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Big Lemon wrote:


This is about to get more into philosophy that gaming, but I feel I must address this.

I think you and Pants are both underestimating the allure of Eternal Bliss. A Good person that dies with the option of returning has to choose between

A) A never-ending afterlife where all of their needs are met and they will suffer again, and might even get to see their long lost loved ones (depending on their alignment, and how a GM interprets afterlife memory). Perhaps most importantly, they will not have to go through the pain of dying again.

and

B) Return to a life where they feel pain, hunger, and illness, and they will have to work to provide for themselves. If they were murderer once, they will be at risk for being murdered again. Most importantly, they would be returning to a life that is at best postponing the Eternal Bliss that's waiting for them, and at worst, giving them a chance to morally screw up and lose it.

You are essentially describing one of the essential subplots involving Buffy Resurrection in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy was brought back because her friends needed her to help them stomp evil, and was given no choice in the matter. What they didn't know was that Buffy had been rewarded with Eternal Bliss and had no way to tell her friends what she had lost. Said friends had assumed she had been in a Hell dimension, when in reality they had placed her in a dimension (theirs) that was Hell compared to what she had been dragged away from. Some friends, right?

Of course PCs are in a situation where they will usually have enough unfinished business to want to come back even if they'd "made it" to Eternal Bliss (of course, it's just as likely the player will roll up a new character to carry on the struggle). And some people might find everlasting bliss boring and want something to strive for anew (these people might favor being reincarnated as an infant to start life over from square one and try a completely new direction). NPCs, on the other hand, can have a million reasons to either come back or stay dead. Even some evil characters might want to stay put in the afterlife if they can project power from it, or have their more twisted desired fulfilled.


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CeeJay wrote:
pithica42 wrote:
It's putting the cart before the horse that's bad.

Maybe in space, you need the cart to pull the horse. ;)

You're right of course. But I got what they meant.

Generally speaking, horses do not do well in space, and their EVA suits tend to get truly awful smells after a while.


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Lavawight wrote:

So how would you guys deal with a player who decides that they're going to wear a Second Skin underneath Thinplate which is underneath other armor and that the ACs of all of them should stack.

Other than telling them not to do that of course.

"You didn't read any of the book, did you?"


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David knott 242 wrote:

The physics of Drift travel seems to favor the defender in an interstellar war, as you have no way to guarantee that the ships in an invading fleet arrive together. Of course, the fact that Absalom Station has such a strong Drift beacon gives the Pact Worlds a slight disadvantage in that regard, as the spread in arrival times is greatly reduced -- but the invaders are also forced to arrive near Absalom Station, which should be the best defended point in the entire Pact Worlds system for that reason.

So I am thinking that the Pact Worlds are able to hold off invaders because, while they are vastly outnumbered by any potential invaders, they are not outnumbered by a big enough factor to make a defense impossible. Of course, that does mean that the idea of the Pact Worlds trying to invade the Veskarium or any other similarly advanced and highly populated solar system would be absurd.

The Pact invading ANYBODY is a bit absurd. That's not what the loose alliance is built for. Even "taking the war to the enemy" is something there is no way to get the entire system to agree to. It is the sort of risk to which many of the governments of the Pact Worlds are fundamentally averse.

And it's not the Pact World defending themselves. Absalom Station, if it know a threat was coming, would be able to call in enough favors that it is suddenly one of the most heavily defended points in the Universe. No matter what differences it may have with other members of the Pact, all recognize its significance and will rush to its aid with very significant firepower. Even the Veskarium, now that they and the Pact Worlds are at peace, know that it is in their best interest that Absalom Station not fall, and they will act accordingly -- and they, unlike the Pact Worlds, have no disagreements with invading an enemy's territory if they threaten a friend.


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Torbyne wrote:
That ship sounds... excessive. 20 miles by 4 miles? that would dwarf Absalom station. We are getting close to Death Star sized with this thing. If it was built pre-artificial gravity than is it subject to normal inertia and such? by the time the populated planet is aware of it, it is probably too late to slow it down or significantly alter its course. time to evacuate the planet! :P or more likely, park that thing in orbit and become a new regional super power by slowly chipping off bits to build the largest fleet in the known galaxy and leave the last quarter or so to still be the largest station in known space. I like the idea of a runaway ecosystem on board and setting an adventure on a ship like that but clearing through literal miles of shipboard fighting? That could be a very long campaign.

Funnily enough, I am under the impression that to fulfill its function in the campaign, Absalom Station would have to be significantly larger than its cited dimensions. (And that the Death Star needs to be a little bit smaller than it appears to be on screen for what happens on screen to work, per your example. but that's neither here nor there). Absalom Station isn't just the Crossroads of the Cosmos -- it's the de facto homeworld for two significant species in the setting (well, one species you encounter everywhere and one that always seems to be underfoot where they are least wanted -- which is which, of course, depends on who you ask). There are always similar size constancy issues with places like this such as DS9 and Babylon 5: they always seem to be just as big as the plot needs them to be at any given time, which can be a problem if you want to make your plot adhere to any sort of specific rules.


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Lord Fyre wrote:
Ltfngr wrote:
Just Vargr, K'Kree, etc more to go :D

I'm not sure if the K'kree would work as a Starfinder race? They may be too strong.

As it is, I am kind of worried that the Aslan I've written are a bit too powerful, but they seem in line with the Vesk. (And the Dex penalty is brutal in this game.)

K'kree would also have the practical problem that they're big, and thus don't readily do well in the tight (for them) quarters of a Human ship. They are also, IIRC, xenophobic to sometimes alarming degrees.

They'd make poor player-characters but would be nice "aliens". Or, rather, nasty ones.