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Message no. 1
From: Phaeros Lostchilde <shilberg@********.UNI.UIUC.EDU>
Subject: Space colonies
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 20:50:37 -0600
What si the status of space colonies in Shadowrun? I know there are lots of
orbital habitats, but are there any colonies on the Moon? Mars? The asteriod
belt (for mining)? Or is this something for the NAGEE I could take a crack at?

-------------
Steve Hilberg (aka Jarred Wellsley "the Necromancer")
Mudder and Shadowrun Player Extraordinaire!
See me on Armageddon (studsys.mscs.mu.edu 4444)
Or Mail me at shilberg@********.uni.uiuc.edu
Message no. 2
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 21:05:49 -0600
On Fri, 14 Jan 1994, Phaeros Lostchilde wrote:

> What si the status of space colonies in Shadowrun? I know there are lots of
> orbital habitats, but are there any colonies on the Moon? Mars? The asteriod
> belt (for mining)? Or is this something for the NAGEE I could take a crack at?

Steve, FASA has ignored space outright. There is nothing on Luna or Mars
or the Jovian moons. Furthermore, as far as I remember, there isn't
anything in any of the NAGEEs about activity outside of Terra.

I recommend, if you are interested in adding space goodies to your
ShadowRun game, to get GURPS: Terradyne, which deals with a megacorp
running the planets in the Sol system. It is very grisly for the most
part, and has some good facts on what kinds of minerals and other goodies
can be found outside of Terra. Actually, I can't recommend it enough (as
the long-term members of this list know :-)

____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu
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Message no. 3
From: "C. Paul Douglas" <granite@********.CLARK.NET>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 00:57:20 -0500
On Fri, 14 Jan 1994, Phaeros Lostchilde wrote:

> What si the status of space colonies in Shadowrun? I know there are lots of
> orbital habitats, but are there any colonies on the Moon? Mars? The asteriod
> belt (for mining)? Or is this something for the NAGEE I could take a crack at?

If you ask me a moonbase is a must if you have a bunch of orbiting
stations with no natural resources of their own a good book on the
subject is "Welcome to Moonbase" by Ben Bova..It approaches the idea like
you are reading a welcome to the team book from a corp that has a base.
Really thought prevoking.
-------------------------------------GRANITE
Message no. 4
From: Phaeros Lostchilde <shilberg@********.UNI.UIUC.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 00:15:21 -0600
Personally, I don;t like GURPS. I was just wondering. I have to assume that
at least Ares has a lunar facility (they bought NASA, after all) and are making
a killing on liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel. Mars is a little further off
(and there doesn't appear to be much of interest there) so I can see why the
corps ignore it, and the asteriods are REALLY far away.

-------------
Steve Hilberg (aka Jarred Wellsley "the Necromancer")
Mudder and Shadowrun Player Extraordinaire!
See me on Armageddon (studsys.mscs.mu.edu 4444)
Or Mail me at shilberg@********.uni.uiuc.edu
Message no. 5
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 00:23:58 -0600
On Sat, 15 Jan 1994, Phaeros Lostchilde wrote:

> Personally, I don;t like GURPS.

Actually, I don't like GURPS very much either, but I will say that their
source books are VERY good and well researched. And good GM can easy
adapt the ideas to their genre.


____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu
\ /__ -=-=-=-=- <=> -=-=-=-=-
\/ / Finger for Geek Code Info <=> To flame me, log on to ICBMnet and
\/ Finger for PGP 2.3a Public Key <=> target 44 09' 49" N x 93 59' 57"
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Message no. 6
From: "Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 02:06:58 -0800
Steve Hilberg said:

>>Personally, I don;t like GURPS. I was just wondering. I have to assume that
>>at least Ares has a lunar facility (they bought NASA, after all) and are
>>making a killing on liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel. Mars is a little
>>further off (and there doesn't appear to be much of interest there) so I can
>>see why the corps ignore it, and the asteriods are REALLY far away.

That's a pretty big assumption. NASA doesn't have a moonbase today. In fact
there are no plans for a moonbase in the forseeable future. Thus Ares could
not own the former NASA moonbase (it wouldn't exist).

Also, I think a landmark moment in History would have made it into the SR
Timeline, or the existance of an Ares Moonbase would have made it into
Corporate Shadowfiles.

===============================================================================
See Ya in Shadows, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."
Jason J Carter -- Deep Throat, The X-Files
The Nightstalker Carter@***.EDU
Message no. 7
From: "Brian E. Angliss" <ANGLISS@***.PSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 09:49:02 -0500
for space stuff, the other good place is CP Deep Space. It gives rules for
radiation damage, hardening electronics and cyber against radiation, weapon
effects on thin hulls in space, transmission times for decking, all kinds of
stuff. I'm looking forward to having the time to convert it over to SR.

Brian
Message no. 8
From: Gian-Paolo Musumeci <musumeci@***.LIS.UIUC.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 12:09:06 -0600
A short piece of advice that I've found useful in other SF RPGs. Get a copy
of a book like Hurlbut and Klein's "Manual Of Mineralogy, 19th ed." It's
really nice - detailed descriptions on all but the rarest minerals, and an
index of rarities and usages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gian-Paolo Musumeci /// ///
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign \ // / /
Supercomputing Applications \ //// _/ /
caris9-4@****.edu \_ //// /
\___/ /
PGP 2.2 Public Key Available Upon Request / \_
/,)-_( \_ \
(/ \\ / \\\\
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is //
indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke ((`
Message no. 9
From: Richard Pieri <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 1994 20:17:29 -0500
>>>>> On Fri, 14 Jan 1994 21:05:49 -0600 (CST), "Robert A.
Hayden"
>>>>> <hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu> said:

RAH> I recommend, if you are interested in adding space goodies to
RAH> your ShadowRun game, to get GURPS: Terradyne, which deals with a
RAH> megacorp running the planets in the Sol system.

Or, if you don't want to go much farther than Earth orbit, read
_Hardwired_ and check out the CP2020 supplement by the same name, both
authored by Walter Jon Williams.

|||| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ||||
| Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu> WWW Page: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/USER/ratinox |
| GAT d@ -p+ c++ !l u+ e+(*) m-(+) s n---(+) h-- f !g(+) w+ t- r+ y+ |
|I have one prejudice, and that is against stupidity. Use your mind, think!|
| --Zoner <megazone@***.wpi.edu>|
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Message no. 10
From: Dennis E Watson <dew6171@****.ACNS.FSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Space colonies
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 11:45:20 EST
Greetings.

I have been interested in space colonies in SR for a while now. After
reading the Guide to Real Life and most recently the Corporate Shadowfiles,
I have come to the conclusion that anything done with space in SR will have
to be concocted by the GM, as FASA does not seem to give it any priority.
I believe that there is more space activity than is mentioned in the
source material. Real Life mentions Aztechnology evacuating a colony in
a big hurry, and Ares has a dominate space presence. Tir Tairngire can lazer
dazzle satellites, and it's a big deal. I like the idea of using space.
I especially like the idea of having my super-powerful mages and gun-toters
rely on hand-to-hand, or, _gasp_, interaction. But I digress.
I haven't seen the GURPS thingy, I'll have to take a look. CP Deep Space
is a must read for any GM thinking about introducing space. You'll have to
tweak the timeline, and backtrack a little, but it's good stuff. Also, as
someone has said, read _Hardwired_, and Gibson's _Nueromancer_ and _Count
Zero_.
As for the Crash of '29 hosing up all space stuff, well, I agree. But
there are reasons to go into space, as Space will become the next safety
valve for the expansion of humanity. Ares seems to have a lock on it in
SR, and that means that Ares controls who goes to the stars. Anyone want to
make bets on whether Ares is building colonies to house their most secure
projects? Where better to do cutting edge IC reasearch? You can even do it
hooked to the Matrix, 'cause no one will survive your ice. They'll be dead
before they know the Black IC has hit them. Delays in the links to a space
colony are a superb defense. And Biospheres on Mars and Titan would make
great places to do totally secure reasearch.
And if you take this tack, you can easily explain to your players that
the reason no one knows about the space colonies is because the corps are
hiding their existence from each other.

Well, that's my spin on this thing.

Dennis Watson -- No witty .sig today.
Message no. 11
From: The Powerhouse <P.C.Steele@*********.AC.UK>
Subject: Space colonies
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 13:38:51 GMT
Space colonies:

Ok, this one was discussed sometime ago, I'll try to summarise.

The major factor that needs to be observed is the profit margin. There are
very few occasions when the corps will proceed with something that doesn't
look like it will bring a profit in the near future.

Ways to make money in space.

Reasearch : Top security and access to zero-grav will make possible many things
(esp in the area of crystals, drugs etc) that are not possible on earth.

Leisure : I still kinda like this idea but it got blasted last time. I had in
mind an orbital Disney world type place.

Manufacture : If any manufacturing were to be done it would be of small
componets such as chips or medical supplies. Assembling whole computers in
space would be cost prohibitive, however those components which could only be
made in space and could be sold at a high enough premium to offset the excessive
costs incurred by space travel would almost certainly be sold ( ie profit >
cost ).

Financial services : No need to put these in space as the financial services
must be connected to the matrix, if the added security of a sattelite link is
needed all that need be done is have the host computer connected to the matrix
though a sat link.

Well I think I've briefly covered the main areas of trade and industry, now I
come to the moon.

Originally I was all for the moon and in some ways I still am but my orginal
ideas were to do with mining the moon. Now believe it or not this may prove
too cost prohibitive, even though there will be no enviromental pressures to
affect such things as open cast mining. The problem is water, or rather the
lack of it. On the Earth the key to mineral deposits is water, over many
milllions of years water has slowly disolved elements, minerals etc and by
some natural selection process has allowed deposits of these substances to
occur in areas that can be mined for a profit. That is why only certain areas
of the world are rich in gold, iron, copper etc... Without water you don't
have this collection effect so it is safe to assume that on the moon all the
elements and minerals are still uniformly distributed as they were on the day
the moon was formed. It is therefore my belief that mining would not be a
viable prospect on the moon.

As to other projects well there will probably be some staging post for further
exploration of the planets. The Mars project I heard about long ago involved
flying to the moon, building a self contained habitat then waiting till the
moon and Mars were close before flying to Mars. There will probably be some
research but all in all not much more than will be carried out on the space-
stations.

Phill.
--
Phillip Steele - Email address P.C.Steele@***.ac.uk | Let's get out there
Department Of Electrical & Electronic Engineering | and TWAT it !
University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England |
Land of the mad Geordies | The Powerhouse

Further Reading

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