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Spice and other drugs in Star Wars
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Son of Fire
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 2:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well that only depends to what degree of saturation your system has.

A Fremen or a Spacing Guild navigator would die without Spice Melange, but a minor noble in the Landsraad would probably continue his life if he never had any more Spice…though it would be a bit longer.
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Hellstorm
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

exactly true, any dosage over a period of time that affect you to the point of changing your body and/or mind (i.e. blue on blue eyes, stains, space folding, ect) would be an addictive dose requiring you to keep taking it.

Spice could actualy be used as a food enhancer (much like cinnamon) and it does not appear to produce the addictive effects of the Melange.
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Esoomian
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hellstorm wrote:
Esoomian wrote:
Very cool.

Even had the special rules for the Spice Melange. Laughing


One thing thats missing about the Melange is that it's a poison, if you stop using it, it kills you (thats directly from the book) 8)


Really?

My understanding is a little rusty as it's been a while since I read the book but I thought that Spice Melange extended your life (and was addictive) but if you stopped taking it while you were in 'extended time' then you died... Or was it Spice withdrawal that killed you. I forget now
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Hellstorm
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is from the book. Paul is speaking to his mother after a waking dream.

"the spice" he said. "It's in every thing here--- the air, the soil, the food, the geriatric spice. It's like the truthsayer drug. It's a poison!"

She stiffened.

His voice lowered and he repeated : "A poison---so subtle, so insidious...so irreversible. It won't even kill you unless you stop taking it. We can't leave Arrakis unless we take part of Arrakis with us."


I think that geriatric spice is the spice that prolongs life, but I'm not exactly sure, I'll try to look it up. 8)
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Hellstorm
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Couldn't find "geriatric", but I found the "Melange" description and it's as follow from the book "Dune"

MELANGE : the "spice of spices," the crop for which Arrakisis the unique source. The spice, chiefly noted for it's geriatric qualities, is mildly addictive when taken in small quantities, severely addictive when imbibed in quantities above two grams daily per seventy kilos of body weight.Muad'Dib claimed the spice as a key to his prophetic powers. Guild navigators make similar claims. Its price on the Imperial market has ranged as high as 620,000 solaris the decagram.

8)
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Urhart the Fallen Angel
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2004 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

wow thanks! Never thought there'd be anything more to it than regluar drugs that just kill you and let you see cool colors. (heh heh Farghul Gambler on Andris heh heh).
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Ray
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2004 9:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Captain Jack had some Strong Medication that gave him a +1D bonus on "Willpower: Control Giddyness"!

But that's not the type of drugs you're talking about, is it?
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Ray
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 9:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Found one while whiling away my time on the Web...

http://www.starwars-rpg.net/legacyofstrife/Spike.htm

Spike, a derivative of Spice. Actually, it's description (For Carbon Based Life Forms) remind me of a more powerful form of what I was going to suggest for the Star Wars equivilent of Ritalin.
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Hellstorm
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 17, 2004 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a drug I used in one of my D&D games but it could probably be adapted to Star Wars (this was in d20 so you'll have to convert)

SENKRAD

A dark liquid injested, it is brain secretions from a demon that was slain but keept in stasis by a wizard. the secretions are altered magicaly to make them stimulate the body's glands, increasing the output of adrenaline, andorphines and increasing synaptic responses from the brain

Initial effects : Exhilaration and the feeling of being speeded up.These effects last 10 minutes.

Secondary effects : The user gets a +4 bonus to Str, Dex, Con, and Int. Speed (movement) is increased by 50%, Initiative gets an additional +4 bonus. Effects and spells that affect the mind are useless against the user. These effects last for 3 hours

Side effects : Since the drug stimulates the glands and synaptic responses, the brain slows its own stimulations of these glands. After 15 uses the affected abilities are permanantely reduced by 1. After 15 more uses the affected abilities are permanantely reduced by 2. After 15 more uses the affected abilities are again permanantely reduced by 2. After that, every 10 uses reduces the affected abilities permanantely by another 2.

"A light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long." Even worst, is the fact that the drug takes a vicious toll on the metabolism of the user, burning away the very life without any visual effects but all other effects of aging are there. Every dose of the first 15 doses burns away 1 year's life from the user, then the next 15 doses burn away 3 years from the user, then 5 years away for the next 10 doses the user takes, and finaly 7 years for every other dose after that. (the longer your life span the quicker the life burned away, we had the human at 100 years max, so if a creature lived for 1000 years then the drug burnt 10 times hte life it did the human).

Why keep taking it then ? here's why!

Addiction : After 15 use your body needs to take 1 dose per month or your mind slows down and goes into a coma. After 45 use your body needs to take 1 dose every 2 weeks or your mind slows down and goes into a coma.

Overdose : Taking a dose while a dose is still in effect, or 4 doses in a day will overload your brain and you will fall into a coma. The coma lasts for as long as you do not succeed a Fortitude saving throw (DC25) (with out the drugs bonuses)

we did not have a cost because the wizard used this drug on his own army. Twisted Evil 8)
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Darius
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dont forget that Dune origianlly came out in 1964 or so. Big influence on Star wars really. Arrakis = Tatooine, Paul Atreides = Luke Skywalker, Bene Gesserit = Jedi, Sardaukar = Stromtroopers... the list goes on
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Trusty
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

darius wrote:
Dont forget that Dune origianlly came out in 1964 or so. Big influence on Star wars really. Arrakis = Tatooine, Paul Atreides = Luke Skywalker, Bene Gesserit = Jedi, Sardaukar = Stromtroopers... the list goes on


True, true.

A common drug in our Star Wars RPG game. "Stripe Flower". It's buds are smoked like...you guessed it. Smile Same effects too.

I thought death sticks were a form of smokable tobacco-like plants...just GL called them death sticks as a way to tell kids cigarettes are bad.
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KageRyu
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trusty wrote:
darius wrote:
Dont forget that Dune origianlly came out in 1964 or so. Big influence on Star wars really. Arrakis = Tatooine, Paul Atreides = Luke Skywalker, Bene Gesserit = Jedi, Sardaukar = Stromtroopers... the list goes on


True, true.

A common drug in our Star Wars RPG game. "Stripe Flower". It's buds are smoked like...you guessed it. Smile Same effects too.

I thought death sticks were a form of smokable tobacco-like plants...just GL called them death sticks as a way to tell kids cigarettes are bad.

I thought GL's way of telling kids smoking was bad was that really cheesy PSA from the 80's with R2 and 3P0...you know, where 3P0 catches R2 smoking and admonishes him...
Wow...I'm old...
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CRMcNeill
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thread necro, but this seems as good a place for this thought as any...

In the SWU, we already have glitterstim, which grants a limited and temporary form of telepathy when ingested. As such, it is highly regulated, with the supply mostly going to official government agencies for use in interrogation.

Melange, on the other hand, is a staple of the Duniverse, granting greatly extended life span (which is why it's called "geriatric," as in, pertaining to the elderly), as well as a limited form of prescience that is essential to interstellar navigation, and thus the bedrock of interplanetary commerce.

Obviously, the SWU works on a different model, but I can't help but wonder if there is a place for a drug that grants the user a form of Instinctive Astrogation. One obvious advantage would be the plotting of new hyperspace routes; all a navigator would need to do is take the drug, then plot the route by instinct. Once that's done, a single trip could lay the groundwork for additional trips along that route, which in turn increases the data needed to plot a more reliable route. It could also be used to allow navigation through the shifting paths into the Unknown Regions.

Would something like this be universe-breaking, or just a useful-but-not essential tool for use in the larger galaxy?
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Whill
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 2:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

CRMcNeill wrote:
Thread necro...

Epic necro from 2005!

CRMcNeill wrote:
Melange, on the other hand, is a staple of the Duniverse, granting greatly extended life span (which is why it's called "geriatric," as in, pertaining to the elderly), as well as a limited form of prescience that is essential to interstellar navigation, and thus the bedrock of interplanetary commerce.

Obviously, the SWU works on a different model, but I can't help but wonder if there is a place for a drug that grants the user a form of Instinctive Astrogation. One obvious advantage would be the plotting of new hyperspace routes; all a navigator would need to do is take the drug, then plot the route by instinct. Once that's done, a single trip could lay the groundwork for additional trips along that route, which in turn increases the data needed to plot a more reliable route. It could also be used to allow navigation through the shifting paths into the Unknown Regions.

Would something like this be universe-breaking, or just a useful-but-not essential tool for use in the larger galaxy?

We've talked about this before, but I was inspired by Dune to have this in my campaign universe, but not for the larger galaxy. I think using the Force to assist with astrogation is a natural Force power, and using the Force to astrogate is going to be rare in the galaxy and largely kept secret when done. I feel a spice that allows non-FS characters to do it in the larger galaxy is universe-breaking (but not as universe-breaking as folding space with it would be). The reason why the spice makes sense in Dune is because it is absolutely essential for all interstellar travel - It is not possible without it (unless you want you trip to take thousands of years). He who controls the spice, controls the universe. Star Wars works on a different model, so I don't really see just adding spice-induced instinctive astrogation on top of the normal astrogation making sense.

In my campaign universe, there is a spice only found on one planet in the Whills Nebula, which is part of a satellite galaxy. The Whills Nebula is not a completely natural nebula, but one giant spatial anomaly theorized to have been created by Celestials long ago. There are hyper lanes connecting some of the systems to each other through the Nebula, but these lanes mysteriously never close completely despite the chaotic 'storms' through the Nebula. The tunnels stay open, but they are constantly constricting, expanding and shifting positions. This spice is needed by astrogators to navigate through the Nebula because it extremely dangerous to attempt it without the spice (or the Force). Part of the mystery is how the spice even works. Like in Dune, this spice is an essential commodity, vital to space travel and interstellar trade in the Whills Nebula. But that is the only place the spice works.

The spice also only works for certain species - most of the species native to the Nebula systems, and some aliens from the greater galaxy, who are naturally the ones who have colonized the Nebula. The spice does not work for humans, which explains why the Empire hasn't taken over the Nebula, (and allows for that to dramatically happen during a campaign). So any Imperial ship will need alien (or Force-using) navigators to move through the Nebula. Larger capital ships need larger species who can consume more spice to navigate safely. The two large species the spice works for are Herglics and Hutts. The Whills Nebula Navigators Guild is ran by an outcast clan of Hutts, and their leader is the de facto leader of the spice lords, the rulers of the five cities that produce the spice.
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Dredwulf60
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also, don't forget that in Dune it is not a matter of taking a melange dose for prescience to navigate.

Guild Navigators are the only ones who can do it; and the navigators are mutants who require vast quantities in a prolonged fashion; literally swimming in it. They become so 'evolved' that they don't even resemble humans anymore.

Not the same as snorting some blow to figure out a good route. Wink
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