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18:45, 7th May 2024 (GMT+0)

Lucas on Laramie.

Posted by PlaytesterFor group 0
Playtester
GM, 6210 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 12 Sep 2008
at 20:53
  • msg #1

Lucas on Laramie

A hundred green-eyed Polish robots serenade you with "Auld Lang Syne" even as ninety-nine genetically engineered supermages try to blow them up with powerbolts of frightful wind velocities....

You're tumbled too and fro in the midst of the shooting match and then you realize you are rolling.  Instinctively, you throw out your arms and stop yourself on a sandy stone surface.

Gusts roar past your head as you look out.

You're on the swell of a huge hill and below you is a valley of brilliant, eye-hurting sunshine, and ten pyramids shining with aluminum flashes in the light. Wherever you are, its not Earth because Egyptian pyramids did not have shiny aluminum sides, nor were they as steep sided, nor do you think they were as tall.

The wind subsides, and you feel light. You raise your arm. You are light. Not by a huge amount, but its definitely noticeable.

And then a box-like spacecraft roars overhead as it heads down to the pyramids.

This ain't Kansas, Toto....

PT
Lucas
player, 96 posts
Fri 12 Sep 2008
at 22:57
  • msg #2

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Waow, what? Where are the tanks?... So this is versing, in all it nauseating glory. MY lEG! How is my leg! It's fine, but that wasn't the one that was blown of...
I check my left leg and whether or not I go to keep my new cool stuff, like Raph's sword, and that can of Raid. After these primary needs are met, I'll find some cover. And this time, NO HEROICS.

OOC: Drat, I here I thought I was being biologically accurate with the whole shock thing. Q had crossed my mind, but I figured that neither you, nor his personalty, would allow for that kind of powerplay. Besides, owing one to Q is a very large dept to fill. As for body horror, plain amputation doesn't hit the bar by a long shot. You'd have to describe in full detail the physical and mental effects of a 'Face full of Alien Wing Wong', that would scare me enough to stop me from logging in altogether.

PS: exactly what do you mean with 'being light'? As in 'not feeling heavy' or as 'made of photons'?
Playtester
GM, 6224 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 15 Sep 2008
at 21:41
  • msg #3

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Raph's sword is...ten feet to your right, standing upright, and wedged into a crack in the stone mantle of the hillside.  Your can of Raid is briskly rolling off in the distance propelled by wind gusts, but you see a flash of it before it dissappears.

You can still feel a sense of familarity from that direction though. And you found these things like you almost knew where to look before you looked. You knew something of yours was 'thattaway'.

Staggering to your feet with both legs functional, you feel not as heavy as on Earth.  The local gravity field is noticeably weaker than Earth's, perhaps 75% of it.

The spaceship thunders to a landing, its rockets sounding like giant hammers battering the valley and setting up echoes, before it comes to a halt before the largest pyramid (which is the third closest to you.)

OOC: You might be right on that 'effects of shock' thing. I'm not deeply familar with such things.

PT
Lucas
player, 100 posts
Mon 15 Sep 2008
at 22:57
  • msg #4

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I pull the sword out of the ground, and sheathe it (for as much as that is possible without an actual sheathe). I'll try to pick up the can, but if it's gone, it's gone and I won't look for it.
"Wheeeee, bouncy bounce." as I jump up and down, taking in the fun of low-g.
I'll walk in whichever direction catches my fancy, whether because of sensing 'something thattaway', or because that direction has the prettiest shiny things.
Playtester
GM, 6239 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 16 Sep 2008
at 12:40
  • msg #5

Re: Lucas on Laramie

The sword goes into a belt loop.

It is fun to jump, and land so lightly.

The prettiest shiny things are the gleaming pyramids, and so you walk down the slope toward the first.  Its further than you expected.  It looked to be a mile away, but you walk at least three miles before you come to a wall of aluminum on the first pyramids side.

PT
OOC: A typical Human has probably 2@2 in Walking. One way to improve that is to walk in different circumstances like alternate gravity for Oak on Oleander (high gravity) and you on Laramie (low gravity). You now have 2@3 Walking.
Lucas
player, 101 posts
Tue 16 Sep 2008
at 14:17
  • msg #6

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Hmmm, nobody here either. Where are all the people who build these beautiful things..."
I'll walk around this pyramid until I find either a door, and enter it, or person and talk to him. In the mean time I'll experiment with the gravity some more (What is the fastest way to walk/hop/leap, how far can I jump and how high, is it constant and linear like on earth, or does it vary and flux in places, at height and over time.)
Playtester
GM, 6253 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 17 Sep 2008
at 12:42
  • msg #7

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Its constant and linear like Earth, unfortunately. :)

You walk around to the side the sun is facing, and see a door into the pyramid.  Or more precisely, the top of a door.  Its buried by at least a dump truck load of sand drifted against and into the alcove cut in the side of the pyramid where the door sits shut.  Some heavy stones also dot the sand pile.

And you see tracks, or what might be tracks about the size of your fist across the sand. The wind is obscuring them even as you look.

PT
Lucas
player, 102 posts
Wed 17 Sep 2008
at 20:29
  • msg #8

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I'll follow the tracks until I find their maker, or until the dust hides them from my sight. If I don't find anybody sentient, I'll try to enter the pyramid. Whilst traveling I try some other simple physics, like air and ground friction.
Playtester
GM, 6267 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 18 Sep 2008
at 03:15
  • msg #9

Re: Lucas on Laramie

You play around with the air, and it is indeed quite gusty with moments where it hits forty miles per hour.  And some of the stone is very slick as its been scoured by sand and wind so much that on one of your experiments you almost slip and fall down a seventy foot slope but catch yourself at the last moment.

You track the being for nearly an hour and think you've found its cave.  There are a number of small animal skeletons, or the crunched up remains of them in the little hollow in the hills. You're about twenty minutes straightline from the pyramids.

1@1 Tracking

PT
Lucas
player, 103 posts
Thu 18 Sep 2008
at 09:21
  • msg #10

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Right fist sized tracks means this creature can't stand any taller than me, but it may be have 4 legs, so it could still be much bigger.
I use my new found tracking skills to try and figure out what kind of creature and of what size made the tracks.
These animal skeletons mean it's predatory, so I should be careful
I pull out my pocket-knife and whip out its blade and flashlight. Then I sneak into the cave.
Playtester
GM, 6278 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 19 Sep 2008
at 16:42
  • msg #11

Re: Lucas on Laramie

It definitely has four legs.

You enter the cave on your hands and knees to find three 'kittens' about full house cat size, with their eyes barely open.

They have squared off faces, and light brown to dark brown splotches with long flexible furred tails, and double sets of eyelids.

They are mewing and fumbling over each other as they blink your direction. You feel a strong, sudden need to give them food.

PT
Lucas
player, 104 posts
Fri 19 Sep 2008
at 18:48
  • msg #12

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Squee, Alien Kittens!"
Do I have anything they might want? Er no. Hmmm maybe around here in the cave somewhere?
I look around the cave for anything they might want, and then give it to them. If I don't find anything, I'll try a reassuring pet on the head...-like thing.
Shouldn't they have a parent to do this? Oh-oooooo
I start crawling back out the cave. Xenobiology may be interesting, and even cute, but it's not worth being eaten for.
Playtester
GM, 6291 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 22 Sep 2008
at 16:13
  • msg #13

Re: Lucas on Laramie

You see a well-chewed bone in the cave sand, and toss it to them. They sniff it, but its of little interest.  The one you pat on the head, purrs in a trilling vibrato.

Regretfully, you scoot out backwards with fear pushing  your legs.  Once outside, you get some distance, and from another quadrant you see a nearly hip high, but surprisingly frail looking cat thing toting some dead animal in its mouth toward the cave.  She gets close, and then stops.

She checks her kittens, and comes out and yodels.  Its answered by several other yodels at varying ranges and directions up to maybe a mile away.

PT
Lucas
player, 105 posts
Mon 22 Sep 2008
at 17:25
  • msg #14

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Oh shit, there is mother. And father, and aunty, and uncle, and grandma, and that weird scruffy fellow who is always eating with them, but isn't actually related. They could come in from anywhere; I'm surrounded! I can't take them all, I'll have to avoid them somehow.
I'll try to find some place to hide (another cave, a shrub, if nothing else I can bury myself in the sand.) and cover my tracks on my way there. I keep one hand on the hilt of the sword, just in case.
Playtester
GM, 6302 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 23 Sep 2008
at 05:36
  • msg #15

Re: Lucas on Laramie

You look desperately for a cave, and then a shrub, and you're diving for one when you see one of the creatures surmount a hillock but twenty yards from you.  It spots you, and its growl rachets up and down several octaves as it advances stiff-legged toward you at a slow, walking pace.

PT
Lucas
player, 106 posts
Tue 23 Sep 2008
at 10:08
  • msg #16

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I pull forth the sword and hold it in the direction of the Psy-cat. I back up into the cave, but I'll keep my eyes trained on this creature and my ears open for others.
Playtester
GM, 6311 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 24 Sep 2008
at 03:31
  • msg #17

Re: Lucas on Laramie

It walks closer, and you get to the cave entrance, and scoot yourself back into it.  The creatures snarls at you in a strange rippling yowl.  Bending its long neck back, it lets out a yodel.

Others come.

Soon there are over seven of them.

They stare at you, and you can feel pressing on your mind a message. Its not in words, but in feelings. Ancient resentments and smoldering fury from ancestors who taught it to their children rage to life in your mind. Familarity meets familarity. You know these somehow.

--We're free Human of your kind. Come back again and we will kill you.--

Then in less time than it takes to tell it, they're gone.
Lucas
player, 107 posts
Wed 24 Sep 2008
at 06:09
  • msg #18

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Telephatic cats, just another thing in the life of a verser.
I go back to the pyramids and try to enter one.
Playtester
GM, 6327 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 24 Sep 2008
at 17:05
  • msg #19

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Upon circling your second pyramid, you find an entrance you can walk into. Its dark inside, and you hear echoes of your footsteps bounce around a long way inside the cool, dusty interior.

PT
Lucas
player, 108 posts
Wed 24 Sep 2008
at 17:12
  • msg #20

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I sheathe the sword, and pull out my knife'nflashlight again. I look for writing on the walls, footsteps on the ground, something about the nature of this great building's creators.
Playtester
GM, 6330 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 25 Sep 2008
at 12:32
  • msg #21

Re: Lucas on Laramie

You find a drawing in the right wall of the hallway of a mesh of jagged lines. Its covered by dust. Further on, are two large circles of differing sizes. Later, you see a very large man with a clawed right hand towering over a dozen smaller men who have no hands.

The entranceway opens up into a room filled with a dozen stone pillars about ten feet thick that reach up forty feet. There does not seem to be any doors off from this room.

At one end of the room is an alcove with an empty throne of the same glittering metal as outside. Its a huge throne.

PT
Lucas
player, 109 posts
Thu 25 Sep 2008
at 17:02
  • msg #22

Re: Lucas on Laramie

A throne befitting of a me. And looking at these limbless locals they might just treat me as a 2 handed god. Either that or "It's a TRAP!!!"
I'll spy on the inhabitants, find out how they might deal with a first contact.
Playtester
GM, 6339 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 26 Sep 2008
at 17:12
  • msg #23

Re: Lucas on Laramie

By inhabitants, I assume you mean the people who landed in the spaceship.

You slip out of the second pyramid, and head over to the fifth pyramid. A long, boxy shuttlecraft is parked on a flat spot fifty feet away.  The sand underneath is glassy and green, and a very long walkway extends from the side of the ship to the sand which has not been glassified.

People are toting loads, or moving robot sleds down the walkway with loads. A tent is set up, about ten thousand square feet of light blue fabric that ripples and snaps in the fierce breezes.

The people look human, and wear white jumpsuits mostly with various color trimmings. They look energetic and like they are following a well understood plan.

PT
Lucas
player, 110 posts
Fri 26 Sep 2008
at 18:12
  • msg #24

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Playtester:
... you see a very large man with a clawed right hand towering over a dozen smaller men who have no hands. ...


OOC: I actually ment these guys, but my goal is any intelligent lifeform, so it doesn't really matter.

Hmmmm, setting up camp out here? Well that must make them either colonists, or researchers... or space-pirates, with uniforms! And that makes them nice enough folk.
I walk down to them and talk to them:
"Hey, hello, I'm stranded here, could you help me out or are you a bit busy unloading and should I help You out?"
Playtester
GM, 6346 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 29 Sep 2008
at 15:15
  • msg #25

Re: Lucas on Laramie

OOC: Those are drawings on a wall.

IC:

Several of them drop their bundles in sheer shock. One of them bolts over to you with peculiar grace, and then slows down as he gets closer.

He bows and speaks with understandable but stilted English.

"I am a member of the Recontact Team. My name is Jefferson Takagawa. You say you are stranded? There is another starfaring civilization in the area?"

PT
Lucas
player, 111 posts
Mon 29 Sep 2008
at 17:13
  • msg #26

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Eeew, no, I was sort ofvvvv, dropped here, and forgotten about. But I am very eager to help out."
Playtester
GM, 6359 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 30 Sep 2008
at 15:02
  • msg #27

Re: Lucas on Laramie

He nods and then tags a wristband and speaks to it.

"I've made friendly contact with the local. He speaks of a local starfaring civilization that marooned him. Yes, I agree. Any civ cruel enough to maroon someone alone on a planet is worrisome. I concur. Threat Level Two."

Behind him on the top of the boxy spaceship, you see turretted 'guns' of some sort snap up and begin spinning around searching the sky for some threat.

"We're the crew of the Seeker. We're trying to find out about the former inhabitants and most especially where they came from. We do know this planet was called 'Laramie'. We'd be glad for any assistance you can offer, and if you're willing to abide by our rules, you can join  our crew."

PT
Lucas
player, 112 posts
Tue 30 Sep 2008
at 17:01
  • msg #28

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Sounds good. What do you want me to do?"
Don't make a fuss, explaining the mysteries of the universe to these guys could take days
Playtester
GM, 6372 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 1 Oct 2008
at 14:30
  • msg #29

Re: Lucas on Laramie

They want you to tote stuff at first.  You take bundles of blankets, and self-filling air mattresses, and boxes of M-Rats down to the large empty tent. People introduce themselves, but quickly as they pass you. Everyone seems to have a sense of mission and hustle.

They're all quite short with five foot being the average for both women and men.

Once thats done, you find that the medic wants to speak to you.

"I'm Doctor Caldwell, and we need to run about four dozen tests."  He says politely but firmly. "I need you to come with me to the medbay. We have to check that you're not contagious, or allergic to common materials...Its very easy for one civ to wipe out another civ by accident by carrying a virus the second civ doesn't have antidotes too."

PT
Lucas
player, 113 posts
Wed 1 Oct 2008
at 16:25
  • msg #30

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Ok, just take it easy on the needles."
Playtester
GM, 6386 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 2 Oct 2008
at 14:48
  • msg #31

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Needles." He sniffs. "I suppose after I use a needle, I'll stick a hot poker in the fire to cauterize the wound. My good man, its the 35th century. My great-grandfather didn't use needles." He snorts, and then starts to shoot various air jets at your skin. At the worst, it tickles.

"Normal physical, a slight allergy to Dexmetol, which I can treat if you like although we only use it for insulation inside the spaceship hull...." He rattles off a few other facts, and nods. And then he wrinkles his forehead.

"Odd."

He pushes a small tube against your skin and it fills with blood.

"Osmosis control. We can extract blood without breaking the skin. Wonderful technology except of course it led to the creation of Osmosis Grenades, which the fighters call Bleedout Bombs, filthy things."

He filters your blood and comes up with a gold liquid in a very small quantity.

"You have two odd factors. One, you have the wrong number of chromosomes, and two, you have this substance infiltrated through your whole body. Explanations?"

PT
Lucas
player, 114 posts
Thu 2 Oct 2008
at 21:04
  • msg #32

Re: Lucas on Laramie

In reply to his question about therapy: "No, not yet, thanks. I don't fancy myself a carrier in spaceshipwright."
But when he brings up the blood-test, I examine the substance with interest: "Well, where I came from, 46 is the norm, but if that's not the number, I'm as lost as you. As for that yellow-brownish stuff, my society is know for an unhealthy cholesterol consumption, so that stuff could be excess body fat. If that's not it, I didn't acquire it willingly, or knowingly."
Playtester
GM, 6394 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 3 Oct 2008
at 17:38
  • msg #33

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"46?!? Are you quite certain?" The doctor mutters something to himself. "Is he human?" He clears his throat. "Fifty is the normal amount."

He waves his hand at the golden liquid.

"No, this is not cholesterol, which yes, is slightly elevated, but not bad, or in fact anything I can decipher. Did your people work with highly advanced materials sciences. For example, on our travels we picked up a chunk of battle plating of elemental iron. Absolutely unbreakable by any test we are willing to do. Dropping it into a sun for a couple hours was suggested, but keeping tabs on the EE would be impossible."

PT
Lucas
player, 115 posts
Fri 3 Oct 2008
at 20:37
  • msg #34

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Well if I was me, I would have added a few extra bits given the opportunity. I'm guessing your ancestors figured the same. What do those two extra sets code for?"
"Highly advanced materials sciences!?! Sounds rather relative. If we did anything of the kind I would know, I'm a chemist, but I don't know what you would consider 'highly advanced'. For example, permeability is a well-known property of any substance, but using osmosis to spontaneously defuse blood, blood-cells and all, is something out of SiFi.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:39, Fri 03 Oct 2008.
Playtester
GM, 6405 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 6 Oct 2008
at 21:32
  • msg #35

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"I could get you that answer in a day once I run the genome sequencer, but why not assume that you're not human, you're something the Ancients built, or more precisely your ancestors were? Its not a dishonor, and you can still be a sentient being even if you're not human." He rushes to reassure you.

He listens to what you say and then says "OK. No 'highly advanced material science.' at least relative to ours because osmosis control is well understood science, and if you have a hard time with that, then Elemental Iron has to be far beyond your people. Which no offenese, is good in a way, because any civ cruel enough to maroon a socially well adjusted individual, and powerful enough to craft EI would scare my socks off."

He pauses.

"It occurs to me that I ought to let you understand our mission. We seek a cure for a genetic disease which is affecting most of our people. We seek to find Earth, and hope that with their information, we'll be able to solve this riddle. But we're following a chain that is millenia old, and some of the links in the chain, such as this one on Laramie are dead and covered by centuries of sand."

PT
Lucas
player, 117 posts
Mon 6 Oct 2008
at 22:00
  • msg #36

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"I don't like to make assumptions, so if possible I'd like my genome sequenced anyway. A little self-knowledge goes a long way, and it might clear up whom I descend from."
"I've heard of the element Iron, but not of elemenTAL iron. Perhaps I could learn about it, and osmosis-control, during my time with you."
"I've heard of an Earth, but it's the one with the 46 chromosome people, or at least, so was I told. I'll help where I can finding, but this is all very new to me. I might need a hand around even the most basic things."
Playtester
GM, 6420 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 7 Oct 2008
at 17:49
  • msg #37

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"I'll put it on the list of things to do, but frankly, we've got a lot to do and it may take a while until I have time." The doctor replies. "We can surely lend you to the engineers as a gopher and they can tell you about osmosis. Elemental Iron, well, we know the theory, but not the actuality. If you get an element, say Iron, that is 99.9999999999 pure there starts to be emergent properties. You have to get it another ten decimal places for really strong effects, or so goes the theory. We've done the first ten, but it costs like, well enough to run a large city for a year, and that only gave us a pound of it. Still seeing yellow gold turn pale yellow and smoky clear was very cool."

He nods with what you say about Earth.

"Its been twenty millenia since my ancestors saw Earth. Its a very long time, and stories, such as the one you were told, could easily spring up."

Yes, the doctor is convinced you're not human. He's polite about it, but he's not very open-minded.

PT
Lucas
player, 118 posts
Tue 7 Oct 2008
at 21:13
  • msg #38

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"So who should I talk to for lifting my weight around? Do you have a captain, or commander or something?"
Playtester
GM, 6430 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 8 Oct 2008
at 16:18
  • msg #39

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"We're somewhat democratic. In war, we have a battle commander who must be obeyed, but otherwise we have a council. However, each of us has a right to apply to the head of a section to work with him. And the right to leave to go to another section. Of course, if no one wants to work with us, we end up working in the air and water purification section which is pretty bad." The doctor explains. "So if you want engineering, go to Dr. Morgan. If you want archeology, go to Dr. Rajav, if you want command, go to Battle Commander Atkinson...and so forth. There's ten sections in the ship."

PT
Lucas
player, 119 posts
Thu 9 Oct 2008
at 10:00
  • msg #40

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Ok, where do you think outdated chemists would be most useful? Know something about biochemistry, so maybe I could help you out in the medication or something?
Playtester
GM, 6435 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 9 Oct 2008
at 17:22
  • msg #41

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"You could work ....we could use you here. Frankly most sections could find a use for you...its a sad thing, but we've lost over twenty percent of our crew. Duxrose was very bad. Well on Panac, we lost two, then on Duxrose we thought we were going to lose the ship, instead a whole shuttlecraft, and in the Golden Rings, we had four men go mad, no women oddly enough even though they were also exposed. And now we're here on Laramie."

He pauses, and calls up some data.

"I could use a general help/lab tech. Um, the Materials Fab section could use an assistant Fabber. The archeological section could use a Field First Checker, and of course, the Air Purity section could use a section leader."

PT
Lucas
player, 120 posts
Thu 9 Oct 2008
at 19:03
  • msg #42

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Wow, that is a lot. Let's give Mat Fab a go, it sounds good. So if I don't need any more medical checks I'll go and do just that."
After the physical is over, I head to Mat-Fab to offer my services.
Playtester
GM, 6445 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 10 Oct 2008
at 14:55
  • msg #43

Re: Lucas on Laramie

The doc takes you over to the Materials Fabrication head, and introduces you.  The man is sitting at a computer screen and keeping track of everything that goes in and out as much of his stuff is being unloaded out to the massive tent.

"Lucas, I'm honestly very glad to see you. I've got enough work for five more people. So, if you don't mind working extra shifts, that'd be great."

He puts you to work doing more unloading. Although after your first tote, he takes you aside.

"Robovalets. Why use your back when you can boss around a robot who'll tote it for you?"  The robovalet looks something like a hotel luggage cart with a small robot arm attached, and a control panel with speaker. Its not hard to master, although there are some tricks as it can get into corners where it can't make up its mind as to the best way to move ahead and it keeps wobbling back and forth between two choices.  You spend the next two hours running a robovalet.

1@2 Control Voice Command Robot.

After that, you're introduced to your Prototype Fabber which will build items out of chemical soup with a tracking laser.  Then you meet the Dupe Fabber which will make dozens of copies very fast as long as its properly supplied. You also meet the Test Fabber which takes two parts and puts them together and subjects them to enormous indignities to see if they survive.

You get a yellow notebook about six inches thick.

"Chemical Reactions Unfavorable. Do not use together."

And a red notebook an inch thick.

"Do not use these Materials!!!" On its front cover is scrawled 'Or Make them for curiousites sake!'

You then get a small minicomp with a very long list of parts needed to be duped, and a shorter list of parts needed to be created.  And theres another list of chemicals that need to be toted to their various fabs all over the Mat Fab area, and put in the fabbers

'because a fabber is not magic. It can't make parts out of thin air. It needs feedstock.'

PT
Lucas
player, 121 posts
Fri 10 Oct 2008
at 16:08
  • msg #44

Re: Lucas on Laramie

As soon as I'm handed the red booklet I look through the page looking for some important reasons why these shouldn't be made. The wrong thing in the wrong place can turn out to be the right thing in the right place at the right time.
After that I'll take a moment to master the fabbers by getting it to make a a magnet and a crayon, and then proceed with my assigned tasks.

A few questions: What size is a fabber? Pocket-sized or the wall-mounted interface just the first bit? Is there standardized feedstock, or do I collect random bits of garbage as input?
Playtester
GM, 6455 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 13 Oct 2008
at 16:28
  • msg #45

Re: Lucas on Laramie

There is a wide array of unstable explosives and gasses that could be used for chemical warfare.  Curiously there is an entry for "Scriff".

--Scriff: A golden toned liquid legendarily used in early computers before banned by edict. This liquid apparently has the ability to violate the Conservation of Mass and Energy Laws as it appears to possess the ability when electrically excited to potentially disintegrate an /uncertainty/ object to below the quarkial level with no concomittant rise in energy. Some feel this liquid is a legend similar to 'unobtanium'. No samples have been available for study for over a thousand years.

It takes a good bit of fussing, and you have to make a near dozen different crayons before you get one that is the right size, shape, consistency....the magnet is far easier.

The fabbers are in general desk top size. With difficulty, you could carry one.

There is a recycler which takes generalized garbage and turns it into feedstock.

PT
Lucas
player, 122 posts
Mon 13 Oct 2008
at 17:27
  • msg #46

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Scriff, huh. Sounds like fun stuff. I wonder why nobody could obtain any samples of something right here in the manual. Maybe that was what the docter found in my blood. I should ask, after finishing my work.

I take the magnet and the good crayon, and chuck everything else back into feedstocker. Then I start making the stuff on the list of items that need creating, and follow it up with the stuff on list of items that need duping.
Playtester
GM, 6468 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 14 Oct 2008
at 21:55
  • msg #47

Re: Lucas on Laramie

You feed the stock in, and then start working on designing the process for the items. It goes well, and you find yourself enjoying watching the items appear in the fabber chamber.

You're halfway down the list and the newness is starting to wear off, but the job appeals on deeper levels as well. There is a creativity and an elegance involved in doing it just right, and minimizing the expenditure of time and feedstock.

You go back to your list for the next item, a 10" hollow bar, and find to your dismay that the feedstock is being automatically fed into the forming chamber, but with no design to be formed.  The solid slime had filled the chamber and is hardening.

PT
+@1 to Chemistry. 1@2 to Use Fabber.
Lucas
player, 123 posts
Wed 15 Oct 2008
at 11:29
  • msg #48

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"aaaaaa ERROR ERROR!"
I shut down the feedstock-supply, and look at the slime and try looking the substance up in the red and yellow books. If it's not, or poorly described, I'll obtain a sample (being careful not to spill the stuff all over the floor, the machine, me etc.). After that, I start looking for someone who might have experience dealing with this, or a recycling button on the Fabber.
Playtester
GM, 6479 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 15 Oct 2008
at 15:47
  • msg #49

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Quickly you jam the 'Emergency Stop' button, and it slurps to a halt. The mess trickles to the floor in bits.

A quick look at the yellow book reveals "Polymorphous Glutinate" and in handwritten prose next to it "Blue Gunk. Use Diacotamous Ferrocalciferan with a swab stick. Major pain."

You find another person who laughs.

"Whoever designed these did not take into account elbows. Its way too easy to brush the wrong button. There's the hard and quick way...take an hour..use a swab stick and ...or you can set the Fabber for a self-cleaning cycle which will take four hours."

PT
Lucas
player, 124 posts
Wed 15 Oct 2008
at 20:54
  • msg #50

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"pffff, an hour of swabbing through goup, count me out. Besides, the crew is short on human resources, I think my time is better spend elsewhere."
I take a moment to ask the physician what he knows about 'Scriff'. Then I'll head to the 'Air Purity'-team and ask if they could use a hand.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Wed 15 Oct 2008.
Playtester
GM, 6496 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 16 Oct 2008
at 15:29
  • msg #51

Re: Lucas on Laramie

The physician blinks.

"You know, I did my historical observation theses on that topic. According to legend, there were these people called 'versers' who were immortal because they had been exposed to Scriff. Which didn't make sense because we know Scriff is a disintegrative substance.  However, we know Scriff violates the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy so I wondered, speculated really, if it violated another law. Perhaps there's some higher form of mind energy it transforms people into, and they supercede the limits of the physical universe. And thus they are immortal, and the legends of them is simply the few times one of them found it worthwhile to come back as an ascended being to instruct us lower beings."

He pauses as is remembering, and gets a very frightened look on his face. He rushes off to get the blood sample, and then without a word he runs out of the room.

PT
Lucas
player, 125 posts
Thu 16 Oct 2008
at 20:23
  • msg #52

Re: Lucas on Laramie

SH*T, why do people have to be able to think for themselfs!
I chase him down and ask him what he knows about versers (who knows what he might try and pull if he finds out I'm one). If I can't get him to stop, I am willing to use violence to do so, but only to pin him down.
Playtester
GM, 6505 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 17 Oct 2008
at 16:55
  • msg #53

Re: Lucas on Laramie

You catch him ten feet beyond the doorway, and pin him to the wall.  He's wide-eyed with fright and excitement.

"You're one of them aren't you?" He pants out, not struggling in your grasp even as he clutches the vial of blood tightly.

He pushes it behind his back and comes up with his hands closed.

"Its said that a verser knows his own. Which hand is your blood in?"

And you do know. Its in his right hand. How you know, you're not certain.

PT
Lucas
player, 126 posts
Fri 17 Oct 2008
at 23:13
  • msg #54

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Work first, play later. What do you know about them?"
If he makes no indication of hostile intent to Versers, I'll let him go, pick the right hand and tell him the truth. If he does imply that versers aren't safe in this universe, I'll knock him out and then think of a more permanent solution to keep him quiet.
Playtester
GM, 6518 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 21 Oct 2008
at 01:56
  • msg #55

Re: Lucas on Laramie

He repeats his theory to you. His theory, which he is not certain of, is that you're some kind of Ascended Being who temporarily incarnates himself to serve some good purpose.  He understands that you don't want everyone to know, and he promises not to tell them.

He thinks of you as a sort-of scientific version of an angel, or perhaps a bhodivisatta.

"Are you here to help us find Earth?"

You pick the right hand, and he nods. You can see respect in his eyes, but not awe.

"All the clues were there. Just have to pay attention."
Lucas
player, 127 posts
Tue 21 Oct 2008
at 14:04
  • msg #56

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Ok, I'll trust you for now. You haven't told anyone else about this right?"
"What clues? Apart from the Scriff, naturally."
"About earth, I'm not sure. I don't know exactly how I got here and I don't know the way back either. But I do know some things about earth that might be useful in finding it. I'll have a look navigation later, see if I can make something of it. In the mean time, try to keep this under the wraps? Speaking of covers, I need to get back to work. See you around."
I don't think all this took the better of 4 hours, so I'll head for the Bridge, and look for navigational maps.
Playtester
GM, 6532 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 28 Oct 2008
at 00:59
  • msg #57

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"No, of course not, I mean Ascended Ones most often work in secrecy because it does little good to spread enlightenment and blessings if the people you're helping know what you are." He seems very ernest.

"Well, you're here alone, and your number of DNA, and your whole mannerism its like something out of an ancient history flicker show."

You took about fifteen minutes talking to him, and so you head to the Bridge. There is an officer of the watch on board, and he turns to you when you enter the bridge.

"Yes?"

PT
Lucas
player, 129 posts
Tue 28 Oct 2008
at 10:00
  • msg #58

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Hi, I'm the 'new guy' and I wanted to know what the course the ship will take after it's done unloading, see if there any world I could be dropped off."
Playtester
GM, 6543 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 29 Oct 2008
at 01:15
  • msg #59

Re: Lucas on Laramie

He relaxes and smiles with slight amusement.

"If it were that easy, we would not be here. We're here to find the world that these people came from....but it does have to be one of these. We're pretty sure they're Third Evocation drives in use, and TE drives were only good for five hundred lights at the outer maximum. They had a design flaw. Most likely though, its within two fifty lights."

He waves a ring studded hand and a hologram appears between you and him.

"These Seventy..." Seventy stars highlight "And we can drop out these twenty as we don't think they took a zig-zag path going outward to the Rim and t hen back to the Core."

Fifty lights glitter in the hologram.

"95% its one of them."

PT
Lucas
player, 131 posts
Thu 30 Oct 2008
at 00:09
  • msg #60

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Drat, a real stickler. I can do anything in peace with him looking over my shoulder. I need some time alone with that map, take my time to study it.
"I see, hmmmm. Well, I should get get back to work then. Oo I may want to ask some more questions about the map, but I can't do right now. Will your shift end soon, and will there be someone else here to answer my questions?"
Playtester
GM, 6565 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 31 Oct 2008
at 03:02
  • msg #61

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Three hours, and seventy-two minutes until my shift ends.  Then ah...Cherise takes over. She's nice too."  He smiles. "We have to have someone on watch at all times, specially with the alarm you raised about a ruthless civ nearby."

PT
Lucas
player, 132 posts
Fri 31 Oct 2008
at 18:44
  • msg #62

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about them. They may have barbaric ways, but they're pushovers. They would rather flee from this vessel before attacking it."
Ok, so this will need some planning. But that will take some knowledge of the ship. I need to learn how to fly it, where to fly it, and keep these guys out if the bridge until can manage all that. Or I could just ask for flight-lessons.
"So how does this thing fly anyway? I'm not really familiar with interstellar travel."
Playtester
GM, 6584 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 3 Nov 2008
at 18:04
  • msg #63

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Well, of course, we have a fuel cell on board, with a back-up fission reactor just in case for really long trips." He waves his hand about. "Its fairly large, and although we call it a shuttle, its really more than that.  The ship in orbit has two nacelles and a main spine with engine, and some major bits just for use in space. This is one of the two 'nacelles'.  The spine ship is not suited for planetary landing as the stutter warp is quite delicate."

He smiles and calls up an explanatory picture with the hologram.

-NNNNNNNNNNN
--NNNNNNNNNNN
--NNNNNNNNNNNN
EENNNNNNNNNNNNN
EESSSSSSSSSSSSSSFFFFF
EESSSSSSSSSSSSSSFFFFFF
EENNNNNNNNNNNNN
--NNNNNNNNNNN
--NNNNNNNNNN
-NNNNNNNNNN

E=Main Engine, N=Nacelle or Shuttle craft like the one you're on now, S=Spine, F=Front crew stuff

"Of course, the stutter warp is powered by an antimatter reactor."
Lucas
player, 136 posts
Mon 3 Nov 2008
at 20:57
  • msg #64

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"And how do you make it go anywhere? Just enter a location and let the auto-pilot do the steering, or is there any manual input?...Is learning to operate it very hard?"
Playtester
GM, 6597 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 4 Nov 2008
at 23:46
  • msg #65

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Its not too hard, but no, its more than an autopilot. You have to be able to keep aware for long stretches because you can suddenly run into bits of dirt and smack into them. And you have to be able to judge which way to jump to avoid them.  And sometimes there are gravity whorls in the waves.  Not to mention, getting caught in an arc jump is certain fatal."

He leans back.

"99% boredom, 1% sheer terror."

And then he turns on some music.

"It also helps to have a sense of rhythm. You can feel the jumps in the stutter warp like beats in a song. Once you can do that, you've mastered the drive."

He looks a little embarrassed.

"We call ourselves Conductors of the Universal Orchestra."

PT
Lucas
player, 139 posts
Tue 4 Nov 2008
at 23:59
  • msg #66

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"You make it sound so easy, and yet so beautiful. Could you teach me how to do it, or does that require special qualifications?"
"Do you know every part of the ship so well, or just the flight-controls?"
"What do you know about life-support?"
Playtester
GM, 6607 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 5 Nov 2008
at 22:09
  • msg #67

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"I'm also cross-trained on Hull Repair, but other than that, no not really. Yeah, you could do it. You seem smart. Its not that hard, really.  As to air, well you'd have to go to the stinky boys in Air Purification. And I avoid that as much as possible."

PT
Lucas
player, 141 posts
Wed 5 Nov 2008
at 22:22
  • msg #68

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Could we schedule some lessons or can we start right now?"
After my first lesson I'll go see in on the fabber, see if it's ready for some work.
Playtester
GM, 6616 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 6 Nov 2008
at 19:04
  • msg #69

Re: Lucas on Laramie

He gets you started right away.

In the next hour, you've got much of the controls memorized.

At the end, he hands you a chip.

"Read and learn. Electromagnetic universe. You don't seem to have any knowledge of the electrical currents of space from what you've said. These connect the planets to the stars and the stars to each other, and create the galaxies. Gravity is a second order force in the universe."

He pauses.

"This is what I mean by an arc jump. Get caught in a tetravolt arc from star to star and you're lucky if they can find the plasma you're ship used to be."

PT
OOC: If I'm remembering right, this is Velikovsky's theory in part. Or its another guy...drat.
Lucas
player, 143 posts
Thu 6 Nov 2008
at 20:16
  • msg #70

Re: Lucas on Laramie

OOC: I wouldn't know, chemistry sort of ends where theoretical physics begins, and this sounds like historical theoretical physics, so I'm way out of my depth there.

"So what's this chip then? Does it help me fly or does it do something else?"
"I don't suppose I could take this baby for a quick spin, right?"
Playtester
GM, 6627 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 7 Nov 2008
at 18:54
  • msg #71

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Snort. Its a textbook. Put it in your reader, and study it in your off hours. You really have to understand the Electromagnetic Universal Theory if you're going to be a pilot. And once you finish with that, I have an even more complicated book on Superspatial Calculus. And after that, there is the Pilot's Manual. But thats it. No more books after those three except you have to keep up your log."

He shakes his head.

"Read the book. We'll have you driving simulators in a day or two."

PT
Lucas
player, 145 posts
Fri 7 Nov 2008
at 22:02
  • msg #72

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Ok, I'll gt right on it."
The info on a chip like this, could take a man days to read, probably even longer for me. And then I'll know how to fly 1 ship, in 1 universe. I mean, I may have a near infinite amount of life to live, but I got to prioritize.
I go and pick up a 'reader' and ask the doc about that chromosome readout.
Playtester
GM, 6637 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 10 Nov 2008
at 19:21
  • msg #73

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"I'll get right on it." The doc says.

You look at the data with your reader for a quick overview, and estimate that to really master it would take about two weeks.
Lucas
player, 149 posts
Mon 10 Nov 2008
at 19:47
  • msg #74

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I look for a chip or console that will let me see the ship's navigational database and look up a planet that has as its natural composition the one given in my little science almanac. Then I'll look up things about the system of government these guys use.
Playtester
GM, 6645 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Tue 11 Nov 2008
at 15:34
  • msg #75

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Natural composition of goop or scriff? Or? Regardless, you do find a console and tap into the navigation database. The database informs you that you are a 'legal user, but you do not have the right to change any data or settings.'

The interface is very physical. They don't use verbal commands, but instead wide, sweeping arm movements and definitive thumps on the screen are in order. It takes some getting used to, but the underlying logic you're familar with.

Their government is an oligarchic council with various groups forming and fissioning and sending representatives to the chief council. In order for a group to be accepted as having a right to be on the council, it has to recieve council authorization, but what keeps the council from simply denying new aspirants is the 'failure of confidence' resolution. If enough people declare "I've lost confidence in the council" the whole council is fired.

There is also a War Commander who has very limited powers in peacetime, but in war, he has near-dictatorial powers. The same applies to the Doctor in epidemic situations, although he has more power in non-epidemic situations than the Battle Commander has in peacetime.

PT
Lucas
player, 150 posts
Tue 11 Nov 2008
at 19:16
  • msg #76

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Natural composition of earth (doh, how did I forget to mention that!):
A small rocky planet that is the 3rd of 8 or more planets around a small yellow star, with one large moon and an atmosphere of roughly 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxigen,  1% argon and the remainder filled with various 2p-block composed elements at the surface, you know, earth.
I look up all earth-like planets.

Hmmmm, ok, nothing new so far...
I look up the terms and requirements for 'failure of confidence'.
Also I look into what the requirements are for the position of grand War Commander and grand Doctor, or whatever title they give to the highest ranking of each in this civilization.
Playtester
GM, 6656 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 13 Nov 2008
at 00:50
  • msg #77

Re: Lucas on Laramie

There are four planets that meet the requirements, except for the moon, of the seventy as the mother colony.  You expand the search area and find eight planets with moons that match your profile.  However, this search area is only 2000 systems...

One person suggests it in a townhall style council, and five others stand up to agree, and then the vote is launched. If it is passed by simple majority, then it takes effect.

A GWC is voted in by the full Council and then ratified by the Townhall. Generally, he is a person with extensive military experience at all levels, but this is not a requirement.

The Doctor has to have graduated with a Gloriana in Upper Level Medicine (twelve to fourteen  years of training and very good grades and positive reviews by teachers.)

You find that the current Doc is not the Grand Doc.  The Grand Doc got killed early in the mission.

PT
Lucas
player, 155 posts
Thu 13 Nov 2008
at 15:45
  • msg #78

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I could further specify my search, if I manage to convert all the data in the almanac into local units...
- I look up the 'Universal measurement units' and their definitions, and look for a calculus-program. Then I will use them to covert the distances, masses and volumes of the earth, moon, sun and other planets into their units of measurement, and then add them to the search. If I get over 30 hits, I'll give up on this research and try something else.

Hmmmm, perhaps these positions are just a little bit too ambitious at this time. If only I could get somebody else to do all that dirty work...Ding!
- I'll look up the 'Telepathic Alien Cats' in the Biology section, specifically their information about their psychic abilities.
Playtester
GM, 6667 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 13 Nov 2008
at 16:25
  • msg #79

Re: Lucas on Laramie

The measurement units are very, very close to what you're used to. You do the calculations with their program, and find no hits.

"For precision mapping coordinates, you need to account for astronomical drift and time shifting. Orbits tend to decay over centuries and millenia, and it has been twenty thousand years since Humanity left Earth. You may wish to use less precise measurements." The computer system responds to your querry and its failure.

You look it up and find no 'telepathic alien cat' section, but you do find 'Telepathic Potential Areas in the Animal Brain.' and 'Vibratory Theory vs. Electron Entanglement vs. Potential Collapse into Actuality Theories of Psionic Capabilities in the Telepathic Area.'

You also find a considerable database on genetic engineering.

PT
Lucas
player, 157 posts
Thu 13 Nov 2008
at 17:03
  • msg #80

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I browse some of the abilities of genetic engineering, looking for fun and powerful upgrades.

I search for some sort of 'manual to psionic' or a text detailing the workings of psionic abilities.

I look up the history of humans, more specifically: how long since people lives on earth and when they last documented earths position.
Playtester
GM, 6674 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Sun 16 Nov 2008
at 04:20
  • msg #81

Re: Lucas on Laramie

1. IR pits on the side of the face like a snake's.
2. Catseyes.
3. Hibernation capabilities.
4. Gills
5. And underlayer of fat (this goes with gills), and slick oily skin.
6. Claws.
7. Not needing to sleep.
8. Chameleon color shifting skin.
9. Solar panel skin.
10. Photsynthesis by chlorophyll skin (yes, you'd be green.)

========

You find a manual, and several other sources that describe it as 'complete and utter drivel."

========

Its generally thought to be twenty thousand years or twenty thousand lightyears on the outer side, no one is exactly sure.  The detail of what exactly they were measuring got lost over the millenia.

The first "I know where Earth is precisely" that you really have confidence in is in the 5450 on Persephone which is reportedly 1990 lightyears from Earth.  However, your almanac of stars does not have Persephone in it.

You're very lost.

PT
Lucas
player, 159 posts
Sun 16 Nov 2008
at 13:15
  • msg #82

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I look up some plasmids that don't noticeably change my outer appearance and more info on chameleon skin.

These people haven't studied the local wild-life on this planet, perhaps they need some directing.
I go and talk to the field-crew about what it is they are looking for and any contact with species on this planet they have had.

This could go on forever, which would explain why these people haven't found it jet.
Playtester
GM, 6689 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Mon 17 Nov 2008
at 23:17
  • msg #83

Re: Lucas on Laramie

There are a few more gengineering mods that don't seem obvious to the naked eye...
1. Metabolism doubler (eat twice as much, run further...starve quicker...) Be the equivalent of a ferret ODing on pixie sticks...
2. Eye color change.
3. Wolf smelling
4. Nicitating membrane in eye
5. Second and third stomachs so that you can survive on eating bark (like a cow...kinda).

Chameleon skin creates an autonomic reaction in your skin to change to the color of what is near it. This reaction is engaged by a hypnotic command, but once engaged, it stays in effect until turned off.

Downsides include a heightened allergic response to skin irritants.

Its effectively like wearing very good camoflage at all times.

You find someone in the field crew...

"Local wildlife, um, well we put out sonic perimeter fencing. I'm trying to get inside this pyramid. There is a door, but we dont' know how to open it,a nd we're afraid if we blast, it will trigger some deadfall behind it."

As to going on 'forever', yes, they are on a very long-term mission that could take years.

PT
Lucas
player, 163 posts
Tue 18 Nov 2008
at 11:02
  • msg #84

Re: Lucas on Laramie

OOC: have I at any point in my versing life, felt hungry or peckish or thirsty etc.?

After saving the info about Chameleon skin, wolf smell and Mega-Metabolism, I talk to the doctor about my chromosome readout, and about genetic engineering.

"Well the thing is, during my time here, I've encountered a species that, while somewhat hostile, are capable of communication. If approached with some cation, we might be able to ask them if they know. Do we have anybody working on Xeno-biology?"
Playtester
GM, 6698 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 19 Nov 2008
at 04:59
  • msg #85

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Actually, you're pretty hungry right now. You drop by the cafeteria, and pick up some banana nut muffins topped with a strange green berry that adds a tart zing to the cloying sweetness, and a 'spear-stick' which you use to knife chunks of food from a bowl until the stick is full, and then you nibble it clean.  The assortment of vegetables and meats on the stick is basted in a tangy sauce that is very hot, worse than tabasco sauce, and so you find yourself rather desperately getting an orange cream drink which soothes the fire wonderfully.

The doc tells you that your chromosomes are as you expected, and that they seem 'wholly unmodified' which he finds rather strange. He also mentions some genetic predispositions to various diseases and offers to fix those for you.

"MMM, yes, actually several. But they're in the pyramids trying to deduce the meanng of some of the symbols on the walls. Would you like me to introduce you, to smooth your way?"

PT
Lucas
player, 166 posts
Wed 19 Nov 2008
at 10:46
  • msg #86

Re: Lucas on Laramie

I don't know what banana-nuts are, but they sure taste a lot better than either bananas or nuts, which I recall tasting so horribly it was evil. Yellow curvy squishy cartoon-character-slipping evil.
I play a bit of fencing with the stick.
"En garde, you little potato-bread piece! Touche, chunk of non-discript meat!"

"Yes, cure me of them, and on a similar note, are there any conditions to allow further modifications? I've browsed the library and found some things that could be of use."
I show him the 'ferret on pixie-dust' metabolism upgrade.

"Yes, I would like to meet them. Please, lead the way."
Wow biologist doing archeology. These guys really are understaffed.
Playtester
GM, 6703 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 20 Nov 2008
at 03:13
  • msg #87

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"The cure should be easy, and this...I'll need to run some further tests. I need to make sure you're in top physical form, and see what general strengthening needs to be done. Like, you're blood pressure is going to jump at least ten points, and I need to be sure your body is okay with that. There are things I can do to strengthen arteries, and what not if there is a problem."

He sighs.

"Again, historical medicine essay...early genetic engineers did not realize how interconnected the body systems were. So they'd give a man bigger lungs, and then the volume of air he pulled in would irritate his throat, and he'd have a sore throat all the time. Things like that."

He walks with you over to the awning, and gets face masks for the both of you, and signs you both into Pyramid #4. You follow him through a small maze of mini-bulldozers and enter through the cleared front door.  Inside, its down a long slanting hallway, turn right for twenty feet, climb down a trap door, and enter a small dank room with mold on the walls.  Drawings are behind the mold which partially obscures them.

Everyone has on face masks.

Symbologist, biologists, a construction engineer, and a holographer are discussing the mural and trying to deduce its meaning.

PT
Lucas
player, 167 posts
Thu 20 Nov 2008
at 16:27
  • msg #88

Re: Lucas on Laramie

To the doctor:
  "Hm, just like that. Your civilization truly is more advanced then ours; they would have screamed bloody murder about this kind of treatment.
Are there other side-effects I should know about this, apart from the binge-eating? ... What about other upgrades? ... Can you use more then one at a time? ... Is there any limit to how much you can get 'spliced up'?
On a more personnel note, if it's not too rude to ask: Have you had any gene-modification. ... What's your opinion about the use of 'splicing'?"

To the Xenologists:
  <muffled>"Hi, I'm the new guy. Can I have a look, too?"</muffled>
I take a look at the mural, but won't brush away the mold just yet.
  <muffled>"Are you researching the mold too or can I just brush it away?"</muffled>
After this little exercise in archeology, I'll address the biologists.
  <muffled>"Can I ask a question? I've encountered a seemingly telepathic native species. Have you seen them? ... Have you studied them? ... Have you tried communicating with them? ... They seem to have been here for a while, maybe they know something about these pyramids."</muffled>
Playtester
GM, 6711 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Thu 20 Nov 2008
at 17:23
  • msg #89

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Well, historically, we have references to things like 'the early Genetic Wars' and 'the geneplague that destroyed seven systems' and the 'forced sterilization of the Zud People', but its been millenia. We have the echoes of echoes, and thats for someone like me who's interested in such topics."

It occurs to you that he's talking about a span of time greater than that between the Bronze Age and the Computer Age. Much greater.

"Yes, other upgrades are possible. But it gets more complicated as you go. Interconnections, remember. And sometimes, you have to learn how to handle one, before you can take on another. And sometimes, I think, you'd have to try one on, and see if the body could accept more."  He smiles. "Everyone is 'upgraded' in some way or another. Mostly its done while the baby is being formed in the womb as the genetics are most plastic then."

He nods.
"Yes, there are limits. Eventually, you run into the increasing fragility of systems, or the DNA strands start to uncouple, or you can patch and improve things, but eventually you run out of patches.  And there's only so much the brain can run, unless you want to start improving the brain, but we don't do that. 'brainbooster' is a very ugly term in our language, although truthfully, we do some basic things in that direction. I think this is an echo of some war fought millenia ago between superbrights and normals. But I can't find any data on it. Its like someone wiped the historical record clean."

======

They nod, and back up a foot to give you a bit of space.
<Leave the mold for now. We're not sure if its part of the message, or a security device, or...>
<Or just mold.> The female biologist snaps to her colleague. He shrugs helplessly.
You see what looks like a really big foot in the mural and seven lightning bolts, partically obscured.
<Native telepathic animals? Cool.> The male biologist says with enthusiasm. The others are curious as well.

PT
Lucas
player, 168 posts
Thu 20 Nov 2008
at 18:28
  • msg #90

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Wow, he talks about history just like my old teachers used to, so very short, so very sensible, so very simple to point and laugh at 'these cavemen were crazy', , 'these Romans were crazy', 'these medieval men crazy', thousands of years of crazy, 'good thing WE are sensible'. ... I wonder what they think was crazy about me...
Hey... hang on... that was thousands of years since 'my time', why haven't these people long since past cognitive singularity?  If they used their 'Brainboosters' they should be there by now. They must have had a massive technological setback, like all those wars, or something could be keeping them back...

"Everyone, eh. Care to share your personnel bests?"
"So what exactly is the problem with brainboosting? Is it so dangerous? What are you doing in this direction?"

====
<"Well perhaps, if you're not to busy looking at fungi grow, we could allot some time to their study. It could yield some interesting discoveries. Maybe they're talkative enough to tell us safe from sorrow in these pyramids.">
Playtester
GM, 6721 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Sat 22 Nov 2008
at 20:28
  • msg #91

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Perhaps its the role. Certain roles bring out certain behaviors.

You ask your question, and he nods.

"Well, I don't know all of them. But I've got the gene for blue eyes, for 20/10 vision, higher resistance to radiation which is necessary for spacers, I'm told that when I get older I'll have nicely distinguished gray sideburns instead of going bald...um, I get four hours of sleep a night, no hangovers unless I really get drunk...only had one hangover in my life and boy...drinking a bottle of wine followed by one of tequila followed by...well, I don't remember. It was graduation night from college....I spent the next two days in bed. There are a few others, but data gets lost, but genes are forever."

The last line sounds like a cliche' or proverbial saying.

"Brainboosting..well, its only my theory, but it seems to be a source of great social instabitility and perhaps madness. We've learned to stay away from it.  Of course, I have photographic memory, and I can list pi out to twenty places, but thats not real brainboosting."

========

The two biologists leave with you.  Sharon seems to have an aggressive approach to things. She wants to burn off the mold, and she wants to trap the alien cats.  Randal is more diplomatic, and tends to try to weigh and balance things.

They ask you to take them to the cave where you spotted the creatures after they quiz you.  Your data is entered into the ship's database as you answer questions.

PT
Lucas
player, 169 posts
Sat 22 Nov 2008
at 22:13
  • msg #92

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Are they really forever or is more of an overstatement made up by the people who sale the upgrades?"

"Oh I hear you, that's why give the booze a wide berth. No sense killing braincells just to pick up fuglies. Hmmm you know, I think I should get some upgrades, but I'm not certain what and which I can get. Would you mind if I made a list from what is available and then come back for the whole makeover?"
I'll access a terminal and look up vectors/plasmids/geneboosters/whatever they call it, which are useful for people in the following occupations:
Military infantry (like the chameleon skin, ferret-gutsand bark-eating...)
Vehicle operators/pilots (like enhanced reaction time, improved spacial awareness...)
Researchers/annalists (like extended memory, intuitive mathematics, 20/0X vision and, I'm guessing this is brainboosting, improved cognitive abilities)
Psychologist (like enhanced empathy, although this is somewhat conditional, I don't want to become a blubbering emo because a flower died.)

Playtester:
"Brainboosting..well, (...) but thats not real brainboosting."

"It's not? Then what is 'real brainboosting'? Are there any brain-enhancers available, or is that all a big no-no?

=====
"The last time I saw these cats, they threatened to kill me if I returned, but they didn't seem egging for a fight. I say we bring both food and weapons, the food to negotiate with them, the weapons to defend ourselves should they attack us. If they do attack, we'll at least have corpses for an autopsy. But with a hostile first action, we could get in over our heads; They seemed to be with at least a dozen.

(OOC: If my hunting-trip gets me killed, I would like to point out I went to the doc first, then did my gene-search and then to the Xenos, just in case my 'magical multi-position powers' cause for an epic paradox.)
Playtester
GM, 6732 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 26 Nov 2008
at 04:05
  • msg #93

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Lucas:
"Are they really forever or is more of an overstatement made up by the people who sale the upgrades?"

=="Oh, no, its forever, or near as. I mean, eventually everyone, or I mean our descendants our going to degenerate into subhuman piles of goop as mutatations build up, so I suppose that with four to five thousand years of mutations you, I mean your descendants, might lose these abilities. Might. Might not. I think my blue eyes came from a genemod back about ten thousand years ago."

"Oh I hear you, that's why give the booze a wide berth. No sense killing braincells just to pick up fuglies. Hmmm you know, I think I should get some upgrades, but I'm not certain what and which I can get. Would you mind if I made a list from what is available and then come back for the whole makeover?"
I'll access a terminal and look up vectors/plasmids/geneboosters/whatever they call it, which are useful for people in the following occupations:
Military infantry (like the chameleon skin, ferret-gutsand bark-eating...)

==There are abilities like 'Turn off fear, and turn pain sensation into numerical data'

Vehicle operators/pilots (like enhanced reaction time, improved spacial awareness...)
Researchers/annalists (like extended memory, intuitive mathematics, 20/0X vision and, I'm guessing this is brainboosting, improved cognitive abilities)

==The last is indeed brainboosting, and your search for it brings up a rather scathing critique of this idea.

Psychologist (like enhanced empathy, although this is somewhat conditional, I don't want to become a blubbering emo because a flower died.)
==This turns up enhanced interpersonal perception (the ability to notice micro-expressions that last a fraction of a second.)

Playtester:
"Brainboosting..well, (...) but thats not real brainboosting."

"It's not? Then what is 'real brainboosting'? Are there any brain-enhancers available, or is that all a big no-no?

==He lowers his voice. "Its a real big 'no-no'. I told you, its a big taboo in our culture. Its considered perverse and sick. I don't see it, but I think this is the result of some long ago trauma to the whole of society."

=====
"The last time I saw these cats, they threatened to kill me if I returned, but they didn't seem egging for a fight. I say we bring both food and weapons, the food to negotiate with them, the weapons to defend ourselves should they attack us. If they do attack, we'll at least have corpses for an autopsy. But with a hostile first action, we could get in over our heads; They seemed to be with at least a dozen.

(OOC: If my hunting-trip gets me killed, I would like to point out I went to the doc first, then did my gene-search and then to the Xenos, just in case my 'magical multi-position powers' cause for an epic paradox.)


The cats surround you, and you offer food.  They waver, and then some of them accept the food.  You realize they are testing for poison by volunteering themselves, and eating a little.

They go to sleep and wait. All of them. However, when you move, one of them sits up immediately and snarls at you.
Lucas
player, 170 posts
Wed 26 Nov 2008
at 20:14
  • msg #94

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Docter:
=="Oh, no, its forever, or near as. I mean, eventually everyone, or I mean our descendants our going to degenerate into subhuman piles of goop as mutatations build up, so I suppose that with four to five thousand years of mutations you, I mean your descendants, might lose these abilities. Might. Might not. I think my blue eyes came from a genemod back about ten thousand years ago."

"Wow, even across generation. Very thorough these vectors, I'll say. Nice to know all my kids will enjoy the same benefits. Now, I've looked up some interesting genes, but I'm afraid taking them all will just cause my head to explode. How many of these do you think you can implement safely?"
I show him these genes (some of these I haven't found but seemed like probable possibilities, and are marked with '?'.):
-Chameleon skin
-Night-vision + Infra-vision + Ultra-vision?
-Wolf-nose
-Ferret-freak
-Bark-eating
-Gills (preferably not too noticeably placed.)
-Fear-switch
-Pain to numbers
-Hibernation
-Not needing to sleep
-Enhanced reaction time
-Improved spacial awareness
-Extended memory
-Intuitive mathematics
-20/0X vision, with X as small a number as available.
-Enhanced interpersonal perception
-Ambidexterity?
-Tough Bones?
-Wall-clinging? (for climbing on the ceiling)


Docter:
==He lowers his voice. "Its a real big 'no-no'. I told you, its a big taboo in our culture. Its considered perverse and sick. I don't see it, but I think this is the result of some long ago trauma to the whole of society."

"Right."
I asked him this 3 times now, and every time I get the same answer. Am I really this slow? I need that interpersonnel perception bad.

=====
Playtester:
The cats surround you, and you offer food.  They waver, and then some of them accept the food.  You realize they are testing for poison by volunteering themselves, and eating a little.

They go to sleep and wait. All of them. However, when you move, one of them sits up immediately and snarls at you.

"Ok, did they reach out to either of you yet? If not, lets slowly back off a bit, and observe from a distance. We can come back later, when they are somewhat less aggressive."
Playtester
GM, 6746 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Wed 26 Nov 2008
at 21:22
  • msg #95

Re: Lucas on Laramie

They don't have infravision. They have shallow pits on the sides of your cheeks which sense IR which is similar to what snakes do. It is however tied into your optical nerve.

Ultravision means?

"Tell me your top favored three, and I'll see if I can work them into you. Its a step by step process. I can say we'll probably be able to do most of those, but you never really know.  And sometimes certain combos just don't go together very well....for obvious reasons, the example of skunk glands in the wrists and wolf nose don't work together well....but more subtle things...the eye is really delicate, and you can usually do only one fairly extreme mod to it.  So lets try to get you what you really want, and then see if we can get some extra on top of that, okay?"

==========

The cats all awake and stand up snarling as you try to back off.

PT
Lucas
player, 171 posts
Thu 27 Nov 2008
at 17:10
  • msg #96

Re: Lucas on Laramie

OOC: Infra-vision allows seeing infrared light then Ultra-vision allows one to see Ultra-Violet. It's a common quirk in birds, who get this instead of the color red. They use it to track mammals via their urine, or to look for fruit (which has a bright shade of UV, for whatever reason). A person could use it similarly for tracking, fruit-scavenging or for spotting clouds of ozone near ionization sources, like a short-circuit, and anything else you would find sufficiently quirky to have a non-visible color. It seemed natural that if you had IR, one could get UV since both are a form of light. And similarly assumed they would go into the eyes, as that is where all light-sensitive parts are in humans. IR would not work here, you'd just see you own eyeballs. BTW: would those IR-pits work like normal vision, with full IR-camera resolution? Or is it more like 'feeling the heat from a distance'
But that's your call.

"I'll take Ferret-Metabolism, uh Enhanced interpersonal perception aaaand 20/0X vision, with X as small as available."

====
OOC: Did we get a chance to get weapons before we went on this trip, or was my advice thrown to the winds?

"Don't try to run, they may see it as a provocation."
Okey, kitties, I don't want to harm you, but if you try anything I will.
I grasp the handle of Ralph's sword.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:25, Thu 27 Nov 2008.
Playtester
GM, 6754 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Fri 28 Nov 2008
at 21:46
  • msg #97

Re: Lucas on Laramie

OOC: Very cool. Yeah, they have this.

The IR pits would allow you to distinguish a 175 pound male from a 200 pound male, or a cat from a dog, or a bear from a tiger.  They would also make walking in the dark relatively safe (but not running) as long as the terrain was not hugely complicated (like a temperate woods with lots of underbrush).

IC:

"20/10X" The Doc says. He prepares a shot, and asks you to stand still. The liquid is injected through the skin of your neck. "Tell me if you have any untoward symptoms. You should have fifty percent effect by this time tommorrow."

====

They loaded up with tranq pistols, net guns, and one laser rifle. You were offered a choice of tranq, net, and/or thumper stick.

You end up sitting out there five hours until the test kitties excrete the food you gave them.  The others then wake up, and half of them wander off.

And then you see the dust move near you. A bone pops out of the soil. Another bone follows it...

The kitties and the scientists are staring in complete shock.
Day
player, 583 posts
Fri 28 Nov 2008
at 22:04
  • msg #98

Re: Lucas on Laramie

Slowly, bit by bit the skeleton becomes a full out Verser.  Tom looks around in utter and supreme shock a moment and then says, "Wow.  I never thought I'd be on the other end of this, at least for a century.  Usually I'm the guy that gets recruited.

My name is Tom Day.  I am about to pound the crap out of something horrifically evil and could use some help.  I don't know much about it, but I've been given a ring that I was supposed to use before fighting it.  Apparently, it lets me Captain Charles and ask Versers for aid."
Lucas
player, 173 posts
Sat 29 Nov 2008
at 01:18
  • msg #99

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"So that was 20/10 vision right? Nice. Any chance of surviving a second vector today? No, ok, then we shall we continue tomorrow.
====
I would have picked a Tranquilizer Pistol. How many shots does it have?

@Day:
Lucas completes the set of facial expressions with the statement: "Now I've seen everything."
...
"Uhm, hello Mr. Day uh Tom, I'm Lucas and these people are Sharon and Ran... uh, yeah, I think I could lend a hand. But could you drop me back here when we're done? I'm sort of in the middle a medical procedure which I an postpone but would like to finish?"
Lucas stands up and accepts the invitation in the way that only versers can.
Then he turns to Sharon and Randal:
"I'm going with the undead guy for a while. Don't worry, I'll be right back."
"Tom, what is 'to Captain Charles'?"
Playtester
GM, 6758 posts
novelist game designer
long-time gm
Sat 29 Nov 2008
at 05:22
  • msg #100

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Oh no, sir. The first three you mentioned. They all have limited interactivity, and I think you should be fine. And yes, 20/10 vision...should be about 20/20 or 20/15 by this time tommorrow. Even now its begun rewriting your genetic code."

It occurs to you that the Fly in the old horror movies had his genetic code rewritten....

=========

Your tranq has eight darts.

The other two are staring in utter shock.  The telepathic cats have vanished when you were'n't looking at them.

"Uh-uh-uh-a-s-sur-sure." The girl says.
Day
player, 587 posts
Sat 29 Nov 2008
at 05:52
  • msg #101

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Captain Charles was a weird jedi guy who stopped time who did this TO me the last time, and didn't answer many questions, so I'm trying to be as up front as I can, unfortunately I don't know much. I don't have control of this procedure but I am working with these Crystal Sidhe people who ...er...actually, now that I think about it, I can almost guarantee if we are successful the answer is yes.  Probably.  I know a guy who can send you back.  But I can't guarantee that if you get gacked.  But I do know that I've been on the receiving end of these summons twice and both times I went right back to where I was."
Lucas
player, 174 posts
Sat 29 Nov 2008
at 13:55
  • msg #102

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"Ok then. Let's g. Wait, Sharon, things could get rough, mind if I take the laser-rifle?"
Lucas takes the rifle, politely noting but ignoring her response.
"Ok now I am ready. Let's go."

OOC: How many shots does the rifle have?
Day
player, 592 posts
Sat 29 Nov 2008
at 15:35
  • msg #103

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"You're welcome to take whatever you like...though its a low tech realm.  I'm not entirely sure that it will work."
Lucas
player, 175 posts
Sun 30 Nov 2008
at 22:25
  • msg #104

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"It's better than nothing, and it can't hurt to bring it."
Day
player, 613 posts
Sun 30 Nov 2008
at 22:58
  • msg #105

Re: Lucas on Laramie

"True enough."

Tom invokes the ring.
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