Sci-fi tech in the real world

[Janx]

Historically, defense always lags offense. It is easier to break something than it is to protect the thing from breaking.

Bear in mind, the point of gaming is to do stuff, have stuff go wrong, then overcome the challenge.

Yes, there will be a device in the future to help translate for you. Having a live translator will be better.

However, this device will open up challenges, either through miscommunication, or when it fails. It will also be a handy solution in other situations. Like any PC advantage, it will be given opportunity to save the day, and opportunity to ruin the day.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Don't most games, like most television shows, handwave translation? That's what comprehend languages is meant to do in D&D.

Communicating is such a basic daily activity, a lot of folks (at least in the U.S.) get frustrated when even simple messages are a challenge to get across. Players who get frustrated tend to just start stabbing or shooting, which is often detrimental to the unfolding plot.

 

[Janx]

Don't most games, like most television shows, handwave translation? That's what comprehend languages is meant to do in D&D.

Communicating is such a basic daily activity, a lot of folks (at least in the U.S.) get frustrated when even simple messages are a challenge to get across. Players who get frustrated tend to just start stabbing or shooting, which is often detrimental to the unfolding plot.

Exactly. The point of "Translators" in star trek or any future game is to hand-wave the problem away, until the GM wants to make it a problem for the party.

The OP is simply pointing out that technology is moving closer to being able to do it now, which further justifies in the future.

As for translation issues in combat...you get 6 words per round. Assuming the other guy can hear you over the gunfire, I'm pretty sure he'll get your nuance.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If they don't understand what you're saying...shoot LOUDER!

And slower!

"<pow!>DO YOU UNDERSTAND<pow!><pow!><pow!>THE BULLETS<pow!><pow!>THAT ARE COMING<pow!><pow!>OUT OF MY GUN?<pow!><pow!><pow!>"

Exactly. The point of "Translators" in star trek or any future game is to hand-wave the problem away, until the GM wants to make it a problem for the party.

The OP is simply pointing out that technology is moving closer to being able to do it now, which further justifies in the future.

As for translation issues in combat...you get 6 words per round. Assuming the other guy can hear you over the gunfire, I'm pretty sure he'll get your nuance.

What I have always wanted to do, but never have, is act as a translator in an RPG...a translator who is slightly less than competent. Or maybe one under constant pressure, as was Yoshi in ST:Enterprise.

Heck...maybe I just didn't learn the language well...

Consider the classic, English As She Is Spoke.

Perhaps it could be done in a sci-fi campaign with a corrupted database in my universal translator...or with a sick babelfish?

OTOH, even Babelfish (the program) still has issues.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Just slightly off topic. Did anyone ever really use the Speak Languages rules in Runequest as written? (I still chuckle whenever I think of the RQ cartoon of a couple of characters with X to X dictionaries because they each had like 30% to speak their own language. And it was the same one! So they had a heck of a time just trying to talk to each other.)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just slightly off topic. Did anyone ever really use the Speak Languages rules in Runequest as written? (I still chuckle whenever I think of the RQ cartoon of a couple of characters with X to X dictionaries because they each had like 30% to speak their own language. And it was the same one! So they had a heck of a time just trying to talk to each other.)

While Kevin Sembieda often gets razzed for certain aspects of his Palladium rules- and justifiedly so- he did do one thing that was overlooked.

He actually advocated that GMs use common sense when adjudicating certain things, rather than relying on the RAW. In particular, he had noticed some people talking about their PCs doing "suicide shots" on themselves in an attempt to intimidate others- attacks that, RAW, their PCs would survive.

KS, however, asserted that if the result was nonsense, you should use common sense. In the particular case, he suggested that if a PC attacked himself with something that he would not be immune to but that wouldn't drop his HP into the lethal level, the PC should still be dead.

Or, to put it another way, if you're not immune to bullets, it doesn't matter how many HP you have- firing a Desert Eagle into your mouth is going to kill you.

 

[Andor]

My hovercraft is full of eels.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

A lot of older games featuring "sci-fi" failed to take into account a lot of the advances we have had due to our digital interconnectivity.

One example in particular, I ran a Torg campaign where a player was a cyberdecker. Almost every knowledge check could be replicated by "I take a picture of this and post it to a message board for a translation or explanation". I just decided to change the cyberdeck operations skill to being a catch all knowledge skill in addition to its other futuristic uses. It worked out just fine.

DS

 

[Wik]

What I have always wanted to do, but never have, is act as a translator in an RPG...a translator who is slightly less than competent. Or maybe one under constant pressure, as was Yoshi in ST:Enterprise.

Heck...maybe I just didn't learn the language well...

There's a really funny bit in the movie Hollywood Ending about this. the director (who is secretly blind) has a chinese cinematographer, and is using a chinese engineering student as his translator (but also secretly using the student as his "eyes" while he directs the movie). the character really steals the show, because he uses "advanced" English, but often uses large words slightly incorrectly, or insists on using formal, bookish English instead of short sentences. So, it takes him twice as long to say half as much. Plus he's a little dense in ways that only Engineers are capable of.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

A lot of older games featuring "sci-fi" failed to take into account a lot of the advances we have had due to our digital interconnectivity.

One example in particular, I ran a Torg campaign where a player was a cyberdecker. Almost every knowledge check could be replicated by "I take a picture of this and post it to a message board for a translation or explanation". I just decided to change the cyberdeck operations skill to being a catch all knowledge skill in addition to its other futuristic uses. It worked out just fine.

DS

I dunno about the internet in the future, but in the current day internet you'd get five completely different answers followed by a ten page thread filled with insults and hate over which answer was the right one ;p