Re: Hello, I'm new. LOTS of ???

John Dye wrote:

<snip>

> Problem 1
> I need to know which book to try to brief me enough of the background
> to make the conversion.

     To tell the truth (IMO), no one of the book gives you a really good
idea of interstellar space society. The rule books give hints, but it
takes reading a number of the books, and a large dollop of your own
imagination to come up with whatever interstellar space society you
want.

> Problem 2
> If anyone could synopsis the difference between major and minor helms

     Helms transform the magical energy drained from their pilots to
produce the spelljamming necessities. Major helms are more efficient at
this transformation than minor helms. I don't have the books in front of
me to check the numbers, but take for example a 9th level mage-pilot.
With a minor helm, he can get up to SR 3. With a major helm, he can get
up to SR 5.

> WHY DOES A SPACE SHIP HAVE SAILS!?!?!

     They don't in my SJ universe. In the official SJ universe, it's
because they're need to provide fine control to the helm's propulsion.
The mage-pilot can fly the ship in the right direction, but the sails
are needed for precise steering.

> It would also help to know why all these ships look like fish or bugs
> or what not.

     They don't in my SJ universe. In the official SJ universe, it's
because they look cool, and the designers pretend that the shapes give
the ships extra abilities (special toughness, extra speed, etc).

--

Stephen B. Mann                                 sm6439@??????.??????.edu
Webmaster
Center on English Learning & Achievement      http://www.albany.edu/cela