Cyborg orcas, mutant cat super scientists, “squids” and more await you on the distant water planet ingeniously named “Poseidon.” You can make all sorts of amazing characters that certainly could have all sorts of amazing adventures, though I don’t think we ever figured one out. It’s Blue Planet! You’re going to tolerate it! Note that the cover art we used from the poster is way cooler than the book, we just got lucky and found that on the internet.
System Mastery 
I remember picking this up and flipping through it at nerd stores over the years but never saw any compelling reason to grab it. I want to say this game was on the tail-end of the metaplot-heavy supplement treadmill trend, so I figured the game had to have something neat to not crash and burn like so many others, but I guess not?
Ah, I remember this book for the image of an ascended dolphin going to a bar. (He rolls in inside a water tank transported by a drone and then has a drink tossed to him in a semi-permeable bag. Seriously.)
There was a GURPS version as well. Boring sci-fi background.
Nice episode. Very informative, not too much banter, and you didn’t say anything unintentionally offensive.
The only minor correction worth mentioning is that Shadowrun actually sidesteps the ridiculously poor scaling of computer numbers. They realized early on that there’s no way to really guess where computers would be in the not-so-distant future, so they decided to measure everything in ‘pulses’ and ‘megapulses’; where it’s intentionally kept undefined, so there’s no way anyone can do a comparison and tell them how wrong they are.
Longjohn? Like Long John Silver’s, the seafood restaurant?
Well yes, in that Long John Silver’s is also named after the main pirate from Treasure Island.
Bummer. Sounds like you skimmed the 2nd ed. Player’s Guide. Many of the “missing” topics you mentioned are in the Moderator’s Guide. When Fantasy Flight asked us to do a 2nd ed. they split the game into two core books.
Hard science fiction isn’t for everyone, but we did get an Origin’s Award nod for best game. Must have been a slow year ; P.
-Jeff Barber, creator/author of Blue Planet