Dimension Book 2: Phase World (updates?)

[jburkett]

Hello, I am hoping someone might know the answer to this. A couple months ago I purchased a used copy of DB2 Phase World and on the inside cover the printed edition date is 1998. Has an updated version of this book come out since then with significant changes/updates/etc.? or am I good to go with this one? Thanks!

[Warshield73]

Hello, I am hoping someone might know the answer to this. A couple months ago I purchased a used copy of DB2 Phase World and on the inside cover the printed edition date is 1998. Has an updated version of this book come out since then with significant changes/updates/etc.? or am I good to go with this one? Thanks!

Your good. There are several new books that add to the Three galaxies but DB2 has not been updated or revised.

[gaby]

I hope they do it.
Update the art and add a few things.

[Warshield73]

I hope they do it.
Update the art and add a few things.

As has been discussed many times on these forums the entire Phase World setting needs a RUE like update. Many of the OCCs are lack any sort of hook to make them interesting, I'm looking at you Runner and Galactic Tracer, and spacecraft/space travel/space combat needs a massive rewrite.

I reject the idea that it should go harder sci-fi, i.e. like the Expanse, as this is a science fantasy setting but it does need clearer rules on sensors, computers, use of magic in space, etc. I just don't see it happening.

[gaby]

Your right,I would add Mos and Special skill to all the Occ.
All Ships would be removed and put in a Ships of the 3 Galaxies 2.
Maybe make Rules for making ships.

[glitterboy2098]

i would give it the Full Main book treatment. rules for play, making characters, etc. the setting is different enough that it deserves it.

i also agree that some of the ships could probably be dropped and moved to a 2nd fleet book. i'd leave the fighters and shuttles, but move the bigger ships to a fleet book, and replace them with some civilian stuff.. light freighters, couriers, yachts, etc. stuff that isn't military but which can have weapons. stuff that would make a good starting vehicle for a group of characters.

[Warshield73]

i would give it the Full Main book treatment. rules for play, making characters, etc. the setting is different enough that it deserves it.

i also agree that some of the ships could probably be dropped and moved to a 2nd fleet book. i'd leave the fighters and shuttles, but move the bigger ships to a fleet book, and replace them with some civilian stuff.. light freighters, couriers, yachts, etc. stuff that isn't military but which can have weapons. stuff that would make a good starting vehicle for a group of characters.

Phase World needs Hero Ships its that simple. I love the ships in Phase World, I mean seriously do you see my forums handle, but cruisers and battleships aren't really for player groups. We need ships that can still do things, i.e. shoot at and be shot at, but are small enough to be run by 1 to 6 players.

When I run my convention games, and Phase World is one that I run the most, I don't use Phase World ships for the heroes/PCs I use ships from O-Hour. These ships are great, and since I have done all the Kickstarters I have a pile of deck plans to use for my games.

When I bought RMB back in '90 most of my then 1st Ed Robotech players weren't interested. Now some became interested because of magic and psionics but what got others was the hero vehicles. Glitterboy, UAR-1 Enforcer, Behemoth. Phase World really only has a couple of fighters and the Silverhawk to do this, but nothing that draws players to want to live on it.

[glitterboy2098]

pretty much what i mean actually. we've got plenty of fighters in the main book and the one runner ship. but not much else the players can use. having greater variety of small ships (light freighters like star wars likes so much, or armed yachts, or patrol ships that adventurers might be able to get their hands on) would go a long way to improving the setting.

to put it in star wars terms, we need more "rebel" stuff (fighters, small freighters, etc) and less 'Empire" stuff (cruisers, carriers, and battleships)
using star wars as a guide for a moment, give us something like the HWK-290 (a fighter sized ship used as a freighter and courier), or the Action VI Transport (which can easily be adapted to serve as a Q-ships or pocket carriers), or the Luxury 3000 (a small yacht that is often uparmed for criminal use). etc.

right now we jump right from 'small runner ship' to 'super freighter' if you don;t want to use something military, and it is real frustraiting. sure some of the later books add a few more civilian ships.. but they tend to be huge and expensive, hard for a player group to use.

[Warshield73]

pretty much what i mean actually. we've got plenty of fighters in the main book and the one runner ship. but not much else the players can use. having greater variety of small ships (light freighters like star wars likes so much, or armed yachts, or patrol ships that adventurers might be able to get their hands on) would go a long way to improving the setting.

to put it in star wars terms, we need more "rebel" stuff (fighters, small freighters, etc) and less 'Empire" stuff (cruisers, carriers, and battleships)
using star wars as a guide for a moment, give us something like the HWK-290 (a fighter sized ship used as a freighter and courier), or the Action VI Transport (which can easily be adapted to serve as a Q-ships or pocket carriers), or the Luxury 3000 (a small yacht that is often uparmed for criminal use). etc.

right now we jump right from 'small runner ship' to 'super freighter' if you don;t want to use something military, and it is real frustraiting. sure some of the later books add a few more civilian ships.. but they tend to be huge and expensive, hard for a player group to use.

I think you are too kind in some ways. If you look at the ships in the first Phase World book the only real adventure ship id the Proctor, a ship with no art and a lousy name (I mean seriously Proctor, what am I doing flying through the cosmos or watching you take the SAT), and the Runner ship, lousy art and unbelievably generic.

I use to play the old Star Wars West End Game and that is one thing that was great about it, so many hero / rebel ships. But it wasn't perfect. Most of those ships were single seat fighters not ships for 3 to 8 people that could be homes for players.

We need a book of heavy fighters, corvettes, and couriers to help fill in the three galaxies.

[taalismn]

[
I think you are too kind in some ways. If you look at the ships in the first Phase World book the only real adventure ship id the Proctor, a ship with no art and a lousy name (I mean seriously Proctor, what am I doing flying through the cosmos or watching you take the SAT),.

Could be worse...could be the Proctologist("Goin' to PROBE you, @&&#^#^!"). And the only fan art I've seen on these threads has it as a boxy design reminiscent of an enlarged Scorpion fighter....(no offense to the guy who did it; they were limited by the imaging tools they had).

[Warshield73]

[
I think you are too kind in some ways. If you look at the ships in the first Phase World book the only real adventure ship id the Proctor, a ship with no art and a lousy name (I mean seriously Proctor, what am I doing flying through the cosmos or watching you take the SAT),.

Could be worse...could be the Proctologist("Goin' to PROBE you, @&&#^#^!"). And the only fan art I've seen on these threads has it as a boxy design reminiscent of an enlarged Scorpion fighter....(no offense to the guy who did it; they were limited by the imaging tools they had).

No joke, when I first started runnig PW after the first two books came out the ship the players were on had a Proctor onboard for a while and one of my players always called it the proctologist, going as far as making several...shall we say inappropriate...jokes when firing the fighters cruise missiles at the aft aspect of enemy ships.

[glitterboy2098]

i would assume that the name was meant to play off the Legal system use of the term, where Proctor means "a person who takes charge or or act int he name of another." in the modern legal system it is basically a fancy term for an attorney.
but it was an outgrowth of the old roman title of "procurator", which was sometimes used to refer to governors and tax collectors. but was mostly used for "a legal officer who both investigates and prosecutes crimes".. which back then would have been basically the local military constabulary.
i suspect the author meant for it to be the latter use, given the ship is basically a police ship, but had a bit of a research fail and used the wrong version.

[taalismn]

No joke, when I first started runnig PW after the first two books came out the ship the players were on had a Proctor onboard for a while and one of my players always called it the proctologist, going as far as making several...shall we say inappropriate...jokes when firing the fighters cruise missiles at the aft aspect of enemy ships.

"Oh yeah, when the Captain snaps on the rubber gloves before taking the controls? You know she means BUSINESS."

[gaby]

More Civilains ships and Surface Vehicles,maybe add versions from different Powers like CCW,UWW and TGE.
I would update Other books too,making Phase world:sourcebook 2,3 Galaxies 2.

[taalismn]

More Civilains ships and Surface Vehicles,maybe add versions from different Powers like CCW,UWW and TGE.
I would update Other books too,making Phase world:sourcebook 2,3 Galaxies 2.

The RL question, though, is...would you actually buy them?

Deciding what goes to print is a cautious balancing act of weighing development costs(paying somebody for their work on a manuscript, time spent revising and editing it with the author, time overruns...repeating same with editors and illustrators) +printing and distribution costs vs anticipated actual sales based on previous customer base demands vs actual sales figures for previous books.

It's easy to say "I want X, Y, and Z Make me up some X, Y, and Z", and then when a publisher comes out with X, Y, and Z, you decide for whatever reasons that you're not going to spend the money(bad financial situation, your gamer group loses interest, or you're turned off by early reviews) and the publisher is left with unsold copies rotting in a warehouse.

Admittedly electronic publishing dispenses with some of the risk, but there's still the whole initial phases, and going exclusively to electronic publishing annoys the hell out of the hardcopy fan base who may not be inclined to iPadding their RPG books.

[DhAkael]

Heck, even a decent Rifter article with better conversions to Rifts from Aliens Unlimited: Galaxy Guide ship-building rules set. sorry, but the "guidelines" from the 'Fleets' book was a wet [cesnored] which was helpful to no one.