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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DreadPirateMurphy" data-source="post: 2804745" data-attributes="member: 20715">Don't forget "War Against the Chtorr" -- book series plus a good GURPS supplement.The Cylons in the new Battlestar Galactica use both human-looking biological constructs and cyborg spaceships.Anne McAffrey's "Ship Who Sang" is about ships run by human brains.  That was also a factor in a book called "The Biofab War," which also had genetically engineered "alien" warriors.Star Trek, had Tinman, Xindi, and the Borg, plus the race that almost destroyed the Borg on Voyager.  Don't forget Khan and his genetic supermen.  The Dominion was run by shapeshifters who engineered their servants.Stephen King's "The Stand" is about a genetically engineered superflu that wipes out most of Earth's population.  The movies "Outbreak" and "The Andromeda Strain" are also worth a look.The various incarnations of "War of the Worlds" usually have some type of biowarfare aspect.  There are books, movies, TV series, radio broadcasts, etc.  In most, the aliens are defeated by germs.David Brin's Uplift books feature almost any kind of weapon possible, and focus on the concept of uplift, or altering species to add sentience and breed them for specific abilities.B5 has already been mentioned for regular use of ancient biotech.  Some of the supplements from Mongoose and the older Agents of Gaming "B5 Wars" line talk more about biotech.  The "Technomage Handbook" is probably the most readily available.  The B5 novels are also worth looking at.  One of the episodes of Crusade was about experimental super soldiers.The Aliens of the movies weren't just coveted as bioweapons, they were apparently designed with that purpose in mind.The Species films also posit an alien message broadcasting instructions for how to create a lethal alien creature (with some implausible science behind it).There was a book or series of books called something like "Deathworld," where the planet itself was fighting colonists like an infection.  Also check out Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri computer game, and Anne McCaffrey's (again) "Powers That Be" series.Asimov's Foundation series ultimately ended with the creation of a galaxy-wide consciousness as a defense mechanism...really.  If you consider group consciousness as biotech, you have the Borg, one of the League races in B5, plus the antagonists in Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game."  The sequels to that book also have much of interest.  The webcomic "Miracle of Science" has a Mars population that is a single group mind.Larry Niven's "Known Space" books touch on the concept.  Check out "Protector" and the Ringworld novels.  He also wrote "The Mote in God's Eye" and "The Gripping Hand" with Jerry Pournelle, which both feature an alien race with bio-engineered castes doomed to repetitive cycles of war due to overpopulation.The T1000 Terminators were technically cyborgs."Brave New World" is a classic dystopian novel where humans are bred to specific roles through chemical manipulation of embryos.Dan Simmons series starting with "Hyperion" have some interesting takes on biological technology -- including AIs exploiting the hyperactivity in human brains at the moment of death.David Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" series has a plotline involving the souls of the dead taking over the bodies of the living.  They can change their appearance at will.  There is also a great deal of discussion of group consciousness shared with biological habitats and spaceships, e.g., voidhawks.  Also worthwhile for the discussion of human nano-enhancement and cyborg mercenaries.  Highly recommended.Frank Herbert's Dune series talked much about biological manipulation of humanity in the form of Mentats, Facedancers, and others.  Largely, that was a result of a prohibition on computing technology dating back to a war between AIs and humans.Check out the GURPS Transhuman Space line of books.  They are packed to the brim with all sorts of information.  They are a must-read if you are interested in the topic.  From more of a fantasy perspective, you can check out Chaositech from Malhavoc/Sword & Sorcery.  It has a cool technical/biological feel to it.  Green Ronin's race book "Plot and Poison" on the Drow has some interesting takes on "vermincraft" weapons.  Fiend Folio from WotC also talks about grafts (as do some other books).  The D20 Gamma World books also have some rules for mutations and bioweapons -- I assume all of the Gamma World books, plus many other post-apocalyptic settings have such.Star Wars was already mentioned for their "New Jedi Era" setting.  There are plenty of novels describing that time period, plus a D20 Star Wars source book.Do psychic powers count?  Check out "Akira."  Steven King's "Firestarter" is also interesting.  Both feature attempts to "weaponize" such abilities.  For that matter, the comic X-Factor is about a government team of mutants.  Between psychic powers and mutants, the comic book and anime references have to be in the THOUSANDS.The whole Robotech saga also has a LOT of biotech, mostly on the side of the enemies, but even human mecha were powered by protoculture.Well, that is what I can come up with off the top of my head.  I'm sure I could find more if I searched the Web.</blockquote>

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