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Old 10-13-2012, 04:04 PM   #1
Hans Rancke-Madsen
 
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Default Looking for mcguffin

One of my firends just wrote a very nifty historical fantasy adventure involving the hunt for the book containing all of Imhotep's magic spells and rituals (The Necronomicon, it turns out, only contains a handful of the most destructive spells that Abdul Alhazred managed to copy from the book while it was in the hands of the Knights Templar).

I'm thinking about transposing the adventure to my Traveller setting, and for that I need an SF type counterpart to a book of magic spells.

Here's what I need:
* The device is an Ancient Artifact (or Forerunner artifact to make it generic SF).

* It confers a subtle but powerful advantage on the group that possesses it. The group grows rich and powerful in mere decades without arousing serious suspicions in anyone (There are always conspiracy nuts, of course).

* It can be stolen, The former owners may or may not get along without it on sheer inertia.

* The owning group is not immune to being destroyed for reasons unconnected with the device (Like the Knights Templar were destroyed because they became too tempting a target for King Philip).

* Ideally the device is the size of a breadbox and can be carried around by a single man, but that's not absolutely necessary.
So what sort of science fictiony superscience device would confer a powerful advantage that doesn't proclaim the existence of something odd and powerful?`


Hans
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Old 10-13-2012, 04:31 PM   #2
johndallman
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen View Post
So what sort of science fictiony superscience device would confer a powerful advantage that doesn't proclaim the existence of something odd and powerful?
Some kind of oracle. A device that provides information from the future, or otherwise unobtainable. A good example is Exordium from Alisdair Reynolds' Revelation Space setting. Obviously, it has to be quite limited in some (or many) ways, to allow for the existence of suspense in the story.

Last edited by johndallman; 10-13-2012 at 04:33 PM. Reason: plotting
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Old 10-13-2012, 05:06 PM   #3
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

I was thinking along similar lines. Perhaps a portable computer that is not compatible with other computers in the setting? It could be a quantum computer that can analyze data, like market data, and then offer projections that track with reality well? And/or it might be very good at creating and breaking cryptography?

I am thinking of the little box from the movie Sneakers.
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Old 10-13-2012, 05:10 PM   #4
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

I recently put one of these Mcguffins into Gernsback-2, actually... A group of interdimensional visitors (not from Homeline, Centrum, or Reich-5) passed through and left a copy of their tech database, and one of the people they left it with is using the advanced nanotech theory in it as a "trade secret" to gain a subtle-but-powerful advantage over everyone else.

Making that generic: advanced tech that's reproducible with less than five years of "building the tools to build the tools."
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Old 10-13-2012, 05:48 PM   #5
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

A "many worlds" parachronic "wishing" device:

The user activates it while concentrating on a desired outcome. The device searches through the closest skein of alternate timelines for the one that most closely approximates the outcome the user envisioned, then shifts the user's point of consciousness to that timeline.

The device can't change the universe as such; instead, it allows the user to pick a favorable circumstance (no matter how bizarre) from among all the locally possible alternatives. The range (how far back the alternatives split) can be set, or a function of skill and experience with the device. Add an area effect to bring the rest of the cabal along, or make the outcome a compromise of the wishes of everyone involved.

In GURPS terms, this is a superscience Probability Alteration power with the Gadget limitation.
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Old 10-13-2012, 06:34 PM   #6
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

A variant on the future-telling device I once thought of: The device will reliably predict the future, NOT accounting for the device's existence. Think Disney's "That's So Raven" but backwards-instead of showing her the results of her alteration, it can't tell you what you will do based on the knowledge. So things not based on your interactions (the market price of stock in a certain company) would stay the same, but as soon as you use that knowledge, the market could shift drastically due to your large quantity buy and crash. XD The device COULD update for changes made regarding it afterwards, or it could only account for some splinter-timeline as if it didn't exist entirely. Obviously, thieves taking it would be unpredictable.

I call it the Zero-Inertia Time Scanner.

Devious? Yes.
Useful to players? Sometimes.
Small? Depends. I was thinking iPod size, showing video.
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Old 10-13-2012, 06:51 PM   #7
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

Quote:
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[snip]
I call it the Zero-Inertia Time Scanner.
[snip]
This is a pretty cool way to handle an oracle machine in games!
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Old 10-13-2012, 08:55 PM   #8
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dammann View Post
I was thinking along similar lines. Perhaps a portable computer that is not compatible with other computers in the setting? It could be a quantum computer that can analyze data, like market data, and then offer projections that track with reality well? And/or it might be very good at creating and breaking cryptography?

I am thinking of the little box from the movie Sneakers.
Keep it mystical. The Twilight Zone had a printing press with a real Printer's Devil.

The printer prints tomorrow's truths. And hey, the PCs hardly need there psychic essences...
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Old 10-13-2012, 09:22 PM   #9
Hans Rancke-Madsen
 
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

Thanks for the suggestions. Keep them coming. Some further thoughts:

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Some kind of oracle. A device that provides information from the future, or otherwise unobtainable.
I'm dead set against causality violations, so no time travelling and no precognition. A computer that predicts the future with uncanny, but non-mystical, accuracy might work.

Quote:
Originally Posted by robkelk View Post
Making that generic: advanced tech that's reproducible with less than five years of "building the tools to build the tools."
I want losing the device to mean losing the advantage.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thrash
In GURPS terms, this is a superscience Probability Alteration power with the Gadget limitation.
I do accept the existence of worlds parallel to my game world, but this would be a little too much.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain-Captain View Post
Keep it mystical. The Twilight Zone had a printing press with a real Printer's Devil.

The printer prints tomorrow's truths. And hey, the PCs hardly need there psychic essences...
No causality violations.

I've thought about a couple of other things that would be nice. Again, not dealbreakers if I can't have them.

* There's a cost to using the device. Either to the user (e.g. gradually turns him into a homicidal megalomaniac) or to innocent bystanders (e.g. powered by siphoning brain waves from innocent bystanders). This effect may tie in with the next bit.

* Something about the device will make some people (which may or may not include PCs) want to destroy it to prevent others from using it and causing further harm. It may be an integral part of the device's effect or it may be some sort of collateral damage.

I'm thinking maybe some sort of psionic device. Mindreading? Reading the mind of your business rivals and enimies would be a tremendous advantage.


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Old 10-14-2012, 08:20 AM   #10
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Default Re: Looking for mcguffin

What about a device that appears to predict the future actions of a specific individual (say, who was previously brought into contact with it), but is in fact directing those actions through Mind Control? The directions are pulled from the subconscious desires of the operator(s). Using the device affects the operator(s), who start losing the ability to relate to other people.

No causality violation. Any Imperial since the Psionic Suppressions who figures out how the device works will have an intense negative reaction. Anyone who sees the results but not the device is open to suspecting Zhodani manipulation. The operator(s) become more and more Evil, as their "humanity" drains away.

In GURPS terms, I would model the drain as a certain number of Disadvantage points imposed per week or month of use. The points go to things like Uncongenial, Incompetence in individual social skills, Callous, Selfish, or Low Empathy, that affect others' perceptions of the character rather than impose specific behaviors. The negative points simply reduce the value of the character, rather than provide points to spend. The referee imposes the associated penalties secretly; players aren't told about the Disadvantages unless they ask (probably because they failed at a simple task). Of course, the NPCs who have been using the device for some time may have any sort of bad personality traits as a result: Stubbornness, Bad Temper, Obsession, Megalomania, etc.
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