[gurps] Brainships in GURPs 3ed

[Classified TS/BBR]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Classified TS/BBR" <ClassifiedTSBBR at orcon.net.nz>
To: "The GURPSnet mailing list" <gurpsnet-l at sjgames.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 2:04 PM
Subject: Re: [gurps] Brainships in GURPs 3ed


> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Zan Lynx" <zlynx at acm.org>
> To: <copeab at yahoo.com>; "The GURPSnet mailing list" 
> <gurpsnet-l at sjgames.com>
> Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 1:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [gurps] Brainships in GURPs 3ed
>
>
>> On Wed, 2008-04-30 at 18:28 -0700, Brandon Cope wrote:
>>> --- On Wed, 4/30/08, tprist <tprist at clearwire.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> > I have a question for all the Gearheads out there,
>>> > Especially either Onno,
>>> > or Brandon.  Has anyone tried to do a Brainship similar to
>>> > the ones in the
>>> > Anne McCaffery universe in either GURPs Vehicle 3ed, or
>>> > Space 3ed?
>>>
>>> Sorry, I don't read McCaffery. No idea what a Brainship is.
>>
>> Here's a quick summary:
>>
>> Human beings who are born with serious problems or have been too badly
>> damaged are put into "shells".  These are full life-support systems and
>> neural interface units.  These shell-people are then used to run ships,
>> space stations or other things.  They are cyborg brains, sort of.
>>
>> In the books there's quite a bit about how some shell people are treated
>> as machines and don't care for it.  There's also a romance between a
>> shell-person woman and her "brawn" (the guy who does physical stuff for
>> the ship).  Of course, nothing can come of it: they are forever
>> separated.
>>
>> There's a thing invented in a later book: a remote control android body
>> for shell-people, and of *course* they use it. :)
>
> Since Shellpeople exist in a world where Brain-transplant/Full-body 
> Cyborgs apparently don't, I'd probably define the "shell" istelf as an 
> Automed (VE68) plus Neural Interface as a minimum. to do it properly you'd 
> want to design a minimalist vehicle around it (Wheels, Robot arms, 
> Auditory & Visual Sensors) & call the entire thing the "shell" (IIRC the 
> use of the Neural interface should let you rule that the space occupied by 
> the Automed is the Crew Quarters, Life Support (ESU functions), & Crew 
> "position"), with commlinks both for communication & linking into whatever 
> the larger vehicle or installation the Shellperson is in charge of.
Also, when installing a Shell in a larger vehicle or whatever, I'd put it in 
a *Heavily Armored* Vehicle Bay (not Hangar) (VE70)