Science?!!

[xiombarg]

Okay, in the Burning Sands campaign I'm setting up, the players have opted for nobles, and they want to play a black-sheep family of nobles bred as scientists.

Therefore, we have a physicist, a biologist, a chemist, a computer scientist (forbidden!) and a sociologist.

How does one represent those disciplines, skills-wise, in Burning Sands? It's not clear to me. Are computers "Alien Technology"? What about chemistry? Or biology? And so on. Obviously the Psychlogy skill is a different thing from "normal" psychology or sociology... Are sciences just -wise skills, or what?

I notice there's a "Science" skill but the description of it is rather silly and sarcastic, so it's not clear to me what it covers, and whether it it's supposed to be specialized like a -wise, or what?

:confused:

[Thor Olavsrud]

Physics = the skills Science and Quantum Physics

Biology = the skills Anatomy, Science, Planetology and Genetic Engineering

Chemistry = the skills Science and Planetology

Computer Science = Alien Technology

Sociology = the Sisterhood (Economics, Economics Engineering, Religious Engineering)

Sounds like you're going to have a game full of Court Doctors, 9 Ambassadors, Imperial Scientists and Sisters.

[xiombarg]

They have a close relationship with 9, that's for sure. That's already been established in our background discussion. Their planet is a cyberpunk nightmare.

As far as Sisters, there's no male path for sociology, other than being the Mahdi? Even on a primitive level?

[Thor Olavsrud]

They have a close relationship with 9, that's for sure. That's already been established in our background discussion. Their planet is a cyberpunk nightmare.

As far as Sisters, there's no male path for sociology, other than being the Mahdi? Even on a primitive level?

You could always buy the skills with the general points that Analyst gives you, if you have to.

The reason this is difficult is that the setup that you've got isn't really reflected in the Dune source material. We can make it fit, but it's a bit of a stretch, you know?

In the Dune universe, the hard physical sciences and mathematics were the domain of the Guild, the soft sciences (economics, psychology, sociology, politics) were the domain of the Bene Gesserit, and technology was the forbidden domain of Ix.

The nobility was pretty squarely focused on mercantile pursuits and warfare.

That said, there's no reason what you guys are going for can't be done. I do have a rather important question for you though:

What are you guys envisioning these characters doing in the game? Because the Jihadis that you build to oppose them will be pretty effective. I'm worried that the players are going to spend all their skill points on science skills that frankly aren't all that useful in the game.

[xiombarg]

They're going to be spending points on other stuff. Each has two specialties, i.e. Swordsman/Sociology, and I'm giving them five lifepaths. The both scientists and patrons of scientists, if that makes sense.

They're expecting it to be a bit tragic. The jihad's goal is to kill them and destroy their industrial base, returning the planet to its lost agrarian roots.

I believe the intent is to use science to research their way out of trouble in some cases. Death machines. Tailored plagues. Poisons. You know, science. :)

If you're morbidly curious as to what they came up with, look here:

http://tinyurl.com/2aw2jr

[luke]

Burning Sands is designed to encourage characters with more than 5 lifepaths.

[xiombarg]

Burning Sands is designed to encourage characters with more than 5 lifepaths.It's funny you should say that, because I was seriously considering raising it to 6 or 7, considering how many Lifepath's they'll have to take in order to do what they want. (And considering the Salt allows a lot of longevity...)

[Thor Olavsrud]

It's funny you should say that, because I was seriously considering raising it to 6 or 7, considering how many Lifepath's they'll have to take in order to do what they want. (And considering the Salt allows a lot of longevity...)

Characters in my games have tended to be between 6 and 9 lifepaths. The average has been 7 or 8.

[xiombarg]

Characters in my games have tended to be between 6 and 9 lifepaths. The average has been 7 or 8.Noted. The last thing I ran for these guys was Nobilis, so they can probably handle the power involved here. I was just being conservative at first, as per the BW rulebook.

[stormsweeper]

For reference, you can see the characters made for the playtest games:

http://www.burningwheel.org/wiki/index.php?title=A_World_Shall_Burn#Players

http://www.burningwheel.org/wiki/index.php?title=Throne_of_Fire#Characters

Our Noble-side characters were pretty much 2 LPs higher than the Jihadi ones, across the board.

[xiombarg]

Thanks for the links!

To return to my original question to some degree: What does the Science skill DO? Teach you the scientific method? Give you a broad foundation in all sciences? The description in the supplement if amusing but not useful.

:confused:

[Thor Olavsrud]

To return to my original question to some degree: What does the Science skill DO? Teach you the scientific method? Give you a broad foundation in all sciences? The description in the supplement if amusing but not useful.

I'm not deliberately being unhelpful, but what would you want to do with it in game?

[xiombarg]

I'm not deliberately being unhelpful, but what would you want to do with it in game?Well, I could turn this around and ask why it's included in the game if it doesn't do anything. I mean, you give uses for Quantum Physics, even if you suspect nothing would happen with regard to that.

If I understand what my players are planning correctly, they're going to be leading teams of elite researchers (the smartest vassals they have) to try to figure out solutions to their impossible situation. Doing things like trying to figure out an artificial substitute for Salt, for example.

[stormsweeper]

The primary use would probably be as FoRKing or Helping dice to appropriate tests, really, although you could also set an Ob for a pure Science test for "discovering" something. I would go for high Obs, long test times, and interesting options in failure here.

[xiombarg]

The primary use would probably be as FoRKing or Helping dice to appropriate tests, really, although you could also set an Ob for a pure Science test for "discovering" something. I would go for high Obs, long test times, and interesting options in failure here.That makes reasonable sense to me. Thor, what do you think?

[Thor Olavsrud]

seems fine to me.