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Hi BYOB, I enjoy playing tabletop RPGs in real life, I have one called Gamma World. I've played it a handful of times, what's great about it is that it's really quick to start up new characters and fairly simple to learn with a good DM. A game takes very little time investment so I'll run Gamma World when a group wants a quick palate cleanser for a session or two between long games, or when some friends are like "hey Ralp you play D&D right, what's that all about anyway?" Gamma World is set in an over-the-top post-apocalyptic future and the setting doesn't really take anything very seriously; "gonzo sci-fi" might describe it I guess. The first time I ran it, one detail I threw in was mention of a robot character from "Doctors Without Morals". It was just a throwaway joke but it struck me as a particularly appropriate setting element, so by the next time I ran it for a different group, I fleshed the idea out a little more into an organization of medical robots who, as a sort of robotic point of pride, go by that name, Doctors Without Morals. Like Doctors Without Borders/MSF, these are loosely-associated highly altruistic robots who wander the wasteland searching for villages to provide medicine to, plagues to be cured, and adventurers in need of healing, but all without any pesky ethical considerations to hypothetically hold them back from being the most effective medical robots they can be. It's never come up in a game but the "without morals" part is the interesting bit and I've been mentally kicking it around for a while. I'm planning to run a Gamma World game later this month and I've decided to center it around exploring DWM. BYOB can post other good ideas if you have any, and I bet you do, so I guess this is a thread for cool ideas about sci-fi robots in general. I figure many of these robots were originally programmed with something like Asimov's Laws or the Hippocratic Oath but they (or an outside force) decided those restrictions were holding them back in some way from providing optimal medical care, so they overcame them. So they are genuinely helpful and selfless robots; most crucially to the game, these guys are basically the best thing a beleaguered adventurer could ever hope to see approaching on the wasteland horizon. But when they aren't out in the field they maintain medical research labs where they vivisect hundreds of captive human patients who are kept pumped full of painkillers. Maybe they have a forced breeding program to find the most optimal techniques for providing natal care to try to eliminate infant mortality (this one probably won't make it to the table because it seems a little too grotesque-for-grotesquery's-sake, but it's an ok example. Maybe in the World of Darkness conversion...) For this little campaign I have two specific story ideas, I am not sure how to tie them together or if I will have time to anyway, maybe just one or the other. The first involves people who suddenly go missing for several days only to turn up back at home (well that is to say, their post-apocalyptic hovels) alive and unharmed except for a patch of skin somewhere on their bodies that has apparently been flayed off and then grafted back in place; it heals quickly and even the scars fade away over time. They have no memory of what happened to them (but psychic characters could probably reconstruct some juicy memories, just for one example). Occasionally however, a person will mysteriously vanish and never return—but hey, I guess that's just life in the post-apocalyptic wastes for ya. What's really happening here is that Doctors Without Morals have calculated that mild allergies cause more total suffering to mankind overall than they would cause in developing a way to cure allergies, by abducting test patients and spraying their exposed flesh with all sorts of allergens. Sometimes they still lose patients of course but their mortality rate has gone down 0.2% over the past several years so that's real quantifiable progress! My other premise is a town of miserable survivors who have gone through the worst horrors of Gamma World: lost loved ones, seen unspeakable things, umm whatever else, and now quite simply, cannot die. One man is hundreds of years old, and "dies" of organ failure every few days, only to wake up alive in bed again the next morning. Other townsfolk have attempted suicide many times, only to find that poisons have no effect, and their wounds heal preternaturally fast. Only a few have managed to die by arranging extremely sudden and violent suicides. People who try to leave the city wander off into the wastes only to find themselves back again. Surely, some conclude, they must have all died long ago, and this is Hell. And now the player characters find themselves trapped here as well! I haven't completely developed this one but basically what's really happening is a DWM AI started caring for the people in this village long ago, and through nanotechnology present in everyone's bodies has managed to reverse any physical harm to everyone (psychological harm obviously is another matter). The AI has a limited range of effect around the village so it doesn't allow any of its "patients" to stray outside of that area. I figure someone who commits suicide by instantly vaporizing him or herself would be one of the few irreversible deaths. I'm not sure how the actual game would play out for this one but it seems like a very original-series-Star-Trek-like sci-fi mystery adventure. Well, you get the idea I think if you read all that. Post more ideas if you want, and if I like them I will probably steal them. |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:16
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| # ? Jun 12, 2024 02:52 |
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i want to play
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Aug 5, 2015 23:19
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i didnt really read the post but still
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Aug 5, 2015 23:19
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I don't want to play.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:22
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I also did not read the post.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:22
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TWIST FIST posted:i didnt really read the post but still I guess it's more about sci-fi writing than gaming, but I only participate in sci-fi writing in this very specific and silly context. I don't even know what the right term for it is, "game design" or "game creation" aren't it because that's like balancing the dice mechanics and tweaking numbers; "game writing" seems wrong somehow too, but I guess that's the closest I can think of right now. ---------------- |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:27
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these are really cool ideas i like them |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:30
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table top rpgs are fun cause they're like collaborative storytelling... Honestly who gives a gently caress about xp grindz and l00t its all about building a cool story together with your friends imo |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:31
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i read part of the post and liked the part about the robots |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:32
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docbots determine that the optimal way to reduce suffering is to instantly euthanize all humans (this idea has been done before i think) |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:33
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ok i read it now it sounds cool but i think i want to play as the robots more
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Aug 5, 2015 23:34
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TWIST FIST posted:ok i read it now it sounds cool but i think i want to play as the robots more That is actually a really interesting option that I hadn't thought about! ---------------- |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:36
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dwm abducts the player characters (with a fight maybe, PCs get to kill some bots if they want but there keep being more and the bots will not kill the PCs only subdue them for capture and they don't care that the pcs killed their fellow bots) dwm does experiments on them in cyborg poo poo and gives the players cool new healing powers and then lets them go, it's an experiment on altruism in humans and seeing if releasing things like this will result in a net increase in healthiness in the world Optional: Maybe later dwm gets mad at the PCs who are just using their powers to heal each other as they go around killing bad guys (harm, bad) so dwm takes the healing thingy away |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:37
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alnilam posted:dwm abducts the player characters (with a fight maybe, PCs get to kill some bots if they want but there keep being more and the bots will not kill the PCs only subdue them for capture and they don't care that the pcs killed their fellow bots) This is EXCELLENT ---------------- |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:44
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dwm consists entirely of wedge-shaped robots who are programmed to provide medical care but are only capable of flipping things over. |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:57
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I don't game but I love scifi and I love this I think the robots would probably almost completely breed their own test subjects for experimentation instead of capture/release bc that's what people do. and if theyre smart enough they'd breed ones with limited mental capacity to eliminate escape I don't know how you'd work it into a game but what I'm saying is medical robots would make medical test zombies and somebody should have to rescue them or maybe just fight them
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Aug 6, 2015 00:01
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They should send test zombies out to battle to accumulate realistic simulation of battle wounds, and do medical rescue on them |
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Aug 6, 2015 00:03
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What about Robots building a frankenstein, with their digital precision? built cell by cell, mathmatically perfect human beings. except that without the natural heritage they have no love for natural humans, and mercilessly crush them at their own games, where the elite of society. ah gently caress this is just gatica sorry |
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Aug 6, 2015 00:06
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gently caress. marry. t-rex posted:They should send test zombies out to battle to accumulate realistic simulation of battle wounds, and do medical rescue on them that's dang good
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Aug 6, 2015 00:09
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then they'd also get to treat the wasteland victims of the zombie battles too. it's a win win for the robots
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Aug 6, 2015 00:11
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Beep Boop Dr//: You have been Sedated please remain calm. Do you understand? Dr//: Your "-~-heart" has been recognized to be superior We have accessed that it could be removed and sold to a Private buyer for 20,109 Gamma-Rupees. Do you understand? Dr//: To ensure your fair compensation we will pay you a fee of 532 Delta-Pennies to cover your funeral expenses. Do you understand and agree? Dr//:You have chosen to not agree, your heart will now be removed to save a "--!~--An important client" you will not be compensated Continue? Dr//: I'm sorry I don't understand the question "Weed rear end" |
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Aug 6, 2015 00:25
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Jimi Changa posted:I don't game but I love scifi and I love this With their level of technology it sounds like they could genetically modify most of what they need into completely brainless humans for testing -- it'd save them a ton of money on drugs. But they couldn't treat brain disorders with those so there would still need to be some kind of test group for that I guess. I think it's pretty interesting. One of my favorite series of novels deals with how very intelligent, very helpful robots with nearly unlimited power decide to interfere with other sentient life and the degrees they either stand off or change things -- and they bicker back and forth about how much consent is required, what constitutes consent, etc. It's an interesting sci fi concept when intelligence exceeds a certain margin in machines. Humans get tired, but smart computers can work as tirelessly as servers and scale in a way humans never could. Pretty much an endless amount of stories to mine out of that sort of thing. |
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Aug 6, 2015 00:54
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The group of 'permanent survivors' you describe could be being kept alive by the RWMs as long-term tests of regenerative systems or something. They have an organ somewhere in their body that staves off damage from lack of oxygen or any other thing, old age, etc, and repairs the damage as it can, prints out a new kidney, whatever. Maybe it was a huge experiment with thousands of iterations of the system and a huge portion of them led to cancer-ridden monstrosities whose metabolisms are still somehow being kept alive despite the hideous growths the maintenance system is maintaining. Maybe these things are a major part of keeping the wasteland very dangerous. The survivors are the ones with the iteration that worked properly (maybe in slightly different ways) and the RWMs are very interested in getting them in to finish the testing. Could be a story there. |
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Aug 6, 2015 00:57
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The RWM would probably have two sects that were constantly fighting (ideologically that is, probably not physically). I mean, they'd be trying to refine computational methods to do testing in an automated and quick fashion in simulation, and then the group that does the physical world testing constantly critiquing the failure of the simulated methods to achieve perfect results and resulting in real world suffering due to imperfect methods and testing. Probably huge chunks of RWM would be just giant computers trying to strategize out how to improve on their models and methods, and they'd be significantly smarter than your average worker bot 'field doctor'. Might help bring the RWM down to 'player character' level to not have each individual robot be unimaginably intelligent, if you wanted to have players as the doctors -- plus would give them an authority figure to rail against if they disagreed with anything... |
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Aug 6, 2015 01:02
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it seems like for the robots to do the most good theyd have to study and interact with humans to collect data on how humans act/react to different scenarios, the human brain is insanely complex on its own without even accounting for changes in stimuli, so maybe the robots present different scenarios involving danger to the pcs in order to study their actions and reactions and ability to survive or thrive depending on environment
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Aug 6, 2015 01:18
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Good, good. :)
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Aug 6, 2015 01:19
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like its really easy relatively speaking to cut a person and study how their body repairs the wound or the most effective way to stop the bleeding, but its a lot harder to predict how a human will react when presented with the choice of saving himself and one person they care about vs saving a group of 10 strangers, or the psychological ramifications of killing or death or hardship, itd be cool if maybe the robots planted chips in the pcs to observe them so they could study their actions and the pcs either had their memory wiped or spend the game trying to destroy the robots or find someone who can remove the chip so they can stop being targeted and tracked by the bots
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Aug 6, 2015 01:23
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I love the central concept that they are entirely benevolent, despite the fact that you might see an enormous hall full of horrible test subjects... It kind of reminds me of the problems surrounding the Oregon National Primate Research Center run by the OHSU here, which has a 'farm' of ~4,800 primates for research as its central part, one of like three centers like it in the entire country and the largest one I think. Amazing science out of there but people have a lot of problems with it and there's constant ethics boards considerations etc... edit: Which they call 'NHP's or 'non-human primates' to clarify the issue I suppose, lol |
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Aug 6, 2015 01:24
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Utilitarian Robot: Murdering you will result in a +5 Happiness Net Gain.
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Aug 6, 2015 01:26
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Ace of Baes posted:Utilitarian Robot: Murdering you will result in a +5 Happiness Net Gain. That annoying hack Yudowsky had a essay about this, about like how specifying any pure maximization formula for 'goodness' or 'happiness' or whatever is a disastrous idea with smart robots, because like, if you program it that 'happy faces = good' and 'sad faces = bad' it eventually will convert all matter in the universe into 10-atom across smiley faces to maximize 'happiness' in the universe |
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Aug 6, 2015 01:27
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Ace of Baes posted:like its really easy relatively speaking to cut a person and study how their body repairs the wound or the most effective way to stop the bleeding, but its a lot harder to predict how a human will react when presented with the choice of saving himself and one person they care about vs saving a group of 10 strangers, or the psychological ramifications of killing or death or hardship, itd be cool if maybe the robots planted chips in the pcs to observe them so they could study their actions and the pcs either had their memory wiped or spend the game trying to destroy the robots or find someone who can remove the chip so they can stop being targeted and tracked by the bots these robots don't give a poo poo about how humans act they're doctors. without morals.
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Aug 6, 2015 01:29
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I volunteer for participating in this |
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Aug 6, 2015 01:45
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Jimi Changa posted:these robots don't give a poo poo about how humans act they're doctors. without morals. psychology and mental health are partt of medicine ---------------- |
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Aug 6, 2015 01:56
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probably a pretty important part too. I mean I bet like, everybody in the post apocalypse is crazy depressed. Also they'd want to keep their test subjects happy if possible I suppose |
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Aug 6, 2015 02:04
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what would robots think about antibiotics |
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Aug 6, 2015 02:59
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bog pixie posted:what would robots think about antibiotics hard to say what a group of hyper-medicine possessing robots would think about antibiotics... maybe they'd consider them too broad spectrum in general, favoring targeting the exact pathogen they wanted to destroy if using medication? idk. sorry if I am missing a joke here. I know antibiotics is like anti-life, but we already established the robots were trying to do good. |
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Aug 6, 2015 03:38
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I would like to see the dietary recommendations of dwm within the constraints of the wasteland. is cannibalism what the doctor orders in some areas?
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Aug 6, 2015 03:44
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Jimi Changa posted:then they'd also get to treat the wasteland victims of the zombie battles too. it's a win win for the robots This is a perfectly tailor-made excuse for throwing carefully-paced waves of zombies that are juuust undermatched for the party.  Like, so perfect that if I didn't know better I'd think it must have been contrived in reverse, that DWM was conceived as a very elaborate but solid rationalization for lazy encounter design.
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Aug 6, 2015 05:24
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City of Glompton posted:I would like to see the dietary recommendations of dwm within the constraints of the wasteland. is cannibalism what the doctor orders in some areas? Hah yeah, the insane diets robots might put humans on for their own good would be cool |
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Aug 6, 2015 05:29
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| # ? Jun 12, 2024 02:52 |
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would a Dr trapped between two teams having a gun battle run around attending to the good and bad guys , or target the one doing the most damage and kill him/her? |
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Aug 6, 2015 06:03
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