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Old 07-06-2017, 07:19 AM   #1
oleskoolrpgr
 
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Default IRLS

My 14 year old daughter (who has been playing for a couple of years) wants to play In Real Life Supers using gurps.

I have some ideas, but like gaming the more minds that you have, the more outcomes that will be thought of.

I want this to be science based in the background even if the players don't know.

Something like a psion particle for psychic/psionic abilities and a mana particle for magical ones. THese particles could wax and wane over time explaining why supers are here now and not earlier.

Does anyone see any issues thus far? Thanks for your input ahead of time...
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Old 07-06-2017, 07:54 AM   #2
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Default Re: IRLS

I strongly recommend Marion Harmon's "Wearing the Cape" series for a good deconstrution/reconstruction of realistic super hero tropes. The heroine of the series spends a fair bit of her time worrying about warrants so she can arrest supervillains and only goes on "patrol" to show presence - she's actually routed to crime scenes by police dispatch. It's a great series to mine for ideas.

Aside from that, the rest of what you have seems like a good skeleton to hang a game around.
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Old 07-06-2017, 08:08 AM   #3
oleskoolrpgr
 
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Thanks for your input, I'll be post more of it as I solidify it in my mind...
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Old 07-06-2017, 09:05 AM   #4
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Default Re: IRLS

As far as sources are concerned, the story "Interviewing Leather" does an ingenious job of rationalizing some of the behavior of supers in terms of economics, and is fairly well written. You might give it a look; it's available online.
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Old 07-06-2017, 11:12 AM   #5
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Default Re: IRLS

I highly recommend watching Marvel's Jessica Jones and Luke Cage series on Netlfix. Jones is a private investigator, one who has powers but eschews the costumed identity (in fact, the concept is basically mocked in one flashback episode); Cage works odd jobs and faces an on-again/off-again relationship with the local police. They're about as "in real life supers" as I can think of in terms of good cinematography. (Jones can get a bit dark, though; it's a story of a super who is essentially a rape victim; Cage is pure blaxplotation.) Jones even spends more than a little time handcuffed in a police interrogation room....

The law in regards to supers is a major thing to consider. Patrols to stop crimes in progress are fine, so long as the hero sticks around to give statements to the police and is able to be called on reliably to testify in court. Why? Citizen's arrest laws. Leaving the scene after tying up the perps (as Spidey and Batman often do) is liable to have the cases thrown out due to lack of evidence. In a setting where supers have been around for a while, (and a take I went with once in one game) there can be laws on the books which permit a person to register for an "identity-concealed private investigator" license, which may or may not keep the actual identity "behind the mask" on file, but would probably have some form of contact information available for court appearance purposes.
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Old 07-06-2017, 11:25 AM   #6
sir_pudding
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Default Re: IRLS

I am a little confused. I thought IRLS was real people dressing up and helping old people get their groceries or whatever. Not anything involving rubber science particles and and actual powers.
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Old 07-06-2017, 01:15 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oleskoolrpgr View Post
I want this to be science based in the background even if the players don't know.
On one hand, it's possible for a campaign to be "realistic" stylistically even though it has all sorts of amazing powers. The language of GURPS isn't always precise about this, but there are two different underlying distinctions: realistic vs. cinematic (or epic), which is a matter of inconvenient details being addressed in the story or swept aside for the sake of narrative flow; and mundane vs. fantastic, which is a matter of the absence of presence of events and abilities that transcend what we know to be possible (of "miracles" or "wonders").

When I see the phrase "science-based," I think that something is going to be mundane in a somewhat expanded sense: It may contain events and abilities that don't occur here and now, but that (a) don't violate natural law and (b) are plausible extrapolations from current science and technology. I don't think that magic meets either of those criteria, even if you handwave an explanation involving "mana" particles; more broadly, the rejection of magical explanations for things was where science got started. Psionics grows out of attempts to investigate things like séances and second sight empirically, but those quickly became wildly speculative, and I think it's fair to say that psionics also falls short of being "science-based." If I were doing a true science-based campaign, I would take abilities from Ultra-Tech (ignoring the superscience options!) and Bio-Tech.

On the other hand, there is science fiction that pushes the bounds of plausibility much further, so I can't really say that including psionics is necessarily a problem (though I would explain "magic" as a lower-tech culture's attempt to explain poorly understood psionics).
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Old 07-09-2017, 03:57 AM   #8
oleskoolrpgr
 
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Default Re: IRLS

First of all I would like to thank everyone for your interest and input. Second it looks like I may not have been as clear as I should have been by naming this thread, this is about a tabletop rpg using GURPS. I liked the thread response about the difference between realistic and cinematic. I guess on this scale cinematic would be 4-color comic and realistic would be people dressing up in costumes paroling around like a citizen-watch. I'm shooting for something in-between.

My idea is that a new established meta would be around 200 cp, about the level of a freshly trained special operations soldier, and a top of the line Elite meta would be around 500 cp, a little beyond the highly trained special operations soldiers.

I will post some character generation guidelines and maybe my vision will become somewhat clearer.

Thanks again for your input in advance...
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Old 07-09-2017, 04:42 AM   #9
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Default Re: IRLS

I sat and pondered on how to best explain the following, this is my Guidelines for Character Generation for my IRLS Campaign.

I have decided not to use a fixed set of character points (cp) to make the base character. Instead I am going to use a varing amount of cp using the following method.

STEP 1: Roll two six-sided dice, what else would I use with GURPS, add them together and subtract two (2D6-2). This will give you a range of zero to ten with five being average ( 0 – 10 , avg 5). This is the number of dice rolled to generate the cp for them base character.

STEP 2: Roll the number of dice generated in STEP 1 and add them together, this will generate a range of cp from zero to sixty, with an average of seventeen or eighteen (0 – 60, avg 17-18). I know this seems to be low but there is more to add.

STEP 3: To the total generated in STEP 2, add the number of dice rolled, this is a number between zero and ten, averaging five. This generates a range of zero to seventy, averaging twenty two or twenty three (0-70, avg 22-23). but we are not done yet, tune into STEP 4 for are next thrilling advancement.

STEP 4: OK, this step is easy you add twenty five, this gives a range of twenty five to ninety five with an average of forty seven or forty eight (25-95, avg 47-48). Now you have the total cp to use to buy the characters, Positive Attribute Modifiers, Advantages (non-supernatural), and Skills (up to your age in cp).

STEP 5: As for Disadvantages and Quirks, the Player can have a total negative cp of total cp subtract five, for Disadvantages, and negative five cp for Quirks (total cp -5 Disadvantages, -5 cp Quirks). If the Player is OK with playing a negative ninety cp in Disadvantages, then so good for you...
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Old 07-09-2017, 05:28 AM   #10
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Default Re: IRLS

Quote:
Originally Posted by oleskoolrpgr View Post
Something like a psion particle for psychic/psionic abilities and a mana particle for magical ones. THese particles could wax and wane over time explaining why supers are here now and not earlier.
The sun is continuously moving through interstellar space. Maybe we're just passing through an area thick in these particles.
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