Excellent list, at least it will work well for those of lower tech levels for us who have worlds that low. Thanks!!
Techno Mages
- Thread starter Travellerchick
- Start date
Keklas Rekobah
SOC-14 1K
It seems to work effectively at all levels. Note that the word could is italicized in my previous post, so IYTU you might choose to disregard any such conventions above the observer's TL7.
(And, yeah, it's kinda ridiculous to postulate what a TL20+ culture might be like. Most of what I run is around TL8 to TLA for the adventurers, and TL0 to TLF for NPC's.)
At TL7, it's like an airplane mechanic in Roswell, New Mexico finding a TL15 Air/Raft sometime around 1950. He may suspect that the Air/Raft isn't magical, but danged if he can figure out how it works (even with a $50 Pickett slide rule...).
I've used the concept on three seperate worlds:
1) ("Welcome to Salem") The adventurers must make planetfall to effect repairs. The society there is TL3. They also are in the midst of a witch hunt. Witches are identified by stranges voices coming from nowhere (communicators), flying (grav belts), and the ability to recover from apparently mortal wounds and illnesses (panacea). The adventurers must obtain supplies and effect repairs while concealing their technology from the suspicious natives ("Now, just where DO you live, stranger?").
2) ("Viva la Revolucion!"): The adventurers meet with the TL12 technocratic rulers and discover that they keep their subjects at TL3/4 for economic reasons. They also use 'witchcraft' (see above) to intimidate / impress the lower cultures. The adventurers may (a) complete their business and move on; (b) use their knowledge as leverage against the leaders to get a better deal; or (c) start a revolution or join one already in progress.
3) ("Roswell Redux"): The adventurers are a bunch of college grads on a TL7/8 world. Their skill levels include a term or two of planetside service (Army, Navy, Marine, Merchants, or Other). Their world has not yet achieved manned space flight, although a few satellites are in orbit -- none of the PC's have been in space. They happen upon a disabled TL12 Scout vessel in the mountains near Roswell, New Mexico (are there mountains near Roswell?). Only the captain has survived infestation by a local microbial parasite, and he's in bad shape. The adventurers must help the captain recover his health and get his ship flight ready while distracting the local authorities. The grateful captain signs on the PC's as crewmembers, and tutors them in the basics (a la "Don't touch that!").
That last one introduced some local college grads to the Traveller milieu.
(And, yeah, it's kinda ridiculous to postulate what a TL20+ culture might be like. Most of what I run is around TL8 to TLA for the adventurers, and TL0 to TLF for NPC's.)
At TL7, it's like an airplane mechanic in Roswell, New Mexico finding a TL15 Air/Raft sometime around 1950. He may suspect that the Air/Raft isn't magical, but danged if he can figure out how it works (even with a $50 Pickett slide rule...).
I've used the concept on three seperate worlds:
1) ("Welcome to Salem") The adventurers must make planetfall to effect repairs. The society there is TL3. They also are in the midst of a witch hunt. Witches are identified by stranges voices coming from nowhere (communicators), flying (grav belts), and the ability to recover from apparently mortal wounds and illnesses (panacea). The adventurers must obtain supplies and effect repairs while concealing their technology from the suspicious natives ("Now, just where DO you live, stranger?").
2) ("Viva la Revolucion!"): The adventurers meet with the TL12 technocratic rulers and discover that they keep their subjects at TL3/4 for economic reasons. They also use 'witchcraft' (see above) to intimidate / impress the lower cultures. The adventurers may (a) complete their business and move on; (b) use their knowledge as leverage against the leaders to get a better deal; or (c) start a revolution or join one already in progress.
3) ("Roswell Redux"): The adventurers are a bunch of college grads on a TL7/8 world. Their skill levels include a term or two of planetside service (Army, Navy, Marine, Merchants, or Other). Their world has not yet achieved manned space flight, although a few satellites are in orbit -- none of the PC's have been in space. They happen upon a disabled TL12 Scout vessel in the mountains near Roswell, New Mexico (are there mountains near Roswell?). Only the captain has survived infestation by a local microbial parasite, and he's in bad shape. The adventurers must help the captain recover his health and get his ship flight ready while distracting the local authorities. The grateful captain signs on the PC's as crewmembers, and tutors them in the basics (a la "Don't touch that!").
That last one introduced some local college grads to the Traveller milieu.
Keklas Rekobah
SOC-14 1K
It seems to work effectively at all levels. Note that the word could is italicized in my previous post, so IYTU you might choose to disregard any such conventions above the observer's TL7.
(And, yeah, it's kinda ridiculous to postulate what a TL20+ culture might be like. Most of what I run is around TL8 to TLA for the adventurers, and TL0 to TLF for NPC's.)
At TL7, it's like an airplane mechanic in Roswell, New Mexico finding a TL15 Air/Raft sometime around 1950. He may suspect that the Air/Raft isn't magical, but danged if he can figure out how it works (even with a $50 Pickett slide rule...).
I've used the concept on three seperate worlds:
1) ("Welcome to Salem") The adventurers must make planetfall to effect repairs. The society there is TL3. They also are in the midst of a witch hunt. Witches are identified by stranges voices coming from nowhere (communicators), flying (grav belts), and the ability to recover from apparently mortal wounds and illnesses (panacea). The adventurers must obtain supplies and effect repairs while concealing their technology from the suspicious natives ("Now, just where DO you live, stranger?").
2) ("Viva la Revolucion!"): The adventurers meet with the TL12 technocratic rulers and discover that they keep their subjects at TL3/4 for economic reasons. They also use 'witchcraft' (see above) to intimidate / impress the lower cultures. The adventurers may (a) complete their business and move on; (b) use their knowledge as leverage against the leaders to get a better deal; or (c) start a revolution or join one already in progress.
3) ("Roswell Redux"): The adventurers are a bunch of college grads on a TL7/8 world. Their skill levels include a term or two of planetside service (Army, Navy, Marine, Merchants, or Other). Their world has not yet achieved manned space flight, although a few satellites are in orbit -- none of the PC's have been in space. They happen upon a disabled TL12 Scout vessel in the mountains near Roswell, New Mexico (are there mountains near Roswell?). Only the captain has survived infestation by a local microbial parasite, and he's in bad shape. The adventurers must help the captain recover his health and get his ship flight ready while distracting the local authorities. The grateful captain signs on the PC's as crewmembers, and tutors them in the basics (a la "Don't touch that!").
That last one introduced some local college grads to the Traveller milieu.
(And, yeah, it's kinda ridiculous to postulate what a TL20+ culture might be like. Most of what I run is around TL8 to TLA for the adventurers, and TL0 to TLF for NPC's.)
At TL7, it's like an airplane mechanic in Roswell, New Mexico finding a TL15 Air/Raft sometime around 1950. He may suspect that the Air/Raft isn't magical, but danged if he can figure out how it works (even with a $50 Pickett slide rule...).
I've used the concept on three seperate worlds:
1) ("Welcome to Salem") The adventurers must make planetfall to effect repairs. The society there is TL3. They also are in the midst of a witch hunt. Witches are identified by stranges voices coming from nowhere (communicators), flying (grav belts), and the ability to recover from apparently mortal wounds and illnesses (panacea). The adventurers must obtain supplies and effect repairs while concealing their technology from the suspicious natives ("Now, just where DO you live, stranger?").
2) ("Viva la Revolucion!"): The adventurers meet with the TL12 technocratic rulers and discover that they keep their subjects at TL3/4 for economic reasons. They also use 'witchcraft' (see above) to intimidate / impress the lower cultures. The adventurers may (a) complete their business and move on; (b) use their knowledge as leverage against the leaders to get a better deal; or (c) start a revolution or join one already in progress.
3) ("Roswell Redux"): The adventurers are a bunch of college grads on a TL7/8 world. Their skill levels include a term or two of planetside service (Army, Navy, Marine, Merchants, or Other). Their world has not yet achieved manned space flight, although a few satellites are in orbit -- none of the PC's have been in space. They happen upon a disabled TL12 Scout vessel in the mountains near Roswell, New Mexico (are there mountains near Roswell?). Only the captain has survived infestation by a local microbial parasite, and he's in bad shape. The adventurers must help the captain recover his health and get his ship flight ready while distracting the local authorities. The grateful captain signs on the PC's as crewmembers, and tutors them in the basics (a la "Don't touch that!").
That last one introduced some local college grads to the Traveller milieu.
Travellerchick
SOC-2
Sorry, you see the referee uses the basic game of Traveller...rules, characters, and such, but he also uses other sources...so I guess I'm in quite the pinch. And a techno mage is a type of mage that uses both technology and magic any way that he choses. And I fought one before, but the only difference is that the one I fought and killed before had a major weakness to PSY. (powers of the mind) and this one doesn't. I'm in a very tight spot and anything anyone can think of would be great. Thanks for answering and I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear, and if anyone has anymore questions about it, I'll be more then happy to answer. Thanks again for everything.
Travellerchick
SOC-2
Sorry, you see the referee uses the basic game of Traveller...rules, characters, and such, but he also uses other sources...so I guess I'm in quite the pinch. And a techno mage is a type of mage that uses both technology and magic any way that he choses. And I fought one before, but the only difference is that the one I fought and killed before had a major weakness to PSY. (powers of the mind) and this one doesn't. I'm in a very tight spot and anything anyone can think of would be great. Thanks for answering and I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear, and if anyone has anymore questions about it, I'll be more then happy to answer. Thanks again for everything.
ChaserCaffey
SOC-12
Hmmmmmm. Well, there are two possibilities as I see it.
1) The techno-mage you're fighting can indeed mix technology and magic. In that case, there's not much to say, because magic isn't really part of the OTU. (Original Traveller Universe, the setting of the Third Imperium that GDW put out and associated technology) It's definately possible that your Ref has just imported some rules of his own- that's part of Traveller.
2) As some people on the thread have already pointed out, it's possible that the "techno-mages" you encounter in fact have two different levels of technology- one that your character can understand, and one that looks like magic to him or her and is described by the ref as such. I remember a planet I saw detailed in a sourcebook that was mostly TL-3 (Middle Ages), but was dominated by struggles between schools of wizards that either has psi powers or TL-15 (High stellar, grav control and such) technology. It's possible you've run into a situation like that.
Either way, it sounds like you're playing a psion, which could give you some advantages. Some general suggestions:
1) Where does this guy live? What's his base of operations like? Are there any back doors in? Regardless of where his power comes from, it's possible that you could get at it- destroy his spellbooks, or the power packs for his technology, or whatever he's using.
2) Does he have people around him? Are they of enough power to help you against him? Can you stir up the local populace against him? Psi powers can be great for that, and magic can run out against an Angry Mob (TM).
3) Can you ambush him? Lay a trap, or otherwise load the combat to your advantage?
4) Is there a possibility that your character can contact enemies of his and get their help? If you're not good enough on your own, there's always calling big brother...
5) Last and certainly least, is there some MacGuffin (i.e. the Ring of Awesome Powerzzz) that will enable you to take this guy down?
Just some general hints for less-direct approaches against this guy, that should apply regardless of what you're dealing with. Apologies if you've tried some of them already. If you want to post more details, some of us might be able to offer some more suggestions.
Welcome to the board, by the way.
ChaserCaffey
SOC-12
Hmmmmmm. Well, there are two possibilities as I see it.
1) The techno-mage you're fighting can indeed mix technology and magic. In that case, there's not much to say, because magic isn't really part of the OTU. (Original Traveller Universe, the setting of the Third Imperium that GDW put out and associated technology) It's definately possible that your Ref has just imported some rules of his own- that's part of Traveller.
2) As some people on the thread have already pointed out, it's possible that the "techno-mages" you encounter in fact have two different levels of technology- one that your character can understand, and one that looks like magic to him or her and is described by the ref as such. I remember a planet I saw detailed in a sourcebook that was mostly TL-3 (Middle Ages), but was dominated by struggles between schools of wizards that either has psi powers or TL-15 (High stellar, grav control and such) technology. It's possible you've run into a situation like that.
Either way, it sounds like you're playing a psion, which could give you some advantages. Some general suggestions:
1) Where does this guy live? What's his base of operations like? Are there any back doors in? Regardless of where his power comes from, it's possible that you could get at it- destroy his spellbooks, or the power packs for his technology, or whatever he's using.
2) Does he have people around him? Are they of enough power to help you against him? Can you stir up the local populace against him? Psi powers can be great for that, and magic can run out against an Angry Mob (TM).
3) Can you ambush him? Lay a trap, or otherwise load the combat to your advantage?
4) Is there a possibility that your character can contact enemies of his and get their help? If you're not good enough on your own, there's always calling big brother...
5) Last and certainly least, is there some MacGuffin (i.e. the Ring of Awesome Powerzzz) that will enable you to take this guy down?
Just some general hints for less-direct approaches against this guy, that should apply regardless of what you're dealing with. Apologies if you've tried some of them already. If you want to post more details, some of us might be able to offer some more suggestions.
Welcome to the board, by the way.
Consider that idea stolen
And about rosewell, I don't think that the 1950's western outlook would leave much place for magic; TL6 recognizes technologyas such, though they might think of the TL15 air-raft as using either an ultratech jet engine (false), magneto-gravitic effects (close to the truth), mass-less materials (false), or trans-planar physics (false). Ofcourse, they won't be able to reverse-engineer it right away, but continued research might yeild some results (or, atleast, be hoped to yeild useful results and thus kept in secret from the competing superpower(s)).
Consider that idea stolen
And about rosewell, I don't think that the 1950's western outlook would leave much place for magic; TL6 recognizes technologyas such, though they might think of the TL15 air-raft as using either an ultratech jet engine (false), magneto-gravitic effects (close to the truth), mass-less materials (false), or trans-planar physics (false). Ofcourse, they won't be able to reverse-engineer it right away, but continued research might yeild some results (or, atleast, be hoped to yeild useful results and thus kept in secret from the competing superpower(s)).
Keklas Rekobah
SOC-14 1K
Using my original formula, it would take a piece of TL13+ technology to even be considered magic by a person from a TL6 culture.
A person with a background in physics, electronics, or the military would dismiss the idea of the item being magical. A person with little or no formal education, and from an Appalachian or Ukrainian backwater town of that era might believe that magic has something to do with it.
Keep in mind that even today, people use coloured lights, audio oscillators, Tesla coils, and lambda diodes for their alleged magical properties, rather than their technological applications. Some of those people have university degrees and are supposedly intelligent.
A person with a background in physics, electronics, or the military would dismiss the idea of the item being magical. A person with little or no formal education, and from an Appalachian or Ukrainian backwater town of that era might believe that magic has something to do with it.
Keep in mind that even today, people use coloured lights, audio oscillators, Tesla coils, and lambda diodes for their alleged magical properties, rather than their technological applications. Some of those people have university degrees and are supposedly intelligent.
Keklas Rekobah
SOC-14 1K
Using my original formula, it would take a piece of TL13+ technology to even be considered magic by a person from a TL6 culture.
A person with a background in physics, electronics, or the military would dismiss the idea of the item being magical. A person with little or no formal education, and from an Appalachian or Ukrainian backwater town of that era might believe that magic has something to do with it.
Keep in mind that even today, people use coloured lights, audio oscillators, Tesla coils, and lambda diodes for their alleged magical properties, rather than their technological applications. Some of those people have university degrees and are supposedly intelligent.
A person with a background in physics, electronics, or the military would dismiss the idea of the item being magical. A person with little or no formal education, and from an Appalachian or Ukrainian backwater town of that era might believe that magic has something to do with it.
Keep in mind that even today, people use coloured lights, audio oscillators, Tesla coils, and lambda diodes for their alleged magical properties, rather than their technological applications. Some of those people have university degrees and are supposedly intelligent.
Travellerchick
SOC-2
Okay, I'll tell you the whole thing, which is what I should have done in the first place, because I'm afraid I might have waited to long, but here it is anyways. As some of you wrote earlier, the ref I'm dealing with does use other sources, but like I said, he does stick to most of the original rules. But here's what happening: This techno mage that I'm fighting is called Rodnim. He is Strephon's adviser...that's right, he's with the emperor. (Well in this game anyways) Now what I'm about to tell you might seem a little hard to believe, but please just keep an open mind about it. You see I'm traveling on a ship that can do inter-dimensional jumps. Meaning it can do jumps clear across the galaxy and be there in a blink of an eye. (Hard to believe, I know.) Anyways, we were doing a dimensional jump and all of the sudden the alarms start to go off and we soon find out that it's a S.O.S. and it didn't even dawn on me that you can't receive any kind of communication out there, let alone a S.O.S. because the transition is too fast, but I wasn't thinking, and we stopped the ship. What we saw was incredible...it was a ship, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. So of course, we got together a "landing party" and went out to explore it. Now this part isn't that important, so I'll skip most of it and just tell you the main thing that happened. We explored it for about 2 hours and started getting the ship running again, we found no survivors, and was just about to return to our ship when all of the sudden, the ship we're on, makes a jump. We have no idea where we were going and once we reached our new destination, the only thing we see is a large planet. We tried to do sensor ops. the best we could and the only thing we found was 3 structures that looked like pyramids, and since we had no idea where we were and no way to communicate with our ship, we decided to go down to the planet. And I forgot to mention, this place has corrosive atmosphere and we only have 8 hours of oxygen left. So we had no choice. We took the ships-boat and went down there. No sooner did we enter the atmosphere, a huge laser beam comes shooting from one of the structures and almost takes us down. We managed to escape the beam and land safely. Once we were down, we got out and started exploring, and once again I'll only tell you the up most important details. Since there was 6 of us, we split up into 3 different teams of 2. Well, as we look around, we start seeing piles and piles of bodies, and we realize that they were all killed in awful and painful ways. And then we finally came to the conclusion that they were all just sacrifices. And then to make matters worse, one of the team's members screams. And it turns out that the reason why she's screaming is because right in front of her sits the techno mage, Rodnim. And that's where we quit. There's what's happening. So to sum it up: we have less then 8 hours of oxygen, we're separated, we could possibly be out of time, our ship has no clue where we are, (and neither do we) there is no one around who can help us, and there is an evil, powerful, techno mage that we have no idea how to fight....so anything anyone can come up with...I'm open to suggestions. And thanks for replying so far, I just hope someone can help me, thanks again...
Travellerchick
SOC-2
Okay, I'll tell you the whole thing, which is what I should have done in the first place, because I'm afraid I might have waited to long, but here it is anyways. As some of you wrote earlier, the ref I'm dealing with does use other sources, but like I said, he does stick to most of the original rules. But here's what happening: This techno mage that I'm fighting is called Rodnim. He is Strephon's adviser...that's right, he's with the emperor. (Well in this game anyways) Now what I'm about to tell you might seem a little hard to believe, but please just keep an open mind about it. You see I'm traveling on a ship that can do inter-dimensional jumps. Meaning it can do jumps clear across the galaxy and be there in a blink of an eye. (Hard to believe, I know.) Anyways, we were doing a dimensional jump and all of the sudden the alarms start to go off and we soon find out that it's a S.O.S. and it didn't even dawn on me that you can't receive any kind of communication out there, let alone a S.O.S. because the transition is too fast, but I wasn't thinking, and we stopped the ship. What we saw was incredible...it was a ship, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. So of course, we got together a "landing party" and went out to explore it. Now this part isn't that important, so I'll skip most of it and just tell you the main thing that happened. We explored it for about 2 hours and started getting the ship running again, we found no survivors, and was just about to return to our ship when all of the sudden, the ship we're on, makes a jump. We have no idea where we were going and once we reached our new destination, the only thing we see is a large planet. We tried to do sensor ops. the best we could and the only thing we found was 3 structures that looked like pyramids, and since we had no idea where we were and no way to communicate with our ship, we decided to go down to the planet. And I forgot to mention, this place has corrosive atmosphere and we only have 8 hours of oxygen left. So we had no choice. We took the ships-boat and went down there. No sooner did we enter the atmosphere, a huge laser beam comes shooting from one of the structures and almost takes us down. We managed to escape the beam and land safely. Once we were down, we got out and started exploring, and once again I'll only tell you the up most important details. Since there was 6 of us, we split up into 3 different teams of 2. Well, as we look around, we start seeing piles and piles of bodies, and we realize that they were all killed in awful and painful ways. And then we finally came to the conclusion that they were all just sacrifices. And then to make matters worse, one of the team's members screams. And it turns out that the reason why she's screaming is because right in front of her sits the techno mage, Rodnim. And that's where we quit. There's what's happening. So to sum it up: we have less then 8 hours of oxygen, we're separated, we could possibly be out of time, our ship has no clue where we are, (and neither do we) there is no one around who can help us, and there is an evil, powerful, techno mage that we have no idea how to fight....so anything anyone can come up with...I'm open to suggestions. And thanks for replying so far, I just hope someone can help me, thanks again...
Hack his system with a creatively inserted "Go-to" command in BASIC, HA . . . who would ever suspect BASIC!
The way I understand it you are out of communication with your super-ship but you have a ship's boat. Too bad you can't get your hands on a good ole fashioned jump drive. You could make an electromagnetic pulse weapon made out of the jump grid! A powerful burst of energy from a device designed to rip a hole in space-time should give him a really bad headache. In your case how about the same thing rigged out of a gauss weapon if you can buy some time. Otherwise I would offer to join his team and just kill him later on, once he trusts you.
The way I understand it you are out of communication with your super-ship but you have a ship's boat. Too bad you can't get your hands on a good ole fashioned jump drive. You could make an electromagnetic pulse weapon made out of the jump grid! A powerful burst of energy from a device designed to rip a hole in space-time should give him a really bad headache. In your case how about the same thing rigged out of a gauss weapon if you can buy some time. Otherwise I would offer to join his team and just kill him later on, once he trusts you.
Hack his system with a creatively inserted "Go-to" command in BASIC, HA . . . who would ever suspect BASIC!
The way I understand it you are out of communication with your super-ship but you have a ship's boat. Too bad you can't get your hands on a good ole fashioned jump drive. You could make an electromagnetic pulse weapon made out of the jump grid! A powerful burst of energy from a device designed to rip a hole in space-time should give him a really bad headache. In your case how about the same thing rigged out of a gauss weapon if you can buy some time. Otherwise I would offer to join his team and just kill him later on, once he trusts you.
The way I understand it you are out of communication with your super-ship but you have a ship's boat. Too bad you can't get your hands on a good ole fashioned jump drive. You could make an electromagnetic pulse weapon made out of the jump grid! A powerful burst of energy from a device designed to rip a hole in space-time should give him a really bad headache. In your case how about the same thing rigged out of a gauss weapon if you can buy some time. Otherwise I would offer to join his team and just kill him later on, once he trusts you.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Parley? Really no other option that I can see based on what you describe. Maybe he needs you and/or your ship and you can leverage that for bargaining till you can find a weakness. There was that distress call after all, from a ship that took you right to this Rodim. Or maybe it was all an elaborate (I'd say overly so) trap and you are toast.
Of course I feel like I'm kinda cheating here, meddling in a game not mine, or I would if I thought my advice was any help
Of course I feel like I'm kinda cheating here, meddling in a game not mine, or I would if I thought my advice was any help
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Parley? Really no other option that I can see based on what you describe. Maybe he needs you and/or your ship and you can leverage that for bargaining till you can find a weakness. There was that distress call after all, from a ship that took you right to this Rodim. Or maybe it was all an elaborate (I'd say overly so) trap and you are toast.
Of course I feel like I'm kinda cheating here, meddling in a game not mine, or I would if I thought my advice was any help
Of course I feel like I'm kinda cheating here, meddling in a game not mine, or I would if I thought my advice was any help
Travellerchick
SOC-2
Thank you both. I guess, I'm just afraid to lose my character...it's the best one I've ever had...chief engineer, Traplaz (I made up my own race)and if I don't do something about it, she's gone and I can't let that happen.
Travellerchick
SOC-2
Thank you both. I guess, I'm just afraid to lose my character...it's the best one I've ever had...chief engineer, Traplaz (I made up my own race)and if I don't do something about it, she's gone and I can't let that happen.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
This sounds like the next game will begin with Rodnim saying "I want you to do something for me..."
