Results 1 to 30 of 38
-
2009-08-04, 02:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Location
- Tallahassee, Florida
List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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 VesselsLast edited by Fixer; 2009-08-05 at 09:03 AM.
The easy I do before breakfast,
The difficult I do all day long,
The impossible achieved during the workweek,
Miracles performed when possible.
People call me the Fixer,
and I am here to help you.Spoiler
Fixer's Guide to Neutrality
Fixer's Fighter Fix
(Campaign) Characters:
Searching For... Goldenrod
Survival... Gelder
-
2009-08-04, 02:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Leipzig, Germany
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
Genetical improved humans/ animals
Teleporting devices
HologramsTwo rules get you through life:
1. If it's stuck and it's not supposed to be, WD-40 it.
2. If it's not stuck and it's supposed to be, duct tape it
-
2009-08-04, 03:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Location
- Tallahassee, Florida
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
Genetically improved would be under bioware, or are you talking about something else entirely?
The easy I do before breakfast,
The difficult I do all day long,
The impossible achieved during the workweek,
Miracles performed when possible.
People call me the Fixer,
and I am here to help you.Spoiler
Fixer's Guide to Neutrality
Fixer's Fighter Fix
(Campaign) Characters:
Searching For... Goldenrod
Survival... Gelder
-
2009-08-04, 03:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
Mad AIs
Energy shields
Futuristic stun weaponry, a la Deus Ex's riot prodRemember how I was wishing for the peace of oblivion a minute ago?
Yeah. That hasn't exactly changed with more knowledge of the situation. -Security Chief Victor Jones, formerly of the UESC Marathon.
X-Com avatar by BRC. He's good folks.
-
2009-08-04, 03:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
Elves and Penguins!
-
2009-08-04, 03:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Location
- Tallahassee, Florida
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
The easy I do before breakfast,
The difficult I do all day long,
The impossible achieved during the workweek,
Miracles performed when possible.
People call me the Fixer,
and I am here to help you.Spoiler
Fixer's Guide to Neutrality
Fixer's Fighter Fix
(Campaign) Characters:
Searching For... Goldenrod
Survival... Gelder
-
2009-08-04, 03:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Gender
-
2009-08-04, 03:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
FTL travel or folded space hopping.
Aliens
Inovative colonizing of highly inhospitibl locations.
-
2009-08-04, 03:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2006
- Location
- Germany
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
Futuristic stun weaponry, a la Deus Ex's riot prod
- 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.Si non confectus, non reficiat.
The beautiful girl is courtesy of Serpentine
My S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripjat Let's Play! Please give it a read, more than one constant reader would be nice!
-
2009-08-04, 03:14 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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 inspirationLast edited by Jair Barik; 2009-08-04 at 03:20 PM.
He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
My characters
-
2009-08-04, 03:29 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2005
- Location
- Flawse Fell, Geordieland
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
- 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
@v: entries amended for better explanationLast edited by bosssmiley; 2009-08-04 at 03:54 PM.
-
2009-08-04, 03:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Location
- Tallahassee, Florida
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
The easy I do before breakfast,
The difficult I do all day long,
The impossible achieved during the workweek,
Miracles performed when possible.
People call me the Fixer,
and I am here to help you.Spoiler
Fixer's Guide to Neutrality
Fixer's Fighter Fix
(Campaign) Characters:
Searching For... Goldenrod
Survival... Gelder
-
2009-08-04, 03:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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.Last edited by Foryn Gilnith; 2009-08-04 at 03:47 PM.
-
2009-08-04, 03:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2009
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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...Last edited by Ianuagonde; 2009-08-04 at 03:50 PM.
-
2009-08-04, 03:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
Babelfish perhaps?
Undeveloped/low tech civilizations and cultures as seen in star trek, would be good.
He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
My characters
-
2009-08-04, 03:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2005
- Location
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
Massive inhabited structures like Dyson Spheres and Ringworlds.
-
2009-08-04, 04:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
If you're not in a unisex bodysuit that has more features than your computer, you're underdressed.
-
2009-08-04, 04:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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.
-
2009-08-04, 04:15 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2008
- Location
- NYC
- Gender
-
2009-08-04, 04:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2006
- Location
- Elsewhere
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
The improbability drive.
Amazing Zealot avatar by Elder Tsofu.
-
2009-08-04, 04:23 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
My characters
-
2009-08-04, 04:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
A general lack of space marines for once
I am within your stronghold inflicting fatal attacks upon your conscripts.
I Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Wizard (4th Level)
Strength-13
Dexterity-12
Constitution-14
Intelligence-15
Wisdom-13
Charisma-12
What D&D Character Am I?
-
2009-08-04, 04:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
I would argue people who fight both in space ships and on land, marines in space if you would, are still acceptable.
-
2009-08-04, 04:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
-
2009-08-04, 04:43 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Gender
-
2009-08-04, 04:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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.
-
2009-08-04, 04:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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.
-
2009-08-05, 06:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2004
- Location
- Tallahassee, Florida
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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.The easy I do before breakfast,
The difficult I do all day long,
The impossible achieved during the workweek,
Miracles performed when possible.
People call me the Fixer,
and I am here to help you.Spoiler
Fixer's Guide to Neutrality
Fixer's Fighter Fix
(Campaign) Characters:
Searching For... Goldenrod
Survival... Gelder
-
2009-08-05, 07:08 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Gender
Re: List of Cool Things for a Space Game
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
-
2009-08-05, 07:23 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009