From: leifmk@Lise.Unit.NO (Leif Magnar Kj|nn|y)
Subject: GURPS chitchat
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 92 16:00:55 GMT

Keywords: 

Well, people;
	there's been a bit more GURPS talk on this group lately than I've seen
before.  Great; this is my favorite system.  I haven't had the opportunity to
use it as much as I would like, but I've tried out a few different ideas, and I
have more in planning.

First of all, I ran a few sessions of standard cyberpunk--highpower, 200-point
characters, official rules only.  It worked OK, and also showed that at least,
GURPS is a bit more realistic than many other systems.  Hightech weaponry can
do frightening things to frail human flesh....just imagine someone firing a gauss
rifle on full-auto into a packed disco....yuck.  However, I tired of
stereotypical cyberpunk gaming fairly soon.

I tried running low-power no-magic fantasy, which was fun until that gaming group
broke up (always a problem).  Hmm, one player tried playing a scout/pathfinder
with Compulsive Lying.  "Hmm...." (studies tracks) "...they went THAT way, I'm
sure..."  :-)

Remembering that Shadowrun has a pretty neat background (too bad that system is,
IMHO, not very good at all); I have also run a much too brief ShadowGURPS
campaign.  (Yes, Shadowrun world, GURPS rules).  This was fun, but my player
group tended to ignore the magical aspects of the world, so we might as well
have been playing a regular cyberpunk world....this was, by the way, one of those
groups of players who REALLY like explosives.  Ouch.

Now, though, I have two distinct ideas which I hope may grow into really good 
campaigns.  These are very different:

The first idea involves a world which *could* have been a standard fantasy world.
Except that, a few thousand years back, all fantasy races and most fantasy 
creatures (certainly everything monstrous) were removed from the known world.
(If they ever really existed, that is).  Magic does exist, and has been known
to the human race since time immemorial.  The campaign is centered around one
corner of a great, poorly explored continent, surrounded by fairly dangerous 
seas.  The PCs' home culture has a knowledge of the outside world equivalent
to Europe at least a hundred years before Colombus.  Here, however, is the
gimmick:  Technology has developed far enough that an Industrial Revolution is
budding.  The steam engine is becoming a foundation of economy, and railroads
already connect a few towns.  Gunpowder is known.  Exploration of the world is
seriously beginning.  National rivalries are igniting, and there is (of course)
a religious schism--in short, I feel this could be a winner.  Anyone got any 
ideas?  

My second idea is far less upbeat.  I've tired somewhat of 'standard' cyberpunk
games; it seems that game designers' near-future visions have more or less
stopped evolving.  I mean, the cyberpunk genre must have broken all records
concerning how FAST really innovative ideas turn into cliches.  Looking at today's
rather desperate world situation, ICE's labeling (for example) of Cyberspace as
a "dark future" RPG seems overly optimistic.  In fact, it might be optimistic to
assume that human life (and particularly civilization) still survives into the
latter half of the next century.  Basically, the idea is this:

Take the world, approx. AD 2030.  The human race is twice as crowded and ten times
as desperate as today.  Roughly one third of the globe has already suffered
environmental collapse; these are now wastelands inhabited by the luckless 
survivors.  ("Why don't people move from the crowded areas into the wastelands"?
Well, you see, maybe some do, but they have this problem even growing enough food
to survive. . . not to mention bandits, diseases, etc.)  The rest of the world
is perched on the verge of collapse (although that may still be avoided); however,
the geopolitical scene is not very stable.  I stipulate a situation where the
collapse of the superpowers has had its effects (even the USA has fragmented...
most of the states are still united, but under a joint military/corporate
dictatorship), and the situation is not exactly dipolar and stable.  There are at
least 5 greater political powers of roughly equivalent might, and a number of
smaller nations.  The nations are divided into the haves and the have-nots (as
always), and the kettle is just about ready to boil.  International tension is
growing rapidly.  If a major war broke out, that might be it as far as the
environment is concerned, and mind you, there are still thousands of old nukes
lying about (nobody's been quite able to keep track of all of those).

Enter the PCs.  No street criminals, these (although some of them may have a
dubious past).  The United Nations (having taken a more active, independent role 
in geopolitics) is trying to keep a lid on the world.  For this, it sometimes 
needs covert action.  PCs get to play special operatives for the makeshift UN
"secret service", such as exists.  Intrigue and pessimism aplenty.

I have taken some liberties with the system (of course), summarized below.  If 
anyone is particularly interested and/or has his/her own thoughts and a need to
contribute, my email adress is available.....

-Heaps of extra cyberware (lots stolen from ICE's Cyberspace; also graded into
	several different sub-tech-levels: not everything need be available)
-Revised damage and armor system (allowing 'non-lethal' damage which will hurt
	and might disable you, but won't kill you; DEADLY bleeding rules)
-Loads of elaboration on weapons

	Anyway, there's plenty of other things to try out, too.  Just got a copy
of the GURPS Illuminati book.  I plan to <fnord>.  Sorry, I guess you're not
cleared for the rest of this article.  >;-)

Leif Kj|nn|y (that '|' is a secret Norwegian letter)
leifmk@lise.unit.no

Too lazy to make up a proper .sig