Technobabble please

[Kinslayer]

This may be drifting off-topic a bit, but I'm wondering if any games involved player-created technobabble. I've seen different attempts to steal from Spellsinger and have on-the-fly spell effects work if the player actually sung an appropriate song. Gurps Magic arguably had the best rules for that. Midian allows technomancer characters to build items designed by the players, but that's more engineering. But what I'm wondering is if any games have a mad scientist type who can twist the laws of physics (or at least get a bonus on a skill check) for using good-sounding technobabble?

[Rob Lang]

Doesn't Traveller have a space ship construction system? I have created a bionics creation system for Icar and my players often create their own technobabble based in the same world. I'll admit that it's more the players than the game system allowing it, though.

[Kinslayer]

The bionics of Icar are really freaking sweet. I was thinking something along the lines of Doc Brown (Back to the Future), the Professor (Gilligan's Island), or maybe MacGyver (MacGyver). Pretty much any scifi show with a resident Smart Guy does this (Sam Carter of Stargate SG1, or dozens of examples in Star Trek). Now that I'm thinking about it, the more a show leans towards science-fantasy, the heavier the use of technobabble becomes.

This may be one of the many, many things where I'll have to make it myself, but I was imagining a system similar to player-created on-the-fly spellcraft, but with Science! instead.

[Rob Lang]

You're right about low-Sci Fi being easier for technobabble. If it was Arthur C Clarke hard Sci Fi, you would need a room full of physicists. A room full of physicists probably won't naturally want to roleplay. More likely they'll drink tea and eat biscuits.

[misterecho]

[Kinslayer]

I once had the opportunity to roleplay with a room full of physicists. Note that I said 'once'. The system was Gurps, and the setting was lightly kitchen-sink-ish, being a post-apoc (no stated cause) with a touch of fantasy. It devolved into convoluted arguments during the second scene.

Were I to attempt a repeat occurrence, I would not offer tea: these guys were too caffeinated as it was. Biscuits with milk might be a better alternative. Physicists are just too rowdy for anything stronger.

[SheikhJahbooty]

Have we all forgotten the great Zak Arntson, the author of Shadows?



There you go, a space opera game where technobabble is part of the game mechanics.

[Thought]

Come to think of it, a "How to Speak Technobabble" might be a good section of a GM guide for a sci-fi game. Creating new words can be a tricky business and can often come off just bad. A few words of advice on how to craft technobabble might be in order, then. And of course, if one so desires, a few words on keeping technobabble realistic might be prudent as well.

Off the top of my head I can think of four basic classes of technobabble. The Portmanteau, The Near-Enough, The Word, and The Random Pairing.

“Technobabble” is itself an example of The Portmanteau, but “Cybortronics” might be one that would more likely show up in game. Being a combination of “cyborg” and “electronics,” cybortronics might refer to a specific type of machines that get grafted onto cyborgs. This class can be very easily overdone, however. Cybortronics might be a fun word, but “cyboreering” (the engineering of cyborgs), cyborgistics (the logistics of cyborgs), and cybethics (the ethics of cyborgs) are going a bit overboard.

“Phaser” is the quintessential Near-Enough. Just hearing it will conjure images of laser-like things, but the different spelling and pronunciation makes it seem like something new and exciting. How is a phaser different than a laser? No idea. But clearly it is different or else it would be called a laser! This is a particularly touchy class of Technobabble, however, as an overdone Near-Enough is too close to plain ol’ silliness. Phaser works, but wocket just sounds like you have a speech impediment. Uranium’s old hat, Oranium might pass muster, but Boranium might start a round of bad puns at the table.

The Word is when technobabble is called what it is. A Transporter transports something, clearly. Most of the technobabblish aspect of it comes in any explanation of what it does. The Buggers (from Ender’s Game) are another example. What are buggers? Well, they’re bugs. Gives you an idea of what it might be about, but it doesn’t really tell you the details. If the players on are a space station and they are told that terrorists are planning to attack The Core, they’ll know that The Core is important… they’ll just have no idea what it is. If they are told that terrorists are planning to attack The Matter Crusher, they’ll know that is crushes matter, but they’ll have no idea why.

The Random Pairing is very close to The Word but different enough to merit its own explanation. One might call an engine that allows a craft to travel faster than light a “faster-than-light engine.” That’s what it is, that’s what it is called, that’s The Word. A Random Pairing, however, combines two potentially unrelated words. “Photon Torpedo” is a splendid example. The “torpedo” part tells you what it is, but the “photon” part makes you know its technobabble. Time Egg is another lovely example.

Just a technobabbly,

Thought

[misterecho]

I love it when you talk dirty mr thought