Re: Leroy's 3E Ship Construction System

 > Well, first off I have to say that I like what I see.

Thanks, John.

 > 1) On the table "MC by ship size" (on page 5 and in the back) you 
have listed
 > Colossal sized ships as having an MC of D.  Should this be an MC of X?

That should be G.


 > 2) I think there is a type-o on the MC by Ship Form table.  The first 
column
 > reads "Ship Size", and it should read "Ship Form".

Yup, that is correct.


 > 3) On the "MC by Rigging" table on page 5 you list the following 2 
mods to MC:
 > No Rigging = -2
 > Minimal Rigging = -2
 > Should that be
 > Minimal Rigging = -1 ?
 > Otherwise, what is the benefit of having minimal rigging as opposed 
to no
 > rigging?

That is correct, it should be -1.


 > 4) In the section "Choose Armour" you make a reference stating that 
ships with
 > enclosed decks get a bonus to "AR".  Should this be AC?

Yeah, AC. That is an artifact of basing the new system off the
text of my old system.


 > Now some general comments.  It would be very useful for me if there 
was a
 > master table for Frame Stats.  For the Frame table I'd like to see the
 > following columns:
 > Frame
 > Hit Point Multiplier
 > Cost Multiplier
 > Internal Tonnage %
 > As it is now I have to keep flipping back and forth through several 
pages on my
 > printout to try and figure out the configuration I want to build.

In the back is a frame table that has HP and cost multipliers. I
added the internal tonnage usage to it.


 > Another question - this one about rams.  The way you have described 
grappling
 > rams, I am picturing a device that is trying to encircle the diameter 
of a
 > ship.  This is mainly due to the need to specify internal tonnage 
proportionate
 > the the tonnage of ship that can be grappled.
 > Although this idea certianly works (it's not something I had thought 
of
 > before), I always imagined grappling rams to be something slightly 
different.
 > I pictured grappling rams as rams that punctured the victim ship's 
hull in
 > order to maintain their grasp.  Kind of like a claw that pierces 
through skin
 > in order to grab at the bone, so to speak.  I suppose that this could 
be your
 > deffinition of a piercing ram, but the main function is not to 
pierce, but to
 > hold.

I think you are thinking of claw rams (I think that is what they
are called), which can be found on the scorpion ship. Grapple
rams are basically large arms or similar devices that grasp a
ship. The clearest examples are the two neogi ships, the
deathspider and the mind spider. Both of those have grappling
rams.


 > Anyway, if this is the case, then why would you need to set aside
 > internal tonnage?  A ram that grappled a 30 ton ship should also be 
able to
 > grapple with a 70 ton ship, or a 20 ton ship.

The system assumes that you need some sort of mechanical
means to operate the grappling arms, to make those arms
come together around a ship. The default asumption is that it is
a set of gears and such operated by the crew. That is what the
space is for.

The size differences allow a ship to have larger or smaller
grappling arms. A 10 ship with a grappling ram is going to
have a hard time truly grappling a whale ship, and a 100 ton
ship with huge arms designed to capture ships of its own size
wil have a hard time keeping ahold of a 3 ton ship, which can
slip through its arms.


 > Anyway, maybe I'll try to come up with rules for this type of ram 
once I finish
 > converting my Carnifex Raptor (for which I'll need it).  Maybe a 
piercing
 > grapple?  I don't know.

Feel free to post them once you are done. I would look at the
rules for scorpionship claw rams. At some point I will likely
create such rules myself.

 > Last question is general.  Have you (or anyone else on the list) 
played through
 > any battles using the new system?  I may be doing so shortly.  I'd 
like to hear
 > about the experience from anybody that has.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to give these rules a
playtest, which frustrates me. There are certain people in my
gaming group that I want to test it with, but getting them
together at once hasn’t happened. If anyone else playtested it,
they didn’t share the experience with me, so you will likely be
the first.

Thanks for the feedback, John. I made these changes and will try to get 
a revised PDF to Static soon.


Leroy Van Camp III
malacoda@????????.net
http://www.users.qwest.net/~malacoda/TarkasBrainLabIV.html
ICQ #20039817

"Where you come from is gone. Where you thought you were
going to weren't never there. And where you are ain't no
good unless you can get away from it."

               Ministry, "Jesus Built My Hotrod"