About time we built a proper spaceship!

A couple of weeks ago NASA presented a study they have made about constructing an actual interplanetary spaceship. They call it the Non-Atmospheric Universal Transport Intened for Lengthy United States X-ploration,  or NAUTILUS-X for short and it's actually a pretty exciting concept!

Instead of trying to simply emulate designs from the sixties (ie Constellation/Orion) this is an actual spaceship, it's designed for a space environment and it is not meant to enter the atmosphere or land anywhere, it purely exists in space. The closest we've come so far is the lunar lander, but this is on an entirely different scale.


Some bullet points from the powerpoint presentation:

• Long-duration space journey vehicle for crew of 6 for periods of 1 -24 months
• CIS-lunar would be initial Operations Zone [shakedown phase]
• Exo-atmospheric, Space-only vehicle
• Integrated Centrifuge for Crew Health
• Life Support in deployed Large Volume with shirt-sleeve servicing
• Truss & Stringer thrust-load distribution concept (non-orthogird)
• Capable of utilizing variety of Mission-Specific
• Propulsion Units [integrated in LEO, semi-autonomously
• Utilizes Inflatable & Deployed structures
• Incorporates Industrial Airlock for construction/maintenance
• Integrated RMS - Supports Crewed Celestial-body Descent/Return Exploration vehicle(s)
• Utilizes Orion/Commercial vehicles for crew rotation & Earth return from LEO

It's modular and can be outfitted in several ways according to the mission profile and most if not all of its components could be lifted into orbit with vehicles in use now. There are suggestions on how the centrifuge could first be tested out on the ISS and it seems like the designers had the VASIMR plasma engine in mind when they constructed the ship. Its initial configuration would be a bit smaller than the one I've posted above and would be used as a mothership for lunar exploration as you can see in the graphics nearby.

As a space exploration enthusiast I find this exciting because I think this is the kind of stuff NASA (and ESA, and JAXA and what have you) should be doing. Not exclusively of course, but I do think something groundbreaking like this, that can catch the imagination of people is needed to make space exploration interesting again for the guy on the street. Imagine having this thing making a trip through the solar system and blogging, tweeting, buzzing about it all the way. It'd be an amazing experience!

As a sci fi fan and a gamer I find this exciting because wow, that's a bonafida spaceship!! I love how I could just take this design and insert it into our Diaspora game with no real need to change anything. It looks like something the Ariesians could have cobbled together.

Now we just need to keep our fingers crossed that the Nautilus-X actually gets built. It always comes down to the money...

For a more in-depth view of the NAUTILUS-X head over to Robot Guy or simply have a look at the original powerpoint document.

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LPL Prep!

I said I wouldn't buy any new minis for the Lead Painter League, but I did make one exception. Above is a Phalanx Logistics Vehicle from Ground Zero Games and it's going to be part of one of my entries. I was afraid that I wouldn't get it in time since Jon has been really busy catching up to all the orders he received during the holidays, but I got it today and the fast delivery kind of made me want to order some other stuff as well. On a side note, I really can't wait for the redesigned GZG shop that Jon hinted about in the January update! The current one is... dated. :)

I've always liked the Phalanx and seeing it in the flesh like this only helps to cement my feelings. It's a fair bit larger than I imagined though so I think I'll have to ditch my idea to use it as an APC for my Northern Guard instead of the Badger, which I don't really care for. DP9 makes excellent mechs (and spaceships!), but I don't really like the design of most of their vehicles. I'm actually intending to use other contemporary or near-future models for my army.

Oh well, just a little teaser. Back to work!

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The Kaulback Cluster

Click for larger a larger picture

Here's a short overview of the cluster we created during our first Diaspora session last weekend. This image was created with Max Lambertini's excellent little Warp2010 software. Check it out on his blog!


Aries

Aries used to be a sustainable world, but a rapidly growing population has taken its toll on the planet's resources. There's a commercial space boom happening as everyone tries to find more resources and living room. However as the Ariens expand outwards the fast industrialization has led to widespread pollution.

There are several factions on Aries who are working with the Frankian guerilla in the Gortrax II system in the hopes of being able to colonize some of the planets or moons there.

Deimos

The cult of San-Magagh holds shipbuilding as something holy that allow man to ascend into the stars and become divine. The ships built at Deimos are practically handcrafted over several decades and are widely regardes as the best in the cluster. Owning one is a sure sign of wealth and power.

Sitting as they do between Aries and Gortrax II the Deimosians have adopted a neutral stance where they refuse to take sides in the cold war that is slowly starting to heat up. They're hoping to be left alone, but know that their ship building skills could be the thing that tip the scales.

Gortrax II

The Gortraxians, or just lizards as they're commonly known, invaded the system a generation ago after their own home system had been depleted of resources. When they arrived they converted their generation arc ships into colonies and much of their old technology has been lost. 

Currently they're holding all of the planets except for the garden world of Frankia where a brushfire war is being conducted. The Frankian guerilla are getting assistance mainly from the Aries system.

Phobos

Phobos is a very low-tech system lacking even basic space faring capabilities. However, it's rich in resources and has become the defacto trading hub of the entire Kaulback cluster. Even though a lot of these transaction take place on space stations the Phobians have constructed several space ports where one can relax and enjoy the rustic environment. 

The huge asteroid belt is believed to be the remnants of a massive planet that somehow was destroyed millenia ago. No one really knows how this happened but there are crackpot theories out there that it had something to do with the ancient ruins dotting the main planet of Iocus...

Troy

Troy has been blessed and is a technology and resource juggernaught. Most of the resource hungry systems of the cluster import goods from Troy by way of the Phobos trading ports. In contrast to Deimos the Troyan technology is more in the vein of an assembly line, and most of the slip capable ships in the cluster are of Troyan design.

The living standard is very high and the entire system has adopted a "we're better than you" attitude towards the rest of the cluster. Use of indentured workers are not uncommon and you rarely see the Troyans themselves as they prefer to trade through middlemen.

ZX-532 (aka Zoltan)

A filthy rich upper class holds 90% of the planets meager assets while the rest are indentured workers.
Since people are Zoltan's only real resource the rich have created breeding programs to be able to export (slave) labour to other systems in the cluster. Buyers are mostly, but not exclusively, Troyans and Gortraxians.

There are rumours of hidden riches in the great desert that formed after an asteroid impact centuries ago. This has created a bit of a gold rush, but so far the findings are meager.

Overall a pretty interesting place with lots of opportunities for profit and adventure. I'll type out something similar for the characters, I just need to get their backstories straight.

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Finally... Diaspora

It was more than a year ago that I got the Diaspora rulebook and I've eagerly been waiting to play it since, but it's never really been the right time for it. We started with WFRP3 more or less as soon as I got back to Sweden from Japan and I don't think anyone wanted to mess with the flow we'd managed to find. However, when two thirds of our regular group had to cancel todays session I decided that the time was finally here to break out Diaspora.

At first I thought that it might be best if I made a cluster and some characters so we could jump straight in and try the system, but the more I thought about it the more I felt that it probably wouldn't work out well. FATE is not an especially difficult system, but it is very different from anything we've played before and just doing a cold start would most likely just end in frustration. Creating the cluster (basically the entire setting) and the characters would allow everyone to slowly warm up to the FATE system and also feel invested in the universe we'd create together. So that's what we did.

I sat down with Anders, Nicke and Anna and started out by explaining the basics of FATE. Using advice from this thread I went through how to roll and read the dice, how to make skill tests and how the FUDGE dice creates a bell curve of probability. Then I went on to talk about Aspects and how you can tag and compel them using Fate Points. Finally we talked about how you can put Aspects on persons or things using maneuvers and that this gives you a free tag the first time you use it.

With everyone slowly digesting these basics and how they affect play I started talking about the cluster generation. One of the unique things about Diaspora is that the first session concists of not only character creation, but also setting creation. Basically a cluster is a collection of solar systems connected through slipknots (ie wormholes) and each player takes it upon himself to create one or two system (for a minimum of six).

First you roll for the system's attributes: Technology, Environment and Resources. This gives you the skeleton of the system that you now need to flesh out using Aspects. When that is finished you figure out how the different systems are connected through slipknots and add a final Aspect. After that it's up to each player to add some more flavour information, but you could just as well save that for later.


We ended up with a fair mix although there was no real extremes, the highest atribute being Resources 3 in the Troy system. Basically most of the cluster consists of systems fairly low on resources and technology. The two exceptions are Troy, that is a the technology and resource juggernaut of the cluster, and Deimos, that has an old ship builder culture but very few resources, making each ship a work of art.

For characters we have an escaped slave that travelled the stars and finally managed to get his own ship, a burly hi-tech barbarian with an incline towards slugthrowers, a shipwright's son who lost his father's ship to pirates and a slave trader's daughter who revolted agains her family and joined the Troyan Navy as a pilot.

I'll post detailed cluster and character information later. EDIT: And here's the cluster!

All in all I have to say it was a great success! I was very ambivalent about starting this as I was unsure how my group would respond, but after just a few minutes everyone was in full swing, discussing intra-cluster relationships and whether the Lizard Empire of Gortrax (yes, there's a lizard empire...) maybe was importing slaves from the poor ZX-532 system. The hardest part for most of us was coming up with fun and fitting Aspects for systems and characters, but even that went pretty smoothly by the end. And there's always room for changing stuff around later, so no matter.

Recently I've been thinking about how to impart setting knowledge to the players, both the background setting in general and also how to handle specific queries in the form of knowledge skill rolls. There's an interesting debate on the former over at the Rogue Trader forums and a great post about about the latter at the Warrant of Trade blog. I suggest you have a look at both if you're interested. Anyway, when you do it the Diaspora way at least one half of this problem disappears as you create the entire setting together together and the GM knows just as much (or as little) about it as the players! This creates a very level playing field where I think it's easier for the players to take the initiative and interact more boldly with the setting. Very cool stuff!

I'm really happy we finally got to try it out! I can't really say when the next session will be as I consider Diaspora (and perhaps 3:16) to be the backup game for when we can't get everyone together for WFRP3. But hopefully it won't be too far off!

We also managed to play half a game of Dungeon Lords and it really left me with a taste for more! Great design combined with a great theme. Needs to be played pronto!

Now I need to go back to figuring out which miniatures to submit in which round in the LPL. :)

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Lead Painters' League, Season 5

So, again after having been egged on by Andy over at Creepy Corridor, I've decided to enter the Lead Painters' League (LPL) this year. I followed it after the fact last year and it seems like a lot of fun so I'll do my part and ad to the fun this year.

Basically it's a painting league that run for ten weeks with a new round each week where you have to enter a team of miniatures. A team is defined as a minimum of five models that need to share some kind of common theme (as in they're a team!) but apart from that setting, scale or number of models is all up to the contestant. In each round you're pitted against an opponent in a vote-off and the entry with the most votes gets 20 points and the loser gets 10 points. The cool thing about LPL is that you can't get knocked out, you'll only fall lower on the league roster. I like that! If you're curious about the full rules you can find them here.

There are a couple of additional things that are worth mentioning; 1. you get bonus points for entering teams that have not appeared on the internet before, and 2. rounds 1, 5 and 10 are special bonus rounds where you can score extra points if your team follows a certain predetermined theme.

I'm not going to go full throttle and buy and paint a lot of minis just for this competition. The idea is to use a mix of my older stuff that I haven't shown on my blog, some stuff that has been on my blog but not entirely finished (Witch Hunters, Relthoza etc) and some fresh stuff that I've had on my plate for a long time and now finally will get around to finishing. I did go ahead and order models for one of the entries that I have in mind, but it's a project I've had in my head for a long time so I think it's ok (however, it's from GZG and since they've had problem getting all their orders out recently I'm not sure I'll get it in time).

What I'm a little bummed out about is that if I want to enter, for example, my Witch Hunters it'd be smarter to not include the warrior priest and the warhounds as I've shown them here before. That way I'd get the 10 bonus points for entering a newly painted team, but it'd feel... wrong. I understand the rule, and I think it's a good one, but... hrmm...

Anyway, I think it'll be fun so if you enjoy miniature painting why not join in as well?! Have a look over at the Lead Adventure forum for a general feel of the community.

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Shoggoth Design!

Some pretty cool sounding stuff about his upcoming adaption of At the Mountains of Madness from this (very long) interview with Guillermo Del Toro in The New Yorker. Just picking out some random cool stuff:

About Shoggoth design:

He told Greene that digital-effects houses needed to understand that each Shoggoth had at least “eight permutations.” He said, “Let’s say that creature A turns into creature A-B, then turns into creature B, then turns into creature B-C. And by the time it lands on a guy it’s creature E.” He discussed one grisly Shoggoth transformation: “It’s like when you grab a sock and you pull it inside out. From his mouth, he extrudes himself.”

And some more:

“Really nice,” del Toro said. “It’s sort of like a tapeworm.”
“Yeah,” Davis said. “When it’s forming, instead of just forming eyes, maybe it’s bubbling like mud, or pudding, so you have these sockets forming but no eyes yet. Then it gets one eye and has this cavernous companion. Mummies always freak me out because they have sockets but no eyes.”

About the city:

“I wanted the whole city to be like an abandoned coral reef,” he said. He showed me an image of a cavernous interior space. Everything was tubular and encrusted with skeletal remains—abandoned tools. “A coral reef is a shitload of skeletons fused together, right? All the technology those creatures have, all their technology is organic. You and I use metals, plastics. These creatures don’t have weapons or chisels. They create other creatures as tools.”

About the Old Ones themselves:

The oceanic motif was particularly evident in the design of the Old Ones. Del Toro’s enthusiasm for the lionfish had endured, and the aliens’ wings echoed their flamboyant fins. In motion, he explained, the Old Ones would appear buoyant—“unbound by gravity.” As the camera tracked them caroming around the city, the viewer would feel disoriented, like a panicked scuba diver inside a cave. “We designed the creatures in such a way that they can go forward or backward, or hang, or be vertical, and they still make sense,” he said.

Gore (or lack of it):

Having read the script, I knew that the body count would be high. (“BAMMMMM!!!!! A massive Shoggoth explodes out from the tower!!!!! It grabs and devours Gordon in mid-sentence!”) But del Toro promised that the film was “not gory.” Victims would be “absorbed” by the aliens in ways that were “eerie and scary.” He explained, “When you watch a documentary of a praying mantis eating the head of its mate, because of the complexity of the mouth mechanism, you’re fascinated. It’s a horrible act, but you’re fascinated.” Though he wouldn’t be spattering blood, he said that he needed to fight Universal for an R rating, “to have the freedom to make it really, really uncomfortable and nasty.”

Well, it sounds like my kind of movie!


Now, go and read the whole thing. It's long but worth it!

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