New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[Willy]

Originally Posted by Kale

There's even a GURPS sourcebook for this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GURPS_...osstime_Saloon

Sadly out of print and not for sale at Warehouse 23 as it thems to me. A nice setting what about a scan to digitalize it?

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Willy

Sadly out of print and not for sale at Warehouse 23 as it thems to me. A nice setting what about a scan to digitalize it?

At a basic level the Horatio Club (Infinite Worlds p 229-231) can serve much the same function.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by maximara

At a basic level the Horatio Club (Infinite Worlds p 229-231) can serve much the same function.

Agreed, but the Mick of Time is so much fun.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Willy

Sadly out of print and not for sale at Warehouse 23 as it thems to me. A nice setting what about a scan to digitalize it?

You can always just go to the source material, directly, and adapt the books straight across.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/spider-robinson/206685/

I, of course, own the books and have the GURPS adaptation.

Yes, I'm bragging. :)

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

A few generations ago the "colony" fell apart. Too few people and too much to do. Also, small isolated societies tend toward corruption. People were sick of being bullied and used, so as soon as they could they left. And each person who headed out for the wilderness was one more brick out of an unstable wall.

However, even living a fairly "primitive" life, we didn't bring diseases to this world, and all of our women are genefixed for easy childbirth, so the population is growing quickly. Maybe it's time to found a new government.


Basically, it's a political game set on a rapidly growing colony world. The planet was terraformed and seeded before the colonists got there, so this world more closely resembles Earth of the past (except for some exotic geology) than a conventional sci-fi setting. All lifeforms are from the Earth,

There is a population still living in the old colony base, they see themselves as the only legitimate government of this world. They'll disrupt any attempt to set up a new government. Those living far from the old base went out there to escape the growing corruption and authoritarianism of the old colony base. They have little use for any government but would tolerate a government that countered and limited the influence and power of the old colony base. There are also several small communities that are functional towns. They want a government to facilitate trade and population exchanges, inbreeding is a real threat.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

A few generations ago the "colony" fell apart. Too few people and too much to do. Also, small isolated societies tend toward corruption. People were sick of being bullied and used, so as soon as they could they left. And each person who headed out for the wilderness was one more brick out of an unstable wall.

However, even living a fairly "primitive" life, we didn't bring diseases to this world, and all of our women are genefixed for easy childbirth, so the population is growing quickly. Maybe it's time to found a new government.


Basically, it's a political game set on a rapidly growing colony world. The planet was terraformed and seeded before the colonists got there, so this world more closely resembles Earth of the past (except for some exotic geology) than a conventional sci-fi setting. All lifeforms are from the Earth,

There is a population still living in the old colony base, they see themselves as the only legitimate government of this world. They'll disrupt any attempt to set up a new government. Those living far from the old base went out there to escape the growing corruption and authoritarianism of the old colony base. They have little use for any government but would tolerate a government that countered and limited the influence and power of the old colony base. There are also several small communities that are functional towns. They want a government to facilitate trade and population exchanges, inbreeding is a real threat.

Sounds like the founding of Manticore.

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

This takes the idea I've used before, that some extra-dimensional force that prevents most worlds from developing life, and if they do develop life, it never gets beyond the multicellular level. Aliens find Earth and spread Earthlife to multiple worlds. I've used this idea to blend H.P. Lovecraft and Pulp Sci-Fi ala C.L.Moore or A. Merritt. Those settings assumed that Aliens discover ancient Earth, this one assumes they discover present-day Earth.

Soon after discovering the only planet in our galaxy that has multicellular life, and in incredible richness, they learn about the Sixth Extinction. They realize that humanity is trying to learn not to destroy the ecosystem. They realize also that humanity is in the midst of a planetwide struggle to redefine its values. They decide that the risk of either nuclear war or planetary climate collapse is too high. Humanity in their eyes is like a pot-bound plant, humanity needs more room. They decide humanity needs to be taken to the stars and settled on a few hundred different worlds.

Basically, Aliens are coming to get humanity and move us to their idea of safer quarters. One campaign might be a group of humans from your nation or communities of choice that is starting your group up again on a new world. The whole struggle to keep order while building a basis for the life of your community would be like a more realistic
GURPS Alpha Centauri. Another campaign might involve nations of various sizes looking for partners in settling new worlds.

You could also run campaigns around the disrupted society of the Earth being emptied of humanity. Example: Nation A wants an important relic that was taken from them long ago. They want to seize it and smuggle it out to the stars. A real-world item that has four different nations demanding that Britain hand it over is the Koh-i-Noor. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran, all have historical claims on the stone and each sees possession of the Koh-i-Noor as a validation of their sovereignty. A heist capper set up to grab the Koh-i-Noor from the rapidly emptying London could be interesting. Security might be seriously disrupted, making the theft possible.

[Astromancer]

Fun note for all sci-fi futures. They now have a superconductor that retains the property of superconductivity up to 14 degrees Celius. This is according to the January 16-22 New Scientist page 46. They seem to be on the verge of a general theory of high-temperature superconductivity, and experiments seem to be working out.

If this pans out, all of our mid and late 21st century futures are obsolete.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Fun note for all sci-fi futures. They now have a superconductor that retains the property of superconductivity up to 14 degrees Celius. This is according to the January 16-22 New Scientist page 46. They seem to be on the verge of a general theory of high-temperature superconductivity, and experiments seem to be working out.

If this pans out, all of our mid and late 21st century futures are obsolete.

Only under high pressures though. The breakthrough is promising, not present.

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

You could also run campaigns around the disrupted society of the Earth being emptied of humanity. Example: Nation A wants an important relic that was taken from them long ago. They want to seize it and smuggle it out to the stars. A real-world item that has four different nations demanding that Britain hand it over is the Koh-i-Noor. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran, all have historical claims on the stone and each sees possession of the Koh-i-Noor as a validation of their sovereignty. A heist capper set up to grab the Koh-i-Noor from the rapidly emptying London could be interesting. Security might be seriously disrupted, making the theft possible.

For ideas on how to make this a funny campaign read The Hot Rock by Westlake where the people hired have to steal the gem or commit some other major heist to get to where they can steal it half a dozen times.