Re: Slingshotting ships with gravity wells in SJ

> I would suggest not to use g-slings. It could get our game way too
"serious"
> sci-fi instead than fantasy space opera. Describing accurately a g-sling
> includes a lot of mechanics, and I wouldn't use that because I get enough
> maths and physics in my studies!
>
> Silmacar Halfelven

The reason I wanted to use GS (Gravity Slings) in the first place was to
allow my homecampaign's non-magical society to attain interstellar speed.  I
have been considering several things since I originally posted my request
for ideas etc, and come up with a bit of stuff, which will explain it well
enough to me (at least).

For a start - the Order (The nation in question) is going to use Scott
McCarrols other idea I liked very much - Gravvawood.  This will make their
ships lighter for reasons of this stuff only, but otherwise I am only using
the basic "floating wood" idea here - I haven't read the actual game
mechanics he put with it.

Next, I'm considering making the navigators/captains or whatever of these
ships very mathematically evolved, somewhere almost akin to todays
mathematical skills (excluding computers of course).

Next again, I'm gunna have the size of the body modify the speed attained
(as I originally proposed), and the ammount of time spent in orbit - but
with a maximum somewhere around a little over standard IS speed.

Lastly, I have just had another idea.  IMC mages us "mana crystals" to power
magic (hopefully people have heard enough of my dribbling to understand this
one), and this sphere has a nice abundance of them.  What if their engines
could somehow be modified to inject small ammounts of these crystals,
crushed along with other minerals, into their fires, creating a "booster"
effect not unlike the coloured log's of doctor Emmet Brown in my favourite
movie of all time, Back to the Future III (I can just picture a Modron with
a helm and a train...).  Using these "speed potions" (for lack of a better
phrase), they can increase their velocity to attain these speeds - without
them, such a GS would be impossible.

How does this sound?  Keep in mind that mana crystals come in different
sizes, which is irrelevant when crushed, but generally hold quite a few
spell levels worth of magic (for standard magic campaigns, I am planning to
write up an alternate system to the crystals, wherein they are simply small
portable pools of magic, used by mages who have spent their magical energy
for the day whilst on the helm).

Thoughts people?

And thankyou for the decent ammount of replies I got on this topic - usually
I don't get much of a discussion :)

Tilaurin
www.planetbaldursgate.com/atreus/index.html
tilaurin@?????????????????.com
"Dying Swans/Twisted Wings,
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