Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[chadhale]

So we have discussed:
1. Future of religion (Summation: Religion may become 'quaint' traditions; That faith may become very personal, and private.)

2. Future of economics (Summation: molecular printing, nano materials, [*no nanites] and internet shopping end manufacturing and retail as we know it. Nano materials transform renewable power [solar, fuel cells, kinetic capture, thermionic] resulting in a post scarcity/human merit 'cashless' economy. an economy-society that rewards you for accomplishment-innovation. Inadvertent bonus, ecological sustainability and Molecular recycling of waste.)

3. Possibilities of PSI (Summation: Psi capacity is an evolutionary leap akin to human consciousness. Evolution is adaptation to the physical laws of the environment, and psi capacity is nature harnessing 'non-locality'. Future PSI characters are empowered by the N.M.E. [nuclear-metabolic-enzyme]. it is both the unique capacity of nature producing psi and the N.M.E. that bars other special character archtypes; cyborgs, robots, bioroids from psi. In game terms, cyberware reduces the pool of cyber points derived from spirit and becomes a penalty to the spirit based 'psionics' skill. Psionics requires traits, edges, and skills and thus becomes cost prohibitive to those who do not pursue it).

4. Future Biotech (Summation: Like immunizations, DNA manipulation becomes a common medical treatment to prevent disease. "Designer babies" become a reality that gender, some traits, and cosmetic features are drawn from the parents DNA. these are still normal humans despite minimal enhancements.
Biotech firms can make almost any life-form imaginable- exotic pets to "BIOROIDS". A bioroid is a genetically engineered super-human, the process is very expensive to make one. A BIOROID is a racial package that provides a small pool of points to be spent via the SUPER POWERS companion as if a device.)

5. Exo-skeletal warfare +Cyberware (summation: carbon nano fiber artificial muscle [CNF-am] is the ultimate actuator of choice. exo-skeletons become specially licensed tools; elderly assistance, nursing, construction, fire-fighters, police, laborers, etc. EXO-skelletons are 'vehicles' which require a license [edge] and skill to operate. Exoskeletons have point packages in multiples of 5 increasing point total in exchange for restrictive levels of license. An elderly person might wear the most basic model as an assisted/mobility restoring device anywhere- while a grizzled special forces warrior might wear an assault exo to the front lines of a battlefield only.
CNF-am becomes the 'muscle' for cybernetics, robots, and military mecha. Cyberware is not merely exact replacements for flesh but is has considerable advantages and utility. traditional "gear" can be incorporated into cyberware at no weight but such options and advantages are behind the costs associated with cyberware. There is an imperfect connection between flesh and machine, cyberpoints are a limit that your mind and body[nervous system, chemistry, and tissues] can support. cyberware requires edges, and is treated like gear regarding; law, combat, damage, and repair. A sub machine gun in a cyber forearm is treated like a concealed SMG for example.)

6. the WAVE PROJECTOR (summation: electro-gravitic component that efficiently converts one fundamental force into another- electromagnetism into gravity. with the ratio being close to 1x10^36th it doesn't take much power at all to get us flying or even into space. The wave projector does not produce thrust- External objects are affected by the change in local gravity. As this is not a "closed system" it is not perpetual motion or overunity.

7. Some concept hindrances:
"ONLY HUMAN" major- in a future of bioroids, cyborgs, robots, psions, aliens, etc, this hindrance is considered to be 'somewhat innate' akin to how the 'heroic' hindrance is used in some settings. If the G.M. allows this to be applied freely [akin to the 'SUPER karma' rule] wild card heroes that are 'only human' are given a little something extra.

"SKILL SPECIALIZATION" minor: when a generalized-combined skill includes a wide area of topics, you can select one area to be not as good as the rest of the skill if you provide a reasonable explanation for why. Example: in a game that uses the 'athletics' skill encompassing climbing, jumping, swimming- you could have a dwarf that does not swim very well. in game terms the one aspect is treated as two dice steps lower than the rest of the skill. For a skill raised to d6, the restricted part of the skill would be considered untrained.

"TECH DEPENDENT" minor: This is the opposite of the "all thumbs" hindrance, you love technology.Rather than training to master as much as possible of your skills, you've allowed yourself to become dependent on information technology. You have become so used to guidance from intelligent agents, augmented reality, and computer assisted skills, that if you do not have such high tech devices you have a cumulative -2 on skill checks to operate or repair skills.

[chadhale]

8. WARP Travel- once humanity learns "space-dynamics", wave projector technology is used to create a warp bubble. With differing designs of warp field various issues are resolved;
* with the forward wake, debris equal to or smaller than the ship are deflected- not carried with.
* because you don't create a pocket universe, there is no build up of unruh radiation in warp bubbles.
* Because of the bent space/time loophole-The ship is not 'travelling' relativistic into the future, as the bent space of warp travel bends time back to an extent. The ship is not travelling 'faster than light' so no travelling backwards in time.
* you always arrive in the present, time travel is not possible without true FtL.
* a Localized gravity field reduces the perils of inertia
* warp travel is a form of 'false acceleration', once warp travel is disengaged the only momentum affecting the ship is based on the momentum you would have in normal space.
* other gravitational fields defeat warp bubbles- thus trying to "ram" a star, planet, or space station in orbit of a planet with warp travel is impossible. Inter-system warp travel is best attempted at a Lagrange point in space. This is why it is important for a pursuing craft to get a 'gravity beam' lock on a fleeing spacecraft- So that the fleeing ship can not go to warp.
* The 'false acceleration' of warp travel is limited by the warp engine's performance for how long it can be maintained. Travel speed is about "how far light can travel in a day" per second or LD/S. Thus an engine that is rated warp capable for ten minutes, can travel in warp ten minutes for one light year, before needing to stop and recover. pirate gangs might form squads along popular routes to attack travelers that have to wait for their warp drives to recover.
* Space travel as experienced inside a warp ship seems normal, a ten minute long light year journey is akin to spending ten minutes in your car.
*Observation of a craft traveling at warp is impossible. Likewise a ship travelling at warp can not see until they leave warp speed.

[chadhale]

9. alien life- it's out there and a lot like it is here on earth. I.e. similar hazards and obstacles for the canny space explorer as for any explorer 200 years ago; predators will hunt, some plants are toxic, and cliffs still work.
*alien life will be very different! as some isolated areas here on earth have had very unusual critters, bugs, plants. An alien world that we can visit (say 4g down to 0.1 g with wave projectors) will have different properties; atmosphere, temperature range, rotation, orbital year, gravity, magnetism, radiation, Sun lighting, moon(s/?) etc. Because of 'sensitivity to initial conditions' even slight differences can result in wildly different life forms. Here on earth various critters fly through the air, a singular feat. how they do it might be very different; leathery bat wings, feathered wings, insect wings, skin flaps, even strands of spider silk!
*Alien life will have some similarities: Biology craves efficiency. That is the essence of survival. Bad designs for alien life will die out. why don't we have eyes below our mouths? because as messy eaters we would blind ourselves. Why don't we have four arms? because four arms require material to grow, a portion of the nervous system to be devoted to their use, and a successfully gathered diet to sustain them. Brains burn a lot of energy and that requires a predatory diet. predators hunt, plan, calculate, and think. Thus intelligent alien life will be a predator. Humans as predators still express predatory instincts, thus intelligent aliens may have similar instincts guiding the formation of their cultures.

*with the drake equation as a guide we might only find a few other intelligent technologically advanced alien civilizations within the first few thousand stars.

*with the Fermi paradox, we have to make some assumptions regarding how difficult it is to expand beyond our home solar system and why all E.T.'s are not using a specific band of radio waves.

*using dolphin language and ape language communication efforts here on earth as an example, it may be impossible to understand an alien contact.