Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

That's really good.

What if the antimatter in the mirror universe isn't evenly distributed? That gives you anitmatter "mines" with fixed locations, and some semblance of a supply chain. Even if those mines are in deep space.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

They could stabilize the wormhole whose failure quickly leads to a big, but not planet busting, boom as traces of antimatter spew while the hole collapses.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

It makes sense that you would preferentially mine in the few places where large planetary bodies exist in both universes.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-orientable_wormhole
Yeah, that was the basis of this idea, except using a mirror universe is more Trek.

You could ditch the mirror universe, and have the psionicists providing the "negative energy" needed to form such a wormhole.

Alternatively, it doesn't have to be an antimatter universe, it just has to be some exotic plane which they're using as a source of high energy unobtainium. So it could be subspace, the mycelial realm, the astral plane, "dark space", the spirit world, or parallel universes that have different sets of fundamental constants. Or, Trek being very kitchen sink-ish, a selection of dishes from the above smorgasbord.

Actually, the paraconstant universe idea could be interesting. You might have a weapon which changes the Planck constant or the charge on the electron within a small region of space, causing instant subatomic annihilation.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, so it seems like we're using natural psi-reactive crystals and specific 'mining' locations to produce enough anti-matter to make matter-antimatter annihilation viable as both a source of power and a warhead's physics package?

If there are no objections, I'll edit the Antimatter question post later today (as it's after midnight where I am), and then post the next question, which is probably going to be on the Solar Cooperative.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Solar Cooperative

This is not intended to be our UFP-equivalent, but rather a member thereof, like United Earth in Star Trek:

The early history of the Solar Cooperative is in some ways the early history of the colonization of Mars, as the Red Planet is big enough to make long-term use of artificial gravity relatively cheap, socially interesting enough to attract a lot of colonists despite the distance, and distant enough not to be dragged into the wars easily. Every nation with a sufficiently-developed space program had at least one colony (what would later become the cities of Mars, though in the beginning, they were hardly more than outposts) on Mars, as did a number of private ventures, and some also had stations in Martian orbit, or on Phobos or Deimos. There was even an international colony at Olympus Mons, which some nations and ventures that could not afford their own complete colony also contributed to. The individual colonies (save for a few of those private ventures, where the sponsor or sponsors moved to Mars and lead directly, or where said sponsors were numerous enough to start electing leaders early on) had governors assigned to them from their home nations on Earth, just as other colonies did in the past. As they grew, though, they often felt the need for more representation, electing 'assemblies' or 'town councils' and such from among themselves (though not all governors were completely accepting of this idea, and some expressly forbade it). Those assemblies would later send representatives to Olympus Mons, to meet with representatives from other colonies in what would later be called 'the Martian Assembly' (though it had no real power until the end of the Genetics Wars).

Parallel to this, the rise in population was accompanied by a rise in crime, and by a need for emergency services in regions beyond the individual colonies. For this purpose, the Martian Colonial Police were formed at Olympus Mons, governed in theory by the various nations participating in the colonization of Mars, but in practice more by the Martians themselves - the only armed service Mars as a whole had. The MCP included regular police, a detective branch, a Space Patrol, and an increasing number of various categories of emergency services personnel, as it was bureaucratically easier to just add on to the MCP than it was to create new emergency service departments.

The success of the MCP, particularly the Space Patrol, lead to it being imitated in various forms in the Main Belt and other asteroid colonies, and on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, at the same time that international cooperation on Earth was breaking down. The Genetics Wars of the 2050s and early 2060s brought a significant change to Mars, and to the other colonies. Some colonists were ordered to return home as soon as possible, to support the war effort (and did not always obey, especially far from Earth and late in the wars), while others were told to remain in place and prepare for the worst. Many colonies on the Moon and in Earth orbit were destroyed in the wars, and the outer colonies were first flooded with those refugees who could escape, and then completely cut off, as there was no-one left on Earth who could send anything significant into space anymore. The colonial governors who remained (those who hadn't been withdrawn for various reasons and not replaced) rapidly lost power, and in some cases, their lives. The assemblies, councils, congresses, and so forth of the colonies were in charge now, for good or ill.

Once the shock had mostly worn off, and resources were enumerated, the various colonies called a meeting to discuss the situation. Leaders, representatives, and experts from Mars, the Near Earth Asteroids, and as far away as Titan came to a meeting room made from an astroball stadium on Ceres (the sport is vaguely like a cross between association football and volleyball, played in microgravity with three teams). The grand old man of the Martian Colonies, the venerable Elon Musk, gave the keynote speech, and inspired the name of the polity they would create when he said "We must cooperate, if we are to survive!" Space station components were brought from all inhabited regions save the Earth-Luna system to the at-the-time uninhabited Sol-Mars L5 Point (mostly cannibalizing incomplete stations), to build the Capital Station of the Solar Cooperative. At first, the Cooperative was not so much a government, as an agreement to share resources and information, and to contribute in common to what would become the Solar Cooperative Space Patrol (sometimes shortened to 'Solar Patrol,' or just 'The Patrol'). Over time, though, it became a functional government, albeit a fairly loose one.


Vague Solar Cooperative timeline

2030s: Earth's population approaches 8.5 billion in 2030, and 47 humans live long-term or permanently in space, all of them on Luna or in Earth orbit; hundreds of others visit, sometimes for months or years. Pushed by political and corporate interests, Human Enhancement Project scientists begin making designer babies available to those who can afford them, despite concerns about the mental health of the enhanced children. Transtator-based inertia manipulation is invented. Colonization of Mars, Martian orbitals, Phobos, Deimos, and Near-Earth Asteroids begins.

2040s: Earth's population exceeds 8.9 billion in 2040, and 61,024 humans live in space, most of them on Luna or in Earth orbit, though a significant fraction live on Mars. Colonization of the Main Belt asteroids and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn begins. Martian Colonial Police founded to deal with inter-colonial crimes and mobile criminals, as well as performing search-and-rescue work; Creeping Featurism sets in, as the MCP provides all emergency services outside of colonies that have their own (and some that do, if the emergency is bad enough). First meeting of what will become the Martian Assembly takes place over the Martian internet.

2050s: Earth's population exceeds 9.5 billion in 2050, and less than one million humans live in space, most of them on Luna or in Earth orbit, though nearly a third live on Mars. Genetics Wars begin, as many 'young supermen,' the children designed by the Human Enhancement Project, seize power in various countries. They rapidly begin to quarrel among themselves, and to provoke their neighbors. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons will all be used by the time the wars end. Lunar and Earth-orbital colonies are unable to avoid being pulled into the wars, along with some, but not all, of the Near-Earth Asteroids. More distant colonies watch in horror. Lunar Colonial Militia formed. First physical meeting of the Martian Assembly occurs at Olympus Mons.

2060s: Earth's population estimated to be 5.2 billion in 2060. Nearly two million humans live in space, most of them on Mars. Offworld colonies are effectively cut off from the homeworld, forced to survive on their own; Earth-appointed governors lose power to colonial assemblies and such, and in several cases are assassinated or executed. Genetics Wars end. A few of the 'young supermen' hide among humanity. Others do not, and in most cases are killed. The Post-Atomic Horror begins on Earth. Martian Space Patrol begins delivering aid to the surviving Lunar Colonies and Earth-orbital space stations. Ceres Summit opens on April 5, 2063. Solar Cooperative Agreement signed later the same year. Solar Cooperative begins Project Triage: a survey of the various regions of Earth, to determine which need help that they can give (and what help, and how much), which do not seriously need help, and which are beyond any help the colonies can give in the foreseeable future. Volunteers joining the project are carefully monitored for psychological stress, where possible. The Capital Station of the Solar Cooperative becomes operational on April 5, 2068.

2070s: Earth's population estimated to be less than 3 billion in 2070. About 2.1 million live in space, mostly on Mars. Lunar colonies are recovered to the point of being able to join and contribute to the Solar Cooperative. Earth's colonies (still generally called that, despite being free and independent states, and planning to remain that way) have improved manufacturing and resource extraction to the point that they can offer significant aid to the peoples of Earth. Project Manna begins: single-use landing-craft, almost always unmanned, are loaded with supplies and sent to various locations selected by Project Triage.

2080s: Earth's population estimated to be less than 2.47 billion in 2080. Roughly 2.5 million live in space, mostly on Mars. New Zealand is the first Earth territory to join the Solar Cooperative.

2090s: Earth's population estimated to be less than 2.4 billion in 2090. Around 3 million live in space, mostly on Mars and Luna. 79 Earth territories have joined the Solar Cooperative. In 2096, Earth's population rises for the first time since the Genetics Wars, from 2.37 billion to 2.38 billion. The Post-Atomic Horror ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.

Does this look acceptable? If it needs changing, what would you suggest?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Beings of 'pure energy' options

Do you want them to exist at all, and how powerful should they be? Sufficiently Advanced Aliens are a pretty common trope in SF in general and Star Trek in particular, and a lot of them claim and appear to have 'evolved beyond the need for physical bodies' (which is not how evolution works, of course). OTOH, Space Gods showing up can be pretty annoying, and if not handled well, can ruin people's fun (though on the gripping hand, the same is true of gods in fantasy games, and some GMs and player groups have no problem handling that). So, this one is another 'more optional than usual' post.

If they do exist, the easiest justification in the Psionics rules is Astral Projection. If you have Astral Travel 6, you don't technically need a biological body (replace 'Projection, -50%' with 'Always on, -50%,' with no need to recalculate the price). Those that interfere in the physical world most likely have high levels of Barrier Breaking, or at least Cross-World Communication... or they replace 'Always on, -50%' with 'Usually on, -40%,' and/or 'Substantial Communication, +40%' with 'Affects Substantial, +100%.' Such beings could have massively powerful psychic abilities - or might just be really good at psionic illusions of various types. The ones with massive powers are a good answer for who it is that moved ancient humans and other creatures from Earth to worlds many parsecs (or kiloparsecs) away - that may be too much like Johnny1A.2's Eldren, though.

Another option is some form of ergokinetic 'biology,' which may be a result of organic life with highly advanced ergokinetic abilities creating self-maintaining ergokinetic bodies for themselves, or a result of experimentation with ergokinesis. It might even be the result of natural evolution (as in, they were made of 'energy' all along), but that's pretty strange (then again, they might consider life made of matter to be pretty strange).

Perhaps the 'energy beings' are only called that because they exist as highly-sophisticated software, possibly in extra-dimensional computers.

Each of these types of energy beings could plausibly all exist in the same setting, or only one, or neither. All of them are reasonably good candidates for our version of the Preservers, though on the other hand, the Preservers could simply be regular Ancient Aliens.


Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

They could also be gaseous or nano-swarms and energy being is just a catch all shorthand.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, good point. I really should have thought of that.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I have the feeling that a psionic setting with an Astral Plane is leaning more towards a horror or fantasy setting than sci-fi psionics, so introducing astral beings opens up some questions of metaphysics that you'll have to answer.

However, it's possible to make a sci-fi flavoured Astral Plane by relabelling it as "the Universal Gestalt Consciousness," "the Psionic Carrier Field" or even "the Quantum Realm," and keep most of the mechanics and just change the fluff.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Or just the classic parallel reality with different physical laws.
But I agree aspects would tend toward Lovecraftian, D&D, or religious like later season of ST:DS9 if not carefully controlled.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

My personal conception of the astral plane is that it basically is the collective unconscious of all sophonts, so 'Universal Gestalt Consciousness' or 'Psionic Carrier Field' work pretty well. 'The Quantum Realm' fits the classic 'parallel reality with different physical laws.'

On the other hand, a number of TOS episodes, and some in later series, did get Lovecraftian in places (I'm blanking on examples beyond the Jack the Ripper entity in Wolf in the Fold, but I know I thought of several others some months ago), to the point that a friend of mine once played in a Star Trek themed Call of Cthulhu campaign ('Hailing Frequencies of Cthulhu,' I think), and felt that it fit well enough.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'd quibble a little and say it's an "underlying" reality, at least for the MCU conception of it. Parallel implies there's no connection.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Alien Races

As noted in the OP, the more humanoid aliens in this setting are intended to be descended from humans and related species taken from Earth in ancient times. However, that still leaves room for a number of options relating to alien sophonts:

1. Just write up 'close enough' templates for the various canon races. In most cases, they'll just be humans with an odd perk or quirk. (I won't try to convert the ones from GURPS Prime Directive for 3e, and I don't have the 4e version, so any similarity is the result of trying to create a template for roughly the same species in the same system.) This is my preferred option.

2. Create new races that fill the appropriate niches. In most cases, they'll still just be humans with an odd perk or quirk.

3. Convert or recreate some of the aliens from GURPS Aliens. This is my least favorite option, but it could be made to work.

4. Something I probably haven't thought of. If you have ideas you think would work better, please suggest them.


EDIT: Apparently we're doing mostly #1, with occasional examples of #2 and #3 (likely in the form of TGLS's #3a, below).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'll call this 3a: use the converted aliens from here. Still, for a Star Trek feel, most aliens should just be humans with bumpy foreheads and a planetary hat (maybe some stat pluses), so 1 or 2. Maybe add a couple from 3 for variety.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Most, but not all, on screen aliens were humans in funny suits and nose bumps.
One could easily bring the or more of the inhuman ones to the front in a tabletop game without too much style divergence.
Though I suppose that may lead to one issue I always had with ST, that of them almost never using protective suits no matter how unknown the planet.
That might be more obvious with properly alien aliens.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Any of those three options will work. The real question is what do you want to emphasize ?

#1 emphasizes the star-trek connection. It leans more heavily into this being a secret history of star-trek that has a lot more consistency than depicted on screen

#3 emphasizes the gurps connection, and may be the "easiest" route in terms of not doing work

#2 is what I would have expected this project to take, based purely on the psi-wars method.

If I may suggest for #4, it may be possible to make all of the variant human species/factions actual divergent humans. This does require either a long time for such "species" to develop (thus implying either precursors, time travel, or long time spans after first space flight) or genetic engineering though.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

ST:TNG does have precursors supposedly responsible for all the humanoids in the galaxy with their "seeding" of all the planets billions of years ago. This of course requires evolution to be very different there than it is here. But that's Star Trek science for you.

This idea may start to resemble Traveller a bit too much to some players.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Not being a big Traveller fan, I'm not sure what you mean by that?

I will say that the seeding did not take place billions of years ago, though. In most cases, it took place thousands to tens of thousands of years ago, and in some cases, hundreds of thousands to millions of years ago (tens of millions is rather less likely, but I'm not going to totally dismiss the possibility of surviving dinosaurs somewhere out there, or similar beings). I'm not totally certain that sapient life in this setting existed billions of years ago.

EDIT: It isn't just sophonts who were seeded, entire biomes (or significant portions thereof) were sampled and recreated on terraformed worlds, much like in the Orichalcum Universe mentioned in the OP, and a number of other settings. Not all were successful, of course, as important things might be missed and left out, but quite often, 'life, uh, finds a way.'

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Traveller has lots of different human variants. It doesn't treat it as an off-hand explanation: its a deep setting element that comes up again and again. I'm not sure how much it actually effects play, but it gives the setting a flavor, and its possibly played up more than it should be.

On the other hand, scientists today WOULD go nuts if the first "aliens" we met were human, down to the DNA and reproduction.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Forgot to say: Thank you, it's good to be reminded that GURPSland exists.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

That really fits with what I know of Traveller, though I'm not super well versed in its lore.
Ancient humans and biomes were deposited on worlds across the galaxy. Some were modified to at least have a chance, but nevertheless many died out. Those that survived adapted to become unique and sometimes very different subspecies or outright species compared to those that remained on Earth.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Possibly. The Purulu from Aliens are a pretty good example of that. Mind you, the Tholians from TOS were themselves very alien biologically and environmentally, they were just a rare outlier.


So, I'm not seeing a clear consensus. Should I assume that focusing on #1 but occasionally using #2 or #3 (& 3a) when appropriate is acceptable?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The Trek approach makes multiple aliens species interacting less problematic. But having a few properly non-humanoid species may add a dash of SPACE-ness to the setting, I think.
Though there's probably a balancing act that needs to be tread in order to avoid accidentally making the nose bump aliens seem silly by comparison.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I would love seeing them retcon away nosebump aliens. A few aliens as offshoots of humanity transported by ancient aliens are acceptable, but they should be rare outside of a 500 ly radius.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

That depends on who, how, and why they were transported.
Perhaps the precursors used a strange and unique form of FTL that created way points in seemingly random points in the galaxy.

Having them all be modified Earth lifeforms at least modifies the issue. But without nose bump aliens, you end up with ships not plausibly having multiple species for that Trek style. Everyone or worse everyone but one species would have to wear protective suits 24/7.
Then again, Trek ships are usually 90%+ humans with a few token non-humans.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

(I was just thinking this for one of Astromancer's ideas, but the post fits here just as well.)

Why be geocentric? Why would humanity be the root species, and not have us as an offshoot from some other world seeded across space?

To answer the standing question, I'd go for #2. As a setting building exercise, I gather you want to emulate Star Trek without copying it. That means you'd have a warrior race, a logical race, a merchant race and so on, but not exactly be Klingons, Vulcans and Ferenghi. This gives you more leeway in how to write their histories and psychic powers.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Because that would contradict all the fossil evidence and fact that we're obviously related to all other Earth life.
I know it's been done in numerous fictional settings, but it's kind of not really done much anymore, I think.
It's akin to saying that dogs are aliens, but wolves are not. It's weird to my eyes, but of course YMMV.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Our DNA could've been edited to seamlessly fit into Earth's ecosystem, if you give the Precursors Genesis-like and Alien-like (i.e. from the Alien movies) biotech. And there are enough gaps in the fossil record to handwave that as well. Otherwise, it suggests a number of seeding missions.

I guess I'm just being resistant to making humans extra-special without some kind of worthwhile justification.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

If their biotech is that advanced, why are they bothering putting similar species on different planets? They can just make up species on the fly with those capabilities.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Perhaps they couldn't create the psionic genes themselves, and wanted them seeded into a wide range of environments.

I admit the epoch-spanning timeline stretches credibility though. Perhaps you could counter with a reason why humanity is super special.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

In any normal universe, genes are genes. Once you have them, you can sequence them and copy them. If the Precursors can change a species' genome to make it seem as if it evolved on a given world without changing the species' nature, grafting in some other genes would be trivial.
Because the script-writers are human-centric? I'm afraid I find the concerns of the scriptwriters show rather clearly in the stories of the Star Trek franchise, which is among the reasons I'm not a fan.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Perhaps humans are just lucky with so many experiments succeeding. Or the precursors did it with other species like Trek's numerous unrelated Vulcan-like species. And I'm not talking about Romulans which are offshoots of Vulcans.

Perhaps they just seeded the local X cubic light years with humanoids, and Trek people just haven't gone far enough to see the next ur species region.
This also makes sense if pre-sapient species "raw material" are super rare, so there's a large gap between such regions.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Who's to say that psychic powers obey known genetic and biological rules? Once you allow them, you're already admitting known laws don't fully apply.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Something like this would probably work.

I'm a bit too tired to make a final decision right now, though, so I'm going to give the conversation another day or two (and also see if I can get the First Contact post ready, or if I'm going to post something on weapons, instead).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

First Contact question

How do we want to do this Earth's first official contact with aliens?

* Do we want it to be something like the version from the movie Star Trek VIII: First Contact (with or without time travelers), with an alien vessel coming by when the first spacetime warp-drive vessel is being tested (or at least a rather early one)?


* Do we want it to be some form of alien invasion, like the Kzinti (who did appear in an episode of the Star Trek cartoon called The Slaver Weapon, and were said to have fought several wars with humanity, at least one of which may have been pre-FTL)?


* Should it be a peaceful contact that takes place before these humans develop warp drive, possibly later learning or buying it from the aliens?


* Should it be later, after humans have been developing warp travel for a while, and are out exploring beyond the Solar system?



In all cases, should it be a Star Trek canon race, and if so, which one? If not, what race should it be?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Is the question that boring, or is it just that nobody has any ideas or opinions on this?

Should I try to do a timeline of an alien invasion and the development of warp drive, for consideration?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I honestly thought I had posted a response. Maybe I thought it was incoherent and deleted it.

Personally, I think realistically, if we want future humans to maintain mostly recognizably human cultures, first contact should be with a very controlled species. We know when emotional humans of higher tech meet lower tech humans, at best, the more advanced one swamps the other with cultural pressures.
That's why I've always liked Star Trek's Earth first meeting the Vulcans. They're likely the only major canon species that wouldn't intentionally or unintentionally take advantage or "corrupt" primitives.

Alien invasions of a modern-ish Earth always seemed way too anthropocentric silly to me. It's like starting a story with a small tribe of cavemen defeating the modern American army with spears, five stolen rifles, and "gumption".

As to when, I again, like the ST canon in that it still gives a sense of "humans are at least interesting and innovative if not an OMG, super-amazeballs species".

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Its a hard question to answer. Star Trek embraces technological parity among major races, but also has humans as the "youngest" species, which leads to some awkward questions.

A "Parental" race is a strong option. Of course, by that interpretation, the canonical federation is really the "Vulcan" polity, though humans may have some sort of "Favored Son" status and are junior partners in a multi-species empire. Or possibly the Vulcans are undergoing an internal population crisis and are shaping Humans to replace them.

Another strong option is to embrace a "Generational approach", where for some reason the current powers in the galaxy are all fairly new, and Humans were never really that far behind everyone else.

One option is to say that FTL travel is very very very expensive, and invading a planet isn't terribly feasible for that reason. A few important ships are owned by powerful planets, thus drawing attention to why the signature ship does what it does.

But I'm still not sure what the best answer is. These are just suggestions, and all of them have major flaws.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Star Trek does have those doomsday weapons. So one could say that at some point in the past, a galactic war broke out killing every interstellar species leveling the playing field to an extant. That still wouldn't explain why so many were right on the cusp of developing FTL at essentially the same time, in a geological time frame. But it's a start.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

First Contact answer

OK, the consensus seems to be something like a First Contact with the Vulcans, but possibly done after human have been using warp drive for a while.

Vague timeline of Warp Drive and First Contact

2040s: Earth's population exceeds 8.9 billion in 2040, and 61,024 humans live in space, most of them on Luna or in Earth orbit, though a significant fraction live on Mars. Colonization of the Main Belt asteroids and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn begins. Martian Colonial Police founded to deal with inter-colonial crimes and mobile criminals, as well as performing search-and-rescue work; Creeping Featurism sets in, as the MCP provides all emergency services outside of colonies that have their own (and some that do, if the emergency is bad enough). First meeting of what will become the Martian Assembly takes place over the Martian internet. University of Mars founded at Olympus Mons.

2050s: Earth's population exceeds 9.5 billion in 2050, and less than one million humans live in space, most of them on Luna or in Earth orbit, though nearly a third live on Mars. Genetics Wars begin, as many 'young supermen,' the children designed by the Human Enhancement Project, seize power in various countries. They rapidly begin to quarrel among themselves, and to provoke their neighbors. Nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons will all be used by the time the wars end. Lunar and Earth-orbital colonies are unable to avoid being pulled into the wars, along with some, but not all, of the Near-Earth Asteroids. More distant colonies watch in horror. Lunar Colonial Militia formed. First physical meeting of the Martian Assembly occurs at Olympus Mons. Several more universities and colleges are founded on Mars, including one at Utopia Planitia.

2070s: Earth's population estimated to be less than 3 billion in 2070. About 2.1 million live in space, mostly on Mars. Lunar colonies are recovered to the point of being able to join and contribute to the Solar Cooperative. Earth's colonies (still generally called that, despite being free and independent states, and planning to remain that way) have improved manufacturing and resource extraction to the point that they can offer significant aid to the peoples of Earth. Project Manna begins: single-use landing-craft, almost always unmanned, are loaded with supplies and sent to various locations selected by Project Triage. Spacetime warping experiments begin at Utopia Planitia University.

2080s: Earth's population estimated to be less than 2.47 billion in 2080. Roughly 2.5 million live in space, mostly on Mars. New Zealand is the first Earth territory to join the Solar Cooperative. Test-capsule Phoenix achieves a pseudovelocity of just over light-speed on September 8, 2086.

2090s: Earth's population estimated to be less than 2.4 billion in 2090. Around 3 million live in space, mostly on Mars and Luna. 79 Earth territories have joined the Solar Cooperative. Mass production of spacetime warp drives connects the Solar System like never before. In 2096, Earth's population rises for the first time since the Genetics Wars, from 2.37 billion to 2.38 billion. The Post-Atomic Horror ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.

2100s: Earth's population estimated to be more than 2.5 billion in 2100. Around 3.7 million live in space, mostly on Mars and Luna. Spacetime warping allows explorers to visit the Alpha Centauri trinary star system, and other nearby stars. First landings on Proxima Centauri b occur, though the planet will not be colonized for some time.

2110s: Earth's population estimated to be more than 2.9 billion in 2110. Around 4.2 million live in space, mostly on Mars and Luna. A peaceful First Contact with Vulcan explorers occurs in orbit of Alpha Centauri A. After a volunteer agrees to telepathic contact, communication speeds up significantly. The Solar Cooperative establishes trade and mutual non-hostility treaties with the Interplanetary Confederacy of Vulcan by the end of the decade.


Does this look acceptable? If it needs changing, what would you suggest?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Potentially add Bloodthirsty, Compulsive Behavior (Politicking, Strategizing, etc.), Intolerance (Non-Augmented humans and/or "lesser minds"), Obsession, OPH (Behaves like a classic space-opera villain, Power Hungry, Shameless, Sociopathic, etc.), Paranoia, and Sadism to the disad list.

Secret is appropriate for "unregistered" or unwitting supermen.

Potentially add "good" mental disadvantages to the list of Taboo Traits.

Potentially add more "mastermind" type skills such as Administration, Intelligence Analysis, Politics, Strategy, and Tactics. (Add Psychology to get a Talent worth 5 points per level.)

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Most energy beings in Star Trek are pretty close to god-like, with the exception of entities such as Redjac which are dependent on human (or sapient) hosts.

Cost goes up fast if you give them powers which allow them to survive in space or on hostile planets for long periods of time (Minimum of Immunity (Metabolic Hazards) and Vacuum Support). Cost goes up really fast if you give them the ability to quickly travel across interstellar distances.

Cost approaches ridiculous if you give them the sort of powers that energy beings routinely display in the Star Trek series, such as instantly teleporting a large starship millions of light years from its former position, draining a starship's power systems, preventing a starship from moving, creating complex materials, attacks which can punch seriously damage or destroy a starship, and/or psi powers which can affect 1,000+ people at once.

You can sort of limit cost with suitable Dependencies, Restricted Diet, and Vulnerability. Insubstantiality (Always On) is another good way to bring point costs down, and is a great way to represent entities which are "out of phase" with the rest of the universe, but kind of sucks for PC races.

The weakest energy beings might come in at ~500 points. Don't bother calculating points for entities such as Q, Trelane, or the Bajoran wormhole aliens/Prophets.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Most energy beings tend to be hazards or plot points rather than fully developed characters. Even Q is more like a DM setting up the story rather than a player in the story, to my mind at least.

A few are out of phase as said, but often physical in certain situations that the crew discover to exploit and win the day with. Or just happen to be vulnerable to never before mentioned gobbledy**** radiation.

It's probably easier if not overall more conducive to player fun to avoid a character sheet all together and just play them as mysterious temporary and/or recurring threats or allies.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I think its a solid working framework. You mention other stars, which is good.

There is some detail that would be nice (like political movements), but I don't know that its actually a good use of time.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Phasers and other energy weapons question

Ray-guns have been a staple of science fiction since quite early in the genre, and Star Trek has a variety of them: Lasers in the first pilot, 'phasers' since then (someone on staff decided early on that they didn't want people writing in and saying 'Hey, that's not how lasers work!' so they came up with a new word), disruptors (both sonic and 'generic streaks of light' versions), polaron weapons, and in ENT, 'phase pistols' (which may or may not have been early phasers, but certainly seem to be), and generic plasmoid blasters like the EM-33, or the various pulse rifles. There are a decent number of ways to simulate these in GURPS. Phasers specifically do present something of a problem, though, as they are the 'Swiss Army Knife' of energy weapons; not everyone wants to simulate that, but enough will that this post is useful.

* One option that gets most of the functions of the phaser using pretty realistic technology is to combine two types of Pizard's beam weapons: Remote Electroshock Stun Guns with Pulse Lasers (TL10 selected for convenience, it's not a requirement; Pizard will come up more in this post, because he's got a lot of useful stuff). You have a variety of stun-like effects, you have a laser for killing opponents, starting fires or heating rocks, using as a signalling device at long ranges, and even cutting, drilling, and welding if you fudge it a little (Pizard has laser cutters in that page, and welding shouldn't be much harder to stat out). It isn't a perfect representation, of course, it doesn't have a 'vaporise/dematerialise' setting, but you might not want that. If I were doing a Hard-SF or 'Very-Firm-SF' version of Star Trek, it would be ideal (and polarized anti-glare goggles would be standard issue), but I don't think it's the best fit for Psi Trek.

* Swinging in the other direction, phasers could be weaponized psychotronic generators, like the Mind Disruptors in GURPS Psi-Tech p27. There are a few ways to do this:

-As above, most of the functions of the phaser can be done with Ergokinesis. Indeed, the lowest stun setting (seen in one episode of TOS, and possibly only then) leaves the target dazed rather than unconscious, like the Confuse ability with the Daze technique (Psionic Powers pp32-33). A weapon that imitates Confuse, Lightning (pp33-34, drawing from the power pack), and a few light-based Innate Attacks (not worked out in the book, but mentioned under Additional Ergokinesis Abilities on p37) could plausibly do everything the 'Pizard combination' above could, with some additional abilities like keeping the reflections confined so that you don't damage your eyes just seeing the weapon in use. Still can't dematerialize people, though... but you could perhaps make them explode by tearing away the electrons in the outer shells of their atoms (probably a Crushing or Burning Attack, with 'Surge, +20%' and 'Explosion, +50% per level'); nasty, but fits some scenes in Trek, IIRC (not limited to the shows, I believe there were a few like that in the comics and books).

-Teleportation can be stretched to cover this: Beaming electrons and other particles into the target can produce stunning effects, and could be used for heating with some precision, creating most of the other effects we've seen phasers used for. Additionally, this could be used to disintegrate a target in a way that might look like something out of Star Trek: Like a cleaner, much finer, but much scarier version of Innerportation (Psionic Powers pp70-71), each molecule of the target - or perhaps even each atom, or subatomic particle - is teleported a semi-random distance and direction away from the target's position. Thus, the target is converted into a hollow, very sparse cloud surrounding the place they were when the beam hit (a Corrosion Attack with something like 2d+110 damage or higher for roughly human-average targets).

-Finally, the weapon could generate abilities from several powers, pretty much whichever power the designer feels would be more efficient for that task. Either it's a single, highly versatile psychotronic generator, or like a Swiss Army knife, it's a single, portable item containing several devices. The stun setting probably uses Telepathy or Biokinesis (equivalent to Sleep 4 or higher, Psionic Powers p49, with Increased Range instead of Malediction), the Heat/Kill/general damage settings would use Psychokinesis (similar to Pyrokinesis, pp56-57, with different modifications depending on the setting) or Ergokinesis (as above), and the dematerialize setting would use Teleportation (as above). This is my preferred option.


There's also the question of other energy weapons. Are they all variants of the same technology that became the phaser? If not, what are they? What energy weapons are common? Along with the Mind Disruptors mentioned above (perhaps developed by a telepathic race, or one with telepathic enemies... or enemies that are particularly vulnerable to Telepathy), you could use psychokinetic effects to imitate Pizard's Space Fantasy Disruptor Beam Weapons. Biokinetic technology could lead to ray-guns that produce a variety of toxic effects. Another teleportation-based weapon that you may or may not want to use is the TR-116 Projectile Rifle with transporter assembly - a sniper rifle that teleports the bullet from the muzzle to the vicinity of the target (and is only an energy weapon because it does that - without the transporter, it's 'just' a very advanced version of a modern 'chemical explosions propelling bits of metal' rifle). Depending on what sort of teleporter tech you prefer, this may be useful, interesting-but-unneeded, ludicrous, or impossible. An option for any weapon which normally has recoil is to make it recoilless by adding a psychokinetic Inertia Dampening Field.

For non-psionic weapons in general, Pizard's Equipment page has a lot more, both with and without his house rules. I tend to like his stuff better than what's in Ultra-Tech 4e, at least when it comes to weapons, even though I'm not totally sold on his house rules.

Vehicle-scale weapons would most likely be larger and more powerful versions of the personal-scale weapons. Melee weapons and grenades will have separate posts.


Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, it's been a few days, should I just declare my preferred option (the multi-power version) the correct one as of the time that the setting has phasers?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'd lean towards phasers being psychotronic generators, and having a strong swiss army knife component. I don't think making them do hard science things is all that good of an idea, and it plays back into the original conceit. I wouldn't make them too flexible for all but the most ingenious of users though.

Other factions should have their own psychotronic generators, mostly stronger individually but less flexible.

I wouldn't lean into the details of the powers too hard, and I'd look for a unifying power that makes all the phaser functions hang together.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, so about what I was thinking.

Some sort of Modular Abilities variant (probably under Meta-Psi)?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

My suggestion would be to go with standard tech lasers and blasters, and then have some big scary psychotronic guns as special limited devices with related drawbacks. Otherwise you'll have to come up with a reason for why there's a divergence from the "default techpath" and laser guns are used.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Your phrasing is confusing, since the first sentence says to use lasers, and the second seems to be saying 'using lasers would require more justification' (since the default techpath here is psychotronic).

I'm working on a post with some energy weapon write-ups. Depending on how long it takes, I may be breaking it up into several posts. A lot of the details on the 'Phaser' section are already done, but not enough to post it here, yet (because there are a lot of settings, and thus more details are needed).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'd hesitate to use modular abilities. An alternate attack method is probably more feasible. But in the end the test is if it does the things you want it to (burn through, stun, kill) and doesn't do the things you don't want it to.

I think diverging from the ultra-tech weapons progression is a feature in this case. "lasers" are distinctly not star trek.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Oops, that should probably say "and laser guns aren't used."
They don't have to be actual lasers, I meant that as a catch-all "tech-based ray guns", as long as there's some distinction from the scary peeps who use the psi-guns.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, I'm splitting the Energy Weapons article up, because the phasers section, while probably complete, is too long, while the others are pretty short (and are not complete).

Phasers

Phasers are multi-power, weaponized psychotronic generators, effectively the Swiss Army knife of energy weapons. Many modern (TL11^) personal phasers, particularly the common military and police models, are modular, with the larger versions consisting of components added on to a smaller model. Likewise, they have an adjustable beam-width, from a narrow beam that hardly spreads at all by the time it dissipates, to a shorter range cone that can be quite wide.

Type 1 (Holdout) Phaser
The base form of the phaser, with a reflex sight and no grip, about the size of some early-21st century cellphones, and powered by a single size-B power cell.

Beam Weapons (Pistol)/TL11^
Acc: 3+1; Range: 50/100; Weight: 0.35/0.05; RoF: 1; Shots: 100(3); ST: 3; Bulk: -1; Rcl: 1; Cost: $250; LC: 3

Beam Weapons (Projector)/TL11^
Range: 16/33; otherwise as above.

Type 2 (Pistol) Phaser
A pistol mount that the Type 1 is inserted onto, powered by the Type 1's B cell and a single size-C power cell of elongated form with an oval cross-section, acting as the grip of the pistol. The reflex sight of the Type 1 is also used for the Type 2.

Beam Weapons (Pistol)/TL11^
Acc: 5+1; Range: 100/400; Weight: 1.8/0.5; RoF: 3; Shots: 1,100(3); ST: 4; Bulk: ; Rcl: 1; Cost: $500; LC: 2

Beam Weapons (Projector)/TL11^
Range: 33/132; otherwise as above.

Type 3 (Rifle) Phaser
Replacing an older, bulkier model that predates the Type 1 and Type 2, the Type 3 consists of an emitter extension and foregrip on the front of the Type 2, and a butt-stock on the rear, the latter containing two more size-C power cells. The operator may use the existing reflex sight, or add various accessories such as a telescopic sight, holographic wide-spectrum targeting scanner, and so forth, as well as other items that may be connected to hardpoints on the weapon, such as a small flashlight, or a retaining strap.

Beam Weapons (Rifle)/TL11^
Acc: 12+2; Range: 250/1,000; Weight: 7/1; RoF: 10; Shots: 3,100(3); ST: 6; Bulk: ; Rcl: 1; Cost: $1,200; LC: 2

Beam Weapons (Projector)/TL11^
Range: 83/333; otherwise as above.

Settings:

1 Light Stun/Daze
Damage: HT-2 aff; Power: Ergokinesis
Shots per use: 1
This setting is roughly equivalent to the Confuse ability (Psionic Powers pp32-33) with the Blue Screen and Daze techniques on. The effect will bypass a P-web Shield unless the beam hits the P-web directly. Weapons that can only produce a Light Stun effect are unregulated self-defence tools (LC4) on many planets.

2 Moderate Stun
Damage: HT-4 aff; Power: Ergokinesis
linked Damage: Will-4 aff; Power: Telepathy
Shots per use: 4
Moderate and Heavy Stun both combine Confuse with the Telepathic Sleep ability.

3 Heavy Stun
Damage: HT-6 aff; Power: Ergokinesis
linked Damage: Will-6 aff; Power: Telepathy
Shots per use: 6
Heavy Stun also does 1 point of burn damage out to 1/2D range, but none thereafter. It is sometimes used to start fires or reheat food.

4 Thermal A
Damage: 3d(2) burn; Power: Psychokinesis
Shots per use: 6

5 Thermal B
Damage: 5d(2) burn; Power: Psychokinesis
Shots per use: 10
Both thermal settings may be used for cutting, drilling, or welding, as well as heating up rocks for warmth in conditions where a campfire would be difficult or less useful.

6 Disruption A
Damage: 6d(2) cr; Power: Psychokinesis
Shots per use: 12
Disruption uses a psychokinetic beam or field to alternately push and pull the target at a high frequency and with significant force. Weapons which only or primarily do this are generally known as disruptors, although they are distinct from the telepathic mind disruptors used by the Vulcanians.

7 Disruption B
Damage: 8d(2) cr; Power: Psychokinesis
Shots per use: 16

8 Disruption C
Damage: 10d(2) cr; Power: Psychokinesis
Shots per use: 20

9 Dematerialize
Damage: 2d+120 cor; Power: Teleportation
Shots per use: 50
The dematerialize setting causes each atom in the target to teleport a semi-random distance and a semi-random direction from its starting location, thus turning the target into a very diffuse, hollow cloud roughly centred on the object's last coordinates. Use of this setting on radioactive material is not recommended.

Overload
This setting effectively turns the weapon, or rather the power cell(s), into a bomb. The force of the explosion depends on how much power is left; specifics will be worked out when we discuss grenades.


Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

This design for the Phasers looks reasonable. Giving all of the Phasers the same firing options but different numbers of shots to spend on a given option was an elegant solution. I'd need to see this in play to determine if the cost for each setting is reasonable.

My main concern is that the group will need to remember all 10 settings in play. Even with cheat sheets, 10 different settings may lead to analysis paralysis. You may want to include simpler weapons for players that don't want to deal with this complexity.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Up thread, I expressed concerns that there are too many phaser settings. Here is how I would reduce the number of phaser options.

Emerald Cat's Phaser Settings:

Stun
Damage: HT-2 aff; Power: Ergokinesis
Shots per use: 1
This setting is roughly equivalent to the Confuse ability (Psionic Powers pp32-33) with the Blue Screen and Daze techniques on. The effect will bypass a P-web Shield unless the beam hits the P-web directly. Weapons that can only produce a Light Stun effect are unregulated self-defence tools (LC4) on many planets.

Tactical Stun
Damage: HT - Shots aff, to a maximum of HT-6 (tentative); Power: Ergokinesis
linked Damage: Will - Shots aff, to a maximum of Will-6 (tentative); Power: Telepathy

Tactical Stun combines Confuse with the Telepathic Sleep ability.

Thermal
Damage: 1d(2) burn per 2 shots spent, up to 5d; Power: Psychokinesis

The thermal setting may be used for cutting, drilling, or welding, as well as heating up rocks for warmth in conditions where a campfire would be difficult or less useful.

Disruption
Damage: 1d(2) cr per 2 shots spent, up to 10d; Power: Psychokinesis

Disruption uses a psychokinetic beam or field to alternately push and pull the target at a high frequency and with significant force. Weapons which only or primarily do this are generally known as disruptors, although they are distinct from the telepathic mind disruptors used by the Vulcanians.

Dematerialize
Damage: 2d+120 cor; Power: Teleportation
Shots per use: 50

The dematerialize setting causes each atom in the target to teleport a semi-random distance and a semi-random direction from its starting location, thus turning the target into a very diffuse, hollow cloud roughly centred on the object's last coordinates. Use of this setting on radioactive material is not recommended.

Overload
This setting effectively turns the weapon, or rather the power cell(s), into a bomb. The force of the explosion depends on how much power is left; specifics will be worked out when we discuss grenades.


This way, the number of settings is reduced from 10 to 5 (or 6 if we include Overload). That is a little more manageable. On the other hand, this requires the players to determine how many shots to spend every time they fire. So it may make the analysis paralysis worse. What do you think?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

My problem with insta-kill weapon settings is that they will be used on the Big Bads and the PCs, and that's just boring.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

That could be an issue. The Type 3 (Rifle) Phaser gets 62 shots per power cell on the Dematerialize setting. Or 62 insta-kill attacks per pound of power cells. But that is only ~6 attacks per pound if you use the full 10 RoF. And then you can't shoot for ~3 s while you reload.

On the other hand, there are settings that can easily do lethal damage for far fewer shots. So it may not make sense to use the Dematerialize setting in every situation.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The main reason the Dematerialize setting existed in canon was to reduce the number of times they'd need to pay extras to act like corpses (and also to reduce the number of 'corpses' on-screen in 1960s prime time). Here, the high power-requirement of that setting is a good reason not to use it (as you note, 'cheaper' settings are also potentially capable of insta-kill). I did think about reducing the total number of shots per power cell to 50 from a B cell and 500 from a C cell, though. Is that preferable?

Personal force-fields are something I've been thinking about, which may get a Question post (probably not a 'yes/no,' but rather a 'which of these options feels best to you?'). They didn't use them in canon because it was a TV drama, so the writers et al were in control over what happened (and a limited special effects budget). A game has different needs, so a wearable EK Shield generator makes sense.

EDIT: It would need to be a very powerful shield, though, and it would need to be anti-psionic, as well (because Teleportation, Telepathy, and PK, as well as powers other polities use for their weapons). In general, like a lot of other GURPS, the players should take the lethality of combat as encouragement to solve problems without violence, and if they want to go 'Fully Cinematic '60s Hollywood Action,' they should include rules that make the PCs and important NPCs less likely to be hit by death rays.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Just an FYI, I will be going to NecronomiCon this weekend, and thus my time spent online will shortly be somewhat limited. Also won't have my own computer with me, so the amount of work I'll be doing will likewise be limited.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Still working on a post for other types of energy weapons, but I thought the force field idea deserved an official question post:

Personal Force Fields question

Do we want the crew at TL11^ to have personal force field generators? This includes both defensive fields and the life support belts from the cartoon.

* None (too expensive and/or too hard to miniaturize, unless someone has the ability on their own)

* Special issue only (they're expensive, but are issued on rare occasions)

* Common for security and landing parties (still expensive, but rather less so)

* Part of the uniform, even in areas thought to be safe (not necessarily cheap, but cheaper than in the other options)

EDIT: The consensus is pretty much 'No personal force shields that grant significant DR (outside of Tech of the Week and such), but we'll use GURPS Action and related rules to prevent insta-kill of important characters.'

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Personal force fields would be a nice addition to mitigate the deadliness of combat. My preference would be to make personal fields too expensive to be standard issue, but cheap enough for security and landing personnel.

I'm tempted to make teleport jammers cheap and portable. This prevents fights don't end right away with your foes being teleported to your starship. That should also neutralize the dematerialize setting on the phasers because they are based on teleportation psi-tech. But that would make spending the energy on the dematerialize setting pointless.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

It was a really nice superscience explanation for why no one ever travels to unknown alien worlds in sensible protective suits.

I also like shields acting similarly to ship shields allowing multiple hits before failure, mitigating combat.
It also helps with that cliche of the first attack on a PC always missing. YMMV, of course.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I think that personal sheilds should either not exist or they should be common. Only putting them on when you expect the possibility of danger is a good toggle though. Presumably the tech is inconvenient to wear in at least some small way. I think I lean towards them existing.

Teleport jammers being light and cheap is probably a good idea.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

There could be low grade or civilian shields and military grades resistant to weapons' fire.
Of course, that may just move the issue to the side rather than fix it.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

To be fair, if I want to emulate Star Trek, I'm just going to crank up the cinematic combat rules, with Flesh Wounds or TV Action Violence, and Cannon Fodder. No need to bring in Personal Force Fields except as snazzy experimental technology for one episode.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I've been wondering whether I should make the GURPS Action series an official part of this settings ruleset. I think it has some or all of the rules needed.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Ubiquitous life support belts only, since it is more fitting with the genre.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK. What's your opinion of using rules from GURPS Action to manage the deadliness of combat (in particular reducing the probability of being hit by things that will almost certainly kill you in one hit)?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I think its fine. I'm not enthusiastic about it, but there are renditions of trek that have that sort of feel.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

One clear vote and one possible vote for 'Common for security and landing parties,' one vote for 'Experimental only' (not on the list, but not that different from 'None' in the context given), one clear vote for 'None' (which also caused me to ask about GURPS Action), and one vote for 'Life-support belts only' (not on the poll, but a valid concept, and similar enough to 'None' in the specific context of personal force fields that grant DR), assuming that I'm reading everyones' posts correctly.

Also, at least one vote for using rules from GURPS Action, or two if TGLS's vote counts.


Does anyone else want to weigh in, or clarify an existing post that I'm misunderstanding, or should I call the vote as 'No personal force shields that grant significant DR (outside of Tech of the Week and such), but we'll use GURPS Action and related rules to prevent insta-kill of important characters?'

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I think that using the Action rules fits most star trek variants pretty well. I don't have a strong preference on force screens either way.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Sure, count it that way.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Other Energy Weapons

Vulcanian Mind Disruptor

This telepathic device has been the standard Vulcanian personal weapon since before First Contact with Terran humanity. They are normally worn as headgear, and have telepathic controls (it would be difficult for a non-telepath to use them at all, or impossible with most models), but are otherwise game-mechanically similar to the Mind Disruptors in GURPS Psi-Tech p27, albeit usually smaller. The skill is 'Beam Weapons (Headgear)/TL [IQ/E].'

The Holdout Mind Disruptor is normally disguised as a hair decoration, hidden in a wig, hat, or behind a layer of false skin, or even implanted beneath the user's scalp (generally requiring the removal of sections of bone, a fairly dangerous operation). The equivalent of the Mind Disruptor Pistol is a circlet or headband, though it is sometimes built into a helmet or large-enough hat; unlike other Mind Disruptors, the Mind Disruptor Headband is LC3, so long as it doesn't have a setting that is further restricted (see below). The Mind Disruptor 'Rifle' is routinely built into a helmet, and would be rather difficult to disguise as anything else. The Heavy Mind Disruptor is a backpack attached to a modified Mind Disruptor Helmet via a reinforced cable. A Tactical Mind Disruptor is not usually something you wear, although it can be built into a larger backpack, rather than being part of a vehicle; the user interface is normally a helmet, but the emitter is generally separate from the user.

The various types of Mind Disruptor on p27 (Death Beam, Hypnagogic Beam, Insanity Beam, and Neutralizer Beam) are all available, though weapons capable of using the Insanity Beam are more heavily restricted, being LC1, and the Death Beam is always LC2. In addition, Mind Disruptors capable of imitating Instill Fear, and the effects of the various Neurological Damage options in GURPS Psionic Powers p65, are available, though Agony, Hallucinating, and Seizure are LC1. Some Mind Disruptors are capable of multiple settings, others (especially the Holdout models) have only one.

Vulcanians also make some use of Psychokinetic Disruptors, below, against robots and other targets that will not be affected by Telepathy. These are likewise usually built into headgear and telepathically operated, as it's what they're used to. In some cases, the Mind Disruptor and the Psychokinetic Disruptor are built into the same device, though these tend to be bulkier than the standard weapon of the same levels of power.


Psychokinetic Disruptors

These weapons are common to many races, including the Andorians, Klingons, Orions, and Kaa. In general, they function much like Pizard's Space Fantasy Disruptor Beam Weapons, save that they use psychokinesis, rather than some sort of gravitic effect. A few disruptors have less-lethal settings, by turning down the force of the attack, generally while using higher frequencies. The effects are somewhat similar to the sonic nauseators and sonic stunners in GURPS Ultra-Tech (pp124-126), save that they still work in a vacuum, and will do about 1d-3 cr damage as well... more or less, depending on the range, and the specific model and size. Thelev Industries disruptors, for example, are notorious for doing more than the average amount of damage for their size on less-lethal modes, though due to quality control issues, how much more varies from weapon to weapon, even within the same model (they're cheap weapons in both senses, and thus are depressingly common; more convenience store robberies are done with Thelev Industries products than any other variety of disruptor).


Tellarite Biokinetic Rays

These ray-guns normally do toxic damage using biokinetic effects. This may be general damage, or it may imitate some specific poison, depending on the model (or setting, if that model has multiple settings). Statwise, biokinetic ray-guns are functionally very similar to the High-Energy Lasers from GURPS Ultra-Tech pp114-116, with certain modifications: They obviously do not have the Infrared, Blue-green, nor Ultraviolet options, damage is tox, and the armor divisor is changed to (∞) for physical, inanimate armour, as the rays do not interact with non-living things. Living armour, or armour that uses psi-tech to have a sort of pseudo-life, is fairly common among the Tellarites, and treats biokinetic rays as if they had no armor divisor. Vehicular and building force shields, as well as many natural psionic defences, likewise treat these weapons as if they had no armor divisor.

Some biokinetic rays have a stun setting which is functionally similar to the Sleep ability from Psionic Powers p49. In general, treat the number in front of the 'd' on the stats for that weapon as the HT penalty (e.g. a Biokinetic Crystal would do HT-1 aff if built for stunning, the Heavy Biokinetic Pistol would do HT-4 aff, the 'Dinosaur' (colloquial translation, actually refers to megafauna still extant on Tellar) Biokinetic Ray does HT-8 aff if given a stun setting at all, and so forth).

Tellarites also use ordinary lasers for non-living targets. Most such lasers have a photokinetic 'beam-jacketing' feature, to avoid damaging the eyes of observers (and targets who aren't hit in the face). They are also quite fond of normal firearms, at least when on a habitable planet.


Ergokinetic 'Zap Guns'

Similar to Pizard's Remote Electroshock Weapons, save that they use an ergokinetic effect to carry the current (effectively imitating the Lightning ability from Psionic Powers pp33-34), rather than lasers. Weapons of this type were very common in the Solar Cooperative before first contact, and remain so in some areas as a cheaper alternative to phasers.

Outside of museums and personal collections, firearms are rare on this Earth.


Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Romulan War or equivalent question

* Pretty much canon: So, the Solar Cooperative and some allies thereof (possibly something like the Coalition of Planets from Star Trek: Enterprise, possibly not) go to war with a Vulcan offshoot who are referred to as Romulans, probably as a reporting name rather than what they actually call themselves (which is 'Rihannsu,' at least in some of the novels). According to Spock in Balance of Terror: "As you recall from your histories, this conflict was fought, by our standards today, with primitive atomic weapons and in primitive space vessels which allowed no quarter, no captives. Nor was there even ship-to-ship, visual communication; therefore, no Human, Romulan, or ally has ever seen the other." (Presumably, there was also little or no ground combat.) "Earth believes the Romulans to be warlike, cruel, treacherous... and only the Romulans know what they think of Earth." This takes place around the mid-22nd century (mature TL10^, with Earth possibly having some early TL11^ stuff by the end of the war, like militarily useful amounts of anti-matter; the Romulans do not get anti-matter technology - "Their power is simply impulse," according to Scotty, which in this context means fusion). One or both sides may have experimented with sensor countermeasures during the war, but a true cloaking device would not be present, as the crew were surprised to see one in TOS. The war ends with a treaty negotiated by radio, which creates a neutral zone between the Romulan Star Empire and the territories of Earth and Earth's allies, after which the Romulans go into isolation from that part of the galaxy. Some time following this, Earth and Earth's allies form our Federation-expy.

* Modified canon (with Romulans): Something like the above, but some elements are significantly different, like the Romulans being discovered to be a Vulcan offshoot during the war, or the treaty not creating a neutral zone (which could have a number of causes, including the Romulans losing badly enough to get conquered), or the Romulans have a good cloaking device during the war, or they conquer Vulcan, et cetra. Please specify what changes you'd like to see. This will probably trigger another vote if it wins, unless there's already a clear consensus on which changes are preferred.

* Modified canon (with a canon race other than the Romulans; please specify). This will probably trigger another vote if it wins, unless there's already a clear consensus on which race is preferred.

* War with the Kaa, or another GURPS Aliens race (please specify). This will probably trigger another vote if it wins, unless there's already a clear consensus on which race is preferred.

* Federation-expy forms without war (meaning that whether there's a war or not, it's not the impetus that causes the Federation-expy to form).


Thoughts?

EDIT: The consensus appears to be 'modified canon with Romulans,' so there will be another vote on the specific modification.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Pretty much cannon gets my vote. But I'd justify the "no visual communications" thing as Romulan paranoia. This could take the form of them jamming psionic methods of gathering images or refusing to share broadcasting standards.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

"Enemies are for fighting and accepting surrender from, not video fraternizing."
Even the non-psychic can learn from body language and expressions that the other does not want known.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, that's two clear votes so far. Thank you.

In case anyone is interested, here are two websites that have a version of the Romulan War that seems to be compatible enough with TOS and TNG canon that I tend to use them as inspiration for the era, even if specific details will certainly be different: History of the Earth-Romulan War at Star Trek Minutiae, and the Starfleet Museum. With the latter, it helps that a lot of the Romulan War-era spacecraft look like they can be written up in three sections, for compatibility with GURPS Spaceships.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The mystery of the Romulan identity feels a little far-fetched. I'd prefer a modified cannon. The neutral zone is fine to keep, but I'd like their identity to be known during the first war.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, two for 'pretty much canon,' one for 'modified canon (identities are known).'

I'm leaving the vote open until at least Wednesday, and possibly longer, depending on whether other stuff distracts me.