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Shatterzone
''Shatterzone'' is a space opera role-playing game by West End Games. The game went out of print in 1997 after the company went bankrupt. The game is now back in print, owned and published by Precis Intermedia. The universe of ''Shatterzone'' shares some structural similarities to the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe including an intergalactic government called the Consortium (like the Republic from ''Star Wars'') run from a central region of space known as the Core Worlds, large megacorps that run galactic affairs (a theme common in the cyberpunk genre of storytelling), and a super-industrialized capital world, called Centaurus, but similar to ''Star Wars Coruscant. Likewise, there is a sentiment of xenophobia in the setting similar to that of the Empire in ''Star Wars''. Humans, Glahns, and Ishantras, the three ruling races of the Consortium and a few others are given full citizen status while other races suffer under prejudice and second-class-citizenship. In an interview wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shatterzone Box Set
''Shatterzone'' is a space opera role-playing game by West End Games. The game went out of print in 1997 after the company went bankrupt. The game is now back in print, owned and published by Precis Intermedia. The universe of ''Shatterzone'' shares some structural similarities to the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe including an intergalactic government called the Consortium (like the Republic from ''Star Wars'') run from a central region of space known as the Core Worlds, large megacorps that run galactic affairs (a theme common in the cyberpunk genre of storytelling), and a super-industrialized capital world, called Centaurus, but similar to ''Star Wars Coruscant. Likewise, there is a sentiment of xenophobia in the setting similar to that of the Empire in ''Star Wars''. Humans, Glahns, and Ishantras, the three ruling races of the Consortium and a few others are given full citizen status while other races suffer under prejudice and second-class-citizenship. In an interview wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masterbook
''Masterbook'' is a generic role-playing game that was published by West End Games (WEG) in 1994. Description The generic rules of ''Masterbook'', which do not have a specific campaign setting, use rules from both WEG's multi-genre role-playing game ''Torg'' (1990), and WEG's science fiction role-playing game '' Shatterzone'' (1993). Like ''Torg'', the ''Masterbook'' system utilizes two complementary forms of in-game conflict resolution: a unified dice mechanic, which is based on a roll of two ten-sided dice, and a game-specific deck of cards (the MasterDeck, similar to the Drama Deck in ''Torg'') that is used to influence random number generation, character actions, and the game's plot. Publication history ''Masterbook'' is a 176-page softcover book that was designed by Ed Stark, with interior art by Paul Daly, Jamie Lombardo, Ron Hill, Karl Waller, and Brian Schomburg, and cover art by Stephen Crane. It was published by WEG in 1994. A limited-edition 483-page hardbound vers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West End Games
West End Games (WEG) was a company that made Board game, board, Role-playing game, role-playing, and wargaming, war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product lines included ''Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Star Wars'', ''Paranoia (game), Paranoia'', ''Torg'', ''DC Universe Roleplaying Game, DC Universe'', and ''Junta (game), Junta''. History Scott Palter received a Juris Doctor, JD from Stanford University, Stanford in 1972 and joined the New York State Bar Association, New York State Bar before he began work at the family firm, Bucci Imports. Drawing on this financial connection, Palter was able to found West End Games, named after the bar in which the meeting that finalized its founding occurred: the West End Bar near Columbia University. Initially a producer of board wargames, In 1983, Palter hired Ken Rolston, Eric Goldberg (game designer), Eric Goldberg and Greg Costikyan as game design ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precis Intermedia
Precis Intermedia (formerly ''Politically Incorrect Games'' and ''Spectre Press'') publishes downloadable PDF-based and traditional printed role-playing games. They also publish downloadable paper gaming miniatures called Disposable Heroes, and other various miniatures and tabletop games. Precis Intermedia merged with Spectre Press, one of the first RPG publishers to offer PDF-based products on the internet. Games and products Precis Intermedia has brought back a number of previously out-of-print games, including Shatterzone, Masterbook, Bloodshadows, Darkwood, Supergame, Maelstrom Storytelling, and A Fistfull of Miniatures. The company has also published its share of original roleplaying and tabletop games, including Treasure Awaits!, HardNova 2, Ghostories, EarthAD.2, Two-Fisted Tales, Lord of Olympus, Active Exploits Diceless Roleplaying, Warcosm, and Brutes. Other notable products include Disposable Heroes Paper Miniatures, The Amazing 8in1 Die, Exiled in Eris, and Eldrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torg
''Torg'' is a cinematic cross-genre tabletop role-playing game created by Greg Gorden and Bill Slavicsek, with art by Daniel Horne. It was first published by West End Games (WEG) in 1990. Game resolution uses a single twenty-sided die, ''drama cards'' and a logarithmic results table, which later formed the basis for WEG's 1992 sci-fi RPG '' Shatterzone'' and 1994 universal RPG ''Masterbook''. WEG produced over fifty supplements, novels and comics for the first edition. A revised and expanded core rule book was produced in 2005, with a single adventure. After WEG closed in 2010, ''Torg'' was sold to Ulisses Spiele, who, after a successful crowdfunding campaign, published a new edition called ''Torg: Eternity'' in 2018. ''Torg'' is set on Earth during an alien invasion, and players play archetypal heroes from differing genres. The game's title, ''Torg'', refers to an in-game title that individual leaders of the invasion strive to achieve. Overview ''Torg'' is set in a near fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precis Intermedia Gaming
Precis Intermedia (formerly ''Politically Incorrect Games'' and ''Spectre Press'') publishes downloadable PDF-based and traditional printed role-playing games. They also publish downloadable paper gaming miniatures called Disposable Heroes, and other various miniatures and tabletop games. Precis Intermedia merged with Spectre Press, one of the first RPG publishers to offer PDF-based products on the internet. Games and products Precis Intermedia has brought back a number of previously out-of-print games, including Shatterzone, Masterbook, Bloodshadows, Darkwood, Supergame, Maelstrom Storytelling, and A Fistfull of Miniatures. The company has also published its share of original roleplaying and tabletop games, including Treasure Awaits!, HardNova 2, Ghostories, EarthAD.2, Two-Fisted Tales, Lord of Olympus, Active Exploits Diceless Roleplaying, Warcosm, and Brutes. Other notable products include Disposable Heroes Paper Miniatures, The Amazing 8in1 Die, Exiled in Eris, and Eldrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clandestine Operation
A clandestine operation is an intelligence or military operation carried out in such a way that the operation goes unnoticed by the general population or specific enemy forces. Until the 1970s, clandestine operations were primarily political in nature, generally aimed at assisting groups or nations favored by the sponsor. Examples include U.S. intelligence involvement with German and Japanese war criminals after World War II. Today these operations are numerous and include technology-related clandestine operations. The bulk of clandestine operations are related to the gathering of intelligence, typically by both people (clandestine human intelligence) and by hidden sensors. Placement of underwater or land-based communications cable taps, cameras, microphones, traffic sensors, monitors such as sniffers, and similar systems require that the mission go undetected and unsuspected. Clandestine sensors may also be on unmanned underwater vehicles, reconnaissance (spy) satellites ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asteroid Belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called asteroids or minor planets. This asteroid belt is also called the main asteroid belt or main belt to distinguish it from other asteroid populations in the Solar System such as near-Earth asteroids and trojan asteroids. The asteroid belt is the smallest and innermost known circumstellar disc in the Solar System. About 60% of its mass is contained in the four largest asteroids: Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. The total mass of the asteroid belt is calculated to be 3% that of the Moon. Ceres, the only object in the asteroid belt large enough to be a dwarf planet, is about 950 km in diameter, whereas Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea have mean diameters less than 600 km. The remaining bodies range down to the size of a dust particle. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Technophobes
Technophobia (from Greek language, Greek τέχνη ''technē'', "art, skill, craft" and φόβος ''phobos'', "fear"), also known as technofear, is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers. Although there are numerous interpretations of technophobia, they become more complex as technology continues to evolve. The term is generally used in the sense of an irrational fear, but others contend fears are justified. It is the opposite of technophilia. Larry Rosen, a research psychologist, computer educator, and professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, suggests that there are three dominant subcategories of technophobes – the "uncomfortable users", the "cognitive computerphobes", and "anxious computerphobes".Gilbert, David, Liz Lee-Kelley, and Maya Barton. "Technophobia, gender influences and consumer decision-making for technology-related products." European Journal of Innovation Management 6.4 (2003): pp. 253–263. Prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terraforming
Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make it habitable for humans to live on. The concept of terraforming developed from both science fiction and actual science. Carl Sagan, an astronomer, proposed the planetary engineering of Venus in 1961, which is considered one of the first accounts of the concept. The term was coined by Jack Williamson in a science-fiction short story ("Collision Orbit") published in 1942 in '' Astounding Science Fiction'', although terraforming in popular culture may predate this work. Even if the environment of a planet could be altered deliberately, the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary environment that mimics Earth on another planet has yet to be verified. While Venus, Earth, Mars, and even the Moon have been studied in relation to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles ( neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of energy. This difference in mass arises due to the difference in nuclear binding energy between the atomic nuclei before and after the reaction. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers active or main-sequence stars and other high-magnitude stars, where large amounts of energy are released. A nuclear fusion process that produces atomic nuclei lighter than iron-56 or nickel-62 will generally release energy. These elements have a relatively small mass and a relatively large binding energy per nucleon. Fusion of nuclei lighter than these releases energy (an exothermic process), while the fusion of heavier nuclei results in energy retained by the product nucleons, and the resulting reaction is endo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten-sided Die
In geometry, a pentagonal trapezohedron or deltohedron is the third in an infinite series of face-transitive polyhedra which are dual polyhedra to the antiprisms. It has ten faces (i.e., it is a decahedron) which are congruent kites. It can be decomposed into two pentagonal pyramids and a pentagonal antiprism in the middle. It can also be decomposed into two pentagonal pyramids and a dodecahedron in the middle. 10-sided dice The pentagonal trapezohedron was patented for use as a gaming die (i.e. "game apparatus") in 1906. These dice are used for role-playing games that use percentile-based skills; however, a twenty-sided die can be labeled with the numbers 0-9 twice to use for percentages instead. Subsequent patents on ten-sided dice have made minor refinements to the basic design by rounding or truncating the edges. This enables the die to tumble so that the outcome is less predictable. One such refinement became notorious at the 1980 Gen Con when the patent was incorrectl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
