Futuristic Sci-Fi Traveller
- Thread starter dragoner
- Start date
alex_greene
Guest
When I started playing Traveller, Portuguese would have whizzed over my head. Nowadays, I can imagine a Far Future in which Portuguese, and not English or Mandarin, is the lingua franca of space ...
It was either that, Esperanto or Klingon.
It was either that, Esperanto or Klingon.
alex_greene said:
I imagine all languages would bear the crux of importance on worlds, English as a lingua franca maybe, but a Blade Runner-ish mix as well. Portuguese, Chinese, Hindi; automatic translators to ease the transition, but also just multiple languages on one package. I have experience with the Balkans/SE Europe, from where my family is from, it is strange for someone to speak one language. I could say that the Language skill, applied in that manner, would a skill in how to speak languages, and not for use on a singular one.
ShawnDriscoll
Cosmic Mongoose
alex_greene said:
Depends on who gets there first, and who they allow to immigrate in.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Instant translators will take care of human language issue, cultural and economic imperialism will determine most common language.
Economics.
"Money is a sign of poverty."
"It takes money to make money."
"People starve for the lack of money."
The Core worlds don't use money, not on a day to day basis like today, what is more important to them are kudos, social distinction. Economies have always advanced, today all advanced economies are mixed-market, the future will see further advances.
The Outer Core is moving away from money, though IP and real property still have value.
The Mantle is still mostly mixed market economies, there can be a huge amount of variance.
Crust societies totally vary.
"Money is a sign of poverty."
"It takes money to make money."
"People starve for the lack of money."
The Core worlds don't use money, not on a day to day basis like today, what is more important to them are kudos, social distinction. Economies have always advanced, today all advanced economies are mixed-market, the future will see further advances.
The Outer Core is moving away from money, though IP and real property still have value.
The Mantle is still mostly mixed market economies, there can be a huge amount of variance.
Crust societies totally vary.
Tom Kalbfus
Mongoose
The first and the last sentences contradict each other, if money was a sign of poverty, then people would not want to have it, the middle sentence only applies if you are an investor.dragoner said:
Use of Weapons
There are a variety of low to mid tech weapons available, many, in as much as you could print some sort of pistol today. Grav tanks, battle dress, fgmp's and all that, even disintegrator pistols; they exist, but are rare. Without any major wars, there haven't been any large stocks of these weapons made, esp as the TL rises, who would the weapons be used against, other humans? We do this now, try to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals, and up to states, and destructive technologies.
Rules against WMD's will be most vigorously enforced, with Bioweapons the most outlawed, followed by persistent chemical and the nuclear explosive.
A good adventure could be that a high tech ship is stolen and hidden somewhere out amongst the millions of stars and the Republic sends a Diziet Sma/Servalan type from the core or outer core to try to get it back. The pc's find who stole it, who in their last dying act, hand them a card key which imprints them on the ship's AI, last dying words from the thief: "Cause chaos."
There are a variety of low to mid tech weapons available, many, in as much as you could print some sort of pistol today. Grav tanks, battle dress, fgmp's and all that, even disintegrator pistols; they exist, but are rare. Without any major wars, there haven't been any large stocks of these weapons made, esp as the TL rises, who would the weapons be used against, other humans? We do this now, try to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals, and up to states, and destructive technologies.
Rules against WMD's will be most vigorously enforced, with Bioweapons the most outlawed, followed by persistent chemical and the nuclear explosive.
A good adventure could be that a high tech ship is stolen and hidden somewhere out amongst the millions of stars and the Republic sends a Diziet Sma/Servalan type from the core or outer core to try to get it back. The pc's find who stole it, who in their last dying act, hand them a card key which imprints them on the ship's AI, last dying words from the thief: "Cause chaos."
A
Anonymous
Guest
I may be being dense (again) but could you explain "imprints them on the ship's AI" a little and perhaps give it context?
hiro said:
I'm mixing Blake's Seven and the Culture; I was just thinking that the card key could be the macguffin of the adventure, but I have had another thought of that maybe the ship's AI stole itself? I recently read about an AI built to recognize photos, began to give wrong answers and they could not figure out why, then they came to the conclusion is that it might have become bored.
Bored ship steals itself, runs away and looks for some pc's to hang out with and cause chaos, not exactly malevolent, but just up for whatever. PC's given control because, hey, why not? Mother AI in the core is worried to where her little ship has run off to, sends the Diziet Sma/Servalan type, who is just as likely to have hired the PC's or others to find it.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Me not being a Blake's 7 fan might explain my missing the reference.
Bored AI/ship does sound amusing. It gives the GM a free hand to challenge the players tho I would hope the GM gives the AI a good dose of charm to help alleviate the players fear and the chance that they'll try to "solve" the AI's boredom as if it were some kind of psychosis.
Bored AI/ship does sound amusing. It gives the GM a free hand to challenge the players tho I would hope the GM gives the AI a good dose of charm to help alleviate the players fear and the chance that they'll try to "solve" the AI's boredom as if it were some kind of psychosis.
ShawnDriscoll
Cosmic Mongoose
Because it was bored. Not because of 101 other far more interesting reasons why. Boring players might go for such a hook though.dragoner said:
hiro said:
The AI might not let on, letting the players think that the card key is everything, but that it was only ever a useless chunk of plastic. How long would it take the players to guess the ship's computer might be a little more than it seems? Maybe they wouldn't look that gift horse in the mouth, like "Hey, this ship can fix itself ... cool."
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Card keys come in cases.
alex_greene
Guest
Condottiere said:
Card keys come in cases.
I am thinking like a hotel card key, or something; not sure where the "In Every Dream Home a Heartache" is coming from, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSniBxXjK_8 But people are weird.
Militarism
While there hasn't been big wars, there have been brush fire wars, often fought by small groups of mercs, like in the Magnificent Seven. The Republic maintains a small standing Army and Navy, and as far as it goes, Imperium can just be replaced by Republic in chargen, and it is fine, I don't feel like reinventing the wheel there. Nowhere near the size of the Imperium though, and TL's aren't all that high as procurement budget is low, and better just handled by worlds in the mantle.
Law Enforcement
Mostly local, but there is a RoELEA (Republic of Earth Law Enforcement Agency) mostly pursuing people who have broken the law with crimes like possession of forbidden tech or WMD's or the use of such. Punishment can vary, usually a mindwipe and therapy to "fix" the offender.
Generally the Core favors a soft touch in both military and law enforcement, brute force is frowned upon in favor of diplomacy and soft power "Guidance" (manipulation) which can generate kudos in particularly artful instances. Things could change, there is various intrigue about both a change within and a outside war.
Militarism
While there hasn't been big wars, there have been brush fire wars, often fought by small groups of mercs, like in the Magnificent Seven. The Republic maintains a small standing Army and Navy, and as far as it goes, Imperium can just be replaced by Republic in chargen, and it is fine, I don't feel like reinventing the wheel there. Nowhere near the size of the Imperium though, and TL's aren't all that high as procurement budget is low, and better just handled by worlds in the mantle.
Law Enforcement
Mostly local, but there is a RoELEA (Republic of Earth Law Enforcement Agency) mostly pursuing people who have broken the law with crimes like possession of forbidden tech or WMD's or the use of such. Punishment can vary, usually a mindwipe and therapy to "fix" the offender.
Generally the Core favors a soft touch in both military and law enforcement, brute force is frowned upon in favor of diplomacy and soft power "Guidance" (manipulation) which can generate kudos in particularly artful instances. Things could change, there is various intrigue about both a change within and a outside war.
Tom Kalbfus
Mongoose
What if one of the players was the AI? What if one of the players played a dead human frozen and then recreated as an AI computer? Low berths have risk after all, but the brain might be scanned where the body was lost, the unfortunate low passenger wakes up as a Ship's AI, he has no body but he ca contro a ship and see through its cameras.ShawnDriscoll said:
