Etherscope questions

Derek_Holland · Post by **Derek_Holland** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 7:21 pm

Why haven't you told anybody it is out now? I just saw it on rpgnow.

Post by **goodmangames** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 9:03 pm

The official PDF release date (for RPG Now and everywhere else) is Monday, December 12. It will be announced then.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:18 am

Just picked the game up today at my FLGS. Very Interesting. I'm having sort of mixed feelings about it so far, it certainly covers a lot of material very fast and, at least at first reading, seems somewhat confusing. I'm also sort of unclear about what kinds of contemporary (our world) technologies are available in the Great Metro. At one point it says that electronics are not developed, and they seem to be stuck with gas lighting and cameras work on ether principles, but at bit further on it states that picture shows are a popular form of mass entertainment. Does this mean that movies run on ethertech?

OTOH, it is a great idea for a backround, and I'm rooting for the game to make it work.

While I'm on the subject, or maybe even if I'm off it, could we get a full size version of the political world map. It's really to small to make out the details properly, and would be important if I want stories where the players get to mess with the undersides of geopolitics.

Now, all I have to do is figure out how to get the rest of my gaming group to pick up copies.

Josh

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:12 am

Hi Josh,

In the Etherscope world elctonics have not been developed as much as they have in our world mainly due to the lack of microchip technology. They still have some electronic devices, but not muh and they are quite simple by our standards.

Cheerio,

Ben

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:13 am

Joseph, Josh's idea on the map sounds good - any chance of a colour version for a web download?

malladin_ben · Post by **malladin_ben** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:15 am

Sorry, those last two posts were me. Forgot to log in

.

Ben

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:29 pm

Anonymous wrote:Hi Josh,

In the Etherscope world elctonics have not been developed as much as they have in our world mainly due to the lack of microchip technology. They still have some electronic devices, but not muh and they are quite simple by our standards.

Cheerio,

Ben

Details, man, dammit, we need details!

For example, at one point, a pistol is mentioned as having a laser sight. That's fairly developed electronics and minitureization. (Damn, cant find the spelling for that word!) At another point, it's obvious that the houses of the poor, at least, are still heated with gaslight. That's fine, and very atmospheric, but do the rich have electric lights, electric can openers, refridgerators (and for that matter, are the poor still using iceboxes) Is industrial automation a major issue for the proles, despite the lower cost of labor and the availablity of near-humans? What kind of survailence devices does MI-6 have? Wireless mikes? Is radio available? Black & White TV? Monitor cameras on busy intersections? And, if so, how big and obvious and how often do they break down? How ubiquitious is the phonograph, the first invention that made music portable and international? Hand cranked or electric? Do the have the telephone, (I assume the telegraph at least is still available) and if so, who has one, and what does it cost. Do the poor have to use pay phones on the boarding house wall while the rich have them in their homes? All of these questions are important when the poor bleeding GM needs to flesh out the environment for the players.

Don't worry, when you've answered these questions, I'll have at least two dozen more.

Josh

ether · Post by **ether** » Thu Dec 22, 2005 9:28 pm

I love this setting... but I'm coming from a Shadowrun background, so I'm worried I might be having some problems wrapping my mind around some of these concepts. I have a few questions about the Scope, in particular. If I should have started a new topic for this, I apologize (just let me know, and I will).

1) Can someone check my understanding to see if am I missing something as to the purpose of Scope riding? I'm thinking the following fit, but there are some things I don't understand.

Fun - The pleasure domes are pretty self-explanatory. I can grasp this with ease. Fun to visit, fun to crash.

Information - The Scope, if I understand correctly, is a great (often secure) location to store vast quantities of information. This, I can deal with. But when Scope riders are seeking that info, can they do anything to actaully recover or replicate that information in the real world? For example, finding "files" indicating an industrialist's involvement with a group of street thugs who've been harrassing a rival company is all well and good, but what does one do with that information? What does one do with those files? In other words, are traditional cyberpunk "datasteals" viable in Etherscope, and how would they work? I'd suspect that they might involve riders "transporting" information/files/items found in the Scope to other Scope locations (manned by operatives of employers, authorities, or similar sympathetic parties), but I'm not sure.

Communication - I'm sure the Scope can be used to speak and meet with others who might be too distant for a meeting "in the meat." But are there other avenues of communication (as the previoius poster hinted at), such as telephone, telegraph, etc.? Or are ethercomm devices the extent of non-Scope-immersed communication?

Others - Are there any other uses for the Scope from a societal standpoint? From an adventurer's standpoint?

2) About the Scope Use skill... I may be missing something, but I'm not sure I understand how to go about crafting a program. It seems I'm unable to find how to calculate the DC for doing so (all I see is the compnent complexity table, and I can't locate how to use it to calculate DC). Also, does one remotely "program" his/her Scope equipment (weapons/armor/gear) before jacking in, or must one do it afterward? Can one simply arrange for his or her weapons suite to be available at the desired jackpoint, drop them off at the same place before jacking out, and have them ready for the next time (s)he comes in?

It's a long post, and I apologize for that. Again, I really love this setting, and I can't wait to try it out (provided I understand everything...

)

E-Naught · Post by **E-Naught** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:55 am

Ben, I have a question about Scope Use(remote) and Scope Avatars. I can't seem to find any clear rule on if you are "remoting" into the scope that you need to have an Avatar. If the Avatar is a scope representation of your physical form, wouldn't you have to be "immersed" to have a Avatar. Help me please.

E-Naught

malladin_ben · Post by **malladin_ben** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:27 am

Crikey! Loads of questions here. I'll try to answer them one by one

.

Ben

malladin_ben · Post by **malladin_ben** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:01 am

Anonymous wrote:Details, man, dammit, we need details!

You're a man after my own heart - I always need to see a reason for how everything works in a scifi world

.

Anonymous wrote:For example, at one point, a pistol is mentioned as having a laser sight. That's fairly developed electronics and minitureization.

As far as I'm aware a laser doesn't require any microchips, it's just a case of passing light in a special manner through a ruby or something. (ref: http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca/co ... asers.html)

Anonymous wrote:At another point, it's obvious that the houses of the poor, at least, are still heated with gaslight. That's fine, and very atmospheric, but do the rich have electric lights, electric can openers, refridgerators (and for that matter, are the poor still using iceboxes).

Lights With the invention of Ethergas (which burns brighter and without the smell or danger) ther has been no need for electrical lighting. Probably only the eccentric inventors might have a fully electric house.

Gadgets There is no common electricity supply to houses, so these things are likely to be rare and expensive items. However, battery technology is very advanced and the potential for vent portals in generators means that generators can get quite small. You also have to consider the economic factors involved - even middle class houses will likely have at least one servant, so there is very little need for those who have the money to go out and buy tools that make someone elses job easier. That said, a cheap battery-powered can opener might seel well to the working classes. Refrigerators would have their own generators and likely be only available to the upper and middle classes.

Anonymous wrote:Is industrial automation a major issue for the proles, despite the lower cost of labor and the availablity of near-humans?

It depends what you mean by "issue". Automation is heavily present in factories, after all it was the Victorians who started it all off. The scale of the economy in Etherscope is huge. If someone sells you a machine that does the work of 100 men whilst being operated by only 1 man, you don't lay off 99 men, you buy 100 machines

.

Anonymous wrote:What kind of survailence devices does MI-6 have? Wireless mikes?

Sorry, sir, that's classified.

.

Seriously, they can do very similar things to what spies in our world can. Anything that involves comms-style technologies will instead communicate via etherspace.

Anonymous wrote:Is radio available? Black & White TV? Monitor cameras on busy intersections? And, if so, how big and obvious and how often do they break down? How ubiquitious is the phonograph, the first invention that made music portable and international? Hand cranked or electric? Do the have the telephone, (I assume the telegraph at least is still available) and if so, who has one, and what does it cost. Do the poor have to use pay phones on the boarding house wall while the rich have them in their homes?

Film photography is very much part of etherscope technology, but as for radio and TV... Again think, if its comms technology, use Etherspace. Telephones, telegraphs, etc have been replaced by Ether letters (think email), ethercomm devices (think cell phone), etc.

Entertainment is a whole different world to ours, though. Entertainment is not something a typical Etherscope world person would think about in association with their own home. It would either involve going out to music halls or down the dogs, or, for the counterculturalists, jacking in to the Scope.

Anonymous wrote:All of these questions are important when the poor bleeding GM needs to flesh out the environment for the players.

Sorry if we missed some stuff out. It was a real challenge to get the book down to a reasonable size. At the end of the day, we just had to concentrate on what's important to player characters. But your point is noted.

Cheerio,

Ben

malladin_ben · Post by **malladin_ben** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:19 am

ether wrote:1) Can someone check my understanding to see if am I missing something as to the purpose of Scope riding? I'm thinking the following fit, but there are some things I don't understand.

Okay, lets have a look

ether wrote:Fun - The pleasure domes are pretty self-explanatory. I can grasp this with ease. Fun to visit, fun to crash.

Yep. Also Scope conceerts for bands.

ether wrote:Information - The Scope, if I understand correctly, is a great (often secure) location to store vast quantities of information. This, I can deal with. But when Scope riders are seeking that info, can they do anything to actaully recover or replicate that information in the real world? For example, finding "files" indicating an industrialist's involvement with a group of street thugs who've been harrassing a rival company is all well and good, but what does one do with that information? What does one do with those files? In other words, are traditional cyberpunk "datasteals" viable in Etherscope, and how would they work? I'd suspect that they might involve riders "transporting" information/files/items found in the Scope to other Scope locations (manned by operatives of employers, authorities, or similar sympathetic parties), but I'm not sure.

This is all pretty much as you suggest. Datafiles in Etherspace are actual physical items which can be stolen. They can't leave the Scope, but can be taken to someone's personal domain, or drop-off location. Cyberpunk-style data steal ops were very much a consideration in creatingteh world.

ether wrote: Communication - I'm sure the Scope can be used to speak and meet with others who might be too distant for a meeting "in the meat." But are there other avenues of communication (as the previoius poster hinted at), such as telephone, telegraph, etc.? Or are ethercomm devices the extent of non-Scope-immersed communication?

Ethercomms are indeed pretty much the extent of communication. Much cheaper and easier to install and use than telecoms technologies.

ether wrote: Others - Are there any other uses for the Scope from a societal standpoint? From an adventurer's standpoint?

Well, I already mentioned Scope concerts, but people can go to places to meet up. There could quite easily be Scope-based gaming domains. A good one for adventurers is exploring the wilds of etherspace, trying to get to other cities, or seeing what lurks in hidden corners...

ether wrote:2) About the Scope Use skill... I may be missing something, but I'm not sure I understand how to go about crafting a program. It seems I'm unable to find how to calculate the DC for doing so (all I see is the compnent complexity table, and I can't locate how to use it to calculate DC). Also, does one remotely "program" his/her Scope equipment (weapons/armor/gear) before jacking in, or must one do it afterward? Can one simply arrange for his or her weapons suite to be available at the desired jackpoint, drop them off at the same place before jacking out, and have them ready for the next time (s)he comes in?

Hmmm. I've just read through the Craft Program entry and can't see it either. Strange, because I can definately remember writing it. This could be our first errata, congratulations

. The DCs are described, however, in the Degrade Programming entry: "...DC equal to twice the program component complexity level plus 10."

If you have a Scope jack you can have pre-existing programs appear with your avatar on jack in. Scope tabs can, but usually don't, come with equipment included. If you can make them yourself you can set this up. You can also store ready-made programs ata set location, but if it's not a personal domain there's limited chance they'll still be there when you come back to them.

ether wrote: It's a long post, and I apologize for that. Again, I really love this setting, and I can't wait to try it out (provided I understand everything... )

No probs, hope I've answered everything.

Ben

malladin_ben · Post by **malladin_ben** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:05 am

E-Naught wrote:Ben, I have a question about Scope Use(remote) and Scope Avatars. I can't seem to find any clear rule on if you are "remoting" into the scope that you need to have an Avatar. If the Avatar is a scope representation of your physical form, wouldn't you have to be "immersed" to have a Avatar. Help me please.

E-Naught

Remote users don't have an avatar. As such they can't attack. They even need to make a Scope Use check to move (the Navigate the Scopecheck of Scope Use). A scope user can quite easily be jacked out by degrading the programming of their Scope point connection (Atack action, DC 12 Scope Use check as complexity level 1). As they can't defend themselves at all, they just count as a small inanimate object with regard to the attack roll.

Cheerio,

Ben

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 3:02 pm

technoshaman wrote:I have set-up a new fan-created newsgroup for Etherscope here:

There are a lot of interesting things, on this thread.

Post by **goodmangames** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 8:35 am

Anonymous wrote:While I'm on the subject, or maybe even if I'm off it, could we get a full size version of the political world map. It's really to small to make out the details properly, and would be important if I want stories where the players get to mess with the undersides of geopolitics.

See if these help:

http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/ ... Europe.pdf

http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/ ... _world.pdf

Harlan Quinn · Post by **Harlan Quinn** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 12:27 pm

What's the most powerful weapon in the world of Etherscope ? (besides information..) Is it still a nuke or something more setting specific?

Malladin · Post by **Malladin** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:55 pm

Warfare in etherscope still functions on a continental rather than intercontinental scale with clashes of armies and navies determining victory. The super weapons of the world are artillery peices, greatly enhanced by etheric technologies. Almost all artillery is mobile with the super dreadnaughts of the Royal navy possessing the most powerful guns followed by the main guns on New Reich land dreadnaughts. Hope this helps
Nigel

kris_40000 · Post by **kris_40000** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:13 am

For example, at one point, a pistol is mentioned as having a laser sight. That's fairly developed electronics and minitureization.

Ok its chemist to the rescue time.....

Yes in principle lasers work by using a special ruby crystal to excite the molecule with energy, such that photons of light rebound between two mirrors and thus causes the ruby to be constantly energised, and when one mirror is removed a casscade effect cause light to be released in a monochromatic form, and in where each photon is in phase.

However electronics is used to generate this intial energy for the laser, but an ether portal could do the same.

However in a post on the yahoo group for etherscope I put forward a campaign idea based upon the fact that with ether science the science of quantum mechanics would have found a very different route of investigation and use and as such technologies like lasers and semi conductors would have been never created or pursued. Thus I would say the laser in the etherscope world is liek ours but is in fact a vent portal that creates a small focused beam of light that has laser like properties, though compared to our world, these lasers are very crude.

Hopes that helps

Derek_Holland · Post by **Derek_Holland** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:41 am

goodmangames wrote: http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/ ... _world.pdf

Who controls Madagascar, Mexico, Paraguay, Ethiopia, the white, speckled part of Indonesia and Switzerland?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 6:53 pm

Hello Ben

I have just bought Etherscope. I run and play Victorian themed games, and i must say that I LOVE the idea of this one. The only thing I don't like is the system used. I remember you saying earlier on in this thread that you may think of other systems to use. Have you had a think yet?
I am a fan of the D10 system and I might have a go at converting it over.

Im looking forward to the Metropolis book. A thumbs up from me - good man!

Thanks
Estelle

andrew_kenrick · Post by **andrew_kenrick** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:42 am

How about Norway, Sweden and Denmark? They're all coloured the same way, so I assume there's some sort of kingdom going on here!

malladin_ben · Post by **malladin_ben** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:04 pm

andrew_kenrick wrote:How about Norway, Sweden and Denmark? They're all coloured the same way, so I assume there's some sort of kingdom going on here!

(off teh top of my head, so don't shout if I make a minor mistake) Madagascar is portuguese, Indeonesia (Dutch East Indies) is dutch, the others mentioned are all the same "colour", which is for independents.

Ben

malladin_ben · Post by **malladin_ben** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:12 pm

Anonymous wrote:Hello Ben

I have just bought Etherscope. I run and play Victorian themed games, and i must say that I LOVE the idea of this one. The only thing I don't like is the system used. I remember you saying earlier on in this thread that you may think of other systems to use. Have you had a think yet?
I am a fan of the D10 system and I might have a go at converting it over.

Im looking forward to the Metropolis book. A thumbs up from me - good man!

Thanks
Estelle

Hi Estelle, glad you like Etherscope.

I'll be happy to moot through some conversion ideas. I know of two systems that use D10s, but I'm not aware of either of them being called "the D10 system". Could you specify the games that use this system to help me out a bit.

Ben

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:39 pm

I rather like the Storyteller system as used in The World of Darkness. Its just that after years of playing D&D AD&D and stuff, I have found the WW system very pleasant to use. I like the emphasis more on storytelling and actual roleplay. Im going to run Etherscope for our Summer break, when we get a chance to play in the back garden by night. I think its going to take me a few months to get things written up. Thanks for your help!

Best Wishes
Estelle

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 8:39 am

Anonymous wrote:I rather like the Storyteller system as used in The World of Darkness.

Do you prefer the system from the old or new WoD?

I used to be a big Vampire and Trinity player/GM, so I'm most familiar with the old, but have got and played a one-off of nWoD/VtR. Old would therefore be easier for me, but new is not impossible.

Ben

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