I picture the Horizonscope to be analous to the Star Trek "tricorder".  It would allow a PC to turn it on and gain some useful hints/information about a certain item, organism, or environment.  

I would like to create a set of tables or a computer program that would allow us to give a player a coded message   that they could translate into a set of descriptors to report back to the other PCs.  That way, it is the players describing what they scan and making assumptions on the results rather than the GM.  Toward this end, I would like to create a master list of possible descriptive messages that the tricorder could reveal along with their appropriate three-character Horizonscope code.  


I would also like to use a computer for this campaign to simulate the PCs research "at the lab".  What we would do   is allow the player to type in several keywords into a computer program and have it return information that may or may not be particular to the plot.  We may have to pass out tiny cards with the appropriate spelling of items, compounds, elements, or information that might reveal information at "the lab".  That way players could come back     from "the lab" and give their report of what they find, and potentially return to "the lab" once they might have some new information to research.  

descriptors:

  one
  few
  many
  lots
  swarm

  liquid
  solid
  gaseous

  organic
  inorganic

  mobile
  closing from North
  closing from South
  closing from East
  closing from West
  fleeing to North
  fleeing to South
  fleeing to East
  fleeing to West
  immobile
  positioned to North
  positioned to South
  positioned to East
  positioned to West

  slowly
  medium pace
  quickly
  fast
  speedy
  hastily
  supersonic

  nearby
  close
  medium
  long
  distant
  far

  chemical analysis: ?% carbon
  chemical analysis: ?% oxygen
  chemical analysis: ?% hydrogen
  chemical analysis: ?% ...

  energy reading high
  energy reading low
  energy reading trace
  energy reading none
  energy type paranormal
  energy type chemical
  energy type electrical
  energy type atomic

  analysis:sentient
  analysis:semi-sentient
  analysis:unthinking

  tiny
  small
  human sized
  large
  gigantic
  massive
  super massive