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Old 05-14-2018, 12:34 PM   #1
kdtipa
 
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Default GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

Hi all,

I keep getting busy and dropping out of the forum for a while. I'm sorry for that. So many of you have helped me with things, and I don't think I'm contributing enough in return. And here I am again asking for more thoughts. Hopefully it's fun for you.

I'm writing a setting using GURPS rules for personal use. The trope it's based on is the idea of our modern world merging with a fantasy setting as we'd normally understand it. And our world is the dominant one. At some point in the 50s, rifts in space starting occurring randomly... no one knew what they were, but the rifts were pretty destructive if they intersected buildings (for example). Over time they increased in frequency, and eventually became more stable.

To try for a shorter explanation: the other world was dying, and the species from the fantasy world fled for our world. And magic came with them as part of a result of the rifts.

Among the species that came here are trolls. And in my setting, trolls are monsters that can stand up to technology. They have way too many hit points and ridiculous strength... and between the rifts doing damage, and the trolls actively hunting people for food in cities where it's really hard to bring military ordinance to bear... our population didn't skyrocket like it did in reality.

There are also elves, dwarves, fairies, and orcs (though orcs aren't inherently evil... just... not very friendly). And Dragons came through too... though, they're elephant sized instead of building sized. Dragons for the most part realized that we would turn all our destructive intelligence toward them if they hunted us, so they decided to stick with game animals for food, and some even work with humans for mutual benefit. Trolls are just not civilized and think more like animals... so they don't care about the consequences of hunting humans for food.

Magic is pretty common. Anyone can cast spells with training, though more powerful magic is not common, and enchanting is rare too. So magic won't replace technology, but it's pretty normal for a kid to be able to make magic light.

My request is for ideas on what major events would have happened differently. How would technology have grown differently knowing that healing magic exists for example? How would the cold war with Russia have been different if magic could make spies invisible? What kinds of things might have happened for the immigrating elves, dwarves, and halflings who need places of their own? How drastically different would their experiences be if coming from a world of kingdoms and waterwheels to a world of cars, skyscrapers, and guns?

I've got ideas, but in the scope of a world, I'm sure there's a lot I'd fail to consider or account for. And so I'm happy to hear ideas.

As a potentially important note: I may use this setting as a basis for a novel or set of novels, so if your idea is one you don't want me to include, please don't share it. The likelihood of me writing these novels is low, but I want to be upfront about my intentions so no one feels like I am stealing their ideas.

But far more likely is that this will be a game setting for my gaming group.
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Old 05-14-2018, 02:11 PM   #2
Pomphis
 
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Default Re: GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

Where were the rifts ? In GURPS Technomancer the location of the hellstorm is of major importance. It makes a big difference whether the trolls first showed up in DC, or moscow, or in africa. Or everywhere at once. And regardless how tough they are, I would assume that a military with fifties tech could hunt them down relatively easily. If Fighter-Bombers with rockets and MBTs are not enough, there are always nukes and chemical weapons. I would be more afraid of gremlins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremli...ns_in_aviation
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Old 05-14-2018, 02:31 PM   #3
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Default Re: GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

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Originally Posted by Pomphis View Post
Where were the rifts ? In GURPS Technomancer the location of the hellstorm is of major importance. It makes a big difference whether the trolls first showed up in DC, or moscow, or in africa. Or everywhere at once. And regardless how tough they are, I would assume that a military with fifties tech could hunt them down relatively easily. If Fighter-Bombers with rockets and MBTs are not enough, there are always nukes and chemical weapons. I would be more afraid of gremlins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremli...ns_in_aviation
The rifts were a random distribution around the world, and they shifted. So it wasn't permanent locations. Each rift would open for a few days, and then fade away.

Heavy military ordinance that could kill the trolls wouldn't likely be used if the trolls are in cities populated with innocent people. The people they're trying to save. The first notice of the trolls is when people start dying in the cities in larger numbers. Small towns were ignored as animal attacks at first. So trolls became entrenched before the authorities knew what was happening.

Trolls in this setting are meant to be tough enough that a Gatling gun would have a hard time taking a troll down before it could close distance and ruin the gunner's day. I made them purposely super tough and dangerous. They are the mechanic I'm using to put the fear of something primitive back into a society that is technologically advanced. Sure, a helicopter gun ship would likely win in a fight, but using a helicopter gun ship in a city isn't going to work as a solution.
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Old 05-14-2018, 07:15 PM   #4
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Default Re: GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

The bigger reason for lower population won't be how many trolls kill unless they are here in the many millions. The big reason will be less effort spent on promoting modern medicine in the third world because of the effort in dealing with trolls. So lots more infant mortality because of lack of vaccines and sanitation in the third world.

I can see police or at least experienced police being issued bazookas and RPGs.
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Old 05-14-2018, 07:21 PM   #5
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Default Re: GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

GURPS Technomancer (mixed with banestorming infinity) only it avoided the Tolkein tropes.
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Old 05-14-2018, 07:22 PM   #6
Fred Brackin
 
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Originally Posted by kdtipa View Post
T Sure, a helicopter gun ship would likely win in a fight, but using a helicopter gun ship in a city isn't going to work as a solution.
Living in cities where you can get attacked by trolls isn't really that much of a thing to preserve. So as soon as the trolls show up the civilians flee and the real estate gets sacrificed.

A 50s military would fight back with things like bazookas and flamethrowers. No helicopter gunships then. No gatling guns either but there would have been lots of .50 caliber machine guns mounted on jeeps and trucks. They might even bring the National Guard Sherman tanks into town a la a Godzilla movie.

I'm not buying this "troll" thing yet.
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Old 05-14-2018, 07:57 PM   #7
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Default Re: GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

This is no help with your history, I'll admit, but it was the first thing I thought of with that synopsis:

How do dragons feel about troll-flesh? They might find it profitable to team up with humans for troll-hunting expeditions.
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Old 05-15-2018, 05:22 AM   #8
Michael Cule
 
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Default Re: GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

Well, the two big historical themes of the 1950s are decolonialisation and the Cold War.

Assuming that the appearance of the unfriendly species doesn't trigger a major nuclear exchange (though perhaps you might want to include a near miss in your background) then the two sides in the Cold War might well try to recruit them and start to make their magical knowledge a new weapon.

The story of how magic got from being classified knowledge to common knowledge is one you should probably think about.

Also if nations about to become independent from their European overlords suddenly found themselves beset by 'monsters' that required major military capability to overcome it might interrupt the disentanglement a bit. Or, you know, the withdrawing imperialists might just say 'sod it, your problem now' and go.

How do the incomers, particularly the friendlier ones, react to the cultures they meet? Do they want to carve out territory for themselves or are they willing to offer fealty in return for protection. (We Brits are good at that sort of thing. Is the New Forest now full of the Fair Folk?)
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Old 05-15-2018, 03:27 PM   #9
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Default Re: GURPS Modern Fantasy Setting - Alternate History Help

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This is no help with your history, I'll admit, but it was the first thing I thought of with that synopsis:

How do dragons feel about troll-flesh? They might find it profitable to team up with humans for troll-hunting expeditions.
Dragons likely are happy to help with a troll hunt. Especially if humans help with a good food supply in the form of cattle that we're already set up for. But I also imagine the dragon population is much smaller than the troll population and reproductive rates are much lower. I don't want dragons to be a "magic bullet" against the trolls.
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Old 05-15-2018, 09:01 AM   #10
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I'm not buying this "troll" thing yet.
As a further thought, perhaps you could make your trolls sneaky rather than super-tough. They could close to melee range with PCs through the use of "shadow magic" or something like that. Then they could be "only" as tough as a "normal" 400 lb combat monster.

That would be a problem that could not be solved by bigger guns. Just making the trolls super-tough simply escalates the size of the guns that would be used on them.
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