Re: Lo-tech moon shot

> Subject: Lo-tech moon shot

> Problem: 1-5 Individuals of tech 6-8 stranded on an earth type world at TL0,
> their only means of returning to civilisation is to get to the TL15 vessel on
> the planets moon.

> Question: Given time (assuming anagathics if nescessary) could a ship be
> built to get to the moon?

> One solution offered thus far is a lo-tech Lifting Plane that is got upto
> hi altitude by balloons.

> PAVEWAY

I would probably forget the lifting-plane/balloon idea.  They will eventually
need a rocket and a guidance system anyway to get to the moon.  They would
probably be best served by concentrating on that objective, then building one
BIG enough to get them into orbit.

As far as accomplishing it, there are a few factors to consider:

o What are their skills and aptitudes?  If a few of them are astronauts and
  the others are engineers and skilled craftsmen, then they would have a
  better chance.  It would take years to build up a technological base to
  even try to accomplish the task, though.  They would need metal foundries,
  a way to generate the propellant, probably electrical generators, etc.

o Do they have help from the natives?  This could lead to some interesting
  campaign developments.  If they could learn to communicate with the natives
  they could set up a religious following where the "priests" are taught to
  select the most intelligent of their followers to become priests themselves
  in the PC's "holy city".  Some would go back into the world.  Others would
  work on improving the technological base.  Some would eventually be able to
  learn skills that the PC's don't possess (eg: none of them could ever quite
  get the hang of celestial navigation, even though they understood the basic
  concepts).  This offers many plot variations.  The commoners (and perhaps
  most of the priests) would consider the technology magic.  They might react
  badly to this or to the priesthood (which steals their children).  The
  religion would have to teach ethics, morality, and spirituality (like a
  real religion) to keep the commoners happy.  The world might get "turned
  on" to technology.  Wars could be waged.  The PC's could be regarded as
  gods.  The PC's might have children (by other PC's or natives).  What will
  happen when the PC's leave?

I think with the right set of skills, the PC's should be able to rebuild the
technological base necessary.  The problem is that if they are missing any
skills, they would have no way to learn them, unless they had a "how things
work" book.

Even if they understand all of the skills that they need, they might not have
the aptitude for certain things.  They also would probably need raw muscle.
The natives could help here, as well as developing some (very few) skills
once they are taught the basics about a field.

You as GM could guide them along the religion lines through some type of
developments (the natives begin bringing offerings, perhaps), and then show
them that it is not easy being a god (when they have to teach the natives to
stop eating each other).  Once they start referring to the natives as "their
people", you have them hooked.

By the way, where are they going to get anagathics?

,-----------------.
|Gerald S Williams|
|[email removed]|
|  [phone removed] |
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