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22:16, 11th May 2024 (GMT+0)

Oddities of Space Living.

Posted by DMFor group 0
DM
GM, 112 posts
Mon 23 Oct 2023
at 02:08
  • msg #1

Oddities of Space Living

Breaking the mold of planetary living can be hard. We take many things for granted that aren't, when living in space, especially Fantasy Space.

I'll try and address a few such things in this thread as they come up.
DM
GM, 113 posts
Mon 23 Oct 2023
at 02:22
  • msg #2

Day and Night

Day and Night are largely constructs in space.

Ships don't rotate, they merely set shifts. The crew may call them Day shift, Swing/Evening shift, and Night shift, but it's all made up. For the most part it's really just Shift One, Shift Two, and Shift Three. Probably with fairly equal staffing because, well, why not? Plus you have a constant number of people Ready, Half Ready, and Asleep.

Asteroids are different. Using the RAW given Bral as an example, we have a forest on top, and farms on the bottom. Obviously it needs a day and night to keep all the plant life healthy. This is handled by large sails of vanes on one end.

However, mostly, you're stuck with whatever the asteroid is already doing in regards to rotation. Oh, enough ships could probably cause a bit of movement, but that's expensive to arrange.

For the record, in Sol System, given the dim light issues:
-Ceres is a dwarf planet, it rotates and otherwise behaves as a planet should.
-Fred's Rock is a fairly new shipyard base with one side always sunward, for farming, and lots of continual flame lanterns posted for streetlights.
-Barney's Rock, while a city, is much like Fred's in that one side is always growing food and making oxygen. The other is always magically lit.

The theory here is that the constant light will up growth and compensate for the Dim light. In truth, I'm not sure the math works out, but it's better than it could be otherwise.
DM
GM, 114 posts
Mon 23 Oct 2023
at 02:29
  • msg #3

Fire is Bad

Obvious, if you think about it. A big asteroid with a good size farm or farms will likely be fine, but you don't want cooking fires or fire light on ships.

And where do you even find fuel? Even if you get something like coal from somewhere, it makes for fouler air sooner (Dwarves may have an answer, of course). Mostly you  get wood scraps from imported lumber, or you pay for imported firewood.

Fires cost money, as well as air. Save them for when you need them.

The good news? Artificers and Druids have discovered a way to enchant Heat Metal into metal pots and plates. This works for cooking. Heating may still be an issue.
DM
GM, 570 posts
Tue 2 Jan 2024
at 01:29
  • msg #4

Clusters

The obvious.
DM
GM, 657 posts
Wed 10 Jan 2024
at 20:23
  • msg #5

Helmsmen and spells

A question has been posed about casting spells from the helm. The rules consider manning a Helm to be the equivalent of concentrating on a spell, so it IS possible for spell that don't require concentration.

There are other factors:

Line of Sight: I'm going to consider this actual sight. If you're moving your viewpoint around the ship then you aren't concentrating on flying.

Attack roll needed: This will NOT work through closed windows, even if you can see. The spell starts with you, and, hence flies from you (in some way, shape, or form that can be blocked). The window provides complete cover.

Indirect fire spells (those that use a Save rather than an attack roll): those work find through windows. Probably using helm sense, too, if you don't mind the ship stopping dead in space as you quite looking where you're going.

So: Real eyes only, and probably only if it requires a saving throw instead of an attack roll.

In ship to ship combat this probably works out to "no", but there might be a spell out there that could work.
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