I wrote this up in 2021 and I always wanted to add to it.
I decided to do that today.
Give it a shot!
_____
Does your ship have a Pet? (revised)
I decided to do that today.
Give it a shot!
_____
Does your ship have a Pet? (revised)
General Does your ship have a Pet? (revised)
- Thread starter Spinward Scout
- Start date
Standard chargen deal I have, each player chooses a pet or used robot, an ex-love interest, and closest relative for each character.
Idea being to create secondary story lines like a Trek episode to keep other players occupied while resolving main actions that require ref activity. One player has a mischievous/troublesome pet/bot/ex/relation pop up, other players play the NPC and side roles. Preferably no lethal/permanent consequences, played either for comedy or chardev.
Idea being to create secondary story lines like a Trek episode to keep other players occupied while resolving main actions that require ref activity. One player has a mischievous/troublesome pet/bot/ex/relation pop up, other players play the NPC and side roles. Preferably no lethal/permanent consequences, played either for comedy or chardev.
On the pet front, I am assuming we have at least learned to talk to animals so there are translators, maybe even surgeries to make them capable of human vocalization.
Side effect is they sometimes get lawyers, people have a hard time with eating animals that can talk so a lot more carniculture for protein, a lot of land use has moved off from feeding herds at higher techs, and animal sitcom holoshows are a thing.
I also have NuPets of the genetically uplifted sort, but that’s really expensive and problematic.
Some people just get normal pets because they don’t want to deal with actually talking to them.
On bots, I use primarily LBB8 and the idea is that the ten year ‘lifespan’ of robots means quite a large used bot market. That means people can afford depreciated robots which they use for various personal assistants or in some cases as the primary creditwinner.
Since they are older, the bots are picking up quirks which allow for the sort of second storyline hijinx I mentioned.
Side effect is they sometimes get lawyers, people have a hard time with eating animals that can talk so a lot more carniculture for protein, a lot of land use has moved off from feeding herds at higher techs, and animal sitcom holoshows are a thing.
I also have NuPets of the genetically uplifted sort, but that’s really expensive and problematic.
Some people just get normal pets because they don’t want to deal with actually talking to them.
On bots, I use primarily LBB8 and the idea is that the ten year ‘lifespan’ of robots means quite a large used bot market. That means people can afford depreciated robots which they use for various personal assistants or in some cases as the primary creditwinner.
Since they are older, the bots are picking up quirks which allow for the sort of second storyline hijinx I mentioned.
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I would prefer either a Hoobat or a good size Terran feline.
That's neat! You should write that up.
Muffit was the best!
Not sure what that is...
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Which forum and what format/content would you like to see?
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
A Hoobat figures in Andre Norton's Solar Queen series, and plays a prominent part in the second book, Plague Ship, in ridding the Solar Queen of a particularly dangerous pest.
It is described as following in Plague Ship:
Plague Ship can be downloaded at Project Gutenberg. It make for excellent reading on how I envision a Free Trader operating, and the interaction between Free Traders and established lines.
Krikkitone
SOC-12
I think an “animal with a translator” would be regarded legally (and probably culturally) more like a robot with animal-2 skill for behavioral + care analysis attached to the animal than the animal itself speaking.
I could imagine breeding pets to be better pets…less allergens, better behavior, healthier, longer lifespan…shipboard pets probably would be small, not use a lot of food/water/oxygen and possibly capable of hibernating if those got low.
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And either have an innate reflex to, or be very easy to train to, seek shelter or a suitable pressure suit if they notice a drop in air pressure.
Adaptability to free-fall is another key trait...
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
I think it should go in:
In My Traveller Universe
or
Referee's Lounge
Format? Text is probably best, I think. Maybe PDF.
Telepathic would be cool!
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
By format I mean content and structure.
Article? Hard rules? Casual like my above post or tightened up to semipro? Lists of things sample pets? Gen tables?
Telepathically linked and will rip your face off if you mess with his human.
Which ever you feel comfortable with. I mean, it's a House rule, right?
Very -- but somewhat suspect in a late Third Imperium context...
Plenty of SF example of this to work from.
... which raises the question of what sort of pressure suit we're talking about here*.
I can see a cat's suit** that includes servo-controlled retractable claws, possibly also operating magnetic grapples. How or if it handles biiting is a separate matter, as well as how it would accommodate the cat's tail (an actual tail cover, or a remotely-operated tail controlled by the cat's actual tail.... ?
And yes, I've spent far too much thought on designing a motorcycle helmet for my dog...+
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*which then raises the question of which way pants for dogs go: 1. Anthropomorphic, where they cover the hind legs and pelvis; or, 2. Descriptive, where they cover all four legs and the lower half of the body.
**not to be confused with a cat suit (furry), or a cat-suit (me-ow!), or a cat's formal suit (standard equipment for Tuxedo cats).
+who is a French Bulldog, which makes the task both easier (short muzzle so the helmet can stay more spherical) and more difficult (those ears!!
-- which kind of relates to Vargr space helmets. Real-world canine helmets require deciding if the ears stick out or have to be accommodated with bulges. In fairness, the ones I've seen online are mostly decorative...).
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Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Somewhere on one of my computers I have an example of a dog gas mask from World War One. They had horse gas masks as well, so I will have to look for one of those as well. K'kree you know.
As for pet telepathy, it would be hard to beat Andre Norton with Hosteen Storm in Beast Master, Troy Horan in Catseye, or Shann Lantee in Storm Over Warlock. I have that as a wild Psi talent in my universe. There have been many times where I would have given a lot to get into the head of one of my cats for 10 seconds.
As for pet telepathy, it would be hard to beat Andre Norton with Hosteen Storm in Beast Master, Troy Horan in Catseye, or Shann Lantee in Storm Over Warlock. I have that as a wild Psi talent in my universe. There have been many times where I would have given a lot to get into the head of one of my cats for 10 seconds.
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