Today’s quote is from the Lunar Ellipse. (Yes, I know it’s early, but it’s a good one.) The email describing the launch warned all the players that some of them might experience nausea and “space-sickness.” Ginger’s response was “When I saw this I was sure it was going to be me. Fortunately, Hawkwoods do not barf.”
One of my very favorite things about Dorothea as a player is her well-developed sense of paranoia. Mere moments after I announced Thomas Edison’s untimely demise in a Singapore back alley, I received the following:
Dorothea: Oh, and if you frame Hannah for Edison’s murder I will kick your butt the next time I see you, you annoyingly clever GM you.
Me: Now that you mention it, where was the lovely and talented Mrs. Armitage on the night of July 19th, 1899?
Dorothea:You rat bastard.
Nice try, but flattery gets you nowhere in this game.
And the first thing that Cathy said to me at lunch today was “So, less than a week into the game and you’ve already killed Thomas Edison.” True. But only in the one timeline.
The Lunar Ellipse has begun. May the best team win, and may every team have a good time.
The Lunar Ellipse wil officially launch on 1/15/2004. The first day in-game will be 9/16/1899. I’ve got a few more Times back-issues to get written, and some rumors to spread, but it looks like all systems are go.
Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare to start your engines.
The Lunar Ellipse website is up and updated, though still very much incomplete on the content front. Suggestions and other feedback are welcome. Also, Ginger has kindly consented to set up a blog for the players (Thanks, G.!). That’s still very much under construction as well. (And don’t go blaming her; the delay on this one is all my fault. For one thing, I owe her a fistful of graphics.)
Note to players: Ginger will set you up on the Lunar Ellipse blog, but you’ll need to send her some information.
For those who even remember that there was going to be one…the Lunar Ellipse will launch in late January/early February of 2004. I apologize for having put it off for so long, but life is what happens when you’re trying to get things done, and it’s be very lively ’round here of late.
For those who want to get a head start on builing their “Jules Verne deathtraps,” as one player called them, GURPS Space and GURPS Steampunk will be useful. I now quote, entirely without permission, from pages 83 and 84 of Steampunk:
The heroes of Victorian novels went into space or visited planets by an amazing variety of methods, from being shot out of huge guns to astral projection–but not by rockets
An example of non-rocket propulsion is the Solar Steamer.
Based on reactionless thrusters created by advanced etheric science, the solar steamer opens up the inner solar system to human exploration. Under steady acceleration, its travel time is 25 days X (square root of distance in AU), where 1 AU=93,000,000 miles. It is a deep space craft with no landing gear or aerodynamic features…an onboard greenhouse provides life support for 36…and produces half their food; meat and dairy products must be carried in storage areas. Lead-acid batteries provide 360,000 kWs of backup power. An operating table and a complete mini-workshop are available for emergencies. The ship has heavy compartmentalization. A three-man airlock provides access to the outside.
Of course, Mr. Edison has handily taken care of the rocketry question, but do feel free to explore alternate methods of propulsion, as boosting large things into space from the surface of the Earth takes massive amounts of rocket fuel. (Nations with orbital, lunar, or extraplanetary bases may be able to take advantage of a low gravity environment for building. However, the Ellipsoids still have to leave from Earth.) Scientific American and Discover magazines may provide you with some good ideas.
Just to make sure everyone is all caught up on the status of various Ellipses…
Grand Ellipse: Will restart on Monday, with new Times updates, a Progress update, and fresh mayhem.
Lunar Ellipse: Pre-game character development is in progress; some characters are already interacting with each other in order to form teams. Game planning is in advanced stages. I’ll get to work on the website as soon as the Grand Ellipse ends.
Magnificent Seven: I’m working on the initial planning. This’ll be ftf, and therefore something of a departure from the first two games.
I also have several Ellipses that are in what I’ll call a strictly conceptual state. In no particular order, they are GE2, Great Circle I (Equatorial), Great Circle II (Polar), American Ellipse, African Ellipse, Atlantic Ellipse, Pacific Ellipse, Around the Clock (one stop in each time zone), and my personal favorite, the Wrong-Way Rupert Route (TBD).
Spent most of yesterday afternoon getting down some details for the Lunar Ellipse, which was so absorbing that I even forgot to do the laundry (and my tombstone will probably read “She was a devoted laundress”). I’ve figured out when and where space flight was invented, and worked out the details of the various national and private aerospace programs. “All” I have left to do now is work out 33 years of alternate world history.
It looks like the final Lunar Ellipsoid will be Jennifer, who’s new to gaming, but has followed the Grand Ellipse avidly.
Welcome to the club.
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