Re: Request for Traveller Tech

> Well, in our 2300AD campaign, we have some tech stuff which is quite useful
> to us:
>
> Subderma-Talk
>
> Subderma-Comp
>
> Subderma-Modem
>

	Nice stuff, but out of the question - in this campaign there is
a massive prejudice against cybernetics or bionics - the "shoot on
sight" kind of prejudice.  Comes from having a thirty year war against
cyborgs, I suppose.  I know there is a gadget called an Implant chip or
something similar in one of the Journals of the Traveller's Aid Society,
which does much of what the above do, but I'm hoping it's subtle enough
to pass, perhaps a bio-chip which doesn't show up on a medscan.  Anybody
care to type in the stats and e-mail 'em?  Would be much appreciated...

> An alien race in 2300AD grows various useful devices. One that all PCs wear
> constantly is bio-contacts. These are like ordinary contact lenses (they
> will correct your vision if necessary). However, by using various different
> squint commands, you can get up to 5X magnification, light intensification,
> infra-red sight, etc. Also built in are brightness dampers; you never need
> sunglasses and they are fast enough to react to most sudden flashes (e.g.
> explosions, lasers in the eye, etc).

	Fun gadgets, how about ordering me a few? :-)  Nice, but
probably hard to find.  So far,  the highest TL we've reached (going to
reach) is 12.  There are several TL15 or 16 worlds out there, very
neutral and self-absorbed - and powerful enough to keep it that way.
I'm going to make a sojourn to one of them ASAP.

> > Getting into the Rat Race...
> > 	A series of rodent-sized robots....
>
> Two of our PC's, the robotics expert and the explosives expert got together
> and built a bunch of these. They are (of course) programmable with commands
> sent from the subdermacomps via subdermatalk. They can transmit low-res
> pictures, move around, and can carry small explosives packs. They can also
> be programmed to act autonomously (i.e. drive to this location, record for 5
> minutes, then destruct). They are incredibly useful; the GM is regetting the
> day he let us design them.

	Glad to hear this, as it means I'm on the right track.  The only
question is what kind of capabilities it'll have.  The system I used to
generate my character didn't mention any "robotics" skill, and I ended
up with an Electronics-4 and Mech-2.  My computer skill is more than
enough to program them (level 6).  In response to my initial query "I
want to build some little rat robots-" the GM answered "You need
robotics skill."  to which I replied "There isn't any."  To which he
replied "It's in Citizens of the Imperium."  Fun, eh?  Well, he says I
can't design the robots without robotic skill.

[I liked the open-endedness of Traveller skills, but one thing I've
 always disliked about them is the fact that many skills only show up in
 later books, and that there is no easy way to work them into the
 character generation tables in earlier books.  Personally I preferred
 just using general skills instead of breaking things down like that.]

	So I've got a computer full of technical data, I'm going to look
up the designs for various robots, find one that is close enough to suit
my purposes, and then either downscale it to largish rat size (5-6") or
use the originals if it's already in that range (pipe cleaner bots, for
example.)

	Thanks for the suggestions - how about the more common
technology that is around and ready to be perverte to my nefarious ends?

Steven J. Owens   |   [email removed]   |   [email removed]

"Okay, Major Jonathan "Wrong-Is" Wright rubs his magic ring of Imperial
 Intervention and twenty stormtroopers with battledress and gauss rifles
 pop out of the microwave oven..."

	- Sean T. Grape, in a truly bizarre traveller campaign...