Techno-Shifter

[Zenvis]

Hey guys do we have a techno-guy thats the equivalent of a Shifter? One of my players doesn't want to do magic shifter but find an alternative. I've found nothing. Has anyone found something or made something?

[Shadow Wyrm]

The Techno-Shifter OCC is found in Rifter 13. I've used it once or twice in games, they can be fun.

[Shark_Force]

iirc, techno-shifter is mostly about techno-wizardry where you incorporate summoned beings into your stuff. it's bio-wizardry lite, and generally speaking the splugorth are noted as not approving of such wizards, mostly because it's kinda the first step to figuring out bio-wizardry. you also won't be on good terms with most warlocks you meet, in all likelihood.

but what it sounds like is that you're trying to have a technological means of summoning creatures, not so much a techno-wizard with a shifter focus? i can't think of anything, really, but the closest equivalent i can imagine would be something like an operator specializing in robotics and AI that could eventually start getting their hands on some of the various combat drones that exist in the setting. i think there's a fairly cheap kittani tech automated turret that you could perhaps let them start off with a few of, but i'm not sure which book it's in... but it's basically a gun with little crab legs that it can walk around on and latch onto things. alternately, they could start off with a couple of damaged labour-bots and a basic combat program that they can install into them. your main problem though is going to be repair costs... i would recommend that you mention the existence of forcefield technology (naruni will be the most readily-available source, although not the only one) and try your best to find some way to let them get their hands on at least some limited versions. of course, the other players will also want to get them, but the nice thing about being an operator is that your time is worth a lot of money to the black market... so you can probably afford things more so than most characters.

[Zenvis]

My player wants to do rift jumping like Stargate.

[guardiandashi]

It sounds to me like you want something like a "D-hopper" from the Robert Asprin "Myth" series
as far as I know no such device exists in rifts but there is no reason you can't make one up.

the way the D-hopper was described in the novel series was a short rod with a series of bands wrapped around it, each band was the equivalent of a wheel from a combination lock such as you find on some cases. each wheel has a bunch of "settings" I am thinking somewhere around 10-20, and there should be a minimum of 5 wheels I think. A 5 wheel 10 settings per would have ~10,000 possible destinations. a 5 wheel 20 settings per wheel combination would have 3.2 MILLION options.
and of course you could simplify or complicate it by tweeking what the various wheels do.

one possibility would actually be go with the 10 settings/wheel, for say 3-4 wheels and make them the dimension coordinates, then have another 3-6 wheels (possibly with a larger number of options) and make them "coordinate" settings similar to the stargate concept where you define the destination coordinates such as in 3 dimensional space.

I am thinking you may want to make the system have a bit of a safe and sane feature (or not) in that it won't jump you to a location that would be instantly fatal, so no hopping into deep space if the chars are not wearing environmental suits up to vacuum, no bouncing into an erupting volcano etc.

things like that are items I would consider when making something like that up.

[Starmage21]

My player wants to do rift jumping like Stargate.

Any Techno-Wizard that knows the Dimensional Portal spell can create a TW device with it.

[Dog_O_War]

My player wants to do rift jumping like Stargate.

If you're looking for a purely technological option, you're out of luck. Dimensional shifting is only achieved (currently) via magic. Allegedly.

That said, if you're doing some kind of Stargate-themed Rifts adventure, you can always set up such technology as the work of some sort of ancient aliens.

[Shark_Force]

My player wants to do rift jumping like Stargate.

If you're looking for a purely technological option, you're out of luck. Dimensional shifting is only achieved (currently) via magic. Allegedly.

That said, if you're doing some kind of Stargate-themed Rifts adventure, you can always set up such technology as the work of some sort of ancient aliens.

not quite. the megaversal legion has some sort of technological thing that lets you travel across dimensions.

that's pretty much all we know about it, mind you, but it does exist.

I can't remember for sure, but I think gene-splicers have something as well on their ships.

now, if you're talking commonly available... i think there's pretty much no options for that.

[Dog_O_War]

My player wants to do rift jumping like Stargate.

If you're looking for a purely technological option, you're out of luck. Dimensional shifting is only achieved (currently) via magic. Allegedly.

That said, if you're doing some kind of Stargate-themed Rifts adventure, you can always set up such technology as the work of some sort of ancient aliens.

not quite. the megaversal legion has some sort of technological thing that lets you travel across dimensions.

that's pretty much all we know about it, mind you, but it does exist.

I can't remember for sure, but I think gene-splicers have something as well on their ships.

now, if you're talking commonly available... i think there's pretty much no options for that.

I'll take your word for it, as I did not know those existed.

That said - Zenvis, as it's a device of some sort, the player can pretty much be whatever OCC he wants, as long as he has the device.

[FatherMorpheus]

This has made me ponder if this sort of technology would really ever be fully developed and implemented in the Rifts universe.

Even in Phase World, most of the dimensional hoping is performed via magic. There is a blurb about how space fold technology has issues due to the abundance of ley lines or something.

If a magical solution was easily available, would anyone really invest the time, effort and resources into creating a technological based solution?

I would +1 Dog_O_War's comments. Make up a small device, write rules for it, and make it basically irreplaceable. Makes it interesting for a character to have an item for that, they tend to be very protective of it.

[Library Ogre]

Transdimensional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles included such devices; I'd use those as a benchmark.

[Daniel Stoker]

Isn't their also a device like that in the 'basement' of Lonestar?


Daniel Stoker

[Nightmask]

Isn't their also a device like that in the 'basement' of Lonestar?


Daniel Stoker

An unfinished prototype device, while it can open rifts it's completely random and completely uncontrollable where they open up (hence the escape of the rat humanoids Lonestar had created), and currently looks to be way too dangerous to actually continue working with.

[Daniel Stoker]

I always wondered if that was the one in the original BtS adventure.


Daniel Stoker

[Glistam]

Dinosaur Swamp talks about how this technology existed and was used in a willful and controlled matter periodically during the year before the cataclysm. It has yet to be rediscovered.

[Library Ogre]

I always wondered if that was the one in the original BtS adventure.


Daniel Stoker

I wanted to combine that BtS adventure and the Coming of the Rifts. But the fact that it exists in TrTMNT means that it can show up in Rifts.

[Zenvis]

My player wants to do rift jumping like Stargate.

If you're looking for a purely technological option, you're out of luck. Dimensional shifting is only achieved (currently) via magic. Allegedly.

That said, if you're doing some kind of Stargate-themed Rifts adventure, you can always set up such technology as the work of some sort of ancient aliens.

not quite. the megaversal legion has some sort of technological thing that lets you travel across dimensions.

that's pretty much all we know about it, mind you, but it does exist.

I can't remember for sure, but I think gene-splicers have something as well on their ships.

now, if you're talking commonly available... i think there's pretty much no options for that.

I'll take your word for it, as I did not know those existed.

That said - Zenvis, as it's a device of some sort, the player can pretty much be whatever OCC he wants, as long as he has the device.

I like that idea.