Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 03-27-2023, 07:15 AM   #2651
TGLS
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Just some thinking on the TL9 cities vs. TL4-5 country:

Winning: As far as the country elites are concerned, winning is a matter of nothing happening. Oh, sure, stop the disaffected from running off to the cities, but with weak transportation infrastructure, that's more a psychological threat than an actual threat. If the cities are staying on their side of the border, and the traders are more interested in trading livestock than upsetting the local power structure, the country elites continue to get their way.

So what can we do from there?

A) City vs. City: Two cities have some kind of dispute (maybe over some resource, maybe ideological), and the rural groups in between them are caught up in the conflict. They could be used as proxies for conflict because the cities aren't up the escalation ladder, they could be used as auxiliaries (as they know the lay of the land, or just to have more redshirts), or they might be providing non-combat support. If the dispute is over something, it's plausible the rural groups might try to act as an agent providing security, supplies, etc. in order to avoid an expansion of urban control. The cities might be inclined to give the rural groups weapons to get an edge in the conflict.

B) Amoral Traders vs. Philanthropists and Government: Traders who are in it purely for themselves travel the countryside deal in goods produced in the city (consumer goods, synthetic drugs, weapons) for goods produced by in the country (livestock seems plausible even with vertical farming, grown drugs, mining rights could be another, really enterprising ones might try to setup factories that ignore pesky labour laws). Philanthropists oppose the traders immoral business practices and crusade against them in the field of public opinion and perhaps more directly. The urban government may try to stem their abuses too. Rural elites might have varying opinions about the philanthropists (good when they oppose drug use, bad when they oppose weapons dealers

C) Urban Tide vs. Terror: The rural elites are screwed now! Urban elites are really leaning into helping the rural poor to migrate to the cities. In response, rural elites have really stepped up the propaganda and/or started training cells who can slip into the cities (made easier by the new urban policies) to cause terror. Their goal will be to sway the urban public against the migration policy, change the opinion of the rural public on migrating (it's a war-torn hellpit over there!), and generally to take revenge upon those they view as having betrayed them. The urban tide must try to preserve these policies and to counter the terror groups to defeat the rural elites once and for all.
TGLS is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2023, 11:59 AM   #2652
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Our Man in Cydonia

This is the third great game.

I know about Russia's constant struggle to take Central Asia and threaten India from the Northwest. What's the other one.

Our long struggle, first with France and Spain, and then with the United States to hold North America.

So we beat Russia and the Amercans get most of America. But the Americans don't want to own Mars. As soon as they decently can they mean to give the Philippines their independence.

We convinced part of America's leadership to embrace empire. The American people have an often inconvenient idealism that has led them to reject empire. The problem is they're still determined to trade with the Martians. Meanwhile,
France, Germany, Russia, and Japan, all want a slice of Mars.


Basically, reread your John Buchanan especially Greenmantle and grab your copy of Kim. The Foreign Office is sending you by express Rocket to Mars!

The setting is the Llowellian Mars of deserts and canals. Make Mars a "print the Legend" blend of Egypt (ancient and medieval), China, Medieval Persia, and Byzantium. Exotic, complex, beautiful even in its decay, and perfect for East of Suez adventures blended with Pulp Sci Fi (reread Northwest of Earth too).

The PCs are government agents (as written British, but France and the USA would be fun too). They are seeking out the agents of rival powers. They aren't as interested in killing or arresting these rival agents as in finding out who they are and what they are doing. Said rival agents will still kill the PCs to keep their secrets.

Since this is a pulp setting, mysterious cults, anarchist cells, ancient aliens, and other exotica should also be encountered.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo

Last edited by Astromancer; 03-28-2023 at 12:03 PM.
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-30-2023, 04:17 PM   #2653
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Cloud Wandering

The Elders say we came from beyond the stars. That the skies we live in are a great construct that our distant ancestors were exploring when they became trapped.

What do the Elders say the skies we came from were like?

They say it was a big rock that was so vast it seemed flat.

How would that work?

I never figured that out.


The tribes wander the skies in the cloud realms. The rocks in the cloud realms have constant vegetation and water. Such things are far rarer in the clear skies. Tribes claim a few large rocks and grow gardens and raise food animals. Some tribes try to seize the rocks of other tribes, this leads to war.

Other cloud realms have strange goods to trade. Dangerous journeys across the clear realms can bring great honor and wealth, or death.

Basically, the descendants of the survivors of a lost expedition live in a vast gas bag. Mountain sized asteroids float within this gas bag. In areas of higher humidity ( the cloud realms) these asteroids are covered with thick vegetation. Crops can be grown in these places. The areas of lower humidity (the clear realms) are comparative deserts. Finding food and water in these areas can be a challenge.

The climate in terms of seasonal cycles, or the lack of them, varies widely between different areas.

Individuals basically swim through the air to move around their universe. Flippers are used to gain speed.

Storms are rare and genuinely terrifying.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-31-2023, 03:00 PM   #2654
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
Cloud Wandering

The Elders say we came from beyond the stars. That the skies we live in are a great construct that our distant ancestors were exploring when they became trapped.

What do the Elders say the skies we came from were like?

They say it was a big rock that was so vast it seemed flat.

How would that work?

I never figured that out.


The tribes wander the skies in the cloud realms. The rocks in the cloud realms have constant vegetation and water. Such things are far rarer in the clear skies. Tribes claim a few large rocks and grow gardens and raise food animals. Some tribes try to seize the rocks of other tribes, this leads to war.

Other cloud realms have strange goods to trade. Dangerous journeys across the clear realms can bring great honor and wealth, or death.

Basically, the descendants of the survivors of a lost expedition live in a vast gas bag. Mountain sized asteroids float within this gas bag. In areas of higher humidity ( the cloud realms) these asteroids are covered with thick vegetation. Crops can be grown in these places. The areas of lower humidity (the clear realms) are comparative deserts. Finding food and water in these areas can be a challenge.

The climate in terms of seasonal cycles, or the lack of them, varies widely between different areas.

Individuals basically swim through the air to move around their universe. Flippers are used to gain speed.

Storms are rare and genuinely terrifying.
The trapped ship had the time to genetically engineer life forms for the castaways.

Many Earth fruit and nut trees are modified into vines. The oak and chestnut vines providing the equivalent of grain to the castaways.

Gigantic bats provide transportation. These beasts are the camels of this setting.

Bees and silkworms are modified to survive here as well. Honey is the major sweetener. The tribes descended from the castaways wear silk cloth.

#################################

One interesting campaign might be a second ship seeking what happened to the long vanished survey ship.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo

Last edited by Astromancer; 03-31-2023 at 04:11 PM.
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2023, 06:30 PM   #2655
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Looking at a old ad for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, it occurred to me that running GURPS: AlphaCentauri with the GM being realistic about societies could be good snarky fun.

Most of those societies, especially in a frontier setting that would require independent initiative from the population, would lead to collapse or transformation. The twisted results of idealism landing in the manure pile of reality would make for strange societies. But then any "Planet of Hats" society would either collapse or transform when faced with reality.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2023, 07:37 PM   #2656
PTTG
 
PTTG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Considering that the starting populations were what, three thousand or so, those societies were already not like our own in a lot of ways. I'm not really sure how Morgan managed to make a capitalist corprocracy when all he had to start with were three thousand Ayn Rand fans.

In terms of what makes sense, the Gaians at least had an ideological commitment to sustainable use of resources. And they got lucky, what with the planet they landed on actually being an active agent who could get mad at you for polluting.
PTTG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2023, 05:06 AM   #2657
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Quote:
Originally Posted by PTTG View Post
Considering that the starting populations were what, three thousand or so, those societies were already not like our own in a lot of ways. I'm not really sure how Morgan managed to make a capitalist corprocracy when all he had to start with were three thousand Ayn Rand fans.

In terms of what makes sense, the Gaians at least had an ideological commitment to sustainable use of resources. And they got lucky, what with the planet they landed on actually being an active agent who could get mad at you for polluting.
The Gaians and the Peacekeepers were the most viable societies with the Free Drones and the Lord's Believers (shudder) coming right after. The Hive and Morgan Industries would be the quickest to collapse. IMHO. Many others like the Data Angel's were just totally divorced from reality. They could be subcultures at best.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2023, 06:31 PM   #2658
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Didn't Sid Meier do another Civilization in Space game? I think I remember something of the sort.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-04-2023, 06:39 PM   #2659
Paulon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth.
I never really managed to get into it, though I enjoy, and still play, SMAC.
Paulon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-08-2023, 04:57 PM   #2660
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

Gardeners of Eden

Why did they call a lifeless world Eden? I thought Eden was a paradise.

In the stories it is. But we aren't allowed back. So we'll build our own

Build it for whom? And when we've built paradise will there be a place for us in it?


It might not seem obvious at first but the planet named "Eden" was aptly named. It will take only a few generations to terraform this planet into an exquisite jewel. And once terraformed, planet Eden will tend to stay terraformed for millions of years. Unlike Mars per se, which would need constant maintenance to stay terraformed.

The problem is that the social system is breaking down. They had a series of wars back in the Solar System. We've had no messages from there for decades. The only messages from other interstellar bases and colonies have been to maintain radio silence until an unspecified danger passes. Cut off from an outside world, the workers and the elites have little in common but the need to complete the terraforming project.

The workers used to come on contracts, and leave, very well paid, when their contracts were finished. Now, money has little meaning or practical worth. There is no outside to spend the money in or goto.

Basically, it's a colony world heading towards revolution. The Elites are parahumans with increased lifespans, enhanced physical capabilities, and excellent brains. Beautiful, cultured, and unaware of other people's views. The workers are highly educated and sophisticated technicians and scientists, almost all baseline humans with only a few upgrades. When there was an outside to goto, the power arrangements weren't an issue. It wasn't the workers' world. They were just employees. But if generations of their children are stuck here, it becomes a form of serfdom.

Revolution is brewing. What is your choice?
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo

Last edited by Astromancer; 04-09-2023 at 11:49 AM.
Astromancer is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:26 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.