Got Techno-Babble?

by Tom Verreault

Techno babble has been the staple of science fiction for decades. It sounds cool and intelligent and often provides a plot hook or turning point. Why not use it in your science fiction role playing games?

You need a reason to keep the player characters on planet for a few days? Well, perhaps the photonic relay inducer blew before landing and it will take a few days for the local parts supplier to deliver one and another day to install and test it otherwise there is a risk of the engines hyper igniting on lift off. Perhaps the Clarion Royal Marines are inspecting the ship before clearing it to dock at Clarion Station and discover that the neutron sequencing inverters on the atomic engines are faulty and they cannot clear the ship to enter the docking bay until they’re fixed. Perhaps you just want a little flavor for describing the combat damage to the players. For this situation use the techno babble table below. Roll a d100 and consult the babble result.

D100	Result	D100	Result
1	ATMOSPHERIC E-M FIELD	21	TRANS-WARP INTERFACE EFFECT
2	MODULATED PHASE CONDUIT	22	MAGNATOMIC SUBSPACE INVERSION
3	PHASED DAMPENING CONTINUUM	23	MICROSCOPIC WAVEFRONT NUTATION
4	IONIC SUBSPACE DISCRIMINATOR	24	AUXILIARY SYSTEM NUTATION
5	INVERTED FLUX FIELD	25	MODULATED RIDICULOUS CONDUIT
6	MICROSCOPIC BARYON DISTORTION	26	LINEAR WARP INTERFERENCE
7	NUCLEONIC SPACE-TIME NUTATION	27	MODULATED PHASE HARMONIC
8	AMBIENT GRAVIMETRIC DISTORTION	28	RECIPROCATING DAMPENING EMISSION
9	ATMOSPHERIC GRAVIMETRIC HARMONIC	29	GIGA-WATT SPACE-TIME NETWORK
10	GIGA-WATT PARTICLE INTERFERENCE	30	TRANS-WARP ENERGY SINGULARITY
11	OPTICAL INTERFACE EFFECT	31	BARYON RELAY
12	GIGA-WATT SPACE-TIME FIELD	32	MODULATED FREQUENCY VARIANCE
13	AMBIENT QUANTUM STREAM	33	INVERTED TETRYON EFFECT
14	ANOMALOUS NADION PATTERN	34	THERMAL SPACE-TIME CONTROLLER
15	NUCLEONIC E-M SIGNAL	35	MAGNETIC DAMPENING DISTORTION
16	RECIPROCATING NADION ACTUATOR	36	QUANTUM DAMPENING CONTROLLER
17	ASSYMETRICAL WAVEFRONT PATTERN	37	PHASED WAVEFRONT NUTATION
18	AUXILIARY PLASMA CONFIGURATION DIVERTOR	38	PHOTONIC ARTIFICIAL DISTORTION CONTROL
19	PHASED POWER CONFIGURATION CONTROLLER	39	RECIPROCATING STASIS FIELD MODULATOR
20	ARTIFICIAL DISTORTION WAVEFRONT INDUCER	40	MODULATED ALTERNATING CONTROLLER

D100	Result	D100	Result
41	GIGA-WATT SPATIAL COUPLING	71	SONIC SYSTEM DOMAIN TRANSLATOR
42	IONIC PARTICLE STREAM	72	IONIC SUBSPACE STREAM CAPACITOR
43	RAPID SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM	73	GIGA-WATT GRAVIMETRIC SINGULARITY
44	NUCLEONIC FREQUENCY MODULATOR	74	AUXILIARY PARTICLE CONDUIT
45	UNKNOWN SUBSPACE RELAY	75	GIGA-WATT SPACE-TIME EMISSION
56	INVERTED WARP FIELD SCANNER	76	ANOMALOUS DATA CONTINUUM
57	MODULATED WARP EMITTER	77	ASSYMETRICAL E-M SIGNAL
58	THERMAL NADION HARMONIC MONITOR	78	MAGNETIC SYSTEM DISCRIMINATOR
59	QUANTUM NADION COUPLING	79	TEMPORAL TETRYON HARMONIC
50	MODULATED TACYON STREAM CONDUIT	80	GIGA-WATT NEUTRINO RELAY
51	PHASED WAVEFRONT RELAY	81	SPATIAL DATABANKS VARIANCE LOG
52	OPTICAL DATA CAPACITOR	82	PLASMA PULSE SEQUENCER
53	DATABANKS CONTROLLER	83	WARP PHASE CAPACITOR
54	QUANTUM PARTICLE EFFECT	84	IONIC SUPERFICIAL EFFECT
55	TEMPORAL PLASMA DISCRIMINATOR	85	OSCILLATING SYSTEM DISTORTION
56	THERMAL PARTICLE DISTORTION FIELD	86	PHOTONIC DATA RELAY
57	IONIC GRAVIMETRIC CONTROLLER	87	THERMAL QUANTUM ARRAY
58	MAGNATOMIC ALTERNATING PHENOMENON	88	RECIPROCATING GRAVIMETRIC CONTINUUM
59	AUXILIARY DATABANKS CONTROL BUS	89	VERTERON TETRYON ARRAY
60	MICROSCOPIC BARYON MATRIX	90	RAPID TETRYON SINGULARITY
61	POWER DAMPENING CAPACITOR	91	TEMPORAL BARYON DISTURBANCE
62	QUANTUM CAPACITOR	92	SONIC DATABANKS CAPACITOR
63	RECIPROCATING WAVEFRONT STREAM MODULATOR	93	THERMAL SUBSPACE PATTERN SEPARATOR
64	SONIC BARYON PATTERN CONVERTOR	94	OSCILLATING SUBSPACE NUTATION
65	MICROSCOPIC SPACE-TIME INVERSION SEQUENCER	95	RECIPROCATING NEUTRINO EMISSION REDUCER
66	OPTICAL NEUTRINO VARIANCE SEQUENCER	96	PHOTONIC INTERFACE VARIANCE SEQUENCER
67	TRANS-WARP GRAVIMETRIC CONTROLLER	97	PHOTONIC SEQUENCING ARRAY
68	MODULATED GRAVIMETRIC SINGULARITY	98	VERTERON DATA FIELD CROSS CONTROLLER
69	SUBSPACE DISCRIMINATOR	99	OPTICAL SYSTEM DATA CONTROLLER
70	ATMOSPHERIC TETRYON CONDUIT	100	AUXILIARY NEUTRINO EFFECT