Quote:Drakensis? Instead of saying that the handwavium does not build anything....could we say it doesn't build anything from scratch? It might just be pickiness on my part, but I think if it's turning an engine into a space drive, it's DEFINITELY building SOMEthing. And I think people are pushing too much for only minor reshaping in trying to avoid the whole 'can't show a picture to get your spaceship' bit. Yes, you need a good template to start with...but once you have the template, my preference is for a bit more leeway in the alteration department.
1b) The handwavium does not, in fact, build anything. It does not reshape anything except in cosmetic and often quirky ways. Painting your car with handwavium may give you a spaceframe, but working handwavium into the engine gives you a space drive.
Case in point - biomods. Not surprising, since it's what I've been concentrating on. Just the variety of things we've seen in the stories so far - photovoltaic ivy from combining separate items, shapechanging, a Jusenkyo-type curse...all of those are fairly potent versions of alteration.
I DO agree with 1a. I just think people are letting 1a influence other things too much. I'd say the minimum - you have to have a template. For a biomod, the template is your body, or whatever you're combining; for a spacedrive, it might be an engine, or maybe a sail with wire woven into it and hooked up to a battery for an energy sail. Use of symbols, of extra materials - all of those are ways of making the handwavium do more than it might with the template alone. For a biomod, this might include dreams, various items/influences from the environment, and so on. But once the handwavium is turned loose on something...well, not all bets are off, but it's definitely got more free reign than just cosmetic alterations. Or we'd not see a lot of the more interesting quirks/items that have been shown. Am I making sense at all in what I'm trying to say?
As you might guess, I have a few problems with 2a as well, mainly from the 'not changing appearance much' bit. As long as you have the mass to work with, you should be able to get fairly interesting changes. Now, I agree - they're physical changes and not superpowers, but still...there are some fairly complex changes that you can get while staying within the limits of the physical. I've been working to define the parameters of my character's biomod. I'll try to post it to the Logbook in the next day or so, so that people can see what I think is possible.
So - opinions?