Re: (DS): Systems per Class

--- Glenn M Wilson <warbeads@juno.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 15:40:55 +0200 Oerjan Ohlson
> <oerjan.ohlson@telia.com> writes:
> >Glenn Wilson wrote:
> >
> <snip>s*.
> >
> >I don't consider the 1980s to be "Science Fiction".
> To me, the 1980s 
> >are 
> >*history*, 
> 
> Well, I was born in the 1950 and the 'scientific'
> oriented magazines
> lied/were way wrong about what life would be like in
> the 1980's so I
> suspect we are quite unlikely to know what 'reality'
> in war in 2100 will
> be too. 

I think you're missing OO's point.  Yes, we may very
well be quite wrong about what the future will be like
100 years from now.  But it's a good bet it won't be
just like things are today.  And it won't be like it
was 20 yearsago -- at least not technologically.  And
that's the problem with the game.  As it stands, it
tells you, "In the future, we'll be able to do THIS!
Whooooo....."  And you're left replying "Yeah, big
deal, we've already been doing that for a decade."  

Try using your own experience with the '50's as an
example.  What if your 50's sci-fi had been all about
jet fighters ans automatic rifles and tanks with IR
spotlights on them.  Would that have been very
inpressive as Sci-fi?  No, it would have barely been
cutting edge.  Yeah, your sci fi got a lot of stuff
wrong -- hence the "fi".  But at least it made it
interesting.  So the game SHOULD go ahead and try to
predict the future, and it should paint it in big,
bold strokes.  It may be wrong, but it won't be
boring.

> > even if you add a few chrome details like grav
> engines
> 
> Which we apparently can't agree about as to whether
> they should be ground
> combatants or be capable of descending from space
> and then fighting
> (why?) as ground combatants.

So offer both options.	If, as OO and I both believe
should be done, the points rules and construction
rules are independent, and you use the construction
rules in place, especially for limitations on VTOL
Armor and weapons, you have Grav that act as the do in
DS 2.  If you use construction rules that put no
limits on VTOL armor and weapons, you have a heavily
armored VTOL that is essentially undistinguishable
from a RenLeg Grav Tank.

>  and 
> >plasma guns. I want DS and SG to actually be the SF
> games they claim 
> >to be, 
> >not historical games in disguise :-/
> 
> All SF IS historicals in disguise.  

Well, for that matter, all history is repetitive. 
That doesn't mean we should limit WWII games to
swords, spears and cavalry simply because we see the
similarity between it and some ancient campaign.

=====
"In life, you must try and be the type of person that your dog thinks
you are."

- Anonymous

	
		
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