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Ideas for rare commodities and illegal substances.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Therinfluffs, May 20, 2015.

  1. Therinfluffs

    Therinfluffs New Member

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    Ok I'll state this first, I'm borrowing liberally from several sources, especially the rare goods listing from Elite, and a few films I forgot the names of.

    We can't have crime and smuggling roleplay without some rare and illegal stuff to be stolen, traded, smuggled, and so forth. So I'm going to put a few ideas I have for drugs and such out there and see what other players have in mind given I was hoping to have my characters business revolve around this sort of stuff.

    Rate your items (reasonably) based on their Rarity and Legality, and include a small blurb of what it is!

    Heres a few of my own:

    Name: Mind-Jack
    Rarity: Extreme
    Legality: Highly Illegal
    Description: A narcotic substance in the form of a viscous paste. What makes the drug different from other things, is the inclusion of very small, prototype digestible nano-machines that induce euphoria to particular segments of the imbibers brain to simulate a 'customized' experience to those getting high off of the drug. The nano-machines can be programmed with simple instructions to the consumers liking at a much higher cost, or it can be purchased pre-programmed.

    This drug has become highly illegal due to the extreme mental dependency that those who ingest it may develop, as well as what malicious individuals may include in 'pre-programmed' batches. It can induce a fantasy unlike any other, or be used to cause excessive torment and trauma to the individuals mental state. Thankfully production of this drug is incredibly difficult, especially in frontier regions with lesser technology than civilized space.


    Name: Snake Gin
    Rarity: High
    Legality: Mildly Illegal
    Description: A highly alcoholic beverage from the remote regions of civilized space, particularly planets where the species of snake contained within are common. The venom of the snake that has literally been drowned in the bottle can cause mild hallucinations when imbibed, as well as a body-wide feeling of mild numbness. Commonly used in outlawed rituals and as frontier medicine, though the effects make it prone to abuse. Not to mention the moral dillema of literally drowning a live animal in acohol in production, tends to lead to hefty fines for those distributing this.


    Name: Avos Wretch
    Rarity: High
    Legality: Extremely Illegal, especially in Avian settlements
    Description: Created in a very brutal, and morally corrupt process, Avos Wretch is a euphoric abomination created via burying stillborn Avian eggs in the soil of poisonous planets along with several chemical agents to slowly 'cook' the egg for up to four months. When excavated the egg will have a deep green appearance, and the congealed embryo will have filtered most of the toxins of the poison, leaving only the elements that the imbiber may get high off of. No one knows where this horrific practice originated, though it is believed to be related to ancient extremist sects of Avian religion.


    Anyone else got anything? Remember, not just drugs but rare stuff from the far ends of the universe can be involved as well!
     
    #1 Therinfluffs, May 20, 2015
  2. Node

    Node Literal Edgelord

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    The idea for drugs always springs up from people.

    There are more than a few reasons drugs don't ever do too well. On top of having to learn what the drug is, you have to learn to either roleplay it, or deal with it accordingly, which often seems to be to much of a hassle for people. On top of that, I sometimes find the discussion on illicit substances can make people uncomfortable on the server. Ultimately they are too difficult to roleplay, and difficult to police proper use and play.

    While I agree that illegal substances would be cool, I think learning custom space drugs is a little much. They are ultimately reflections of real life drugs, which are fairly more applicable to an RP setting. I don't think anyone is going to be confused when you tell them you are smoking "Space weed".
     
    #2 Node, May 20, 2015
  3. SP3CTR3

    SP3CTR3 Flipping Tables at ignorance!

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    I think everyone knows the Spice...Melange. No one should get confused over that. ^_^

    Gives you blue eyes and mental powers. Also super addictive.
     
    #3 SP3CTR3, May 20, 2015
  4. Yotan

    Yotan New Member

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    I personally like Red Sand myself, it makes me in to a biotic god!

    [​IMG]

    On a more serious note, while yes that whole drug thing is sensitive, I honestly have never seen any of them implemented. No one selling them, kidnapping people and forcing them on it, giving sample to small school child. None of the shady stuff to get people interested.

    Also I think drug should have different effect on different races. Human, Apex, Hylotl and even Avian should have nearly the same effect, while Glitch, Floran and Novakid have completely different effects happen to them. Only because there physiology is so vastly different from the others.
     
    #4 Yotan, May 21, 2015
  5. SP3CTR3

    SP3CTR3 Flipping Tables at ignorance!

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    Seems fair and I feel like it's a bit more acceptable to use fictional drugs than space meth or Martian Crack. Not only is it fictional but has interesting rp possibilities, like Red Sand only affects humans, gives them powers and creates dependency on another character(re: relationships).
     
    #5 SP3CTR3, May 21, 2015
  6. Yotan

    Yotan New Member

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    Exactly. Even like space weed. For the more red blooded races it give them the normal effects, but for floran is puts them into a like rage bath salt effect. For glitch it acts like sleeping gas, and for novakid it does nothing.
     
    #6 Yotan, May 21, 2015
  7. SP3CTR3

    SP3CTR3 Flipping Tables at ignorance!

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    That's pretty interesting. Though I personally think space weed sounds like a waste of a derogatory name for a Floran but you know...
    [DOUBLEPOST=1432189007][/DOUBLEPOST]Hrm, rare commodities should be a thing though for sure. Other than the obvious in-game stuff already there, which I suppose there are quite a few of...vases and other decorative but rare stuff?
     
    #7 SP3CTR3, May 21, 2015
  8. Yotan

    Yotan New Member

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    See I think the illegal stuff should not be rare they should be like water. That what drug dealers and cartels want, they want people addicted they want them users for life. Drugs should not be rare. What should be rare is one of a kind painting, values, gems, well durasteel, Improvium compounds.
     
    #8 Yotan, May 21, 2015
  9. Felonious

    Felonious Restart Monkey

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    We have had drugs implemented in the past. And it can work well from a street-level. The only issue we ran into was when suddenly the drug dealers outnumbered the combined population of the rest of a settlement whenever it was convenient for them. The problem with making a realistic drug trade is that... well, for the most part, Starbound isn't realistic (nor do we have the logistic capacity to retain the realism of smuggling and drug trafficking on a mass scale.)

    Most colonies don't have Port Authorities or even Starports. So smuggling would be a laughably easy task in itself.
     
    #9 Felonious, May 21, 2015
  10. SP3CTR3

    SP3CTR3 Flipping Tables at ignorance!

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    Except that I think I saw someone attempting to start a Space Interpol? What the heck would they do if no one was doing anything wrong? To have one, we need the other...supply and demand(even if it's an OOC kind of way). Even if it's not remotely realistic, it might be fun to try, I mean we are an RP community right?

    I'd like to hear what they have to say actually.
     
    #10 SP3CTR3, May 21, 2015
  11. Felonious

    Felonious Restart Monkey

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    The problem is we don't have the ability to sustain as many colonies as people are pumping out right now. There are... seriously, like ten colonies in the works or being pushed. On top of that having an intercolonial police force AND a criminal force? We simply don't have the population for it. Were there two, maybe three colonies and were the 'Interpol' more a cooperation between their forces, that would be one thing. As it is, things are pretty watered down because everyone wants to lead a colony.
     
    #11 Felonious, May 21, 2015
  12. SP3CTR3

    SP3CTR3 Flipping Tables at ignorance!

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    Welp, I suppose it was interesting to think about anyway.
     
    #12 SP3CTR3, May 21, 2015
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