Equipment names

[Hemdian]

No, I'm not talking about what do your PCs name their weapons. I was looking at the ubiquitous (IMTU) hand computer and thinking that the term "hand computer" seemed a bit clunky. Even more so when trying to write some fanfic. TV shows seem to have cooler names for mundane equipment: Star Trek had "PADD"s, Earth 2 had "gear" (they also called their vehicles "rails"), Space 1999 had "commlocks", and Babylon 5 had "links". (Okay, gear, commlocks and links were also for communications but you get the idea.) I wondered if anyone had anything similar in their TUs that I could nick?

 

[Zowy]

Pads: DataPads, CommPads, SensorPads, ect.
Dots: CommDots, SpyDots, VidDots, SensorDots, ect.
Wands: Sensor Wands, Data Wands, Key Wands, ect.

 

[BlackBat242]

Sonic screwdrivers™

 

[far-trader]

Multispanner

 

[fiat_knox]

Leeloo Dallas: "Mooltipass."






I think the above names hit the spot. Don't forget those commdots - basic derms, worn on the skin, that connect wirelessly to communications equipment.

Handcoms are a good term. Handcoms, laptops, notebooks and palmtops maybe?

 

[boomslang]

Earth 2 had "gear" (they also called their vehicles "rails")

Well, their vehicles pretty much were rails, so that was not a big stretch.

(I use something similar IMTU: a four-ton wheeled ATV, the Light ATV -- or LATV -- that combines the haulage and footprint of an open-topped air/raft with the performance of an ATV for the cost of three or four gcars.)

In the same vein, taking a cue from RL, I feature "palmtops" IMTU which can be strapped to forearms and thighs as needed (with apologies to Taronga Leela), and multipurpose handheld telecom/computational iPhone-like-plus-walkie-talkie gizmos simply called "comms." You could borrow from the Japanese and go with "keitei" -- then just Solomanize it to Ki-Ti (like Wi-Fi) and you have a ready-made neologism...

 

[sabredog]

Grav Vehicles - sleds
hovercraft - blowers

Terran off-world law enforcement (mainly customs) - 'varks

 

[Icosahedron]

I have Pads and Comms, my air-rafts are called Flyers, I have a vehicle very much like Serenity's Mule called a Gofer, cos that's what it does. The Alien-wrestling cargo movers are called Maulers, I have a Blitzer - a recoil-stabilised shotgun pistol, and the Ute - your general-purpose shipboard pickup truck.

 

[Vargas]

My suggestion is to not use functional titles so much; after all modern day "hand computers" are called Blackberrys or iPhones and Star Trek's PADDs are Palm Pilots.

 

[Darkhstarr]

Neivher (special AP tranq rounds that dissolve when in contact with body fluids);SSW's (Scout survival weapon) a multipurpose weapon that combines a laser pistol & torch with a survival knife; Reynspada (aka Pirate's Pick); Quasdim (molecular blade weapon inspired by Larry Niven); Netgun; Shroud (superjammers that shroud targets like a deathshroud-very illegal); & a bunch of devices I used Lonnie's Tribblescape language translater to convert device names from English, Japanese, etc., into vilani to look cool.