This GURPS Transhuman Space supplement gives an overview of biotech,
dealing with all the fiddly bits that aren't bioroids or smart
uplifted animals (which were in Bioroid Bazaar).
Disclaimer: I received playtest credit in this book and
therefore did not pay for it.
Bioroid Bazaar was a very crunchy book, with lots of stats for
various sorts of constructed creature. This one has its share of
numbers, but the bulk of the material is history and flavour for the
setting.
The first chapter begins with a history of bioengineering, both
skimming over the present day and showing how things progressed to get
to the setting date of 2100. This is particularly important because
biotech is slow: modified animals and humans take time to grow, and
if a technique wasn't invented until 2075 then the products of it
won't be more than 25 years old. There's treatment of genefixing (and
how it shades into improved humans and people who aren't really humans
any more), uplifted animals, and bioroids, all of these filled with
comments on the attitudes of various factions in the setting, and the
sort of friction that will generate adventures.
The second chapter looks at sapient biological non-humans (this is the
sort of setting where all those words make important distinctions).
How do people feel about bioroids, for example? Disapproving because
they were created as slaves but should be treated as people, because
their creation is meddling with things that mankind shouldn't touch,
because they're Taking Our Jobs, because they're often scary fighting
types, or because it's more profitable when they're illegal; or in
favour, because they save humans from dangerous jobs, because
diversity is a goal in itself, or because existing bioroids should be
allowed to have offspring? All these attitudes exist in the setting,
and will cause people to act in different ways. Players have discussed
at some length whether bioroids are economic in a world that also has
AI labour, and why there's such a strong revulsion to biological
shells operated by computer rather than organic brains; those are
dealt with here. And just what does the "legal minor" status of
Bioroids on the Pan-Sapient Rights Table (the single most important
table in Transhuman Space) mean? They're certainly not treated just
like human children; details are here. The chapter ends with a section
of rules, considering what constitutes a "species" for medical
purposes, and looking at traits like Empathy, Resistance, and Phobia
in the context of this complex world.
The final chapter gives templates for various non-humanoid species,
mostly tools or animals rather than potential player characters.
(Though I still want to play an uplifted octopus some time.) All of
these are also given in "just the stats" form for ready use as
animal encounters.
There are vast numbers of adventure possibilities included here, not
of the blatant sort ("this bad thing is happening") but explaining
people's attitudes and the things those attitudes drive them to do.
It's thoroughly tied into the setting, but some of the ideas (and
templates) will be usable elsewhere. Transhuman Space: Bio-Tech 2100
is available from
Warehouse 23.
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