A small stone that you pass over any object that makes it transparent for a short period of time (say 10 seconds). Enough to see what is the other side of that wall, inside that container etc.
Ancient Artifact Ideas
- Thread starter Ran Targas
- Start date
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
I like that Maspy, a nice sci-fi staple (fantasy too for that matter) that is always fun.
I just had a little
pop onto my shoulder and whisper in my ear, here's what it offered...
The PC's find a small cameo like object. It is very beautiful and made of some unknown metal or stone. Oval in shape and about 60mm long by 40mm wide and 15mm thick in the center. The center is an irridescent bright blue on one side veined with constanly changing swirls of deep black while the other side is the reverse scheme. The center flows down to a rounded thin edge of a material that resmbles white gold. The whole thing is very polished and highly reflective except for the deep black color and swirls which show no reflection at all. It never shows tarnish, dirt, fingerprints or anything, the surface is always so clean it is sterile. Simply as an objet d'art or fine jewlery the item will fetch several million credits (auction price starts at MCr1d6 and then roll on the actual value table, apply broker if a professional auction service is hired) in the right market (i.e. a Rich world). Naturally its price to a collector, museum, or certain researchers will be substantially higher. This device will attract all kinds of attention.
When found it is with the black side veined with bright blue facing up. It radiates a faint field charge that registers as gravitic and masses slightly more than its volume and expected density would suggest, that is it's real density is higher than any know similar material. (The reasons for the above are because of its microscopic neutron star power cell).
The first PC to touch it will notice that it quickly changes from whatever temperature it was at (identical to the ambient surface temperature it was on) to their exact 'skin' (gloves, hand, whatever) temperature.
Playing with the object the players will find each side becomes adhesive if held on a surface momentarily but can be removed with no damage to the surface by an easy steady pull. A sharp hard pull will damage the surface it is attached to, tearing the surface away before letting go of it.
When the bright blue surface is attached there is no other effect, however when the black surface is attached the device begins to glow with a blue light quickly creating a sphere of bright light that seems to emmanate from the very air. This light casts no shadows and illuminates all surfaces equally within its 6m radius, including even beyond solid walls of any material. Objects beyond the radius are only illuminated on the side facing the sphere and cast normal shadows. The light is very bright though, and requires dark glasses for human standard vision. Removing the cameo causes the glow to fade in about one second.
The device is an ancient (though not necessarily Ancient) work lamp, meant to be worn as needed and reversed to the 'off' side when not. The race that used it is long gone but their vision is what the light is keyed to.
The device is getting old and any time it is attached in the 'on' mode there is a chance it will become stuck, being impossible to remove and subsequently 'turn off'. In this case the 'adhesion' goes well beyond the surface, extending about 100mm in a rough hemi-sphere of the cameos size and shape.
I just had a little
The PC's find a small cameo like object. It is very beautiful and made of some unknown metal or stone. Oval in shape and about 60mm long by 40mm wide and 15mm thick in the center. The center is an irridescent bright blue on one side veined with constanly changing swirls of deep black while the other side is the reverse scheme. The center flows down to a rounded thin edge of a material that resmbles white gold. The whole thing is very polished and highly reflective except for the deep black color and swirls which show no reflection at all. It never shows tarnish, dirt, fingerprints or anything, the surface is always so clean it is sterile. Simply as an objet d'art or fine jewlery the item will fetch several million credits (auction price starts at MCr1d6 and then roll on the actual value table, apply broker if a professional auction service is hired) in the right market (i.e. a Rich world). Naturally its price to a collector, museum, or certain researchers will be substantially higher. This device will attract all kinds of attention.
When found it is with the black side veined with bright blue facing up. It radiates a faint field charge that registers as gravitic and masses slightly more than its volume and expected density would suggest, that is it's real density is higher than any know similar material. (The reasons for the above are because of its microscopic neutron star power cell).
The first PC to touch it will notice that it quickly changes from whatever temperature it was at (identical to the ambient surface temperature it was on) to their exact 'skin' (gloves, hand, whatever) temperature.
Playing with the object the players will find each side becomes adhesive if held on a surface momentarily but can be removed with no damage to the surface by an easy steady pull. A sharp hard pull will damage the surface it is attached to, tearing the surface away before letting go of it.
When the bright blue surface is attached there is no other effect, however when the black surface is attached the device begins to glow with a blue light quickly creating a sphere of bright light that seems to emmanate from the very air. This light casts no shadows and illuminates all surfaces equally within its 6m radius, including even beyond solid walls of any material. Objects beyond the radius are only illuminated on the side facing the sphere and cast normal shadows. The light is very bright though, and requires dark glasses for human standard vision. Removing the cameo causes the glow to fade in about one second.
The device is an ancient (though not necessarily Ancient) work lamp, meant to be worn as needed and reversed to the 'off' side when not. The race that used it is long gone but their vision is what the light is keyed to.
The device is getting old and any time it is attached in the 'on' mode there is a chance it will become stuck, being impossible to remove and subsequently 'turn off'. In this case the 'adhesion' goes well beyond the surface, extending about 100mm in a rough hemi-sphere of the cameos size and shape.
^ Wow, that could hurt!
These two have already proven entertaining in my campaign:
Crystalline Computer Starter Kit - players find a single crystal shard; given time, sunlight or power, and suitable building materials (mineral laden dirt) the crystal grows into an AI. If physical contact is made, the shard communicates its basic needs through direct nerve stimulus (empathy growing to telepathy). As the shard grows, it becomes more intelligent and useful. The shard can defend itself with an electric discharge consistent with its size.
Gelatinous Sphere of Decontamination - a fist sized sphere that when put in contact with the skin, morphs in to a wet, soft skinned, semi-intelligent creature. After a few seconds of body chemistry analysis, the blob phases through the skin and travels through the host absorbing any toxins or foreign material (including biologics). When decon is complete, the jelly ejects itself the body, falling to the ground as a hard shelled sphere. Usable multiple times for curing minor diseases but only once for deadly poisons or radiation exposure. Not useful for healing wounds but will remove projectiles.
These two have already proven entertaining in my campaign:
Crystalline Computer Starter Kit - players find a single crystal shard; given time, sunlight or power, and suitable building materials (mineral laden dirt) the crystal grows into an AI. If physical contact is made, the shard communicates its basic needs through direct nerve stimulus (empathy growing to telepathy). As the shard grows, it becomes more intelligent and useful. The shard can defend itself with an electric discharge consistent with its size.
Gelatinous Sphere of Decontamination - a fist sized sphere that when put in contact with the skin, morphs in to a wet, soft skinned, semi-intelligent creature. After a few seconds of body chemistry analysis, the blob phases through the skin and travels through the host absorbing any toxins or foreign material (including biologics). When decon is complete, the jelly ejects itself the body, falling to the ground as a hard shelled sphere. Usable multiple times for curing minor diseases but only once for deadly poisons or radiation exposure. Not useful for healing wounds but will remove projectiles.
RandyT0001
SOC-13
Nursery Bonnet
A hollow metallic cone about 0.5m long with an opening about 16cm in diameter. When placed upon the head it gives the wearer emotion sense as the psionic power. The maximum range for the device is 3m. The cone also doubles the requisite stat used in determining power levels.
These cones (and other designs for such purposes) were used in nurseries throughout Ancient space. The drones would wear the devices to psionically detect which infants would need emotional reassurance before it becomes a physical demand. The drone would hold the child to provide reassurance until the cap detected an emotional change.
Six were discovered in a small ruin and determined to be none functional. Four were sold to private collectors/ museums. One of these four is still functional though no body knew. It was purchased by Sergia Wakovia and used by the Warlords Wargaming Convention Organizers to make a unique trophy for the winner of the title Grand Champion.
Maxius Panennek won that trophy last year......
A hollow metallic cone about 0.5m long with an opening about 16cm in diameter. When placed upon the head it gives the wearer emotion sense as the psionic power. The maximum range for the device is 3m. The cone also doubles the requisite stat used in determining power levels.
These cones (and other designs for such purposes) were used in nurseries throughout Ancient space. The drones would wear the devices to psionically detect which infants would need emotional reassurance before it becomes a physical demand. The drone would hold the child to provide reassurance until the cap detected an emotional change.
Six were discovered in a small ruin and determined to be none functional. Four were sold to private collectors/ museums. One of these four is still functional though no body knew. It was purchased by Sergia Wakovia and used by the Warlords Wargaming Convention Organizers to make a unique trophy for the winner of the title Grand Champion.
Maxius Panennek won that trophy last year......
E
EvilDrGanymede
Guest
We can do this now, kinda. Maybe not pure elemental forms, but we can now break a huge variety of things (refridgerators, car tyres, turkey gibs...) down into their constituent molecular components.Originally posted by Keklas Rekobah:
[QB] An ore processor - Dump raw ore into the near end and the processed materials come out the far end in each of their elemental forms. Thus sand goes in, and silicon and oxygen come out! Simple, right? Commercially viable, right? But wait, there's more!
http://www.discover.com/may_03/featoil.html
...but that we can't do nowThe danged thing also works in reverse...
.Couple of other ideas, nicked from books:
A NOACH communicator/receiver. 'NOACH' is a phonetic abbreviation of 'No Channel' - it's basically a radio that doesn't require any EM wave to transmit its message - it's just received at the other end, instantaneously. As such, it's totally impossible to jam, and has no range limit. (nicked from Greg Bear's "Anvil of Stars").
A Xeelee Flower. Nicked from Stephen Baxter's "Vacuum Diagrams" linked short story collection. This basically *was* an Ancient artifact - the Xeelee were the equivalent of that race in Baxter's universe and they were still around. Many other races used to race to scavenge planets that they'd abandoned. In this case, the Xeelee were fleeing a supernova, and a human managed to get down to the planet just before the supernova happened, and found the Flower. He discovered eventually that when it was set up in a certain way it converted light into mass, growing in the process. Not much use really, but it did save him when the star went supernova, and it grew to gigantic size too (and only he knew how to reverse the process and shrink it down).
trader jim
SOC-14 1K
In on of those out of the way, little used, not to well known, GAME SHOPS I came across this....
a little guy, encased under glass, the directions read...original 1977 Traveller Player, Break Glass in case of EMERGENCY concerning TRAVELLER CANON!!!..even smaller print it read...please do not feed the nurd/geek (endangered species)!!!
is this considered an Ancient Artifact???
a little guy, encased under glass, the directions read...original 1977 Traveller Player, Break Glass in case of EMERGENCY concerning TRAVELLER CANON!!!..even smaller print it read...please do not feed the nurd/geek (endangered species)!!!
is this considered an Ancient Artifact???
That reminds me of one of the items I came up with for the original "What's in the Warehouse?" thread on the net. It was a glass coffin containing a big, regal-looking guy in fancy armor with a large sword lying clutched in his hands. A small sign said: "In case of emergency, break glass."Originally posted by trader jim:
In on of those out of the way, little used, not to well known, GAME SHOPS I came across this....
a little guy, encased under glass, the directions read...original 1977 Traveller Player, Break Glass in case of EMERGENCY concerning TRAVELLER CANON!!!..even smaller print it read...please do not feed the nurd/geek (endangered species)!!!
is this considered an Ancient Artifact???
Hmmm... an Ancient Warehouse... Christmas Day for PCs. The problem would be how avoid making it an "End of the Campaign, no saving throw" sort of thing.
Hans
Butch Clor
SOC-5
From Here to There
In the past ,IMTU, I have allowed the existance of multiple portals such as found in "Secret of the Ancients". They are the original portals used by Grandfather to bring Human and Canine from Earth to their various planets. Earth's is located on the far side of Neptune Orbit. The others still in existance are the Valand System, Zhodane, Zalkarenm( Home of a minor human race in the far spinward edge of Zhodani space), Lair, Daryen(Darrian), and... You choose for your adventure! arkk!
Of course there are little quirks in these: 1.Maximum ship size is 2000 dTons, and the portal is only 20m in diameter. 2. Transit is for all aspects instantanous (about 10 seconds), 3. All ships can enter at up to 6G's but will always exit at 2Gs, a kick in the pants if you enter at 1G, a big ooppsie, (Would someone Please, scrape Charlie off the bulkhead) if you enter at 3 or more Gs. You must enter just right for a specific location, Learn by trial and error, with a 1 hour reset factor for each portal. 2d6 roll: a roll of 2,3,4, gets your intended destination; if successful a DM of -1 to succeed on further attempts between each of the 2 portals. If not the portal you come out is randomized by the ref. The portals for Lair and Zhodane are within the normal jump point diameter.
IMTU we live in a multiverse, of parallel and not so parallel universes. A roll of 12 exactly, before DMs used results in a trip to a parallel universe. Again ref's choice.gh for now.
Live long and Conquer!
Butch
In the past ,IMTU, I have allowed the existance of multiple portals such as found in "Secret of the Ancients". They are the original portals used by Grandfather to bring Human and Canine from Earth to their various planets. Earth's is located on the far side of Neptune Orbit. The others still in existance are the Valand System, Zhodane, Zalkarenm( Home of a minor human race in the far spinward edge of Zhodani space), Lair, Daryen(Darrian), and... You choose for your adventure! arkk!
Of course there are little quirks in these: 1.Maximum ship size is 2000 dTons, and the portal is only 20m in diameter. 2. Transit is for all aspects instantanous (about 10 seconds), 3. All ships can enter at up to 6G's but will always exit at 2Gs, a kick in the pants if you enter at 1G, a big ooppsie, (Would someone Please, scrape Charlie off the bulkhead) if you enter at 3 or more Gs. You must enter just right for a specific location, Learn by trial and error, with a 1 hour reset factor for each portal. 2d6 roll: a roll of 2,3,4, gets your intended destination; if successful a DM of -1 to succeed on further attempts between each of the 2 portals. If not the portal you come out is randomized by the ref. The portals for Lair and Zhodane are within the normal jump point diameter.
IMTU we live in a multiverse, of parallel and not so parallel universes. A roll of 12 exactly, before DMs used results in a trip to a parallel universe. Again ref's choice.gh for now.
Live long and Conquer!
Butch
G. Fieendish
SOC-12
An ore processor - Dump raw ore into the near end and the processed materials come out the far end in each of their elemental forms. Thus sand goes in, and silicon and oxygen come out! Simple, right? Commercially viable, right? But wait, there's more!
The danged thing also works in reverse...
Put the silicon in the far end, along with a few purified dopant elements, and voila! Pentium CIX's come out the near end!
All that's required is a sophisticated enough command and control system (CCS) to run it, which BTW is nowhere in sight.
As soon as imperial scientists determine how to program this one-of-a-kind find, they'll start making some real neat-o TL20 items. That is, if they can get the thing to stop emitting that toxic nerve gas...
This device under the guise/name of the "Santa Claus Machine" was mentioned in the BBC book Spaceships of The Mind, published in 1973....
Said machine was based on Mass Spectrometer technology, in that raw ore was vapourised, & seperated by means of ion beams, & high intensity magnetic fields ...
The machine needed superconducting magnets to work, however, & unfortunately, high temperature superconducting materials did not exist in the 1970's ....
(Although you could argue that James Blish got there first in the 1950's, as a machine similar to this but using induction furnace technology, was mentioned in Volume 3 of Cities in Flight....)
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Sorry about the thread necromancy, but I just watched the Star Trek: Voyager episode The Omega Directive. In this show, they find a molecule that some Star Fleet scientists think might have caused the Big Bang. The Borg were looking for it, too. The Captain was under orders to destroy it at all costs as it could have wiped out Warp Space. It was also speculated on the show that enough of the molecules could power a galactic civilization.
Now that would be something that the Ancients might have had under glass.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Directive
Now that would be something that the Ancients might have had under glass.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Directive
G. Fieendish
SOC-12
A big box which will make whatever you think of appear. Even your kidney stealing biological father.
You've lost me with that reference.
Remember that canon says that each Ancient base used different technology ... as if everything had been reinvented from scratch. This means you can freely rip over loads of different SF ideas even if they don't fit with each other. Such as ...
- The organic battle armour from Babylon 5 (season 1)
- Many of the Goauld devices from Stargate SG-1
- The sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who
- Some of the artifacts from Torchwood
- The big golden ball from the film Sphere
- Some of the magical items from D&D
- The organic tech from GDW's Dark Conspiracy
Regards PLST
Renaissance Man
SOC-12
Well, what are some of the technologies the Ancients used that we know about from the canon?
One is the whole notion of pocket universes. I expect the ancients used pocket universes to house and control the matter-antimatter reactions in their power plants. One pocket universe is generated to house antimatter - then you have a second dimensional chamber to house the reaction. A specially modulated gateway used to bleed antimatter and matter at controlled rates into the reaction chamber. The resulting energy is absorbed through a series of co-generation units arrayed on the inner skin of the chamber (taking radiation, heat, light, etc. and putting out as electricity.) The whole thing is housed in an ovoid made of a mysterious substance. The power plants are of various sizes depending on their roles, ranging from the size and shape of a football to the size of a house.
These things are often found at Ancient sites, but do not have the gateway activated and have long since gone "cold." So far nothing has been gleaned from them. The outer shell is extremely dense and hard, as with many artifacts. This is all the more so because it was designed to contain and control massive amounts of energy.
Hundreds of years ago, researchers succeeded in penetrating the outer shell of an ovoid and disrupted the gateway to the reaction universe. Some antimatter had bled into the reaction chamber over the millennia. When it came in contact with normal matter it precipitated a massive explosion that destroyed the research centre and the asteroid it had been built on. Little if any of their research survives to the present.
Ever since, the UODs (Unexplained Ovoid Devices) have been a complete mystery to researchers, and further investigation has been deemed too risky.
One is the whole notion of pocket universes. I expect the ancients used pocket universes to house and control the matter-antimatter reactions in their power plants. One pocket universe is generated to house antimatter - then you have a second dimensional chamber to house the reaction. A specially modulated gateway used to bleed antimatter and matter at controlled rates into the reaction chamber. The resulting energy is absorbed through a series of co-generation units arrayed on the inner skin of the chamber (taking radiation, heat, light, etc. and putting out as electricity.) The whole thing is housed in an ovoid made of a mysterious substance. The power plants are of various sizes depending on their roles, ranging from the size and shape of a football to the size of a house.
These things are often found at Ancient sites, but do not have the gateway activated and have long since gone "cold." So far nothing has been gleaned from them. The outer shell is extremely dense and hard, as with many artifacts. This is all the more so because it was designed to contain and control massive amounts of energy.
Hundreds of years ago, researchers succeeded in penetrating the outer shell of an ovoid and disrupted the gateway to the reaction universe. Some antimatter had bled into the reaction chamber over the millennia. When it came in contact with normal matter it precipitated a massive explosion that destroyed the research centre and the asteroid it had been built on. Little if any of their research survives to the present.
Ever since, the UODs (Unexplained Ovoid Devices) have been a complete mystery to researchers, and further investigation has been deemed too risky.
I'm not sure but...
Hi,
I'm not sure but I think it might be a reference to the cartoon "The Venture Brothers" on Adult Swim.
Regards
PF
Hi,
I'm not sure but I think it might be a reference to the cartoon "The Venture Brothers" on Adult Swim.
Regards
PF
selunatic2397
SOC-12
Nope! It's from the tv show LOST!
When, Ben tell Locke that there is a magic box [metaphor] that can create anything that you imagine.
Locke's biological daddy was the con man that stole another actor's father's money and caused...well it got so silly I gave up on it...Suffice to say Locke's daddy tricked him into donating a kidney.
When, Ben tell Locke that there is a magic box [metaphor] that can create anything that you imagine.
Locke's biological daddy was the con man that stole another actor's father's money and caused...well it got so silly I gave up on it...Suffice to say Locke's daddy tricked him into donating a kidney.
That's Interesting..
Hi,
That's interesting because on "The Venture Brothers" the father also designed a box that would recreate anything that you desire and also in a different episode ended up taking a kidney from both of his sons.
I guess its true that there aren't that many original ideas out there.
Regards
PF
Hi,
That's interesting because on "The Venture Brothers" the father also designed a box that would recreate anything that you desire and also in a different episode ended up taking a kidney from both of his sons.
I guess its true that there aren't that many original ideas out there.
Regards
PF
The most sought after device ever
A small rectangular box, approximately 6 cm long by 3cm wide and 500 mm thick. It has one red pressure switch and the dorsal surface.
When in the theater and the little kid behind you is yelling and jumping, or the schmuck 3 aisles over is talking back to the movie, just point and click....
mute.
A small rectangular box, approximately 6 cm long by 3cm wide and 500 mm thick. It has one red pressure switch and the dorsal surface.
When in the theater and the little kid behind you is yelling and jumping, or the schmuck 3 aisles over is talking back to the movie, just point and click....
mute.
