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 Aug 20 2005, 01:45 PM
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#1
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Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 104 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,453  |
From Bull's "What is SR4" thread:
So the brains of Technomancers now work as radio emitters. Interesting. I wonder which part of their brain works like that? And are there any animals in nature whose nervous systems also emit measurable radio signals? |
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Aug 20 2005, 03:17 PM
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#2
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
Don't think it is just the brain since any essense loss cuts into Resonance and a drop in Resonance drops their range. So it is a whole-body antenna deal. |
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Aug 20 2005, 03:19 PM
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#3
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 875 Joined: 16-November 03 Member No.: 5,827 |
Somebody is a fan of Tad Williams Otherland, hm?
SYL |
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Aug 20 2005, 03:25 PM
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#4
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 104 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,453 |
Huh? Now that's new... and might also hint that Technomancer abilities are at least partially magical in ability. |
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Aug 20 2005, 03:25 PM
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#5
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
Or is a fan of not having chromeheads running rampant putting the head-zap on electronics. |
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Aug 20 2005, 03:27 PM
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#6
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
It is buried in the Tisoz thread i think. But no, it doesn't nessasarily mean it is magic. Like i said if the body is the antenna then altering the body can screw with that. |
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Aug 20 2005, 03:41 PM
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#7
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
As one could easily state that Shadowrun always was (and probably will be...) a setting featuring the ultimate victory of the technocracy, the thought that this ability is magick isn't that far stretched... ;)
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Aug 20 2005, 05:08 PM
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#8
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 778 Joined: 6-April 05 Member No.: 7,298 |
There are no known animals that emit or detect radio frequency communications, nor are there any known biological processes that operate with the temporal resolution necessary for frequencies useful for high-bandwidth data transfer.
If technomancers are living radio antennas, it is necessarily magic. |
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Aug 20 2005, 05:12 PM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 442 Joined: 23-April 04 From: Pennsylvania Member No.: 6,280 |
There's actually another option that those of you with a more humanist bent might find attractive. Instead of being actually magic in the Shadowrun sense of the term, it could be the result of an advanced biological function like ESP. Technomancers learned to use 100% of their brains and lo did they emit radio waves.
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Aug 20 2005, 05:15 PM
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#10
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
It would be understandable that radio-frequency hasn't evolved on earth. There hasn't really been much in the environment driving the development of reception, which would lead the evolution. So that alone doesn't preclude being able to artifically alter a biological system to allow it.
... or purposely altered [by an AI] to enable it. |
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Aug 20 2005, 05:17 PM
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#11
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 104 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,453 |
Sounds like magic by another name to me. |
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Aug 20 2005, 05:20 PM
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#12
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 442 Joined: 23-April 04 From: Pennsylvania Member No.: 6,280 |
It is. But "Magic" isn't a good enough reason for most people. So you have to dress magic up in fancy names like Electricity.
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Aug 20 2005, 05:37 PM
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#13
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Karma Police Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 1,358 Joined: 22-July 04 From: Gothenburg, SE Member No.: 6,505 |
I´m with blakkie on this one. They are geneticly altered cyber-freaks created as a part of the AI´s plot for world domination.
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Aug 20 2005, 06:48 PM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 227 Joined: 6-March 03 Member No.: 4,211 |
I'm guessing Technomancers are the adepts of the sixth world.
If you look at mages, shamans, phys ads, all of these could work in the fourth age. Technomancers may just be an evolution of adepts as they interact with the technology of the sixth world. |
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Aug 20 2005, 07:03 PM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 778 Joined: 6-April 05 Member No.: 7,298 |
How would you genetically alter a biological organism to give it the capability to sense radio waves, given that nothing we know has genes that impart any such ability?
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Aug 20 2005, 07:31 PM
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#16
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
Ya, that is more nanotechnology.....wait a minute. ;) |
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Aug 20 2005, 07:33 PM
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#17
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 297 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 248 |
Well how would you genetically alter a biological organism to give it the capability to sense mana, given that nothing we know has genes that impart any such ability?
I would say, because it is a fictional reality we are talking about, in which "seeing" emotions this is already possible. So why shouldn't they be able to perceive electromagnetic waves? |
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Aug 20 2005, 07:35 PM
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#18
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 134 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Seattle Member No.: 1,525 |
So you want Technomancers to be magical then.
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Aug 20 2005, 07:37 PM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 297 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 248 |
That's not what i said.
I only said, if it is possible to perceive magic, why should it be impossible to interact with radio emanations? |
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Aug 20 2005, 07:42 PM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 778 Joined: 6-April 05 Member No.: 7,298 |
Because physics didn't change in SR. Magic just got added on.
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Aug 20 2005, 07:44 PM
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#21
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
Sure physics changed. Look at that map of California.
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Aug 20 2005, 07:53 PM
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#22
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 297 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 248 |
Well the SR physics were never like "real" physics. If that were the case, some of my players would never had withstand a 20 story fall with some psycho holding on his back, who happend to detonate a bomb on his belly during the fall, which would have leveled the story, and survived without a scratch. He just stood and said something like "oh my". And we were playing by canon rules at this time. If this could happen then, Technomancers can happen now. |
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Aug 20 2005, 07:59 PM
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#23
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 104 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,453 |
Electricity isn't "magic", it is "sufficiently advanced technology". :P (And only all that "advanced" for people who didn't pay attention in physics class at school. The basic concept is rather simply, though the devil is, as always, in the details...) |
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Aug 20 2005, 08:06 PM
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#24
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 442 Joined: 23-April 04 From: Pennsylvania Member No.: 6,280 |
Heh, I could commont more along these lines, but dumpshock is not a suitable place for philosophy. Sufficite it to say that paid plenty of attention in physics class. |
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Aug 20 2005, 08:18 PM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 778 Joined: 6-April 05 Member No.: 7,298 |
Darkness--I agree that the rules don't model real-world physics very well. Nor would you want them to, since then you may as well just do stuff in the real world.
However, when it comes to developing the setting, then as a game designer you should think about whether you want to foster a sense of this being like the real world or not. If you want it to be a fantastic, amazing world, where rivers flow backwards and mice spring forth, spontaneously, from grain, then there's no point paying attention to real-world physics. If you're trying to develop a near-future, partly sci-fi setting, then you have to pay some attention to the "sci" part, or you'll leave people behind who know anything about "sci". For example, you wouldn't believe a realistic, nonmagical, present-day setting where trees grew from seed to 60' tall in minutes. Trees don't grow that fast--there is something really unusual here. If the author had never been around trees, they might write that, and if the audience had never been around trees they might accept it. ("Wow. Trees grow fast! Cool.") But an audience who knows something about trees would probably not be so amused. ("Yeah. Right. And the earth is flat, too, for real.") Since a lot of people who are interested in tech and science fiction are interested in real tech and real science, you can't assume that they don't know anything about science, just like you can't assume that your audience doesn't know anything about trees. One doesn't have to choose to do hard science fiction, or even soft science fiction. One can just make up random stuff, string together important sounding words, and hope the audience is amused. But if one does a little more work, you can put together nonrandom stuff that isn't obviously bizarre to those who know and which is more engaging to people who don't know because you can draw on the tremendous backstory of "the real world", which is much more rich and varied than an author's imagination. |
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