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Old 04-02-2019, 07:21 PM   #11
Johnny1A.2
 
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

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(incidentally thionite is built on one of those models: thio- means sulfur, -ite is a common suffix for "earths" - not exactly a chemical category anymore but...)
Interesting point. 'Doc' knew his chemistry, so he'd have realized that. I just wonder if it's a play on words, 'sulfurous drug' -> 'hell drug', the ultimate addictive agent. A microgram of it can destroy your life and turn you, more or less, into a slave to your supplier, forever. It's so addictive that if you're a civilian who can have a dose of it and not become psychologically addicted, you're probably a Lensman-grade mentality that got overlooked somehow.
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Old 03-15-2022, 01:18 AM   #12
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

The ultimate party drug would enhance prosocial behavioral choices, and reduce social and sexual inhibitions, whilst enhancing (pleasurably) senual stimulation (both sexual and non)...

and then, make it so that it's hard to overdose...
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Old 03-17-2022, 09:06 PM   #13
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

I like some of the suggestions in this thread.

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The ultimate party drug would enhance prosocial behavioral choices, and reduce social and sexual inhibitions, whilst enhancing (pleasurably) senual stimulation (both sexual and non)...
The first two are hard since the same mechanism which keeps us from knocking a stranger's head in when he cuts in front of us in line keeps us from wearing white after Labour Day. People internalize a set of social rules, some of which are harmful, many others of which are one way of doing things, and a few of which are really important. Drunks lose the inhibition which prevents them from hitting on that special someone, but they also lose the inhibition against burning that house down. Star Wars is not rational fiction, but a drug which knows which behaviours are "prosocial" sounds more fantasy than science fiction.
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Old 03-18-2022, 04:32 AM   #14
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

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The first two are hard since the same mechanism which keeps us from knocking a stranger's head in when he cuts in front of us in line keeps us from wearing white after Labour Day. People internalize a set of social rules, some of which are harmful, many others of which are one way of doing things, and a few of which are really important. Drunks lose the inhibition which prevents them from hitting on that special someone, but they also lose the inhibition against burning that house down. Star Wars is not rational fiction, but a drug which knows which behaviours are "prosocial" sounds more fantasy than science fiction.
One way to look at this would be to say that "prosocial" behavior means behavior typical of people with high agreeableness (one of the Big Five personality traits). On the other hand, agreeableness has both good and bad aspects.
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Old 03-18-2022, 06:51 AM   #15
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

I think some types of "spice" tend to grant or enhance certain Force abilities. On the topic of a "prosocial" drug, what about something that combines some weak mind reading and prescience to cause the user to subconsciously know what those nearby want him/her to do, alongside moderately reduced inhibitions? Maybe that cute girl at the bar is interested, maybe she isn't - but take a snort (or shot, or puff, or however you get it into your body) of this spice, and suddenly you know (at a subconscious level) if she's interested and, if so, you know just what to say, and have the confidence to say it - while if you were using more traditional "liquid courage," you'd have the confidence, but might be a nuisance to someone who is very much Not Interested (with the spice, you know not to bother her), and even if she is interested you might end up fumbling through some cringey pick-up lines that makes her change her mind.

Such a drug would also have the advantage that, while you're more inclined to have a good time, you're arguably more difficult to take advantage of than if you were sober - while you have somewhat-lowered inhibitions, you have heightened awareness of folks who are up to No Good (due to subconsciously reading their minds, and being able to peak into what they're going to do in the future).
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Old 03-18-2022, 08:43 AM   #16
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

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On the other hand, agreeableness has both good and bad aspects.
I have spent two decades avoiding a chap at work who has agreeableness so high as to seem like a parody. I find him intensely annoying, but he's fortunately now retired.
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Old 03-18-2022, 11:56 AM   #17
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

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One way to look at this would be to say that "prosocial" behavior means behavior typical of people with high agreeableness (one of the Big Five personality traits). On the other hand, agreeableness has both good and bad aspects.
Hm, drugs that amplify or depress one of the 5 (or 6 or 16 if you prefer one of the other common versions) personality traits seem more plausible than most, and pretty much always have a mix of good and bad subcomponents to make them interesting. So this seems like a great approach for starting to think about hard SF designer drugs.

I'm a little more doubtful for Star Wars because Space Opera drugs are usually narrower and less ambiguous in effect, and of course in this particular setting, emotions are strongly linked to external supernatural forces that make value judgements about them. Admittedly a specific "prosocial" effect does seem in line with opening you up to "light side" influences on an individual level, so maybe that still works. Of course it might also influence you to amazingly idiotic "heroic" protest of your society's norms, the light side really seems to align quite a lot with "chaotic good", not a great fit for any complex society build on rules and laws.
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Old 03-18-2022, 12:53 PM   #18
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

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Hm, drugs that amplify or depress one of the 5 (or 6 or 16 if you prefer one of the other common versions) personality traits seem more plausible than most, and pretty much always have a mix of good and bad subcomponents to make them interesting. So this seems like a great approach for starting to think about hard SF designer drugs.
It seems to me that the Big Five can somewhat be correlated with the racial personality profile traits in GURPS, though there are inevitably some racial traits left over.

Openness to Experience: on one hand, high Curiosity and high Inventiveness; on the other, low Chauvinism (less obvious, but if you look at what O really means, it seems to fit).

Conscientiousness: high Concentration.

Extraversion: high Gregariousness.

Agreeableness: high Empathy.

Neuroticism: high Suspicion.

(Which leaves over Egoism and Playfulness . . .)
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Old 03-19-2022, 11:14 AM   #19
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A drug which changes personality on the Big Five (or another popular system) feels more science-fiction-like to me. I think people with a statistics background look down on them, but science fiction often uses old or questionable science.

A hallucinogen without the risk of nausea and nightmares could work but its a bit low-key for Star Wars.

I like Varyon's idea of a drug which grants low-level empathy or mind reading.
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Old 03-25-2022, 03:09 PM   #20
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Default Re: What could be a good recreational drug for my story?

I can't remember the story, but I read one that included a drug that caused any nerve impulse to trigger the pleasure center of the brain -- including pain.

So, one could identify users by scars, rashes, and even open sores, because the act of scrubbing at the skin with a brush felt tremendously pleasurable -- but not so much as to debilitate.

Some, though, did much worse things to themselves -- or let others do things to them.

That might be a little dark for a Star Wars game, tho.....
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