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Tag: paper pills (Page 7 of 7)

Paper Pills – An Exploration of the Analytical Engine

December 27, 2011 /

Here's a very interesting What If? that explores the possibilities of the Analytical Engine, had it been built.

Now, I understand that a lot of the ideas that Babbage mentions are marketing materials. He was, after all, trying to generate money to build the thing. Still, taking a bit of a plunge down the rabbit hole, this article has some thoughtful turns and twists that would have made our world a very different place. I particularly like the ideas of British banks using them and the telegraph connected machines talking to each other.

So let's take a look at the alternate early 20th century:

  • Arcades with Analytical Checkers, Chess, Tic-Tac-Toe and possibly Hearts.
  • Speaking of arcades, what kind of games would fans of Jules Verne have made?
  • Speaking of Jules Verne, the analytical engine could have generated the tables needed for launching objects into orbit and much more.
  • Banks with computers to calculate investments, interest, etc. With the telegraph communication modem, we have automated trades in the commodities markets.
  • The 1901 World's Fair is Glasgow may have featured a music composing machine.
  • The Wright Brothers would not have spent years re-calculating Lilienthal's faulty data. Babbage himself would have already recalculated tables that used the Smeaton Coefficient. The wind tunnel may have come much earlier. Heck, maybe Lilienthal would have been successful with his gliders.
  • Speaking of the Wright Brothers, materials engineering would have progressed a bit by the time they were designing the engine for the flying machine. General Motors or other engine manufacturers of the time would have been able to build it instead of the brothers designing one with Charlie Taylor.
  • Wireless computing would involve radio frequencies. That gives new meaning to hacking. It would be done with a shortwave radio and an antenna interface to an analytical engine.

There are more possibilities than that, of course. The article in the link refers to just a few. Going into the far future, the plaster that allowed for "print on demand" could be modified to print objects instead of words. Just a thought.

This kind of what if in RPGs is nothing new at all. There is Space 1889 and a host of other so-called steampunk that build on it. Somehow, though, this article struck a chord of interest. One reason is that the progress of the analytical machine would have spurred the fabrication of new materials. Another is that it would be likely that the integrated circuit would not have been developed. At the end of the article, the author mentions the lack of a telephone and based on the idea of analytical engine connected by telegraph, that makes sense. I'm also intrigued by the potential lack of a keyboard.

What say you? Good article? Old news?

Paper Pills – A Different Kind of Red Box

December 22, 2011 /

I've started a new category for ideas that sound really neat, but I don't really know where they lead. Sometimes, like today, it may be a really bad idea. It's posted because it contains a certain "What If?" quality that for whatever reason feels compelling or fascinating.

So here goes:

What if you combine a different arrangement of RPG rule books with a box that contains the perfect Newbie DM kit?

The first thing that pops into my head is "A Box for GMs and separate boxes for players? What the? Are you nuts?"

Then the second thing is "It's just like the Red Box except that you have more than two books."

Somehow, I'm thinking of something that is not either of those two ideas. I would like a perfect newbie GM kit *and* a perfect newbie player kit. It's just that the newbie player kit would be focused enough to be a few pages and limits choice in a way.

Maybe the GM kit features a four page handout that provides an overview of  various races and classes so that players can pick which newbie player kit to use. Then the player kit has everything needed to play that specific race and the classes available to them.

What say you?

Alternate Magic System

November 10, 2007 /

Let's say you have a magic system similar to Lenga in your Action! System game. Using magic adds three new attributes, spells are skill rolls based on one of those three attributes. Like other attributes in the Action! System, there is an attribute that represent raw power, magic control, and magical defense.

In Lenga you would roll 3d6 and add the attribute and skill to the roll For example, let's say a spell that turns a pound of lead into a pound of gold has a TN of 30. This spell relies on the control attribute which for your character is 6. Your skill with this spell is an 8. Rolling attribute (6) + skill (8) + 3d6, the total needs to meet or exceed 30. In other words, you need to roll a 16 or better. Instead of using 3d6, consider the following to add to the attribute + skill roll:

Roll nine dice and arrange them in a 3 X 3 square. You don't get time to pick and choose, just quickly group them. You have the possibility to get up to 8 successes. How you determine those successes will change depending on the attribute related to the spell. Consider the dice positions below:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

If the power attribute was the base of the spell, your eight chances would be determined by eight lines. Namely: 123, 456, 789, 147, 258, 369, 159, 357.

If the control attribute is the base of the spell, your eight chances would be determined by corners. Namely: 412, 236, 698, 874, 426, 842, 684, 268.

If the defense attribute is key, total all nine dice and divide by three. Round up the result to the next whole number. Yes, this gives defensive spells a slight advantage, but it's not as much as you would think.

The number of successes will determine how many dice are rolled to add to the effect. I haven't worked out exactly how many successes equals a number of dice, but let's say that:

1-2 Successes yields One Effect Die

3-5 Successes yield Two Effect Dice

6-7 Successes yield Three Effect Dice

8 Successes yield Four Effect Dice

Using the same example spell above, your attribute is 6, your skill is 8, you roll nine dice in this pattern

3 4 2
5 1 6
2 6 5

Because it is an aptitude based spell, use the corners to determine the 8 rolls added to your attribute + skill. The results are:

5+3+4 or 12
4+2+6 or 12
6+5+6 or 17
6+2+5 or 13
5+4+6 or 15
6+5+4 or 15
6+6+5 or 17
4+6+6 or 16

Since you need results of 16 or greater, you have three successes. This means you get two extra dice for the spell  effect.

Give it a shot.

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