08-04-2018, 12:46 PM | #421 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
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08-05-2018, 12:09 PM | #422 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
Try this, a narcissistic billionaire, who made his money in biotech, has created a Proteus virus. Basically, this way overconfident genius thinks he has created a tool to add the equivalent of fifty IQ points (GURPS-speak +5 IQ) to everyone. In 2030 he releases the virus into a dozen busy airports worldwide.
Forty percent of the population died within six months. Of the remaining, six out of ten, five went insane. Most of these victims are like most mental patients harmless and more likely to be harmed than hurt. There is a small, less than one percent, pool of dangerous crazies. Given the social chaos, it's hard to keep these people under proper control. Note: Children born in the two decades since the plague average a GURPS IQ of 15. However, about ten percent of all children show strong sociopathic tendencies. Can society hold together?
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08-05-2018, 12:25 PM | #423 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
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08-06-2018, 05:35 AM | #424 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: The deep dark haunted woods
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
You're also dealing with a major societal collapse in either case, with major chunks of the population suddenly dead. People's need are going to be fairly fundamental for a while before they can get around to using those extra IQ points - the needs of the stomach overrides the needs of the brain, you know.
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08-06-2018, 07:29 AM | #425 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
A change in IQ for 1% of the population will probably not cause society to collapse, though it may result in some very large changes. An average woman who jumps from IQ 10 to IQ 15 will suddenly find the world opened up for her, though she will find that her friends and family no longer understand her, so she will feel alienated. She will also understand the problems of society more than she once did, so she will feel depressed and frustrated. Since the intensities of these sensations will be new to her, she may become suicidal or violent, or she may run off to be with other intelligent people.
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08-06-2018, 11:24 AM | #426 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
Willpower and Perception of 15 would allow said woman to quickly understand herself introspectively and power through whatever personal growth techniques are optimal.
IQ 15 is superhuman and would lead to creepy alien societies scaring the bejesus out of normies. And fear leads to violence in us humans.
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08-06-2018, 11:37 AM | #427 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
According to RAW, IQ 15 is well within human capabilities, and you can have up to IQ 20 without being superhuman. I think that, as a GM, a good fraction of my NPCs and PCs have been IQ 15+, and they have never done anything that I consider superhuman.
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08-06-2018, 12:29 PM | #428 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
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A sudden increase in the number of those people available would have significant impact on the world, but it would manifest in the medium and long term. Some of them will never get the education they need, others would lack motivation, and even those with both might spend a lifetime working on their contributions.
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08-06-2018, 07:19 PM | #429 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
IQ 15 characters are professionals in virtually every single mental skill with no training working off defaults alone. No real world human is like that.
But that's only IQ! 15. Willpower and Perception 15 is near Terminator determination and Sherlock Homes acuity. All together makes for a superhuman.
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08-06-2018, 08:51 PM | #430 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds
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