In 1982, TSR released a science-fiction role-playing game called Star Frontiers. The rules weren’t great, but I loved the campaign world – so much that I recently started running a new game for my kids using the Star Frontiers universe and the Mutants and Masterminds rules.
While re-reading the 1982 books, I was amused to see that that one of SF‘s “futuristic” devices is already obsolete in the real world. It’s called a “chronograph/communicator.”
The Basic Game Rules explains:
This device looks
like a large wristwatch, but it can do many things. It is a watch with
a lighted face that can be used as a stopwatch; it is a mini-calculator;
it is a radio/video communicator that can be used to talk with other characters
up to 5 kilometers away. It can be used to summon the police or a rental
skimmer, as well.
I was also amused by the SF ID card:
All characters carry an ID card.
An ID card can be used only by its owner, because the computers which read
ID cards also scan the character’s thumbprint.ID cards are commonly used as credit cards. When
a character buys something, his ID card must be inserted into a computer.
He places his thumb (or paw, or digit, or pseudopod) on a screen so the
character can verify his identity, and then the money is deducted automatically
from the character’s bank account. This same process is used to pay for
monorail rides and rented skimmers. Money can be deposited into an account
without the card, but the card is needed to get money out.
Question for Geeks: Which SF device is coming to the real world next? The poly-vox is my pick.
A poly-vox is a specialized computer that can be worn
around the throat. It translates a message that it hears in one language
into another language, and then repeats it. It can learn an unknown
language if it can be programmed with key phrases, and then exposed
to the language for 1-100 hours (see Language). A character does not
need computer skill to use a poly-vox.
P.S. Pictures are taken from Star Frontiers: Basic Game Rules (copyright 1982 TSR Hobbies).
READER COMMENTS
guthrie
Aug 18 2010 at 11:38am
The Army is already working on Exoskeleton prototypes… that’d be my vote.
Dan Weber
Aug 18 2010 at 12:20pm
Some of the technology on Star Trek: TNG is already archaic. Watch the excellent episode “Darmok” and realize that with Google they would have solved it in about 10 seconds.
scott clark
Aug 18 2010 at 12:47pm
Dan Weber,
How would Google have solved the language problem? Assuming the Darmok speakers didn’t have their foundational stories up in a place searchable by google, since contact had been so limited between the Federation and whatever that race was called.
It seemed to me the univerasal translator was working perfectly, translating all the nouns and verbs correctly and leaving proper nouns alone. It was just that the Federation had never before bothered to figure out what they were really trying to communicate with those particular combinations of names, places, nouns and verbs.
Dan Weber
Aug 18 2010 at 1:15pm
The relevant stories were all in the Federation database. But Data and Troi (IIRC) needed to collate themselves together manually. They asked about one keyword, got a list, and then another keyword, got another list, and happened to notice one story being common to both lists.
Today it’s pretty obvious that a computer can solve that very easily its own.
Zac Gochenour
Aug 18 2010 at 1:26pm
A polyvox would be pretty cool, and I suspect you’re right that something like that will appear soon.
I think it is funny that many of the devices seem totally unimpressive (eg high-quality sunglasses) and yet “subspace radio” is on the list also with the description “A subspace message crosses one light-year in one hour.”
Why does the exoskeleton provide no extra protection to the wearer?
I also think its possible we’d see something like the toxyrad gauge, it doesn’t seem too far off from devices that already exist. http://www.delphian.com/electrochemical%20sensors.htm
Mike Hammock
Aug 18 2010 at 2:15pm
Wow, I loved Star Frontiers. I didn’t even think the rules were all that bad, particularly the Zebulon’s Guide revised version (although the space combat was extremely clunky). I liked that everything had percentages.
The chronocom (as it’s called in the advanced rules) is still nifty in the sense that it’s a walkie-talkie crammed into a wristwatch. Sure, cell phones have a long range, but only with antennas and satellites scattered around. The polyvox worked on a remote uninhabited planet, too! Still, it does seem pretty unimaginative. We’ll shrink a multifunction walkie-talkie/computer down to wristwatch size before long.
The Phraselator isn’t quite as cool as the polyvox, but it’s still cool.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phraselator
Looking at the other SF equipment (and ignoring the weapons and defenses, because really, who cares about them?):
http://www.f4fbbs.com/StarFrontiers/rules/ADXTOC/sfadx-23.htm
http://www.f4fbbs.com/StarFrontiers/rules/ZEBTOC/SFZEB-23.HTM#misc
None of it looks terribly futuristic nowe. I guess the Crete Sprayer would be neat.
azmyth
Aug 18 2010 at 3:23pm
If you’ve ever played the hard sci fi game Traveller, you’ll be struck by how much of the technology listed there seems obsolete. To be fair to the game, it does list seperate technology levels that worlds can be assigned, but even the most advanced stuff seems a bit primitive. It’s the only sci fi game where you need to use Kepler’s laws to determine travel time between planets.
gahusker
Aug 18 2010 at 3:46pm
Oh man — Star Frontiers. I totally forgot about that game. Never before has an Econ blog made me feel like I was in my parent’s basement overdosing on Mountain Dew.
Duncan
Aug 18 2010 at 7:04pm
Eric Raymond points out that the tricorder from Star Trek is now (give or take) reality:
Doc Merlin
Aug 18 2010 at 8:09pm
The military already uses handheld translators that work like the poly-vox.
Sol
Aug 18 2010 at 10:53pm
Somewhat surprised to see you are using the M&M rules instead. I got really frustrated with them when I was playing in a superhero game a few years back. In particular, the fact that d20s were rolled by both attacker and defender created a weird situation where my hero would miss his opponent about 80% of the time, but when he did hit would usually knock them back several miles.
Silas Barta
Aug 19 2010 at 5:49pm
Darmok and your mom at Boril.
botogol
Aug 20 2010 at 6:52am
Google is working on Polyvox for Android..
http://mashable.com/2010/02/08/speech-to-speech/#
A New Zealand company is making good progress on exoskeletons
http://dvice.com/archives/2010/07/even-new-zealan.php
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