"Playtesting with Martians" Topic
12 Posts
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Jim Webster | 03 Jun 2022 9:53 p.m. PST |
Well we're getting there. link The fight to get something that feels historically accurate but has balance and is worth playing is real :-) |
robert piepenbrink | 04 Jun 2022 7:55 a.m. PST |
Sorry, Jim. For me, historically accurate Martians are to be found in Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett, not H. G. Wells. But given your premise, looks as though you did well. |
Jim Webster | 04 Jun 2022 10:11 a.m. PST |
It is a quandary, Robert. We have at least three worthy 'literary Martians' I picked the ones who visited us to deal with first, but am currently working on rules for Aether fliers (They're effectively a strategic asset but they fit into the build system or hopefully will do) so you can go in person to deal with the Martians still on Mars. I currently make no judgements as to what you find when you get there :-) |
robert piepenbrink | 04 Jun 2022 10:59 a.m. PST |
If I don't find fortune and glory, canals, drylands, lost cities and beautiful loyal women, the travel agent and I are going to have words. As for Wells, if I want technologically advanced cold-blooded alien life-forms who view me and all I hold dear as exploitable resources, I don't have to travel that far. |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 04 Jun 2022 12:05 p.m. PST |
Nothing says "historically accurate" like Martian forces on the gaming table. |
robert piepenbrink | 04 Jun 2022 4:59 p.m. PST |
These are miniature wargamers, Oberlindes. I could get a serious debate going over Dr. John H. Watson's service revolver or the location of his war wound. (I say he carried a Webley & Son British Bull Dog, and was hit in the shoulder.) |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 04 Jun 2022 6:49 p.m. PST |
Thanks, Robert! But wasn't it more likely an Adams Revolver, specifically the M1872 Mark III? Back in England, he may have chosen to carry something smaller and thus more concealable, like the British Bulldog, but his service revolver was much more likely the standard issue weapon. And he was certainly hit in the collarbone. |
Jim Webster | 04 Jun 2022 10:10 p.m. PST |
I am drinking coffee in lieu of popcorn and watching the discussion with interest ;-) One of the joys of rule writing is that you never know exactly where it will take you. Indeed I may well tackle Mars, but whether I arrive there buoyed along by the praise of those who were delighted with what I already produced, or alternatively arrive, fleeing my creditors, only time will tell :-) |
robert piepenbrink | 05 Jun 2022 3:54 p.m. PST |
Many people arrive on Mars fleeing someone, Jim--creditors, the Triplanetary Authority, Apaches…The important thing is to get there, and what you find once you do. Be careful entering the Chaur, avoid Sinharrat, and watch out for banths and zoorns. I might concede the collarbone, Oberlindes, but remember Watson had seen Australian gold fields before his service time. He'd have understood portability and concealability, and officers picked their own sidearm. The Adams was notably unreliable, and anyway the reference to his London weapon being his "service" revolver comes and goes. If he ever owned an Adams, I'd say he swapped it out after A Study in Scarlet. |
Jim Webster | 05 Jun 2022 10:10 p.m. PST |
Mars has always struck me as an awfully busy place :-) |
Flashman1889 | 13 Jun 2022 1:41 p.m. PST |
Robert and Oberlindes…certainly it was a lead pipe in the conservatory…oh wait, wrong game…nevermind. One will find that Martians come in all sorts of forms and flavors, and while a few notable literary geniuses tried to document them there are many more that are still open for discovery…do as you will sir! |
Jim Webster | 15 Jul 2022 10:16 a.m. PST |
Irritatingly for the game designer, it's the more technically competent, but far less flamboyant Martians who visit us. Actually the wise game designer adopts the old Aeroflot slogan (visit the USSR before the USSR visits you.) Had I had the wisdom to head for Mars first, I too could have had, " fortune and glory, canals, drylands, lost cities and beautiful loyal women," for a really superior Martian experience. I live in hopes that it was the last ten cylinders of these technological Martians who had themselves fired at Earth, abandoning the world for its more interesting inhabitants :-) |
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