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

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-13-2019, 12:32 AM   #1021
mr beer
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
In real life? Seriously? That's not the impression that I've gotten, but on the other hand, my experience is by definition somewhat limited.
"Moon Landing Was Faked" is one of the most widely accepted conspiracy theories.
mr beer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 12:45 AM   #1022
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr beer View Post
"Moon Landing Was Faked" is one of the most widely accepted conspiracy theories.
But that's setting the bar low. It doesn't mean you can go somewhere and have the consensus be that you're an idiot for thinking the moon landing was real, barring certain conventions
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 01:28 AM   #1023
Daigoro
 
Daigoro's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

My impression is that most moon-landing conspiracists are from the US.

I've come across people (younger, non-Western) that weren't sure if we'd landed on the moon yet, and others who thought that astronauts have been to Mars and/or other planets, but that's just from a general scientific ignorance, not a rejection of mainstream knowledge.
__________________
Collaborative Settings:
Cyberpunk: Duopoly Nation
Space Opera: Behind the King's Eclipse
And heaps of forum collabs, 30+ and counting!
Daigoro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 01:55 AM   #1024
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
My impression is that most moon-landing conspiracists are from the US.
The active creators of conspiracy theories, yes. People who believe in them are much more widespread.
johndallman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 09:04 AM   #1025
malloyd
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
I've come across people (younger, non-Western) that weren't sure if we'd landed on the moon yet, and others who thought that astronauts have been to Mars and/or other planets, but that's just from a general scientific ignorance, not a rejection of mainstream knowledge.
I think largely it's a product of the moon landing being over-hyped. It was spun as a great contest with the Russians that was as consequential as a major war or something, and is *still* pushed as a great achievement (look at how great the US is (well was)!).

But in fact, it failed to have really important consequences. It's like one of those forgettable wars states sometimes fight with each other that one or the other "wins" and everything returns to the status quo.

I suspect people would be less skeptical if everybody gave up on pretending it was a great and significant achievement and presented it as just one of a string of space missions to learn science-y stuff real people don't much care about and return some pretty pictures (which Apollo didn't do a particularly great job of, which likely doesn't help). I'll bet that the whatever small fraction of casual moon landing hoax believers who have heard of them would express much less doubt about Landsat or Voyager.
__________________
--
MA Lloyd
malloyd is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 11:59 AM   #1026
Prince Charon
 
Prince Charon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
The active creators of conspiracy theories, yes. People who believe in them are much more widespread.
OK, so much worse than I expected, but not nearly as bad as some were implying.
__________________
Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life.

"The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates."
-- Tacitus

Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.
Prince Charon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 01:00 PM   #1027
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by malloyd View Post
I don't see why anybody would expect the withdrawal of the US to produce much in the way of power vacuums though.
He had solid arguments for why why China, Russia, India, and the EU weren't going to be able to be serious world powers. Yes they would try to project power but they'd lack the ability to do so sustainably.

Quote:
It's not like the world is short of nations with serious international resource needs and enough military capability to step in to defend their suppliers if they needed too.
The result of the power vacuum he was talking about was the kind of warfare you suggest. You're making my, or rather his, argument for me.

Quote:
Sure places with no worthwhile exports may get ignored, but they do now - it's not like the US is rushing to rescue Yemen or Somalia.
Put local powers or power wannabes will extend their authority if they can.

Quote:
Is there some reason you think the current world trading system has anything to do with Bretton Woods?
Yes. According to every historian I've read (my Masters is in history but that counts for nothing here) says all the major trade organizations were founded there. Plus the present system is formally named "The Bretton Woods System."

Quote:
Anyway the US is less than 15% of the world's trade volume, so it's not like there aren't other powers who have substantial interests in keeping some sort of system intact. I doubt the US is doing all that much to promote the current rules right now - our President seems to actively dislike much of it - and it doesn't appear to have fallen apart.
The point of this scenario is that the USA no longer needs to do so because of technological advances and other powers can't sustain the system or want changes unacceptable to the wider world community. This leads to an 18th century style trading system.

It's a dystopian setting.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 01:01 PM   #1028
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
OK, so much worse than I expected, but not nearly as bad as some were implying.
It's bad, and in the setting I proposed worse.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2019, 11:29 AM   #1029
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Try this one...

The 2040s seemed like a turning point. Cheap commercial fusion power headed a series of new tech that brought boom times to the World and seemed to solve the climate change issue. However the wait to act seriously was to long. West Antarctica started to collapse into the sea in 2051. By 2063 sea level had jumped six meters.

The economy is in chaos. Some small island nations have vanished. Certain vulnerable areas are brutally hard hit. Both the Nile and Ganges deltas are flooded and tens of millions displaced. Europe is hit with internal and external refugee crises. The USA is reeling. Whole states no longer have enough population to be states, but they demand their two senators and representatives!

Basically this is a time of crisis and chaos. The possibilities for PCs and adventures are vast. This world has moved to TL9 and has the resources to deal with this crisis, panic is the main enemy.

Note: West Antarctica is uniquely vulnerable to collapse because the glaciers rest of land below sea-level.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-15-2019, 01:36 PM   #1030
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

In a future in which 90% of the population are unemployed and disenfranchised thanks to losing their jobs to automation and a failed luddite uprising the player characters are a latter-day Robin Hood and his Merry Malefactors stealing from the ruling class. But now a would-be revolutionary wants them to take things up a notch by stealing the control codes for the robotic troops who preserve the dystopian order.
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

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

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

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:30 AM.


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