Idea for a device?

[Spinward Scout]

I'm trying to come up with an idea for an artifact, relic, technological wonder or other object or device. Something that all Travellers would want, but it has to be a physical object, preferably bigger than a breadbox. I want them to be tempted to keep it instead of giving it to the Patron that hires them.

 

[pendragonman]

I'm trying to come up with an idea for an artifact, relic, technological wonder or other object or device. Something that all Travellers would want, but it has to be a physical object, preferably bigger than a breadbox. I want them to be tempted to keep it instead of giving it to the Patron that hires them.

A one off device from an Ancient's archaeological site. When connected to a jump drive allows ships to cover the jump distance in 140-180 minutes instead of hours.

 

[Supplement Four]

What if no one really knows what the McGuffin does, but EVERYBODY wants it.

 

[aramis]

What if no one really knows what the McGuffin does, but EVERYBODY wants it.

That's almost axiomatic for a SciFi MacGuffin. People THINK they know what it does...

After all, that's why the Scwartz is so bloody funny in Spaceballs.

 

[Timerover51]

How about something like an energy absorption device, roughly the size of a ground car, but capable of selectively absorbing energy from the surrounding area. If the field is spread widely, only a very small amount of energy is drawn from a given weight of matter, say one-hundredth of a BTU per pound, but if focused if effectively becomes a freeze ray, absorbing all heat energy of the target. Its primary use is for a power source, but playing with it can result in the freeze ray. Somewhat like a generalized "Black Globe" effect.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

A science check will show that it at least has a cloaking feature, and a way to connect it to a TL 14 power supply.

 

[Spinward Scout]

These are great ideas!

 

[Major B]

How about an alchemist's box? It takes the substance you drop inside and over time (say a week) transmutes it into a heavier substance. Figure out what turns into what by looking up the substance left inside on the Periodic Table and then look one row down to see what it will change into:

Hydrogen becomes Lithium
Oxygen - Sulphur
Sodium - Potassium
Helium - Neon
Nickel - Palladium
Copper - Silver
Silver - Gold

The device is a quarter dton - 1.5m x 1.5m x 1.5m and heavy so it is difficult to move.

Transmutation takes a week.

Inside dimensions are tiny so only a half liter at a time can be transmuted.

It was created to produce materials for research, producing rare elements without having to go out and gather them and transport them to the lab.

Imperial agencies want to control it to prevent anyone knowing it exists while also studying the process for themselves.

A few world governments want it because they don't want anyone else to get it and get an advantage over them.

Numerous criminal organizations want it - some to study it and learn how to make more and others just to start producing rare metals for profit.

 

[Sir Brad]

how about this, a TL10 EM Screen Generator built on concepts not normally played with till TL12 , Size, Cost & Power Consumption make it impractical at TL10 (except at space ship scale), but the Inventors notes make all kinds of theories abut what it could do at TL12. wile useless for Combat protection it could for ever change Radiation & Micro-Particle protection for everything from Space Suits to Star Ships.

What ends will people go to to get it or protect the Status Quo?

 

[robject]

A millstone-sized (or whatever) disc made of something like ceramic, dullish grey, which has embedded in it a bare, unassuming vector pointer... I.E. a lit-up arrow-like thing that's pointing in a kind-of projected direction. Triangulation via jumping around might tell you it apparently points toward Skull (2420 Spin). If you're jumping around Regina subsector you might not even notice that it changes direction. I wonder why it's pointing there? Is it pointing to an exact location in the system? Perhaps relative to the star? Is it pinned to a world there? Or is it pointing to a fixed absolute location in space that the Skull system just happens to be in at this moment of epoch time? Or something else?

 

[Adam Dray]

A millstone-sized (or whatever) disc made of something like ceramic, dullish grey, which has embedded in it a bare, unassuming vector pointer... I.E. a lit-up arrow-like thing that's pointing in a kind-of projected direction.

I'm imagining Ancient starships that have a slot for these discs. The disc provides near-perfect astrogation from any system to the disc's location, even if it takes multiple jumps to achieve. Unfortunately, it assumes J-6 capability.

 

[robject]

I'm imagining Ancient starships that have a slot for these discs. The disc provides near-perfect astrogation from any system to the disc's location, even if it takes multiple jumps to achieve. Unfortunately, it assumes J-6 capability.

OH, that's clever. Thanks for that suggestion!

Makes me realize that the rumors about an artifact can be as compelling as the artifact itself.

 

[Ex_Pendable]

There is nothing so dangerous, nothing so desired as a map.

Your players find a rather plain-looking ring, brass or gold band with a square crystal set as the stone - but it's not just any cheap crystal, it's a holo-crystal. By shining a low-powered laser into the side of the crystal, a holographic map appears, showing a map of the sector (and part of the neighboring sector) and a path leading to a nebula occupying part of the sector and an obscured or hidden system.

Shining the laser through a different side, a planet surface map appears, then the image of a structure, and finally a map into the structure leading... someplace.

Your players, of course, have no idea what they'll find there. But as word spreads (perhaps the crystal was examined under laser in a bar?), so does offers to buy the ring - and attempts to steal it.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

What if no one really knows what the McGuffin does, but EVERYBODY wants it.

The mysterious, green-glowing object in the suitcase from "Pulp Fiction", right?

 

[The Pakkrat]

Jump Re-Vector Device

Copied from Ancient Artifacts Ideas thread in Ship's Locker...

If you are tuning in late, we are standing at the Serue (Knoellighz 1221) A-Rated Starport. Serue is the highest, publicly known Technology Level rated world in the heart of Knoellighz. Today we are about to examine what scientists here are labeling an Ancient Artifact.

The researchers are calling it an "aa Nantu Y", a poor translation based on the barely-decipherable symbols found along the metal frame of this octahedral talisman. Viewers can see the clear, colorless and irregular shape of an orthorhombic crystal inside the coppery-gold frame. At each end, or 'pole' as delineated by the long crystal held in the center by Runetha-Knows-What, is what seems to be a power or connection point.

Preliminary analysis seems to point that this device may be some form of navigation, or even better, an astrogation tool. We will be right back as we approach 100 diameters from above Serue....

.....and we're back. Coming to you from Jump Point #2 high above Serue planet, this is Net-7 News. Astrogators have connected the strange now-named "aa Nantu Y", an Ancient Artifact to the Astrogation boards on the bridge of the Detailed Cartographer, a converted and reformed 400 dT former-Corsair. This science vessel will soon make a jump to nearby Souo (Knoellighz 1020). During our trip through jumpspace, we will see what me may learn about this shiny Artifact. Speculations are showing the now-suspect Artifact may be some form of device.

Connected by universal coupling cables at each pole, the strange, octahedral frame, no more than 15cm to an edge, sits rather dumbly on the dash, connected to the Astrogation board. The captain has given the word. All hands, preparing for jump...

....and we are in crossover. Viewers, we at Net-7 News apologize for the approximate 149-hour delay as we will transmit our findings on the far side of jumpspace. It is amazing to see the immediate reaction the "aa Nantu Y" device, or Ancient Artifact, is giving off to us on the bridge. The Astrogation board is giving a text-only request that only now the ship's computer was able to translate from the gibberish on the screen.....just a moment.

The scientists and Astrogation team onboard the Detailed Cartographer want to fill in the request. They are inputting the just-computed coordinates for Dhonaegvaro (Knoellighz 1019), chosen for its Gas Giant presence in case the ship needs to refuel by skimming. The coordinates are in and the Astrogation board is confirming the calculations from the ship's computer...

Viewers, I don't believe this. The ship now has the option to Re-Vector its jump route while in jumpspace with no more than projected use of fuel! This reporter is beside himself. How this piece of framed crystal can re-route an entire ship is beyond me or Runetha Saetedz for that matter. Yet, the Astrogators are about to press the <confirm> command. And we are just a couple of hours from emerging jumpspace to Souo. Waitaminute....we are seeing some wild readings from the lanthanum jump field....

Sensors are showing a second field is erupting from the jump field's lanthanum net embedded in the hull. We will know what solar system we end up shortly.

Whew! We are back. This is Net-7 News coming to you from - confirming with Sensors and Astrogation - yes, it is Dhonaegvaro (Knoellighz 1019) instead of Souo, our original destination. We have done it and done it safely. I don't know how or have the gonads to question such, but we are at Dhonaegvaro, just outside 100-diameters, give a few hundred-thousand kilometers.

Viewers, the so-called "aa Nantu Y" has taken us out of a locked jump to re-vector our trip through jumpspace to a different, calculated destination. Engineering says that the same amount of fuel was used despite the change in vector. Currently the device on the dash is dormant. Just after the <confirm> button was pressed, a brilliant flash of white light erupted from the orthorhombic crystal. When we could again see the bridge, the Astrogation board reported a new vector. Sensors, recording the event, reported telemetry of a second field enveloping our ship and re-routing our vector to the second system. This is truly amazing . What a find!

Viewers, a device of Ancient origin, when connected to an Astrogation computer, allows a ship in jumpspace to calculate new jump vector and distance - within jumpdrive limits of course - to a different vector. The technology of this crystal must indeed be stored at the quanta level to be this powerful to bend the very laws of jump science in this matter.

Such a find is already being registered with Serue (Knoellighz 1221) government and science university. We can only hope that such wondrous find is never abused by current sophonts of our time.

On location and for Net-7 News, this is the Pakkrat.

 

[khadaji2002]

Wow, these are all great ideas. If Psionics are in use in the campaign, the artifact could be a 3-foot long shard of crystal with unusual density that demonstrates extreme resistance to breaking. Anyone with a potential Psi score of 8 or more triggers the crystal into activation. The device can teach (x) talents. The downside is the teaching happens inside the crystal. The upside is the teaching only takes a single week real-time. Imperial agents who learn of the device will try to destroy it, Zhodani agents want to capture it to keep it out of the hands of the proles, and independent states want to use it as the base for agent training.

 

[JimMarn]

An Artifact, that when placed near a fuel intake pipe, will refine unrefined fuel as it flows past.

 

[Supplement Four]

The mysterious, green-glowing object in the suitcase from "Pulp Fiction", right?

No, the gold glowing suitcase from Repo Man!

 

[JimMarn]

No, the gold glowing suitcase from Repo Man!

Yeah, that one can disintegrate things.

 

[Keklas Rekobah]

Ancient Device - Monadium Tiara

Roll D6

1) A tiara-like object. When worn like a tiara, the wearer will experience nothing except slight vertigo that lasts only a few seconds. No other effects will be experienced until the person goes to sleep. During the REM state, the person will have the perception that he or she is wide awake, although he or she will be dreaming. The dream will consist of a chirper-like adult repeating the same phrase over and over. The person will awaken and not remember what was being said, only the expectation that he or she was supposed to say something in return. This will happen only once.

2) As #1, except the person will experience the terror of death by falling from a great height, immediately following the pain of having had both wings deliberately torn off ("Wings? But I'm human!"). This will happen only once.

3) As #1, except that the person will experience the "Last Will and Testament" of a Droyne Sport during the Final War. The message hints at the location of a secret research base somewhere on a nearby world. Of course, all of the landmarks may have changed in 300,000 years, and the world itself may no longer exist, but the message is very strong and persists for D6 days. This will happen only once.

4) The tiara is nothing more than an Ancient psi-shield helmet with a perpetual power supply. It conforms in every other way with a standard Imperial-issue psi-shield helmet (a slight vibration will be felt if the wearer is the target of a psionic attack or contact). Attempting to remove the power supply will ruin it and the tiara.

5) The tiara is a meditative device that induces well-being and serenity in Droyne and chirpers. However, in humans, it induces laughter. The longer it is worn, the more intense the laughter, until the human wearer passes out from lack of oxygen. Chemical sedation will reverse the effects on a roll of 10+ on 2D. The tiara is equipped with a perpetual power supply. Attempting to remove the power supply will ruin it and the tiara.The effects are repeatable. The psionic skill "Shield" will prevent the wearer from experiencing any effects at all.

6) The tiara is a mundane "Badge of Office" once worn by a Droyne Noble, some 300,000 years ago. As an Ancient antique, it could fetch Cr100,000 from a collector or a museum. as a possible ancient device however, it could land the person in some trouble with Imperial authorities.