.

By Sean Bartholome (Kana) on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 - 12:53 am: Edit

Wow they went the full sciene route...that can be a boon or a curse...Glad you finally got it...

Well anytime you want to throw some stuff my way for testing/feedback, or what have you...I'm willing and able...

Have fun at your convention...

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Saturday, February 17, 2007 - 03:48 pm: Edit

I was reading through GURPS: Interstellar Wars (Traveller). There was a lot of good stuff there, however, it just needs a bit more (advanced tech that SFU uses), and I think it would be very cool as a supplement for PD.

By Van Rippey (Towerwarlock) on Saturday, June 23, 2007 - 01:32 pm: Edit

Does GURPS Prime Directive give the details for the technology needed to design in GURPS the Star Fleet Battles Ships?