Post by Running Wolf on Jun 9, 2014 20:03:33 GMT -5
The one post about seafloor tiles over on The DM's Craft got me thinking. Another response there had someone echo the same idea I have had about the undersea stuff being very similar to space stuff. Outside is a hostile environment that can kill you in a minute.
I like a little bit of crunch in my game. It doesn't have to be hard sci fi, I'm a bit of a moderate in that regard. Some people I know of will spend a week trying to figure out how much water the showers and toilets on a starship will use. My own OCD doesn't go that deep.
The main difference between a space and underwater setting is a crush factor. My mind is a bit fried right now so I know my numbers will be off but they will be close. So if I bone it up a bit forgive and tell me where I messed up.... at sea level there is 32lbs/inch^2 (normal pressure). You go 30ft underwater and it doubles. At 60ft you're at 3 atmospheres.
Crush depth can sort of be equated to getting too close to black hole or a sun and your engines not being powerful enough to break free. Very different physical forces but in a game it's the same type of dramatic effect.
You can do all the math for a sub to get real world answers... but in a game....Would it be cool to have a system like jump drives but instead used for depth? A J2 drive can jump you 2 parsecs . A type 2 hull will let you dive safely to 2kms?
I'm thinking it might simplify the game play a lot, especially in a one off adventure or mini campaign.
Another fun effect of compression is nitrogen narcosis. *in my best grandpa voice* you kids are too young to remember the groovy balloons at a Grateful Dead Show! Our atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and at normal pressure it is harmless. When it liquidizes in the blood (or you "do a whip it") it makes you super loopy. Why NO2 is called laughing gas. It is a very serious thing happens when you are scuba diving (you can die because of it as sure as getting behind the wheel of a car while all liquored up). Imagine the air mix being wrong in an undersea colony. Go youtube "The Naked Now" Star Trek episode.
I like a little bit of crunch in my game. It doesn't have to be hard sci fi, I'm a bit of a moderate in that regard. Some people I know of will spend a week trying to figure out how much water the showers and toilets on a starship will use. My own OCD doesn't go that deep.
The main difference between a space and underwater setting is a crush factor. My mind is a bit fried right now so I know my numbers will be off but they will be close. So if I bone it up a bit forgive and tell me where I messed up.... at sea level there is 32lbs/inch^2 (normal pressure). You go 30ft underwater and it doubles. At 60ft you're at 3 atmospheres.
Crush depth can sort of be equated to getting too close to black hole or a sun and your engines not being powerful enough to break free. Very different physical forces but in a game it's the same type of dramatic effect.
You can do all the math for a sub to get real world answers... but in a game....Would it be cool to have a system like jump drives but instead used for depth? A J2 drive can jump you 2 parsecs . A type 2 hull will let you dive safely to 2kms?
I'm thinking it might simplify the game play a lot, especially in a one off adventure or mini campaign.
Another fun effect of compression is nitrogen narcosis. *in my best grandpa voice* you kids are too young to remember the groovy balloons at a Grateful Dead Show! Our atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and at normal pressure it is harmless. When it liquidizes in the blood (or you "do a whip it") it makes you super loopy. Why NO2 is called laughing gas. It is a very serious thing happens when you are scuba diving (you can die because of it as sure as getting behind the wheel of a car while all liquored up). Imagine the air mix being wrong in an undersea colony. Go youtube "The Naked Now" Star Trek episode.