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Old 01-01-2012, 09:10 AM   #21
johndallman
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
... you need fantasy to create a backside ecology.
That one's traditionally difficult. It's the same problem as lively ecologies in vast underground caverns; an absence of any energy input. Fungi are the traditional answer, but they live off releasing chemical energy in decaying organic material, and after a while, they run out unless more material comes along.

The violent weather makes human life possible on the dark side. Just about. Lightning in this weird atmosphere forms some basic compounds, which rain carries to the ground, and which "plants" live off. This means that the only places deep in the dark side where there's enough food for human settlements are where mountains cause serious rain traps; places near the twilight zone will trade for food as much as they can, and may even try to use force to take it.

The native race of the dark side lives off specific minerals, and are biologically completely alien. Because they've eaten all the surface food, the live off industrial-scale mining now, which has made the operators of the food mines into dictators.
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Old 01-01-2012, 09:21 AM   #22
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
That one's traditionally difficult. It's the same problem as lively ecologies in vast underground caverns; an absence of any energy input. Fungi are the traditional answer, but they live off releasing chemical energy in decaying organic material, and after a while, they run out unless more material comes along.

The violent weather makes human life possible on the dark side. Just about. Lightning in this weird atmosphere forms some basic compounds, which rain carries to the ground, and which "plants" live off. This means that the only places deep in the dark side where there's enough food for human settlements are where mountains cause serious rain traps; places near the twilight zone will trade for food as much as they can, and may even try to use force to take it.

The native race of the dark side lives off specific minerals, and are biologically completely alien. Because they've eaten all the surface food, the live off industrial-scale mining now, which has made the operators of the food mines into dictators.
It could be tectonically active, thus providing oases of high temperature. Even if these areas couldn't provide areas for agriculture, they could support small areas of ecosystem. Probably very alien ecosystems, though.

Since it's a fantasy world, you can assume fantasy plant life (or sedentary animal life) that absorb the heat out of living beings.
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Old 01-01-2012, 09:59 AM   #23
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

It is likely that at least some humans are nomadic, traveling for (more or less) short periods of time into the daylocked and nightlocked regions for purposes of trade, scavenging, hunting, or other resource acquisition.

The native residents of the nightlocked region most often in contact with the nomadic humans are large ursine sapients. The "Ursids" use geothermic warm spots, natural caverns, and other features as their homes and "agricultural" zones.
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Old 01-01-2012, 11:56 AM   #24
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

Also, due to the harsh weather, certain technological progress might be impaired. In particular, while other tech (and magitech) might be in the TL3 or TL3^ or TL3+1^ range, travel is likely to remain mired at TL2.

One side effect of this is that nations are likely to be smaller than on other worlds, and even sprawling empires would be much less centralized, relying on local governors and largely independent of a central authority.

Magic, particularly weather magic, might be heavily researched in order to make travel through the storms safer.
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Old 01-01-2012, 04:05 PM   #25
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

My next contribution will be a way to tie together some of the previous posts.

Sapient species (not necessarily a complete list):

  • Humans (a small minority of whom have been mutated by alien magic/tech)
  • The shapechanging, humanoid- to- reptilian, daysiders
  • mineral munching, ursinoid, 'cave bears' of the nightside


The 'cave bears' aren't really bears at all, their looks simply reminded the first human slaves of bears. The darksiders are massive, furrry (fiber glass? some sort of asbestos?), creatures. They walk about on all fours, but can stand on their rear limbs in order to manipulate objects, push things around, fight, etc. Their 'hands' are not as nimble as human hands. Darkside tools and machines tend to be large and crude-looking, but darkside technology is actually more advanced than that of the humans.
Darksiders need to eat certain mineral compounds, but they also include the weird flora and fauna of the darkside in their diets.
A well-fed darksider extrudes mineral deposits/nodules/plates on his back, which help protect him from the violent weather when he is on the surface.

Last edited by combatmedic; 01-01-2012 at 04:33 PM.
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Old 01-01-2012, 05:26 PM   #26
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

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Darkside tools and machines tend to be large and crude-looking, but darkside technology is actually more advanced than that of the humans.
Are we getting a bit steampunk here?

I'm thinking that Darksiders use magic should be rune-based. They don't cast spells per se, they engrave the runes on their machines and such to enchant them.

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Originally Posted by combatmedic View Post
Darksiders need to eat certain mineral compounds, but they also include the weird flora and fauna of the darkside in their diets.
A well-fed darksider extrudes mineral deposits/nodules/plates on his back, which help protect him from the violent weather when he is on the surface.
So we have an ecosystem of creatures with metallic flesh and bones--meaning that although humans can't eat them, they can use them as a source of raw metal. Perhaps, because the metal is "grown" it has special properties.

Plantlife could be tree shaped in useful ways, thus making some machines and buildings crude, but organic.
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Old 01-01-2012, 06:02 PM   #27
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

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Originally Posted by Faolyn View Post
Are we getting a bit steampunk here?

I'm thinking that Darksiders use magic should be rune-based. They don't cast spells per se, they engrave the runes on their machines and such to enchant them.



So we have an ecosystem of creatures with metallic flesh and bones--meaning that although humans can't eat them, they can use them as a source of raw metal. Perhaps, because the metal is "grown" it has special properties.

Plantlife could be tree shaped in useful ways, thus making some machines and buildings crude, but organic.


It could be 'steampunk', but I like your rune idea better. Of course, there's really not much difference between 'advanced technology' and certain kinds of 'magic.' Perhaps there are very few fossil fuels available on the planet, but the ursinoids have learned to make some use of natural geothermal power?
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Old 01-01-2012, 07:49 PM   #28
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

What magnetic field there is would be very weak. Before the Mariner mission it was believed that it was impossible for a tide-locked planet to have a magnetic field at all, Mercury's is ~1% of Earth's, though Mercury isn't actually tide-locked it's day is 2/3 of it's year.

So compasses and a magnetosphere are out, an ionosphere is also tenuous.

Similarly, I doubt a tide-locked planet can have a moon, it would be lost long before it became tide-locked. At best maybe a recently captured comet.

For that matter, to have the time necessary for a habitable planet to become tide-locked requires a long-lived star, anything G-type would be long burnt out. This star is definitely a red dwarf.
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Old 01-01-2012, 07:58 PM   #29
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

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Perhaps there are very few fossil fuels available on the planet, but the ursinoids have learned to make some use of natural geothermal power?
Cut out the plant life that lets you mass-produce paper, whichever ones those are, and you cut the dispersion of knowledge.

Perhaps cutting yourself with the special metals or minerals of whatever helps you cast spells, as the metal disperses through your veins. Or some such.
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Old 01-01-2012, 08:00 PM   #30
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Default Re: New Year/New Setting: GURPS world design 'game'

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Originally Posted by Purple Haze View Post
What magnetic field there is would be very weak. Before the Mariner mission it was believed that it was impossible for a tide-locked planet to have a magnetic field at all, Mercury's is ~1% of Earth's, though Mercury isn't actually tide-locked it's day is 2/3 of it's year.

So compasses and a magnetosphere are out, an ionosphere is also tenuous.

Similarly, I doubt a tide-locked planet can have a moon, it would be lost long before it became tide-locked. At best maybe a recently captured comet.

For that matter, to have the time necessary for a habitable planet to become tide-locked requires a long-lived star, anything G-type would be long burnt out. This star is definitely a red dwarf.
I think at this point we've firmly established it's fantasy. Possibly science fantasy, but still fantasy.
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