Loady
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Post by Loady on Nov 15, 2014 14:43:34 GMT -8
In my reading of the rules Bioreplicas seem better the transhumans in every category. The might not have emotions and might not live as long but that isn't a bad thing. In my game players can choose their type. Why would someone want a pure human or transhuman rather then bioreplica?
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Post by rexbannon on Nov 15, 2014 14:55:48 GMT -8
Bioreplicas are limited in the sense that they are created in tanks and most of the facilities that created them are long gone. PSH and Transhumans both have their upsides and downsides. Transhumans can have extremely high Intelligence trait values. But lack the emotions to fully use it to its potential. Humans are good because they can use all pre-war devices, medicine, shell armor, etc. there downsides I don't thin I need to say because they are obvious.
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Loady
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Posts: 62
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Post by Loady on Nov 15, 2014 15:47:05 GMT -8
I forgot about clones. They seem identical in gameplay to humans. Whats the point?
I don't understand your statement. If the tanks to grow bioreplicas and the tech to create clones and transhumans are long gone the only ones left would be extremely old. Clones and Transhumans are artificially created too, not born the old fashioned way. In the hub rules the pictures are of young ones. Does McAusland want all those to be very rare? Plus replicants die young, I'm assuming that bioreplicas do too.
Does it say in the rules that only humans can use pre war devices? That doesnt make sense. If transhumans have higher intelligence it would be easier for them to learn math and reading and then to use tech. Any humunoid variant would need to learn and be taught how to use medicine, shell armor and other tech.
I see all downsides to humans and clones-low stats, easier killed harder to kill enemies!
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Post by bloodaxe on Nov 15, 2014 17:09:13 GMT -8
This is the way I see it, by no way the 100% correct way- just my view. Your game, play however is fun for you.
Clones are exact duplicates- possibly some one famous. Exact copies of people long dead. A clone of Clint Eastwood or Arnold !! If you are playing with multiple characters per player- you could have several clones. Like the game Paranoia. Maybe use them at once, or possibly a new clone is activated when the "original" dies.
Bioreplicas, Clones, etc. could be suddenly released from an ancient lab or cryo center. A malfunction, damage, a timer, etc - that could explain the "young" age. I would still say Clones, Bioreplicas, & Transhumans are rare.
How can you tell them apart from regular Pure Humans? That's up to you. There are some movie tropes out there. Milky, white blood, different colored eyes, lack of emotions, serial numbers or identifying tattoos, strange body part- like lack of finger prints, et, etc.
Pure Humans would be the most common, weakest in game terms, but adaptable. You get 10 points to put wherever you want along with 2 rolls on that table.
Power? Yeah, others are more powerful than Pure Humans- but its not all about power -gaming and picking what you think is the most powerful. Otherwise, why not just pick a Ghost mutant for those powerful mutations? |
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Post by providence13 on Nov 16, 2014 8:12:11 GMT -8
A lot of good points by everyone here.
For my game, most of these points aren't as important stat-wise but pertain more to the story and feel for the campaign.
My simple explanation to the players:
"You live in a world that developed factions of Khan Noonien Singh (from Star Trek), Replicants (from Blade Runner) and tailor engineered viruses that infect people with their own base-line DNA (Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars book trilogy), protecting them from the common cold and a host of other maladies ( aka Pure Strain Humans) not likely to be affected by the enemies bioware gene-mod virus strains.
Robots vs biotech development and escalating war ran rampant; unchecked for years.
AI's started as simple "fuzzy logic" devices, anticipating people's needs to better serve humanity. Asimov compliant, most were beneficial, others just for the military complex and had no safeguards.
There are specific reasons each faction developed their individual tech-tree. Some were the results of an arms race. Others were beneficial to tera-forming off world colonies and are now trapped on Earth.
The real conundrum is how all these different factions are together on one planet and deal with each other.
Having clone PC's can be a great way to introduce adventures in the campaign. The players might be heroes in one town and wanted fugitives in another. Arrested as soon as they enter the gates for "what you did last time", when they never visited before. They are always blamed or blessed by the actions of their clone-vat brothers/sisters.
Maybe replicants are never trusted; declared illegal on Earth and still bear the stigma.
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Loady
Junior Member
Posts: 62
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Post by Loady on Nov 16, 2014 9:35:25 GMT -8
Which mutations do ghost mutants have that other mutants don't have? I know they look like regular people.
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Post by providence13 on Nov 16, 2014 9:37:11 GMT -8
If we look to other RPG's, say fantasy, there are correlations.
Transhumans could be elves, for instance.
'Superior' to humans, at least in their view and more bonuses to stats.
Clones are similar to magical versions of the same; exact copies. There are specific reasons you'd cast a 9th level spell to clone someone in D&D!
Replicants aren't far removed from a Frankenstein monster (or Simulacra, depending on your system). First is a prototype, then came the Bride, made for a specific purpose. If the Mad Doctor was accepted by society and better funded.. who knows what would happen. "Buy War Bonds! Donate your recently deceased loved one to the cause!"
Mutants could easily be Dwarves, Orcs, Minotaurs, Drow.. you get the idea.
Ghost Mutants are Mages/Wizards/Witches..
Pure Humans don't want their magic tech falling into the wrong hands and used against them, so they "key" their magic to only work for humans.
Why play any of these character types?
'Cause they're cool!
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Post by providence13 on Nov 16, 2014 9:41:03 GMT -8
Check out the middle of pg 59 TME.
I feel that a few more should make the list. Anything that shows no outward sign of mutation. Beam Eyes, Electrical Charge..
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Post by providence13 on Nov 17, 2014 7:41:15 GMT -8
Does it say in the rules that only humans can use pre war devices? That doesn't make sense. If transhumans have higher intelligence it would be easier for them to learn math and reading and then to use tech. Any humunoid variant would need to learn and be taught how to use medicine, shell armor and other tech. I see all downsides to humans and clones-low stats, easier killed harder to kill enemies! It is implied and sometimes expressly stated that much of the old tech can scan gene patterns of the user. If the expected pattern is too much off the base line, the device refuses to function. You can bypass this safety, but it ain't easy. Loady, I'll bet the modules/adventures translate to GW well, but the core rules are pretty solid, in my humble opinion. I usually change some history and story lines, but the mechanics are a much needed break (for me) from more complicated RPG systems  |
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Post by rexbannon on Nov 17, 2014 8:21:33 GMT -8
Bio replica's are a little to strong IMHO, as starting characters. They are cool as hell though btw. Transhumans are great on paper but in there description it doesn't paint a very enjoyable picture of them as party members. Clones can be really cool too like Prov13 said, there are so many adventure hooks that can be linked to clones. Besides you can be a clone of pretty much anyone. I created a character for the Defenders guild that is a clone of brad pitt. All of the generic human types in my campaigns either come from the great ruins or some other hidden lab. I figure that most of them have horrible beginnings, having had to survive the epoch an escape the ancient damaged facility that birthed them and somehow make it to civilization. This increases how rare they are ten fold. If you read the city descriptions in the crossroads region book it will show you just how rare they are when it breaks down how many of each type of character class's are in each city. the generic human types is almost always low. One thing that could be used to justify a large number of them in your campaign could be the shattered region. WM has yet to publish this regional book yet but has hinted that there is a holdout enclave there that has some tech capabilities. They could be making clones, Bio replicants, transhumans etc. still.
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Post by meerling on Feb 28, 2015 16:25:08 GMT -8
Mind if I jump in here with a few ideas and thoughts?
Pure Strain Humans: Standard result of natural evolution and not a bad choice. Seems to have been virtually the entire franchised population of ancients. (The others were disenfranchised to one extent or another.) Other than being accept in most communities if they aren't attacking, they can use the old medical stuff without problem. (Maybe a some other stuff too, but I doubt any cars/guns/etc check species before working.)
Secondary advantage, it seems that the majority of non-mecha communities that still have pre-crash tech are PSH.
Transhumans: PSH that were genetically modified to not only be lacking various negative inherited characteristics, but also enhanced to be way above average in several other ways. Although it's easy to think of them being pumped out in clone factories like clones, I'm betting they are more likely each a unique creation of a fertility clinic, unless their parents are Transhuman. With the tech those guys had, even a moderately equipped doctor of the current age should be able to make one, and despite the possible issues with them, lots of parents would jump at the chance to ensure that jr doesn't have tentacles, if they can afford to, though they'd probably keep it secret.
Without a Genetics scanner, it's unlikely that anyone other than the doctor will ever know.
Problem with them seems to be they don't get along well with others. I'm guessing that the upgrading to mental capabilities had to steal some wetware from another part of the brain. Probably some of those 'useless emotions' and the like. Look at it this way, jr won't be bipolar or succumb to crippling depression, and will excel at logic and reason. Who'd have guessed that would make them all borderline sociopaths.
Clones: Another group that looks just like PSH, expect for the fact that any particular clone strain looks just like all the others in that strain. (Model, batch?) I'm guessing that the reason that clones aren't mutants is that the actively mutated DNA doesn't mesh well with the clonal enhanced development patch. (Yeah, it grows just as fast, but that's a random blob of tissue and body parts, not a viable entity.)
The tech for clone factories being destroyed is an issue, but here's some ideas on that. To start with, they weren't all destroyed, rather they are inaccessible for some reason. Highly defended orbital facility. Located in a nasty toxic radioactive waste and it ships them out via in cryotubes. Maybe nobody knows where it is, but the facility sends out customer fulfillment bots that take orders and payments, then 6-8 months later a heavily armored personnel carrier delivers the package. Of course there is always the idea that the statement that nobody can make them anymore, in which case somebody must occasionally find stashes of clonesicles and thaws out a new batch of clones.
Drawback time for clones is that they look like a lot of other people. Even twin fetishists will get creeped out if too many people look exactly alike. And as has been mentioned, Phred0213 gets arrested because Phred0666 killed 3 people robbing the saloon last week and the sheriff can't tell them apart.
Bioreplica is a fun one. Again, they need facilities to be created, and probably come in some standard designs, though they MAY have more variety than clones for no longer valid marketing reasons. These are essentially humanoid (appear to be PSH) that were constructed with simplied DNA components. One could argue that the "robots" in RUR were actually a form of bioreplica. You can either design and grow tissues then put them together in a working body, something that fits both the Bladerunner movie and Fifth Element. Or you can design them and grow them just like clones. Either way, their DNA is synthetic and has never been exposed to the forces of evolution to craft it. Mankind saw human DNA and all it's burden of "junk DNA" and inactive genes decided they could do a better cleaner version. Heck, they might even use a triple helix, or 6 nucleobases instead of only 4. (ITRW they have already added a new nucleobase to a microbe to test if it could work.) I guess you could think of them a the commercial version of human 2.0 with extra clean DNA.
I would guess that in many cases, there is little to no development of new variants of Transhumans, Clones, and Bioreplicas due to the collapse. On the other hand, there are still data files and samples that could be found, and who knows what some of those rare enclaves of pre-collapse tech like the orbital stations are really doing...
In general, humanity tends to get a bit xenophobic, especially when they can identify someone as being different. I'm sure that trait is still happening in M.E. despite them getting used to mutants and intelligent machines and all the other weirdness. Or maybe it gets worse because of those things, after all, who can you really trust when even your own family members might sell you to slavers for a liter of clean water?
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