Re: [TML] The Altered Sensorium - a possible theme for Freelance Traveller Phil Pugliese 24 Mar 2016 17:19 UTC

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Good stuff...
Things I never really thought about...

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On Thu, 3/24/16, Jeffrey Schwartz <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] The Altered Sensorium - a possible theme for Freelance Traveller
 To: "tml" <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 Date: Thursday, March 24, 2016, 6:27 AM

 Does this do anything for
 you?

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i809pu4G-iUvGOMdAg7zGsvE6pqDvweH8Fzn-ojgf4A/edit?usp=sharing

 On Sun, Mar 20, 2016 at 12:25
 AM, Freelance Traveller
 <xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com>
 wrote:
 > Most Traveller games that
 I've played in - or even been aware of - have
 > centered on characters that are
 more-or-less "normal". But not everyone
 > is "normal", and exceptional
 people may have challenges of their own to
 > meet. Sometimes, those challenges are
 known to the people around them -
 >
 blindness, deafness, neural or muscular deficiencies
 impeding normal
 > movement or
 manipulation, amputated or malformed limbs, and so on.
 > Sometimes, the challenges aren't
 immediately obvious, because the person
 >
 has learned to compensate, can control the challenging
 condition
 > medically, or because the
 challenge doesn't really impede normal
 > activity at all - colorblindness,
 synesthesia, depression, allergies,
 > and
 so on.
 >
 > In SF,
 sometimes, the challenge may not be a problem with the
 person,
 > but with the environment that
 the person find himself/herself in - a
 >
 normal human in an environment designed for a species that
 doesn't have
 > color vision, and uses
 a combination of pattern and texture to mark or
 > identify things where normal humans use
 color. An alien whose color
 > vision
 range excludes what we call blues and purples, but includes
 extra
 > "colors" beyond red,
 into what humans consider infrared - and needing to
 > cope with a human-oriented environment. Or
 maybe the difference is in
 > the range of
 audible frequencies - the high-pitched whine of older
 > computer monitors that's just a tiny
 bit too high for most humans to
 > hear
 might well drive Vargr straight up the wall. And so on, et
 cetera,
 > und so weiter.
 >
 > My challenge/request
 to you: Write something for Freelance Traveller
 > that centers on a difference in
 perception, or on an environment where
 >
 "normal" perception is potentially troublesome - a
 story where the main
 > character is
 colorblind, or a synesthete; a set of rules for handling
 > blindness or deafness in play; a profile
 of a character who suffers from
 > a
 psychological condition that needs to be kept in check with
 a
 >
 difficult-to-get-and-possibly-illegal-in-some-places
 medication; an
 > adventure where a
 K'kree family group has to cope with being among
 those
 > bloody-smelling meat-eaters
 /without/ killing them; a world where the
 > habitable areas seem to permanently have a
 fourteen-cycle note in the
 > background
 whose cause can't seem to be found - or muted;
 whatever.
 >
 > If I get
 enough of these, and they're good enough, I'll turn
 it into a
 > theme issue. If there
 isn't enough for a theme issue, they can still end
 > up being interesting, and might inspire
 ideas for future play.
 >
 > Don't just look and listen for ideas,
 feel around for them. See how they
 >
 taste, see if they pass the sniff test. Or smell if they
 look good. Or
 > some sort of
 mixed-sensory metaphor...
 >
 > --
 > Jeff Zeitlin,
 Editor
 > Freelance Traveller
 >     The Electronic
 Fan-Supported
 > 
    Traveller® Fanzine and Resource
 >
 > xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com
 > http://www.freelancetraveller.com
 > http://freelancetraveller.downport.com/
 >
 >
 >
 > ®Traveller is a
 registered trademark of
 > Far Future
 Enterprises, 1977-2014. Use of
 > the
 trademark in this notice and in the
 >
 referenced materials is not intended to
 >
 infringe or devalue the trademark.
 >
 > Freelance Traveller extends its thanks to
 the following
 > enterprises for hosting
 services:
 >
 > CyberNET
 Web Hosting (http://www.cyberwebhosting.net)
 > The Traveller Downport (http://www.downport.com)
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