 The SR solar system -- what's out there? |
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 Sep 18 2006, 07:11 PM
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#1
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Target  Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: 18-September 06 Member No.: 9,420  |
I'm a newbie to the SR setting -- I'm reading 4th ed. and love it -- and I'm curious about what lies beyond Earth. There isn't much in the core about the solar system. What's going on in orbit, with the Earth's moon, Mars, the Jupiter system, etc.? Is there a resource I should be looking for that provides some of these answers?
Thank you for any help. - Ian |
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Sep 18 2006, 07:27 PM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 266 Joined: 16-April 02 From: DC Member No.: 2,605 |
Shadowrun doesn't really deal with areas outside the solar system. As far as SR3 goes, there is some comments about lunar mining and other mineral exploration being conducted by some of the megacorps, S-K comes to mind, found in the corporate Download sourcebook. Also in the Target:Wastelands, some other background info can be found regarding orbital space stations and such. Hope this helps.
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Sep 18 2006, 07:29 PM
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#3
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
Target: Wastelands provides the most info, but in short:
A mass driver was built on Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, lowering the cost of boosting material into space. Earth is orbited by a shitload of satellites, space stations, and factories. Most prominent of these is the Zurich-Orbital Habitat, home of the Corporate Court. All of the LaGrange points are occupied to some extant. Luna hosts several megacorporate mining operations. Evo has established a facility on Mars. Couple others rumored. |
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Sep 18 2006, 07:30 PM
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#4
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Shooting Target Group: Validating Posts: 1,618 Joined: 29-January 03 From: Montevideo, Uruguay. Member No.: 3,992 |
Ares' Helios?
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Sep 18 2006, 07:34 PM
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#5
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 308 Joined: 1-June 06 From: Nova Scotia, Canada Member No.: 8,631 |
I don't know about SR4, but in SR3, magic wasn't possible in outer space, due to the lack of the astral, living plane that surrounds the Earth and so forth. Not sure what goes on in SR4.
However, if you are interested in going on something outside Earth, CP2020 did a couple good books. Deep Space and Near Orbit. They are older books, but they can help give you some options if you can find them. |
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Sep 18 2006, 07:35 PM
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#6
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 124 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 2,072 |
Hah I remeber when I first found out about Shadowrun.
I was so intriqued by the Backstory info in SR3 I later bought that book just to read about the rest. My first Shadowrun experience and purchase. |
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Sep 18 2006, 07:39 PM
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#7
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Target Group: Members Posts: 10 Joined: 31-August 06 Member No.: 9,276 |
Street Magic has a story at the begining of the chapter on astral space involving specially-bred plants that replicate earth's astral biosphere, or some-such. They don't have mechanics for this as far as I know. The story has to do with bug-hunts through astral projection.
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Sep 18 2006, 07:46 PM
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#8
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 750 Joined: 9-August 06 Member No.: 9,059 |
In SR3 the max background count of a manawarp was 10, the condition in space. The moon was 8, presumably because unliving rock is worth something. And: "Certain stations, due to their population and activity, may have a lower background count (8 or 9)."
I'm willing to handwave that Ares has developed specific plants/techniques that can improve on that 1-2 point benefit an ordinary station might receive. But the max warp is also a 12 now, so I'd guess Helios is still somewhere in the 7-9 range and still a mana warp. Since metaplanar quests go directly to the metaplanes, that's not really a problem, and in fact is an advantage if you're hunting bugs - if they follow you back to your point of origin, they die damned fast from exposure to the warp in regular astral space. |
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Sep 18 2006, 07:46 PM
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#9
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Target Group: Members Posts: 64 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,812 |
In my game world, i move away from Cannon a little by having space exploration. The earth has more than a few space stations, the moon has a couple dozen bases, the asteroid belt has over a dozen mining operations already set up and the race is on for Mars. Most corps are actively recruiting colonist for exploration.
This is all background info right now since the group hasn't expressed interest in leaving the planet, yet. |
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Sep 19 2006, 06:05 AM
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#10
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Project Terminus: Soul Hunters Group: Members Posts: 1,052 Joined: 6-November 03 From: Casselberry, Florida U.S.A. Member No.: 5,798 |
Mars has pyrimids and dragon bones. Or were those photos taken on another planet other than mars or earth?
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Sep 19 2006, 07:29 AM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 519 Joined: 27-August 02 From: Queensland Member No.: 3,180 |
For a bit of cyberpunkish flavour, Neuromancer has some near Earth space action.
Also SR history diverged in 1989 or thereabouts so Pluto may still be a planet which could have ramifications for your "Troll Cyber-Astronomer" archetypes. |
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Sep 19 2006, 08:46 AM
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#12
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
Well yeah. That's because Cathay Dragons are from the red star. -Frank |
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Sep 19 2006, 12:55 PM
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#13
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 681 Joined: 28-February 06 From: UK Member No.: 8,319 |
Don't let Ancient History hear you say that! ;) |
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Sep 19 2006, 01:03 PM
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#14
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
Too late, too late. :D he found interest in this thread and will come back...
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Sep 19 2006, 01:36 PM
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#15
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Technomancer Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,638 Joined: 2-October 02 From: Champaign, IL Member No.: 3,374 |
Page 111 for those who want to know. |
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Sep 19 2006, 01:47 PM
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#16
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
They're not dragon bones, dammit! |
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Sep 19 2006, 01:50 PM
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#17
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Great, I'm a Dragon... Group: Retired Admins Posts: 6,699 Joined: 8-October 03 From: North Germany Member No.: 5,698 |
What I said. ;)
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Sep 19 2006, 02:14 PM
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#18
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,078 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 67 |
It isn't necessarily that the specially-bred plants are better at creating ambient mana. They are specially-bred to thrive in low-gravity environments. But creating a biosphere can help anchor mana to the environment instead of it being dispersed in a vacuum. Which is why space stations usually have more ambient mana than space or the planetoid they are on. It's also possible that Ares uses some sophisticated metamagical techniques to enhance the ambient mana field that the biosphere provides. |
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Sep 19 2006, 03:22 PM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 360 Joined: 6-September 02 Member No.: 3,234 |
I have to remark that Street Magic has changed significantly the way background count works in SR4. Now you have negative BC, from dearth of mana, and positive BC, from excess of mana, which you aren't aligned with. Differently from SR3, where outer space was a mana warp (super-high positive BC), now it is a mana void (super-low negative BC). This changes the situation considerably: e.g. Cleansing and Filtering metamagics are no longer a valid strategy to deal with magic problems in space. The only effective stratregy seems to accumulate enough biomass (and human emotion) in one single location (such as a space station or Moon/Mars base) until a (weak) local mana field develops. |
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Sep 19 2006, 06:26 PM
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#20
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Target Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: 18-September 06 Member No.: 9,420 |
Thanks very much for all the info! It's very helpful.
- Ian |
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Sep 19 2006, 09:02 PM
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#21
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Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
...I've actually been working on a more well defined presence in space for an upcoming campaign (SR3 ruleset). I liked the Near/Far Space supplements in Cyberpunk and wish that SR would have developed more in this direction. The game system actually lends itself well to a futuristic setting (when you remove Magic from the equation).
I actually have some of the basics worked up for a futuristic space campaign using the SR3 game engine & BP systems from the SR Companion (and no, I do not have Psionics which IMHO always seemed like a half baked substitute for magic in other SF game systems). |
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Sep 19 2006, 11:59 PM
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#22
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King of the Hobos Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,117 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 127 |
Are too! :nyah: |
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Sep 20 2006, 12:13 AM
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#23
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
There are orbital mercenaries, scavengers, syndicates on the space stations, and even orbital prostitution. And that's as of Target: Wastelands. What more do you want? |
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Sep 20 2006, 12:46 AM
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#24
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
I think a lot of people want some structural schematics of how those things are put together. As is, the information presented in Shadowrun is more aspirational than operational... it's hard to really run a space-based interlude as there's nothing to read that will really tell your players what their characters are looking at up there. It's not that there isn't plenty of run material up there, it's that most people lack the deep space engineering backgrounds needed to actually lay down the battle maps for those locations. There's no "Sprawl Sites" for space, and no easy way for many people to replicate it. -Frank |
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Sep 20 2006, 01:22 AM
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#25
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Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490 |
...For a future campaign arc that is in the works (SR 3), I have designed quite a bit of space hardware & systems including:
Surface to high orbit spaceplanes Heavy lift unmanned boosters Personal Maneuvering packs Earth-Lunar transfer shuttles Planetary Rover vehicles Long duration autonomous survey craft. There are two large installations, one a free floating Stanford Torus design and a sub surface Lunar complex. I also wrote (before Target wastelands came out) my own version of the Neo Anarchist's Guide to Real Space. |
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