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[Andres]

That looks better.

[Parsely]

@DBZ: That looks really cool. What font is that?

[_DivideByZero_]

The font is Pixel Unicode

[_DivideByZero_]

So for a game that's set in the far, far future, should I just let players exercise their creativity via the ol "magic is indistinguishable from technology" clause, or do you think it would be a good idea to have some sort of list of technobabble to justify common tropes and get people's thoughts rolling? I get the feeling nobody's going to read most of it, and it would be more limiting than anything given the nature of a "anything that can happen, probably has happened somewhere" setting.

On the other hand, I think I need to give people some sense of direction for making a character.

[Andres]

My advice is to make the magic special and something that requires exploration in order to advance. The inherent difference between magic and technology is that technology needs a device (a gun, a computer, cybernetics) while magic is just something you use.

[Whisperling]

My advice is to make the magic special and something that requires exploration in order to advance. The inherent difference between magic and technology is that technology needs a device (a gun, a computer, cybernetics) while magic is just something you use.

Not necessarily. I mean, the flavor and such is different, but a flaming sword is a device, of a sort. And hacking/coding is a technology-oriented thing you can just do.

[_DivideByZero_]

My advice is to make the magic special and something that requires exploration in order to advance. The inherent difference between magic and technology is that technology needs a device (a gun, a computer, cybernetics) while magic is just something you use.

My advice is to make the magic special and something that requires exploration in order to advance. The inherent difference between magic and technology is that technology needs a device (a gun, a computer, cybernetics) while magic is just something you use.

Not necessarily. I mean, the flavor and such is different, but a flaming sword is a device, of a sort. And hacking/coding is a technology-oriented thing you can just do.

Perhaps allow flaming swords and such as technology, so people can make their magical girl/whatnot if they want, but have exploration of psionics be a major part of the gameplay and prevent people from starting off with it? Seems legit to me.

[Whisperling]

My advice is to make the magic special and something that requires exploration in order to advance. The inherent difference between magic and technology is that technology needs a device (a gun, a computer, cybernetics) while magic is just something you use.

My advice is to make the magic special and something that requires exploration in order to advance. The inherent difference between magic and technology is that technology needs a device (a gun, a computer, cybernetics) while magic is just something you use.

Not necessarily. I mean, the flavor and such is different, but a flaming sword is a device, of a sort. And hacking/coding is a technology-oriented thing you can just do.

Perhaps allow flaming swords and such as technology, so people can make their magical girl/whatnot if they want, but have exploration of psionics be a major part of the gameplay and prevent people from starting off with it? Seems legit to me.

That'd be neat. You'd have to make the psionics pretty different from effects you can get with technology, though, at least if you want players to go after them for anything other than flavor reasons. That could come in terms of raw power vs. flexibility, stuff you can't get via normal means (probably mind effects, in this case), whatever else. Just make sure it has a leg up on technology somewhere (and by extension make sure there's some stuff tech can't do) so players are actually incentivized to get their hands on it.

(Sorry for possible rambling/repetition, it's late enough that I probably shouldn't be writing anything.)

[_DivideByZero_]

That'd be neat. You'd have to make the psionics pretty different from effects you can get with technology, though, at least if you want players to go after them for anything other than flavor reasons. That could come in terms of raw power vs. flexibility, stuff you can't get via normal means (probably mind effects, in this case), whatever else. Just make sure it has a leg up on technology somewhere (and by extension make sure there's some stuff tech can't do) so players are actually incentivized to get their hands on it.

That's more or less the case. A fire sword (tech) would do exactly what it says on the tin. A soulmetal sword (magic) could be enchanted with whatever element you want it to.

It'd give players a leg up so there'd be a reason to explore it, without forcing players to use magic directly (I've had several games where players didn't really want to use extravagant forms of magic).

(Sorry for possible rambling/repetition, it's late enough that I probably shouldn't be writing anything.)

I don't see a problem.

[Andres]

My advice is to make the magic special and something that requires exploration in order to advance. The inherent difference between magic and technology is that technology needs a device (a gun, a computer, cybernetics) while magic is just something you use.

Not necessarily. I mean, the flavor and such is different, but a flaming sword is a device, of a sort. And hacking/coding is a technology-oriented thing you can just do.

You need a computer to hack.

[_DivideByZero_]

Computers wouldn't be hard to come by in the setting. Most rocks on planets are probably computers.

[Whisperling]

Most rocks on planets are probably computers.

Well. Guess hacking skill would be a really good investment.

What exactly would those be for, though? Sensors? Additional processing power/storage just thrown all over the place? And actually, would that mean people would find a bunch of tech-related stuff just by cracking open random things?

[_DivideByZero_]

Hmm,

Hacking rocks to determine their mineral composition
Hacking plants to grow in different shapes
Hack the wall so you can see through it
Hack the ground to cause an earthquake
Steal a bunch of processing power in order to hack something else...

Anything with actual security would be hard to hack just as in real life, but there's gonna be at least one planet where the locals thought "hey let's make a planet into a friendly paradise and see how it goes." So it would depend on exactly the place in question, because there's a lot of different places in the universe, but if some players invest a lot into hacking I'll be sure to give them opportunities.

[Whisperling]

Hmm,

Hacking rocks to determine their mineral composition
Hacking plants to grow in different shapes
Hack the wall so you can see through it
Hack an earthquake...
Steal a bunch of processing power in order to hack something else...

Anything with actual security would be hard to hack just as in real life, but there's gonna be at least one planet where the locals thought "hey let's make a planet into a friendly paradise and see how it goes." So it would depend on exactly the place in question, because there's a lot of different places in the universe, but if some players invest a lot into hacking I'll be sure to give them opportunities.

So there are some places you can throw it at everything and see what happens, and others where it's a tad more traditional? Sounds good, although I'm almost certain some things on the paradise planets will be horribly abusable. Grab a healing device, hack it to accelerate growth or cause cancer through the same process, hack the growth pattern of the grass, then get basically complete control of the environment.

[_DivideByZero_]

Perhaps. If the designers of this particular world really wanted living gods to roam the world and control its inhabitants to their whims, then it could be a thing. But if the feature isn't already in the grass, you can't make it turn to gold or somesuch. That would be beyond its capabilities.

That's what psionics/magic is for, which is an esoteric sort of thing that you only really have a sort of glimpse of. It basically involves breaking the laws of physics and doing stuff that'd be virtually impossible even with sufficient technology, like causing all the oxygen molecules in a room to sink to the floor to suffocate its occupants.

Plus, players are embodied beings. The setting involves a "corruption" which takes control of digital life running on the planet-wide mainframe (if relevant). That's why you need a second body to host your consciousness, otherwise you get assimilated into the borg. Even an AI character who could copy itself would just end up with corrupted versions of itself.