Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-14-2011, 02:02 PM   #31
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
I assumed we were talking about campaign TLs and not the TL of isolated gadgets. If we are talking about campaign TL, than I don't think you can use obsolete theories to justify non-divergent TLs. The fact that the experiments went differently in your timeline means that is significantly divergent by definition.
.
My point was that divergent and superscience aren't mutually exclusive categories.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2011, 03:15 PM   #32
lexington
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

The Atoms of Democritus: All the world is made of exactly one kind of substance, possibly water, that can be arranged in an infinite variety of ways to produce everything we see. Seems like a good justification for how alchemy works.
lexington is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2011, 03:18 PM   #33
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by lexington View Post
The Atoms of Democritus: All the world is made of exactly one kind of substance, possibly water, that can be arranged in an infinite variety of ways to produce everything we see. Seems like a good justification for how alchemy works.
The problem is "atoms" are an expression that has an active scientific meaning. I noted that "quintessence" is the "fifth element" of European alchemy though. Then there's red mercury.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2011, 03:21 PM   #34
sir_pudding
Wielder of Smart Pants
 
sir_pudding's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
My point was that divergent and superscience aren't mutually exclusive categories.
I'm not saying that it is. You can have both. I'm running a TL4+2^ game right now in fact. What I'm saying is you can't have a non-divergent TL based on obsolete science. TL6+ physics can't have a TL5 understanding of EM fields.
sir_pudding is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2011, 03:34 PM   #35
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by sir_pudding View Post
I'm not saying that it is. You can have both. I'm running a TL4+2^ game right now in fact. What I'm saying is you can't have a non-divergent TL based on obsolete science. TL6+ physics can't have a TL5 understanding of EM fields.
Well, take the example of "atoms". That was an idea that was held quite far back, discredited, and then taken up again in a slightly modified new form which became stranger and stranger to Democritus's original conception as we learned more.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-14-2011, 08:08 PM   #36
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Well, take the example of "atoms". That was an idea that was held quite far back, discredited, and then taken up again in a slightly modified new form which became stranger and stranger to Democritus's original conception as we learned more.
Only to have the singular, indivisible component of the universe, arranged in various ways to create everything, come back named as the "string".
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2011, 11:26 AM   #37
davidtmoore
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
Only to have the singular, indivisible component of the universe, arranged in various ways to create everything, come back named as the "string".
Yo-yo Theory's gonna blow String Theory outta the water.
__________________
Doc Thunder Drinks Free
davidtmoore is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2011, 12:43 PM   #38
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Oh right! Vril! Mysterious woo-woo energy from a science fiction novel that some people thought was actually a warning about something real.

Comic books like "cosmic energy", which is actually kind of like zero point energy. Or vice versa.

Last edited by David Johnston2; 05-16-2011 at 07:06 PM.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2011, 02:59 PM   #39
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

Quote:
Yo-yo Theory's gonna blow String Theory outta the water.
At least Yo-yo Theory has a built-in explanation of why the universe cycles between Big Bangs and Crunches.
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-16-2011, 07:20 PM   #40
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Them TL^ words [Superscience] . . .

There was a steampunk novel in which the steam was supplied by something called an "ether furnace" which essentially produced heat with no need for fuel and no byproducts except steam.

Unobtainium didn't originate with Avatar. It was already being used to refer to materials with any arbitrary properties needed like "negative mass" or "being a room-temperature superconductor"

Smart matter. I have no idea what that is, but I'm sure someone could come up with something.

Apeiron is the hypothetical primordial substance everything else came from in Anaximander's cosmology. It means "boundless".
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
glossary, superscience, tl^, words

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:45 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.