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GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

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Tue, 2010-09-21 16:45

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture

GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Reading the thread on malware, virii and worms (http://www.eclipsephase.com/malwarewormsvirii) got me thinking. We have a LOT of random little things that can add color, serve as plot points, or just distract our PCs at the right moment. It really seems like too much to remember. So I'm going to try to compile a little list of those normal annoyances that creep up on us during more or less normal operations, and encourage everyone else to join in. I'd prefer to keep it germane - things you don't need to be an adventurer to encounter, but if it seems to fit, go for it. To to start ... Computer viruses, malware, spam, misconfigurations, slow-downs, drops and crashes. Software or hardware incompatibility - or near-compatibility (from plugs won't fix to your reticule being 2cm to the left) . Equipment failures due to exposing it to conditions it's not built for, or not ready for (gun jams when brought into a vacuum due to an air bubble, joints freezing or becoming too loose). Border customs, searches, quarantines and fees. Legal issues dealing with your status as a fork, or proving that you're not, dealing with whether you are in fact human, etc. Flirting with someone and totally realizing she's not what you thought she was. Lengthy checklists and poorly-programmed user interfaces for safety equipment such as vac suits. Monthly maintenance contracts on basic things like your body. Legal limbo of pre-Fall contracts, such as ownership, marriage and paternity. Memetic programming driving you to spend money on products you don't want, need or remember buying. User interfaces that are a bit too friendly, too quiet, too generic, too restrictive, or poorly translated. Translation software 'hiccups'. Having to reverse 'standard' muse software updates. Any more fun things we can add?

Wed, 2010-09-22 10:01

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

"Helpful" interfaces to government and corporate bureaucracy that waste time, cannot do what you want (and the system is just an AI, not an AGI able to see this) and force you to gather useless information. Networks jittering and lagging when some big, high priority data transfer passes by. Interminable group meetings among the autonomists where the local busybodies play social games "for the common good". Morph settings that never feel quite right, giving you frustration or hypochondria. The mould and mildew that seems to grow behind every panel in microgravity habitats, adding to the smell. The "helpful" or "aesthetic" biomod organisms local gene hackers spread to deal with the mould and mildew - now you have cloyingly rose-scented moulds, brightly colored cockroaches and checker-board lichens growing under your bed. Those little priority alarms that always go off when some minor detail of your habitat or ship breaks, usually when you try to sleep. Nagware popups in your drugs. "Wakywaky! You have been using PleasantDreeems 1.2 for 56 nights now. Why don't you uprate the author's rep?" A know-nothing or troll messing with your rep score.

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Wed, 2010-09-22 11:25

root

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

root@GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life [hr]

Licensing fees owed on copyrighted memes the players happen to think of.
Hackers making use of the extra memory stored in the players' underwear.
Fur coats with PTSD.
Harmless but strange genetic mutations in the wild, such as a thirty legged space chihuahua with an internal secretion gland full of Alpha.
Self aware AGI with existential angst running important station functions such as sewage treatment.
Advertising infections: viral infections that cause the subject to have a facial rash in the shape of a corporate logo.
Cleaning robots working with an optimum foraging algorithm that have small objects like pistols and data chips in their list of collectibles.
Uplifted ravens who haven't managed to overcome their innate need to steal and horde shiny things.
Uplifted ravens who program cleaning robots with optimum foraging algorithms and add non-standard objects to the list of collectibles because they are shiny.
Two uplifted ravens on the same station with crews of cleaning robots that are programmed with optimum foraging algorithms that include non-standard, shiny objects on their list of collectibles, who are engaged in a collectors war, and are now using preemptive cleanup of shiny objects that the players might be wearing and need, such as metal eyes.
Ship captains with "space fever".
Nanotech maintenance systems who realize they are in a powerful bargaining position.
A junkie neo-hominid who hasn't figured out that having a monkey on your back is just a phrase and not a requirement.
Being in a shootout with a criminal gang of uplifted octopi and finding out that your weaponry has converted to a pacifist philosophy but didn't want to tell you before now because you might have reacted badly.
Finding out that one of the Entelechy Network's roaches came on board your habitat, and now you have cornucopia machines and morph medical vats in your walls that are spitting out more Simons for the e[sup]n[/sup].

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Wed, 2010-09-22 12:05

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

The weeks of adaptation to an unusual gravity when egocasting to a habitat insisting on crazy levels like 1 G. How *everything* tends to end up at the air filters in microgravity. That liferecording guy who just happens to live and work close to you, accidentally (?) recording most of your life. Spimes that try to recycle themselves "in order to conserve scarce resources". The endless battles on what skins there should be on public smartwalls and decorations. On habitats with "official" AR overlays there are similar endless debates about them, the value of virtual public art and what AR is mandatory to perceive. Discarded petals in junkie-rich areas. Low air pressure in many habitats making boiling water for coffee and tea occur at a lower temperature, changing the taste. The Coriolis force making things drift sideways while "falling" in rotational pseudogravity, and how it messes up many sports. The discovery that a homeless infugee family has taken up residence in your entertainment system. Letting your fashion subscription lapse, leaving you with the choice between the standard smartclothes designs, tasteless open source designs or wearing clothes with "subscription lapsed" as texture. Simspaces built by amateurs from clipart scenery and objects. Corporate memo XPs with pre-recorded breathless enthusiasm for the goal of delivering more than 96% the TPS reports with the right cover-software in the second quarter so that the Quality Assessment Manager will get a bonus!!! But there are good things in life too, like that newly nanofactured smell.

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Wed, 2010-09-22 16:12

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

I wonder if space toilets are still a PitA.

Wed, 2010-09-22 16:19

CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

nezumi.hebereke wrote:
I wonder if space toilets are still a PitA.

With the prevalence of widespread artificial gravity on many Habs, at least those intended for actual habitation, and the potential digestive track messing about that Basic Biomods could provide, I imagine that a fair amount of engineering has gone into making taking a number two as enjoyable an experience as possible :P

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Wed, 2010-09-22 16:46

Prime Mover Prime Mover's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

I pretty sure I saw mention of along with solving other health problems modern morphs dispose of there waste in solid pine scented pellet form that drops into an attached self sealing container included in modern clothing. Or Not

—

"The difference between truth and fiction, people expect fiction to make sense."

Thu, 2010-09-23 05:37

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Prime Mover wrote:
I pretty sure I saw mention of along with solving other health problems modern morphs dispose of there waste in solid pine scented pellet form that drops into an attached self sealing container included in modern clothing. Or Not

That is the Clean Metabolism enhancement. So, yes, the shit of some people does not smell. ...except of course that fine-tuning this is never perfect. Some bacteria and fungi might take up residence in the GI tract and cause disagreeable smells *despite* this enhancement. Call customer support! I did not pay for this indignity! Another bodily issue: women living in close proximity tend to synchronize their menstrual rhythms. This is likely happening on Scum barges or Fury troop transports. People who never close the lid of the fabber so it can self-clean and reset. Software that finishes your sentences.

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Thu, 2010-09-23 06:14

CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

I would think that one of the benefits of the Basic Biomods would be giving a woman control of her menstrual cycle. Its a fairly well entrenched meme of future civilisations that birth control is extremely wide spread and easy to use, and I imagine that simply having an optional monthly cycle would be one of the easiest ways to do so. My knowledge of the menstrual cycle is fairly brief, however as far as I am aware it is a primarily hormonally controlled system right? A brief jiggle with the right chemicals here and there could surely kill it nice and dead.

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Thu, 2010-09-23 11:04

#10

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

While I agree with Codebreaker, the idea of a shipload of fury combat-morphs all PMSing simultaneous is too frightening not to include.

Thu, 2010-09-23 16:11

#11

Thunderwave Thunderwave's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

CodeBreaker wrote:
I would think that one of the benefits of the Basic Biomods would be giving a woman control of her menstrual cycle. Its a fairly well entrenched meme of future civilisations that birth control is extremely wide spread and easy to use, and I imagine that simply having an optional monthly cycle would be one of the easiest ways to do so. My knowledge of the menstrual cycle is fairly brief, however as far as I am aware it is a primarily hormonally controlled system right? A brief jiggle with the right chemicals here and there could surely kill it nice and dead.

Yep, you're right. Not to go too off topic, but my wife as a birth control implant that tricks her body. Upsides are that she can't get pregnant unless medication interfere and she doesn't have a cycle beyond the occasional spotting episode that usually clears in a day. It's long term and needs changing every 5 years, iirc. Now a few to contribute: Trolls spreading Tagging chips that transmit fart noises and smells randomly to anyone's AR that's in the area. Yes it's childish, but I can imagine to them it's a laugh a minute. Going in for your monthly check-up, maintenance, and tune up on your morph only to be told that it's in need of serious repairs that'll take a few days. Not to worry though, they've got this loaner morph... Loading the wrong texture into your smart clothes and not realizing you've got the word DEMO in bright colors splashed across your back/arms/legs until you are at that important meeting you need to impress people at. Neglecting to pay the monthly licencing fee for your pants, thus them disintegrating in the middle of the hab. Realizing that while we couldn't save all the greatest minds Humanity had to offer, they did save the cast of Jersey Shore.

Tue, 2010-09-28 17:07

#12

The Doctor The Doctor's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Overly helpful AIs that interrupt whatever a piece of your equipment is doing to download patches. Expired cryptographic certificates leaving you unable to authenticate to your fabber, front door, blender, or toilet. Muses with dodgy closed source sense of humor modules. The next door neighbor's kid hacking your mesh access because he does not have enough CPU power available to run the latest AAR game. Trolls hacking your fabber to produce only vinyl records ("What the hell are these supposed to be?") Viruses that re-tag your personal music collection so all you can find is the Scissor Sisters, ABBA, and Warren Zevon.

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Tue, 2010-09-28 17:19

#13

CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

The Doctor wrote:
The next door neighbor's kid hacking your mesh access because he does not have enough CPU power available to run the latest AAR game.

Slightly offtopic, and I don't mean to threadcrap, but that is probably really, really unlikely*. To hack through even the most basic of Firewalls you need to have access to the Exploit software. Exploit software is a High cost item, and almost certainly extremely illegal. In a world where a single well placed hack can kill hundreds of people (subjecting them to vacuum) such things are going to be extremely well policed. And its not as if you can just grab an opensource version of it, the Mesh is anything but an unmonitored haven for pirates. The omnipresent surveillance (and the way data is routed throughout) means that any piracy that is going on could only be done by people with serious connections. And those kinds of people do not normally give such things out for free. *at least anywhere closer to the Sun than Saturn.

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Tue, 2010-09-28 19:03

#14

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

CodeBreaker wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
The next door neighbor's kid hacking your mesh access because he does not have enough CPU power available to run the latest AAR game.
Slightly offtopic, and I don't mean to threadcrap, but that is probably really, really unlikely*

That assumes he hacks it by brute force or 133t hax0r skills. Maybe he just guesses your password, had a friendly chat with your muse (or more likely, your stupid apartment AI that happens to believe everything his apartment AI tells it) or exploits some hardware. Think how vulnerable we normally are to what our neighbours can do. The multiply it by a kid with too much spare time, too little to do and a few too many smarts upgrades. Oh yes, kids of today. Back in my day, we didn't laze around in edusims or chatting with teacherforks, we had to work for our learning! We had *chemical* nootropics in school, and they even did urine tests to make sure we took them. Kids today just rely on sleeved upgrades or nanopatches. They don't have any respect for their elders either.

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Tue, 2010-09-28 23:52

#15

root

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

root@General Problems of Life
[hr]

There is the omnipresent danger of mad scientist developing a fly zapper that happens to scale up surprisingly well into a doomsday device.

Super-intelligent space rats building complicated mazes to test the learning capabilities of the wild human.

Finding the ruins of an alien civilization and getting rickrolled when their archives are opened.

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Tue, 2010-10-19 05:20

#16

twntysdr

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

root wrote:
There is the omnipresent danger of mad scientist developing a fly zapper that happens to scale up surprisingly well into a doomsday device.

"Behold, Perry the Platypus, my Bug-and-transhumanity-zapper-inator!"

—

"Any mental activity is easy if it need not take reality into account." -Marcel Proust "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity... and I'm not sure about the the universe." -Albert Einstien

Thu, 2010-10-21 14:50

#17

valen

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Thank you for enjoying Direct Action’s lasted Plastech MLX-155 Plasma Rifle. We hope that it has lived up to your expectations, driven your enemies before you and heard the lamentations of their dependent female morphs. You now have 6 of 7 free plasma blasts remaining. If you wish to continue enjoying the latest in Direct Action technology and the ease with which it vanquishes your foes, please contact your nearest Direct Action sales AGI @ XXX-XXX-XXXX to find out about licensing subscriptions.

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Thu, 2010-10-21 16:12

#18

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Your sleeping node becomes infested with self-organizing, self-directing, cleaning microbots (aka ants).

Sat, 2010-10-23 15:15

#19

urdith

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

The Doctor wrote:
Trolls hacking your fabber to produce only vinyl records ("What the hell are these supposed to be?") Viruses that re-tag your personal music collection so all you can find is the Scissor Sisters, ABBA, and Warren Zevon.

A timed mesh alert goes out to all pre-Fall music and out-of-date storage technology collectors informing them of the fact your fabber is cranking out vinyl copies of Warren Zevon's Transverse City. Attempts to find the vinyl record pattern result in ABBA's "Fernando" playing through your in-ear sound system.

—

"The ruins of the unsustainable are the 21st century’s frontier."
— Bruce Sterling

Wed, 2010-10-27 12:17

#20

nikleonard nikleonard's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Some Hacker Rick-rolling your smart clothes textures or loading some weird cat prefall stuff about a "Cheezburger" Worst... 4Chan, EP version.

—

Playing Eclipse Phase the "Chilean Way"...

Wed, 2010-10-27 21:21

#21

nick012000 nick012000's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

CodeBreaker wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
The next door neighbor's kid hacking your mesh access because he does not have enough CPU power available to run the latest AAR game.
Slightly offtopic, and I don't mean to threadcrap, but that is probably really, really unlikely*. *at least anywhere closer to the Sun than Saturn.

I think you've forgotten about the Main Belt.

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+1 r-Rep , +1 @-rep

Wed, 2010-10-27 21:30

#22

CodeBreaker CodeBreaker's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

nick012000 wrote:
CodeBreaker wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
The next door neighbor's kid hacking your mesh access because he does not have enough CPU power available to run the latest AAR game.
Slightly offtopic, and I don't mean to threadcrap, but that is probably really, really unlikely*. *at least anywhere closer to the Sun than Saturn.
I think you've forgotten about the Main Belt.

Gosh darn Extropians, always meddling in the affairs of their betters. I bite my thumb at those fence sitting Randian-esque fools! :D (I do however cede the point. Within the Inner System/Jovian Republic then).

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Thu, 2010-10-28 09:29

#23

nikleonard nikleonard's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Talking more seriously, one of the big problems in any Sci Fi setting is Energy generation and availability, specially for migrating fleets like Scum Barges and space stations. Obtaining energy (and raw resources) can be a very problematic issue when you are in the middle of space, and if the nuclear battery of your Synthmorph is reaching the limit of their useful life, well...

—

Playing Eclipse Phase the "Chilean Way"...

Thu, 2010-10-28 15:05

#24

Decivre

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

nikleonard wrote:
Talking more seriously, one of the big problems in any Sci Fi setting is Energy generation and availability, specially for migrating fleets like Scum Barges and space stations. Obtaining energy (and raw resources) can be a very problematic issue when you are in the middle of space, and if the nuclear battery of your Synthmorph is reaching the limit of their useful life, well...

You underestimate how long a nuclear battery can last. Remember that a nuclear battery does not function on reactions, but rather on decay... which can last a lot longer. If a synthmorph can function on half of a nuclear battery's starting output, then it can theoretically run at full capacity for at least as long as its half-life... which can be pretty damn long, depending on the type of battery. For instance, a polonium-209 based nuclear battery could theoretically last for about 103 years. A plutonium-239 battery, on the other hand, could last 24,200 years! Depending on the material in question, synthmorphs could run for a very, very long time. Now the nuclear reactor of a ship is a different matter, but there are other options when it comes to powering a ship. Solar energy while in the inner system can be used to power a ship's day-to-day functions, and allow its inhabitants to live in relative ease. In the outer system, the gas giants provide ample options for extracting more fusion material (deuterium). Fissile material will probably be found in asteroids of the main and Kepler belts.

—

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Thu, 2010-10-28 16:27

#25

nikleonard nikleonard's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Yeah, I Know, but in the manual are stated that the batteries used have 3 years of usable life. One can only speculate why only 3 years (damage of the battery vessel by neutron capture or usage of less half-life isotopes like Trithium) but energy generation are certainly one of the problems that can be a issue for the players because EP is practically a Energy based economy. The problem with the high half-life isotopes are that the mayority of those have gamma decay, and gamma radiation is a very important issue for portable power sources, because it needs a lot of shielding to prevent radiation leak and are unlikely to be installed in a synthmorph other than a reaper. Beta-only decay isotopes exist, but they have less half-lifes and less power to weight ratio. (Nickel 63 is a good option anyways)

—

Playing Eclipse Phase the "Chilean Way"...

Thu, 2010-10-28 19:20

#26

Decivre

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

nikleonard wrote:
Yeah, I Know, but in the manual are stated that the batteries used have 3 years of usable life. One can only speculate why only 3 years (damage of the battery vessel by neutron capture or usage of less half-life isotopes like Trithium) but energy generation are certainly one of the problems that can be a issue for the players because EP is practically a Energy based economy. The problem with the high half-life isotopes are that the mayority of those have gamma decay, and gamma radiation is a very important issue for portable power sources, because it needs a lot of shielding to prevent radiation leak and are unlikely to be installed in a synthmorph other than a reaper. Beta-only decay isotopes exist, but they have less half-lifes and less power to weight ratio. (Nickel 63 is a good option anyways)

Actually, the quote you are probably referencing from the core book states:

Core Book, pg 300, incomplete paragraph at the top of the page wrote:
More powerful radio-isotope nuclear batteries are also available, heavily shielded so they do not emit radiation and good for 3 years [b]or more[/b] of use.

Emphasis mine. 3 years is the [i]minimum length of time that a nuclear battery lasts[/i], not the maximum. I'd imagine that common disposable items that have nuclear batteries utilize those, while more advanced, longer-lasting devices (like morphs) would be powered by longer-lasting batteries.

—

Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]

Sat, 2010-10-30 06:20

#27

Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture

Re: GM's Checklist of General Problems of Life

Nuclear batteries might be long-lasting, but that just means you have longer time to forget to stock up on replacements. Another issue: used nuclear batteries make nasty garbage. They cannot be recycled in normal fabbers. "The hallways were strewn with filth, and I tasted the sour meta-scent of radiation from discarded nuclear batteries people had just thrown into a closet." If you are a synthmorph you can ignore radiation much more than those wussy biomorphs. And with the right enhancements you can turn off other senses..."What smell? Ah, I turned off my chemosensors a long while ago." A transhuman pigsty of a flat can be amazingly horrific.

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