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02-27-2017, 08:06 AM | #11 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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It's not that game settings don't need bad guys. It's that they need ones that the PCs are allowed to kill or otherwise decisively defeat.
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Fred Brackin |
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02-27-2017, 08:52 AM | #12 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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I think the value of memetics and pheromones and similar things is that they're more obvious reminders that social interaction is fundamentally an attempt to subvert and 'hotwire' another mind using the tools one has in the pursuit of one's goals. People easily forget that when talking about diplomacy, almost as easily when talking about looks and charisma and voice, but not as easily when talking about smells and mathematical/psychosoftware tricks. Saying "Look, all infuences are a form of software tricks!" shatters the illusion, somewhat unpleasantly, it seems. |
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02-27-2017, 09:11 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
They tend to make poor opponents in rpgs. You usually can't stop them. Especially in ways that let the PCs walk away afterwards.
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Fred Brackin |
02-27-2017, 11:43 AM | #14 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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The actual rules for memetics are anemic enough to just work as slightly more effective propaganda despite all the fluff dialogue implying creepy mind control. Most people really are easily manipulated in specific ways. It's a drawback of being social creatures.
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Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
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02-27-2017, 03:44 PM | #15 | ||
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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Imagine a TL5 world which has fiction with energy sources which seem to be holding more energy than chemical bonds can possibly hold. Then by the end of TL5 or beginning of TL6 of the world, people start decrying this fiction because obviously the Etheric Shockwave Theory has been conclusively proven to be wrong. Of course they never imagine that Nuclear Physics, not Etheric Shock Theory, are the path to achieving results similar to those in their fiction. THS biochemistry is TL10, as are their memetics; the fact that the word 'pheromones' has been chosen instead of something more generic like 'aerosol influence supplement', because it forces a setting to conform to a specific way of achieving a result. Quote:
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02-27-2017, 03:57 PM | #16 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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As to the previous issue, I wouldn't call mind controlling toxic gases completely alien to normal human biology pheromones. I suppose those in setting may use it as a shorthand, but I think it muddies the topic for many modern players that may not know the difference.
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Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
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02-28-2017, 01:35 AM | #17 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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Also, 'mind-controlling toxic gases' is both a loaded term and, if I understand what you mean correctly, just one of the possibilities. One other idea I'm thinking of is a way to use scent to trigger the effect of certain emotions by a purely sensory-hack method, in a way similar to how certain images and sounds produce visual or audial illusions: an exploit of a flaw in the human perception, of a neural pathway that is not triggered under normal circumstances etc. |
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02-28-2017, 11:37 AM | #18 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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It actually might not be totally dissimilar to the issues around the being made of meat (and hence just another animal) one.
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02-28-2017, 11:48 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
Not really. In the end, things that are important get significant resources assigned to them, so our relatively small olfactory cortex indicates that smell isn't very important and thus has limited ability to influence our behavior.
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02-28-2017, 11:55 AM | #20 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: Parahumans: What types do you think the canon needs, what type would you like to
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