New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[YankeeGamer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Quality thinking there Yankee Gamer.

Thanks. It seemed fairly obvious. Another option is that there are more expensive drives that either run faster, run longer, or are easier to swap parts out of. One or the other might be bulkier as well.

"you can havew the finely tuned drive that only takes up 10% of the ship's volume, and needs experts to work on, or the scout grade drive--takes up 40% of the volume, and another 10% in parts, but is field servicable--oh yes, and is a bit slower, but has a vastly linger range."

Think of the Great War era, when turbines were FAST, but a triple expansion engine was easier to build,and used less coal at cruising speed--but you couldn't run at high speed for weeks on end without tearing the engine apart.

Originally Posted by tshiggins

GURPS: Transhuman Stars crops up as a topic in these forums, periodically. While the setting is great, as is, the notion of taking it interstellar and playing with how the human cultures would change once communication speed suddenly lagged in ways not seen in centuries, strikes many (including me) as absolutely fascinating.

I like the 2300 AD blink-warp (or stutter-warp), myself, but the Alcubierre drive could also work. The idea is to keep FTL travel "slow," and limit the spread of information to the speed of the fastest ship.

No FTL radio, ever; the speed of the ships should mean it takes at least a couple of years to cross from one side of "known space" to the other; and the travel method should require passage through isolated and seldom-patrolled systems.

Important trade routes will be as secure as they can be made. Pirates, however, would need a lot of justification, unless the piracy is done on the ground or if STL ships are much faster than FTL ones near planets.

[doctorevilbrain]

Who are the gypsy angels?

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

Who are the gypsy angels?

In the Transhuman Space setting, the Gypsy Angels are a group of Anarcho-Liberterians who live in Deep Space and are rumored to be pirates (which they probably aren't, most of the time). They live well outside of most forms of social and/or state control and give the conventional pieties of the setting short shrift at best.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Y'know, if it takes months or years to cross space with messages, then you'll have ultra-fast couriers that can make the trip in weeks. They would be tuned like dragsters with all the limiters removed, at the cost of burning out the engine after one trip.

And a pilot would be needed (probably an infomorph). Said pilots would be considered the ultimate hot-shots, the guys with everything to brag about.

And then there's the pirates and ship-rustlers. The ultra-high-performance courier ship itself would be a valuable prize, never mind the data packets and information that would be their regular cargo.

It's a whole campaign right there!

[Astromancer]

Your right Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2, logistics can give you the shapes and forms of conflict. Blackbeard, desperate for medicines he and his crew needed, held up Charleston SC for the meds. Knowing were potable water and fresh food might be obtained. Were you could safely scrape the barnacles off you ship and get naval stores were as important as knowing where prey might be found to any pirate.

As the Transhuman Space setting is so worked out. Any limits on ships sets up clear tactics to control the movements and activities of those ships.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

H.P. Lovecraft & C.A. Smith Co. Rocket Expeditions Ltd.

In this universe (I'm stealing from Eldritch Skies), extradimensional influences keep most worlds that could develop life barren. This means that most galaxies haven't even one world that naturally developed life on its own. Earth is a stand out rarity. And when certain elder things that favor life flourishing, although not often for human friendly reasons, saw that Earthlife keep flourishing in spite of multiple extinction events, they saw something they liked.

A final note or two.

First, per se spells are rare in this setting. Magic and Psi weren't clearly distinguished in Lovecraft's time period. Mages will have Psionic Powers, Magery will function like a broad propose Psi Talent. Thus a person with IQ 13 and Magery-4, will use the Telepathy skill like they had IQ 17.

Some "Primitives" will use Path/Book magic, as will ceremonial magicians and Cultists. Other than summoning rituals (locally known as "Dinner Bells" because various things come to feed) these are basically misunderstood psionics. However, a few real spells do exist.

Second, the Fay exist in this universe. They are little if anything like like the watered down Celtic Myth figures of pop culture. These are deadly brutal beings and easily mistaken for powerful aliens.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

An anti-aging drug that is provably effective is created. Problem, its effectiveness varies according to specific genetic traits. If your have trait A, then you gain at most twenty extra years of healthy vigor. If you have trait B, after brain maturity your aging rate halves. If you had brain maturity at 23, then you'll look like 43 at the age of 63, and like 53 at the age of 83. If you have trait C, it works like trait B except your aging rate is one tenth normal after brain maturity.

All known human beings have one of these three traits. However these traits aren't even distributed either in the global population or between racial groups. There are many societies across the globe were hearing that group X will now enjoy youth for centuries, and your group will get a prolonged and healthy old age but you won't break any longevity records, could cause riots. Depending on which groups got the biggest benefits you could have anything from race riots to religious wars.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

An anti-aging drug that is provably effective is created. Problem, its effectiveness varies according to specific genetic traits. If your have trait A, then you gain at most twenty extra years of healthy vigor. If you have trait B, after brain maturity your aging rate halves. If you had brain maturity at 23, then you'll look like 43 at the age of 63, and like 53 at the age of 83. If you have trait C, it works like trait B except your aging rate is one tenth normal after brain maturity.

All known human beings have one of these three traits. However these traits aren't even distributed either in the global population or between racial groups. There are many societies across the globe were hearing that group X will now enjoy youth for centuries, and your group will get a prolonged and healthy old age but you won't break any longevity records, could cause riots. Depending on which groups got the biggest benefits you could have anything from race riots to religious wars.

What strikes me is how unimportant the reason why they're angry is. They could be having the same wars and riots over the distribution of money. The science fictional element doesn't make a difference to the campaign.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

What strikes me is how unimportant the reason why they're angry is. They could be having the same wars and riots over the distribution of money. The science fictional element doesn't make a difference to the campaign.

It does, it makes what simmered below the surface rise to the top. It also changes power relationships. If a low status minority now has a vast new advantage, one than over generations is bound to chance their status, and this can be seen, it can cause fury.

Picture Jews in 19th century Europe gaining vastly increased lifespans. Antisemitism was bad enough when it was based on delusions about a out group. Add in the fact that the religious instruction of young Jews in 19th century Germany seemed to give them a great advantage in the college admission exams (both Jews and Germans made jokes about this. both kind and cruel) and fear/xenophobia becomes hate/xenophobia. If there had been an anti-aging drug that meant Jews lived for centuries but others didn't, bigotry would have shot through the roof.

Granted, not everyone is jealous. But those that are, and those that need someone to blame (a nasty and varied bunch) will cause misery enough.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

It does, it makes what simmered below the surface rise to the top. It also changes power relationships. If a low status minority now has a vast new advantage, one than over generations is bound to chance their status, and this can be seen, it can cause fury.

Yeah but that fury could be caused by any kind of advantage. It could be caused by a popular myth. The advantage itself has no impact on the game. Just the reaction to the advantage. To show you what i'm talking about let's slot in an advantage that actually does make a different.

A method of teaching people how to unlock their latent telepathic powers is invented. Problem is, it's effectiveness is based on genetic traits. If you have trait A, then you only get send. If you have trait B then you can send and receive. And if you have trait C then you can probe and rewrite people's memories

Now it's not just the social reaction to the discovery that matters to the game. The discovery itself matters.