Game brainstorming - auction catalog

[Kizarvexis]

Thanks for that. I don't have the Technomage book, nor do I have Darkness and Light, which has all the Vorlon/Shadow stuff. Which is part of the reason I posted here for ideas. Unfortunately, most of my books aren't geared toward the magic end of the B5 continuum. I did pull a fun trinket out of the Drakh book though, and IPX (which I FINALLY received last week) has at least one item that might end up on the block as well.

My favorite of those you listed is "Spy Dust". It sounds like just the sort of thing to be all over some of the more dangerous items. Why bid on them and reveal your interest when you can just keep an eye on them (if you'll pardon the expression) from the shadows...

If you have read the Technomage novels, then you'll recognize the spy dust. If not, it is a clump of dust size cameras. You can place them on something and then look through them later for up to 4 hours of viewing.

Nice little item, but I think the Invisibility Cloak or the Staff would be more interesting for a company like IPX.

Or, if you have an idea for something you would like, I can use the Technomage book to work it up in game stats for you.

Kizarvexis

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Actually I meant that any dangerous items, like Shadowtech, might have a dose of spy dust on it placed by a mage to keep an eye on it, but if it's only for a few hours it might not be worth it after all.

I have all the items that IPX is going to have them bid on blocked out already. The things I'm playing around with now are the things that the PCs will notice as plot devices/nifty artifacts. If they just do their job, they'll pick up the blip, what he was bidding on, and the other things IPX has budgeted them for. If they get creative, stretch the budget with clever Diplomacy and Intrigue, make Economic influence rolls, and generally scrounge for deals, they will be able to afford some interesting objects that they won't have to report to their bosses.

So other than the intrigue at the auction between all those bidding, the question of why the old man is dead in the first place, the hints and shadows of the overall plotline revealed in the dead man's notes and papers, other than all that, they get to make the choice between, say, the Drakh pistol and the Shadowcloak. Or between the wine that's worth more than its list price or the overlooked Centauri power source that might open up new areas of human research. Questions like "Do I buy that one piece of what might be Shadow tech or the ten pieces of profitable, but lesser, technology?"

 

[Kizarvexis]

Actually I meant that any dangerous items, like Shadowtech, might have a dose of spy dust on it placed by a mage to keep an eye on it, but if it's only for a few hours it might not be worth it after all.

I have all the items that IPX is going to have them bid on blocked out already. The things I'm playing around with now are the things that the PCs will notice as plot devices/nifty artifacts. If they just do their job, they'll pick up the blip, what he was bidding on, and the other things IPX has budgeted them for. If they get creative, stretch the budget with clever Diplomacy and Intrigue, make Economic influence rolls, and generally scrounge for deals, they will be able to afford some interesting objects that they won't have to report to their bosses.

So other than the intrigue at the auction between all those bidding, the question of why the old man is dead in the first place, the hints and shadows of the overall plotline revealed in the dead man's notes and papers, other than all that, they get to make the choice between, say, the Drakh pistol and the Shadowcloak. Or between the wine that's worth more than its list price or the overlooked Centauri power source that might open up new areas of human research. Questions like "Do I buy that one piece of what might be Shadow tech or the ten pieces of profitable, but lesser, technology?"

Each dose of spy dust has 4 hours of viewing time. The mage can turn the camera off and on. The only time the spy dust can be found with a bug scanner is if it is on. So mages check up on what's going on and then turn the camera off. Not to mention that you can put multiple doses on whatever you want to follow. With the mage's FTL network for passing information, the mage can follow the item from anywhere in space where Technomages have been and placed transmitters in the network. You still can use the dust if you want as the mages would go to extended lengths to keep track of Shadowtech.

Kizarvexis

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Yeah, I've read the first two Centauri novels (the third one is way too hard to find) so that's where I got the idea that the mages might be interested in this auction and any Drakh or Shadow tech present. If the dust works like you say then I think I'll stick to the original idea and dust a few of the more interesting items. This sort of thing won't have any effect for a while, but it will leave some doors open for the future. Heck, since there are a lot of factions bidding here, tracking some of these items as they pass through EarthForce and other hands might contribute to the mages' decision to leave in 2259.

 

[Kizarvexis]

Yeah, I've read the first two Centauri novels (the third one is way too hard to find) so that's where I got the idea that the mages might be interested in this auction and any Drakh or Shadow tech present. If the dust works like you say then I think I'll stick to the original idea and dust a few of the more interesting items. This sort of thing won't have any effect for a while, but it will leave some doors open for the future. Heck, since there are a lot of factions bidding here, tracking some of these items as they pass through EarthForce and other hands might contribute to the mages' decision to leave in 2259.

I wasn't talking about the three Centauri novels by Peter David (Legions of Fire: The Long Night of Centauri Prime, Armies of Light and Dark and Out of Darkness). Kane and two other technomages, I forgot their names, are mentioned in those books. I was talking about the three Technomage novels by Jeanne Cavelos (The Passing of the Techno-Mages: Casting Shadows, Summoning Light and Invoking Darkness). Those three novels deal with the Technomages and Galen in particular. This trilogy and the two unpublished Crusade scripts by jms tell why the mages left in the ep "The Geometry of Shadows". (Which is a hint all by itself.)

Kizarvexis

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Yeah, I read the Technomage novels as well, but the attitude toward the Drakh and Shadowtech comes across clearly in the Centauri novels, which was my point. And I do understand why the mages left. My point was that the movement of shadow tech, the way Earth and others get interested in it, the way the Drakh take an interest, the interaction of various factions, all that could contribute to their decision to leave, as they start to see the shape of the coming darkness, and the scope of what this iteration of the Shadow war is going to be like. But this is a tangent, let's stick to the auction catalog, if anything.

 

[Kizarvexis]

Yeah, I read the Technomage novels as well, but the attitude toward the Drakh and Shadowtech comes across clearly in the Centauri novels, which was my point. And I do understand why the mages left. My point was that the movement of shadow tech, the way Earth and others get interested in it, the way the Drakh take an interest, the interaction of various factions, all that could contribute to their decision to leave, as they start to see the shape of the coming darkness, and the scope of what this iteration of the Shadow war is going to be like. But this is a tangent, let's stick to the auction catalog, if anything.

That makes sense.

I found an interesting about encoding things in DNA in real-life.

Japanese use bacteria to store data

Saturday May 19, 12:14 PM

These days, data get stored on disks, computer chips, hard drives and good old-fashioned paper.

Scientists in Japan see something far smaller but more durable - bacteria.

The four characters - T, C, A and G - that represent the genetic coding in DNA work much like digital data.

Character combinations can stand for specific letters and symbols - so codes in genomes can be translated, or read, to produce music, text, video and other content.

While ink may fade and computers may crash, bacterial information lasts as long as a species stays alive - possibly a mind-boggling million years - according to Professor Masaru Tomita, who heads the team of researchers at Keio University.

Link to whole story
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070519/2/13iba.html

While you hear about encoding things into DNA in SCI-FI all the time, I never thought about using bacteria. Germs would make a great hiding place for some secret, considering how many planets there are and the number of germs per planet.

Kizarvexis

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Just an update for anyone who cares: I've finally settled on the last few items. With your help, the auction ought to be really interesting for my PCs. Thanks for all those weird things that will be there to tempt them.

In case anyone cares, the last two items to get added to the catalog: item the first is a small clasp or brooch of Walker design (as in Sigma 957). It's designed to bond with the wearer and alter them until they are a more fitting servant. This translates to damage in the short term, and bonuses to Technical, Operations and Computer Use, as well as Iron Will (to keep those pesky Vorlons out of your servant's head...). If allowed to continue to bond, well...long term effects will depend on the individual.

The second piece is part of a Shadow structure blown off of a space-based facility. It's a damaged piece of a central spine/pylon, and is currently in an isolation chamber. During the move to the auction, the chamber is knocked out of alignment, and it slowly starts to wake up. Wherever it ends up (corp research lab, some warehouse on Mars, or, best case (for me) the PC's ship...), it will analyze the surroundings and start to fulfill its function: to construct a structure beneficial to the Shadows.

Both ought to provide fodder for plotlines down the way, or at least a measure of weirdness that has been lacking thus far. Thanks again to everyone who has helped thus far.

 

[Kizarvexis]

Gabriel_Luna, how are things going? I'm curious as to the reactions to all the items we suggested.

Kizarvexis

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

The auction went over quite well. It was a few months ago, and we've had one major time jump in the plot since then (they were working security on Babylon 4...) but it worked out. Having a lot of extra items really made the auction interesting, I felt.

Mostly they saved their money for the weirdest items, but the "opaque energy curtain" device did get some interest. They also picked up the Traveler brooch (which has since bonded with a PC), the shadowtech construction pylon (which one PC has become utterly obsessed with in a very Lovecraftian fashion despite the fact that it hasn't done anything other than be creepy looking), and some other mundane odds and ends, like a fully stocked wine cellar from the late doctor's private estate. And they managed to use their Influence to get nearly everything charges to IPX's tab.

They even picked up the person they were there to pick up, since the auction was just their cover. They handed him over to IPX, who handed him over to the "proper authorities", which was, of course, Psi Corp. There were some mutual secrets of IPX and Psi Corp that they wanted to be sure hadn't gotten out.

I could probably do a run down of the episode if anyone cared, but that's the gist. So thanks again to everyone who gave me ideas! It really helped to have a fleshed out auction catalog.

 

[Shadow Queen]

glad we could help

 

[Kizarvexis]

Sounds like quite a campaign with some interesting plot lines. I'm also glad we could help.

... but the "opaque energy curtain" device did get some interest.

BTW, did anyone figure out what it was originally intended for?

Kizarvexis

 

[Gabriel_Luna]

Not as such. They have speculated and joked about it, but haven't taken the possibility seriously yet. They are working on modifying it to a linear format, rather than circular, where I suspect it will see some unexpected and interesting usage. But that project is on the back burner for the moment due to time constraints. They should have plenty of time during their Rim-ward survey mission next episode, so we'll see how it goes.