tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24686037135437640422024-03-27T16:53:18.564-07:00Worlds Beyond EarthEric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-5250124339681775472024-03-12T12:12:00.000-07:002024-03-12T12:12:14.300-07:00The Planet Crimson<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswHg894C8kRH36363Qb-Xi3ys-UFUwKJlQXqJ4MUmEB9BrvtDUgQeZwXQwWJynuJjOuBRWeAalw-CMsO10Y6lPd4VrtpCJoZHhehIrbqzBYMhsrqmj-gFqP4ynHjMikXbxhXp2FMNcRwopctypkdeBFHdfwKAXHmsl3dL1i9pvg5JNR1vy7AgSxS9ISA/s1077/CrimsonFloatingFactory.PNG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1077" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswHg894C8kRH36363Qb-Xi3ys-UFUwKJlQXqJ4MUmEB9BrvtDUgQeZwXQwWJynuJjOuBRWeAalw-CMsO10Y6lPd4VrtpCJoZHhehIrbqzBYMhsrqmj-gFqP4ynHjMikXbxhXp2FMNcRwopctypkdeBFHdfwKAXHmsl3dL1i9pvg5JNR1vy7AgSxS9ISA/s320/CrimsonFloatingFactory.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>The Grand Cluster has many world shrouded in mystery and laden with power. One of the most pivotal to the power structure of the cluster is Crimson, which provides unique psionic drugs to the powerful Pinnacle Empire<br /><p></p><p>Crimson is covered with an insidious thick red fog that gives the planet its name. It rises two miles above the planet's surface, sends most life into a helpless stupor, and corrodes machines from the inside. Just above the fog hovers massive machines kept aloft by powerful psionic flows emanating from the planet beneath. Strange gears four hundred meters across slowly turn in the red skies, while the factories attached to them use some unfathomable process to produce the most powerful psionic drugs in the grand cluster. Bolted onto these factories centuries later are a collection of homes and structures housing the modern population, a collection of native workers who can see the psionic flows emerging from below, occupying soldiers guarding the wealth of the planet, and doomed prisoners recovering from their exposure to the mist in the mines below.</p><p> On the surface itself, protected and isolated by the fog, is an alien ecology featuring forests of an organism shaped like coral and a host of small hardy creatures that thrive in the otherwise hostile fog. dotting this alien wilderness are the old ruins of vast cities made of smooth towers with mushroom tops, massive vents in the surface spewing out the fog, miserable mines where the enslaved criminals of the empire are forced to harvest exotic psionic drug predecessors, and the camps of the flappers, a hairless winged race with a great crests, long beaks, and a taste for human flesh.</p><p>Crimson was one of the most memorable worlds of my campaign Called From Exile, and I'm planning a campaign set entirely on it. It is visually memorable, hides immense secrets, and easily lends itself to intrigue, being isolated, hostile, and at the center of grand politics, all at the same time. <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span></span><p></p><a></a><p></p><h2>The Crimson Mist:<br /></h2><p>The thick red fog of crimson has an insidious effect on those it surrounds, and a defining effect on the planet. Every minute of full exposure, living creatures must roll vs. Will to avoid falling asleep. succeeding by 3 or less makes them merely drowsy. For each consecutive roll, a cumulative -1 is inflicted. Precautions can decrease the frequency of the roll:</p><ul><li>Wearing Heavy Clothing increase the time to 2 minutes</li><li>Wearing Heavy Clothing and a breather increases the time to 10 minutes</li><li>Wearing a Sealed Suit and a breather increases the time to 20 minutes</li><li>Wearing Heavy Clothing and a breather while near a Crimson Urchin increases the time to 2 Hours</li><li>Wearing a Sealed Suit and a breather while near a Crimson Urchin increases the time to 3 Hours</li></ul><p>The Cumulative penalty wears off at a rate of 1 per hour if completely out of the mist, or 1 per 2 hours if in a building or vehicle surrounded by the mist</p><p>Machines, meaning anything with moving or electronic parts that's not alive, must roll vs. HT every 10 minutes or receive a cumulative -1 to IQ, DX, HT, and rolls to use the machine. An AI may roll vs Will instead. This is caused by small red crystals that grow on moving and electronically sensitive parts. Precautions can also decrease the frequency of the roll: </p><ul><li>A leaky seal, like one intended to maintain climate control increases the time to 10 minutes </li><li>A true seal keeping out all atmosphere increases the time to 20 minutes</li><li>Crimson Urchins have no beneficial effect for machines</li></ul><p>Machines can have these crystals cleaned off of them: the time varies by the size of the machine, but five minutes per square yard of surface area is a good benchmark, minimum five minutes, and most machines have to be taken apart and put back together, which is going to take its own time. <br /></p><p>The effect of the crimson mist is psionic, which is how it can form those crystals across seals and vacuum. The crystals have no value, and will slow sublimate over a a few days if removed from the mist</p><p>The Mist will also penetrate sealed buildings. After four hours, a small amount of mist will seep in, enough to stop the recovery from the cumulative penalty. This can be stopped by scrubbing the building clean (five minutes of scrubbing per four square yards of wall keeping out the mist). After 12 hours, the mist will make many small holes in the wall that it will move through .</p><p>The floating factories are somehow immune to these effects, even when storms blow the mists up high to where the factories levitate. However, the buildings bolted onto the factories are not immune, and storms on crimson, while mild in terms of wind force, can do a lot of damage to machines as the mist seeps in. </p><p>The Mist varies in thickness: at its thickest it inflicts -2 vision per yard, but -1 per yard is more typical, and even on the surface, -1 per 2 yards occurs regularly. </p><p>The Mist also blocks Psionics, adding a penalty equal to the vision penalty to any roll to use psionics at a distance.This is not effected by any distance modifiers placed on the psionic ability.<br /></p><h2>The Urchins</h2><p>Mist Urchins, or Crimson Urchins, as they are known off-world, are named for their resemblance to sea urchins. They weigh about a quarter of a pound, and have small tube feet on their underside they use to cling to objects, and especially to people. Crimson urchins are famously "friendly", and will slowly move towards people at the speed of about 1 inch every five seconds. While they cannot see, they do have short-range echolocation. They are cultivated and kept by those on Crimson who foresee a need to brave the mists, and are highly effective at staving off the mist's insidious effects. </p><p>Keeping a crimson urchin requires a minimal source of food (they seem to eat anything) a hour-long exposure to the mists once a week, and contact with a psionic being for at least 15 minutes a day. Without these things, they suffer and slowly die over the course of a month. Despite this, they are tricky to breed, and market price for one is $2,000. <br /></p><h2>The Factories </h2><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-16hzeUeLpz0vz-lprrboXuTbeO6sVQU5GOgbkqhmSAQbzzBs_WOblzqpuZIfxZfHk7kgMk3yLixwxk3xrc9IXJilTh9gbtEcx17vjgCmrHAnLzppIs68dP7wZ4OptjHaDPQMfMAwN6rMfkvsT2IIiDdC3UQfSC2DxRN6lmheWvmMyA7Keu940HfXges/s1077/CrimsonFloatingFactory.PNG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1077" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-16hzeUeLpz0vz-lprrboXuTbeO6sVQU5GOgbkqhmSAQbzzBs_WOblzqpuZIfxZfHk7kgMk3yLixwxk3xrc9IXJilTh9gbtEcx17vjgCmrHAnLzppIs68dP7wZ4OptjHaDPQMfMAwN6rMfkvsT2IIiDdC3UQfSC2DxRN6lmheWvmMyA7Keu940HfXges/s320/CrimsonFloatingFactory.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>There are around 500 of these factories floating in the skies of crimson, over what is really a small fraction of the planet. They are not stationary, but move from place to place, propelled by the psionic upwellings from the planet. Their operators, known as "The Sighted", can see these flows, and direct the factories to follow. In fact, a great deal of the factories' maintenance and operation can only be done by the sited, who can see the flows of the "Ether" around them. The Factories most notable feature is their giant gears, which turn slowly for some reason even the Sighted barely understand. These in turn operate a variety of other strange mechanical contraptions, and at the very end of the process, expensive psionic drugs are produced in small collectors.<p></p><p> The typical Factory is about 500 meters tall, 700 meters wide, and 1000 meters long. Their exteriors, especially their upper exteriors, are covered in slowly moving gears, vanes, antenna, vents, and and cams. On their underside are all the structures added on, sometimes bolted, sometimes dangling. Their parts are often a dull bronze, though the exact alloys and colors show a bewildering variety. Each factory has dozens of levels, and can comfortably hold around 50,000 people. </p><p>As a general rule, the richest and most desirable parts of the factory are the closest to the top and to the center. The upper portion of the factory is mostly moving parts, precluding too much settlement, but once the gears stop moving, you enter the domain of the rich and powerful. usually in the center of each factory is grand artificially lit "main street" with the highest end shops, homes, and government buildings. As you move away from this center, out and down, you enter worse and worse locations, with the worst locations being those dangling from the bottom of the factory. These dangling structures usually house the miners recovering from the surface below. Most of the time they are out of the mist, but when the mist rises higher than usual, it will enter the bolted on structures and especially the dangling ones.</p><p>Travel within the factories is generally done on foot: its corridors are too narrow for anything else. Traveling between factories is done by repulsor craft when the mists are low, and they generally fly high so as to avoid unpleasant upwelling from the mists below.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Sighted</h2><p>The Sighted are the population of humans that run the factories of Crimson. A quirk of genetics combined with growing up on the planet grants them the psionic ability to see the flows coming up from the mists. Crimson's economy does not function without them, and they are given a fair amount of autonomy, running and directing the factories, selecting their own magistrates and maintaining an independent guard that enforces their laws, so long as the factories continue to produce the critical psionic drugs that the pinnacle empire needs to thrive. <br /><br />The partnership between the sighted and the pinnacle empire is old, and its perhaps one of their most critical planets, but tensions between the two are rising, as the growing population of the Pinnacle ruling families begin to demand higher outputs and the sited find that their elevated status is limited to their own planet. Crimson is perhaps the most fragile part of the pinnacle's power structure, a unique cog that cannot be replaced and barely be controlled. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Empire</h2><p> The Pinnacle Empire is ruled by the "Pinnacles", a group of families gifted with enormous psionic power. The unique drugs produced by crimson allow them to boost their powers, develop their talents, and most importantly, to reliably trigger psionic abilities in their youth.</p><p>While the Pinnacles allow the Sighted to run the factories, they maintain a heavy garrison in orbit and in isolated portions of the factory, an administrative staff who keep an eye on the sighted and who handle the administration of any off-worlders who might make it there, and a system of mines worked by hapless prisoners. The head imperial is referred to as a Viceroy, as they do not rule directly, and they are almost always a ranking pinnacle with well-developed psionic powers.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhufLtGFcYp30po-RIh8rWGVFU0Xl0DclQdRTr7sIHlHksrVWypWnVXMQDa91324wQe4_O3KbNwuRJWaDGVkRj-iZwbecTIvQBCbKJNy7FwLDkJbIzLJDoxQ1_ZPH4BV5UF9upnCOKVtdLV52txeFokELwC1Ppd6tZWmojdxUoLyznjqYYtQpr8MpBJI/s931/crimsonMine.PNG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="931" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhufLtGFcYp30po-RIh8rWGVFU0Xl0DclQdRTr7sIHlHksrVWypWnVXMQDa91324wQe4_O3KbNwuRJWaDGVkRj-iZwbecTIvQBCbKJNy7FwLDkJbIzLJDoxQ1_ZPH4BV5UF9upnCOKVtdLV52txeFokELwC1Ppd6tZWmojdxUoLyznjqYYtQpr8MpBJI/s320/crimsonMine.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>The miners are kept in crowded barracks underneath the factories. Living conditions are cramped, unsanitary, and often exposed to the mist. Prisoners are treated as mostly expendable. The guards consider merely guarding this place a punishment. They venture into naturally occurring caverns to harvest rare psionically active crystals that grow there. Flappers occasionally pick off miners to eat, and losses are generally fairly high. Most miners are promised that if they can survive for a given amount of time (usually five years), they will be let go, but prisoners rarely make it that long.<br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Flappers</h2><p>On the surface of Crimson is a population of nomadic hunters known colloquially as the "Flappers". Those trying to be a little more formal about it call them the pterubus. Flappers are essentially humanoid pterosaurs, with long head crests, beaks, and wings made of skin stretched between their bodies and arms. Their skin is thick and wrinkled. Hunched postures make their eyes shorter than humans, though their crests often make them seem taller. Flappers are naturally immune to the effects of the mist. They are also hostile to outsiders and a large portion of them think that humans are delicious. </p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
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/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
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mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
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mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
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mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
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mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Flappers live off of Crimson's native ecology, mostly hunting slow-moving animals protected by hard shells, sharp spines, and toxic flesh. They work hard to process these creatures and make them edible. They maintain that the
whole planet belongs to them: they especially dislike the sighted, who they
refer to as thieves. Both peoples claim to be descended from the people who
built the ruins on the surface, and they often attack each other on sight.
Flappers lay eggs, and refer to five directions instead of four. They seem to
have a sense much like the sighted, allowing them to perceive the psionic flows
emanating from the planet. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Their politics is very fragmented, with individual groups running their own idiosyncratic governments, and they are quite willing to go to war with each other. Typically, a band is led by a number of Flappers holding offices like "The Egg-Mother" or "The Story Keeper". The specific offices used vary from band to band, as does how they are selected, but the group is usually tight-knit and informal decision making is often validated by the leadership. Most bands have a few hundred individuals.<br /></span></p>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Ruins</h2><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6lhiD0YHFQqeAQ1ux2giZ3nn1wEnWRg83YopiYKYHMBl5kT77Dn7bmSfC2M0XeCXZF1kwvIjEDJTAuDSAfh_JcZ7tRONkPQXOhzc6MMo1UeN0jRdv7N-m0WyYaucKESYpsXpvZ6cGeSj-ebyhxgDAjJIsDLiF4qpJiw0fAaNEiGsLjixAFuHEyf8iqA/s818/CrimsonRuins.PNG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="818" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6lhiD0YHFQqeAQ1ux2giZ3nn1wEnWRg83YopiYKYHMBl5kT77Dn7bmSfC2M0XeCXZF1kwvIjEDJTAuDSAfh_JcZ7tRONkPQXOhzc6MMo1UeN0jRdv7N-m0WyYaucKESYpsXpvZ6cGeSj-ebyhxgDAjJIsDLiF4qpJiw0fAaNEiGsLjixAFuHEyf8iqA/w200-h119/CrimsonRuins.PNG" width="200" /></a></div>Crimson was not always the way it is now. Legends among the sighted tell of a time when they lived on the surface, when the mist was not as thick or corrosive as it is now. Back then, a thriving civilization lived on the surface in enormous cities full of miracles. The Stories tell of the coming of the mist, and of the Flappers appearing as previously unknown monsters created by dark processes, and slaughtering the cities choked by the mist. <p></p><p>The Flappers have their own tales, where they claim that Crimson was always like this, and that the sighted came and drove them from their cities and oppressed them, but that in the end their sages released the mist ten times thicker than before, and drove the sighted from the surface.</p><p>The great cities still stand on the surface, smooth ceramic towers cloaked in red mist. All metals have corroded away, and the organics have been consumed. But there might be hints of what happened in there... hints of the civilization that built the floating factories and whose left-overs are powerful enough to be a strategic concern in the modern pinnacle empire...<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Combat</h2><p>Combat on crimson tends to occur at very short range. The factories are largely indoor facilities, and the mist both obscures vision and destroys weapons. The Sighted rely mostly on force shields, hyperdense superfine blades (+4 damage, armor divisor (5)) on swords and pole-arms, and unconsciousness nerve disruptors, used as both guns and grenades.</p><p>Flappers also use hyperdense superfine blades, but they generally use them on spears and polearms. As the mist will corrode even bow-strings, they tend to use thrown projectiles as their ranged weapons. They are heavily reliant on the mist to make up for their ranged deficits, but their storm callers are said to be able to control its upwelling and use it as weapon against their foes.</p><p>The Pinnacle empire has access to the hyperdense superfine blades as well. They typically try to draw melee troops from across the empire. They also make sure to have a number of psionically powerful champions on the planet. They also keep a number of fighters in orbit. The Pinnacles are unchallenged on the battlefields of crimson: the sighted usually fight back through sabotage, and the Flappers are reliant on their superior mobility and senses in the mist.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion<br /></h2><p>This article was unexpectedly long. Crimson was a very iconic location to run an adventure in, and I hope to run an adventure there again. There is a lot to do, despite having a pretty small population and effective area (its a planet, but you're going to spend time in very small areas, like the factories). My players vividly remember Crimson to this day. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and I hope I get to run a game in it again. <br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-62678287508047942932024-03-04T12:13:00.000-08:002024-03-04T12:13:43.924-08:00Create Visible Light<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbs9jDhfVZkk1wNFvlrx4QBGBbXwECkxBgNLfCMekAzCyf3XuuzJ7OS_tgsUUaPy7eqax-jnD3ojPKrEDKJAJVVjPlCj-hYuOltufFaXMlKf_W1iHA9zYG25HYri-MDe8elnBO-dfs4NAtjXdvDlEqPEGbGiNFD0MBTZqfPWLIaWrqeMUrNEc4kIZPYU/s430/LightAndHand.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="430" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbs9jDhfVZkk1wNFvlrx4QBGBbXwECkxBgNLfCMekAzCyf3XuuzJ7OS_tgsUUaPy7eqax-jnD3ojPKrEDKJAJVVjPlCj-hYuOltufFaXMlKf_W1iHA9zYG25HYri-MDe8elnBO-dfs4NAtjXdvDlEqPEGbGiNFD0MBTZqfPWLIaWrqeMUrNEc4kIZPYU/s320/LightAndHand.png" width="320" /></a></div>In Gurps powers, the create energy advantage can create light... but it creates "1000 KJ" of energy. KJ is not how I usually measure my light, and its not how many people measure their light. So how much light does Create Visible Light [10] actually create? And how do you even measure that?<p></p><p>The radius lit in this table is lit with the officially recommended light level for indoor settings like bedrooms. I recommend using this as "no vision penalty"... though see the "nickpick" section for more details.<br /></p><p>
</p><table>
<tbody><tr>
<td><b>Radius</b></td>
<td><b>Time</b></td>
<td><b>Radius</b></td>
<td><b>Time</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1 yard</td>
<td>2 days</td>
<td>7 yards</td>
<td>1 hour</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2 yards</td>
<td>12 hours</td>
<td>10 yards</td>
<td>30 minutes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3 yards</td>
<td>5 hours</td>
<td>15 yards</td>
<td>15 minutes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5 yards</td>
<td>2 hours</td>
<td>20 yards</td>
<td>7.5 minutes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><br /></td>
<td><br /></td>
<td>x2 </td>
<td>x1/4 </td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><p></p><p>Time listed is for each 1000 KJ of energy. If you have Create Visible Light 3 [30] and thus have 9000 KJ of light, a 5 yard radius light can last for 2 hours * 9 = 18 hours. <br /></p><p>If you're not interested in being sure why this works, or about environmental complications that might make your game more interesting, you can stop reading here and just use the table. If not...<span></span><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><h2 style="text-align: left;">Derivation <br /></h2><p>So where do these numbers come from? The biggest issue was figuring out a conversion from Joules to Lumen-Seconds. "Lumen" is a measure of light, and its sort of unique. The best way I can describe a lumen is to say a 100-Watt equivalent bulb delivers 1600 of them. If you got one of the legit ones and not a cheap one. </p><p>And this lightbulb will do all of the rest of our work for us too. It delivers those 1600 lumens using under 16 watts of power, though not much under. So 1 Watt of power gives us 100 lumens-- and 1 Watt for 1 Second is one joule. So with an LED lightbulb, we can turn 1 joule into 100 lumens for a second, or into 1 lumen for 100 seconds.<br /></p><p>So now we have lumens from joules, and we want to light a radius. Turns out there are official standards on how much light a given area needs. Using Gurps favorite measurement system, the measurement is the candle foot. You multiply your area in square feet by the recommended candle foot, and that's how many lumens you need. The recommended candle foot for living areas, bedrooms, and hallways is 20, so we can take the area of our radius, multiply by twenty candle foot, and that's the lumens we need. </p><p>Then we divide the lumens by 100 to get the watts of power, and divide our 1 million joules by our required watts to get the number of seconds our light lasts for. </p><p>So for a 1 yard radius we have about 3ft*3ft*pi = 28 square feet, and those 28 square feet require 28 sq ft * 20 candle foot = 560 lumens, and that requires 5.6 watts of energy, or 5.6 joules per second. our supply of 1 million joules will run out in 1,000,000/5.6 = 178,000 seconds. which is conveniently close to the 172,800 seconds in two days.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Nitpicks and Details<br /></h2><p>So this is not a perfect system, and I wouldn't be doing a good job if I didn't know where the weak spots in what I did are. </p><p>First, we based things on commercial LED bulbs. LEDs are not perfectly efficient, and in fact, I used a convenient middle of the road number of 100 lumens per watt. Its easy to get 120 lumens per watt commercially, and those aren't perfectly efficient either: people claim LEDs are 70% efficient, which might mean 180 lumens is correct. Wikipedia claims the maximum optimized (green) light source can produce 683 lumens per watt... without a reference, and I'm a comparative newbie to optics. So I went with 100 for ease of use. <br /></p><p>Second, these numbers are based on point sources in indoor lighting, because that's what people light up the most often. Indoor spaces have the benefit of bounding light off of all their surfaces to create nice soft light that lights most things up from all directions. When you stick a 1600 lumen bulb in a room, all 1600 lumens bounce around that room, especially if you painted the walls white. This uses all the light and ensures somewhat uniform lighting. </p><p>Outside, or in a space larger than your light, you loose some of your light to the area outside. Worse, it doesn't bounce to light things up from behind, and you get stark shadows.in modern lighting, which mostly just plays with near-point sources, we use mirrors, lenses, shapes, and multiple light sources to try and deal with this. Of course, nothing in powers restricts us to using only point-sources. light could be created in a downward beam over the area, or could appear ambivalently evenly from within the lit area. That could look pretty strange... which is another way of saying it would look mystical or cool. Not entirely inappropriate for a "Power". Reasonable limitation on the power might be restricting the light to appear as a beam, point source, or ambient. </p><p>You may wish to impose lighting penalties just from the quality of the light, rather than the quantity. a sword fight in a searchlight beam at night may have a lot of light shining on it, but the shadows will be very harsh. <br /></p><p>Third, 20 candle-foot is a little on the low side for lighting. Its equivalent to 200 Lux, which enhanced senses says is a -3 to vision rolls-- and then goes on to agree its typical for a living room. I don't usually run living rooms as -3 unless the lights have been intentionally dimmed. <a href="https://www.alconlighting.com/catalogue/FootcandleLightGuideALCON.pdf">Lighting recommendations </a>for normal areas generally range from 20-100, with high detail work areas occasionally getting a recommended value of 500 candle foot. Lighting for a stage also gets that recommendation.<br /></p><p>While I don't think 200 LUX is worthy of a -3 penalty, perhaps I should increase the base lighting level to 50 candle-foot (500 LUX). That would drop the time by quite a bit. I'm not, because I'm hoping the efficiency error more or less cancels out. I might even in my games use an efficiency of 250 lumens per watt and an intensity of 50 candle-foot.<br /><br />It's worth pointing out that 100,000 LUX (10,000 candlefoot) is the correct number for direct sun shining strait down with no clouds, and if you want to replicate that (it happens) you can get a 1 yard radius for 6 minutes, or a 10 yard radius for 3.5 seconds.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion <br /></h2><p>I made this to support a new campaign: we tried to play it about a year ago but the players wanted the magic system worked better... and here I am working the magic system. Create Light is a cool power (not just Create Visible Light, but all the things you can do with it), but I needed a better idea of what "Create Visible Light" could really do. I'm pleased with the result. <br /></p><p>I'm happy to have this, and I've learned a lot. Light and Lighting is a complex topic, and I've only learned a little bit about it. If you have some way to improve this, let me know. I'm not running this game quite yet...<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-13873933543758567572024-02-01T12:10:00.000-08:002024-02-01T12:10:08.890-08:00Tech Paradigms in the Grand Cluster<p>The <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-grand-cluster-and-moment-drive.html">Grand Cluster </a>, the setting for <i>Called from Exile</i>, hosted a wide variety of technology: almost the entirety of the ultra-tech book exists in there somewhere. But I didn't want characters to be using all of it, because the point was to have lots of homages to various science fiction settings next to each other and interact with each other, and I wanted the PC's to feel that.<br /></p><p>So the base TL was 10, but access to most technology had to be purchased with "technology points". These didn't raise player's Tech Level so much as control what genre of science fiction they could buy gear from. I let them choose a ranged weapon class for free (lasers is a class, slug throwers is another, force beams is another), as well as a specifying what their typical comms/computer interface looked like. For most other PC-style gear, they needed to select options with technology points. This was a player decision, but it was about their home culture as much as it was about them.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>Each player got 10 tech points, and could buy up to 5 extra tech points for [4] points each, or sell them back for [-1] point each. I think most players spent around 12 tech points. <br /></p><p>This list is probably not comprehensive, but its close, and I told them if there was superscience or radical tech that they didn't see, to ask about it and I'd come up with a cost.</p><p>A few items deserve explanation: "Access to Infinity" was for psionic blades that ignored armor, Meson beams, or known space indestructible hulls. I wanted to charge a little extra for it, but I also wanted to encourage it and warn players it could show up in the game.</p><p>"Internet Competency" is really expensive. The reason for this was because I wanted someone able to function in a cyberpunk world to be special. Knock-off Jedi and Klingons really don't fit in information heavy worlds, and a lot of powerful sci-fi franchises just don't have an internet equivalent. We had one player take it, and he got to have the niche of computer nerd. There is a case for dropping it to (3), but I wouldn't go lower than that. </p><p>Reinforced Blades means blades that can stand up to a Force-blade or Ethereal blade. Usually this also means they're hyperdense. This was a fairly popular choice.</p><p>Here is the list we used:<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Body Armor (1)</li><li>Power Armor (3)</li><li>Force Shields - personal (2)</li><li>Force Shields - vehicular (2)</li><li>Secondary Weapon Type (1)</li><li>Superscience Weapon Type (1+)</li><li>Vibroblades or reinforced Blades (1)</li><li>Force Blades (2)</li><li>Etherial Blades (2)</li><li>Access to Infinity (DR, Armor Divisor, etc) (2)</li><li>Psionic Detection and Simple Manipulation (1)</li><li>Light Powers (Psionics/Racial/Cybernetic under 25 points) (1)</li><li>Heavy Powers (Psionics/Racial/Cybernetic over 25 points) (2)</li><li>Multiple Powers (more than one of Psionics/Racial/Cybernetic) (1)</li><li>Psi Amplifiers (3)</li><li>Internet Competency (4)</li><li>Drones (1)</li><li>Rapid Stationary Medicine (1)</li><li>Performance Boosting Drugs (1)</li><li>Rapid Mobile Medicine (2)</li><li>Rapid on-demand manufacturing (2)</li><li>Contragrav Drives (1)</li><li>FTL communication (1)</li><li>Superscience sensors/spygear (1)</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;">I really like how this turned out. Maybe my players played along, or maybe it just turned out really well. They bought what they needed for their concept, and maybe added one or two more because the option looked cool or useful. We ended up with a lot of really divergent sci-fi concepts, which was really cool. Its not very often that you need to manage kitchen sink options for a campaign, but I really liked how this turned out, and I'll use it again in a heartbeat if I ever need it. I hope someone else finds it useful as well.<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-34290988731523751172024-01-18T12:25:00.000-08:002024-02-01T12:25:42.452-08:00The Grand Cluster and the Moment Drive<p style="text-align: left;">Back in Late 2021 I ran a game by the name of "Called from Exile". It was a high-powered game with sweeping scope, in a setting designed to accommodate homages any science fiction franchise I wanted. We had a lot of fun with that game, and I loved the resulting setting... or settings, as the case may be.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Here, I share the Faster-Than-Light system, which is key to making the setting work, and the broad brushstrokes of "The Grand Cluster"<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Moment Drive</h2><p style="text-align: left;">There are untold trillions of people in existence, and untold millions of communities, separated by space and time, small islands of civilization in a vast void. Traveling by conventional means between stars is a stupendous effort taking at least a generation to accomplish, and is likely to leave the travelers more isolated than before they started. <br /><br />The Moment Drive connects these places. At specific places and times, or "moments", the drive allows worlds to visit each other. These moments come more or less frequently for various worlds. Some worlds are tightly bound, able to send ships back and forth every hour or so. Others are connected only rarely, such as the mysterious planet Leviathan, which has a single connection only once every two years. Other communities have no connection, and develop isolated from the influence of the greater universe. These connections are only somewhat stable, changing their behavior through the ages.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Using the moment drive requires a moment star drive, a pilot with some sort of psionic sensitivity, and the time and location to be right. The moment drive will then take any ship with an active drive in the right moment (time and place) to the new location. Moments tend to be near settlements of some sort, usually in orbit around a planet, and only taking a few hours of maneuvering to enter once in space... though exceptions exist. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Clusters of the Cosmos</h2><p style="text-align: left;">Worlds reliably connected to each other are called clusters. How easy it is to travel through a cluster is called its “tightness”. Large clusters are typically made from a number of smaller but tighter clusters. Political entities are usually confined to a cluster. Worlds in a cluster often have similar culture and technology, but not always, and the looser and newer the cluster, the less similar neighboring worlds will be. <br /><br />My game was set in the Grand Cluster, which includes multiple empires and probably stretches farther than any one person has traveled. Humans and human derived people are by far the most common form of intelligent life. The Grand cluster, has many smaller, tighter, clusters in it. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Consequences and Analysis</h2><p style="text-align: left;">As you can probably guess from the fact that I'm sharing this, I really liked the system. A few things I noticed:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Chokepoints and border crossings are really easy to implement and enforce</li><li>Arbitrary travel times for plot reasons are fairly easy to do, as long as you haven't actually drawn out a complete map</li><li>My players quickly grasped which parts of the FTL were hand wavy (why is this going to take four hours) and which parts were not (we can see which ships are following us because we all have to be in the moment together)</li><li>Tracking ships is a matter of observing their location when the moment happens, or talking to someone who saw it. This is nice because its simple, but it also lets me throw in social encounters. </li><li>Explaining weird space borders is easy: 'The moments used to keep these parts together, but now some connections are a lot slower."</li><li>This gives an excuse to privilege organic civilizations and crazy psi-stuff in the setting while still having monstrous Kardeshev-2 ultra-tech entities and grey goo disasters: if you don't have psis, you can't leave. <br /></li><li>Making a simple map is easy, its just a bunch of world names with lines connecting them, and times for how far apart the moments are.</li><li>Working out the consequences of the simple map can be quite complex.</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;"> I like the moment drive, and I like the Grand Cluster. In fact I'm revisiting it because I anticipate running another game in that setting. I hope find it useful in your games and when you think about how you will set up your FTL. Happy Gaming!<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-19768468094987472262023-12-13T10:37:00.000-08:002023-12-13T10:37:48.809-08:00CtEA Pregens: Heavies<p>I've made a big deal about the high stats of the NPC fighters in Ein Arris and my worries about making sure that the players can defeat them. The pregens presented up until now have focused on some sort of edge the fighters don't have access to. These pregens are built to take them head to head: with 125 points, they can be just a little stronger, and just a little more skilled. They can also carry heavier gear that their foes, and outmaneuver them socially or in the desert.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT8qK02rt_Wc2Wv2n29VZAXdY6sMUfIUVqMYqABaqHAfKY0eH3K8JODk5P6V7b0HdPt3iBvroTO66k-MobMm1Y1pZk90_JuqqvQ_E2cTwldV_AQ-wV1CFQa-tiRjGbUFN9FzQsBdhqGVnDvUdljt6MbdWTxaOnzJmrQVUadOdWieiZcqEmgRPxIf4RAM/s512/2_agal.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT8qK02rt_Wc2Wv2n29VZAXdY6sMUfIUVqMYqABaqHAfKY0eH3K8JODk5P6V7b0HdPt3iBvroTO66k-MobMm1Y1pZk90_JuqqvQ_E2cTwldV_AQ-wV1CFQa-tiRjGbUFN9FzQsBdhqGVnDvUdljt6MbdWTxaOnzJmrQVUadOdWieiZcqEmgRPxIf4RAM/s320/2_agal.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/agal-125.html">Agal </a>is a desert tribesman who hasn't lived with his tribe since the
unfortunate death of his father during a hunting accident. At least,
that's their story. He refers to it as "Murder", and is pretty sure the
current leader of the tribe had his father killed. He's been working the
caravan routes since to make ends meet. He's a proud warrior and
seasoned desert traveler with a quick tongue, and perhaps the most
rounded of the applicants. <br /><p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZNzIyr71lCVZbJClbQkXLU9DwtLF2CFn/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_tQnknjw6gZs0kimc_0PhuD4JEJKiIj7/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/agal-125.html">Blog Sheet </a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrp2oYEwtxfJu4ndmDhZOgNc0inL212_stY3dmz4R9IpQ-ttvvc9zZXm811PPAthZb4xCFNav8BrsIMWLZwNS9rLBnHL-XKGnYDWQP1WAI0f2whp1kwyaQQmZyqPNHx9XJ-nGbnYY7BjDETD4aH3-fD-TjPxbSpNn0p2XmqIiO4h6EBYUtpRAid1pDDU/s512/2_Hawser.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrp2oYEwtxfJu4ndmDhZOgNc0inL212_stY3dmz4R9IpQ-ttvvc9zZXm811PPAthZb4xCFNav8BrsIMWLZwNS9rLBnHL-XKGnYDWQP1WAI0f2whp1kwyaQQmZyqPNHx9XJ-nGbnYY7BjDETD4aH3-fD-TjPxbSpNn0p2XmqIiO4h6EBYUtpRAid1pDDU/s320/2_Hawser.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/hawser-125.html">Hawser </a>is an oversized guard with a oversized smile and a oversized
blade. He got into the business to keep people safe and that's what he
intends to do. Hawser is a dangerous warrior, and he cuts an imposing
figure... he wins a lot of fights with nothing more than a steady gaze
down at his smaller foes. He does require a lot of food and is a little
lazy in the morning. He has a fine sense of camaraderie, and is quick to
make friends. His desert experience is minimal: he relies on others to
deal with getting him to the fight.<br /> <p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/16K9T76twEO9SuBb28W9NJOT-WnUTptup/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/15y1t1YJphDff4phMrMdtyWFTXmUdy0PP/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/hawser-125.html">Blog Sheet </a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbFcOEH6ukDPeVo9tToFtxrpAT-SjJM9VTiABTpMNq_yqsNavLn-9oc38x51z5iXTEoVVyK7zlB1fUYNIh-Ls_6X6c1cM8dDaVHOooM4aLtVrBXbhbP2qTm-ka4nTxoLfl9Wpj8Et2XHqU35b-GZB4FunOCR-oAWhgoQaBOohNpdTUUvD9MRaPEvuQ1A/s512/2_Lariat.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbFcOEH6ukDPeVo9tToFtxrpAT-SjJM9VTiABTpMNq_yqsNavLn-9oc38x51z5iXTEoVVyK7zlB1fUYNIh-Ls_6X6c1cM8dDaVHOooM4aLtVrBXbhbP2qTm-ka4nTxoLfl9Wpj8Et2XHqU35b-GZB4FunOCR-oAWhgoQaBOohNpdTUUvD9MRaPEvuQ1A/s320/2_Lariat.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/lariat-125.html">Lariat </a>is a hardened warrior who prides himself on being tougher than
everyone else. He wears heavy armor in the desert and carries a shield
around town. Lariat has never bothered to really figure out camels, but
he's skilled at surviving in the desert, and the merchant's guild is
very familiar with him. He's scarred from many battles, and looks the
part of "Dangerous Thug who doesn't care". Underneath his rough exterior
and bad temper, he's got a kind heart, even if it shows by grumbling
"now let me do the hard part". Lariat is a dangerous warrior with great
defenses capable of doing a lot of damage. He doesn't have a ranged
attack, and his armor slows him down a little. Just don't let him do any negotiating.<br /><p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aNOOQ5Ky5T6-mD7EWlMXWTquSJUx26XE/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Bm1o8ZNkMZCys0Wt9LxoVlvSXMiqd14/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/lariat-125.html">Blog Sheet </a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhDZr22Fsi6V8NSVg0MORrJnbGweT3lXsu6SVlckv28PwqviwEjs_hfK9u012Oz1dduy6fV-s2KznWjENhCXHreyqm9UtwF9W-vfWwcdrgwzbhcf2rWCb6aKQzv1lEveFmfVYsZZCFRq0Zbu9nReAAchkuYOKFLaCXNA3RhwZlQuf87TxMluC0KWVLB0/s512/2_Prusik.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhDZr22Fsi6V8NSVg0MORrJnbGweT3lXsu6SVlckv28PwqviwEjs_hfK9u012Oz1dduy6fV-s2KznWjENhCXHreyqm9UtwF9W-vfWwcdrgwzbhcf2rWCb6aKQzv1lEveFmfVYsZZCFRq0Zbu9nReAAchkuYOKFLaCXNA3RhwZlQuf87TxMluC0KWVLB0/s320/2_Prusik.webp" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/prusik-125.html">Prusik </a>is a seasoned caravan guard who has spent much of his life going
back and forth across the desert. He loves the freedom of being in a new
place every few days, and having nothing around him but the big wide
desert. He tends to let loose when he's in town, and he's a sucker for a
pretty face, but on the trail he's dependable and experienced. With his
shield, he's a suburb defensive fighter and good offensive fighter, and
he's an old hand in the desert. He also has some useful experience with
merchants and soldiers and can rub shoulders with either, though his
appearance is off-putting to many.<p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bk5TraEtxjiwPnxfYV_n3pMeiCL7NAzs/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sew8k5aTBoNIhzUgp1xzCcvarBCi_PjS/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/prusik-125.html">Blog Sheet</a> </p><p>Agal's enemy disadvantage requires a little extra work to make happen for the GM, but he's one of my favorite characters, and a player can have a lot of fun with that. Keffiyah <i>might </i>be a member of his tribe: if using both at the same time its probably best to let the players decide what they want to do. </p><p>Caravan to Ein Arris discourages armor by giving social penalties and cautioning that the desert is hot: Lariat is built to not care about the social penalties and to be able to take the desert heat. Using the Heat rules (basic page 434) will actually make Lariat look more impressive rather than slowing him down. </p><p>Shield show up on these characters. A single (surprising) character has shields in Ein Arris. This is an edge that Prusik and Lariat bring to the fight against the fighters in Ein Arris.</p><p>The pictures are from <a href="http://artflow.ai">artflow.ai</a></p><p>This is the final set of characters for Ein Arris. Fifteen characters
for the easiest adventure in Gurps to obtain and run. I hope you find these characters useful, and if you don't use them for Ein Arris, I hope you find them a good starting point for your own characters, for NPC's, or for characters in a different campaign. Rename them, give them quirks, adjust weapon loadouts, swamp traits in and out... they are there for you to use. Its been quite a journey creating them, and I hope this is only the beginning for them. Happy Gaming!<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-24341052496510956612023-12-06T08:57:00.000-08:002023-12-06T08:57:21.347-08:00CtEA Pregens: Skirmishers<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ihzsCGifEdnb859UdyS24QP85qghYu3LVY7K1gKbJ8dat2sJtM68XK2WobBSc_FDSCG-Eeg5_jksabc2SY3iZuegG0Odcq_oJ3JnrASDI-qWrM9XwNnq5QpZeKw0DQ8VWlVleXYt6-c6l1PW1cfrT9Wi4PWx2y-nmHawChNsrSGDRWTuIinCdhgN9S4/s480/skirmishers.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="480" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ihzsCGifEdnb859UdyS24QP85qghYu3LVY7K1gKbJ8dat2sJtM68XK2WobBSc_FDSCG-Eeg5_jksabc2SY3iZuegG0Odcq_oJ3JnrASDI-qWrM9XwNnq5QpZeKw0DQ8VWlVleXYt6-c6l1PW1cfrT9Wi4PWx2y-nmHawChNsrSGDRWTuIinCdhgN9S4/w200-h200/skirmishers.png" width="200" /></a></div>With its suggestion of light armor and Gurps's emphasis on weapon skill, the skirmisher template is a great match for Ein Arris Characters. These characters are quick on their feet and skilled with their weapons. They generally don't hit as hard as other combat characters*, but they will hit more often, and take fewer hits themselves. They also generally have a lot more mobility than other characters, with high moves and two of them are fantastic riders. These characters are more skilled in combat that the fighters they'll be put up against, but may need multiple hits on their foes and are less capable of taking hits. Their High DX also tends to make this bunch sneaky and good shots*. I was also surprised by the amount of desert expertise they ended up with.<br /><p></p><p>*Except Sisal, who hits quite hard and has no ranged attack. Sisal kind of stands out in this group. like he often does.<br /></p><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/lana-125.html"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Alv_vDRcW_ZgmEmSdAIYPvy20yLoXg5hQri_1tOn8to-tgZLmHgwZRZcrfZtSbkVtOgk4OW1JvydGv8GOdpVkX3cpCzSKQoXo1L8VUJZShrbW1QmIgplXya8Pirq5zqKq1O4kpA5JwJQgQ3zFg4x2MHHnaQnwgykEHQJySpzN133pnhjwvteoGtrJ_U/s512/2_Lana.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Alv_vDRcW_ZgmEmSdAIYPvy20yLoXg5hQri_1tOn8to-tgZLmHgwZRZcrfZtSbkVtOgk4OW1JvydGv8GOdpVkX3cpCzSKQoXo1L8VUJZShrbW1QmIgplXya8Pirq5zqKq1O4kpA5JwJQgQ3zFg4x2MHHnaQnwgykEHQJySpzN133pnhjwvteoGtrJ_U/s320/2_Lana.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/lana-125.html">Lana </a>is a poor country girl who's in the city for the first time.
She's tired of her humble beginnings and wants to see the world. She's
also woefully inexperienced in the world, unless it involves animals or
fighting. She has all the enthusiasm and impulsiveness of youth, and
she's probably going to need someone to guide her through all of this.
Lana's equipment isn't very good, but she makes up for that with skill
and speed. She's a formidable fighter and athlete, and she's familiar
(if not expert) with the desert. She has wide experience with animals,
and is an impressive rider. <p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XSaPtk-yAjcT4YTKiJp-FbvJtJLxIPrk/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WIvspsqvwtvmKx_p0FULRnabhzWyksV1/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/lana-125.html">Blog Sheet </a><br /></p><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/hatler-125.html"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZD2YtEOnXnRw50t9TlnpXcURee0p7aVyeF3hwJRQbw_GcAZEaIjUuttCnNRa4l-I5d-JNTTAt5eQ0NaL1yATm7JxyBXgByCJBvTfBBgU7MLm3b-BbBrgu4n-UO7jcJEF9OdbnyQATRx-MINPd8rNA0XtaFmz5zNqxGDVR7Exo3JnK2oLYjuAHaKQ61qQ/s512/2_halter.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZD2YtEOnXnRw50t9TlnpXcURee0p7aVyeF3hwJRQbw_GcAZEaIjUuttCnNRa4l-I5d-JNTTAt5eQ0NaL1yATm7JxyBXgByCJBvTfBBgU7MLm3b-BbBrgu4n-UO7jcJEF9OdbnyQATRx-MINPd8rNA0XtaFmz5zNqxGDVR7Exo3JnK2oLYjuAHaKQ61qQ/w200-h200/2_halter.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/hatler-125.html">Halter </a>is a camel racer and dare devil from Kedris who provides caravan
security to pay the bills and find people to race camels against. He's
bold, courageous, and more than a little cocky. He has a tendency to
perform better when others are watching and is constantly showing off
and challenging others to contests and making bets. He's a great rider, a
solid animal handler, and he knows his way around the desert, speaking
languages from both sides. Halter takes the security part of his job
seriously as well: he's got great reflexes and fancies himself a
swordsman, and not without reason. He's by far the best mounted warrior
in these pregens. He's also a pretty good shot with a bow. Just keep an
eye on him... he can be a loose cannon at times!<p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vlDFtNdCcPL6BrJCAeXz1lHX_IPnEMbg/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Heg2lzzfZG9uTl6WLYcbwgK0MoP7V4ao/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/hatler-125.html">Blog Sheet </a><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRos8xVNOdQd9KdhM6JIO4JhWsPMH7j8bq7b0wXpHYh77rHAuhRjiwqrN-JrjgrEIkAF1RCp1OH-t8l-GQ0mna-iX4pFzyZViIqxZvHDf1PT4fwsEVzyAOnkg0kN7nVuRaZXUj3_f4pZxU1u68JxT3rvxrHHpydUre0u9UAksujyA7Hpq-dhALa1jHqw/s512/2_Sisal.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRos8xVNOdQd9KdhM6JIO4JhWsPMH7j8bq7b0wXpHYh77rHAuhRjiwqrN-JrjgrEIkAF1RCp1OH-t8l-GQ0mna-iX4pFzyZViIqxZvHDf1PT4fwsEVzyAOnkg0kN7nVuRaZXUj3_f4pZxU1u68JxT3rvxrHHpydUre0u9UAksujyA7Hpq-dhALa1jHqw/w200-h200/2_Sisal.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/sisal-125.html">Sisal </a>is a swordsman and wanderer from another land. He has devoted
himself to the study of the sword and the defense of the innocent. Sisal
goes from place to place looking for opportunities to help people, and
to distinguish himself in combat. He speaks the local language, and
others as well, but this is as far as he has come, and the others aren't
useful here. He is constantly quoting proverbs, but they aren't the
local ones, and can come off as rather odd. Sisal is a world-class
swordsman, and this isn't quite his first time in the desert. He doesn't
have a ranged option, preferring to rely on his sword.<br /><p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12xPp4QkC-cV8NEGSoFbB2DNADPCt4Ya_/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IUKYrTqzcGjQakxhz9DctC21SCrHAOPa/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/sisal-125.html">Blog Sheet </a><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39t7Njso8ikBdJb8mp7EtmRaeOHNs38wb4B_HwReZWmY7BavNhyphenhyphen-_9RsQTyhhCuLsD2M8GdB7t7mloVKb15vw1hBQRXIpoDdZ6Pszf4cGgB3VqmUIH4wfZchz5-CommUWi5ruYNU-W-plCAtXdpkVJm-uL0uWnV7SNUMG3CA5F9227ZBl9zKHdeIcU2Q/s512/2_Vang.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39t7Njso8ikBdJb8mp7EtmRaeOHNs38wb4B_HwReZWmY7BavNhyphenhyphen-_9RsQTyhhCuLsD2M8GdB7t7mloVKb15vw1hBQRXIpoDdZ6Pszf4cGgB3VqmUIH4wfZchz5-CommUWi5ruYNU-W-plCAtXdpkVJm-uL0uWnV7SNUMG3CA5F9227ZBl9zKHdeIcU2Q/w200-h200/2_Vang.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/vang-125.html">Vang </a>is an excitable young man hawking his skills as a caravan guard.
He's quite awkward and frequently puts his foot in his mouth, but he's
an excellent spearman, he's honest, and he's the fastest runner you're
likely to hire. He is a little distractable, but pairing him with
someone else should help. Vang doesn't hit hard, but he hits a lot, and
its hard to either close with him or hit him. He's picked up a few
desert skills in the meantime as well.<br /><p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-3MESYNSMcFGqc-za7Gzc53DriZGn7pb/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/15tGEcIVu5kwsSlbeHWl6RiADkswrAG3a/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/vang-125.html">Blog Sheet</a> </p><p>They ended up with a variety of different weapons. When I first built the set of characters I noticed almost everyone was using a broadsword. Lana was an early exception to that, and my attempts to diversify the weapons used hit this group the hardest. Only one of them uses the broadsword. Sisal's sword I'm happy with: his high concept is "swordmaster" and a slightly longer sword really underlines that. I'm a little unsure if giving Vang a spear was a good idea or not: if you want to change up his weapon, go right ahead.</p><p>Lana's signature disadvantage is that she is poor. I loved building her, but wished I had extra points to fill out her personality in addition to being poor, but left wealth as part of the disadvantage cap. Its quite possible to add -15 more in disadvantages (Stubborn, Curious, Pacifism (Innocents), and Gullible are good options) to her to boost skills like staff, acrobatics, fast-talk, or survival (Desert). <br /></p><p>Hiking was intentionally left off these characters (and all characters) because Ein Arris doesn't recommend or use it. Though I suppose most of the time they ride.</p><p>Many of these characters are very close to their weight limit, and they rely on mobility. Because of this, they are often fighting without their tents. In most situations its probably on their camel, which is nice, but could be an issue if they are without their camel or are paranoid about loosing their tent and fight with it on their back.<br /></p><p>The pictures are from <a href="http://artflow.ai">artflow.ai</a></p><p>I hope you enjoy these characters! Only one set left!<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-16308633145181524702023-11-20T13:18:00.000-08:002023-11-21T08:30:22.288-08:00CtEA Pregens: Merchants and Theives<p>One of the wonderful things about Gurps is the way it supports non-combat play. Ein Arris is rather combat-centric, but even so, there is room for a non-combat character. These characters aren't focused on winning the big fights, but on avoiding them, and on maximizing the advantage the party can show up to the fight with. They are all still capable combatants: in a lot of games I've run they'd be considered front line soldiers. Other characters have face, desert, and stealth skills, but these characters specifically excel at them.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPw1p2g60Q9o6UDAQA2bAIGTeEzYodFrpCIxoWxj93sBEMGYDpVPjlkWF_Syh5dS98P28KMMBYjLNGeZs4TVka6OKXixdldqXivJDqRv8vIZ9j-UDPgxk7NUQ-ww2z2LwbvBvcXxX3-xR9dxhyKrBEo7cBeRf_o5pCxS-rhiCHNSGipkKIgyh8vF8cN4/s512/2_Cinch.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPw1p2g60Q9o6UDAQA2bAIGTeEzYodFrpCIxoWxj93sBEMGYDpVPjlkWF_Syh5dS98P28KMMBYjLNGeZs4TVka6OKXixdldqXivJDqRv8vIZ9j-UDPgxk7NUQ-ww2z2LwbvBvcXxX3-xR9dxhyKrBEo7cBeRf_o5pCxS-rhiCHNSGipkKIgyh8vF8cN4/s320/2_Cinch.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/cinch-125.html">Cinch </a>is a Burgler who's hit it big and is on the run. He's got a massive gem worth $50,000 at least: The Heart of Kirit. Only problem is, the Gem is too large and too famous to fence, at least in Lantara. He's hoping to beat the news of his theft across the desert, fence or ransom the Heart of Kirit, and then live off the resulting investments. Cinch is a top notch sneak with good face skills, and his raw stats let him be useful in the desert with just a few points. He's a not a great combatant, but he does add another sword or bow to the team.<p></p><p></p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wAtMe2puGqGjAYquTWXJ2GuUqIcuza0T/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M33m_nCw5GnHa-TwU0r1--uSNni_rDpy/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/cinch-125.html">Blog Sheet </a><br /><p></p><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge49os-2gF9Ee2AKOz6Zh_ed6NLLKQUrAOfsnKW-SazYtZOxtMV2LT-ntwlBKAFQuV_MvUighjtOns0PNafzsdFN_bVcJwl7UBjnDqAhsxJ0VzxHIL21kfkxlrd06okFEDAGkyMrqvbvB956kKivAqnk4ODSljRs5P2zZeA_sLawb0ZzLo95QvPG4drN8/s512/2_ditty.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge49os-2gF9Ee2AKOz6Zh_ed6NLLKQUrAOfsnKW-SazYtZOxtMV2LT-ntwlBKAFQuV_MvUighjtOns0PNafzsdFN_bVcJwl7UBjnDqAhsxJ0VzxHIL21kfkxlrd06okFEDAGkyMrqvbvB956kKivAqnk4ODSljRs5P2zZeA_sLawb0ZzLo95QvPG4drN8/s320/2_ditty.png" width="64" /></a></div>
<a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/ditty-125.html">Ditty </a>is a charming conwoman from Kedhris, living off her sharp wits, quick tongue, and nimble fingers. Ditty loves to take the proud and overbearing down a peg, especially if it makes her money in the process. While she has no qualms about stealing from or embarrassing others, she does have a soft spot for the unfortunate. Ditty is skilled thief, a terrific talker, and at home in the desert. She's not a bad with the sword, but she's not great either, and if she must fight would prefer to find some sort of edge. <p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uRBRlPGMQlqHXS5H4azDmyGeiUthcqEW/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hToaGlhjogSf1MVJ7Av34lsQzn2B5Sh8/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet </a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/ditty-125.html">Blog Sheet </a><br /></p><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlpgfxEKDbzlniTui3cC2bp9wdoAiBndfXHtYGqy_TJ09IJxuxKpjPEol0bmOVe0NojpJEWQqp5wvYwOyeqK3Xajaft3DfssDSgQp3B_pEUJl9tTIEneHrPhCOC1CYpufrKmIIQnjlVCKAZiXq_MPBzEW6pXV6rUauMjadBR9wQNTDcMltw7FFeGOFTo/s512/2_girth.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlpgfxEKDbzlniTui3cC2bp9wdoAiBndfXHtYGqy_TJ09IJxuxKpjPEol0bmOVe0NojpJEWQqp5wvYwOyeqK3Xajaft3DfssDSgQp3B_pEUJl9tTIEneHrPhCOC1CYpufrKmIIQnjlVCKAZiXq_MPBzEW6pXV6rUauMjadBR9wQNTDcMltw7FFeGOFTo/s320/2_girth.png" width="64" /></a></div>
<a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/girth-125.html">Girth </a>is a Kedhris merchant currently down on his luck: a trading venture of his went wrong, and now he actually owes money. His contacts in the guild see promise though, and he hopes he can get another trading venture off. For now, he'll take jobs where he can get them. Girth has been back and forth across the desert many times and speaks both Lantrian and Shandassan. He's a skilled trader and negotiator who can get people across the desert. He's learned both the sword and the bow for self-defense, though he doesn't exactly consider himself a warrior. <p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-FCY9K5JzLP8ifry0Rlot_1EtTQMntVa/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uRc636khj1TKzZnSVjndXcPy1pAZUdtp/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/girth-125.html">Blog Sheet </a><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfAfOTSVPMVCRstzGM-KXXKN7mDQIMQ03dgaDYWp6f5WaEzoUpys9ekuVvFT77EbToypl146eyUgRuJ9cGNJtIXeRlavV0SSEOxrS0gYVK9k8JgFiF0tjEDt0k0X1gbVPCgQBmGgEJFRHNLDdXWbYbASJeWUimUfCRTZLieOa5klHmip0Tm04XgiwJQfM/s512/2_Weave.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfAfOTSVPMVCRstzGM-KXXKN7mDQIMQ03dgaDYWp6f5WaEzoUpys9ekuVvFT77EbToypl146eyUgRuJ9cGNJtIXeRlavV0SSEOxrS0gYVK9k8JgFiF0tjEDt0k0X1gbVPCgQBmGgEJFRHNLDdXWbYbASJeWUimUfCRTZLieOa5klHmip0Tm04XgiwJQfM/s320/2_Weave.png" width="64" /></a></div><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/weave-125.html">Weave </a>is a happy-go-lucky agent, fixer, and merchant. He could theoretically be making a lot of money running his own trading outfit, but where would the fun in that be? He's making enough getting the merchants of Kedris to pay him to solve their problems, seeing the world and living the life while he's at it. He's always got a smile on his face, a tune on his lips, and a new friend at his side. Weave is a skilled negotiator who lives by his quick tongue. He's picked up a desert skills quickly, though he's more of a quick learner than a dedicated student. Weave is competent at both the sword and the bow.<p></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YMbVWJGJZHwbo16WNdLAJ6yX_AC5rhZH/view?usp=drive_link">GCS Sheet</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lrJBTTMiQtYcqic4MSxYdMipzS1AissD/view?usp=drive_link">PDF Sheet</a> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/weave-125.html">Blog Sheet </a></p><p> These characters were a bit easier for me to flesh out and differentiate than the more combat-oriented ones. This could be because there were only four of them, rather than eleven, or it could be because I just get this sort of character better. I had lots of fun building them. </p><p>Girth is a member of the Merchant's Guild, which gives lots and lots of small bonuses throughout the adventure. The Adventure suggests having at least one party member be a member of the Guild or of White Sword. Ultimately, I think this is an "Adventure Tax", akin to requiring one member of your party to spend a bunch of points on rank that they won't use because their "command" is a bunch of Player characters. The Adventure tries hard to make the Merchant's Guild worth it at least.<br /><br />The group I've worried the most about being able to get through the adventure would be one where everyone is one of these characters. On the other hand, I'd expect such a group to try some wildly unexpected stuff: you've got a bunch of sneaks and manipulators, so the adventure could turn out very unpredictable! On the other hand, I'd expect most parties want one character to be from this group.<br /></p><p>The pictures are from <a href="https://app.artflow.ai">artflow.ai </a>again. </p><p>I hope you find these characters useful!<br /></p><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-90715065287061478072023-11-15T10:30:00.000-08:002023-11-16T08:59:54.386-08:00CtAE Pregens: Archers<p>When looking at making characters for caravan to Ein Arris, I went looking for ways to get an edge on its deadly opponents, Fighters I, II, and III. I came up with a couple of options, but one of the strongest was ranged combat. Only one of them carries a bow, and none of them carry shields. This means archery is a good way to beat them. Archers are also Iconic RPG characters, and a memorable type of warrior. While most of the pregens carry bows, these three excel at using them. </p><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/manila-125.html"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPiImgJtefnyarbm0FqjwpdIBv9cd1NHTOZRHrW2G6lf4_894ZjXskeSILPHwm8ViXJ5SPqFd1-xRpEALkPrDy0otOizDm0mtdaH_MgH93l4T98SS4rtR2KzJT26eQFCwcRTmNq9c1XBmQ_WJKgPxNt4BBUcKGzr9eWtW6bowvpZAW7LP2bav2rliuSlk/s512/2_Manila.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPiImgJtefnyarbm0FqjwpdIBv9cd1NHTOZRHrW2G6lf4_894ZjXskeSILPHwm8ViXJ5SPqFd1-xRpEALkPrDy0otOizDm0mtdaH_MgH93l4T98SS4rtR2KzJT26eQFCwcRTmNq9c1XBmQ_WJKgPxNt4BBUcKGzr9eWtW6bowvpZAW7LP2bav2rliuSlk/w200-h200/2_Manila.webp" width="64" /></a></div><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/manila-125.html">Manila </a>is a world-class markswoman with a lot of determination and a touch of social skills. She can make the most difficult shots of the three. </p><p>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PChD3BdKjp6d7pM_9unAOmfg7Az0sI7V/view?usp=drive_link">GCS sheet</a>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/18u7MRfxsiwuXYxuTV9zL6wmEI31p95Fy/view?usp=drive_link">PDF sheet </a>
<a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/manila-125.html">Blog Sheet</a><br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2q-rueJ5gAdm9YS4r_rEf3Bawmt8kou3-_YRGwrb0sNbZXGR86LYltc3MXpZ7I2LGAIpEAP02XI3JZXditXmyUtHVG8HQ9rDlXoWnUWhT3XnGt924CrY2u4ALj7IDFTMtxtKkrJjLtJPbhyphenhyphen1Ph5PBqHn7zePp-3NTMt-pfplNWPcVIC3iJJOEI6kq1Ys/s512/2_Jute.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> <img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2q-rueJ5gAdm9YS4r_rEf3Bawmt8kou3-_YRGwrb0sNbZXGR86LYltc3MXpZ7I2LGAIpEAP02XI3JZXditXmyUtHVG8HQ9rDlXoWnUWhT3XnGt924CrY2u4ALj7IDFTMtxtKkrJjLtJPbhyphenhyphen1Ph5PBqHn7zePp-3NTMt-pfplNWPcVIC3iJJOEI6kq1Ys/s320/2_Jute.webp" width="64" /></a></div><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/jute-125.html">Jute </a>is a quick-fire archer with a generous heart haunted by deaths he's seen. He's the best in close combat of the three, and the fastest shot.</p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cuSAHeEMyaBLhIdn1JRUPopDQQiPAQzD/view?usp=drive_link">GCS sheet</a>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1liQG3o5Bgjceh6rj54K6OItCwsvS8NpV/view?usp=drive_link">PDF sheet </a>
<a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/jute-125.html">Blog Sheet</a><br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqrojDivVAOJtuiUehn94_ZY64F6e59QNIneMDkk91kh7vTfMY3ZnBAum5SGawtO0jp_e53sp6iO-FSGGnH8itI1tjyHD9CDmjgKyYsk1nu0KLDpUZsqbmhODWf6pxDX092gXP2j3PfrOvweb4RClujhs512AIY-_BKm0d7TGnwSTy5Bxfw355f5OuVY/s512/2_Keffiyah.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="64" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLqrojDivVAOJtuiUehn94_ZY64F6e59QNIneMDkk91kh7vTfMY3ZnBAum5SGawtO0jp_e53sp6iO-FSGGnH8itI1tjyHD9CDmjgKyYsk1nu0KLDpUZsqbmhODWf6pxDX092gXP2j3PfrOvweb4RClujhs512AIY-_BKm0d7TGnwSTy5Bxfw355f5OuVY/s320/2_Keffiyah.webp" width="64" /></a></div><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/keffiyah-125.html">Keffiyah </a>is a crafty desert expert and tribesman who is out to see and experience the world. He is an expert at scouting, riding, and at shooting from concealment.</p><p>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BCFlHmAEnFhowZ0U-HosCuYeifhdEK1o/view?usp=drive_link">GCS sheet</a>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xJBP1OFT761rmtmBbygueTdPWQI-NKrL/view?usp=drive_link">PDF sheet </a>
<a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/keffiyah-125.html">Blog Sheet</a></p><p></p><p></p><p>If you have access to Gurps: Martial Arts, all of these characters are good enough to use "Quick Shooting" (p 119), though Keffiyah will struggle a little. This can go a long way to making these characters feel awesome, though they don't need to use it. </p><p>Keffiyah is one of my two "Desert Tribesmen" characters. These people are only mentioned in passing in the original adventure. </p><p>Don't feel obligated to stick with the names. I have a quirky little scheme for the names, but by all means, go ahead and rename the characters. Or change a feature of the sheet or two, or even go so far as to use Jute's disadvantages and Manila's skills and advantages to make a grumpy sharp shooter instead of a grumpy quick-shooter.</p><p>These characters were among the first characters I came up with for this set, especially Jute and Manila. Keffiyah was the hardest to build, as I had real trouble figuring out who he really was. I have 12 more characters coming, organized into three groups: Skirmishers, Heavies, and Agents.</p><p>Characters' pictures were generated using <a href="http://artflow.ai" target="_blank">artflow.ai</a>. Its a fairly old character generator that specializes in RPG themes and has branched into general AI art generation. (I have much uglier pictures from the same site for all these characters)<br /></p><p>I hope you find them useful. Mostly, next time someone wants to run Ein Arris quickly, I hope they can skip character creation and just get their players playing!</p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-16638596276814197442023-11-08T09:44:00.000-08:002023-11-08T09:44:57.860-08:00Lessons from making Caravan to Ein Arris Pregens<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://warehouse23.com/cdn/shop/products/Caravan_to_Ein_Arris_GURPS_Fourth_Edition_thumb1000_600x.jpg?v=1580569321" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://warehouse23.com/cdn/shop/products/Caravan_to_Ein_Arris_GURPS_Fourth_Edition_thumb1000_600x.jpg?v=1580569321" width="247" /></a></div>Gurps has a free adventure named <a href="https://warehouse23.com/products/caravan-to-ein-arris-gurps-fourth-edition">Caravan to Ein Arris</a>. Its pretty well known (by people who've heard of Gurps), probably because it is the official free gurps adventure. You can get fan made stuff, of varying degrees of quality (though I have to call out <a href="https://1shotadventures.com/adventure-index/">1 shot adventures </a>as having both lots of stuff and a high production quality), and there are a few adventures you can buy, but Ein Arris is the most famous.<p></p><p>"Caravan" lacks pregens. Which is a shame, because gurps sheets are hard. And when you ask people for pregens, they kind of shuffle around and give suggestions but don't ever have actual sheets for you. I've tried a few times to make sheets for Ein Arris, but I've never really finished it before. I've finally sat down, and I'm 80% of the way done with 15 characters. And I've come to some discoveries about Ein Arris in the process.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Ein Arris Skill list is comprehensive</li><li>The Ein Arris Advantage List contains Traps</li><li>You don't need Great Non-combat skills </li><li> Ein Arris Combat is Scary</li><li>The Party should be a Bunch of Warriors</li><li>Dungeon Fantasy Henchmen is a Great Base </li></ul><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Ein Arris Skill list is Comprehensive</h2><p></p><p>When I first read the module, I thought that the skill list was a "Must have" list. Its not. Its a "Everything that might show up" list. If the skill isn't in the list, you probably aren't going to use it. Which is kind of nice to know. Also, its kind of weird that it lists oxen and cattle as two different animal handling specialties. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Ein Arris Advantage List contains Traps</h2><p>The character creation list has a list of languages, and a couple of Patrons you could take. One of the languages suggested will never be useful. Another language comes for free with either of the two obvious languages to take (the one at your starting point and the one at your destination). The white sword is said to show up fairly often, but it never really has an effect. Meanwhile, the merchant's guild is said to rarely intercede, but all sorts of little perks from being a member are sprinkled through the book. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">You don't need Great Non-combat skills </h2><p>All of the non-combat rolls are pretty low, or have minimal consequences. Falling off your camel is embarrassing, and might do a little damage, but you have time to heal. same for getting hit by a skunk, or even completely bungling the first two tasks you are sent to do. And 12's and 13's will give you most of the success you need. Even when trying to out smart or sneak around the thugs, a 12 will give success most of the time.<br /></p><p>There is one exception, and it would have been better served by saying "GM fiat says you can't catch the bandits on horseback.". Because that's what it is. What thug has riding-18?<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Ein Arris Combat is Scary<br /></h2><p>Different groups have different styles. Some emphasize combat a lot more than others. In my games, combat is an obstacle that finds you and you defeat, evade, or survive it on your way to winning via negotation, exploration, and research. This is not how Ein Arris is built. Ein Arris will lightly punish players for relying only on their blades, but by and large the adventure is about combat.</p><p>The opponents, the notorious Fighters I, II, and III, are really tough combatants, boasting weapon skills of 15 or 16, and ST scores to match. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Party is a Bunch of Warriors</h2><p>Seriously. Maybe I've been playing the strange low-combat mode that I love about gurps for too long and I shouldn't be surprised by this, but the Ein Arris party should be a band of formidable warriors with a little bit of discretion and various tricks on the side. That's the group that will do well and feel like they accomplished something in the end. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Dungeon Fantasy Henchmen is a Great Base</h2><p>Given the emphasis on combat, and the 125 point budget, Dungeon Fantasy Henchmen is a great base for characters. I saw this suggestion, blew it off, built my own characters, and then found them woefully lacking and converted them to DF:13 standards, basing them off specific templates. The results look really good, over-matching the NPC Fighters by a point here and a point there. I made heavy use of the Skirmisher, Squire, Agent, and Archer. The Cutpurse and Brute each showed up once. I don't think I'd mind using it again. Just remember that you're building a desert character, not a generic fantasy warrior.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">In Summary</h2><p>So if you're going to build Ein Arris characters, I'd say to pull out DF Henchmen, and make sure to pick up survival(desert), riding (camel), and animal handling (camel), at least at low levels. That's all you really need. </p><p>Good games occur when GM's communicate what the game is about to the players. This is especially important to get right when running someone else's adventure, because the GM needs to make sure the players don't get blindsided, and the GM hasn't loaded the entire adventure into their heads via creating it from whole cloth.</p><p>If you're interested in running Ein Arris, you should check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkPpu61RMHg">this review </a>by 1ShotAdventures. He's got some good advice about running the adventure, and some comments about things that could be done better or that could be tweaked. He's also got a <a href="https://1shotadventures.com/adventure-index/">whole site of free adventures </a>with pregen characters, and if you're interested in this, you're likely to be interested in that. <br /></p><p>I hope this helps people build their own Ein Arris characters, and run their own Ein Arris Games. And I hope to have a bunch (15!) of pregens for the game on this blog soon.<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-11468572812946599562023-11-01T09:05:00.000-07:002023-11-01T09:05:46.843-07:00Highlun and the Labyrinth<p style="text-align: left;">I was asked if the Labyrinth of Psi-wars is present on Highlun, with the suggestion that Skairos could function as "Fairies in the Mist". I had totally not thought of that as a possibility, and I was struck by two thoughts: </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: left;">The Labyrinth and its monsters are a fantastic flavor fit for Highlun</li><li style="text-align: left;">Highlun is not about the Labyrinth<span><a name='more'></a></span></li></ul><h2 style="text-align: left;">Where is the Labyrinth?</h2><p style="text-align: left;">As a testament to how well the Labyrinth fit's Highlun's themes, I immediately knew where on the planet you can find the Labyrinth: </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Under Ruined Liff cities in the Winding</li><li>Under Ruined Liff cities in the Mawlands</li><li>Underneath Olkessel in the Midmon</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;">The Winding is where the accessible ruined cities of the Liff are. They're not particularly advanced or useful, due to the atmosphere, but they're well known, poorly guarded, and reasonably close to human habitation. Its a very convenient way to get to the Labyrinth. Its also probably the easiest route for the Skarios to get to random humans.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The Mawlands also has ruined cities, but unlike the Winding, the terrain surrounding it is fantastically hostile. Its a good place to dump failed adventures who are being too reckless with their navigation rolls, and its a good place for a Skairos to disappear into without letting itself be tracked. Its closer to Highlun's population center, and the jungle can function as another layer of the labyrinth.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Olkessel has the labyrinth under it, because of course it does. The palatial complex has always had something weird to do with House's Alacapa's psionics, destiny, and mysterious history. The Liff highland temple ruins are in the area, and the House has always had a knack for exploring the unknown. Tying this into the Labyrinth and Skairos just plays into the vibe the old palatial complex has always had.</p><p style="text-align: left;">House Alacapa is tied to exploration and trail-blazing for the greater houses, and this very much draws them to the labyrinth. They love secrets, new places, and even hidden passages. They're very much suited to handle the physical aspects of the Labyrinth, even as they're likely to struggle with some of the more metaphysical ones. They're likely to be experts at guiding others who can through their weight around a bit more once the destination is reached.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Not Persephone's Labyrinth</h2><p style="text-align: left;">Highlun has a fairly antagonistic relationship with the labyrinth. The Skairos would much rather work with the Time-oriented Oracles of Persephone than with the Space-Oriented House Alacapa. There are fewer spots to interact with the Labyrinth, and the people live farther from them: even Olkessel is half abandoned. Persephone is the heart of the Akashic mysteries, while Highlun is merely the seat of a Barony. <br /><br />Highlun also has an abundance of ruins that are not Skairos. The Liff and the Skairos seem to be two different peoples, and the Skairos are of far more power and consequence. The Liff have their own secrets, though at their core they may too have fallen under the sway of the Labyrinth. The link Alacapa has with the planet seems to be at least as much Liff as Labyrinth. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Its worth remembering that the Labyrinth is deeply tied with black canon: things that are intentionally left unknown. But the Labyrinth is a good inclusion for Highlun. Its a good idea, and worth putting on the blog. Thanks to Calmquist again. (who has <a href="https://calmquist.github.io/">his own GURPS blog</a>, by the way). I hope you enjoy Psi-wars and Highlun.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-31853244214501574422023-10-26T08:11:00.001-07:002023-10-26T08:11:49.867-07:00House Alacapa<p>This is more <a href="http://psi-wars.wikidot.com/wiki:primer">Psi-Wars </a>content, about the Maradonian House that rules <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/09/highlun-psi-wars-planet.html">Highlun</a>. Its based on material by Mailanka on <a href="https://mailanka.wordpress.com/">his blog</a> and the <a href="http://psi-wars.wikidot.com/wiki:primer">Psi-Wars Wiki</a>. <br /></p><p>House Alacapa is a Maradonian house ruling over a a collection of backwater worlds. While lacking in any title beyond "Baron", the house controls several of those. Alacapans are famous for finding new planets and space routes. Many of their worlds were discoverd this way and transformed from backwater nowheres into moderately valuable holdings. Other houses often find these holdings petty, and members of the house to be rough and occasionally a little eccentric. The most controversial title of all is Baron of the Iron Fleet. The Iron
Fleet is not a planet, but a mercenary outfit staffed and controlled by
House Alacapa, but funded by its outside contracts.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>House Alacapa produces a large number of redheads, but brown hair or blond hair are not uncommon. Whatever the hair color, it is voluminous and spirited. The men grow full bushy beards with ease, and the women have thick curly locks. They are often large and physically imposing, and their voices are noted for being deep and striking.</p><p>House Alacapa is famous for producing sets of siblings who all go on to do something notable at the same time. This might be stages of a difficult and arduous project, or it could be fighting on two different sides of war. These siblings tend to have sharp differences of personality, and their relationships are marked by both noisy quarrels and remarkable acts of personal loyalty.</p><p>House Alacapa's fertility was often contrasted with that of Mistral, and the subject of a long frustrating series of failed eugenic projects. Ultimately it was concluded that the House's fertility was tied to Highlun and the old Liff Ruins, and some lingering psychic effect. House
Alacapa still contains enough Mistral blood that it is hoped one of its
scions will properly revive the line. Alacapa's bloodline has always
resisted true harmony with Mistral, though, showing its own quirks and
only mildly reinforcing Mistral.</p><p>As a Lesser House, Alacapa has always sought out allies among other houses, but resisted all-out allegiance. Alacapa has a notorious mercenary streak, offering its military expertise to other houses and earning its dogged claim to be Barons rather than Viscounts. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Eugenic Legacy<br /></h2><p>Traits commonly associated with House Alacapa include: High ST, High HT, Penetrating Voice, Luck, Acute Touch, and Appearance (Impressive). <br /></p><p>The hidden madness of Alacapa generally manifests as Greed, Bad Temper, Flashbacks (Liff History), Compulsive Behavior (Wanderlust), and Obsession (Vengeance).<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Psionic Legacy <br /></h2><p>House Alacapa's Psionic legacy is Psychokenesis. While having access to many forms of Psychokenesis, house Alacapa has always had a gift with TK grab. A specialty is the ability to use their sense of touch to feel what they're holding, a skill that has made them amazing mechanics, saboteurs, and discoverers of secret passages.</p><p>House Alacapa has access to the standard Psi-wars psychokinesis Abilities, plus access to <b>Sensitive Psychokenesis [4] </b>and <b>Psychokenetic Scan [13] </b>(See <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/10/touchy-feely-tk.html">Touchy-Feely TK</a>). These additional abilities are considered a distinctive mark of Alacapan Heritage, and reflect the ability to feel around with TK. Sensitive Psychokenesis is much more common, and is often used for subtle sabotage, and amazing mechanical feats. Its also responsible for House Alacapa's minor obsession with secret compartments.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Destinies and Histories<br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Prophetic Trailblazer<br /></h2><p>Kylar Alacapa was a famous scout and soldier during the Middle Alexian Dynasty. Kylar spent most of his life traveling the stars, seeking new routes, and identifying potential enemies of the Alexian dynasty. During active wars, Kylar's fleet served as scouts, probing enemy positions and finding the best routes into enemy territory. During periods of peace, Kylar continued to seek routes through hyperspace, preparing the way for any future conflicts, and he had a knack for getting them right. Kylar spent most his life on the edges of the empire, and eventually died at a ripe old age while investigating potential military routes in the Umbral Rim.</p><p>Helen Alacapa was a shrewd diplomat and negotiator who lived during the end of the house wars. She knew her house was not strong enough to win against a great house, but it was also independent, and she worked hard to maintain the balance of power. Helen was an advocate for peace, but wielded terrible personal prowess, and a willingness to walk into dangerous situations. The war of Houses did not subside during her lifetime, but she is seen as an early advocate of the system that emerged afterwards</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Treacherous Sellsword</h2><p>Amonik Alacapa was a callous mercenary during the house wars who fought for whoever would pay him the most. Traveling from star to star and war to war, he amassed a great fortune and an army loyal only to him. He had a reputation for abiding strictly (and only) to his contract and exacting painful and brutal revenge on those who did not did not honor their end. His reputation eventually found its way home, and Highlun was occupied and its Baron, his brother Joentil, was killed. Amonik returned home to exact vengence, and destroyed his famous forces in his quest for revenge -- but he achieved it, killing the Grimshaw Duke who slew his brother. Amonik was killed before he was able to leave enemy territory, but his body was returned to his sister Helen.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Daring Explorer</h2><p>The archetypal explorer is Jalar Alacapa, the legendary founder of the house. Jalar is said to
have searched the galaxy far and wide before bringing the vitkin and
apalaks to Highlun. Legends differ on where he got them: some say he
brought them from humanities legendary homeworld, other say he made it
to the sylvan spiral. Others say the species was always native to Highlun and the tellers are mixing up their stories. Jalar himself gave
wildly inconsistent stories about where he was during his journeys. </p><p>The Daring Explorer is a Liar and Story Teller, a discoverer and a keeper of secrets, and free from the oversight of emperors or oracles.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Relics<br /></h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">Jalar's Crown: </h2><p>Higher Purpose (Keep Secrets), Charisma</p><p>An ancient circuit made from fine metal wire, Jalar's crown is an ancient Liff artifact. It is traditionally worn by the Baron of Highlun. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Helen's Hairpin:</h2><p>Reputation (Steely Negotiator) +1, Charisma<br /></p><p>A long diamondoid spike ostensibly used for fashion, Helen's hairpin is essentially a large dagger. She wore it conspicuously throughout her life, especially when negotiating among constantly shifting alliances.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Liff Key:</h2><p>Higher Purpose (Discovery of New Paths and Places), Sensitive Psychokenesis <br /></p><p>An ancient gem held on a pendant, the Liff key was given by Jalar to his second son, and has been passed on to descendants not expected to stay near home. It has been with the house on many journeys, but is currently lost.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Amonik's Gauntlet:</h2><p>Higher Purpose (Vengeance), Reputation (Ruthless Avenger) +1<br /></p><p>A Diamondoid Gauntlet with a dark black cast, Amonik Alacapa physically slew his Grimshaw enemy with this gauntlet, boosted by tactile TK. The Gauntlet is only brought out for use when the house feels that it has suffered great wrong, and it is only returned when vengeance has been satisfied.</p><p><br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-82859483236372123242023-10-25T13:29:00.004-07:002023-10-25T13:29:59.367-07:00Touchy Feely TK<p>Sometimes a Psychokenesis user wants to be able to use their sense of touch as part of their TK. As part of my current Psi-wars stuff, I certainly want that. Here are two abilities that let them do this. </p><p> Thanks to <a href="https://calmquist.github.io/2023/05/10/telekinetic-sense.html">Calmquist</a>, who basically built these for me by himself!<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><b>Sensitive Psychokenesis [4]:</b> You feel the details of what you
are moving with psychokenesis, as though you were touching it with your
hands. You can use this to merely feel around without moving something,
but the sensation is still limited to a pair of hands. You do not need
to see what you are touching, and you are not blocked by solid objects.
You cannot feel farther than your TK extends. Acute Touch and Talent add
to rolls to determine what you are touching. A subject you are feeling
may roll Per at -4 to determine you are feeling them. <br /></p><p> Statistics: <b>Ranged Touch*</b> <i>(Range limited by TK rather than detect rolls +0%, psychokinesis -10%) [4]</i><br /></p><p>*This
ability is based on "Normal Senses and Modifiers" from Powers- Enhanced
Senses, page 9, applying it to the ranged advantage (this option is
extrapolated from the book)</p><p><b>Psychokenetic Scan [13]: </b>You
can use your TK to sense physical objects around you, though this mostly
matches what your vision would be. you can only use this sense in one direction, and you only get the general shape and size of what you sense.<br /></p><p>This ability is especially useful in combination with smoke or darkness in combat to attack blinded foes.<br /></p>Statistics: <b>Vibration sense </b><i>(Sense of Perception +100%, Psychokinesis -10%, Restricted Arc 120 degrees -60%) [13]</i>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-69007718833454014142023-10-11T09:28:00.007-07:002023-10-25T13:02:36.479-07:00Highlun: The Rest of the Planet<p style="text-align: left;">I've talked about the <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/10/highlun-vital-core.html">Vital Core </a>of <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/09/highlun-psi-wars-planet.html">Highlun</a>, as well as its <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/10/highlun-southern-continent.html">Southern Continent</a>. This last post is a little less focused, but it breaks down into three parts: The small wet tropical eastern continent, the settled parts of the northern continent not part of the core settlement, and some noteworthy wildernesses.</p><a name='more'></a><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Eastern Continent <br /></h2><p>The Eastern continent is the smallest and most tropical of the three.<b> </b>It
has been heavily marked by volcanic activity and the nearby ocean. Its
not actually a proper continent, but an arpeggio of large islands.<br /></p><p><b>Darlun (The Dark Plateaus):</b>
The Darlun is named for the rich black volcanic rocks and soil it is
built on. Its a dry, savanna with scattered trees and lots of tall
jagged black rock outcroppings. The Herders of Darlun mostly care for
criggles. They love carving rocks with their heavy vibroknives, and the Darlun is studded with
generations of their work.<br /></p><p><b>Dapmon (The Damp Mountains):</b>
A notoriously wet and rainy mountain range, It rains almost constantly
in the Dapmon, giving some relief from its tropical heat. While the herders here keep a fair amount of criggles, they also do a fair amount
of yam farming and eat a lot of fish. They're noted for their enormous
traditional vibroknives, almost the size of swords, which they use
mostly for cutting vegetation. They also tend to wear less clothing but
more jewelry. <br /></p><p><b>The Havens:</b> A series of port cities
built into the steep cliffs on the coasts of the Dapmon, convenient to is the
richest fishing grounds on Highlun. Highlun's fish are sold domestically and exported off world
as well. This area is also a chronic breeding ground for hurricanes. The Havens are built into narrow fjords, with the bulk of the cities lying in tunnels inside the mountains.<br /></p><p><b>Overlook: </b>The
Eastern Continent's main starport, Overlook is perched on a mountain peak 2,000
meters above Underlook, the largest of the Havens. Overlook's is a transportation hub, providing access to the ocean, to space, and to ground transport.<br /></p><b>The Firmon (The Fire Range):</b> Dozens of the peaks of the southern Dapmon are very active volcanoes. Some
erupt continuously, while others wait a few months or years between eruptions. These
wonders of nature draw visitors, and the area sees some very ambitious mining
using advanced techniques. The herders here see themselves as part of
the Dapmon.<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Northern mountains</h2><p>The Northern Continent is considered to be the "Main" continent of Highlun, containing the Lowmon, Banks, and the "Main Range" of Highlun. Different parts of the range are large enough and distinct enough to have their own identity: Wesmon, Lowmon, Midmon, and Essmon.<br /></p><p><b>Wesmon (the Western Range)</b>: Located at the western end of the northern range, just after Lowmon, Wesmon is the most rugged area of the mountains, with sharp peaks and stunning drops. Its herders mostly care for Apalaks, though a fair number of Vitkin are found here as well. The herders of Wesmon are famous for their love of hang-gliders and soaring through the air. Aside from the gliders, they tend to be tech minimalists, priding themselves on how little gear they use when travelling through their lands. <br /></p><p><b>Redlun (The Red Plateau):</b> To the north and west of the Wesmon is the Redlun, a high plateau filled with badlands and red rock carved by the weather. Here they herd a mixture of Apalak and Criggles. They're infamous for their love of marksmanship and explosions, and for their tendency to use legged vehicles.</p><p><b>Midmon (The Central Range):</b> East of Lowmon and north of the Banks, the Midmon's mountains are lightly forested, ideal for both Criggles and Apalaks. Midmon is the site of many current mining operations. Its herders are famous for being cheery, optimistic, and perhaps a little careless. Midmon clans have a love of smooth stones, and use them in their games and to build large rock designs on the ground. <br /></p><p><b>Tailings and Bore: </b>A pair of mining cities built around an enormous mine shaft drilled directly into a mountain in the Wesmon, extending deep into the planet.. A second artificial mountain was built out of the Tailings of this mine, and the city "Tailings" was built on it. The deep mine continues to be productive, extending the life of the community beyond that of most highlun mining towns. <br />Built deep enough in the shaft to require respirators is a second city: Bore.<br /></p><p><b>Liff Ruins:</b> Ruins left by the Liff dot the Essmon. The ones this high up aren't cities (those are in the Winding or worse, in the Mawlands) but temples. They are notoriously grand, and notoriously full of secret passages, many locked using mechanisms only opened via TK. All the ruins in Essmon are under the protection and ownership of House Alacapa, and all are supposedly well explored. <br /></p><p><b>Olkessel (The Old Castle):</b> The first Maradonian fortress complex built on Highlun, Olkessel is at this point mostly a palace rather than a fortress, though it does have a modest sized city around it. The capital was moved from Olkessel ( 'Kesselmon' back then) in the Essmon to Midkessel in the Lowmun to be closer to the Fogglanders of the Banks. As such, it is much larger than it needs to be, with several complexes of semi-used buildings kept up just enough to not fall into disrepair. Members of the house often consider this to be their childhood home. It has a mountain lake, several peaks, gardens deliberately kept just a little wild, and just enough soldiers to give fledgling heirs a taste of military command.<br /></p><p><b>Essmon (the Eastern range):</b> The Green Mountains of the Essmon lie at the eastern end of the Main Range. This is lush mountainous country full of Criggles. The Clans here prize good wrestling, love to dance, and build enormous oversized wooden houses. This is the oldest part of Highlun, and the clans here are proud of that. They have a fierce rivalry with Midmon for prestige. <br /></p><p><b>Grinlun (the Green Plateau):</b> North of the Essmon, the Grinlun is fertile and foggy, not great for Apalaks, but fantastic for Criggles. The area is famous for its green hills, its constant mist and rain, haunting woodwind music, and enormous vegetables. The Clans in this area are as likely to farm as to herd, but still maintain the low population density and cultural traditions of their more pastoral kin. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Wild Places:</h2><p>Highlun is a vast planet, and only a small fraction of it is inhabited. Outside of the mountain tops and Fogglander settlements are vast reaches of wild terrain, protected from habitation by their high air pressure... at least for now.</p><p><b>The Dry:</b> South of Wesmon is an enormous desert known as the Dry. As it goes south it fades into a dusty seasonal grassland, also considered part of the dry. The dry is home to all sorts of large reptilian beasts, some slow and lumbering, but others quick and agile. A network of outposts criss-cross the dry, mostly in service of hunters.</p><p><b>The Mawlands:</b> A notorious region south of the Essmon, The Mawlands are a dense forest teaming with carnivorous plants and reptilians dangerous for both their size and venom. The "Maw" is in reference to a particularly menacing carnivorous plant. Despite being at a temperate latitudes, the Mawlands are swelteringly hot, at least for nine months of the year, and resemble a tropical jungle. <br /></p><p><b>The Thornwood: </b>South of the Dry, the Thornwood is not nearly as notorious as the Mawlands, but it has many of the same factors: the hungry and venomous reptilians are quite deadly, and while the plants won't eat you, they will thread your clothing and skin. <br /></p><p><b>The Oceans:</b> Highlun's oceans are subject to enormous waves and frequent large storms driven by its high pressure and heat. Many find their way across the water though, either shipping things around or fishing in massive boats trailing oversized nets. Highlun's sea life is not particularly aggressive or large, but it is abundant. Much more dangerous than the wildlife are the frequent storms.<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-35873598029209086262023-10-10T08:07:00.005-07:002023-10-11T08:18:25.355-07:00Highlun: The Southern Continent<p style="text-align: left;">As I've worked out the various areas of <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/09/highlun-psi-wars-planet.html">Highlun</a>, the southern continent quickly became the most interesting. The Northern Continent has the capital and the biggest settlement, but the Winding is probably the most adventure-friendly area on the planet, and the southern mountains are the real home of the vitkin, famed for their fabulously luxurious and expensive wool, as well as some of the most extreme terrain on Highlun. The Cauldron explores some of the tension and possible lack of purpose the Fogglanders will experience when they finally run out of planet and don't have to wear their iconic respirators anymore.<span></span><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>The Winding</b></h2><p>The Winding refers to a collection of Fogglander
settlements spread along the main river basin of the Southern Continent.
Spread out over half a continent, the river ties them together with a
common identity and transportation network. Cities of the winding are
raised on stilts rather than terraced, and feature massive flood irrigated fields tended by giant machines
and an abundance of boats. </p><p>The Cities of the winding serve a
secondary population: those who live in the larger forest surrounding
it. Highlun is notorious as a place to disappear in, and the winding is a
large part of that reason. People who wish not to be known periodically
visit its cities, their faces obscured by respirators, to stock up on
the essentials before returning to somewhere in its temperate jungles to
live for another few years. This includes both criminals on the run and
a fair number of Templars. The Fogglanders of the Winding treat these
visitors fairly, but with a watchful eye.</p><p>Notable locations in the winding include: </p><p><b>Winmouth (The Winding's Mouth):</b>
The largest city in the Winding, and its default capital. Its infamous
for being the city where "anything goes", as its usually where people
trying to hide in the winding start their search. Winmouther's pride
themselves on their work ethic and on their distinctive city.<br /></p><p><b>Colgap (The Cold Gap):</b>
The end of the winding, Colgap is on the branch of the river closest to the Litmon and the Caldron, and is an important transportation hub. Its famous
as the "Foggiest of the foglands", and has something of a reputation as
transitory community.<br /></p><p><b>Outlaw Camps:</b> The Winding is well known as a place to hide in the Glorian Rim. As long as the refugees don't
cause trouble, Highlun's government and populace leave them alone. This attracts petty criminals, political refugees, folks wanted for murder back home, and many others. Templars have occasionally hunkered down here. While shooting to kill is
considered rude, warning shots are not. At least as long as you're far
away from town. The area is huge, but in practice most outlaws live
within 100 miles of a Fogglander town so they can get supplies. Some
ride small repulsor-craft, but just as popular is a scrawny biped
dinosauroid with a long tail, beak, and cheek frills known as a
"bekfrill".<br /></p><p><b>Liff Ruins:</b>
Highlun was once inhabited by an alien species called the Liff. The
Liff were tall, bald, humanoids with blueish or greenish skin, slits for
noses, and a habit of gluing gems to themselves. The Liff left ruins
throughout the the planet, but the Winding is especially known for them.
Its not known why they died off. The Liff were at least as psionically
active as humans, tending towards Telekinesis. Rumor has it Liff Relics
could still be found in the ruins, and some speculate that House
Alacapa's gift for Telekensis is related to the Liff somehow. The Liff Ruins of the winding are the remnants of ancient cities, hidden by vegetation.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Southern Mountains <br /></h2><p style="text-align: left;">The
Southern mountains are the coldest inhabited places on Highlun, rising
to the south of the Winding and the Caldron. They have the largest
population of Vitkins anywhere on Highlun, making these mountains famous
across the Glorian.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Notable locations in the southern mountains include:<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Highmon (The High Range): </b>The
coldest inhabited place on Highlun, Highmon is an icy set of peaks on
the southern continent. Highmon's population is almost entirely composed of Herders,
with a few scattered cities. Life in
Highmon is harsh, and its people are known their portable shelters,
climbing rigs, and warm clothing. When the Herding clans gather, those
of Highmon are most likely to be found boasting about their terrible
weather and things they've done out in it. </p><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Witlun (The White Plateau): </b>Witlun
is so named or the snow that covers it half of the year. Witlun's
herders are known for their wide open spaces, for the long shaggy fur on
their riddersteeds, and for their love of racing across snowy expanses
on lightning fast repulsor-craft. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Litmon (The Small Range):</b> The Litmon is the smallest of the inhabited range, only a half the length
of Highmon. It's south of the Caldron and east of the Winding, and is
heavily mined. Litmon herders are notorious for their especially thick
accent, half cooked food, love of unusual contests, and general
acceptance of eccentric habits. They consider it a virtue to handle new
experiences with robust vigor.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Brunlun (The Brown Plateau):</b>
An arid plateau in the eastern rainshadow of the Litmon, Brunlun is both cold
and dry. While not true mountains, the plateau is rugged, with hills,
canyons, and buttes. The herders of the Brunlun build their houses on repulsor lifts, and follow their Apalaks and the wild Vitkin as the herds search for patches of vegetation.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Hafful (the Half Hole):</b>
the largest mining settlement in Litmon. Hafful's mines are still being
expanded, along with the city's size and infrastructure. The city's core is built around an enormous semi-circular mine shaft, from which it gains its name.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Outkessle (The Far Castle): </b>A military fortress complex and spaceport, set up just south of the Cauldron in the Litmon. While Midkessle also functions as a seat of government, Outkessle is primarily a military base. It also serves as a first-class navigation school, cultivated by House Alacapa over the centuries to serve their exploration efforts. The deep tunnels are rumored to have been used by House Alacapa as vaults to hide their secret navigational data.<br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>The Cauldron</b></h2><p>Nestled
in the foothills of the Litmon, the Cauldron is the most recent
Fogglander community. It lies in a large bowl-(or Cauldron)-shaped valley, with a river flowing out to the South. It was founded with the goal of being a
smaller settlement project than the continually expanding Banks or the
continent spanning Winding. </p><p><b>The Walls: </b>The mountains on the edge of the valley are
devoted to agriculture. The multi-leveled terraces
are similar to those of the Banks, but they lack the buildings inside: the people
working them all live down in the Glesspan or up on the Rim.</p><p><b>The Rim:</b> on the top and back slopes of the mountains surrounding the Cauldron is a secondary set of
settlements technically outside of the Cauldron, but functionally an important part of it, keeping the outer infrastructure and agriculture running.<br /></p><p><b>Glesspan:</b> at
the center of the Cauldron is a large collection of continuous
greenhouses kept at low pressure, containing most the population of
Caldron. Respirators are not required in here, though many still
continue to wear them out of habit, fashion, cultural solidarity, and stubbornness. Many inhabitants of the Cauldron believe
that the entire settlement will one day be covered and that this is the
true destiny of all of the highland. This is a fairly controversial
view and many detractors (especially from the Winding and Banks) say
that this will ruin the spirit of Highlun, or that it will make it like
everywhere else and make the Fogglanders weak.</p><p><b>The Ladle: </b>The area around the river leading out of the Cauldron valley is known as the ladle. It is fairly
densely populated, though it is not pressure protected like the glass
pan. It is famous for the number and size of the bridges crossing the river, and for
its industrial nature.<br /></p><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-38510537468083814802023-10-05T11:47:00.002-07:002023-10-25T13:02:49.892-07:00Highlun: The Vital Core<p> I've decided my atlas of <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/09/highlun-psi-wars-planet.html">Highlun </a>is just too big for a single post, and I'm going to publish it in thematic chunks. Today we cover the Capital, Lowmon, and the largest area of settlement: The Banks.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Lowmon (The Low Range)</b></h2><p>The the center of Highlun's main range, and rising just north of the Banks,
the Lowmon serves as Highlun's capital. It is the most densely populated area of the mountains, and the part of Highlun outsiders are most likely to see. The
Lowmon herding clans boast of their military prowess, political
connections, history, and wealth. Other herding clans mock them as being
"halfway to fogglanders" or "nearly city folk". Notable locations in
Lowmon include:</p><p><b>Coppervin (The Copper Vein):</b> A ex-mining
city turned into the cosmopolitan center of Highlun. Here, Highland
Herders, Fogglander Merchants, Grizzled Miners, and Offworld Visitors
all brush shoulders, do business, and ride in converted ore carts. Coppervin is Highlun's largest
commercial starport.<br /></p><p><b>Midkessel (The Middle Castle):</b> A
city, fortress, miltary starport, and palatial complex, Midkessel is
the seat of power for house Alacapa. It has a grand military air, and
the house works hard to keep it from turning into another Coppervin, preserving it for the Military and House Alacapa.<br /></p><p><b>Feltax (The Place of Taxing Felt):</b>
The site of the largest and oldest of the clan festivals. Once a year,
it becomes an impromptu camp drawing clans and clan leaders from all
over the planet. The festival lasts a full month, longer than any other,
and is the traditional place to conduct business between the various
mountain ranges. Feltax itself is a large green empty mountain valley 10
miles across, but outside its grounds a fairly large community persists
through the year.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>The Banks </b></h2><p>The
largest, oldest, and densest of the Fogglands, the banks are built
along the slopes of Lowmon and Midmon. Minutely sculpted, the banks
consist of layer after layer of smooth terraced earth, running down
thousands of feet of slopes, with homes and factories built into the
terrace walls. Cable cars run up the mountains in neat little lines, and
trams run along the edges. Periodic dams and spillways provide accents,
at least when the place is not obscured by the mist that gives the Fogglands their name. <br /></p><p>The Banks includes almost half the
population of Highlun, and its inhabitants have been accused of acting
like its the entire thing. It covers about 100 miles from the mountain terraces to the sea, and runs between them for about 600 miles. Notable locations in the Banks includes:<br /></p><p><b>Sidbrick (The Sideways Bricks):</b>
A dense urban center marked by large blocky arcologies. They're named
for looking like giant bricks laying on their sides. Sidbrick is the
cultural center of the Banks, and they like to claim, of all of Highlun.
Their tops are immaculately kept gardens, and each "brick" is a small city
unto itself. The Sidbrick has functioned as a fortress complex
during occupations.<br /></p><p><b>The Deeps:</b> A large portion of
Highlun's industry lies underneath its farms, and the Deeps is a portion
of mountain slope with an exceptional amount of industry and
structure. <br /></p><p><b>The Rolls:</b> The Banks extends along the
mountains forming Lowmon and Midmon, and its always being expanded. The
Rolls is the common name for these expansion zones, one going east, and
one going west. Its a place of fresh earth, regularly scheduled
explosions, giant machines, and grandiose planning.<br /></p><b>Falzen (The Waterfall's End):</b>
The port for the banks and the outlet for all the water flowing through
it. A massive artificial harbor protects the ships from the powerful
storms and hurricanes that spring from a hot planet with a dense
atmosphere. The inhabitants of Falzen occasionally objects to being
lumped in with the rest of the Banks, seeing themselves more as part of
the ocean community of fishers and sailors.Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-68323556620766895202023-09-07T11:40:00.003-07:002023-10-25T13:03:04.111-07:00Highlun: A Psi-wars Planet<p style="text-align: left;">Highlun is a worked planet for <a href="http://psi-wars.wikidot.com/wiki:primer">Psi-Wars</a>, a minor fief of a minor Maradonian House, to see just how far a small and measly planet will take you, economically and militarily. The project also might involve space-scotsmen herding space-alpacas. </p><p style="text-align: left;">If you don't know what psi-wars is, the best place to start is probably <a href="http://psi-wars.wikidot.com/wiki:primer">The Psi Wars Primer</a>. The project is great, and if you haven't read enough of it to get its basics, you should, because its really cool!<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p style="text-align: left;"></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Overview</h2><p style="text-align: left;">Highlun is a minor world that suffers from a thick atmosphere. Its people live mostly on the tops of its mighty mountain ranges, a few high plateaus, and in intensely landscaped pockets of settlement in the foggy lowlands. Its people engage in a robust economy featuring farming, mining, and industry, but are especially known for the wool they produce. They produce both enormous quantities of wool exported all over the Glorian rim, and exceptionally rare and luxurious fabrics coveted by the Maradonian elite. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Highlun has 35 million herders, 25 million in the mining communities, 200 million fogglanders, and a small number of people living deep in its interior. Its net "Income per Month" is $3.5 Trillion. With a wartime "Military Burden" of 5%, it can spend $175 Billion a month, but the more standard peacetime Military Burden is likely to be 2.5%, and a mere $87 Billion.</p><p style="text-align: left;">While this vast amount of money seems enough to buy an Arcana-Class Carrier every month, in practice it needs to be spread out among a bunch of different sources, including ground forces, support craft, and local fortifications, besides capital ships. It <b>only </b>fields 25 carriers, 12 battleships, and 250 cruisers. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Highlun supports the minor noble house of Alacapa. House Alacapa has about 100 members who are considered "Active", operating as knights, courtiers, emissaries, and their family members. Excluding children, the very elderly, and effective reductions from married couples who effectively fill a single post, there are more like 40 available family representatives. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">People</h2><p style="text-align: left;">The most famous inhabitants of Highlun are its iconic herding clans. Each area of Highlun has its own clan, with its own particular breeds of livestock, clan patterns and weaves, and overblown boasts. They are loyal to their clans, their land, and their lord, and are fiercely proud and independent. Taxes are paid in raw wool, once a year, at enormous clan festivals.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The mist-bound lower elevations are occupied by "Fogglanders". While the clans pride themselves on independence and a certain nomadic ruggedness, Fogglanders extol the virtues of industry, shrewdness, and perseverance in a heavy atmosphere that damages the lungs of anyone not wearing a respirator. Foglanders wear their respirators almost everywhere. Fogglanders dominate Highlun's cities and farms. They're cities are distinguished by an abundance of large civic improvements: dammed rivers, terraced mountainsides, massive irrigation systems, and public transportation. The House discovered and harnessed this enthusiasm early on, and the fogglands are built on robust foundation of public works.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The High-Altitude equivalent of the fogglanders are the miners. Some continue to wear their respirators, but others see this as impractical vanity. In its place, a fashion of wearing protective headgear everywhere has risen up. Highlun Mining towns tend to be less communal than fogglander cities or the herding clans, but they are no less ambitious in their bravado or the scope of their public works. The mining towns move slowly over the planet, from one mine to another, and in some ways, their ambition and bravado are cover for their transient nature and shallow history.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Outside of the fogglands, wanderers make their way in the vast expanse of a largely uninhabited planet. The most populous of these are fisherman seeking their catch and sailors moving goods between ports. Much less populous are those who choose to live in the vegetated interiors of the planet, seeking solitude, space, and true independence. They must return to outposts periodically to repair their respirators in exchange for whatever they can scrape together and wild stories about the untamed jungles of Highlun.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Livestock</h2><p style="text-align: left;">Highlun is famed for it's wool-bearing livestock:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Criggles are short, round quadrapeds with comical amounts of wool, small curly horns, and expressive voices they seem to use constantly</li><li>Apalaks are long-necked sure-footed lanky quadrapeds with long silky hair, with a bit of an attitude and a tendency to express themselves with body language and spittle rather than their voices</li><li>Vitkins are small, flighty quadrupeds with long slender necks, long precious fur, and a wild streak. They cannot be raised in captivity, but are rounded up to be sheared once every five years.</li><li>Riddersteeds are much like large versions of the long-haired spitting Apalaks, but with somewhat shorter hairs, longer tempers and a willingness to carry riders. </li></ul><p style="text-align: left;">These animals are largely cared for by the herding clans on the mountains and plateaus.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Locations</h2><p style="text-align: left;">Highlun's civilization is concentrated along three continents: Temperate North, the Arctic South, and the Tropical West. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The Tropical West is on the planet's equator, and is noted for the torrential amounts of rain it gets and its black volcanic rock. Its home to the Wemon (The Wet Range), and Darlun (The Black Plateau), as well as a large fishing industry in The Havens where the mountains meet the ocean. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The Artic South is not truly an arctic area, at least in its northern and lower regions, but it does have impressive winters, and the Highmon (High Range) and Witlun (White Plateau) have famously short summers. Going north, the Litmon (Little Range) and Brenlun (Brown Plateau) are more mild, the the large foggland valley's they surround, The Caldron and the Winding, are downright temperate.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The Temperate North contains by far the longest range, the Main range. It is usually broken up into sections, going from west to east: Wesmon (The Western Range) , Lowmon (The Low Range), Midmon (The Middle Range), and Essmon (The Eastern Range). At the ends of the range are the Grinlun (Green Plateau) and Redlun (Red Plateau). The largest foggland settlement, The Banks is nestled along the Lowmon. The Temperate north is also noted for containing thick jungles containing carnivorous plants, broad savannas, and dusty deserts. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Details on locations can be found here: </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/10/highlun-vital-core.html">Highlun: The Vital Core</a></li><li style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/10/highlun-southern-continent.html">Highlun: The Southern Continent</a></li><li style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/10/highlun-rest-of-planet.html">Highlun: The Rest of the Planet</a></li></ul><h2 style="text-align: left;">Visiting Highlun</h2><p style="text-align: left;">And that's the basics of the planet. It was harder to build than I anticipated, but I like its flavor, and I think it turned out right. I still need to detail some of the locations and share some of the detail I've already generated, so we'll probably see that as a post. I also promised to put Imperial saboteurs and space-measles on it at some point, so an adventure outline is in order.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I hope you can see the Scottish inspiration for Highlun. It might be more apparent once I write more about the individual regions, and hopefully they're not too close. Getting the distancing mechanisms for Psi-wars Mardonians is tricky, especially when it comes to livestock and linguistics.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Let me know how I did building the planet of Highlun!</p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-77428807238983998492023-07-13T14:03:00.003-07:002023-09-07T12:42:46.733-07:00Magical Talent and Magical Power<p>Recently I've been getting into Gurps's "Standard" Magic system, for a couple of different reasons. As part of this, I've been looking hard at Magery prerequisites for spells. They're surprisingly good! The idea that some wizards can cast more powerful spells than others is just sort of natural.<br /></p><p>But that's not how things usually end up playing: There is a strong incentive in Gurps for every Player Character wizard to have magery 3, which is the maximum. Why? because in the standard magic system skill 15 is everything, and magery is the cheapest way to boost skill. There is no choice between the ability to cast spells more reliably, cast spells more efficiently, or cast more impressive spells: the most effective way to do all three is to buy magery as high as the campaign allows, and then any specialization comes after that. </p><p>But what if we associate magical power with the amount of energy available to a mage, rather than with magical talent?<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Energy-Based Magery<br /></h2><p>When using this rule, skill-boosting Magery is renamed "Magical Talent", and doesn't get used for prerequisites. "Magery" refers to a composite advantage consisting of 3 levels of Energy reserve and a perk letting you cast spells with a prerequisite of that level of magery (kind of like in RPM). Level 0 Magery doesn't change.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Analysis <br /></h2><p></p><p>This rule has some pretty big effects:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Mages have permission to buy more Energy Reserve, as well as an increased incentive </li><li>Bigger Spells are going to be cast more often<br /></li><li>Reaching Skill 15 will happen less often</li><li>Mages will have to choose between reliability and efficiency vs. access to the best spells</li><li>Mages will be just a little weaker <br /></li></ul><p>I think this is a good change in most cases, but it won't be in all cases. Ask yourself if the change fits your campaign. I'll probably be pairing this with my<a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/06/standard-magic-recover-energy-as.html"> recovery energy tweak</a>, to allow mages who go for power rather than skill to not miss out on that critical ability. I hope this makes your games more interesting!<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-8440677319016510132023-06-28T12:18:00.002-07:002023-09-07T12:43:39.232-07:00Standard Magic: Recover Energy as an Advantage<p>I've recently been looking at the standard magic system for Gurps, for a number of different projects. One thing that sticks out to me is that the Recover Energy Spell is weird. And the more I look at it, the more I'm convinced that it should be a [5] point advantage. Here's why:<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Its not a Spell <br /></h2><p>Recover energy is written as a spell, but it doesn't work like a spell. Its never cast, and in fact never rolled against at all. It just alters FP and ER recovery, unless it hasn't been bought high enough, in which case it doesn't do anything at all. That doesn't sound like a spell, or even a skill: that sounds like an advantage.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Skill-15 is Overused<br /></h2><p>Recover energy exacerbates the skill-15 break point in magic. The magic system already strongly encourages characters to be able to buy every spell at skill-15, because that's where all the energy cost breakpoints are. This results in wizards who differ only by their spell lists. Recover Energy taking its effect at -15 reinforces this paradigm, where IQ 14 + Magery 3 wizards rule over their lessers. Changing recovery energy to an Advantage won't completely break this, but it will weaken the incentives.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">It Doesn't Have a Good Home in a College <br /></h2><p>Recover energy is placed in the healing college... which is an awkward place for it. I suppose meta-magic might be a better choice, or possibly body control, but sticking it in a college at all creates issues, because it means that one-college magery now hurts your ability to recover energy. It also necessitates statements like the Dungeon Fantasy rule that wizards don't get spells in the healing college, except for Recover Energy and its prerequisite. It'd be nice if the spell didn't care about colleges.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Every Wizard Wants It<br /></h2><p>Recover Energy's quirks are both tolerated and exacerbated because its one of the most important "spells" in the system. Having it roughly doubles the amount of energy you can use for spells. This means everyone wants it, everyone learns it, and the need to get it is a significant character-building concern. Making it an advantage actually simplifies this a little. The added complexity of a rule change is compensated by removing a bunch of thorny subtleties. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">It Reinforces the Supremacy of Skill<br /></h2><p>Recover Energy is very expensive for very skilled mage, and very cheap for a talented one. This makes sense in some paradigms, but less so in others, and helps make all Gurps Mages in the same direction. A mage who often fails to cast their spells but has much more plentiful energy sounds like an interesting trade-off. Making Recover Energy an advantage increases the diversity of mages that can be built, and it increases the power of a low-end mage, while slightly decreasing the power of a high-end mage. In this particular system, that's a good thing.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">A Flat Cost Is Fairer<br /></h2><p>The advantage should cost [5] points, because Fit costs [5], and because having advantages divisible by 5 is nice. Having it cost [3] or less feels very cheap, and is about what the skill-maximizing wizards are effectively paying for it right now, while paying [10] points for it feels a little steep... though I suspect some wizards would still find it effective.<br /></p><p>This all applies to the effects gained at skill-15, of course. I'm not sure what a fair cost for regaining Energy every 2 minutes. Regeneration (FP) is probably a bad comparison, especially given that the numbers were scaled for HP, not FP. When using the spell, [20] points is enough to go from 5 energy a minute to 2 energy a minute, if a mage just put those points directly into skill. I suspect that's not how mages with Recover Energy -20 are built. Maybe an additional [10] points, for [15] total, kind of like very fit? I kind of like that symmetry. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">In Summary <br /></h2><p>I hope I've made my case. The proposed change is really simple, and should improve the variety of mages that get built using the standard magic system. I hope you find this useful, and I hope you enjoy it!<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-65306588605786470882023-02-02T09:33:00.003-08:002023-02-06T09:01:33.679-08:00Long Range Tactical Combat In Gurps<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRKBoNuCPJd2gJIcMZmU-eVvMNOkxtEWk7x4sGWDzTEQUyX3dOR2MlDwB6DCDmeYsS26GNFq7LHwwvdFnAizrGbl4-qazhWqUpiuLZ6lDbL9ELaFha4V4iCmkIZpyKBD_BOd5GhzHbx6oyqrZTpiEQChNDMX8B8NOIPvlRSMGMWEfXWWgAeoSwCJcY/s230/InfiniteRuinsMooks.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="195" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRKBoNuCPJd2gJIcMZmU-eVvMNOkxtEWk7x4sGWDzTEQUyX3dOR2MlDwB6DCDmeYsS26GNFq7LHwwvdFnAizrGbl4-qazhWqUpiuLZ6lDbL9ELaFha4V4iCmkIZpyKBD_BOd5GhzHbx6oyqrZTpiEQChNDMX8B8NOIPvlRSMGMWEfXWWgAeoSwCJcY/w170-h200/InfiniteRuinsMooks.png" width="170" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art Assets for Mooks!<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>In my current game, we're seeing a lot of combat at anywhere from 100 yards to 2000 yards, with TL7 and TL8 gear. This is fun play, but its also not a combat paradigm I've played in before. Its been fun, but its required a few adjustments to get right. <span><a name='more'></a></span><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Google Drawings as a VTT</h2><p>While it seems that combat at 500 yards wouldn't need a map, this has not turned out to be the case. Each shot takes several turns to line up, and modern vehicles move quickly: the players mostly drive around in a hovercraft, and because we're using post-apocalyptic versions of real places, we can see features we want to use. So we wanted a battle map. Unfortunately, I haven't found a VTT that's not utterly overwhelmed by the distances involved. One of the core features of the VTT's I've looked at is grids, and grids really just get overwhelmed in a fight about dodging through city streets at 40 mph for a mile trying to close the distance with your target, who is shooting from the top of football stadium bleachers. </p><p>I ended up using Google Drawings. It lets all the players move the tokens around and even scribble on the map to indicate where they are talking about. Its fairly simple to add a new map, just insert the new image (usually a snippit from google maps). Its worked pretty well. It does take some discipline to not move the map (Google Drawings lacks layers), but its been useful for what we wanted.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Brushing up on the Scope Rules<br /></h2><p>The key to fights at this distance is scopes. We had to go over the rules for scopes a few times before we got it down. There are two paragraphs in the Basic Set, on page 412. Essentially, you have to aim for seconds equal to your scope's bonus, and with a variable scope, you get a +1 each second you aim. </p><p>Of course bonus is on top of the bonus from your weapon's acc, which you get the first time you aim, and the +1 bonus you get for aiming the second and third maneuvers. So with a +5 acc riffle with a +5 scope, you get +6 the first round you aim, + 8 the second round you aim, +10 the third round you aim, and after five seconds you max out at +12. It takes a little getting used to, but once you start paying attention, it clicks. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Using Computers for the Numbers<br /></h2><p>The other problem we've had is with the math. We can handle a little math. The thing is, at long ranges you need to squeeze out every bonus you can get, and keeping track of the exact modifier for 300 yards, The bonus for acc, extra time aiming, and the neutralized portion of the lighting penalty can be a little error prone. So we've leaned on computers to do the heavy lifting for us. </p><p>The simplest solution is an excel sheet. Not a fancy one, just one where you can write down all the modifiers and sum them up and check what you wrote down. We actually built a small tool that tracks all the modifiers. </p><p>If this sounds math heavy, it really isn't. Its just enough math that you should be writing it down. One of the big decisions in combat is to shoot, or to keep aiming, and that's been a fun choice. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Spotting is Half the Battle</h2><p>The other thing that we've found is that spotting your enemy first is just as important as being a better shot. We've added +10 for spotting groups not actively hiding, based on "in plain sight" rules found elsewhere, and that keeps the range at which parties become aware of each other just about right. We have one PC who took acute vision 1, plus a pretty high perception, and that advantage has done a lot of work.<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Take Aways</h2><p>One of the great things about Gurps is how many different game-play paradigms it has, and especially how many combat paradigms it has. I've had fun exploring this paradigm of combat at the edge of what scopes can hit, and these are my suggestions on how to get the most out of it. Have fun with your long shots!<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-37051640221787124222023-01-17T10:17:00.001-08:002023-01-17T10:17:07.186-08:00A Simpler Basic Action Template<p>I'm really fond of using the Basic Action Template from the Action 4 book of Gurps. But I recently realized that I don't use it as written in the book, because I mostly use it for quick NPCs. So this is the method I use:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Pick a <a href="#attributeSets">Set of Attributes</a></li><li>Add the <a href="#BasicBatSkills">Basic BAT skill list</a></li><li>A number of Packages (here's a <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-of-bat-packages.html">handy index</a>)<br /></li><li>A few rough adjustments of skills and advantages</li></ul><p>And that's it! You now have a quick character with a fairly robust array of skills! <span></span></p><a name='more'></a>I ignore the Advantages, Disadvantages, and Slush Fund, because these aren't PC's, and they usually aren't terribly important NPC's either. They're quickly generated opposition that has most the robustness of Action 4.<br /><p></p><p>I keep several sets of attributes at several point levels to choose from. I find that the BAT works best with 2 to 4 packages selected and the rest of the points in attributes. I also find that for NPC's, specializing their attributes for their job is appropriate, and having these attribute packages listed lets me create some variance in my supporting cast while giving them all about the same template<br /></p>
<p>The <a id="BasicBatSkills">"Basic BAT skill list"</a> means the 10 points in skills that come with the BAT (Action 4 page 7). These useful because it covers a lot of edge case skills that you expect combatants to have. If an NPC shouldn't have one of those skills, it should be obvious, and that can be adjusted. Since I use this for far more than just action games, I also frequently end up doing things like swapping driving for hiking.</p><p>The packages are why I use this system in the first place: they cover a lot of ground, I've put a fair amount of effort into adding more packages to cover additional genres, and its becoming a thing for people to make Gurps Packages in 25 point packages. I've also made an <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2023/01/index-of-bat-packages.html">index of sorts </a>so that I can look over the options. </p><p>Some adjustments need to be made at the end. The most common ones are adding combat reflexes and tweaking the skills from the Basic BAT skill list. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Notes About Results</h2><p>The characters this method creates very much have point values, and they're all about the same point value for a given number of Attribute points and packages, but they should not be viewed as equivalent to Polished Hand-Crafted character sheets made by players. They aren't using their disadvantages, which lowers their effective ability, they often have 10 or so points that would be used by the slush fund using the proper BAT, and Gurps Templates usually produce very rounded characters rather than very optimized ones. That said, the characters will be of a consistent quality, and you should be able to make a bunch of them fast. <br /></p>
<a id="attributeSets"><h2 style="text-align: left;">Attribute Sets</h2></a>
<p>These sets are for quickly filling out NPC stats or even stats for really quick throw away PC's. They come in three levels: 40, 70, and 100. I'm not sure why I picked those levels, but I've been using them* for a while and they're fairly useful. </p><p>*caveat, I used versions with ST costing 5 and Will and Per being based off of 10. This made my old 120 category costs go wild, and the easiest place to adjust it to was 100 points. </p>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">40 Points of Attributes</h3>
<table class="attributeTable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th><br /></th>
<th style="width: 30px;">ST</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">DX</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">IQ</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">HT</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">Will</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">Per</th>
<th style="width: 50px;">Speed</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Physical</th>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>5.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Quick</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Bright</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Handy</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>5.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Big</th>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>5.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Tough</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>5.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Rounded</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>5.25</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">70 Points of Attributes</h3>
<table class="attributeTable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th><br /></th>
<th style="width: 30px;">ST</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">DX</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">IQ</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">HT</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">Will</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">Per</th>
<th style="width: 50px;">Speed</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Tough</th>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Resourceful</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Athletic</th>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Brainy</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>5.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Rounded</th>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Skilled</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>5.5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Big</th>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">100 Points of Attributes</h3>
<table class="attributeTable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th><br /></th>
<th style="width: 30px;">ST</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">DX</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">IQ</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">HT</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">Will</th>
<th style="width: 30px;">Per</th>
<th style="width: 50px;">Speed</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>Rounded</th>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Skilled</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Tough</th>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Resourceful</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Athletic</th>
<td>11</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Brainy</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Graceful</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>Observant</th>
<td>10</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>6</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>I hope you find this useful. And I hope it will let me describe NPC's to you very quickly in a fair amount of detail!<br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-10508119355926151762023-01-11T08:52:00.002-08:002023-01-11T10:16:09.038-08:00Index Of BAT Packages<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/action/action4/img/cover_lg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/action/action4/img/cover_lg.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>I love Action 4: Specialists. And one thing I've done to make me love it more is sort the packages into categories so I can look at all my options at once and make good decisions. I've been using this list pretty much since Action 4 came out. Now I'm sharing it with you.<br /><p></p><p>Most of these packages come from <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/action/action4/">Action 4: Specialists</a>, but some of them come from <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Pyramid 3/112</a>, or from my posts about <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">Melee Weapons for the BAT</a>, using <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">Action 4 with Infinite worlds</a>, and <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">Adapting Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew</a>. I have marked these with Py for Pyramid, m for melee, iw for infinite worlds, and sc for starship crew. </p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>The categories were selected mostly because they are the ones I found useful, and I sorted them basicly ad hoc. Packages can and do fall into multiple categories<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="#terrain">Terrain Skills </a>are about handling biomes, environments, and vehicles, as well as packages focused on moving</li><li><a href="#combat">Combat Skills </a>are about hurting other people. Heavy weapons are included, but not military vehicles</li><li><a href="#gear">Gear Skills </a>are about repairing or subverting gear, or about using specialty equipment, like electronics and explosives</li><li><a href="#social">Social Skills </a>are about Impressing, Influencing, and Manipulating People</li><li><a href="#service">Public Service </a>Packages cover packages built to help people, especially those who have been hurt or who are in danger of dying from something other than bullets.</li><li><a href="#thief">Thief Skills </a>are not only about taking things that aren't yours, but doing it without others noticing, and various assorted forms of deception.</li><li><a href="#planning">Planning Skills </a>are cerebral skills used to figure out what you, or someone else, might do next. This includes lore and scientific skills that can be key to thriving in your chosen genre<br /></li><li><a href="#investigation">Investigation Skills </a>are used to find things out about other people, a classic of RPGs. </li><li><a href="#supernatural">Supernatural Skills </a>feature supernatural abilities or skills to deal with other people's supernatural abilities. These are mostly from Pyramid 3/112 <br /></li><li><a href="#generic">Generic </a>Packages are just useful for most adventurers to have, without really making them better at any of the above<br /></li></ul>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="terrain">Terrain Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Airborne School</li><li>Amphibious Operations</li><li>Bushwhacker</li><li>Climber</li><li>Construction</li><li>Commander (starship)</li><li>Cowboy</li><li>Cowboy (skills) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a><br /></li><li>Caravan Life <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Cyber/Biomod Enhancements <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a><br /></li><li>Desert Training</li><li>Escape and Evasion</li><li>Flight School (Civilian)</li><li>Flight School (Military)</li><li>Flight School (Civilian Space) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Flight School (Military Space) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Forest or Jungle Training</li><li>Helmsman (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a><br /></li><li>Loadmaster (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Mountain Training</li><li>Parkour</li><li>Civilian Sailor</li><li>Military Sailor</li><li>Recon</li><li>Survival</li><li>Survivor</li><li>Spacer <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Spacer (Civilian) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Spacer (Military) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Space Operations <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Special Agent</li><li>Tactical Driving</li><li>Military Driving</li><li>Traceur</li><li>Transporter</li><li>Underwater Operations</li><li>Urban Assualt</li><li>Winter Operations</li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="combat">Combat Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Battlesuit Operations <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Close Quarters Battle*</li><li>Combat Experience <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Cyber/Biomod Enhancements <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Gunslinger</li><li>Demolitions</li><li>Heavy Weapons</li><li>Weapons Crew</li><li>Hostile Extraction</li><li>Infantry Training</li><li>Knife Fighter <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Law Enforcement</li><li>Master(Armed)</li><li>Master(Ninja)</li><li>Master(Unarmed)</li><li>Obsolete Weapons</li><li>Pistolero</li><li>Security Officer <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Silent Kills</li><li>Sniper School</li><li>Survivor <br /></li><li>Tactical Officer(starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Unarmed Combat*</li><li>Urban Assualt</li><li>Sword and Shield <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a><br /></li><li>Spear and Shield <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a></li><li>Two Handed Sword <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a></li><li>Spear (two handed) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a></li><li>Fencing <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a><br /></li><li>Polearm <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a></li><li>Knightly Combat <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a></li><li>Mounted Combat <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/02/melee-weapon-packages-for-bat.html">m</a></li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="gear">Gear Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Animal Handler <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Armory</li><li>Battlesuit Operations <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Booby Traps</li><li>Bugging</li><li>Car Thief</li><li>Communications</li><li>Computer Intrusion</li><li>Computer Intrusion (realistic) iw<br /></li><li>Construction</li><li>Countersurveillance</li><li>Creative <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Cyber/Biomod Enhancements <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Demolitions</li><li>Electronic Surveillance</li><li>Electronics</li><li>Engineer (spaceship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Fixer</li><li>Gadgeteer(H4xx0r)</li><li>Gadgeteer (Soldering-Gun Slinger)</li><li>Gadgeteer (Ultimate Repairman)</li><li>Operations Officer (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Parachronics <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Repairman</li><li>Robotics</li><li>Safe Cracking</li><li>Security Systems</li><li>Sabotage</li><li>Special Agent</li><li>Toxicology</li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="social">Social Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bon Vivant</li><li>Businessperson</li><li>Command<br /></li><li>Commander (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Conspiracies</li><li>Creative <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Criminal Past</li><li>Detective Work</li><li>Famous for Famous <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Femme Fatale*</li><li>Heir** <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Impersonation</li><li>Interrogation</li><li>Journalism</li><li>Model* <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Movie Star <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Negotiator*</li><li>Politician <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Psy-Ops</li><li>Resistance</li><li>Religiously Ordained (mundane) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Rock Star <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Social Engineering</li><li>Spin Doctor</li><li>Steward sc<br /></li><li>Teacher* <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Undercover</li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="service">Public Service</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Area Security</li><li>Chemical Safety</li><li>Construction</li><li>Demolitions</li><li>Explosive Ordnance Disposal</li><li>Disease Control</li><li>Fireman</li><li>Hazardous Materials</li><li>Law Enforcement</li><li>Medicine*</li><li>Medical Officer (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Nuclear Disposal</li><li>Personal Security</li><li>Survival</li><li>Security Systems</li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="thief">Thief Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Car Thief</li><li>Cleaning</li><li>Computer Intrusion</li><li>Computer Intrusion (realistic) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Countersurveillance</li><li>Criminal Past</li><li>Escape and Evasion</li><li>Fixer</li><li>Illicit Entry</li><li>Impersonation</li><li>Records Falsification</li><li>Safe Cracking</li><li>Theft</li><li>Tradecraft</li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="planning">Planning Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Intelligence</li><li>Linguist</li><li>Local Expert <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Mastermind</li><li>Monster Hunter <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Occultist <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Religiously Ordained (non-supernatural) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Religiously Ordained (Supernatural) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Scientist (Action)</li><li>Scientist (Expanded) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Science Officer (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Security Officer (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Tactical Officer (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Teacher <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Researcher</li><li>Forensics</li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="investigation">Investigation Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bugging</li><li>Bushwhacker</li><li>Computer Intrusion</li><li>Computer Intrusion (realistic) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Conspiracies</li><li>Detective Work</li><li>Electronic Surveillance</li><li>Forensics</li><li>Illicit Entry</li><li>Intelligence</li><li>Occultist <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Researcher</li><li>Security Officer (starship) <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2020/12/starship-crew-and-bat.html">sc</a></li><li>Surveillance</li><li>Tradecraft</li><li>Undercover</li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="supernatural">Supernatural Skills</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Magic Tracker* <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>RPM Caster* <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Wizard (standard magic) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Sorcerer <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Exorcist <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Monster Hunter <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Occulist <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Religiously Ordained (supernatural) <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Paranormal Researcher <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/03/icops-gurps-action-and-bat.html">iw</a></li><li>Psi Expert <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Psychic <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li></ul>
</div><div class="skillColumn">
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b><a id="generic">Generic</a> </b><br /></h4><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Professional Athlete <a href="http://luxor.sjgames.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-112-action-ii">Py</a></li><li>Extra Life</li><li>Just that Good</li><li>Super Luck</li></ul>
</div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><br /></p><p> </p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-12008734878911841212022-10-31T12:04:00.000-07:002022-10-31T12:04:53.109-07:00Snowmobiles in Gurps<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/SnowmobilesYellowstone.jpg/600px-SnowmobilesYellowstone.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="600" height="135" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/SnowmobilesYellowstone.jpg/600px-SnowmobilesYellowstone.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Once again, I need snowmobiles in my campaign. And strangely enough, I can not find anyone who has GURPS stats for snowmobiles. Even things like the fan made <a href="https://gurps.fandom.com/wiki/Vehicle_Collection">vehicle collection </a>don't have any stats for them. Astounding for a vehicle I've actually driven. So what is a GM do to?<br /><p></p><p>The same thing I did last time I needed snow mobiles. Use the stats of motorcycles from the basic set. Its simple-- but how close are they really?</p><p>This is the second time I'm doing this, and I expect it to matter more this game, so I started looking up stats. Snowmobiles are actually really fast. Maybe even faster than the bikes, though that may be only under ideal conditions. The enthusiasts also claim they accelerate faster than motorcycles. So we can leave those numbers. Snowmobile's range is a lot lower than bikes: they get terrible gas mileage, so we'll halve the range. They're also a bit harder to handle than motorcycles, but they're more stable. So -1/+1 to Hnd/SR. The weights seem to be in the correct ballpark, and the costs aren't bad either. I'm not sure about ST, so we leave it there. </p><p>So to use a motorcycle's stat-block for a snowmobile</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>drop handling by 1, raise stability rating by 1</li><li>halve the range </li></ul><p>And that's it! You have a range of snowmobiles! I hope you find this useful. Its a fairly quick and dirty conversion, but it seems functional enough. If I'm weird and the only GM who ever ends up using snowmobiles in their games, I hope I have now inflicted the need to use snowmobiles in the game upon all of you. Happy adventures in the snow!<br /></p><p><br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-14604545172981464172022-10-11T06:57:00.000-07:002022-10-11T06:57:54.889-07:00Monster Hunter Pregens<p></p>Back in 2016, I created a series of characters for monster hunters. The goal was to see how well characters with powers, wildcards, or inhuman templates did in various adventures. I never finished the full set of games, but my conclusion was that the easiest group to build, and funnest to play, were the inhumans. They had strong character identities, were better rounded, and always seemed to have both something to do and some amusing limitation getting in the way. They were not particularly efficiently built or optimized, but I think that was part of their charm. At any point in the game, everyone had something to do. <br /><p></p><p></p>I've written up these characters as pregens, and generated some faces for them with <a href="http://artflow.ai">artflow.ai</a>. Each character has a sidekick template from Gurps: Monster Hunters 4, plus a monstrous template to add an inhuman race. Their inhuman templates are drawn from pyramid, blogs, and one is even from the original book. Most have their two templates contrasting each other rather than complimenting: that's part of the fun. I hope you find the pregens useful in some way: I've found the characters to be a lot of fun. <p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/attributes-261-st-20-100-hp-23-6-dx-11.html">Ernest Clay, Whitecoat Golem</a></li><li><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/dan-white.html">Dan White,Vampire Muscle</a></li><li><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_13.html">Wesa, Ghostly Brother</a></li><li><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_20.html">Michael Issac Babbage, Android Geek</a></li><li><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/attributes-261-st-20-100-hp-23-6-dx-11_13.html">Aaron Emersol, Immortal Fixer</a><br /></li></ul><p>I've really enjoyed these characters. I hope you enjoy them as well!<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-24994973433409629682022-08-04T06:12:00.001-07:002022-08-04T06:12:15.145-07:00Review: Action 9 - The City<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/action/action9/img/cover_lg.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/action/action9/img/cover_lg.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>I finally gotten around to reading Action 9: The City. The book is split into two halves, which feel very different, but really help each other to function. I really enjoyed reading the second half, but the second half wouldn't exist without the first. <br /><p></p><p>The first chapter is very dense, explaining how to turn numbers from city stats (and/or real world data) into numbers for action. While reading it, I thought: "How will I ever do all this?" Its good stuff, but it didn't have much context to hang the numbers on. <br /></p><p>Fortunately, in most cases, you won't have to actually translate these factors, because chapter two is full of six very slick examples. These cities aren't real... and yet you've seen them each half a dozen times in movies. They form a wonderful grab bag of locations that can be used again and again. They can inspire you when designing locations for games, and even if you want something slightly different, these cities form a solid starting point for tweaks and as a way to remember what features to touch. <br /></p><p>So my recommendation for this book is to read the second chapter first. Its a catalog of evocative modern locations with stats for action heroes. They provide advice on what chases through them look, how police responses work, and hooks for villains and plots. My only comment is I wish that we had six more of them for a round dozen. If you want colorful locations for action heroes, go ahead and get this book, and read chapter 2. And then look up what you need to use out of chapter 1.</p><p>I hope this helps you decide if you want this book or not. Happy Gaming!<br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-89432298258003588312022-07-27T09:46:00.002-07:002022-07-27T09:47:24.386-07:00Magic Systems I use in My Gurps Games<p>I've mainly used three systems of magic in my Gurps games: Magic as Powers, Ritual Path Magic, and magic as technology. This is quite a bit less less than I thought I've used, and I'm actually somewhat surprised by it. I've tinkered with several of the systems, but the main ones I've run for players are Magic as Powers, Ritual path magic, and magic as technology. <span></span></p><a name='more'></a><br /><p></p><p>I use Magic as Powers because I understand it. I know the advantages, I know the limitations, and I get to read what players put on their sheets. It also lets me shape magic systems to be whatever I want them to be. I find super flexible magic systems intimidating, because most anything is available. I prefer settings where magic has tighter rules and more character than your typical RPG magic system. </p><p>Which makes it ironic that the other magic system I use is RPM. So why do I use RPM when I say I don't like super flexible magic systems? Because of what its bundled with. Sometimes I just want to get a game off the ground quickly without doing any setting building or creating documents for players to read or convincing them they want to play <b><i>this </i></b>game. And I use monster hunters for that. It features exotic abilities and investigative play, which I enjoy, and enough combat for most players to have fun. RPM just comes along for the ride. Its not a bad system: Because its so flexible, but has the rules stated outright, it makes it easier to GM the player side of the magic. The NPC half of magic is still quite difficult, but I don't actually have to run NPC mages. </p><p>I do have a couple of tweaks I usually give my RPM mage monster hunters: I often forbid connection adept, requiring them to have some connection to their spell target, and require them to otherwise follow their template precisely.</p><p>Given that I usually use magic as powers, my post about <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2022/07/power-systems-ive-used-adapted-or.html">Power Systems I've Used</a> from earlier this month describes a lot of the magic systems I've used. </p><p>I've also a number of magic as technology systems. There is actually a pretty good correlation between systems I've put on my blog, and systems that have I've used in my games. I did not expect this: perhaps its because these are the systems I got the most excited about, or that I thought were the most presentable. </p><p> <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/04/mystral-energy.html">Mystral Energy</a>, <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/04/mystral-weapons.html">Mystral Weapons</a>, <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/04/mystral-automotons.html">Mystral Automotons</a>, and <a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/04/mystral-blooded.html">Mystral Blooded </a>were features of my <i>Seed of Illrium</i> Game. This was a play by post game that petered out fairly early. One of the players got really into the system. I enjoyed it, but haven't found another occasion to use the magic system (or its setting). My favorite aspect was applying the blaster design article from pyramid to a lower-tech situation.<br /></p><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2015/02/vasic-stones-magic-as-technology.html">Vasic Stones </a>have showed up various times in my games, usually part of one campaign or another in <i>Lost in Dreams</i>, a series of solo play by post games that have historically been mechanically light. Its tied to a specific setting that I have struggled to introduce players to, but that is one of my earliest and best-loved settings. Vasic magic is all about moving energy, material, and magic from one world to another. </p><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2015/12/wember.html">Wember </a>is less of a magic system and more of a set of magic items sharing similar limitations. The magic is woven into cloth, which gives the wearer protection against something, but only as long as the threat is present. It allows walking through fire, going without food for long periods of time, or blocking a single blow. Wember was the first magic system seen by the longest running character of <i>Lost in Dreams</i>.</p><p><a href="https://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2015/09/soul-gem-magic.html">Soul Gem Magic </a>also featured in <i>Lost in Dreams </i>for a short while. Soul Gem magic is about preserving the skills and memories of the dead. In the game I had anticipated it being used by craftsmen or to ask the dead questions, but it turned out to be exceptionally useful for translating langauges.</p><p>I hope you enjoyed hearing about these magic systems, and I hope you find them useful, or that they inspire you to build magic of your own. Have fun exploring the world of the impossible! <br /></p>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0