"I think Hydrogen is a rare element" and other science facts.

[Joshua Randall]

I remember reading a science fiction story about a mining colony on the surface of a star

One of my favorite obscure maybe-facts is that under some theories, burned out stars become sphere of solid iron. On timescales far beyond human comprehension but in D&D world with its already nonsenscial physics, why not!

Future of an expanding universe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[billd91]

Getting all your science facts straight when doing sci-fi is hard. I’m ok to assume a good part of fiction in my science-fiction, but I prefer when the science part is hand-waved rather than explained.

Gas tends to have a low molecule-to-volume ratio and density at normal pressure. I’d have less issues accepting that hydrogen gas exists pure in the atmosphere of a planet than believing that scooping some without some process of pressurization and liquefaction would result in a lasting reserve of fuel. But if a GM just tells me “you can refuel your ship by scooping the atmosphere of certain planets with the right gas composition, because hand-wavium technology”, I’d accept it.

In fact, skimming the atmosphere of a gas giant to refuel has been a standard for Traveller without a lot of complaint because it has been part of the hand-wavium technology for decades. Your ship has to be streamlined and have the fuel scoops, you have to take the time, and if you don't spend time in-system refining what you've scooped and fire up the jump drive, you increase the likelihood of a misjump. So, a lot of effort has been put toward making it a part of the standard setting and technology to make it seem pretty reasonable in an "OK, I'll buy that" way to players.

 

[Faolyn]

So I had a conversation about this once. We were discussing common, expensive material components for spells, ones that have set prices. 100 gp pearls, diamonds and diamond dust, that sort of thing. If there components are consumed by casting (as happens in many versions of D&D), what happens when, you know, the world runs out of them? Even though pearls are grown, there can't be that many of the right price. Or does inflation and local pricing matter? Does Identify require lesser pearls in the desert than it does in a sea town?

Do diamonds automatically replenish themselves, perhaps due to some rift to an elemental plane? Do the Gods do it? Will prices or even components change over time? Are these things bought and sold in a "mage marketplace"?

And what does happen if an enterprising Wizard opens a Gate to the Elemental Plane of Earth and negotiates with the Dao for gems in bulk?

There was an old Dragon mag for 1e, I believe, that had a spell for dwarf clerics that actually regrew gemstones and metals. It took decades or longer, depending on what was being grown, and if the area was disturbed before the process was complete, the spell ended early.

So it's entirely possible that something like this is going on in the background. Or that they naturally regrow because of the will of the earth gods (one could also say that plants grow because of the will of the plant gods), and as long as those gods exist, there will always be metals and gemstones. Or perhaps certain creatures turn into gemstones or metals when they die. Which could make for an interesting plot point--dwarfs mine it, unaware or uncaring of the fact that they are disrupting a corpse, and this has the side effect of creating undead. If they learn the truth, what will they do with that information?

There was also an Order of the Stick strip that had a wizard's apprentice being proud about how she negotiated a lower price for diamond dust, only to be told to go back and spend more money because the spell needed a specific gp value. "Realistically," a spell should require a the gems to be measured by weight or by carets rather than by how much they're worth. Especially since, back in real medieval times, platinum was a junk metal and diamonds weren't valued as much as more colorful gems like rubies and emeralds.

 

[Faolyn]

Or humans devolving into giant salamanders after going above a certain faster-than-light speed.

I am deeply convinced that was supposed to be a comedy episode that didn't work.

 

[overgeeked]

There is no reason to believe a fantastic game world has to follow real-world scientific principles, and yet, many GM's seem to insist that the fundamentals of their game world are "just like Earth, save where noted".

It’s mostly for ease of use. The more changes you make the more the players have to filter their actions through those changes.

This usually runs headlong into desires to keep gunpowder from existing and of course, the strange schizo-tech of games (like say, D&D), where bastard swords, galleons, and articulated plate armor totally exist when other things developed in those same eras do not.

Just embrace the anachronistic gonzo.

 

[Alzrius]

Do diamonds automatically replenish themselves, perhaps due to some rift to an elemental plane? Do the Gods do it? Will prices or even components change over time? Are these things bought and sold in a "mage marketplace"?

I remember seeing a spell in a 3.X third-party product that essentially laid a "seed" for a location to turn into a diamond mine after several decades (or maybe it was centuries), with a note that dwarven clerics would cast the spell periodically, since otherwise most game worlds would likely have been mined out a long time ago.

 

[Umbran]

But if a GM just tells me “you can refuel your ship by scooping the atmosphere of certain planets with the right gas composition, because hand-wavium technology”, I’d accept it.

The Bussard Ramjet was the go-to of science fiction for quite a while - scoop hydrogen right out of "empty" space!

 

[Composer99]

Or humans devolving into giant salamanders after going above a certain faster-than-light speed.

Poor Anthony..

 

[Laurefindel]

The Bussard Ramjet was the go-to of science fiction for quite a while - scoop hydrogen right out of "empty" space!

Oh right, wasn’t Red Dwarf a mining vessel doing exactly that?

 

[Willie the Duck]

The Bussard Ramjet was the go-to of science fiction for quite a while - scoop hydrogen right out of "empty" space!

Poul Anderson (of Appendix N Three Hearts and Three Lions fame) had a book about one of those (Tau Zero). I think Star Trek ships supposedly have magnetic collectors on the front of their nacelles. Conceptually (IIRC), it works. It's just no longer considered a likely path to interstellar travel because 1) the (general) interstellar medium is a lot less dense than initially predicted, and 2) fusing Hydrogen-1 (the bulk of what would be scooped up) is a lot harder than we thought it would be.

Oh right, wasn’t Red Dwarf a mining vessel doing exactly that?

That's supposedly its propulsion method. The actual mining it does is regular minerals I think (doesn't it actually have a chunk of asteroid that it was working on in the initial ship model?).