------------------------------
1999 #518
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 03:06:18 PST
From: Leonard Erickson
Subject: Re: RPG Paranoia trying to get back OT
In mail you write:
>> (snip)..., but if these kids of weapons were restricted to begin
>> with, the tragedy could have been averted. I saw a list of the
>> weapons they had -- most of which are, in Canada, illegal for a
>> private citizen to own.
>
> Exactly! I mean I'd like to own guns, but they are restricted in
> Germany and I agree to this policy, because I know that if I had free
> access to guns, everybody else would have, too.
>
> And there are elements of society which should not be able to get
> guns this easily. But detecting them before they go on a rampage is
> nigh impossible. So I agree, that while guns are not "The Problem"
> (Guns are never bad by themselves, just the uses to which they are
> sometimes put), free access is just to dangerous.
Alas, free access to information is much harder to prevent. Much of the stuff I know about the destructive uses that may be made of various common chemicals came from safety manuals.
So to get back to Traveller, consider the situation at higher TLs. High school kids will be capable of making chemical and bio weapons (they have that capability now). Nuclear weapons and other high tech nasties will be possible. Ditto for genetic engineering to make even nastier biohazards.
Now have the characters get contacted by the local authorities to help deal with a bunch of students who have smuggled in or recreated some ancient weapon. Why contact them? Well, according to their service records, they've handled one of these things in the past.... :-)
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort