Re: Helm restrictions

At 07:40 PM 7/9/97 +0300, Ze`ev Posner wrote:

I've already posted a bit about the carrier ship I created, so I'll address
a few comments.

>The helm size restrictions are one of the most annoying things about
>spelljammer.

Which is why I created the greathelm, which is desgined to power ships
heavier than 100 tons.

>A carrier of 100 tons? Drake's sloop the golden hind was of the same size!

I agree. Carrier ships in principle should be heavier, to accomodate the
fighter ships, fligh personnel, etc. A carrier of less than 100 tons should
probably not even be bothered with, as it is too small to do much, hence
why build it??

>I propose to change minor helm restriction to  ~100 tons and major helm
>restrictions to ~1500 - ~2000.

See above about the greathelm.

>A change in air envelope limits should be implemented and also minimum crew
>sizes should be changed (a 17th century 300 ton flute had a minimum of 12,
>like  a spelljammer of 120 ton).
>The positive side of this increase in sj ship's size is:
>-No more puny, 100 ton armada ships - behold massive, 2000 ton dreadnoughts
>supporting a full battalion of marines, hagar deck and realistic (more or
>less) food & water stores.
>I am aware that this will fundamentaly change some S
>j basics - larger ships can support planetary invasions, sustain higher
>volume trade, etc.

These last few statements will no doubt cause a few here to remark that you
should play Traveller. But last I checked, Traveller was a sci-fi game, not
a fantasy one. The first SJ boxed set even says "AD&D Adventures in Space".
It's difficult not to draw upon elements such as Star Wars, Star Trek,
Robotech/Macross, etc.

Of course, it all depends on who's going to build those things, and if that
nation/power has the technical know-how to do just that. With the basic SJ
lore in place, it shouldn't be too hard to justify those examples you gave
above.

The greathelm can be found on my web page for anyone who's interested. The
URL is in my sig below; click on the Runedarspace button and goto the new
magical items section.


Toby Mekelburg
toby@????.net	mekelbur@??????.edu
My Realms page at http://www.lava.net/~toby