Author Topic: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized  (Read 2664 times)

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Offline area51games

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what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« on: February 07, 2014, 07:57:46 PM »
I am playing space-master 2nd edition and role master second edition and I like them both as well as as shadow world, I am coming from Harp and harp sci fi but their seem incomplete compared to space master and role master .
The issue is that the ideals of the future has changed drastically but yet some of the ideals are very current even now.
the only problem I have is the computer system- I like cyberspace it more realistic then the harp and harp sci fi system approach to computers.

you might just need to address the talents issue and the forms of current knowledge and science- anticapating the sci fi world 9,000 year into the future is not hard if you understand the concpet like the writers of sci fi understood. look at dune. it not about science but it about society and the new mind set of humanity.
well we in 9,000 years have plateau -ed and start sleeping backward, we have a tendency to burn our selves a lot and destroy our own civilizations over and over, we are now just barely realizing that possible mans civilization may have existed 10,000 years ago and we where bottled necked into near extinction. that at one time there might have been as many as nine other humanoids on this world.
so lets say you where and have a very good game in space master but i think it need updating like rolemaster. 
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Offline Cory Magel

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #1 on: February 07, 2014, 09:44:34 PM »
A) Start writing!
B) Buy everything the company makes (so they can draw in more writers and fans).

Kidding. Mostly.

When you say "2nd edition" are you talking about RM2/RM Classic or RMSS/RMFRP?  I suspect you're talking about RMSS/RMFRP as it never matched the amount of material that came from RM2.  I convert a lot of stuff from RM2 over to RMSS (I have most the RM2, all the RMSS and a few of the RMFRP books).

For Spacemaster I buy stuff from other systems and integrate it into Spacemater.  Star Wars, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, etc.  Normally it's pretty easy for me to convert the stuff over to RM/SM.
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Offline Wōdwulf Seaxaning

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2014, 12:37:19 PM »
I assume he means SM2 & RM2, otherwise he'd have said RMFRPG/RMSS & SM:P. But I could be wrong. Then again I come from the RM2/SM2 side of ICE's fandom so am partial to them.

That being said I'd love for a SMU version to work with the RMU game being produced.
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Offline Hurin

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2014, 12:40:58 PM »
I thought the original SM writers did a pretty good job of predicting trends of the future back when they were writing.

One thing that does need to be updated a bit is the computer size. Things like scanners still require a hand to use in SM for the most part, but of course we know now, in the days of Google glass and implants, that hands-free and voice activated devices are the wave of the future.

Militarily, computers are more active on the battlefield. Again, SM did a pretty good job of predicting this with  Tactics/Predict/Evade programs and robots, but to be realistic, one could probably fly an entire starship by oneself. That said, a balance will need to be struck between (hypothetical) realism and playability. I personally like the teamwork required to fly a ship in SM.

Just some thoughts.
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Offline Hurin

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2014, 12:43:08 PM »

That being said I'd love for a SMU version to work with the RMU game being produced.

I'm pretty sure that is the developers plan. They are already starting to talk about a unified version of Spacemaster.
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Offline Cory Magel

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2014, 03:14:26 PM »
Ohhhh, he was saying HARP seemed incomplete in comparison to RM/SM.  That makes more sense, I though he was saying the opposite.  I was thinking "RM2 incomplete???" lol
- Cory Magel

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Offline Terry K. Amthor

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2014, 05:17:56 AM »
I thought the original SM writers did a pretty good job of predicting trends of the future back when they were writing.

One thing that does need to be updated a bit is the computer size. Things like scanners still require a hand to use in SM for the most part, but of course we know now, in the days of Google glass and implants, that hands-free and voice activated devices are the wave of the future.

Militarily, computers are more active on the battlefield. Again, SM did a pretty good job of predicting this with  Tactics/Predict/Evade programs and robots, but to be realistic, one could probably fly an entire starship by oneself. That said, a balance will need to be struck between (hypothetical) realism and playability. I personally like the teamwork required to fly a ship in SM.

Just some thoughts.

That being said, I can see a reasoning behind stepping back a bit (while taking our current understanding of computers and electronics in mind) and continuing with the original concept of sometimes clunky tech. Maybe not steampunk like the Dune movie, but tech advancements might not be what we would consider a natural progression. Already, science advancement in most fields is falling way behind what sci-fi authors predicted, because it's not commercially viable. So, if megacorps controlled most of technology, and a pseudo-religion/internet provider ruled tech into interstellar expansion, how would that work?

I'm looking forward to reviewing the old SM2 timeline once it's been OCR'd and thinking about how the new Spacemaster Imperium might develop.

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Offline dutch206

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2014, 01:59:32 PM »
Well, for one thing, the Star System generation rules would have to be re-written.  Astronomers have changed  how they classify the spectral class of stars.  Also, they have changed the definition of what constitutes a planet.  Not to mention all the things that have been discovered since the Hubble Telescope went into orbit.
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Offline markc

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2014, 04:54:31 PM »
Rewrite the star craft creation and V creation rules.
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Offline DragonReborn

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2014, 02:38:43 AM »
@dutch206
Star system generation is still the best to be found out there. I started off with the one explained in Battletech Explorer Corps and Spacemaster 2nd is ahead of that.

Maybe give it a little update, but keep in mind that it should not only be close to reality but it should above all be playable.

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Offline area51games

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Re: what can we do to help get space master current and modernized
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2014, 01:02:13 AM »
the Understanding of how this as for the fantastic future may hold is just mind blowing to say the lease .
The main thing I would like to see is return to tool kits as a game master and let me make my own stuff too, or even lets look at some of the real interesting things in sci fi right now, flat space , singlerity compress metals and super transhumanisum
Mal: "Well, look at this! Appears we got here just in the nick of time. Whaddya suppose that makes us?"
Zoe: "Big damn heroes, sir."
Mal: "Ain't we just!"