Things TLs 7-9 would be interesting to see WITHOUT

[Anders]

A world without Tolkien. I wonder if fantasy would have taken off like that, and what RPGs would be like?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

A world without Tolkien. I wonder if fantasy would have taken off like that, and what RPGs would be like?

Well, Conan, most likely. Or even some other cultural group of fantasy - e.g. Eastern mythological fantasy.

[Anders]

No halflings, no orcs, no elves, no dwarves...

A world without racism - people still hate each other, of course, but race is never the defining attribute.

[Jasonft]

A world where, once we start looking for them, the sky is FULL of signals coming from planets with intelligent life. No FTL travel or communication though, not even at higher TLs.

Every broadcast you hear now is from hundreds of years in the other world's past at a minimum and not all of them have adjusted well to their *own* discoveries that there are... people... out there.

Okay, that's more of a world with something we lack rather than lacking something we have. I still think it would make a cool SF story or even campaign.

[Kale]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

A world where, once we start looking for them, the sky is FULL of signals coming from planets with intelligent life. No FTL travel or communication though, not even at higher TLs.
Every broadcast you hear now is from hundreds of years in the other world's past at a minimum and not all of them have adjusted well to their *own* discoveries that there are... people... out there.
Okay, that's more of a world with something we lack rather than lacking something we have. I still think it would make a cool SF story or even campaign.

That would be pretty interesting from a dramatic standpoint. These 'letters from aliens' broadcast would lead to some interesting events. We wouldn't have FTL, and maybe barely started to explore space, so we have no way of trying to get to the source of the broadcast, and our own replies will take centuries to reach any of the 'others'. Of course then things get mixed up when one of the alien broadcasters start sending out plans for a hyperdrive...

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

No halflings, no orcs, no elves, no dwarves...

A world without racism - people still hate each other, of course, but race is never the defining attribute.

It's not like he was the only one to have heard of European myths.
Toning down elves to something more like modern day games makes more sense than the dying race of whiny superpowered creatures Tolkein used.
(I just hope my gf doesn't read this, or she would hurt me for that.)

If I had to create from myths, I would have used the old ones of dwarves being dark elves, cruel and magical but controlled by certain supernatural rules that others could use to protect themselves.
I maybe would have used tunnel Kobolds or Knockers as cannon fodder monsters so common in gaming.

See, it isn't hard to come up with something. It just wouldn't have a nigh universal campaign world.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Kale

That would be pretty interesting from a dramatic standpoint. These 'letters from aliens' broadcast would lead to some interesting events. We wouldn't have FTL, and maybe barely started to explore space, so we have no way of trying to get to the source of the broadcast, and our own replies will take centuries to reach any of the 'others'. Of course then things get mixed up when one of the alien broadcasters start sending out plans for a hyperdrive...

As other threads have said, that would require radio waves to propagate much farther than they do in the real world. Still interesting though.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Well, Conan, most likely.

This, more or less. Between Dunsany, ERB, REH, and their related circles, modern fantasy was already pretty well developed before LotR was published. Even Vance and Moorcock were active before LotR really took off in the 60s. Modern PRGs might look a bit more like a swords-and-sandals epic and a bit less like Anglo-Saxon mythology, I think.

[Jasonft]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

As other threads have said, that would require radio waves to propagate much farther than they do in the real world. Still interesting though.

What's the effective range on radio transmissions then? I never heard this as hard figures.

I am assuming, all though I could be very wrong, that once the first couple signals get picked up a lot of effort gets put into building better and more comprehensive receiver arrays. There might even be regular 'how to upgrade your radio transmitter/ receiver' messages from the aliens.


Edit note: I think that most all the aliens that got to the level of being able to produce a working hyperdrive of any sort would by that point have been listening to the sky for quite a long time. By that point they would be smart enough to keep it quiet. If you can get to the aliens that's okay - but if they can get to you it might not be.

[nik1979]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Greetings, all!

This more of a free practice for world-building, but I'm curious about possible differences that would make alternate worlds of a TL similar to ours (i.e. from TL7 to TL9, with almost-humans) look very different from ours. It seems that I'm not good at judging possible consequences, so both analyses of consequences and more examples are welcome. So, a few ideas of mine:

• No consumerism.
• No corporations at all.
• No makeup (okay, this one goes from than TL0 . . .).
• No skyscrapers and multilevel residences (only workplaces and hotels fall so low).
• No Superpowers (i.e. all countries are no larger than England, Poland, France etc.).
• No centralized cellphone systems (but radio relays are fully maintained by volunteers, linux-style).
• No patents - only copyrights and trademarks.
• No intellectual property, but only in the world of software.
• No governmental armies - only mercs.
• No mercs - armies started as militias and ended up as governmental armies.
• No social gender roles at all - wonder how that would affect technology from the onset.
• No internet.
• No GUIs.

Thanks in advance!

After reading the other replies, what about TL7 should remain? Might as well stagnate at TL3.

[*]No social gender roles at all - wonder how that would affect technology from the onset.

Isnt a lot of the meritocratic culture, equality, freedoms we are getting from TL7-9? I mean you can't have freedom from slavery, and sexism until there was enough critical mass to afford that change.

Since there are so much of the modern world has to be removed, what should remain in a while leaving everything TL2-3 why call it TL7-9 without X?