non lore-Sci-fi, gamma world, fantasy-ish mashup

[greenknightfury]

As to the various tech level groups not just wiping themselves out, mostly the same kind of rational could be used for why the groups like the Brotherhood and Enclave don't wipe out the low tech groups, for the most part they are interested in more tech or not willing to face low tech fighters in far superior numbers. Think what would happen if the Brotherhood took on the legion head on.

[devinpatterson]

Think what would happen if the Brotherhood took on the legion head on.

 

If I remember right they took on the NCR and both sides lost s-load of men. I think I might have heard this near helios, but it might have been something veronica or another BOS said (can't remember). But basically it a quip re: the war, and even though the BOS only loosing 1 paladin for 20 NCR, they both suffered heavily.

 

So what I'm thinking is mix of barriers.

 

Natural barriers could include deathlands/deadzones of high radiation, that even the mutants don't want to cross. Others areas infested by dangerous mutant creatures. Really there could be a lot of "natural" barriers created by the war. Like great chasm's, or the former location of a great particle collider that has seriously damaged the space time fabric and as a result tiny singularities are constantly popping in and out of existence all over the place. That'd be disastrous for an army, but not necessarily impassible for a lone adventurer.

 

Cultural barriers could include fear of the ancients by the primitives and a taboo. Another can be decadence by the elite technological societies (they just don't give a F, as long as the grubby savages don't actually attack them or they have to smell them, they'r too busy in their beautiful VR worlds to deal with the unsanitary real world).

 

Race specific barriers. This could relate to a few things I was reading regarding bots and weapons in gamma world. If your a human (or android, to a lesser degree) you can use all weapons and are not immediately marked as a enemy by bots. Mutants (humanoid or otherwise) don't receive that courtesy, they are apparently mistaken for animals, and advanced weapons (anything with a chip in it) won't work for them. For the decadent societies that hardly ever venture out (and even then in protective envio suits), viruses and bacteria galore are waiting to attack their undeveloped immune system.

 

Story specific barriers. Some areas are still marked as military hotpoints by century old AI's (how old, I'm not sure of the time line, they could be 1 century or 10). So when a group of any size enters these areas anything from automated AMR turrets to satellite ground strikes will F your day up. Sometimes though a lone adventurer can sneak through, but not any sizable amount of troops.....even a small fire team will usually get snuffed. Another could be small principalities up to large kingdoms that jealously guard their boarders, preventing large troop movements through their lands. This could lead to a feudal patchwork of smaller powers and that could give us a lot of potential variety....which is what I'm shooting for.

 

At first I was thinking it would be nice to have a over arching reason, like a overlord/overmind to all the locals, but this gives us more flexibility. Plus it allows a fair amount of "bleed through" because the barriers are softer to a lone adventurer or small party.

 

BTW do we want retro weapons as the style of the ancients (sticking more to a fallout/gamma world theme) or more advanced firearm/equipement designs?

 

EDIT: For a practical example will we go retro gamma and use models like this as the base for our theoretical pistol

 

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u404/devinlpatterson/RechargePistol_zpsf6ab174f.jpg

 

Or make it look more modern (whether energy or projectile) and go off a model with more of this look

 

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u404/devinlpatterson/HH_Tools_nail_gun_zps0ef83d9d.jpg

Edited September 29, 2012 by devinpatterson

[devinpatterson]

Also I was thinking for the sci-fi/fantasy mashup, we can use some ideas from warhammer 40,000. I played the vid games based of it, and I checked out the lore, some good ideas on the races in an advanced sci-fi universe. So maybe use some of those ideas as a reason for the races divergence, before the apocalypse.

 

On a related topic for dwarves (squats, shorties etc) we have a good explanation for their size, strength, stamina, long life and attitude. They would be descendants of workers (mostly focused on mining....everything from lithium to heavy water) from a high G planet. Say something closer to 1.6+, or whatever is pretty close to the limits of human endurance. They are also naturally mechanically inclined (partly gene enhancements, partly unnatural selection via job aptitude) and very good at working on the physical aspect of pre-war tech (ie not the programming for example, but great on the mechanics). They have a reputation for "magic" (pre-war tech) as well, but not as strong as the elves. Due to their enhancements being suited for a much harsher gravity well, they live very long on earth, and are on average stronger than humans.

 

While they were a tiny minority of the population when the cataclysm hit (mostly travelers/tourists, foreign relations contacts, retirees, medically compromised individuals etc), their unique physical and mental skills eventually allowed them to survive and flourish. But due to their incredibly tiny numbers (compared to humans) to start with, flourish in this case still means their race is still a very small minority. They also have very repressive attitudes in regard to sex (a cultural carry over from their very conservative mining roots) so they don't exactly breed like rabbits.

 

This would imply space faring capability beyond the solar system (I can't think of any high G's locations here that have a solid surface). This could imply as well that the dwarves have a legend of their homeworld, that implies a land of bountiful riches (resources).

 

Elves (Eldar, Elders, Ancients etc) like the dwarves above, are humans with extensive gene enhancements, that bred true. They are/were the rich elite. There gene enhancements were focused toward tall, physically attractive, charismatic, highly intelligent, and life extension enhancements.

 

All things that would help them in the coroporate/political/business world. It also explains their inheritance of disdain from other "less worthy" races, isolationism even xenophobia in some cases. They also have one of the largest stores/knowledge of pre-war tech, thus their reputation for great "magic".

 

Hobbits/gnomes are probably just people which have a dominant midget/dwaf/little person gene (don't recall the politically correct term). I'm not sure what benefits their race could offer. Maybe skill based stuff, or ???

 

I touched on some others like the succubai, but it'd be cool to have giants. Giganthropithicus have been found around 10' tall, so giants of that size and maybe a little bigger should be physically possible. Say maybe stretch it to 12' or 15'. These would more resemble the skyrim giants, being even more primitive (very neanderthal apelike features), but smaller.

 

And a second type of giants, maybe mutants that have a dominant giantism gene (growth hormone imbalance-pituitary gland?) as well as the option to gain the mutation. Because I think if we limit it to 9' for the player mutation it'd still be workable in the game world. Start going much higher than that and I think interior spaces, doors etc will be a problem.

[devinpatterson]

Oh and I'd love more out of the box thinking on how other "fantasy" races could have come into being. Say "Cat people" from those who indulged in decadent genetic body modification that was taken to the extreme. Giving them feline like attributes.

 

The same type of people now days that have horn implants in their skull, sharpened teeth etc like these;

 

http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles2/a97551_g220_7-horns.jpg

 

http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles2/a97551_g220_9-horns-woman2.jpg

 

http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles2/a97551_g220_12-stars2.jpg

 

and to a lesser degree extreme piercings/tatoo.

[devinpatterson]

well from my fallout texas fanfic, "Murder Birds",

 

I would love something based on the Terror birds/Phorusrhacidae

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/naturelibrary/images/ic/credit/640x395/p/ph/phorusrhacidae/phorusrhacidae_1.jpg

 

But until I learn animation in blender with the skeleton, it's just not an option. And right now I'm just experimenting with very simple animated nifs. Meshes are a seondary problem, but google 3d warehouse has a ton of models like dino's so they may have some terror birds. This also applies to the Armidillo.

 

Texas Brahmin: long horned variety of two headed cattle.

 

Yep, no problem there, easy.

 

Also I think since this world's technology level was even higher than fallouts, a jurassic park scenario (where they escaped during the cataclysm, anf flourished) is a believable angle. Allowing us to use many prehistoric critters once we can model them.

[greenknightfury]

I think the Hobbits/Halflings/Gnomes thing could work well with a backstory I came up with: One of the many factions (some of which were almost cults) that arose just before the war was one dedicated to solving the "urban sprawl" problem. They decided to engineer hive/warren like single structure cities and for even more space efficiency, the inhabitants themselves. The result was a smaller more dexterous version of humanity with an affinity for working with technology and other tasks that require fine dexterity or moving through/in tight spaces.

 

 

Also with the "magic" angle psionics and nanotech can easily be used to explain it and a lot of the magic effects of the Elder Scroll series exist in the FO programming if we can find it.

[greenknightfury]

Also with the tech style idea, I could go either way, though going with a more modern look with the occasional retro looking items would be interesting *laughs* say some certain company deciding to style their stuff that way to stand out.

[devinpatterson]

and for even more space efficiency, the inhabitants themselves.

 

That's an interesting angle, fits well with a lot of sci fi that has the Arcology theme. Can we add something to it to, a backstory that sort of either justifies the change (deadly air pollution, ozone layer gone etc) that would drive them into the Arcologies or a great injustice (used in a colony as workers, where space, food etc are at a premium). If not it's still fine, we go with the cult equivilant of a mad scientist. The ultimate eco terrorism hippies. Also would help to explain their peaceable, get along to get along hobbit nature. Need everyone to get along when your in a confined society.

 

Also with the "magic" angle psionics and nanotech can easily be used to explain it and a lot of the magic effects of the Elder Scroll series exist in the FO programming if we can find it.

 

Yeah definitely. What's your opinion on psionics? I love the idea of them, but I also like the idea of everything (psi & magic) having an actual basis in science. Which would be easy to do IMHO for the tech due to psionics, but harder to do for the mutations for psionics. But I feel it could work for some mutations. I could see a electromagnetic organ that evolved/mutated that could alter brainwave activity = the domination mutation. Even say something like precognition if you had a massively cerebrally gifted mutant that could calculate the odds of all known variables. I think we could spin it the same as the magic.....what say you?

 

EDIT: oops just realized that may not be very clear. I mean we spin the psionics as we do magic. ie really tech, but we allow a small get out of jail card for plausible psionic mutations.

Edited September 29, 2012 by devinpatterson

[devinpatterson]

Also with the tech style idea, I could go either way, though going with a more modern look with the occasional retro looking items would be interesting *laughs* say some certain company deciding to style their stuff that way to stand out.

 

Cool, because I'd like to go more modern. Less fallout's alien technology inspired, 50's look, more sleek/modern edging toward cyberpunk. But like you said we'll keep some retro items in there too, a small minority (or more if we want).

 

I didn't really get around to the cyberpunk description, but basically I wanted to use them for a couple of things. One is for style/looks. If we can capture other parts like the body modifications in Gibsons books all the better (starting to sound a little like post apocalyptic shadowrun when you take into account the quasi fantasy races. But tatoos, katanas, wardrobes that would do the matrix proud etc.

 

And since I'm on the cyberpunk mashup, one of the other things I think would be cool is if there is still a functioning net (of sorts), allowing a VR world. Probably a lot to bite off initially, so maybe just references to hit here and there until we have time to put it together down the line. But the idea that the net is still limping around, routing through ancient fiber optic lines undersea, staggering across satellite links etc seems sort of appealing to me. But of course very few could tap into it, tech is scarce and the knowledge to use it, even more so.

 

Let me know what you think.

Edited September 30, 2012 by devinpatterson

[VaultPi]

actually the terror birds are where I got the idea from now just imagine raiders with ak's and hunting rifles riding them.