VERV was not always the solar system-uniting virtual reality device that it is today, able to connect users on distant worlds and give a better life to users on worlds where terraforming did not take hold. VERV has come a long way since its humble beginnings as the Virtual Engineering Rig (VER). It was developed to allow engineers to construct virtual models of buildings, ships, weapons and so on and then perform stress tests and other evaluations of the models under realistic conditions.

Diaspora is a hard science-fiction roleplaying game (using the FATE system). I’ve never run or played any science-fiction roleplaying games, but I’ve heard that Diaspora is well worth a look. It’s now available in PDF form for less than $15, so there’s no excuse not to check it out. You can grab Diaspora from RPGNow or Lulu (where you can also get it in print).