Transhumanism / Bioengineering and Cybernetics

[Dyrewulf]

Anyone given thought to put some of this to the mongoose traveller?
The setting I am working on has moments where transhumanism becomes very important...then kinda slips off into the night to make an appearance later on...
Is there a good site that may be easy to convert stuff?

 

[EDG]

It'd be worth checking out SJG's Transhuman Space books - they're excellent resources on Transhumanism (and geneering, and nanotech, and AI, and all that other fun stuff). Then you can figure out how to convert from there, but they may well have some ideas you hadn't thought of.

 

[Duroon]

In the core book they have a very small section of enhancements for characters. They also mention that such things are looked down upon in the Imperium. I would imagine that other societies would have a different viewpoint on the subject. Until a few more supplements come out I will be looking through a lot of the GURPS stuff for additional equipment and options.

 

[Infojunky]

I will second looking at Transhuman Space from SJG, lots of stuff to be mined in there. Some of the R.Talsorian's Cyberpunk is worth while also.

While some will say even the current author of the Mongoose edition that there is very little trans/post humanism thought within Traveller, they would be wrong. It has been within the frame the entire time, it is just the stories/adventures are not focused on them.

Or might not be making my self clear, Transhuman Space, cyberpunk, and to some extent Shadow Run are all about the changes within the societies during the change. While within Traveller there might be societies undergoing these said changes, but the they are just minor pieces within a larger framework.

 

[Klaus Kipling]

Another good candidate for an OGL/TTL supplement.

 

[Infojunky]

Another good candidate for an OGL/TTL supplement.

You betcha, been thinking about that since the OGL Traveller announcement.

 

[-Daniel-]

Another good candidate for an OGL/TTL supplement.

I would not mind seeing one of those.

Daniel

 

[Klaus Kipling]

Having said that, a lot of transhuman ideology is just so much bollox.

Having had some personal dealings with the Extropians back when I was writing my dissertation I can safely say they are loons, but it's a given that some kind of genetic modification and cybernetic intervention is inevitable. I just think that it will cause as many problems as it solves.

TMB does a very good job of covering the basic concepts very simply. A supplement would not need a lot of mechanical info, but good commentary of how the tech might work and the affect on society would be very useful.

 

[Dyrewulf]

Not to mention the effects on transhumanism can vary on the desired effect...I wanted to build out different types...allowing a player, or gm to tailor make a character race.
This isn't for OTU so I don't have to worry about their laws, however the setting I am developing does outlaw it for a time, which even sparks a civil war.
I just think that humanity will strive for immortality and greatness when ever they can...atheletes today are bigger, stronger, faster, have more endurance than those 2 decades ago...and with health sciences moving forward, the same will be the case in 2 decades again...same with the avg lifespan of a human...it is continuing to go up...so what will the avg human lifespan be in 500 years? Will a human be tailor designed for specific tasks?
Today you can choose the sex, eye and hair color...what if I want my son to be able to benchpress 500 pounds and not look like a gorilla...(world record is 1005 lb) but also be able to compete academically... this is all easilly manipulated with science, especially within 50 years...whats possible in mere centuries blows my mind.

 

[Duroon]

Take a look at the movie Gattaca. The average human is gene-tailored in the womb to be a perfect specimen, the drawback though was that ambition to better oneself was lost along the way.

 

[Dyrewulf]

Oh I loved that movie...but I think the human spirit is too strong (personally) to allow that....course thats just my own opinion.

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

That is what creates the tension in such a setting though. Likely there will be BOTH types of people: those that want perfection and those that pay for perfection...

 

[Dyrewulf]

For instance, like in cyberpunk and loss of humanity as you gain cybernetics...but if someone thrives and truly loves the machine parts, does that make them less human/humane? Perhaps with the transhuman rules a simple humanity stat should be added...dunno

 

[Infojunky]

Having said that, a lot of transhuman ideology is just so much bollox.

Having had some personal dealings with the Extropians back when I was writing my dissertation I can safely say they are loons, but it's a given that some kind of genetic modification and cybernetic intervention is inevitable. I just think that it will cause as many problems as it solves.

A massive part of the problem with those who label them selves as Transhuman is that they are for the most part of Utopians. Just get into a discussion with over their change from post-human to transhuman.

Just for the record I am a posthumanist, in that I understand the changes we are on the brink of being able to make to ourselves will fundamentally change our nature. No telling if it is gonna be for good or evil.

 

[Golan2072]

In my old, discontinued ATU one of the polities was both post-human and post-planetary. They were the descendants of belters who've fled the Sol system when it became a hellish war-zone, seeking better life in the asteroid belts of distant stars. They lived their entire lives off-planet in small belter habitats or ships, and were extensively cybered, first to adapt to a lifetime in zero-G and later (for some of them) to allow them to operate in vacuum without a suit. They embraced cybernetics and biomods whole-heartedly and thought it to be a conscious form of evolution. They also thought that living in space was a sign of a culture's maturity.

In many ways they were quite alien.

I might end up using a variant of them in my next ATU as well...

 

[Eisenmann]

This would be a very cool supplement since it could add a lot to a game.

One of the favorite games that I ever ran was a "setting" that I whipped up where there were two different classes of people on Mars. Reds and Blue. Reds were originally modified to work on Mars' partially terraformed surface unassisted by a pressurized suit. Blues were from the blue planet, Earth and still required some sort of suit to be able to survive.

Eventually the Reds decided that they wanted independence, destroyed the space elevator and the pressurized dome over Mog-City. This led to chaos, civil war and mass starvation of Blues.

The PCs were sent to bring control of the city so that the space elevator could be reopened.

Ran it with Silcore but MGT with Mercenary would be a great choice. Top it off with a supplement to give more options to "enhance" the NPCs.

 

[klingsor]

The loss of humanity was just a game balance thing for the Cyberpunk game – but a very clever one that is all too easy to imagine. A friend summed it up perfectly – if you have a cybernetic eye that puts a targeting reticule over everyone you see with range information this is going to mess with your head.

I still have problems with the basic idea, why would I want to replace a perfectly good arm (well a bit ugly at he moment because of sunburn) with a metal one?

This is a very important subject and an interesting one but one that either did not exist when Traveller was written or went right past them.

 

[Klaus Kipling]

This is a very important subject and an interesting one but one that either did not exist when Traveller was written or went right past them.

Indeed, but this is a new version of Traveller for today and therefore this stuff is very relevant, not just for other settings and in general but is also useful for use in the OTU too (if sparingly ).

I think the way to treat it is similar to the way Traveller tends to view technology in general - be conservative when assessing its utility and weigh up all the cons as well as the pros.

Godlike ubermensch (at least if they're not the arch villains) and blue goo are boring in terms of an rpg

 

[Vile]

I still have problems with the basic idea, why would I want to replace a perfectly good arm (well a bit ugly at he moment because of sunburn) with a metal one?

Without any grand plan, we have always assumed some level of cybernetics in our Traveller games. Not to the extent of replacing perfectly good bodyparts, but as an alternative to character death (in generation, and sometimes in play). So, there were always a few people around with cybernetic replacement parts, but only ninja-types would ever be enhanced* willingly. At that level of use, cybernetics did not really affect society as a whole, or at least no more than prosthetics do in the RW. They do, however, add a nice SF touch to the background, and can serve to remind players that they are in the Far Future, not a modern-day detective game.

*In fact, most cybernetics in our games were not enhancements at all, but one-for-one replacements. Enhancements, unless very subtle, got you into trouble at customs. :wink:

 

[zozotroll]

According to the trade system, cyber is pretty common. And expensive of course.