[MUD-Dev] Character evolution

[Travis Casey]

clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:
> "Travis Casey" <efindel at io.com> said:
> 
> >The mud will open twenty-two years after the Sshiran left.  The first
> >generation of powerful psis are now approaching thirty, and the
> >second generation is just starting to come into adolescence and
> >manifest their powers.  Technological advancement has more than
> >recovered from the  blow it was given by WW3, thanks in part to alien
> >technology.  Humanity has had contact with at least a half-dozen
> >alien races -- and none of them are "humans with strange foreheads."
> 
> Is there a deliberate realtion to the Wild Cards series?

Nope, 'fraid not.  I have read the Wild Cards series, but I didn't
have it in mind, and the similarities didn't strike me until after
you posted this... and that after ~3 years of thinking about this
world.

The psi powers aren't anywhere close to as powerful as those in
the Wild Cards series... telepathy, body control (i.e., mental 
control of one's own bodily processes), some forms of ESP, "astral
projection" (not really, but it acts like it), and telekinesis are
the limits of the powers that humans have -- there's no 
teleportation, time travel, or any other amazingly far-out powers.
Heck, I'm debating whether to include telekinesis -- I probably
will, but it won't be incredibly powerful.  The most powerful 
telekinetics might be able to lift another person off the ground
if they were straining, and an average telekinetic will lift about
twenty or thirty pounds.  Such powers can be incredibly useful
with a little thought, but aren't the kind of things that will let
you do a superhero imitation.

Overall, I'm going for semi-hard SF -- most things should be 
explainable by what we know today, and those that aren't should
be self-consistent and explained by a theoretical framework in
the game world -- although the players may not know that 
explanation.

> >> On the same chord, I've long wished to do a game based on Laumer's,
> >> "The man in black."  Such a personal hounding by a diety and creator
> >> is intensely attractive to me.  The problem of course it that no
> >> everyone can be the Man in Black with his single nature.
> 
> >Was that a novel, or a short story?  If so, do you know a collection
> >it can be found in?  Laumer is one of my favority writers... 
> 
> I was pretty certain that was Laumer when I mentioned it.  I'll check
> and report back here.

Oh!  Seeing the "single nature" part, I think you must mean the Traveller 
in black, the stories about whom were collected in the book, "The Compleat 
Traveller in Black."  I love those stories, especially how his fulfillment
of wishes turns out... after reading them, "As you wish, so be it," 
carries a new meaning.
--
       |\      _,,,---,,_        Travis S. Casey  <efindel at io.com>
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'        rec.games.design FAQ:  
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)      http://www.io.com/~efindel/design.html