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Old 09-07-2015, 09:05 PM   #22
GreatWyrmGold
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Default Re: GURPS: Remnant: Fan-made rules for adventuring in the world of RWBY

While most equipment a Huntsman will use is unique, many others do not have the same luxury and must use simpler weapons. And then there are non-combat devices...

Remnant's TL

Remnant has lasers, holograms, and robots, including prototype human-level AI. This suggests a high TL 9 society, but we see no evidence of omnipresent or powerful computers, environment suits, advanced biotechnology, or even a 19th-century understanding of physics. Remnant's TL is a rather complex one, made all the trickier by its industrial revolution being spurred by Dust and possibly applied Aura, rather than fossil fuels.

Note that the following list is almost entirely based off of opinionated interpretation of RWBY, rather than anything certain.

In general, Remnant is TL 4+4 with a retro-futuristic appearance.
Its weapons technology is TL 6+4, due in no small part to Dust allowing practical laser-like weapons. Armor technology languishes around TL 5-6, in no small part due to Aura being a more effective protection than any known mundane armor.
Computing technology appears to be comparable to TL 7, except based on Dust and likely Aura. Communications are 5+4 or 6+3, with most communications being based on Transmit Tower wireless transmission. Robots are high TL 6+3.
Biotechnology and medicine are stuck at late TL 5, again due in part to Aura rendering such developments less critical.
Overall, scientific knowledge is high TL 4 at best. Scientific methodology, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be better than low TL 4! Remnant's almost fanatical dedication to fighting the Grimm as much as possible has ironically impeded their efforts to understand their foe and any technology which might help them drive the Grimm back.

Standard starting wealth is $25,000.

Lien and $

The $ is the generic, universal unit of value across all GURPS products, generally agreed to have a value roughly approximate to the modern US dollar. The Lien appears to be the currency used on Remnant—it's certainly the only medium of exchange mentioned thus far. Unfortunately, no prices have been mentioned, meaning that the value of a single Lien is impossible to determine—some believe the Lien are actually Remnan credit cards, and there really isn't any evidence against this. Most assume that the Lien is a unit of currency with a value between that of the US dollar and the Japanese yen (currently slightly less than one US penny per yen). This author assumes that the Remnan Lien is a universal currency on Remnant, worth approximately one-tenth as much as an American dollar and ten times as much as a Japanese yen.

Dust

The value of Dust is unknown, save that it is a very valuable resource. This shouldn't be surprising; it's essentially magical oil. To determine a reasonable price for Dust, we will compare it to batteries.
A gram of Dust contains roughly 40 kilojoules of energy[sup]1[/sup]; a AA battery, which costs $0.50[sup]2[/sup] and contains 2-11 kJ of energy. Assuming 4.3 kJ/battery (similar to a nickel-cadmium AA battery), we find that Dust should be worth at least $5/gram[sup]3 4[/sup] on the basis of energy content alone. However, Dust has other uses; it powers literally everything, from cars to computers, from robots to weapons. Fire Dust is especially useful; a value of $300 per ounce[sup]5[/sup] is probably not unreasonable. Water Dust has a lower energy content and relatively few apparent uses, and is worth $200/ounce; Earth and Air dust have more energy and uses (one can only imagine the uses Earth Dust could have in construction), and should be worth $250/ounce. Refined Dust crystals cost 20% more, due to their added stability.
Little useful Dust is all one form or another. Processed Dust is usually 5-30% more expensive than the average price of its components, dependent on rarity. For instance, if Ice Dust is 75% Water Dust, 20% Air Dust, and 5% Earth Dust, the average price is (0.75*200)+(0.2*250)+(0.05*250)=$212.5 per ounce; it seems fairly uncommon, so a markup around 20% seems reasonable, for a final price of $250/ounce.

The ratio of ounces of Dust to Dust in one's weapon is usually unimportant; worrying about if your awesome Dust attack will deplete your ammunition budget doesn't really keep with the spirit of RWBY. That said, some GMs like worrying about the small stuff. $500 should be plenty to completely fill any character's Dust pool; a point-by-point model might charge $25-$100 per Dust point.

Weapons

Melee weapons are common. The Basic Set and GURPS Low Tech provide a fairly comprehensive list; the presence of Dust does not alter those weapons much.

Dustarms are the dominant weapon among anyone who can afford them. The The Dust Dust is activated by a small amount of channeled Aura, which is directed by a circuit completed by pulling the trigger; there is no safety mechanism, nor is one required. (Usually.) There are two kinds: Slugthrower and Direct.
Slughthrower Dustarms, much like more mundane slug-throwing firearms, use a small amount of Dust to accelerate small chunks of metal to great velocities. The slugs and shell casings have minimal cost, compared to the Dust; the Dust is usually Air Dust, due to its low cost compared to Fire Dust. Slugthrower rounds usually cost $4 each—negligible to a Huntsman or large organization, but enough to make melee weapons preferable among common criminals.
Direct Dustarms, as the name suggests, convert the energy of the Dust directly into a destructive form of energy. Fire Dust, or Dust mixtures composed largely of it, is usually preferred for this, due to both its great energy density and its naturally destructive nature. The cost of the Dust cells for such weapons varies[sup]6[/sup], but it is almost always more expensive than firing a slugthrower. Water Dust cells cost half as much but only deal two-thirds damage (round down).

Slugthrowers:
Spoiler:  

Direct
Spoiler:  


The author has hypothesized about the existence of Aurarms, guns which damage enemies entirely through the force of the wielder's Aura.[sup]7[/sup] If the GM adds Aurarms, they have the same statistics as slugthrower Dustarms; indeed, it is possible to convert a slugthrower to an Aurarm, or even make clips which let slugthrowers be used as Aurarms.
Aurarms have less armor-piercing ability than Dustarms; if it has an armor divisor, reduce it by half, and if it does not, it gains an armor divisor of (0.5). This does not apply to the intrinsic Damage Resistance possessed by Grimm. Aurarms deal penetrating damage to living targets (not counting Grimm) as if they were one piercing category smaller; that is, pi++ becomes pi+, pi+ becomes pi, etc. Formerly pi- attacks have only [i]one-quarter[i] penetrating damage. However, they deal double damage to Grimm! Aurarms do not use ammunition, instead consuming 10 Aura per shot.
Aurarms cost 25% more than the slugthrower Dustarm they are based on. A clip allowing a Dustarm to be used as an Aurarm costs half as much as the Dustarm itself.

(To be continued.)

Last edited by GreatWyrmGold; 09-08-2015 at 06:32 AM.
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