Future-tech medicine in Traveller

[Condottiere]

 

[MonsterX]

E-STIM can help preserve a little bit of muscle when a patient is unable to move but it is NOT a means for getting jacked. I assure you, that man spends time in the gym, with weights and does not use E-STIM, except maybe to sell the product on infomercials. Electrically shocking yourself to produce muscle contractions is also not exactly pleasant - so if you're able to move on your own it is better just to do it that way. Fortunately, our bodies come equipped to do these things naturally (but then, nobody can make any money off of that). There are actual drugs on the horizon which might put muscle mass on people without exercise - these are a likely future medical tech.

 

[Condottiere]

Anabolic steroids.

Though, side effects bollocks.

 

[MonsterX]

Anabolic steroids.

Though, side effects bollocks.

Yes, but those don't work unless you work out hard. They just raise the ceiling on how much work you can do and still recover and get benefits. You have work out like crazy to take advantage of them. And of course there's the organ damage, roid rage, acne and impotence. What most people really want is to be able to sit on the couch, watching Netflix, eating Pringles, and drinking vodka from a gallon jug, and still have 40 cm biceps and six-pack abs. Steroids won't get you there, but things that will do seem to be coming down the pipeline. So there's hope yet for me.

This would explain how STR 12 characters can spend every other week on a cramped ship with no gym and still be STR 12.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Yes, but those don't work unless you work out hard. They just raise the ceiling on how much work you can do and still recover and get benefits. You have work out like crazy to take advantage of them. And of course there's the organ damage, roid rage, acne and impotence. What most people really want is to be able to sit on the couch, watching Netflix, eating Pringles, and drinking vodka from a gallon jug, and still have 40 cm biceps and six-pack abs. Steroids won't get you there, but things that will do seem to be coming down the pipeline. So there's hope yet for me.

This would explain how STR 12 characters can spend every other week on a cramped ship with no gym and still be STR 12.

In the old nuclear missile submarines, the sailors used to use the missile area for working out. It was the only place on the sub large enough. My guess is that cargo bays would work the same on spaceships.

 

[Arkathan]

I used to use the pipe hangers in the engineering space as a jungle gym. Not enough room for flips, but I could hit the logs without touching the deck.

 

[Condottiere]

There's always gamma rays.

One could try working out in engineering.

 

[Longboat]

The Captain could just tweak up the G rating in the deck plates, making it a tad harder to move, for a few hours. That could substitute for a workout as the crew went about its daily routine.

 

[actionman]

The Captain could just tweak up the G rating in the deck plates, making it a tad harder to move, for a few hours. That could substitute for a workout as the crew went about its daily routine.

That would probably have negative effects on cartilage, joints, and the heart.

I'm sure ships would have some kind of all in one home gym machine and a treadmill. That or spacers get exercise by heaving their obese bulk out of their bunk to get another bag of snacks.

 

[Arkathan]

There's always gamma rays.

One could try working out in engineering.

I was getting those regardless of any exercise while on watch. Most of the instruments and gages were on the reactor shield wall.

 

[actionman]

There's always gamma rays.

Damn right there is.

 

[Longboat]

That would probably have negative effects on cartilage, joints, and the heart.

I'm sure ships would have some kind of all in one home gym machine and a treadmill. That or spacers get exercise by heaving their obese bulk out of their bunk to get another bag of snacks.

I've seen, in CT Traveller--maybe MT, that a Captain would gradually change the deck grav plating to the surface gravity of the destination world, taking the week to gradually get the crew used to it for when they docked.

 

[Condottiere]

Increasing the deck gravity for increased exercise, is a science fiction trope.

In Traveller terms, I'd say one hundred forty percent is safe for default humans.

Should establish a baseline for Vargr and Aslan.

 

[Longboat]

I'm sure ships would have some kind of all in one home gym machine and a treadmill.

If you've ever created a ship and deckplans using CT Book 2, then you learn quickly that there's just no room for bulky equipment for that use, not unless if folds up into the wall or elevates out of the deck.

And, maybe that's how it is done. Maybe the rec room it deckout with gear like that, all of it easily folding, sliding, collapsing in the deck, ceiling, and walls. One night is movie night, and enough seats spring out of the floor while a screen falls from the ceiling. Then from X time to Y time, the workout equipment is available for crew and passengers--or, maybe those would be separated. If the ship will serve, maybe a circuit can be set up in the corridors for jogging the length of the ship bow to stern. That makes me think of the opening scene of the new Battlestar Galactica pilot movie where Starbuck is out for her jog, running around crewmembers and such. Whattaya hear? Nothing but the rain!

 

[actionman]

If you've ever created a ship and deckplans using CT Book 2, then you learn quickly that there's just no room for bulky equipment for that use, not unless if folds up into the wall or elevates out of the deck.

And, maybe that's how it is done. Maybe the rec room it deckout with gear like that, all of it easily folding, sliding, collapsing in the deck, ceiling, and walls. One night is movie night, and enough seats spring out of the floor while a screen falls from the ceiling. Then from X time to Y time, the workout equipment is available for crew and passengers--or, maybe those would be separated. If the ship will serve, maybe a circuit can be set up in the corridors for jogging the length of the ship bow to stern. That makes me think of the opening scene of the new Battlestar Galactica pilot movie where Starbuck is out for her jog, running around crewmembers and such. Whattaya hear? Nothing but the rain!

And it's details like this, how the player characters and NPCs around them adapt to their circumstances, which add to the verisimilitude of the setting!

 

[Longboat]

And it's details like this, how the player characters and NPCs around them adapt to their circumstances, which add to the verisimilitude of the setting!

Yes, sir! It's also where the Ref often applies his creativity. Take the dry numbers and make them live.

I saw MWM say something one time that has always stuck with me. People where on the CotI forum, griping about the UWP for worlds and how it turned out unrealistic places. Marc answered and said one of the things that he still likes about the game is that he can look at a string of numbers--the UWP for a world--and wonder how the place got to be that way. He said that there are a lot of wonderful, unexpected things that happen in nature.

I've always loved that perspective of Traveller. It's the one I use to this day.



Another thing to point at is the excellent article that Loren Wiseman wrote in the From The Management section of JTAS #2 (the original JTAS, of course). He brought up that there was no laser pistol in the game. There was a laser rifle and a laser carbine, but no pistol. Then he said something brilliant. He said that Traveller already provides everything needed for a Ref to get creative and create a laser pistol for his game. Loren went on to take the laser carbine as a starting point, then he started tweaking its stats. It's a great point and a great little exercise showing how versatile the original CT game can be.

 

[actionman]

Marc answered and said one of the things that he still likes about the game is that he can look at a string of numbers--the UWP for a world--and wonder how the place got to be that way. He said that there are a lot of wonderful, unexpected things that happen in nature.

I've always loved that perspective of Traveller. It's the one I use to this day.

I absolutely agree! What happened? The person, place, or thing exists in the setting, so what must have happened, what conditions must exist or have existed for this thing to be?

I'm approaching this from the opposite direction in my Dark Imperium thread and the discussions that inspired it: These conditions exist in the setting, so what will they cause?