The exploration of new planets

[UraYagyu]

As far as real life science is concerned, there was a big discussion about the definition of a planet. The result looks like we have 11 planets now in our solarsystem. 8 regular ones like Mercur, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptun and 3 dwarf planets like Ceres (former moon of Jupiter), Pluto and 2003 UB313 also know as Xena. And even this is not all. After Xena there are like hundreds planetoids circling around our solar system. Should this be in any form relevant to Mutant Chronicle? I mean there is more to explore, more to fight for, more to be afraid of. In my opinion we should include this stuff, if we are going to rewrite the game. 

[Aldrien]

very good. more backwater places to fight at.

at mars or venus there was always the question why there where no quick reinforcement at the place (esp. mars)

-> Uh, sorry TTG--- but still: go there and fetch XY

[UraYagyu]

That was exactly my intention, to bring the game away from such crowded places like Mars and bring something fresh and unexpectable to the veteran players. There could be settlements on planetoids with no atmosphere, seas with strange chemical fluids and stranger inhabitants. We could emphazise a little bit more on Exobiologie and inhabit some nasty Protozoa on the new planets. We could do anything with it.

[Aldrien]

If you like RPG like this, give Traveller a try (perhaps with Cyberpunk rules). The SiFi setting is great!

no Necromutants, though..

[Fetzenbankert]

Exactly my point of view, Aldrien. It is my deepest opinion, that Mutant Chronicles is no game about deep space exploration. For this, there are enough other titels (like the one you mentioned or Star Trek-the RPG). Mutant Chronicles has its focus more on both horror elements (like Doom or Alien), war scenarios and also on epic and theatrical elements like diplomacy or politics.
Also, since the first uprise of the Dark Legion its forbidden to travel beyond the asteroid belt. Even Jupiter is in the forbidden zone. It would be evil heresy to reach out of the asteroid belt.

[Kreuz]

In my vision, asteroids belt is a very strange and dangerous place...

miners, mini corporation, syndicates of freelance businessmen ( not very good ), symetry, imperial settlements, or capitolian or bauhauser ones... mishimans with proto space meka

i've already placed an all campaign in this forbidden and unknow zone.

for after belt...

I think that's reasonnable to have imperial off shore station in the first level of jupiter or saturne, "sitting" on ultra high pressure parts of gigantic planets to pump liquefied gaz. there is fes place like this, huge structure of ultra armored steel fighting against corrosion of the lethal atmospher and kromut raids... very nice place isn't it ?

Moons of both gazeous planets are inhabited by some minar colonies too, like excellent unofficial french background of "whitesand"

uranus, neptune, same, 4 or 5 big installations of mining complex, slowy lost by imperial forces, meters by meters at the centuries.

Pluto is a no man's land, like nero, huhuhu, a lots kromut's land

This vision offers the possibility to devellop space travels, space rules or space book, with lots of ships or vessels, to the tiny multipurpose capsule, which contain one to three crew members, and connect to work module ( mining module, forage module, rescue module, etc etc ) to mega GAZ transporter or cargo, and even the WZ concept of .... DAMN, i forget the name, shame on me... hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii !... the monstrous thing ^^ Hum, hulk ? no ?... So I did the list too of this mega vessel from the Ancient still in service.

So, it's a very good opportunity to extend our playground, even if i'm agree with you my dear Fetzen, ambience, horror and gothic are the sources of MC, it would be seriously cool or terrible for PJ to have new places, to investigate, to fight, to scream... and to die...

[Fetzenbankert]

I really would like to know your secret, Kreuz! Its amazing! You always (no, not always, but at most of the times) manage to convince me of completely the opposite, what I originally imagined! My deepest respect.
Well, ok, thats something I also can live with. My intention was that MC should stay with the attitude of steampunk, and I suspected that if too much outer space opera stuff is included, then the story and the game will drift too much away from the original background. But as you laid out, there is a lot of coherency in your ideas - as long as this space exploration is reduced to mini (freelance) corps, mines (under horrible enviromental conditions), space raiders, pirates and marauders. For me the area outside the asteroid belt should be a dark, mysterious and very dangerous place. Only a place for the most freaky and/or tough-minded guys.

Pluto is a no man's land, like nero, huhuhu, a lots kromut's land

This vision offers the possibility to devellop space travels, space rules or space book, with lots of ships or vessels, to the tiny multipurpose capsule, which contain one to three crew members, and connect to work module ( mining module, forage module, rescue module, etc etc ) to mega GAZ transporter or cargo, and even the WZ concept of .... DAMN, i forget the name, shame on me... hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii !... the monstrous thing ^^ Hum, hulk ? no ?... So I did the list too of this mega vessel from the Ancient still in service.

I suppose "kromut" means Necromutant.  And I want to add: the nearer you come to Pluto (or even Nero), the deadlier it gets. And the creepier. And the more desperate and demonish. Like coming into hell. So even coming to Uranus or Neptune (despite of their hostile environmental conditions) should be like a suicide mission.
By the way: this spaceship you mentioned, is it this?

or this:

or this:

[Black ICE]

Fetzenbankert, although the source books do not give enough information, space travel is an elemental part of the MC universum. And it works so good, that you can travel very fast and convenient (if you can afford it to any planet you want. Therefore, there will also be much activity of the dark legion in space to sabotage the space transportation infrastructure.

You still remember the adventures, where your ship was boarded by an dark legion ship, or the excursion to Pluto?

At the end, it depends on the gamemaster, how much the adventure sticks to the MC universe. Of course there is the danger, that the game develops in a direction, which is not MC anymore but that depens on the gamemaster.

I think that travel and live in space is a mix of old and new technolgogies as it is in any other MC place: the space suits are made of hightech cloth, which is leightweight but yet functional enough, that it closes automatically small holes. On the other hand, the oxygen system is very simple. Just an idea to visualize.

Also, you should not forget, that Cybertronics main seat is in the asteroid belt. So the asteroid belt should be well populated. And who knows, who travels further than the asteroid belt? can you controll every place to prevent that?

[Aldrien]

one remark (we had some comments on that in the EE forum)

-> warzone is not steampunk!

warzone is more like horror/gothic with some trash aspects (GT Offroad, deathangel, old great grey) and WW1 style.

I think steampunk to best left to warhammer and warmachine..

[Fetzenbankert]

Well, maybe we can discuss about warzone, but Mutant Chronicles is definitely steampunk (although both games have the same background ).

Wikipedia:
Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era when steam power was still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. It is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase but developed as a separate movement (though with considerable influence on each other). Their main difference beyond the chronological differences in settings is that Steampunk settings tend to be less obviously dystopian.

After all computers and artificial systems were destroyed after the Fall, there was no technology left to handle any energy production systems more complicated as steam power. By the time, later in history during the time period of the age of faith and especially after the uprise of Cybertronic, more complicated machines were invented and high tech came slowly back. But the MC-world is still not on the same tech-level as nowadays.
I also just have found a few postings on the excelsior forum, which say they dislike steampunk. As far as I have seen, these are just personal opinions of some people - well, I do respect their opinion, but its not mine. Mutant Chronicles (and therefore also warzone) has definitely some major elements of steampunk (eg planetary transportat is done by locomotives powered by coal or diesel, zeppelin ballons are floating through the air, the most gear you can buy in MC is simply mechanical)...

[Aldrien]

well, it is definively low-tech.

but steampunk has some other, more steam-fantastical approch. the time machine is a good example. steampunk has steam powerd "high tech" stuff.

warzone is just low tech (sort of).

the no-future is also a major factor, but mixed with horror. -> horror-cyberpunk in space/Solar System.

a first-incursion MC setting (after the seal was broken) would be like aliens, followed by that low tech follow up style.

the steampunk is origin is different. there the people did not fall back in tech, they are at the edge of their technology, with a special flavour of everything-is-possibly.
(of course in the shell of polished wood and brass )

exept for the vulcans, there is few steampunk like tech.
airships may exist, but so does everything from great grey to grizzly (trash/ww1, not steampunk. same for the hurricane)

[Fetzenbankert]

Well, its just a matter of categorisation. And as long as there are these two sides, the steampunk and the cyberpunk side in Scifi, IMHO Mutant Chronicles tends more to the first than to the latter. For me, there isn´t such a big difference between steampunk and low tech. I just want to separate it from high-tech-cyberpunk, which is  mostly covered by microtechnics and nano-/biotechnology. And MC is the opposite of that - because you mentioned it:

The Grizzly is powered by twin 7800 hp turbo engines drinking 31 gallons of diesel per kilometer.

Or another example:

Is this cyberpunk to you? Hmmm.
On the other hand you are right, Aldrien: MC is surely no classical steampunk opus. It also has some cyberpunk elements like cybernetics, high-tech-weapons or even Cybertronic itself. Maybe the truth lays (like always) somewhere in the middle: its both and at the same time none of them. Maybe this mixture is the reason, why this game is so wonderful.

[Fetzenbankert]

Fetzenbankert, although the source books do not give enough information, space travel is an elemental part of the MC universum. And it works so good, that you can travel very fast and convenient (if you can afford it to any planet you want. Therefore, there will also be much activity of the dark legion in space to sabotage the space transportation infrastructure.

Black Ice, the main part of human life happens on the planets (as also the adventures do). And the transport is still not safe. Nobody understands the secrets of the time rifts, they are just used and the utilisation of them is still risky (computers cant calculate the unpredictable behaviour of such anomalies, just the entry and the exit, but all that is between is hope and prayers to the cardinal ).

You still remember ... the excursion to Pluto?

Yes, and I already told you on several occasions that i didnt liked it.

Also, you should not forget, that Cybertronics main seat is in the asteroid belt. So the asteroid belt should be well populated. And who knows, who travels further than the asteroid belt? can you controll every place to prevent that?

The asteroid belt is hugh and of enormous dimensions. Cybertronic is the smallest corp with just 0,3% of the total population. So Cybertronic is far, far away from "well populating" the asteroid belt. I suppose that even they got Dembovska and Ceres, their share of the total population of the asteroid belt is not more than 60% (the other 40% are miners, mini-corporations, outposts and pirates).

[UraYagyu]

Heidiho, what have i done? My intention in mentioning the new solar system nomenclature wasn´t to transform MC into another StartrekBabylon5Farscape-ripoff. If i should describe the mood or theme, that i had in mind, it would be the first Alien or Event Horizon. It shouldn´t be possible for everyone to travel, just for fun to Pluto and look what the seal does. In the beginning there should be laws from the Brotherhood, that forbid travel beyond the belt. However that´s where the fun is right? Wrong. The farer you get, the more you see the demonic and hellish nature of the dark symmetrie. The mental stability checks must get harder and harder from planet to planet and on Pluto Cardinal Durand himself would try hard to stay sane.  And if some lucky fellow does indeed come back from such a horrortrip, he should be treated suspiciously, because he could now be a heretic.

[Kreuz]

wooo !
lots of posts !

Please try to be lawful and moderate yourself The main subject is theexploration and planets not tech level or else open new topics !

ONE BIG OBJECTION PLEASE !

"Also, you should not forget, that Cybertronics main seat is in the asteroid belt. "

NEVER, if we have to attribute Belt to someone, is to IMPERIAL. Read again the Imp sourcebook please

No Fetzen, i'm speacking about very huge spaceships, created deuring golden age of the Ancients, few still exist ( source from WZ 1 or 2nd ed )

Asteroids Belt is gigantic, with volume of billion of trillon of km3

For techniologies, i've think about that during years... Thank my lad, for your comments, but it's only my GM work : try to have COHERENT UNIVERSE.

For space travel : we know all some things abouy HARRISSON TUNNELS or HOLE. Sort of dimensionnal tunnels, which are very stables to unstables ( like you succed or not to your astronavigation tests ) => fast and relatively safe travels.