Re: Steampunk Jammer

At 04:09 AM 8/4/2005, you wrote:
>In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Wed 03 Aug, Scratch wrote:
>Kites could be fun, but unless you have pretty stable weather,
>are I think unlikely to be used for regular communication.
>
>Maybe you could have man-kites with spotters on them with
>spyglasses? [grin]
>
>And hand-semaphore paddles, so they can communicate with the
>ground? [grin]
>
>(Don't wave your arms too much, while flying on a kite!)
>
>Most Pratchett books are at least worth a read, I've found, and
>some of them are really amazing works of fiction.

Kites would still be a possibility. I admit, tossing a pc on a giant kite
in order to warn some city of impending doom is pretty evil. But it also
sounds pretty fun.

"You fail your Semaphore check...The city administrators wonder why the
city is soon to be under siege by a clan of ducks."

>You reflect the sun off a mirror - a polished metal shield was
>sometimes used. Flashes of sunlight can be seen against a darker
>background a long way off, then you just need an agreed code. All
>the different schemes rely on some way of signaling to someone as
>far off as possible, without sending a runner/rider.

OH! Ok, I watched a documentary earlier and it described an early telephone
like device which focused light as a transmission form for sound. Nothing
ever came of it an telephones won out. But I imagine it wouldn't be too
hard to hard to use that as a short range communication method.

>If you used the full alchemical manikin creation rules, with the
>options for the longer range Mind Links, having the homonculus at
>one end, and their master at the other, gives a highly secure
>method of instant communication. Micro homonculi would probably
>do, as long as they have some way of transcribing messages, such
>as hands to write with, or voices to repeat them to (short-hand
>trained) scribes.

Kind of like a alchemist telegraph service. Well, more like an alchemist
homing pigeon service. That's a really good idea. Too bad theres no way to
connect two homunculi to each other and do away with the alchemist
altogether after creation.

>Really high Wisdom communicators might have quite a few
>homonculi, maybe as many as five, making them a switchboard for
>communicating with quite a few places, or even military forces.

I definitely see this being limited by the actual amount of alchemists who
are willing to demean themselves by turning their abilities into a sort of
cellphone. Which is good. The ones who would prolly agree to this would be
the ones who are at the right level but don't want to go on with their
studies. A definite minority.

>Of course, there are hazards for the comms operator, including
>mental attacks on any of their homonculi, and the injury they
>receive if any of their homonculi die. Being a communicator would
>be an alternative to entering the priesthood for high Wisdom
>characters, though it is not really fleshed out as a class.

And imagine losing one of your alchemists to the enemy? Kind of brings new
meaning to code breaking.

>Having at least one homonculus which has (Comms) Telepathy, and
>hence acts as a universal translator, that the comms operator
>could tap and make use of, might be a good idea. Useful if
>dealing with peoples with different languages.

The longer I talk to you the more I'm liking alchemists.

>If your homonculi are good enough to have (Bio) Aport then they
>form a system for moving small packages around, travelling
>along the Mind Link, as well. Throw in Height Control and Share
>Power, and at least a pair of homonculi, and you can move people
>around as well! [grin]

You haven't been watching Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome have you? Think they'd
be useful in combat at all? I mean I imagine intercepting these lil guys on
the way to deliver things would make a lot of sense. Kind of like Wild West
train heists. Maybe a Homunculi pony express? Imagine the surprise when
they find some shrunken prince in the pocket of a homunculi. <grins>

>It could be very different, but just not hierarchically organised
>- it depends on how much control the spirits of the dead have
>over their immediate afterlife environment. If some wished to
>live in a community like a city, then there might be a council,
>or city admin, which the city dwellers had agreed controlled a
>lot of the details! [grin]

Or how much control the living have over the afterlife. Can you imagine a
Spirit Guild specifically dedicated to giving your recently departed a
raise in the afterlife? "Sure your grandpaw can get out of shoveling coal
for the rest of his afterlife. But its gonna cost ya!" Kinda reminds me of
the indulgences the catholic church had early in the medieval ages.

>One big issue is, what is the purpose of the afterlife? R&R?
>Training and preparing for the next life? Protecting the living
>from the dangers of planar attack? Some/all of the above?

Hmmm...I think it might be a bit of all of it. I imagine some would have
other reasons. A warrior would either want to practice before returning to
life so he can be a better warrior or he might try to fight out planar
incursions. A recently departed politician might enjoy being taken care of
and watching their relatives and ensuring that their enemies have a
terrible time.

> > >Maybe their idea is that the afterlife just gets on with itself,
> > >and you have your funerals and baptisms, to celebrate people
> > >entering and leaving life, maybe with the occasional memorial
> > >service, but nothing else. "Maybe we will meet in our next
> > >lives?" [grin]
> > >
> > >It could be that the idea is that you do as good a job as
> > >possible at being whatever your life has led you to, and,
> > >eventually, you get to leave the Wheel Of Incarnation, and ascend
> > >to a higher, unknown, plane of existence.
> > >
> > >Whatever produces the right results for your campaign!
> >
> > That would definitely fit the feel of the nation. I'd start posting what I
> > have now, but a) its 30 pages long and b) no where near complete.
>[snip]
>
>I am certainly interested in what you produce!

Right now I have the bare bones of a campaign connected by some really
loose plots. I could show you what I have but I doubt you'd understand much
without me putting more down.

Though, I will say that I think I made one of the few binary star systems
in spelljammer. I haven't heard of many of those.

>If you mean the Azimov book, yes, but quite a long while ago.
>
>It might work better if you make a clear distinction between
>scientists and technologists, the first being the ones seeking
>understanding and new knowledge, and the second looking for
>practical ways to use what the scientists have produced, or
>improving the existing way of doing things, or repair stuff.
>
>So, the common person would not want to become a scientist, with
>their long (university?) theoretical training in the Sacred Ways
>of Science, but a technician or engineer would be seen to be
>something anyone practical could apprentice in. That gives you
>your train drivers, and anyone else needed to run or repair the
>tech, rather than come up with radically new stuff.

Good point. I didn't think of that. I don't think a commoner would have the
money to make it into a university, but a technologists guild would be a
lot easier to get into. Doesn't take much training to learn how to repair
and operate things. It might also keep technology from becoming a religion
in itself since people will know that tech isn't magic or godly. But it
would give them an advantage over others in that you can't work a train
without a conductor who's part of the technologists guild or something to
that effect.


>--
>Dreamer
>dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
>http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/
>
>********************************************************************
>The D&D; Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd
>The Spelljammer Homepage: http://www.spelljammer.org
>To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@??????.???????.com
>with UNSUB SPELLJAMMER-L in the body of the message.