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Cybertech.. How do you handle it in CT?

J

Jamus

SOC-12
Last night while sitting around the table in my trusty den one of the players announced his wish to invest in cybernetic improvements, specifically some sort of hightened reflexes and subdermal armor. I have read shadowrun so i do know what he is asking for but to be honest I do not know how to go about implementing such a thing in my trav game while keeping balance.

have any of you guys dealt with this in your campaigns and if so how did you keep cybercharacters from dominating the game?

on a side note a source book for CT devoted to cyber/bio wear would be handy...how does one go about expressing such a desire to the people who could make it happen?
 
Last night while sitting around the table in my trusty den one of the players announced his wish to invest in cybernetic improvements, specifically some sort of hightened reflexes and subdermal armor. I have read shadowrun so i do know what he is asking for but to be honest I do not know how to go about implementing such a thing in my trav game while keeping balance.

have any of you guys dealt with this in your campaigns and if so how did you keep cybercharacters from dominating the game?

on a side note a source book for CT devoted to cyber/bio wear would be handy...how does one go about expressing such a desire to the people who could make it happen?
 
I've never fiddled with cyberwear in Traveller as I've never felt it fits with the spirit of the game as I see it.

To be absolutely honest, I didn't care much for the 'smart chips' in Signal GK when that adventure came out in '85.
 
I've never fiddled with cyberwear in Traveller as I've never felt it fits with the spirit of the game as I see it.

To be absolutely honest, I didn't care much for the 'smart chips' in Signal GK when that adventure came out in '85.
 
yeah i can dig where your coming from. I have never really used any of that stuff either.

been thinking about how to handle this most of the morning...still cant see how to implement it but i also dont see how it could be denied as a possible item for player purchase. One would think that a TL12 society would have all manner of cybernetic ehancement available... how to handle the mechanics of it is what i am at a loss on.
 
yeah i can dig where your coming from. I have never really used any of that stuff either.

been thinking about how to handle this most of the morning...still cant see how to implement it but i also dont see how it could be denied as a possible item for player purchase. One would think that a TL12 society would have all manner of cybernetic ehancement available... how to handle the mechanics of it is what i am at a loss on.
 
The book Digital Burn (by Living Room Games)has some good info on cybernetics, it is D20, but still has a good overview.

The equipment list for cyberware can give a idea of what to offer in your game.

http://digitalburn.lrgames.com/index.php

Also, IMHO cyberware is just another form of equipment. Implanted, yes, but still subject to breakage/repair..power/battery..maintance/upkeep..oh yes the most important LAW LEVEL....etc. Ah the immortal words "Sir, could you please empty your pockets and step through the detector again" take on a whole new meaning.

Your implanted reflex chip mod is great but what happens on that TL6 world you are scouting/trading on when it breaks down.
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The book Digital Burn (by Living Room Games)has some good info on cybernetics, it is D20, but still has a good overview.

The equipment list for cyberware can give a idea of what to offer in your game.

http://digitalburn.lrgames.com/index.php

Also, IMHO cyberware is just another form of equipment. Implanted, yes, but still subject to breakage/repair..power/battery..maintance/upkeep..oh yes the most important LAW LEVEL....etc. Ah the immortal words "Sir, could you please empty your pockets and step through the detector again" take on a whole new meaning.

Your implanted reflex chip mod is great but what happens on that TL6 world you are scouting/trading on when it breaks down.
file_23.gif
 
I wouldn't let them have this kind of munchkin nonsense.

The only cybernetics I would allow would be medical prosthetics, which would be at best indistinguishable from what they replaced (and usually inferior).

Prosthetics don't allow you to do anything that other technology can't do equally as well, more cheaply, and without surgery.

Mutter, mumble... In my day we wore discreetly tailored body armour, and boosted our reflexes with drugs, the way Miller, Chadwick, Wiseman and Harshman intended! Hmm... more mumbling... against the laws of nature I calls it... It's like wearing Battle Dress in a pub... No good will ever come of it...
 
I wouldn't let them have this kind of munchkin nonsense.

The only cybernetics I would allow would be medical prosthetics, which would be at best indistinguishable from what they replaced (and usually inferior).

Prosthetics don't allow you to do anything that other technology can't do equally as well, more cheaply, and without surgery.

Mutter, mumble... In my day we wore discreetly tailored body armour, and boosted our reflexes with drugs, the way Miller, Chadwick, Wiseman and Harshman intended! Hmm... more mumbling... against the laws of nature I calls it... It's like wearing Battle Dress in a pub... No good will ever come of it...
 
Let 'em have it...then let them have the true effects of The Six Million Dollar Man. Faster reflexes should allow you to shatter his body faster. Any faster than a human can do should start to strain his tendons and finally shatter his bones. Sub-dermal armor, sure, how does heat escape? Let his core temperature hit 106 degrees Farenheit and see what his survival chances are. Micro electronics to the brain. Let those electro currents start interfering with the brain chemistry and produce epilepsly like symptoms.

The human body is built on very tight tolerances and any thing that exceeds those is going to cause the engineering equivelent of failure or catastrophic failure.

Have Fun >


Lord Iron Wolf
 
Let 'em have it...then let them have the true effects of The Six Million Dollar Man. Faster reflexes should allow you to shatter his body faster. Any faster than a human can do should start to strain his tendons and finally shatter his bones. Sub-dermal armor, sure, how does heat escape? Let his core temperature hit 106 degrees Farenheit and see what his survival chances are. Micro electronics to the brain. Let those electro currents start interfering with the brain chemistry and produce epilepsly like symptoms.

The human body is built on very tight tolerances and any thing that exceeds those is going to cause the engineering equivelent of failure or catastrophic failure.

Have Fun >


Lord Iron Wolf
 
If the player is on a low law level high-tech world, then it could be possible.

However, the key is to emphasize to the player that not every world has the same law level so the cybernetics could easily pose problems depending on the system they are in.

Cybernetics are highly looked down upon and the person could easily be refused entry on multiple planets due to any mechanical mods on their body. It is considered like carrying a concealed weapon.

Basically, the person would be treated like being caught with a set of lockpicks on you or a syringe and hypodermic needles on you. It would be a good reason to lock you up and send in a head shrinker in to see you for evaluation and a one way ticket to the local mental ward. Any starport would have the facilities to detect these things and neutralize them while holding the carrier.

Medical tech has progressed to the point that cybernetics for limb replacement is seen as old school and unnatural. In extreme cases, on some high law/high tech worlds, the person could easily find themselves prosecuted and the limb or whatever would be replaced with a nautral one.
 
If the player is on a low law level high-tech world, then it could be possible.

However, the key is to emphasize to the player that not every world has the same law level so the cybernetics could easily pose problems depending on the system they are in.

Cybernetics are highly looked down upon and the person could easily be refused entry on multiple planets due to any mechanical mods on their body. It is considered like carrying a concealed weapon.

Basically, the person would be treated like being caught with a set of lockpicks on you or a syringe and hypodermic needles on you. It would be a good reason to lock you up and send in a head shrinker in to see you for evaluation and a one way ticket to the local mental ward. Any starport would have the facilities to detect these things and neutralize them while holding the carrier.

Medical tech has progressed to the point that cybernetics for limb replacement is seen as old school and unnatural. In extreme cases, on some high law/high tech worlds, the person could easily find themselves prosecuted and the limb or whatever would be replaced with a nautral one.
 
alanb mentions the drugs that already exist in Traveller.
If I were to allow cybernetic devices then I would keep them within the same parameters as the drug effects.
In the experience syastem it says thet implants and surgery exist at high TL to improve skills/ characteristics.

So your player wants hightened reflexes?
Either surgical implants, at great cost, that raise Dex by 2 points, or an implanted chemical booster system that has the same effect as Slow drug.
Sub-dermal armour?
At great cost implant something like jack or mesh and then lower his Str, Dex and End by one point each for jack or by 2 points for mesh. Of course he can always have muscle grafts to increase his Str (more cost), End and Dex (yet more cost).
And point out at the end of the procedure he will look like a cold war era Eastern European Lady Shotputter ;)
 
alanb mentions the drugs that already exist in Traveller.
If I were to allow cybernetic devices then I would keep them within the same parameters as the drug effects.
In the experience syastem it says thet implants and surgery exist at high TL to improve skills/ characteristics.

So your player wants hightened reflexes?
Either surgical implants, at great cost, that raise Dex by 2 points, or an implanted chemical booster system that has the same effect as Slow drug.
Sub-dermal armour?
At great cost implant something like jack or mesh and then lower his Str, Dex and End by one point each for jack or by 2 points for mesh. Of course he can always have muscle grafts to increase his Str (more cost), End and Dex (yet more cost).
And point out at the end of the procedure he will look like a cold war era Eastern European Lady Shotputter ;)
 
I always followed Mike Jackson's variant cybertech rules in Traveller's Digest 12-14 (13 being the main one). They were good enough to be realistic and cybertech-ish without being too munchkin like.
 
I always followed Mike Jackson's variant cybertech rules in Traveller's Digest 12-14 (13 being the main one). They were good enough to be realistic and cybertech-ish without being too munchkin like.
 
FF&S1 (TNE-FF&S) has some limited cybernetics in it. T20 also has some. Core enough?

Also, 2300 had the Earth/Cybertech sourcebook, which included some for that system.

As for the equally bad-as-the-munchkins-they-purport-to-stop suggestions above:

TL 14-15 cybernetics are probably very capable.

You aren't going to gain "Superhuman" levels without some major costs... the bones are easily fixed; bone-lacing is common in cyberware literature, and completely feasable by TL 13. Bone replacement is already extant tech. Titanium bone replacement is FAR tougher.

Tendons and muscles: either you're replacing them or augmenting them. Augmentation is a low boost kind of thing. Assuming myomer technology continues at the ccurrent pace, myomer muscle replacement will be better by TL10 than augmentation.

Subdermal armors: by definition, below skin. no worse than a layer of fat thermally. Not nearly so bad as an external BPV. And yes, you will BLEED even if the subdermal stops the round. But it won't go through the organs as easily... (Guys with titanium plates in their heads do not gain thermal resistance to cold.... nor even noteably higher brain temps...
 
FF&S1 (TNE-FF&S) has some limited cybernetics in it. T20 also has some. Core enough?

Also, 2300 had the Earth/Cybertech sourcebook, which included some for that system.

As for the equally bad-as-the-munchkins-they-purport-to-stop suggestions above:

TL 14-15 cybernetics are probably very capable.

You aren't going to gain "Superhuman" levels without some major costs... the bones are easily fixed; bone-lacing is common in cyberware literature, and completely feasable by TL 13. Bone replacement is already extant tech. Titanium bone replacement is FAR tougher.

Tendons and muscles: either you're replacing them or augmenting them. Augmentation is a low boost kind of thing. Assuming myomer technology continues at the ccurrent pace, myomer muscle replacement will be better by TL10 than augmentation.

Subdermal armors: by definition, below skin. no worse than a layer of fat thermally. Not nearly so bad as an external BPV. And yes, you will BLEED even if the subdermal stops the round. But it won't go through the organs as easily... (Guys with titanium plates in their heads do not gain thermal resistance to cold.... nor even noteably higher brain temps...
 
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