Okay. Atomic batteries from the future. Atomic batteries are very energy dense: 1g of Pm-147 has a hell of a lot more energy than 1g of gasoline.
The biggest problem is: why would you ever use a bucky battery instead of solar panels? Space is full of free energy. Hell, starlight can even push your ship.
But the other problem is wattage. Atomic batteries trickle out their energy over very long times. The way we use it now (space, deep-sea, pacemakers) it is just to monitor a low-energy sensor, and then activate a lithium battery or something that actually sends out a signal, activates an alarm, etc.
The half-life is a problem, too. If you double the half-life, you cut the wattage in half. Out of all the possible isotope/buckyball configurations, why would we design a battery that lasts thousands of years (which we probably don't need) at the expense of effective power (which we do)?
Also, kW/day doesn't make a lot of sense, since 1 W = 1 Joule per second.
Lasty (and you pointed this out), atomic batteries are going to have an abysmal wattage/kg compared to other fuels. An escape pod would need to move quickly to avoid fusion reactor explosions, and then point themselves at their destinations. Go to Comment
And it's very energy expensive to push heavy objects out of the atmosphere, as well as around from planet to planet. And atomic batteries big enough to power the life support systems of a ship would be very, very heavy. Go to Comment
Armor plating: When made from a dense actinide element (like depleted uranium!), even armor plating can serve to power the ship. Not only is it dense enough to protect the ship from ballistics and lasers, it also serves as an auxiliary power source, lightening the load on the ship's reactors.
I like the flavor a lot! Zombies that sweat crystals. And extra points for not making it a simple virion or bacterium that does the dirty work. The biology backstory is pretty good, too. I don't like to imagine anything coming out of a deep-sea vent that isn't a horrible monster.
Are they like prions? Saying something is a crystal is sort of like saying that it is stackable in a grid, and nearly all proteins are can be forced into a crystalline pattern (that's how X-ray crystallography works). But at the same time, you can have really simple proteins direct massive behavioral changes (mad cow disease), so that works.
Also, it strikes me as sort of weird that crystals have an EMP profile when crystals are just lattices of ionically balanced molecules. No polarity. Go to Comment
Sometimes its the little details that make a setting. I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I can honestly say that I don't think I could think of a cooler kind of chalk. Go to Comment
I like it a lot. The only thing I find a little weak is the argument that: (1) Many great minds were condemned as insane, (2) everyone would be better off if they were insane. The conclusion doesn't follow from the premise. A better one might be: "Geniuses are better off insane." "If everyone was insane, people would see that it is not a detriment to research, and Dr. Wright and I would be able to complete our research." But I babble.
I'm not sure how I feel about Shaggy being a crack shot with a rifle.
Casey looks like an excellent NPC, but he's also pretty campaign specific. If I were to adapt him, pretty much the only thing that would remain is the talking dog (which is *awesome*, by the way). I'd flesh him out a bit more with mannerisms and more about why he is nervous around authority (because he's supposed to be dead, I guess).
Having said that, Mr. Rogers is a nifty NPC that definitely accomplishes what he sets out to do. Go to Comment
I like the idea of a conductor instead of a boatman. It especially brings up the idea of how current the gods and psychopomps need to be to keep up with their worshippers. If the ancient Greeks kept their religion constant up into the cyberpunk timeline, would they still keep a few gold coins around because Charon doesn't take creds?
As far as a setting goes, it is lacking something. Geography, I think. Maybe a mound of all the passengers who were to dispirited to move more than 10' away from the train. After getting off, you first have to walk over a slow wall of these guys. Or the OCD guys in hell (does hell cure OCD?) who, despite not giving a darn, go and sit in even rows somewhere compulsively. Or they move the other immobile people into lines. Go to Comment
Extremely well thought out. Some of the effects seem a bit overexploitable for practical play (Can I cast AoE spells into a marketplace from a couple blocks over if I just have a map of it?). I imagine this as more of a reflavoring of existing mechanics--maybe conjuring a wall already requires you to draw a quick map.
And the Mountweazel is an absolutely awesome idea. I wish there was a way to trap a map so a thieving cartomancer would regret stealing my map. Maybe, when the stolen map is used, the Mountweazel hijacks the spell somehow, and instead of your rope bridge appearing, you get half a town of. . . bad stuff.
Any post that gets you thinking like this has got to be great. Go to Comment
Omega and Echo suggest excellent ways to complicate this bare-bones adventure (very low combat), but I think it ultimately accomplishes what it sets out to do. Go to Comment
84. If your croc does end up as a handbag or a pair of sexy crocskin boots (see #13), you are only one Raise Dead away from getting your buddy back. Your dead, wearable buddy!
85. Disposing of the witnesses. I'd like to see you raise the vizier as a zombie now!
86. Picking up chicks. Although the chicks might be lizardfolk/dragonkin/naga. Tell them they can ride ol' Greeny back to your place.
87. Turning winches. Crocs are really good at rolling/turning.
88. Ambushing stuff near water. Alternatively, begin the Great Zebra Genocide. Were-zebras don't have a chance. (I have an idea for a campaign!) Go to Comment
89. Be a ranger with a crocodile who goes on long solo journeys (with his croc). Die in some out-of-the-way-place. The well-trained croc eats you and swims back home where your friends can notice that he is burping out all your jewelry and resurrect your undigested remains. Lassie would actually tire herself out trying to drag you back, but you'd actually give Ol' Greeny the calories he needs to make it.
90. Spellbook. Crocodiles have a lot of durable surface area. As a bonus, you'll look a lot more badass than the other wizards with their toads and whatnot.
91. It gets a lot easier to fake your own death. Go to Comment
Wow. This is pretty metal. Great flavoring, and well written. Just the same, I feel like I've seen the charismatic-death-cult-leader before. The hair is a unique touch, though, and one of my favorite things about this.
I'd like to see him more humanized. Favorite non-death-god books? Friends? Childhood? Go to Comment
Locations (Establishment) (Mountains)