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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeavenShallBurn" data-source="post: 3964846" data-attributes="member: 39593">Nice post, I'll run down the line and add what I canGecko Tape:  By the way it should be on the market within the next year or so depending on circumstances.  It's entertaining and useful, but in a limited fashion.  The stuff works well but only when clean, it can only grab onto a clean surface and picks up microscopic debris as used so that over time its performance degrades until it's cleaned.  Even then it wears fairly quickly if used intensively.Biosteel:  The goat idea didn't work out very well, they couldn't extract the stuff usably from the milk even though all the proper proteins were present.  However they finally took the advice they'd been repeatedly given for years.  Instead they'll be introducing the gene into Silkworms as they are designed to extrude silk and there are well established methods of getting industrial quantities of silk from them.  The process works on them too, so it's just a matter of ramping production and setting up facilities.  EDIT:  What I'd really like to see is a way to get human skin to produce a network of these filaments.  Maybe between the epidermis and dermis?  Invisibility:  The details are correct, the experiments have used metamaterials in particular a series of lenses with negative indexis of refraction.  A thing that was considered impossible until the invention of this new type of material using some very peculiar quirks of physics at a tiny scale.  They haven't managed to direct visible light in this manner.  They have managed to use this method to play with EM radiation in the spectrums used for military sensors though.  Unfortunately it wouldn't be any good for a cloak.  The material needs to be engineered for a particular rigid shape to function.  When the quirks are worked out though I expect it to see use as a low-observability layer on vehicles to reduce their sensor signature.Microwave Gun:  This little beauty is much more interesting and useful than the releases go into.  Unfortunately a combination of two factors has caused it to be pulled from its first Iraq deployment.  1.)  People react to its use very poorly due to its characteristics.  2.)  Geneva Convention and UCMJ Reg concerns over how to classify its use and where it fits.  [sblock]Plus This:  Like most anything the procurement bureaucracy (may they all spend an eternity trying to get equipment from the quartermasters of Hell) it wasn't tested very realistically.  Used as the provisional doctrine would it's not very effective in real world situations.  But completely unofficially it's capable of much more power than the controllers are set for.  The control electronics can be rigged to produce a much more intense beam.  One that I do not joke can boil a goat in its own hide at more than 100 yards and burst chickens into flames in a matter of seconds.  There were already incidents during testing where they discovered that in circumstances not so rigorously controlled it could be quite dangerous even at lower power.  That impromptu exercise in GI engineering on top of all the other concerns was the one that broke the camel's back.[/sblock]Xavier 800:  This little gem is useful even though it's at the beginning of its operational life.  And they're already developing the next unit in the line which promises much more capability.Rocket Belt:  An interesting toy, but can only carry enough fuel for a few seconds airborne.  The model using a rotary engine and ducted fans looked much more viable but the company that was going to produce it folded.LRAD:  It's a bad joke, useless against any determined foe.  It got good press after that cruise ship, but what fended off the pirates wasn't the LRAD it was their maneuvering.  The pirates were unable to close to board for fear of being sunk in the attempt as the cruise ship maneuvered.  Powered Exoskeleton:  I have great hopes for this technology.  I've been watching the development of the necessary elements and experiments for more than 20 years ever since I saw the old Hardiman stuff.  Right now it's not even a newborn, but given some time I expect this to turn into something big.2025 Concept:  A nice concept, some of the features are very important and should be fast-tracked for expedited development.  But others are simply completely lacking in common sense.  Unfortunately these sort of programs are in need of a grizzled enlistedmen to do a little constructive readjustment to make them more suitable for the real world as opposed to the laboratory and photo op.  Just look at the abomination that was the OICW.ARP Trainer:  I'd much rather just accelerate research on genetic engineering.  Salamanders and starfish regenerate limbs, bears can hibernate for months without losing muscle mass.  Don't play with devices build the best abilities of the animal kingdom into the population.</blockquote>

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