I'm using the rules for a heroic campaign.
Basically, that means starting characters get a total of 66 ability points
to distribute among their attributes. All info from the Equipment
Guide, Starships and Dataware will be used, with any changes detailed further
down in this section. I'm not a big Grid fan, so this campaign most
likely won't rely too heavily on things like grid combat and such.
One other thing, this regarding ship design.
Life support systems in my campaign are integrated into the hulls of the
ships. They don't take durability or any significant power (this
doesn't include things like recycler units). Ships with some areas
without life support (ie cargo bays) can be bought at a lower price.
Star drives, as presented in the Gamemaster
Guide, don't exist. Although I may include them later as an alternate
means of transport, for now there are no star drives, drive waves, drive
space, etc.
The primary method of FTL travel is the warp drive. This drive shifts the ship into a "higher" reality, allowing for FTL travel. Understand this is not another dimension, but rather a different phase of this reality.
There are several different types of warp drives, although by far the most common is the standard warp drive. The first FTL drive made by humans was the fusion drive, allowing travel of up to 1LY/10 hours. The t'sa had invented the ion drive, rated at 1.8LY/10 hours. Finally, the fraal had their older versions of the current warp drive, able to go at up to 2.5LY/10 hours.
These all were outdated shortly after the war with the zaishan. Today, the fastest warp drive goes up to 8LY/10 hours. Slower models can still be bought at reduced prices. There are even slightly faster models, but they are only availiable to the military, and are still experimental.
Warp drives are powered by a partially regenerating thorium matrix and thus very seldom need to be refueled. Warp speed cannot be reached while a) in a planet's atmosphere, b) in a strong gravity well (ie close to a planet, or within about 10 AU of an average star), or c) within an artificially created graviton field. Likewise, a vessel traveling at warp speed cannot enter normal space within one of these conditions.
Hyperspace travel (shifting into another dimension
completely) is currently being studied, but scientists are a long way away
from any significant find.
The mass reactor is the standard power source
among the stars. A lot of colonies, especially back-water ones and
many mining colonies, still use fusion power. The only race that
has a few nuclear power plants are the mechalus, and these are quickly
being shut down as fusion technology becomes more readily availiable to
them.
Virtually nothing other than space stations use
solar power, and even space stations only use it as a back-up power supply.
The standard weapon for ships is the plasma
cannon. In VoidRunner, this weapon is of controlled status instead
of military only.
As for personal weapons, most pistols are common but heavier weapons are strictly controlled. That doesn't mean that there aren't heavy weapons for sale, but just that not many people can get them.
Also, under a couple of entries I have written something like "armed with a MKIII plasma cannon". A MKIII plasma cannon basically uses the durability and power of three normal plasma cannons and fires as one gun. So, a MKIII ship-mounted plasma cannon would do 3d6+6w/3d8+6w/3d6+3m. As you can see, this is a powerful weapon. To preserve game balance, these weapons are mostly mounted on space stations, or large battlecruisers, but not small vessels (ie like the PCs'). All weapons of MKII or greater are restricted class, and may only be purchased by militaries or governments.
With regards to force fields, currently the League
and any race encountered by the League does not have force field, or shield
technology. That isn't to say it doesn't exist, its just undiscovered.
The only PL8 ship weapon availiable to the League (and only the League
military) is the EM torpedo.
Basically, any race can be a mutant, although
none so profusely as the humans. The t'sa are just as good as screwing
around with their genes as humans are (although they do it more for sheer
curiousity). The fraal have experience several mutations in their
race, not all beneficial, but they don't tamper with their genetic structures.
Therefore, they may only be naturally occuring mutants, and in any case
may not have more than 4 mutation/drawback points. The weren and
seshayans cannot be natural mutants yet, but can be genetically enhanced
artificially. Neither can have more than 3 mutation/drawback points.
The mechalus cannot mutate, as the nano-probes in their bodies regulate
the genetic structure of their cells, destroying any deviants. Kar'Soran
mutants are unknown, but suspected.
Cybernetics exist, as well as cykoteks (gotta
take the bad with the good). They aren't what you'd call common,
but people usually won't stare. Most people who use cybernetics (other
than just the cosmetic stuff) belong to a military force, a group of successful
freelancers, or a criminal organization.
They're here too. My original plan was
to have the humans' government be selectively breeding psionically endowed
people, and sending them to a psionic education center. This was
to be a darker area of the human government. Then I started watching
Babylon 5 (as it just started to broadcast here) and knew that my idea
would be seen as a knock-off of Psi-Core. Therefore, I changed it
to the more benevolently fraal-run Mind Schools (although I'll probably
still have the human government mucking around with psionics somehow).
The Mind Schools mostly train telepaths, but there are three divisions
that specialize in different areas of psionic use: the Mind Knights,
Psi-Guard, and Biokineticists.
All of the rules for robotics will be used
in my campaign as well. However, for the first little while, no robot
PCs will be allowed. They are even more complex than organic PCs,
and since I'm just starting as a GM in this system, I want to keep things
as simple as possible. Later on, after I'm comfortable with the rules,
robot PCs will be availiable. Robot NPCs will also be availiable
soon.