COMMENTS: Vulcan Conversion

[Sgt Major Al Beddow]

Okay, the Vulcan conversion is 'finished' but needs to go through Miss Jean for proofreading before I can pass it out.

Al B.

[Sgt Major Al Beddow]

Okay, I've sent out the really really rough first try at Vulcans. I'll also be running it by Matthew @ MGP.

I've taken the descriptive text from what I'm calling the 'Racial Features' and put it up with the original descriptive text. (The GURPS text is included for reference so you can see how Vulcans are defined ability wise).

Suggestions on how to possibly shorten up the descriptive text, the mechanics etc.

[Stan Shinn]

I wonder if 'races' should be replaced with the word 'species'?

[MancerBear]

I dont think you need to break up each advantage as you have. I would be grouping them into fewer traits.

Lastly, I would certainly add Pon Far into the traits. It is a direct result of Vulcan suppression of emotion that males go through Pon Far every 7 years.

Lastly, you mention noncombat reaction roles. Mongoose 2e doesn

[Albiegamer]

.... Mongoose 2e doesn

Post cut off. Watch out if you're copy/pasting from like a word processor they like to use smart quotes & apostrophes so check them before hitting 'submit'.

I had to learn that the very hard way (was a *huge* post).

Al

[Albiegamer]

I wonder if 'races' should be replaced with the word 'species'?

In SFU/PD it is "Empire/Species/Race" for example Federation (Empire), Human (Species), African (Race).

I dont think you need to break up each advantage as you have. I would be grouping them into fewer traits.

Yes, they will be paired down in the second pass. First pass was quantifying everything, next is what is missing and what can go (mechanically).

I would certainly add Pon Far into the traits. It is a direct result of Vulcan suppression of emotion that males go through Pon Far every 7 years.

Yes, a very "Star Trek" item. I will look in the various versions of the Federation sourcebook. If we haven't already included Pon Far then we can't.

Lastly, you mention noncombat reaction roles. Mongoose 2e doesn

again, first pass.

[AndrewTravers]

We went through character creation tonight, with 3 of 4 characters picking Vulcan.
1) Special Rapport, Page 7 - do both "persons" need to be Vulcans? TOS fluff as well as later events suggest that Spock had chosen Kirk, but it's less clear that the process was reciprocal.
2) The penalties for getting a free pass to psionics, extra int and strength didn't appear on the surface to deter the players. The only player who didn't choose Vulcan has a long history of picking the road less travelled, and Intellect is arguably the most important stat in the game, based on the number of things that it boosts.
3) A list of known Vulcan colony worlds would be useful
4) A character with a low soc score (2) will wind up with a -4 on certain social interactions, which is highly amusing, since defaulting is at a -3.
5) The automatic improvement in PSI might be too powerful, perhaps a roll based on their psi points (roll that at age 18) equal to or less than their psi points to gain a point (strong psi would tend to use it more, weak psi would wither).

[Albiegamer]

We went through character creation tonight, with 3 of 4 characters picking Vulcan.

Very cool.

1) Special Rapport, Page 7 - do both "persons" need to be Vulcans? TOS fluff as well as later events suggest that Spock had chosen Kirk, but it's less clear that the process was reciprocal.

This is a 'one way' ability. The other person could have it back to the first person, or actually be connected to a third. In the latter case it would not let the first person know about the third person. (let me know if I explained this well).

2) The penalties for getting a free pass to psionics, extra int and strength didn't appear on the surface to deter the players. The only player who didn't choose Vulcan has a long history of picking the road less travelled, and Intellect is arguably the most important stat in the game, based on the number of things that it boosts.

The other stats will come into play as we complete more of the book - refer to the MGT core rulebook for now.

3) A list of known Vulcan colony worlds would be useful

I don't believe one has been created, but I will talk with SVC about this.

4) A character with a low soc score (2) will wind up with a -4 on certain social interactions, which is highly amusing, since defaulting is at a -3.

I understand what your point is. A character with a SOC of 2 has a DM of -2.

5) The automatic improvement in PSI might be too powerful, perhaps a roll based on their psi points (roll that at age 18) equal to or less than their psi points to gain a point (strong psi would tend to use it more, weak psi would wither).

Again, I'm not understanding the point.

[AndrewTravers]

4) Because of "no sense of humour", a character with soc 2 who is told a joke about a priest, a Kzinti and a Romulan, would be at a base of minus 4 on his reactions, and if he didn't have carouse, he'd be at -7 to get the joke. It's an extreme situation, but it's going to come up from time to time.

5) Psionics is one of very few items in the game that is actually guaranteed for anyone, and it's specific to Vulcans. Yes, there are life events that allow a player to choose, but you have to roll to get those events. Perhaps once we get playing the character limitations will become obvious to balance this, but for now....

[kehrer1701]

Under Special Report
MGT p 198, Telempathy)
typo

[kehrer1701]

I wonder if 'races' should be replaced with the word 'species'?

That's a good call out