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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HellHound" data-source="post: 3442831" data-attributes="member: 3397">So, the recurring theme of newTribes is alienation as a result of futureshock / technoshock. The desire for people to find community when faced with a world changing faster than they can possibly keep up with.Now, I've got mechanics in place to deal with alienation and the benefits of having a social group, but I really want to emphasize what makes it all click - the rapidly advancing tech curve.Here's the first block on the "Technology Curve" rules that I'm working on now:The assumption in newTribes is that most people are at least one step back around the technology curve. After all, the cutting edge wouldn’t be all that edgy if everyone had it.Hardware, software, wetware and just about anything can be purchased that is ‘cutting edge’ for twice the listed cost. As long as the hardware is not ‘downgraded’ using the Tech Curve table (see below), all work on the hardware will be at one difficulty level higher than normal to account for the lack of familiarity with the technology in question, unless the person has kept their skills up to date with the latest tech innovations.During character creation, a player can select a number of skills equal to half his Technical stat to have at ‘cutting edge’ levels. A character can update a skill to be ‘cutting edge’ through both one day of study and the expenditure of 1 skill point per level of the skill in question. Typically this will also cost between $10 and $100 per skill level, depending on the skill and circumstances of the upgrading (and can even be free if the character has legitimate employment in that field of work).However, keeping up to date is a losing battle in most cases. It is basically a given that if you learn everything there is to know about the hot new tech that it will no longer be the hot new tech. The Tech Curve table below is used to determine what changes have occurred between game sessions, and can be rolled on as frequently as the game master desires – typically between game sessions (which can result in very rapid tech escalation if the rolls come out at extreme ends of the table repeatedly).Once a particular field of technology has advanced, all ‘cutting edge’ items and skills in that category lose that descriptor.Now, the issue is how to deal with things that are 'out of date'. At first I was thinking of a rule that would have something become out of date if it was not 'cutting edge' through four successive tech updates. Out of date items wouldn't be any easier to work on, and would in fact cost more to repair because of the lack of spare parts on the market, but would be easier to hack, modify, or bypass. Out of date skills would treat all non out of date items as being cutting edge (ie: increase difficulties of skill checks by one category).However, this starts becoming a tracking nightmare. While it is easy to track the transition from 'cutting edge' to standard (just scratch off the cutting edge statement beside the skill or hardware when the tech curve advances), I can't think of any simple way to handle tracking the gradual switch from standard to 'out of date' using this kind of rules set.Maybe I'll just have to ditch the concept of 'out of date', or maybe create a new table item at 2 and 20 on the table (the Tech Curve table will be a 2d10 table) that involves a major tech paradigm update, where all items in that field become 'out of date'.Hmm... just typing up this brainstorm gave me that latest idea (the 2/20 result)... maybe that will work.Ideas / suggestions on how to deal with this?</blockquote>

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