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Fixer
2009-08-04, 02:56 PM
It is my hope to generate a list of 'cool things' to put into a futuristic game. Things that would be cool and interesting to me, and hopefully to most of you.

Therefore I ask you for a list of 'neat' things you'd like to see represented in a futuristic RPG. These should be things that won't be terribly disruptive in the hands of PCs, as PCs tend to get their hands on everything a GM doesn't want them to.

Fixer's List
Bioware (includes genetic engineering)
Cyberware
Full Body Armor suits (ala Master Chief)
Inertialess Drives
Laser Guns (in all their shades)
Nanotech
Robots (large and small)
Spaceships
Space Stations

List added by others
Advanced Weapon Technologies (see below)
Aliens (Friendly and non-, humanoid and non-, mammalian and non-, carbon-based and non-)
Alternate Dimensions
Alternative Energy Sources
Artificial Intelligence
Colonies / Terraforming
Condensed Food (packets, cubes, paste, something like that)
Cosmic Empires
Cryogenic Freezing (for travel or for life-saving functions)
Drugs (Spice, whatever)
FTL Travel
Hive Minds
Holograms
Jumpgates
Junkyards (large, space, etc.)
Lingual Difficulties & low-tech solutions
Lost in Space
Mutations / Genetic Experiments
Normal space-based heavenly bodies (black holes, binary stars, gas clouds, etc).
Outer Space Organisms
Personal Energy Shields
Personal Flight Apparatus (Boots, backpack, wings, whatever)
Psychic Powers (induced)
Space Elevators
Spatial Anomalies
Stun Weapons
Technological Structures in Space (Dyson Spheres, Ringworlds, etc.)
Transporter Devices (ala Star Trek)
Varying tech levels between civilizations
Voice-Operated Computers
Virtual Environments ("Matrix" or Holodeck technologies)

Advanced Weapons/Defenses
Plasma weapons
Ion Weapons
Anti-Planet Weapons
Mines (Magnetic & normal)
Cloaking Devices
Unmanned Vessels

Bouregard
2009-08-04, 02:59 PM
Genetical improved humans/ animals
Teleporting devices
Holograms

Fixer
2009-08-04, 03:01 PM
Genetically improved would be under bioware, or are you talking about something else entirely?

chiasaur11
2009-08-04, 03:02 PM
Mad AIs
Energy shields
Futuristic stun weaponry, a la Deus Ex's riot prod

Theodoriph
2009-08-04, 03:03 PM
Elves and Penguins!

Fixer
2009-08-04, 03:03 PM
Futuristic stun weaponry, a la Deus Ex's riot prodPlease explain. I am not familiar with this one.

AstralFire
2009-08-04, 03:04 PM
Rocket Boots You Can Kick People In The Face With.

I came up with it before Dr. McNinja.

Hawriel
2009-08-04, 03:06 PM
FTL travel or folded space hopping.

Aliens

Inovative colonizing of highly inhospitibl locations.

GolemsVoice
2009-08-04, 03:12 PM
Futuristic stun weaponry, a la Deus Ex's riot prod

It's basically a taser that isntantly knocks most humanoid targets out for about 20 minutes or so. It's really not that futuristic.

- Food that comes in one of the following varieties: replicated, in strange tubes or packs, or in little cubes that you have to put into a machine and viola! Turkey. It's not really the future unless theres some kind of cubed food.

- Humans who, by means of technology, have gained access to their latent psychic powers/have gained psychic powers anyhow. This specifically does not mean talents that are born naturally, but rather induced psychichs whose natural talents would be insignificant otherwise. Wire coming out of the head are a must.

- Some sort of VR. Shadowrun, Matrix, Neuromancer. Take your pick.

- Backlit, slow moving fans sorrounded by fog for no reason other than to make the area look creepy.

- Computers you can access via voice orders.

- If the setting features long distance interstellar travel, some sort of revolving, giant jumpgate would really be cool.

- Cryosleep. It just has to be, otherwise it's not sci-fi.

Jair Barik
2009-08-04, 03:14 PM
terraforming (probabley comes under colonies)
Xenomorphs/aliens
Mutants
Cyborg implants
Entropy perhaps (or technology to prevent it)
Alternate realities?
Corrupt/evil cosmic empires
Hive minds/consciousnesses

EDIT:Ninjad on several of these

EDIT:Asimov's Last question, Asimov's Laws of robotics, Asimov's ideas about the future usage of Jupiter Asimov's.... Heck just look at most of Asimov's stuff if your stuck for ideas, its a great source of sci-fi inspiration

bosssmiley
2009-08-04, 03:29 PM
Generation ships - huge ships wherein the crews live out their lives, and raise and train their successors. Usually sub-light speed, sometimes not...
Intelligent plants
Space-dwelling organisms
Illogical interstellar empires
Retro computers (either command line interface, or red lens + voice-activated. There are no GUIs in spaaaaaace!)
Sufficiently advanced aliens
Uplifted animals
Hooves on the deck plates and melee weapons in boarding actions - sword and planet / regressed future (like Foundation, only moreso)
Spice (which must flow)
Deep Time - history, artefacts and alien races that go back millions of years
Weird extreme environments (Stephen Baxter's short stories are full of these)
Class M worlds
Orbital habitats and asteroid colonies
Space elevators
Binary systems
Spacial anomalies (roughly 1/week) - "You're suspended! Hand in your Spock ears!"
Black Holes
Literary allusions galore
Everything on the Elements of the Mutant Earth lists at Like Being Read to From Dictionaries (http://likebeingreadtofromdictionaries.blogspot.com/)

@v: entries amended for better explanation

Fixer
2009-08-04, 03:33 PM
Generation ships
Hooves on the deck plates and melee weapons in boarding actions
Deep Time
Weird extreme environments (Stephen Baxter's short stories are full of these)
Class M worlds
Spacial anomalies (roughly 1/week)Explain these a bit better, please.

Foryn Gilnith
2009-08-04, 03:46 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_M_planet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Spatial_anomaly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeelee_Sequence ("Several novels also deal with humans and posthumans living in extreme conditions, such as the heart of a neutron star (Flux) or a universe with considerably stronger gravity (Raft).")


Google is your friend.

While I dislike some of the listed things, I would agree that they are all "cool" and should, if plausible, be integrated into a space game.

Ianuagonde
2009-08-04, 03:48 PM
More languages than you can shake a laser stick at. Aliens should be incomprehensible to most humans.

EDIT: And for the mutation, the common hamster would be a good starting place...

Jair Barik
2009-08-04, 03:54 PM
Babelfish perhaps?

Undeveloped/low tech civilizations and cultures as seen in star trek, would be good.

Lysander
2009-08-04, 03:59 PM
Massive inhabited structures like Dyson Spheres and Ringworlds.

PLUN
2009-08-04, 04:00 PM
If you're not in a unisex bodysuit that has more features than your computer, you're underdressed.

Ravens_cry
2009-08-04, 04:03 PM
Civilisations make contact with advanced aliens (future humans) using around present level space vehicles, riding up to meet the 'gods' on a pillar of flame.

Flickerdart
2009-08-04, 04:15 PM
You must decide whether you're doing it hard or soft sci-fi, because many ideas can only be one.

Jade_Tarem
2009-08-04, 04:16 PM
The improbability drive.

Jair Barik
2009-08-04, 04:23 PM
The improbability drive.

Don't you mean the infinite improbability drive?:smallbiggrin:

Civil War Man
2009-08-04, 04:30 PM
A general lack of space marines for once

PLUN
2009-08-04, 04:34 PM
I would argue people who fight both in space ships and on land, marines in space if you would, are still acceptable.

Ravens_cry
2009-08-04, 04:43 PM
I would argue people who fight both in space ships and on land, marines in space if you would, are still acceptable.
True, but more like MACO (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Military_Assault_Command_Operations),
not Doom Guy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomguy).

AstralFire
2009-08-04, 04:43 PM
They should be called spacers or something. Marine is water!

PLUN
2009-08-04, 04:45 PM
True, but a lot of science fiction just put their navy on floating boats and call it a day, rather than beef up their (generally air force) space program.

AstralFire
2009-08-04, 04:49 PM
True, but a lot of science fiction just put their navy on floating boats and call it a day, rather than beef up their (generally air force) space program.

You would have to mix the two. Neither military force is a precise fit for how things work.

You would also just about always have an Army. This has always bothered me. If you're going to do invasions, you use armies. Marines are used as shocktroopers, they can't hold positions. They don't have the numbers. The US Army made more amphibious assaults in WW2 than the US Marines did. The people trained in first response bloodbaths don't use the exact same skill sets as the people engaged in sustained firefights constantly or posted defensively.

Such an army would probably still have its own methods of transport as well, just as the real army does have its own air transport right now.

Fixer
2009-08-05, 06:33 AM
I wanted to reduce the amount of space combat, limiting it to fighter-class ships. Anything bigger than a starfighter will have a hull so reinforced that it cannot be breached by any conventional weapons, so even if you break the shields you cannot destroy the ship with normal weapons.

Best you can hope for is to destroy external components (like engines and gun ports) then send in "space marines" (which I will probably keep just because it is accepted vernacular) to clear it out or detonate a large explosive inside the hull (before your opponent self-destructs).

For those familiar with E.E. Doc Smith's ships, I am going to draw heavily from that for starfighter combat. Capital-class starships will be something entirely new from my head.

I am also deciding NOT to have artificial gravity on starships. I am trying to keep this as close to science theory as possible, and I haven't heard anyone describe how to do artificial gravity from any sort of sensible perspective.

Fastmover
2009-08-05, 07:08 AM
Recyclers
Espionage Probs
Robotech like Mechs
Solar Satalites
Plasma Technology
Ion Technology
Shield Domes
Interplanetary Missles
Anti-planetary Missles
Planet Defenses
Mine Fields
Megnetic Mine Fields
Special Mining planets
Cloaking Devices
Unmanned ships
AI

Foryn Gilnith
2009-08-05, 07:23 AM
I am trying to keep this as close to science theory as possible, and I haven't heard anyone describe how to do artificial gravity from any sort of sensible perspective.

So this sci-fi is hard. Great; I get enough soft "sci-fi" from Star Wars anyway.

What, exactly, do you plan to do with this?

Fixer
2009-08-05, 08:03 AM
So this sci-fi is hard. Great; I get enough soft "sci-fi" from Star Wars anyway.

What, exactly, do you plan to do with this?Build a bridge out of it!

No, wait.

Build a game out of it!

Seriously, I am making a game. Sci-Fi, mostly science sufficiently advanced. The setting will be not too far into the future, but with cataclysmic events happening in the near future. Humankind will be advancing to the stars (because of said catacylsmic events) and have encountered numerous other races. There is no truly unified government, but there will be what CAUSED the cataclysmic events still around, lurking, waiting to pounce and VERY dangerous.

It will be a very gritty game. Without a central government, most of the races are just territorial. Criminals can flee one jurisdiction to another without too much fuss if bribes were paid beforehand. Piracy is a predictable expense for interstellar travel. Drugs and slavery are known to exist, but not openly in most cultures.

It will take the best and the worst of societies. I plan to mix in a great deal of religion and politics into it, so as to be as close to 'real' as I can conceive. I expect this project to take me a couple years, so as long as no one is in a hurry I'll post here when I complete certain sections for folks to take a gander at.

So far, my story idea can incorporate everything people have listed thus far, so I am seeing if anyone has more ideas I can incorporate. I will give credit to "The folks of Giant in the Playground Forums" rather than individually, to be clear.

mikeejimbo
2009-08-05, 08:22 AM
Man, I don't think anyone even considered credit. At least I wouldn't.

What's your stance on FTL radio, then? I personally believe it's just as implausible as FTL travel, but I think it would make a neat setting where there is FTL travel but no FTL radio. To send messages, they would actually have to send automated beacons with recordings in them. If those could be detected and shot down, you might have to send an actual force to protect the message, and once you've done that, you've brought back the pony express.

Fixer
2009-08-05, 08:38 AM
My premise interstellar communications is as follows:

There will be gates to and from an alternate dimension (essentially hyperspace) where our laws of physics don't apply normally. These gates are located far from a gravity well, outside any orbital paths, and remain in place via inertialess technologies. Transmission to these gates can cause the signal to bounce through the alternate dimension much faster than they can through our universe, allowing communication over greater distances much faster than normal. There will be a delay but not nearly as bad.

However, in systems that lack this gate, it will not be possible to communicate except through normal less-than-light-speed communications, which will probably result in very little meaningful communications. Large capital ships will be able to create temporary rifts into this alternate dimension for communication and travel purposes.

Radar
2009-08-05, 08:58 AM
Depending on, lets say, the level of order and scale of past disasters on a given world, there can be vast, wild junkyards (infested with weird life forms or robots, radiation poisoning risk and such) scavenged by locals for parts and raw materials.

Depending on space travel advancement, there could be a risk of a spaceship getting literally lost in space - navigation computer or a navigator guy is the most important thing/person on a ship
The spaceships could also break down, get hit by a stray piece of rock or something. If hulls of ships are strong enough to stand such conditions (they really should), it could add a nice flavor to wake up PC's with a loud THUD! accompanied by jolt, when an asteroid bounces off their ship.

Trade between civilisations of varying advancement can lead to let's call it mixed technology machines - like a solar power propelled wooden cart or high explosive warheads fired out of a catapult.

Fixer
2009-08-05, 09:05 AM
Terra won't have significant junkyards like you describe (because Humans didn't advance quickly, or on their own), but a couple other planets I have in mind might have cause for them. One in particular probably does.

NPCMook
2009-08-05, 09:15 AM
Might want to check out Eclipse Phase. I am eagerly awaiting this game...

I believe Rob Boyle is the main person behind the project.

Fixer
2009-08-05, 09:27 AM
Might want to check out Eclipse Phase. I am eagerly awaiting this game...

I believe Rob Boyle is the main person behind the project.That is more post-apocalyptic than I was shooting for. Might be problematic with the d100 system, as the last d100 system I played that was ok was Star Frontiers, and that had issues of its own.

I wish them luck. Might be better than what I come up with but we'll see.

Jair Barik
2009-08-05, 09:44 AM
Check out Enders game and Firefly. Enders Game has some interesting things to do with Zero-G and Firefly has some things in common with your setting IMO. But I would avoid borrowing too heavily from the latter as there is already a Firefly RPG