 February 17, 2016 - 3:28pm | Let's face it, in a universe where rescure is at best 10 days or more away, the Serena Dawn survival kit is not really adequate in any way. So I set about updating it. http://starfrontiers.wikia.com/wiki/Survival_Kit,_High_Quality Opinions? |
 February 18, 2016 - 1:30pm | the Serena Dawn survival kit is not really adequate in any way. Technically it was adequate in the way the module was written: the UlMor encounter takes place when the party reaches the travel limits on the map or when their supplies run out, whichever comes first. In essence, the party could simply hang around near the lifeboat wreckage and when their food & water expire the UlMor show up. But I agree on the premise of an actual and sensible survival kit, I've house ruled many such kits in my game up to and including what players want for their own ship based lifeboats. For the most part, they end up as extensions/expansions of the kit found in Crash on Volturnus. |
February 18, 2016 - 3:15pm | Well, the CoV kit stuff is essential survival supplies, just nowhere near enough of them. |
February 18, 2016 - 4:02pm | Which is why it's always a good idea to have an environmentalist in the group.  |
 March 3, 2016 - 11:02am | I'm unsure of the need to triple up on some resources in an emergency survival kit. Do you really need 3 methods of fire starting? In all likelihood any given survivor will default to the everflame which will be adequet for 8 days worth of survival which is what the kit seems geared for. Dropping the "extras" saves wt. and space which would be critical Especially since the pack hold 8 liters of water. To my mind you're packing too much. Also in the tradition of Star Frontiers being only a little bit beyond today's tech (aside from the space ship tech) I would say you should have some advanced tech like a filter mask that filters small particles from being inhaled but also condenses H2O from respiration. This would allow you to reduce the water pack to 4 L. We just need to find some numbers on amount of water lost by the average human as a base line. Radiophone might not be a good solution for extended range of communication as it added wt. The chronocom combined with a becon to alert rescuers to the locale would be enough. What you do not want is too much wt in the kit lest it trigger 1/2 movement rule from excessive weight being carried. I'd even question the inclusion of some weapons. A pistol firing bullets might be as useful if not more useful than a laser. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 3, 2016 - 11:55am | Yes, 3 methods of making fire is the reccomended number for a quality kit. Preferably packaged so they aren't all in one place in the kit. What if you drop that everflame? As to stored water. It should have been at least 11 liters (~3 days) worth. And that's not terribly much considering that there may not be local potable water (or enough of it), and that rescue is more than likely at least 9 days to a two full weeks away: time to get a distress signal, mount a party and get it there if the rescue party is only 1 jump away (minimum 8 days travel). Water collecting filter mask? Shall we just go full stillsuit? ;) We probably could if you wanted to break your own limitation of "just beyond todays tech" (which is theoretially ok...we're nowhere NEAR man-portable combat lasers tech and the game has that too...). You can get a modern "radiophone" (essentially a shortwave/HAM radio) with that 1000 km (or greater) range today. Not much bigger than an 80s "walkie talkie" or much heavier. Not a bad deal weight to utility, esp if you're trying to co-ordinate potentially widely scattered groups of survivors. I understand your concern about the movement rule abstractly. But a piece of equipment should be meta-designed around the rules, IMO, but around the question "Will this do the job it should do"? For whatever credence you choose to give it, I ran this loadout by people I know and trust with military/general survival training, and the consensus was that it was a very good, comprehensive "generalist" survival kit (meaning one for the average layman). I went back and forth about the weapon, but given the idea of 1 weapon plus 1 mag, a laser makes sense. The damage is a lot more fine-tunable (any number up to 10/shot), and more efficient than an autopistol. To do 5d10, for example, with a laser uses 5 "rounds"/SEU. You can make 4 shots on one powerclip. To do 5d10 with an autopistol, you have to "burst fire", which burns half your clip, giving you only 2 shots. Then there's range... :) Which is probably why they chose them for the SD kits, IMO. Could I have done it differently? Sure, I could have gone "absolute minimalist" (which is what I argue the SD kit is). That wasn't what I set out to do though. I do appreciate the input though. Always good to have someone make you double check your thinking. |
March 3, 2016 - 12:41pm | To do 5d10 with an autopistol, you have to "burst fire", which burns half your clip, giving you only 2 shots.
Or you could fire five single bullets at 1d10 each. Granted you can only fire three per combat turn and have to roll individual hits for each. Also noteworthy, the burst is applicable for up to five targets with an additional d10 damage for each additional target...all divided by the number of targets. The benefits are worthy of the supply expenditure. |
March 3, 2016 - 12:56pm | In survival situations in a 0g: pistol can be used to impart momentum to a space by firing in the opposite direction of the one he wants to travel in. US military provided pilots with a 38 in their survival kit during Vietnam I doubt that has been upgraded to an auto pistol today. Semi-automatic of SFman would work for me. In addition one might pull the ammo and use ones multi tool to open bullets and use the gun powder for a mirad of uses from cauterizing wounds to improvised explosives. Survival kit weapons should not be top of line weapons like the hand laser since they are essentially "free" weapons for the players. This is a decision made by a referee not necessarily someone actually tasked with building a kit. But based on the real world example of the US military I don't think it's a bad think for the weapon to be a "token measure" like the Vietnam era 38. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 3, 2016 - 1:00pm | I do see your point. If you view things in those terms, your argument may be correct. In a survival situation, I'd rather have the flexibility of the laser myself to either "sip" at those 20 rounds or "chug" if the situation called for it. |
March 3, 2016 - 4:44pm | I wouldn't include a weapon in a survival kit for the simple reason that anyone can access it. Textbook example: your party is ferrying a group of refugees across the Frontier. One of them takes a side trip to your lifeboat and snaps up all the guns (whatever type they may be), dispersing them among his/her buddies. Now you have a mutiny on your hands, enabled by your own survival kits that you stowed in a readily accessible public area. Even if it's just one guy acting alone, he has up to 20 guns from that twenty passenger lifeboat to use against you. While you're reloading, he just drops his empty gun and fires the next fresh one. He doesn't even have to worry about ammo conservation, he can blast away with maximum firepower each shot. |
March 3, 2016 - 6:03pm | In such a case, you obviously didn't secure your lifeboat very well. In any game I ran, to pull that off he'd have to break into the lifeboat without triggering the automatic launch cycle (mentioned in the first Volturnus module) or setting off the emergency alarms, then break the kits out of their sealed storage which would set off another alarm. Not a good idea. But that's my game. :) |
March 3, 2016 - 11:16pm | No doubt the crew can punch a code that lets them enter a lifeboat for service and maintenance and it won't cycle for launch. And just the knowledge of the presence of weapons in survival kits would tempt lowly crewman to supplement their income. In fact wouldn't that be an interesting twist to the Volturnus adventure: survival kits have been pilfered for food, weapons, and electronics that were sold on the black market. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 4, 2016 - 1:18am | Short game then, given the circumstances the PCs find themselves in... |
March 4, 2016 - 9:23am | Short game then, given the circumstances the PCs find themselves in...
Not really since there is a bit of Deus ex Machina or referee fiat in that the Ul Mor will show up to save the PCs fromdying of hunger or thirst. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 4, 2016 - 10:07am | Yeah, but that doesn't help them against the nasty critters before then or after then, to say nothing about the Star Devils. |
March 4, 2016 - 11:20am | Yeah, but that doesn't help them against the nasty critters before then or after then, to say nothing about the Star Devils.
Neither does a pistol with one clip, let alone the shock gloves, brass knuckles, and whip lifted from the Serena Dawn pirates. Hence the railroading. |
March 4, 2016 - 1:34pm | Eh. I'd think that at least the pistol would be of use at least against 2 or 3 critters, depending on size. :P |
March 4, 2016 - 8:11pm | Well, yeah...one of those two or three. But you'll be using the pistol butt on the next one. ;) |
