Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

I've decided to go through the new edition of GURPS Bio-Tech, looking at how it fits with Transhuman Space and what questions it raises about canon and rules treatments. This will involve a series of posts. Everything that follows is just my opinion, and is wide open to debate.

OVERVIEW

The Tech Level

Officially, in the categories used in GURPS 4th edition, the Transhuman Space setting is TL10 with a bit of TL11 biotechnology, and a look through this book supports that view. In fact, the TL11 stuff is pretty marginal; most things in the setting seem fit within TL10. The exceptions would be a few explicitly experimental or bleeding-edge items, and maybe a few features built into mainstream production bioroids - and it's going to be easier to install radical tweaks in them than in other biological entities, so arguably many of those features might drop a TL for this purpose anyway.

However, there's enough pretty overtly TL11 stuff around that the setting can be considered to be advancing into that TL for these purposes. What I would suggest, in game-mechanical terms, is that characters who have access to the most advanced Fifth Wave biotech labs and early-release products should be able to buy +1 TL with a -60% limitation, "Early-Model Biotech Only", for a whole 2 points. This permits them to buy biotech-related skills at TL11, and also to acquire some TL11 biotech products for the usual double cost (for them being at +1 TL). However, whether or not they can get hold of a given TL11 item at any given time will depend on the precise level of development in the setting (as the GM sees it), and the traditional GM's Iron Whim. In general, this advantage will be limited to postgraduate research scientists and agents of major governments and corporations; it might be tied up with Patrons, Contacts, Security Clearance, Duties, and so on.

I wouldn't usually require this advantage for a character who starts play with some TL11 biomod installed, or for bioroids who were created using TL11 techniques - unless they also had access to more bleeding-edge training and products. That's just a character feature. Access to just a single bit of TL11 tech might represent a -80% limitation on the advantage (or a Perk - same thing, in practice).

More to follow...

Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 2a: Chapters 1 & 2)
 

Chapter 1

An always-handy overview of the topic. The stuff flagged here as superscience is exactly the sort of thing which shows how TS isn't a superscience setting...

Some other details:

* Bioroids (p.26): Note that these are a pretty mature technology in the TS setting, despite being TL10 - one instance of TS being slightly advanced in biotech.

* Neogenesis (p.27): Seems to be significantly beyond TS technology as of 2100, except perhaps for unicellular organisms. But this is doubtless exactly the sort of thing that wild-eyed researched with personal TLs of 11 are slaving over day and night...

* Vatbrain Computers (p.28): Not seen in TS. The idea does look a wee bit superscience/wacky, so I'd tend to just assume any research on this hits a dead end for our purposes. But maybe there are some specialised units in some places...

* Sponge Computers (p.29): Also not seen in TS, though I could see some people pursuing the idea - if it isn't simply too severely out-competed by good old mineral computers, which frankly seems likely to me. TL11 sponge computer implants are a magnificently creepy project for neo-cyberpunk/supervillain Evil Researchers to be trying to create; they could be the maguffin for a semi-cinematic campaign, or more likely, the conceptual focus of a paranoid-loon meme with just enough plausibility in the setting to have some durability.

Chapter 2

* Chimerization (p.38): This doesn't seem to have been developed much in the TS world - presumably, biogenesis and gengineering are just plain better, easier, and cheaper - so I'll mostly ignore references to it throughout. However, it might crop up as a plot device or as the method used to create some specialist effect. GMs who want to bring in the odd cellular chimera for some reason won't break the setting.

* Gengineered Traits (p.42-66): Many of the TL10 things here have appeared in TS; others, I'd be slightly careful about. It's up to each GM whether they believe that things like Common Sense or Intuition can be engineered at all. The TL11 stuff is likely to be dubious-experiments-only, for the most part, though there may be exceptions; the TL12 things should be right out (except maybe for highly divergent bioroid models, in some cases).

Note also that, for some of these effects, it's going to be easier to implant someone with a permanent biomod than to modify their genes in the womb - which may retard research in areas which are likely to be a bit controversial anyway.

* Cosmetic and Minor Modifications (p.44-6): Hmm - not sure if I'd allowed Chameleon. But then, this is one of those things that can probably be done better by a mechanical tool in TS, so why bother?

* Glandular Modifications (p.47-8): Early Maturation 4 is given to bioroids in TS as standard, but they're manufactured; I'll happily leave it as TL12 for modified humans.

* Pheromone Modifications (p.48): I always have difficulty believing in pheromones influencing the behaviour of unmodified humans, at least beyond the quirk level; we just aren't built that way. If they do work and are available in your TS campaign, from engineered glands or just in a handy aerosol, they should be the subject of quite a lot of paranoia.

* Immune System Modifications (p.49): Bio-Tech considers total immunity to disease to be possible only for bioroids - which is probably reasonable, really, given the variety and adaptability of disease agents. However, TS does give the advantage to some advanced parahuman designs. GMs can either assume that TS bioengineering has got that good in that one area, or tone down some converted templates, changing Immunity to Resistant (+8).

* Bioroid Modifications (p.61): Bio-Tech considers Perflubron Blood to be somewhat more effective against the Bends than does Changing Times; GMs can use either version, or treat one as a slightly more advanced and expensive development of the other. Nobody seems to have produced Self-Replicating bioroids in the TS world, and there are few hints of developments in that direction - it would probably be a fairly late TL11 development, and existing TS bioroid designs probably don't have anything like coherent enough genomes to permit such things - though some designers may be contemplating the possibility.

* Life's Price Tag (p.65): This provides a method for calculating prices for templates, which will doubtless disagree with those given in the TS books much more often than not. I'll leave it to somebody else to recalculate all the prices for existing TS templates in Changing Times.

* Gengineered Human Race Templates (p.66-74): Some of these overlap or reproduce types found in TS, sometimes with subtle variations or simply name differences. There's a lot here one can use, but don't just grab everything!

One general detail to note; TS bioroids have a perk giving them immunity to bone degeneration in zero-G, which makes their "Bioroid Body" meta-trait 1 point more expensive than the otherwise very similar "Bioroid" meta-trait in Changing Times. I'd leave this in - it's a bit of relevant TS chrome - and simply tweak the (points and cash) cost of any bioroid templates borrowed from Bio-Tech accordingly.

* Alpha (p.66): The Changing Times version came out slightly more disease-resistant; one can treat the one in Bio-Tech as a cheaper variant (make it, say, $48,000 if you're keeping the original TS pricing structures; using the Bio-Tech pricing rules, the superior "Alpha-CT" costs $66,000). The Omega variant, on the other hand, might need to be more expensive; it's pretty cool all round, and I rather like the idea of parents tearing their hair out when forced to choose between the Alpha, Ishtar, and Metanoia - with the Omega on the market at less than $100,000, they'd mostly go for that.

* Heavy Worlder (p.66): Could exist in TS, I imagine, if enough research has been done into the genetics of G-tolerance - but who's going to bother requesting this mod in the setting?

* Ishtar (p.66-7): The Bio-Tech version appears to be a cheaper early model. Likewise, the two Siduris can represent divergent design development paths.

* Light Worlder (p.67): Might be developed for Mars and other space colonies, but comes out looking a bit freakish... Another one that's possible but fairly unlikely for TS, I think.

* Orion (p.67): It's a bit munchkin, isn't it? Or is that just the TS references talking? If I allowed this one in a TS game, I'd sling in some extra gratuitous disadvantages, or at least jack the cash cost up quite a bit. (There's nothing really exotic in this template, but it gets almost everything right and very little wrong; that costs money.) I really think that the Ranger from Fifth Wave is more fun...

* Helot (p.67): Reproduces the 3e template from Fifth Wave exactly, and so is a keeper. The TS version of the Helot II is also close to that in Bio-Tech, though it also has +1 DX... But that design is hypothetical in the setting anyway. Really. And stacking on Self-Destruct and the TS version of the Bioroid/Bioroid Body meta-trait gives a TS version of the Helot Bioroid, which might appear in some sleazy places.

(Though I don't see why Self-Destruct is considered so cool; it just depresses your bioroid workers and means that you lose experienced staff at arbitrary moments when they could at least be training up their successors. If you're ruthless enough to commission something this nasty, you're ruthless enough to kill off your excess ageing bioroids the old-fashioned way. For the record, I'd also recommend deleting it from the bioroid templates in Fifth Wave, even in 3e games; it's a bit of an oddity there.)

[continued in next post]

Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 2b: Chapters 1 & 2)
 

[continued from previous post]

* Brownie (p.68): Again, exactly matches the design in Fifth Wave, conveniently enough.

* Diana (p.68): This could be regarded as a toned-down (and less paranoid) version of the Ariadne from Fifth Wave - or an alternative for GMs who don't want too many uberfrauleins running around. (The Artemis variant slots the combat orientation back in, with a bonus.) In fact, I suspect that the Diana was defined as the Ariadne with less gratuitous kewl stuff; the Athena variant adds the same new features as the Ariadne II.

* Avatar (p.69): Yet another design taken direct from Fifth Wave, and can really be taken as a direct equivalent - though there've been some tweaks, probably mostly to give the two sexes the same points value. GMs who want to preserve backward compatibility can give the male +2 Per, and eliminate Responsive from the female.

* Gilgamesh (p.69): A toned-down cousin to the Ziusudra, of course, and perfectly reasonable for use in TS - it merely ramps down the Ziusudra's dubious Immunity to Disease to mere Resistance, and drops the Rapid Healing and Less Sleep. The Ladon is the Nyx-counterpart variant, but looks very TL11, with Doesn't Sleep (which is going to require a lot of fine neurological work); I can't see there being any adults with this in 2100.

* Guardian (p.69): Back to Fifth Wave, but upgraded in the conversion for once. Officially doesn't exist in TS, and has those goofy dominance pheromones to trash my own suspension of disbelief - but if you're going to let that plot into your TS game, you might as well go the whole hog with the better Guardian design.

* Pandora (p.69): Might or might not exist in TS - mostly in ethically challenged transhumanist communities, if at all. Really, if someone wants Enhanced Time Sense, there are biomods that do the job better.

* Tiresia (p.70): First cousin/alternative to the Kouros from Fifth Wave, with fewer enhancements but fewer psychological problems as a result... And prettier. Probably better to use one or the other, but a game could feature both.

* Herakles (p.70): Bio-Tech (rightly) found a lot to borrow from Fifth Wave, didn't it? This is another direct map, merely converting Immunities to Resistance, and should be useful as such.

* Drylander (p.70): See comments above re. Fifth Wave - though this is another toned-down conversion. The Martian Drylander is probably appropriate for TS's Mars, too, or might become useful as terraforming proceeds.

* Selkie (p.71): Looks like a direct conversion of the Aquamorph, though it comes out as a bit of a variant - but a usable one. The bioroid version is as plausible as the Sea Shepherd, but has that possibly-superfluous self-destruct feature.

* Spacer (p.71): Not as good as the Tennin, but that has features that are probably not genetic. Can serve as yet another precursor/variant/alternative.

* Camazotz (p.71): The Chiroptian in High Frontier is described as a variant of the experimental Camazotz, and can indeed be treated as a Camazotz with a point more ST and some lifespan enhancements and disease protection. However, the 3e Chiroptian also has Fragile, though not in a form with a direct 4e counterpart; if anyone wants to keep the feel of that in 4e, try giving both Camazotz and Chiroptian a modest reduction in HP.

* Triton (p.71): The sort of TL11 design which is still a real challenge in TS. See p.42 of Under Pressure for information on how far off any programmes still are.

* Void Dancer (p.72): Another TL11 design corresponding to some developers' ambitions in TS - see p.116 of Deep Beyond.

* Chronos (p.72): I think that there were references to this idea - as a bioroid - in TS sources, but I don't think that there was ever an actual template other than the one in the 3e Bio-Tech. So I'd happily suggest using this template with the TS Bioroid Body meta-trait added. I can't somehow see this type being developed as a parahuman in TS, though, although there may be dark rumours.

* Eros (p.72): Not quite the same as the like-named model in In the Well, but could be regarded as a substantially upgraded derivative... I've already expressed my opinion of the pheromones thing.

* Februus (p.73): Basically a loose conversion of the Busr bioroid from Broken Dreams, I think. I doubt that there are any parahumans on these lines in the TS world, but one could certainly use this template as the starting-point for a 4e treatment of the Busr or anything similar.

* Felicia (p.73): Everyone's favourite catgirl, although the treatment in Changing Times is a little different, and not just because it's a non-self-destructing bioroid; things like the Aftermath limitation weren't available when that book was written. I confess I'm not 100% keen on Aftermath as written, and I'd probably stick to the Changing Times treatment - but then, I'm biased.

* Lepus (p.74): Not really very likely in the 2100 of Transhuman Space, either as a parahuman or a bioroid. Within reach of the technology, of course, but not actually much use to anyone (and maybe ethically dubious).

* Ranger (p.74): A straight and useful conversion of the template from - wait for it - Fifth Wave. The Fenris variant could also appear, though I'm not sure why it would.

* Spartan (p.74): A bioroid version appears in Fifth Wave, and this treatment makes a good reference for a conversion. A parahuman on these lines would be perfectly feasible in the TS world, but looks a bit over-specialised; anyway, nations which can make such things can make perfectly good power armour for their human soldiers.

* Tek-Rat (p.74): Only likely to appear in TS as a bioroid, I think,
and a little bit wacky for that - anyway, jobs needing small size and
technical skills can use cyberswarms or small cybershells. I'm not
sure if TS biotech is even up to producing a sapient being this size,
though it might be, and Bio-Tech rates the idea as feasible at TL10.

Chapters 3 and on will follow anon...

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Thank you for this!

One thing, about self reproducing bioroids. I think one of the reasons that they don't exist in in THS is because the people that own the rights expect to be able to sell copies. If there weren't the loss of income, people would have done them, I think.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

If they could reproduce, then by definition they would be parahuman designs and not bioroids.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

In my THS campaign, a bioroid resident of the European Union has filed suit, alleging that as a living sapient being, she has a right to reproduce and therefore has a moral right to have her DNA reverse engineered to enable her to have children engineered for her, the proprietary claims of her makers notwithstanding. The player characters haven't explored this, but I speculate that it's going to have people lining up in unexpected ways.

Bill Stoddard

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 2a: Chapters 1 & 2)
 

You have done lot of work on this! Wow.

Under Pressure mentions biocomputers based on whale brains. They are one or two complexity slower but efficient in processing sonar signals etc.
And they are considered very unethical...

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

The implication/statement in TS is that bioroids are assembled from assorted cultured tissues, which may logically not even have the same genetics (so long as they're carefully designed to be compatible), and the chromosones they do have in their tissues are designed with "slots" into which specific genes can be inserted to produce particular local effects. Splitting out half their genes and matching up with half from elsewhere isn't likely to produce a viable genome unless the other half is from something specifically designed for the purpose...

Basically, they're not self-replicating living things, and their genes aren't designed for that, and may not be internally consistent. I doubt that they could express in a viable foetus; they can't reproduce sexually any more than a toaster could. This isn't malicious copy protection; it's the simplest way to do things, and designing a reproductively viable life form from the ground up is orders of magnitude harder.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 3: Chapter 3)
 

Chapter 3

I'd recommend that all Transhuman Space GMs review this chapter at some point. It may not affect PCs or even major NPCs very much, but consideration of what high-TL10 biotechnology can do to and for a society should have some interesting consequences for campaigns.

* Manna (p.80): There's no "universal food" mentioned in TS that I recall, and one might suspect that capitalist bioengineering companies would regard the idea as dangerously unprofitable... Assuming that it's feasible, of course, which might be an open question. (Your universal crop would need to grow equally well everywhere. Ask any gardener how feasible that is.) Some more benevolent TSA nations may be working on these lines, but let's not forget that the TSA is actually quite capitalist itself in many respects.

* Blood Roses (p.80): A handy and vicious trap for slightly more lurid TS games. Likely to be somewhat legally controlled, though.

* Residential Trees (p.80): This sort of thing does crop up in TS, but it's not widespread. Frankly, microbots and cybershells probably allow one to throw up cheap, adequate housing much faster, without having to worry about the quality of the soil underneath - and the two years quoted for a residential tree to grow strikes me as seriously optimistic.

* World Trees (p.80): The subject of research out in the Deep Beyond, of course. Trying to conduct TL11 genetic engineering that far from a proper technological infrastructure must be great fun.

* Fungal Infonets (p.82): Might be feasible in TS, though as in other cases, the big question is going to be "Why bother?"

* Fungal Surveillance Net (p.82): See above, and anyhow it's TL11. Surveillance dust seems like a better option all round.

* Smart Fungi (p.82): Might be under consideration for sneaky biowar/infowar purposes, I guess. Probably a bit susceptible to targeted countermeasures, though.

* Gengineered Insects (p.82-4): Basically a variant treatment of the "Insect Bioswarm" idea from TS, and might be useful in games.

* Doolittle Dolphin (p.89): A straight conversion of the template from Under Pressure (complete with the Delphis second-generation variant), and while it's tempting to preserve the GURPS tradition of multiple dolphin templates, one should use this as written.

* Jagrilla Hound (p.89-90): A cheerfully sinister legacy of the 3e version of Bio-Tech; I think it may have been mentioned in various TS sources, but never showed up in the books. It looks like it's fully within the scope of TS biotech, though chimerical uplifted warbeasts are rare at best - a bioroid version might be rather more plausible. Makes a neat quasi-terror weapon, but really, a competent human or simpler bioroid with the right tools is likely to be cheaper and deadlier. Still, just the thing for some screwed-up dictator's personal bodyguard.

* K-10 (p.90): As the name implies, best seen as an earlier precursor of the K-10A (as detailed in Changing Times) - and can be used as such. One problem, though; the template has Extra Legs (Four Legs), which is already included in the Quadruped meta-trait which it also has. Oops - time to submit an erratum. Also, should always have Dead Broke in TS games.

* Monkey Plus (p.90): It'd help here if I hadn't recently been looking at Nina Conti videos on YouTube... But anyway, yes, another good straightforward adaptation of a Fifth Wave template.

* Neo-Coon (p.90): Plausible for TS (and fun).

* Neo-Horse (p.91): Ditto. Likely to be a bit of a toy, so no one's likely to invest in developing the Wonder-Horse variant. (Developing a super-mule for future phases of the Mars colonial effort might be interesting.)

* Octosap (p.91): Weaker but slightly smarter than the treatment in Under Pressure; still, a useful guide to the principles of conversion, which is a little more fiddly here than sometimes. (Under Pressure also has the markedly smarter Octosap II.) The Astropus variant comes out a little different to the treatment in Changing Times, I'm afraid.

* Space Cat (p.91): Plausible in TS terms, if a bit space-operatic. If it can avoid litter tray issues, I could imagine this appearing out in the Belt.

* Ganesh (p.92): Another Fifth Wave conversion, tidying the thing up a bit (losing the insane 3e HT 16) and demonstrating that 4e makes the concept much more viable for PC use. (254 points saved - anyone converting a campaign which has one of these as a PC is going to be grinding their teeth.)

* Neo-Gorilla (p.92): Uplifted apes do exist in the TS world, and this is probably a very plausible template for one version thereof.

* Neo-Pinniped (p.92): Another useful update from Fifth Wave. Note that this gets some adjustment in the errata for the book.

* Ursamorph (p.93): This doesn't appear to come from TS, but in fact, it's quite similar (but not identical) to the Guardian Bear given "bestiary format" stats in In the Well. Anyone who wants a character sheet for a Guardian Bear could start with the Ursamorph template, maybe buying ST and DX up a bit.

* Non-Sapient Animals (p.93): I think that pharm goats are canon for TS, so now we have stats. The neo-vampire bat might show up in some Broken Dreams-esque games.

* Construction Coral (p.94): Basically much as covered in Under Pressure (p.94).

* Biovehicles (p.96-101): Not much covered in TS, and anything useful on these lines is likely to be a bit bleeding-edge for the technology. Still, there might be some work being done (aside from the bioship project noted in Spacecraft of the Solar System).

More to follow...

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 3: Chapter 3)
 

Actually, I think Manna would more likely than not be opposed. Universal crop = monoculture, aka the ultimate boo-word in agricultural policy. I know from first-hand experience that agropolitics is nasty, and I wasn't even trying to get involved in the first place!

By the way, thank you very much for these notes! Will there be any "Notes on Using GURPS Ultra-Tech (4e) in TS" upcoming?

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 3: Chapter 3)
 

That's the plan. These were meant to be a bit of a warm-up for that, in fact, but they came out a bit longer than I expected. (Things may speed up a bit now that I'm onto chapters without long lists of racial templates.)

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Many Thanks. This is a huge point which many people seem to miss, and which I'd never been able to express clearly enough.

(I guess "A genome is not a blueprint; it is a recipe. Humans are thus made using recipes. Bioroids are built partly from blueprints; there is no complete recipe." might be a good strapline...)

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

I just want to add that the difference between designing the final state and the way how to get there was a big problem when the new chancery in berlin was build.
IIRC it had a roof design which was statically sound. The real problem for the architects was to come up with a way how to build it. They couldn´t just teleport everything into place at once, and designing stable intermediate stages was apparently much more complicated then designing the final one, even with the use of scaffolding.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

One point to remember is that THS bioroids can't reproduce, because of the way they're made. "Bioroids" in other settings are often made from a single zygote and force-grown, making it entirely plausible for them to pass on their traits.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

As others have pointed out, that not actually possible given what a Bioroid is (as the product of exogenesis). However she may be able to successful sue for the right to build bioroids of the same model (despite EU law) and without paying the patent holder any fees. IIRC the Vacs in High Frontier have this sort of special legal status.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 4: chapter 4)
 

Chapter 4

Another good "stuff to bear in mind for a biotech world" chapter, but
with fewer templates this time (hurrah)...

* Photozyme Solar Film (p.106): Not discussed in TS that I recall, but
may explain some of the setting's quite good solar power
capabilities...

* Surveillance Infection (p.107): Not mentioned in TS that I recall,
but might make for some interesting plots. There may be legal issues
in some jurisdictions, especially with the TL10 retrovirus option;
deliberately infecting people, let alone fiddling with their DNA in an
unmonitored fashion, is asking for lawsuits. The first time a more or
less innocent subject shows an unexpected biochemical reaction to the
infection, the idea is likely to drop off the legal scale. (Anyway,
Fifth Wave crooks will often have standard, completely legal
anti-disease biomods that may turn out to negate this.)

* Germ Warfare (p.112-118): A reminder that any high-biotech setting
like TS will have its points of justified paranoia. One must assume
that some surprisingly innocuous-looking tools and supplies are going
to be treated as WMD-grade material, and ferociously restricted,
because of what they can be used to do.

* DNA Eraser (p.121): If this is available in TS, a lot of criminals
will want it - and it'll render the "Wiper Treatment" described on
p.101 of High Frontier pretty much irrelevant. It might be better to
assume that messing destructively with the internals of cells is a bad
idea, even if it's only supposed to happen when the cell dies.

Chapter 5 follows soon...

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 5: chapter 5)
 

Chapter 5

And on, we hit the "saving (meatbag) PCs from the consequences of their own actions" chapter (which is also the most universally useful one in the book).

• Cell Regeneration (p.133): As in TS, but the radiation healing rate has been halved, and the costs have been fiddled with - take your pick which to use.
  
• Reattachers (p.133): Another thing that hasn't been mentioned in TS, but looks quite logical. Of course, it's only really useful when treating clean amputations.
  
• Chrysalis Machine (p.133): Probably a bit too high TL11 for TS, although a good hospital will doubtless have prototypical equipment approaching this level in some respects.
  
• Neural Inhibitor (p.136): This is a bit ultra-tech (fairly explicitly so, in fact), and I can see PCs picking up some of these to use as weapons if they can. I suspect that the nearest thing in TS would be a nanotech gizmo that performs the same task rather more slowly and cautiously. We probably need a bit more treatment of non-ultratech TL10 anaesthesia, in fact (including those handy knockout/paralysis agents to load into darts and stinging microbots).
  
• Automed (p.139): In TS, this is a cybershell - a cyberdoc is really just the bells-and-whistles TL10 version - and the skills used may be those of an infomorph installed on the system (or the skill sets it's given to run).
  
• Head and Brain Transplants (p.143): Probably possible but extremely rare
  in the TS world (except for occasional brain transplants to a new clone body following really massive injury); there are almost always better options.
  
• Deep Learning (p.143): This is of course the technology used to prepare bioroids in TS. Whether it works on normal humans in the setting may be an open question; it might be considered too tiresomely stressful and un-fun for most folks, all else aside.
  
• Cryonic Revival (p.146): This basically follows the TS assumptions, though TS is rather optimistic - amnesia is the exception rather than the rule, and a ghost mind emulation is complexity 7 rather than 10. (I always thought that it should be 8, given the quoted size of a scan, but 7 allows it to be run on a lot more person-sized cybershells, so I can see where the decision came from.)

And so on to chapter 6 - which will probably require more work, so I might not get it done for a day or two.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 6: Chapter 6)
 

Chapter 6

I'd regard much of the (very interesting) material in this chapter as more detailed descriptions of the sort of stuff that turns up in a TL10/11 medikit, or an explanation of why TL10 First Aid does so much, so quickly. I'd also think of a lot of the drugs listed as being replaced by nanomods and nanodrugs in the TS world.

* Genericillin (p.150): Not canonical for TS; it feels very slightly too skiffy to me. I'd either treat it as shorthand for "the really good suite of antibiotic treatments available in the setting", or stick with higher levels of detail - specific enzyme-blocking drugs and so on. The idea of a powerful broad-spectrum antibiotic that can never be evolved around by some bastard microbe just strikes me as optimistic over-simplification.

* Enzyme-Blocking Drugs (p.151): An interesting expansion of the short note in the TS main book.

* Adders (p.155): I don't think that TS has anything quite like these, canonically... They're probably not too implausible for the setting, but anyone who wants to keep them out of the hands of munchkins can feel free to ban them, or ramp up the side-effects.

* Bone Stimulation (p.155): This is part of some other, more extensive biomods in TS, so yes, it should be available.

* Super-Steroids (p.156): These could probably be available in TS, while being regarded as painfully dated.

* Basic (p.156): Looks like a nanodrug cocktail to me...

* NERV (p.156): Canonical TS.

* Hypoxyline (p.156): Probably possible but rare in TS.

* Tempo (p.156): Can one believe in a drug granting Enhanced Time Sense? I think I'd stick with nanomods here.

* Gravanol (p.157): Might be possible in TS (probably using nanotech), but doesn't have many uses - except for spacers visiting Earth, perhaps.

* Deep-Sleep (p.158): Likely to be very popular with PCs if allowed in a game...

* Antitox (p.161): If this seriously protects against all poisons, it's a little bit cinematic, if you ask me.

* Atman (p.161): Comes from Under Pressure, which might seem a bit odd, given that TS nanodrugs can't, canonically, grant Animal Empathy. Oh well.

* BodyHeat (p.161): Also from Under Pressure, despite the fact that TS nanodrugs also haven't been described as granting Temperature Tolerance. Maybe the list of appropriate advantages and disadvantages in Changing Times could do with expanding... But anyway, given the limited effects, built-in drawbacks, and plausible mechanism, this one doesn't seem too strange.

* Destruct Nano (p.162): Plausible enough for TS, given a sensibly defined trigger mechanism, I think.

* Focus (p.162): The induced Careful might be debatable, but probably isn't worth arguing about, especially given that this is yet another byproduct of Under Pressure.

* Morlock (p.162): The last of the Under Pressure derivatives... Stress Atavism isn't on the Changing Times list, but given that it's only really appropriate for uplifts, that's probably less anomalous than some things.

* Panimmunity (p.164): Equivalent to TS Immune Machines, of course.

* Blood Cops (p.165): Not canonical in TS; might be plausible for the setting, though the effects look a bit generous to me. I'd re-class them as TL11, make them expensive and experimental, and say that they need extra treatments to provide the full Longevity effect and only work against specifically blood-born metabolic hazards.

* Carcinophages (p.165): The Longevity these grant is a bit more generous than the canonical TS version, but maybe it assumes synergy with a number of other backup treatments.

* Pore Cleaners (p.165): I stand by the ruling in Changing Times that you need extra stuff in addition to these to get Sanitized Metabolism. They don't make all your excretions nicer.

* Brain Boosters (p.166): Like several others, a TL11 invention which is canonically available in TS. I'd use the higher (Bio-Tech) price.

* Cell Surgeons (p.166): These, on the other hand, aren't available yet...

* Electroreceptors (p.166): ...whereas these are. In fact, the TS version doesn't have Vague, but maybe it should. Humans aren't built to acquire extra senses at whim.

* DNA Repair (p.166): Another thing that is available in TS, but doesn't give as much of a lifespan boost there. As I said, I'd say that you have to stack several of these things to get a full level of Extended Lifespan.

* Metabolic Regulators (p.166): Available in TS without the Mastery refinement. Sounds fair.

Chapter 7 will follow in due course.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

One qualification I should really acknowledge here; it's canonically possible to construct a bioroid which is a clone of an existing organism. (In the EU, ghost infomorphs are permitted to occupy bioshells based on bioroid clones of their original bodies.) While there may well be some tweaking at the genetic level required to grow a set of viable tissues for this, especially if you want a brain that's suitable for the usual bioroid high-speed education process, you do have a complete and reproductively viable genome there, and you could give the bioroid a fully functioning set of reproductive organs.

Of course, the main point of most bioroids is to create an organism which isn't akin to any human or parahuman. While there've no doubt been a number of genetically human bioroids created over the years, there are good reasons for most people to avoid doing so. First, what's the point? "Congratulations. You've created a human being. Put it in the box with the other ten billion." And second, creating a bioroid which is more or less completely human hands a huge hostage to the opposition in the "bioroids are slavery" debate; if you want to argue that bioroids aren't human and hence can't be treated as such, creating one which more or less is human is a bit stupid. In fact, it may well be legally banned in some places which permit bioroid construction generally.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

In such a case they probably would not be called bioroids; instead, "forced mature growth clones" or somesuch. Technically correct, but misleading.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Well, human-clone bioroids as bioshells generally aren't legally equivalent to bioroids anyway, since they likely have their brains replaced by a computer running a ghost, rather than being a conventional bioroid, and probably have the same legal rights as ghosts, rather than the legal rights of bioroids.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

That's about the only specific use we've seen mentioned for them. Whether that's actually the only reason why they're ever created is undetermined.

The generic mad-as-a-fish billionaires with which the world of the future is infested hip-deep might well have, say, clone bioroids created based on any romantic interest who spurned them in the past, and trained up as subservient pleasure models. (Sure, they could do much the same with a bioshell version, but see below for why they might not.) Thinking of other applications is left as an exercise.

Do note that bioshells have some significant legality/acceptability problems in the EU, India, and the Caliphate; see p.TS127, specifically the table footnotes. Yes, ghosts can use them, but I'd guess that they hit "creepiness" issues with a fair few people.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 7: Chapter 7)
 

Chapter 7

Aaaand... Here we have a chapter that sort of fits with the more cyberpunk-ish side of TS. There's stuff here that isn't, so far as I recall, mentioned much in TS anywhere (e.g. Complete Sex Change), but which is certainly quite plausible for the setting - if only in Red Duncanite territory in some cases, maybe.

* Eye Upgrade (p.173): Equivalent to Retinal Enhancement in TS - but better (going up to +3 vision, or even +4 if one allows TL11 effectiveness, for which I'd suggest adding a healthy surcharge). The point about retina prints changing is also valid and significant.

* Cold-Adaptive Fur (p.174): Not as good as the TS Ruanmao, but blame the TL difference...

* Skeleton Tongue (p.175): I have my doubts about the reliability and/or the TL setting of this. You'd surely need more than a tweaked voicebox.

* Limb Replacement Transplants (p.175): And I think you'd need a lot of training, at minimum, for some of these to do you much good. With a standard human nervous system, I'd expect feet-hands to be a bit clumsy.

* Pheromone Glands (p.176): As I've said before, I'd consider any pheromones that are supposed to affect unmodified humans as highly GM's-option-only.

* Sensa-Skin Grafts (p.177): Doesn't appear to exist in 2100 (yet?). A wee bit skiffy?

* Polykeratin Grafts (p.177-8): I don't think that TS has polykeratin, either.

* Winged Retromorphosis (p.178): The TS version isn't as good, though it can be used as a striker.

* Tentacle Transplant (p.178): Might exist in TS, but I'd require a lot of acclimatisation to use the darned things.

* Myelin Replacement (p.180): The TS version only gives immunity to the specific problem of Gas Narcosis - which I seem to recall from past playtest discussions may be somewhat more realistic.

* Sleepless (p.180): I doubt that the TL11 version is available in TS, given that there aren't any parahumans or bioroids who've had the need for sleep entirely engineered out of them.

* Mutation Repair (p.182): I don't think that TS treatments are supposed to be quite this good, though they head along similar lines.

* Methuselah Program (p.186): See above.

* Nerve Boosters (p.186): TS assumes that this is a nanosymbiont, not a proteus virus. Whatever.

* Biotronic Virus (p.186): Biotronic circuitry isn't standard in TS; it might be under development, though.

Chapter 8 will follow, which will be the last - chapter 9 doesn't really relate to TS.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Valid. However, it does not appear to be possible to build a clone biobrain which is fast-taught with a ghost pattern, so that places some limits on what you can actually do.

I suspect clone bioroids hit the same creepiness issues as bioshells.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Recent studies (e.g., S. Bremen's "A statistical memetic analysis on the increased incidence of piscean-level dementia in upper wealth brackets of fifth wave society") suggest that the main casual agents for this are (1) the rise in income levels, which have roughly triple the number of billionaires and (2) their *earlier* consiousness of their own immortality, especially compared to the rest of the Fifth Wave world, due to their wealth (starting in the mid 2050s) allowing them a more than 2-3 decade advance on reliable break-even techniques for permanent life extension. This resulted in a profound alienation often acted out by adoption of radical posthuman ethic among some of them couple in some cases by emotalist paranoia and a need to adjust their vision from one of "build and leave it to the descendants" to "plan for the very long view". Of course, Fifth Wave society as a whole has had to face this, but the point of Bremen's study is that billionaires faced this *earlier* and without the support mechanisms (indeed, often the reverse as those who were early adopters of super-expensive immortality technology were often criticized, forced to do so in secret, etc.). So, more of them went all fishy.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Quoted for truth.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Except for the ones who early-adopted the wrong technologies; they went belly-up fishy.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Based on the wording in TS, for some reason I thought that bioroids are in fact genetically human but as mentioned earlier the tissue is grown on scaffolding, etc. I think it mentions specifically somewhere that the brains are human. I thought TS tech was not advanced enough to create artificial DNA mimicking humans?

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 8: Chapter 8)
 

Chapter 8

The stuff in this chapter could actually be quite handy for TS games involving a lot of medical or biotech themes - which itself is an idea worth pursuing. Anyway, it's certainly worth a read.

* Black Market Organs (p.195): I think it's safe to assume that in the Transhuman Space setting, the ability to grow organs to order to match any patient's transplant needs - or pretty well any plausible research requirement - means that there won't be any sort of black market in organs.

* Spare-Parts Clones (p.196): Likewise, there doesn't appear to be any need to grow entire clones as a source of spare parts.

* Character Templates (p.202-210): Many of these are potentially useful in TS games - though of course they assume (more or less) human characters; interactions with radically nonhuman racial templates (and attitudes) might get interesting. The Organlegger template is of course irrelevant in a world with no real black market in organs; for darkside medic/biologist characters, look at some of the lenses on other templates (i.e. Genehacker or Illegal Physician).

* Biotech Meta-Traits (p.214): As noted previously, the Bioroid Body meta-trait in Changing Times is slightly different to the Bioroid meta-trait here.

* Bioengineering (p.214): The new specializations given here might show up in TS. "Biogadgets" will be rare - there are some such things on the market, but they're mostly rather specialist stuff. "Microbioengineering" is probably fairly common; it might even be used in the creation of "wet" nano at times. "Uplift" represents a fairly widespread area of activity, though maybe not something which gets its own department at universities.

* Accessibility (p.215): The "Requires Low Gravity" version of this may be relevant on occasion in TS character creation... The Astropus template and Winged Retromorphosis biomod in Changing Times are both consistent here.

* Temporary Disadvantage (p.215): The "Aftermath" version of this can be applied to things like the Felicia bioroid... But the version in Changing Times does things differently. To be honest, I'm not 100% keen on Aftermath; if you don't hit a situation which forces a self-control roll soon, you could be walking around with the problem set to go off for weeks afterwards, which seems a bit silly - if this represents a hormonal thing, the hormones will surely dissipate sooner than that. But anyone who wants to tweak the Changing Times Felicia is free to do so.

* Cardiac Stress (p.215): As used for the Bio-Booster biomod in Changing Times.

* Unsupported Strength (p.215): It's a bit fiddly to administer, but it sounds like the sort of thing that Martian Triad street docs wind up providing.
____________

Which is my lot with this book - like I said, Chapter 9 isn't TS-relevant. I will move onto *Ultra-Tech* in due course, but I may take a short breather first.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Read the description on p.TS76. Their DNA may be based on human material, but it's substantially messed about with.

TS biotech can't build the genome for an organism of human-level complexity from scratch, but it can make heavy modifications to existing DNA, and build genes for specific, single, fairly straightforward purposes.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Phil,

I just want you to know that your dedication to and support of the THS line in the 4e is outstanding. I have all the 3e books and a couple copies of Changing Times as well as color copies of the stuff you posted on your website. Brilliant. Well done. Thank you.

Very truly yours,

Ryan

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 2b: Chapters 1 & 2)
 

(On another look, I realise that it may owe at least as much to the Salud Upgrade, also in Broken Dreams - though it's a long way from a direct conversion of either. However, the Salud may be as close as has ever existed to the Februus in the TS setting.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 2b: Chapters 1 & 2)
 

Or, of course, there's the Hecate in Fifth Wave. Which is far closer to the Februus - close enough for the Februus to count as a direct conversion.

Smites self vigorously. Brain like a sieve.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Although, of course, there are rumors of the Alraune... ;)

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 6: Chapter 6)
 

I think the human brain is more plastic than you give it credit for. See here, for example.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 7: Chapter 7)
 

It does. See TS p. 117: the Incubus bioroid has polykeratin implants to affect full or partial sex changes.

Furthermore, the vignettes in Bio-Tech presenting polykeratin feature Dr. Mara Omokage, a well-known villain in TS.

Max

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 7: Chapter 7)
 

True. It doesn't get much use elsewhere, though, curiously enough. It's possible that bit of vocabulary drifted in just once through the wonders of cut and paste...

Those vigenettes aren't given a date, far as I recall; they could be post-2100 - if they are canonical Transhuman Space at all. Which really isn't guaranteed.

David wrote some cool vignettes for the 3e version of Bio-Tech, which evidently made reference to a setting he was already thinking about. That setting became Transhuman Space, which was developed over multiple books, each of which was revised, playtested, hacked about, and tweaked for coherence, logic, and consistency. Then the 4e version of Bio-Tech came along, which could and did use some stuff from the 3e edition and add some more, but which wasn't, so far as I know, contracted to be consistent with Transhuman Space. It probably is, mostly - but apart from anything else, even where it borrows, it may correct some material in TS that the authors now consider to be dubious.

So it's a handy reference, but not a guide to TS canon.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 7: Chapter 7)
 

No, that isn't guaranteed. One of the vignettes involves the war angel Tisiphone Logos, which definitely isn't in present-era (2100), canonical TS. She seems to live in David's hypothetical "post-Nanoclysm" future for TS. And as Dr. Omokage is a ghost, xox'ed to the nth degree, she is effectively immortal, and could turn up a thousand years after "normal" TS.

Still, the Incubus uses polykeratin implants, so I'll take it and run.

Yes, I was very much interested in the hypothetical meta-setting behind some of the vignettes in the old 3e Bio-Tech, which then read as a very high-tech cyberpunk world. I even tried to recreate it myself with what little clues there were. Then TS came out, and I was overjoyed. Some things had changed, though. The TSA no longer seemed like a giant, socialist dystopia dominating all of East Asia (it is interesting to note that all the TSA characters in 3e Bio-Tech have Chinese names; maybe David envisioned the TSA as the successor power to China, assimilating the rest of East Asia).

So, you're right that many things have changed from Bio-Tech to TS, and that the vignettes cannot be considered a guide to TS canon. They're still a good read, though, and I actually preferred the TSA as a totalitarian, socialist ultra-tech super-power rather than the poor, hodge-podge alliance of Third World countries described in TS. Just look at the vignette describing the Birth Control Virus: "... if the Third World can't be bothered to control their population growth, I guess we'll have to it for them" (Dr. Tse Chang addressing the Genetic Planning Council). Genetic Planning Council? The TSA having the know-how and the clout to spread a Birth Control Virus to control world-wide population growth? Not very canonical, I grant you, but in my view much more interesting than a weak alliance of socialist intellectual property thieves, and could make for an interesting "alternate-reality" TS campaign.

Thanks for your input, and thank you for starting this thread to begin with. It's nice to have "normal" GURPS and TS as compatible as possible.

Take care.

Max

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 7: Chapter 7)
 

Jon F. Zeigler has this to say about the TSA's origins, from here:

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 7: Chapter 7)
 

Okay, that explains a lot of things for me. Thanks.

Max

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Sorry for the necro, but the question is on-topic, and there doesn't seem to be any use out of filing it away in a separate thread:

The Submissa-series* bioroid has Very Rapid Healing [15], which gives a big bonus to HT on recoveries from injury, and grants 2 HP instead of one from the daily HT roll to heal.

In contrast, Regeneration (Slow) costs [10], gives +1 HP per 12 hours, and gives all the benefits of Rapid Healing (i.e. bonus to HT to recover from injury and regain HP), netting approximately 3 HP all-but-guaranteed per day (and not needing any rest for two of them).

Is there any reason I'm not seeing to not swap Very Rapid Healing for Regeneration (Slow) while converting such templates to 4e?

It seems like a total waste of 5-10 points compared to both Regeneration [10] and the first-level Rapid Healing [5].

* == Also the algonaut, but I'm not touching that template with a Reach 2,3 stick, and definitely never going to play one.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

No reason. I believe Very Rapid Healing synergises with Regeneration, but on it's own, the only reason to take it is that Regeneration isn't available.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Which is what it boils down to. Very Rapid Healing can be seen as regular bilogical healing functions working as well as they possibly could, and hence can just about count as realistically plausible; Regeneration basically tends to look like magic.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

That sounds like a vague way of saying it includes a not overtly stated unusual background mark up.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

In other worlds, VRH doesn't require an unusual background? Eh. Better to just errata the cost of either VRH or Slow Regeneration, or even toss VRH entirely. I'd probably toss VRH and change Slow to 15 points.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Hasn't Kromm said that Very Rapid Healing should have a significant bonus (+8, IIRC) to bleeding rolls?

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Regeneration (Slow) [10]. No Blood [5]. Just better.

(This indeed seems similar to an unadmitted Unusual Background . . . but a UB is okay for an experimental biomod. For an off-the-shell bioroid template, it looks wrong.)

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

True, then it becomes a point sink, which I consider just as bad as a point crock.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Just out of curiosity, why not?

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Regeneration might be okay with an Unusual Background, "Incorporates bleeding-edge TL11 biotech", if on consideration the GM decides that self-repair at that level fits with their vision of TS-style fairly hard SF, and that the energy/thermodynamic concerns and suchlike aren't insurmountable.

Other GMs are welcome to say "Don't be silly" and move on to something else.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Giant spiders are squeamish about kinky mammal sex.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

'Kinky' is the understatement of the year, particularly when taken together with the fact that the possibility of playing the other one of the two mentioned templates is carefully not denied.

Not, it's about repulsion from a model whose one and only purpose is to be miserable, even in craved things. And the Regrowth. But this is rapidly exiting the bio-tech topic, unlike the issue of having hidden UBs built into template costs.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

That's a general problem with Very Rapid Healing.

Re: Notes on Using GURPS Bio-Tech (4e) in TS (part 1: TL Overview)
 

Moving further tangents on 'why wouldn't you play' into the thread that was started as the tangent's extension earlier.