etherflyer
SOC-12
An easy way to make calves?
"Artificial Intelligence", a neat post-human game before posthumanism/transhumanism was a popular genre and everyone jumped on the bandwagon.
10 questions to ask Joe Fugate
- Thread starter kafka47
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"Artificial Intelligence", a neat post-human game before posthumanism/transhumanism was a popular genre and everyone jumped on the bandwagon.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
AI was to be DGP's sci fi game set in a post apocalyptic world 1500 years in the future.
mankind builds AI equipped sublight starprobes which are sent to the nearby systems.
When they get there and start their signalling back to Earth they are surprised to find Earth does not respond.
Many decide to come back to find out what's wrong.
They find a post apocalyptic Earth. Now fast forward about 500 years to the start of game time...
Each AI probe that returned builds upon its storehouse of hightech goodies to construct a citidel - from which it attempts to find out what's gone wrong.
There's plenty of nanotechnology, biotechnology, AI's (of course ) - basically it was years ahead of its time, or would have been 
Basic premiss:
mankind builds AI equipped sublight starprobes which are sent to the nearby systems.
When they get there and start their signalling back to Earth they are surprised to find Earth does not respond.
Many decide to come back to find out what's wrong.
They find a post apocalyptic Earth. Now fast forward about 500 years to the start of game time...
Each AI probe that returned builds upon its storehouse of hightech goodies to construct a citidel - from which it attempts to find out what's gone wrong.
There's plenty of nanotechnology, biotechnology, AI's (of course
) - basically it was years ahead of its time, or would have been FlightCommanderSolitude
SOC-13
Thanks.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
You're welcome.
I would have like to have seen AI make it into print, the brief teaser in MTJ 4 shows a lot of potential for the game...
Oh well...
I would have like to have seen AI make it into print, the brief teaser in MTJ 4 shows a lot of potential for the game...
Oh well...
I'm getting echoes of Cordwainer Smith's Instrumentality of Mankind from that description. i.e. 
The Rediscovery of Man just got bumped up quite a bit in the Winter Reading List!
Casey
The Rediscovery of Man just got bumped up quite a bit in the Winter Reading List!
Casey
True, AI was an interesting game concept. One of the things we had fun with in playtesting was that some of the players' equipment was NPCs, since it was intelligent.
To use AI's terms, the stuff had "wit".
Or one player could be the other player's equipment. Stuff like that. Pretty interesting ...
To use AI's terms, the stuff had "wit".
Or one player could be the other player's equipment. Stuff like that. Pretty interesting ...
M
Malenfant
Guest
It amuses me greatly to hear that Larsen thinks that "A.I. would have been 'Da Bomb'", considering it sounds like it would have had rather a lot in common with SJG's Transhuman Space - which he appears to take enormous moral offence at (and no, Larsen, that's not an invitation for you to froth at us about it again 
).
In fact, Joe - you should check Transhuman Space out. You'll probably find it a rather interesting read
.
).In fact, Joe - you should check Transhuman Space out. You'll probably find it a rather interesting read
Transhuman space, aye?
Well, I can see a few similarities ... but on the surface, AI would feel more like a pure old fantasy RPG since the population for the most part consisders what techy stuff there is to be magic.
They grow tools from "seeds". Most travel is on foot. Only the adepts (high priests) of most local citidels have powered transport.
If your tool loses it's wit, then you take it to an adept to have it's wit restored, for a price. If you get caught in a crime, you may get a disease, which will cause you to turn to ashes overnight (disassembler nanies).
And so it goes.
Well, I can see a few similarities ... but on the surface, AI would feel more like a pure old fantasy RPG since the population for the most part consisders what techy stuff there is to be magic.
They grow tools from "seeds". Most travel is on foot. Only the adepts (high priests) of most local citidels have powered transport.
If your tool loses it's wit, then you take it to an adept to have it's wit restored, for a price. If you get caught in a crime, you may get a disease, which will cause you to turn to ashes overnight (disassembler nanies).
And so it goes.
One draft adventure module existed, called the Phantom Orb or something like that.
And outline of character generation rules existed, along with a character stats sheet and some sample characters.
A draft write up of the background was in place. There were rules on how nanies worked and some of the intelligent equipment.
A rough map of the earth 1500 years from now had been done.
We had about 12 pieces of full color concept art that had been done, along with another two dozen or so b&w pieces.
Roughly half way done for a "lite" rules set. Perhaps 25% of the way done for a full-blown rules set.
One concept we were playing with for presenting adventures is what we called the "cinematic nugget". In effect, it was a page with an illustration and a "presentation" write up for the players, and then ref's notes on all the behind the scenes skinny for the nugget. The idea was to get each nugget to fit on a page if possible. And each nugget was to have an illustration to show the players to fuel their imagination.
Because of nannies, characters could conceivably live a very long time (at least 200 years) and we even had some rumors of "wizards" in the wilds that legend said were as much as 800 years old.
And outline of character generation rules existed, along with a character stats sheet and some sample characters.
A draft write up of the background was in place. There were rules on how nanies worked and some of the intelligent equipment.
A rough map of the earth 1500 years from now had been done.
We had about 12 pieces of full color concept art that had been done, along with another two dozen or so b&w pieces.
Roughly half way done for a "lite" rules set. Perhaps 25% of the way done for a full-blown rules set.
One concept we were playing with for presenting adventures is what we called the "cinematic nugget". In effect, it was a page with an illustration and a "presentation" write up for the players, and then ref's notes on all the behind the scenes skinny for the nugget. The idea was to get each nugget to fit on a page if possible. And each nugget was to have an illustration to show the players to fuel their imagination.
Because of nannies, characters could conceivably live a very long time (at least 200 years) and we even had some rumors of "wizards" in the wilds that legend said were as much as 800 years old.
Roger owns the already written materials and graphics for AI. But, does he own the idea? If someone were to create a similar game even if based on Joe's comments and the AI article in MTJ4, would that be legal?
Not that QLI needs another big project on its plate, but it's an idea...
Ron
Not that QLI needs another big project on its plate, but it's an idea...
Ron
My understanding, limited as it is, is that for games rules at least, it is the exact wording only that is copywritten. Otherwise there'd be a *lot* of games in violation of copyright! Not as certain on game setting or ideas but I believe the general principle follows as long as you don't reference or directly copy other material.
Example there are a lot of D&D Heartbreaker games and Tolkein/Star Wars-esque settings in games.
Oh and I just want to point out Cordwainer Smith's work predates AI by some decades, since Dr. Paul M.A. Linebarger (his real name, Cordwainer Smith being a penname and also the inspiration for Harlan Ellison's penname Cordwainer Bird*) died in 1966. Well worth a look see.
Casey
* used to disassociate his name from a work he no longer wants credit for like film’s Alan Smithee
Example there are a lot of D&D Heartbreaker games and Tolkein/Star Wars-esque settings in games.
Oh and I just want to point out Cordwainer Smith's work predates AI by some decades, since Dr. Paul M.A. Linebarger (his real name, Cordwainer Smith being a penname and also the inspiration for Harlan Ellison's penname Cordwainer Bird*) died in 1966. Well worth a look see.
Casey
* used to disassociate his name from a work he no longer wants credit for like film’s Alan Smithee
Yes, I believe the basic ideas could be taken and redeveloped into another game with a different name. And you could change some of the details.
All perfectly legal, especially since it doesn't look like Roger is out anything with AI.
However, this is primarily supposed to be a MegaTraveller thread, so it's probably time to pull it back to that topic.
If you want to discuss this any further, contact me privately.
RobertFisher
SOC-12
Although, my impression is that the size of the market that actually finds & buys PDFs (or any other format) online is still an order of magnitude (or more) smaller than those who'll buy paper books from brick-&-mortars & amazon. Despite most of my friends being tech-saavy people; despite my having told them about products & sent them links to them; most of them still give me a blank stare when I mention RPGNow or anything similar.
Next question!
13. Did anyone ever decide the truth of what happened in Varian's apartment with Lucan, Windhook, Varian and whatshername?
a) What were the real happenings? We have several views, but I'm interested if DGP ever had an 'insider account'.
====================================================
To be honest with you, the Rebellion was primarily GDW's and Marc's baby, we just got the honor to spill the beans first and to be the writers of the next edition of the rules.
Don't get me wrong, that was a great honor! And we did kick around ideas for the Rebellion, but Marc seemed to really get a kick out of all the "here's the story, and here's the *real* story" intrugue.
All the characters and names and basic motivations were Marc's. We certainly had input, and cooked up a few schemes ourselves, but 80% of the plays and counter-plays were GDW, even if we reported it first.
Like many fans, we often just listened to Marc tell us his latest thoughts, and then we would ask questions, pick it apart, and so on. The end result of those fun discussions was always better stuff.
What really happened in Varian's apartment? I know this isn' what you wanted to hear, but you got me. Marc can probably give you an answer, but I just don't recall.
Oh we did discuss what we really thought should happen, but that may not be what the offical GDW stance was. I know we wanted the Real Strephon to be the real deal, which he eventually turned out to be in the official timeline.
It's been what, 16 years now? Sheesh, where does the time go?
13. Did anyone ever decide the truth of what happened in Varian's apartment with Lucan, Windhook, Varian and whatshername?
a) What were the real happenings? We have several views, but I'm interested if DGP ever had an 'insider account'.
====================================================
To be honest with you, the Rebellion was primarily GDW's and Marc's baby, we just got the honor to spill the beans first and to be the writers of the next edition of the rules.
Don't get me wrong, that was a great honor! And we did kick around ideas for the Rebellion, but Marc seemed to really get a kick out of all the "here's the story, and here's the *real* story" intrugue.
All the characters and names and basic motivations were Marc's. We certainly had input, and cooked up a few schemes ourselves, but 80% of the plays and counter-plays were GDW, even if we reported it first.
Like many fans, we often just listened to Marc tell us his latest thoughts, and then we would ask questions, pick it apart, and so on. The end result of those fun discussions was always better stuff.
What really happened in Varian's apartment? I know this isn' what you wanted to hear, but you got me. Marc can probably give you an answer, but I just don't recall.
Oh we did discuss what we really thought should happen, but that may not be what the offical GDW stance was. I know we wanted the Real Strephon to be the real deal, which he eventually turned out to be in the official timeline.
It's been what, 16 years now? Sheesh, where does the time go?
Let's do a two-for-one deal, with another question.
14. What would have come after the Sparkler war in Deneb/Zhodani relations?
====================================================
I had always figured some Imperial Mercenaries would end up helping the Zhos, and in the end, the Zhos would (at least for several decades) be on the best terms with the Deneb Domain that they had ever been.
More cooperation than ever, less sneaking around. This would make Zhodani psionics even more dangerous to use in Imperial space because if they were discovered, the Imperials would quickly get suspicious again and it would harm the Zho's current great relations.
Sort of akin to what might happen on Star Trek for being found in violation of the Neutral Zone. Bad Ju-Ju.
So this would all act to make playing Zhodani in Imperial space even more suspensful and risky if you opted to use psionics. Get discovered by the Imperials and when word got back to the Consolate officials you were in deep doo-doo. Maybe some sessions with the Thought Police you would never remember.
Heh, heh.
14. What would have come after the Sparkler war in Deneb/Zhodani relations?
====================================================
I had always figured some Imperial Mercenaries would end up helping the Zhos, and in the end, the Zhos would (at least for several decades) be on the best terms with the Deneb Domain that they had ever been.
More cooperation than ever, less sneaking around. This would make Zhodani psionics even more dangerous to use in Imperial space because if they were discovered, the Imperials would quickly get suspicious again and it would harm the Zho's current great relations.
Sort of akin to what might happen on Star Trek for being found in violation of the Neutral Zone. Bad Ju-Ju.
So this would all act to make playing Zhodani in Imperial space even more suspensful and risky if you opted to use psionics. Get discovered by the Imperials and when word got back to the Consolate officials you were in deep doo-doo. Maybe some sessions with the Thought Police you would never remember.
Heh, heh.
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