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(TFT) Re: Cidri physics
At 23:14 -0500 2/7/06, PvK wrote:
By "shell" here I mean the
outer solid layer, not the entire spherical world...
Got it! Sorry, I think that's what you said, I just wasn't reading carefully.
...As we both pointed
out, though, there had better be lots of serious air locks (not to mention
ventilation - good thing for TFT's Fresh Air spell) or the air pressure
would become lethal.
Not sure I pointed it out, but it's a good observation! One issue
with world-building is that the numbers can get pretty big pretty
fast if you are not careful.
...it would be a relatively effortless way to get to the
other side. ...
There's a good science fiction short story on this topic, by the way,
the name of which I can't come up with just at the moment.
Consider if more atmosphere were stuffed into the interior, though.
Perhaps the equatorial regions would have too much pressure for vanilla
humans, so there would be habitable bands further up the sides, one ring
on either side of the high-pressure region.
Would work fine. I picked Equator habitable to get the maximum
surface area, but you are completely correct.
As for river directions, if
the Mnoren could shape the whole thing by design, perhaps they could
arrange for artificial tilts to make more varied drainage patterns.
Yes. If the thing were pre-compensated for spin, they could dig
oceans wherever they wanted on the outside. If it were terraced on
the inside, flow patterns on each terrace could be however they
wanted. There could be some pretty spectacular cliffs and waterfalls,
too.
With Grouchy's anti-grav device, and the ability to graduate it to
compensate for high centripetal force, the whole interior could have
constant pressure varying only by altitude.
Yes. With enough control, they could wipe out centrifugal force, too.
It might be a nice effect to have a linear anti-grav device along the
spin axis, and have the "sun" MoALI run from one pole to the other
each day. Could reverse directions, or just switch it off and haul it
back during the night. Interesting effects with the sun "setting" on
the interior of the poles, probably. Would make the rocks around the
poles look pretty scorched.
>In general, ITL tends to teach players how to create their own worlds,
while D&D tend to encourage players to collect ($$ ka-ching $$) the stuff
>the publishers came up with.
I'll drink to that! <glug>.
DMG2 wrote:
Jupiter completes a day in only ten hours... It's hauling some major butt.
LOL. Well, by definition, yes. And don't forget the Magnetic Field
From Hell. I have not done the calculations, but one could imagine a
Jupiter-like planet where the magnetic field was strong enough to
affect (ferrous) swords or spears. And then there's the weather! Not
to minimize the trouble Katrina inflicted, but compare to the Great
Red Spot! If Cidri is comprised of many planets, a big one with a
fast rotation rate could be interesting. (I'm not sure Hal Clement
covered all these bases in "Mission of Gravity", but he did pretty
well.)
It doesn't have a name yet. It implies that the results of the group can
be evil even while the individual memebers are decent. But i'm feeling the
gist of this. The wizard's guild has a history of producing terrible
monsters that they must hire adventurers to put down.
Re: Evil, I have to say there are some spells and items that
I have always shied away from because they just *feel* evil to me. At
least a partial list includes:
Drain Strength - it's just so *wasteful*! *Five* of the victims fST
for one of the Wizard's? Aid is *one* for one. I'm thinking somebody
evil came up with this.
Summon Demon (of course) - most sane people work to exorcise demons
*out* of our world.
Create Elemental - mixed emotions about this. Basically the elemental
*will* get away to cause trouble eventually, so it's a polluting
behaviour at best.
Clumsiness/Confusion - what a way to die! Like being in a nightmare.
Same for Sticky Floor.
Curse - same notation. Why is *this* permanent, but Aid goes away in
2 turns? Sigh.
Death Spell - almost no comment needed. Why was this not an
"Unconsciousness Spell"? No need to kill anybody, or risk dying
yourself?
Zombie - well, duh.
Possession - *Far* too easy to ruin somebody's life with this spell.
Corrosive Poison - 4 dice? Ouch.
Fear Potion.
Hand of Glory.
Zombie ring - now this one is just downright perverse. Let 'em rot in
peace, for %deity's sake! (But while we are on the topic, would a
Zombie ring allow someone in Little Death to last indefinitely? ;-) )
And then there's the ingredients list for some of the potions or
items. Gruesome.
By the same token, there are some clearly "good" spells and
items. Rope (disable without harming), Sleep, Aid, Repair, Cleansing,
Fresh Air, Revival, Healing Potion.
Not sure how useful this is, but maybe background flavor for
your archvillian.
--
- Mark
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