Terradyne vs Transhuman Space

[Aran]

I'm developing a Space campaign that's going to use the G:Aliens and Space Atlas books for a 23rd/24th century which will be a sortof Star Trek: Enterprise/Firefly in flavor. Developing the history for how we got there is important, but I don't want to waste too much time on it; i.e. I want to be able to just tweak existing books to get it.

The 21st century will use Cyberpunk (maybe Cyberworld, maybe not), and for the 22nd century I'm considering Terradyne or Transhuman Space. There are a few standards of each era that don't exist in a Space Opera-ish campaign which I've already started thinking about how to explain their absence. Popular culture will account for the "fad" of cyberware disappearing and pretty much being relegated to medical necessity. An AI war (a-la the Eugenics Wars in Star Trek) occurs during the pre-FTL era that will account for the lack of AIs as PCs/NPCs in the general populace.

I don't know much about Terradyne or THS (other than they cover the correct time period) and have never seen either in the FLGS near me. What are the strengths/weaknesses of each setting, particularly in being shoehorned inbetween Cyberpunk and semi-Space Opera?

[Ed the Coastie]

As much as I like Transhuman Space, I tend to favor Terradyne as the basis for my near-future science-fiction campaigns; in my opinion, the basic Terradyne setting is easier to modify than a Transhuman Space one. My basic "Terradyne default" is a "hard SF" setting, with light biotech and medium cybernetics. I then graft on aspects from other worldbooks to add flavor.

If I want a more dystopian setting, I draw heavily from Cyberworld. For an alien invasion, I pull my copy of War against the Chtorr from the shelf. I even once incorporated Flight 13 into a campaign. And, of course, there is always Riverworld to provide a second chance to play favorite characters.

For a bit more reach, I will often incorporate worldbooks such as Mars or Blue Planet, just to provide a different setting for my PCs to enjoy.

When I do run a "space opera" campaign, I like to be inspired by Star Frontiers rather than Star Trek or Traveller (largely because nearly everyone else tends to use one of the latter two settings, and I enjoy being different), and I usually extrapolate it from the Terradyne timeline.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Aran

I'm developing a Space campaign that's going to use the G:Aliens and Space Atlas books for a 23rd/24th century which will be a sortof Star Trek: Enterprise/Firefly in flavor. Developing the history for how we got there is important, but I don't want to waste too much time on it; i.e. I want to be able to just tweak existing books to get it.

If you're planning on using 4e might I suggest you check out my conversion of Aliens for GURPS 4th Edition? In fact, even if you're using 3e I have another file there that has the racial templates with (as near as I could tell) all the errata fixed.

Originally Posted by Aran

I don't know much about Terradyne or THS (other than they cover the correct time period) and have never seen either in the FLGS near me. What are the strengths/weaknesses of each setting, particularly in being shoehorned inbetween Cyberpunk and semi-Space Opera?

For the most part I like working with my own background - there's usually no great need to fill in specifics of past history, at least at the beginning. After all, what do we know of the History of Firefly before the civil war? And how much of the Trek timeline was filled in durring the first dozen or so episodes, let alone the first series? What's far more important IMO is having a solid idea of the feel that you want the history to have had, which it appears you do. You can always fill in the specifics as they come up.

[Aran]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

If you're planning on using 4e might I suggest you check out my conversion of Aliens for GURPS 4th Edition.

That's actually what got me interested in pulling the books out ;-)

[capnq]

THS has the advantage of still being in print. I don't know how easy it is to find a copy of Terradyne nowadays.

[Rasmus Wagner]

Originally Posted by Aran

...I don't know much about Terradyne or THS (other than they cover the correct time period) and have never seen either in the FLGS near me. What are the strengths/weaknesses of each setting, particularly in being shoehorned inbetween Cyberpunk and semi-Space Opera?

THS is very much about the theme of Transhumanism: A "human" (or "sentient") being is not necessarily a 2-armed 2-legged fleshy creature born of a woman. AIs and surveillance are everywhere, augmented reality/VR overlays, the hyman rights of vat-grown clones etc.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by capnq

THS has the advantage of still being in print. I don't know how easy it is to find a copy of Terradyne nowadays.

Quite easy actually.

[sjard]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Quite easy actually.

<Moderator>
Just as a note, the post you responded to (in 2022 (date for future reference)) was made in 2004.
</Moderator>

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Rasmus Wagner

THS is very much about the theme of Transhumanism: A "human" (or "sentient") being is not necessarily a 2-armed 2-legged fleshy creature born of a woman. AIs and surveillance are everywhere, augmented reality/VR overlays, the hyman rights of vat-grown clones etc.

Right. THS is probably the better source if you want to delve into the strangeness of uplifted animals, minds (or are they?) occupying shells or just existing incorporeally, duplicates of varying degrees of resolution, various kids of augmentation, pervasive surveillance, etc.