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 07-23-2018, 09:34 AM   #31
roland
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: GURPS King in Yellow

continued....




9. Red Room: Enter a large room where everything, really everything, is black. The furniture, the ceiling, the floor, the walls, even the chandeliers are raven black. Still, the room has a tinge of crimson that pervades it completely. The nuance comes from the light that filters through the windows, covered with blood-red curtains. At the end of the room stands what seems, at first, a sarcophagus. He does not wear hieroglyphics, but even more arcane signs. As you approach, the signs on the sarcophagus, also black, light up with a bright red light and the coffin opens slowly. Blood is freezing in veins when you see a skeletal hand emerging from the sarcophagus, and then the whole figure cloaked in a shroud.
The creature is an Ankou (see Monster Compendium, page 38) and shows itself in all its dreadful majesty. It does not make a sound when it raises the heavy sarcophagus with its hands. He only says in a whisper: "The cock crew, The sky was blue: The bells in heaven. Were striking eleven. ‘Tis time for this poor soul To go to heaven. "Obviously also this is a riddle and we find the answer in Joyce's book, Ulysses:" The fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush ". This riddle is particularly difficult to solve, unless you have a good knowledge of English literature.
Obviously if the heroes do not give the correct answer, the Ankou will attack using the sarcophagus as a club, trying to smash the PCs.
10. Hall of oblivion: when you enter this room you feel a strong smell of incense striking you. A girl with stunning curves is lighting candles. Her dress, her transparencies, leave nothing to the imagination.
You, men of the party, are bewitched. Your only wish is to go near her and tear her clothes off, and have sex with her.
The girl turns and gestures to one of you, men of the party, to approach. Then he begins to kiss him, takes him by the hand and makes him lie down on the bed. The other members of the group are petrified and enchanted. Even women can not help but look entranced.
The girl is on top of you and starts moving frantically, with pelvic movements. When you are about to reach pleasure, open your eyes and see that the beautiful girl is turning: clawed arms sprout from her torso, cobwebs come out of her mouth and the eyeballs are completely blank. It is turning into a human spider.
If you want to move you have to win a roll Will-6. If the character who is having sex with the monster (Web Hag, see Monster Compendium, page 263) does not win, he can not move while the creature eats him alive. Given the pain, the next roll (one per turn) will be at Will-3)
11. Hall of War: as you enter you see that a huge humanoid (about 3 meters high), stands between you and a pedestal where a brass key is resting. The creature is covered in steel and wields a firearm that looks like a cross between a chain-gun and a plasma weapon. it is a Nazi-Bot (see Monster Compendium, page 341), a partly human, partly machine being created by Gerardo to protect his most precious assets.
roland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-23-2018, 09:34 AM   #32
roland
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: GURPS King in Yellow

continued....





IV- the Outer Park

Now that the PCs have all the keys, they can operate the mechanism that will take them to Gerardo. Since there is no trace of any mechanism that provides space for four locks inside the castle, the only place where heroes can find a way to reach Gerardo is to look in the Outer Park.
It will not be an easy task to cross it: the Park is immersed in a dense fog and the Riddler has unleashed several terrible war machines against the PCs: a few Weapons X (see Monster Compendium, page 466).
The park is huge and so it will take a long time, for the heroes, to find what they are looking for. To be able to understand if the PCs are lucky or not, it is necessary to roll, once every twenty minutes of game time, a die. If the result is a 6, the heroes have managed to find the mechanism. If not, roll another time after twenty minutes. So on until the result is 6. Before each roll, the GM must check how many Weapons X the heroes encounter. Every twenty minutes the GM rolls a die and divides it by two, modifying by excess. This will be the number of Weapons X that the PCs encounter.
If the heroes manage to survive the assaults of the Weapons X, they will finally arrive in front of an ivory altar.
Suddenly the fog thins out when you see before you a monolith, probably an altar, of imposing size. In what looks like a recess there is space for four lock patches, one of gold, one of silver, another of bronze and finally of copper. Once you turn the keys you see condensation of energy over the altar.
With a flash and a loud snap, which blind and deaf you, appears, as if by magic, a squat tower, a few dozen meters high. The door of the tower is wide open, as if someone inside was waiting for you ...
As you go upstairs, the stairs get narrower and narrower until you see a narrow niche in front of you that suddenly opens up into a colossal room.
The room is circular, tens and tens of meters in diameter. Looking out of the loopholes present you are astonished to see that you no longer see the ground but ... the planet Earth, in the distance, as just as you would see from the Moon.
In the center of the room stands a raised throne on which sits a figure cloaked in a black cape.
"I enjoyed watching your adventures, seeing you use your brain and muscles, but now your journey ends here."
You see that the figure is moving suddenly, as if prey to unstoppable tremors. Stuttering, he beats his head with his hand. It is quite clear that Gerardo has serious mental problems.
If the heroes try to do something while the Master inveighs against himself, suddenly the demigod recovers and from nowhere makes a brick wall appear that stands between the creature and the PCs.
Then, with the sole force of the mind, it creates a hand of rock from the floor that grabs the PCs.
Gerardo erupts: "Now I will submit to you the last, final, riddle, my friends, and then I will send your broken bodies back to the authorities of the Italian State. I give you one last wish. You can make one last remark that will determine the way you will die. If it is false, I will remove your heads; if it is true, I will crush you to death. "
The only way for the heroes to save themselves is to say: "You will remove our heads".
In this way, Gerardo would be faced with a paradox. If he took the heads off the heroes, the last declaration of the same would be true and Gerardo would have to crush them to death. But if he crushes them, their last declaration would be false.
The paradox, unsolvable, would create such a state of agitation, to the already altered mind of Gerardo, to make him completely mad.
Gerardo would remain for 2d second without powers and the heroes could surely take advantage of it to put an end to the monster's life.
roland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-27-2018, 05:48 AM   #33
roland
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: GURPS King in Yellow

The Hatemonger

"I can assure you, my friends, party comrades, that our hour has finally come ... At last the time has come to eradicate the weed that has long infested our beloved homeland: immigrants, foreigners, delinquents who have made the Italy the weak country that is still now. The time has come to put back those damned communists who are the fifth column of a foreign country that aims to colonize us, to make our race corrupt.
Bologna will become our bulwark. We will be the first party. We will arrive in Rome and finally our beloved homeland will rise again. "
The Hatemonger, aka Umberto Salvini, is a politician of the worst sort. He's the leader of the political party "Forza Fratelli del Nord", of extreme right wing. The political project is vexing the non-European, the Southerners, the homeless, the helpless, on the basis of a supposed superiority of the white race. He's extremely dangerous because he has a number of converts and take seriously a chance to make the "Forza Fratelli del Nord" the first party in Italy. At this time, Umberto compete to get the lead of Bologna, as Mayor.
Since he was a child, Umberto always attained what he wanted. That's why he has the psionic powers of "Aspect", "Emotion Control", "Sensory Control" and "Suggestion". His father was a Freemason and alchemist, who interfered with the use of weird books.....
Salvini should be a cumbersome presence in the entire first chapter of the adventure. Every time the heroes watch television or read the newspapers there should be an article about Salvini.
People make protests for or against the far-right party leader continuously.
His activity against the Italian Communist Party, led his followers to several action of sabotage and impairment of the extreme left wing party's headquarters. In the actions are been slaughtered nine communist activists.
Salvini is supported by many police's and carabinieri's hierarchies. De facto, he's untouchable.
Salvini is energetic, intelligent, absolutely intent on getting to Palazzo Chigi and transforming Italy into a presidential Republic under his own iron fist. He has made alliances with the CIA, as the American Administration is terrified of a possible rapprochement of the Republic to the Soviet Union. Salvini will stop at nothing to achieve his goals and will ride, as he has ridden to this day, the more or less creeping racism of the Italians.
Numerous times the far-right politician suffered attacks by left-wingers and is now being watched by a bevy of bodyguards and judicial police officers. The headquarters of his party is a den of beaters and lackeys, literally ready to do anything to please the boss.
Inversely from what happens in the section dedicated to the Iguana, it should be the communist activists to barricade and break into the "black" stronghold of Salvini.
The Leader is the most coveted prey for adventurers and criminals who try to increase their prestige by killing big targets.
Please refer to the Black Fiesta's Ghosts section for a better understanding.
If Salvini were to be saved from the assault of the Black-Fiesta's Ghosts, he would ride the popular outrage and point the finger at the communist groups as the architects of the attack.
Thanks to huge public funding, coming directly from Rome and from their American friends, Umberto is trying to fulfill his dream of building an Arcology. To this end, he bought a huge plot of land in the countryside between Bologna and Ferrara. Unlike the "democratic" vision of Wright's Arcology, Salvini obviously sees himself on the top floor of his monstrosity, unattainable by ordinary mortals.

People of interest in the pay of Umberto Salvini
Luigi Forte
the architect of Salvini, architect of the future Arcology, studied in schools all over the world and took a Masters in architecture in Oxford. Very rich in family, always accustomed to getting what he wants, he viscerally despises the weakest and the poorest, and sees in his leader the possibility of wiping out all the poor rottenness of society. He would do everything for his Duce.
Nanni "Jack" Lo Cascio
Second-generation Italian-American, Nanni unites the two worst souls of Italy and the United States: a great social climber, without any scruples, is the link between Italian right-wing politics, the CIA and the Mafia.
In his pay he has a bevy of lackeys attending not only the parties inside the Forza Fratelli del Nord headquarters, but also the Viminale, the houses of the Sicilian bourgeoisie and all the other palaces of power.
Nanni is undoubtedly the most dangerous of Umberto's fighters.
Clint Marvin
Head of the paramilitary division in force at the headquarters of Umberto, Clint claims to have killed more than 50 people in his career.
He is a skilled killer, expert in disguises and explosives. He also did business with the "Stay Behind" which presides over the Ciavardini pub (see below).
He has already thwarted numerous attacks on Salvini's house and the party premises, as well as being the author of numerous political murders.

Last edited by roland; 07-31-2018 at 09:04 AM.
roland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-29-2018, 11:59 AM   #34
roland
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: GURPS King in Yellow

The Bomber


Who's saying around
What I hate my job
He does not know how much love
I dedicate myself to the TNT
It is almost independent
Just a few hours
Then I will give him the voice
The detonator
My fragile Pinocchio
Amateurish Relative
Of built bombs
On an industrial scale
Of me it will never do
A knight of work
I am of another race
I'm the Bomber



(Chi va dicendo in giro
Che odio il mio lavoro
Non sa con quanto amore
Mi dedico al tritolo
È quasi indipendente
Ancora poche ore
Poi gli darò la voce
Il detonatore
Il mio Pinocchio fragile
Parente artigianale
Di ordigni costruiti
Su scala industriale
Di me non farà mai
Un cavaliere del lavoro
Io sono d'un'altra razza
Son bombarolo)

Fabrizio de Andrè, Il Bombarolo
Licio Ciavardini has fun, lately. Disgusted by the laxity of the italian policy, pursued by all the parties, also Forza Fratelli del Nord, the young Licio (seventeen years old) enrolled in the organization "Alba del Sole Nero" (Dark Sun Dawn), a small group of fanatics and fascist hotheads.
Licio is a meta-human: he's able to blink items, very heavy (until a ton), up to a range of a mile.
Obviously Licio don't use his power for the good of the society, but to pursue his concept of policy and easy money. This 17 years old boy is, by now, turned into a formidable terrorist killer.
In a little bit, Ciavardini committed three awesome carnages with as much bombs: in a bank, in the rush hour; on a train, in the route Milano-Bologna; in a branch of the communist party of Bologna.
The Police and the Carabinieri, led by the district attorney, grope in the dark, and follow the anarchic path.
The headquarters of the Ciavardini's gang is the Franco's club, a luxury building in the Bologna outskirt. It's full of hit men, drubbers, cocaine addicts.
Lately, Ciavardini has been approached by men of the european agency "Stay Behind", an organization devoted to "protect" the continent against the Red Danger. It is likely that these agents are in the building at the time of a potential raid of the PCs.
Apart from "the Franco's club", one can run into Ciavardini near the place of his next crime: the Bologna train-station. Licio from time immemorial is spellbound by the "Bologna Massacre" of 1980. Licio boasts bearing the surname of the carnage's executor. Licio Ciavardini dwells upon the fast food with the Medaglie d'Oro-square view. He sits down at a table, eats an hamburger, beholds the street, the square, the buildings and the people and... dreams of blowing all them up.
Licio keeps at all times in touch with his friends of "Stay Behind". If the man is being harassed by the PCs, he will call them who will come in within 1d minutes.

Franco's Club
The Franco's Club is actually a luxury pub located in the municipality of San Lazzaro, on the outskirts of Bologna. The Franco's Club is a huge pub, about 10,000 square feet of floor space. Like all pubs, it has a large space for the public, numerous standing places, a large counter where any kind of drink and drugs are served , dance spaces and live music. Unlike other pubs, it contains numerous images of World War II and the fascist dictators who became powerful during the first post-war period: Mussolini, Hitler and Franco.
The place can hold hundreds of people but when it is empty the usual patrons are the boys of the "X Mas Redux", a bunch of fascists all the same, with a round face, shaved to zero and an atavistic and unshakable trust in Ciavardini. They are not particularly intelligent but they can beat and their strength, like all cowards, is that of numbers.
Far more dangerous are those of "Stay Behind", a group of terrorists who are directly in charge of the European division of NATO. Their boss, Hermann Kappler, has connections with Clint Marvin, Umberto Salvini's security chief. The two, in the past, have teamed up, creating big trouble for the Republic.
In the upper floors of the Franco's Club also lives the companion of Ciavardini, Laura Favre, a 22-year-old Swiss girl, with an attractive appearance and a convoluted morality. Laura shares with her partner the marked hatred against the red danger and the laxity in society. Even more marked than love for Ciavardini, however, is Laura's love for money. The girl, of a good family, would do anything to make a fortune ... even sell her partner to the highest bidder.

Last edited by roland; 07-31-2018 at 09:04 AM.
roland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2018, 08:59 AM   #35
roland
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: GURPS King in Yellow

The Werewolf

Davide Borelli is an accomplished man: highway engineer, tender father and husband, politically active in the list of "Forza Fratelli del Nord" party, fervent religious. He has only a tiny bad habit: one time a month, when there's the full-moon, Borelli gives a lift to a whore, carry her in the countryside and...... chews her up. The Press call him "The Werewolf", for obvious circumstances.
It's first crime happened when Davide was fifteen years old. One night of full moon, when he was alone with his sister, Davide turned into a hideous monstrosity, a tall, wolf-headed humanoid, with huge, clawed paws, dire fangs, and devoured her.
His father, the next morning, found the young Borelli naked, dirty with blood, next to the ravaged corpse of Jessica. Instead of swearing at his son, Borelli senior called a few companions of his political party, Forza Fratelli del Nord, and burked it all. In his lucid madness, Borelli saw the son as a new offspring, to exploit for improving his social position.
From then on, Davide, each full-moon night, has been penned in a dungeon beneath the Borelli's Manor. The companions of Borelli kidnapped a young woman and carried her in.
The Davide's quarries have been scores......
Davide grew up, and settled down. Thanks to the aids of his father, Davide learned to master his powers and not have guilt.
Davide feels invincible and, maybe, he's invincible.
In the neighbourhood of the dungeon there're numerous hitmen and flunkeis of Borelli senior. Within the same dungeon there are two laboratories, an alchemical one and a scientific one.
The two facilities examine the Davide's physiology, from a magical and a scientific point of view, and created successors of young Borelli. The cellar of the Borelli Mansion is full of twisted horrors.

Borelli's Basement
As stated above, under the Borelli's Mansion, there is a dangerous dungeons full of thugs and monsters. The cellar is composed of three stories. In the first story, the PCs will meet the brutality of the Borelli flunkies and discover the power of this twisted family.
In the second story, the heroes will meet a few aberrations born of the wicked experiment of Borelli Senior, along with two facilities, alchemical and scientific
Finally, at the bottom of the basement, there's the hunting ground of Junior, where scores of dead bodies can be found.
First floor
The first floor of the basement of Borelli's Mansion is actually a medium-large apartment, suitable to accommodate a dozen people. The room has 5 bedrooms, a living room, a computerized observation point to observe the movements on the second floor (but not on the third floor). Borelli's henchmen are thugs of the mafia and hired assassins, more accustomed to using the knife or the gun than the brain. Nevertheless they are dangerous, and not only for the mere number: they are terrified by Borelli senior and junior and will do everything possible to please them.
The GM has a choice: either make the heroes fight against the Borelli lackeys or make something happen in the lower floors, like the escape of some creatures on the second basement, to create a situation of confusion and quickly eliminate the dangers of the first plan.
"When you get in, you hear the sirens of the alarm loud. In the beginning you think it was you who started the alarm but, in reality, it exploded a few seconds after you entered. You hear the sound of the footsteps of the Borelli's hustlers hurrying to a long corridor, pick up firearms, including an automatic rifle, and put on bulletproof vests, then turn around, but you're not their target, heading for a security door. They type in a code and enter. "
Doing so makes the continuation of the adventure much more interesting, but an interesting shootout with armed criminals will be skipped.
On the other hand, if the heroes had to face the henchmen, the PC's would have to skip almost all the meetings on the second basement.
It would not be realistic, in fact, that the guardians are calm and steady when the beings on the second floor are not inside their cages.
Second floor
If the GM has decided to set the previous meeting as a "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral", then it can reasonably be assumed that the creatures on the second floor are in their glass cages, for the reasons outlined above.
"You see an endless row of cylindrical tanks about 7 feet high, with one person inside. The thing that upsets you is that the people inside the tanks are all the same: same crazy eyes, same broad forehead, same grin.
When you enter, they turn in unison towards you, with a dazed look.
Quickly find two adjoining doors, one of wood reverberating with a greenish light, one of steel that seems indestructible. "
One is the door of the alchemical laboratory, the other is the door of the genetic engineering laboratory.
With the contribution of the two laboratories, Borelli Senior tried to discover the secret of Davide Borelli. As a result, a horde of shapeshifter monstrosities have been created, which are real war machines ("The Thing", see Monster Compendium, page 441).
In the event that the first floor, in the previous fragment, was in fibrillation and the Borrelli men had prepared to go downstairs, surely this happened because one or more beasts had escaped and the lackeys were trying to kill them.
The beasts gone out are 2: the first one will already be on the cable of the elevator, in the form of a horrible giant spider with two human heads. It will attack the heroes when they are inside the elevator, spewing sulfuric acid on them.
"Enter the elevator, a few seconds after the doors have been closed, a heavy thud is heard on the ceiling of the same and suddenly the roof of the elevator is torn by an unspeakable monstrosity".
The second beast is inside the tank room. The tanks, unlike the first hypothesis (see above), are covered by black sheets. The beast has taken the form of a man, with his clothes torn, bleeding from his chest.
"You see a young man lying, with his clothes torn, in a pool of blood, it looks like it has a deep wound in the chest, it looks like it was made by a claw"
If the heroes approach, the beast will attack them by surprise, turning into an amorphous being, full of mouths, teeth, claws, etc.
Third Floor
Finally the heroes have arrived in the cave of the beast: the labyrinth of David. This is nothing more than an evolution of the hall of mirrors of the Luna Park, designed to feed the fear of the victim, so as to allow the young Borelli to smell the sweat, the anxiety of his prey.
The heroes can see dozens of torn bodies on the ground.
A funny twist in the story would be the possibility that David is not in his maze, but at home with his loving family.
The heroes might think they ran so many dangers for nothing, giving them a sense of estrangement.
If the heroes were to hunt down David in his luxurious apartment in the center of Bologna, they would immediately understand that it would not be easy prey.
David would be aware that someone was chasing him, he would feel at 500 yards away the agitated and anxious smell of his self-proclaimed assailants and would prepare for battle.
Davide Borelli is a rational werewolf, particularly intelligent, strong and fast (see Monster Hunter 3- The Enemy, page 25)

Last edited by roland; 07-31-2018 at 09:04 AM.
roland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2018, 08:49 AM   #36
roland
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: GURPS King in Yellow

The Judge

Alberto Risata was the President of the Court of Appeals of Bologna. He was extremely harsh, both with the indicted and the lawyers. His intransigence cost him a sentence of death came from the red terrorists of the Red-Star Brigades. He barely avoided the death and it resulted in a harsher and harsher behavior, characterized by paranoia. Risata decided to learn maniacally the martial arts for self-defense and brought his skill to the point of mastering the secrets of pressure points In addition to raging against the weak ones, Risata loved the money. His greed and avarice were proverbial.
These "virtues" sometimes lead the man to make a mistake. The President didn't imagine that his cell was being picked up and while he took a bribe, he was being apprehended. Destroyed by embarrassment and shame, Risata killed himself. The last thing he saw it was a huge, hideous raven with a yellow mark under its neck. Risata rose again, becoming Mr. Giggles, a Raven Judge (see Monster Compendium page 382).
Giggles is the God of Consistency and the Ultimate Judge.
His flunkies kidnapped the enemies of the creature (primarily the policemen, the Prosecuting Magistrate and the Judges which framed him) and confined them in Giggles new headquarters, a deserted factory on the far outskirts of Bologna. Risata set his victims before a choice: a simpler way, but in conflict with their moral principles, or an almost impossible option, but in keeping with their morals. The flunkies of the Judge, all of them dressed in grotesque, bird-like clothing, resembling the medieval witch-doctor of the Black Death era, spy on and shadow the future preys of their Master, worming their secrets and habits. After a few days, they kidnap the victim and carry him to the Giggles headquarters. If the victims go through the appointed course and obstacles obeying their morals, Mr. Giggles let them off and, maybe, help them out with a few pieces of information. If they fail to meet their morals and survive the dungeon, the Judge will kill them by snapping their neck! The adventure, as the reader will have understood, is based on the personality of the PCs, on their weaknesses, on their mental disadvantages and quirks. Obviously, this section makes direct reference to the iconic characters and, therefore, the GM should change the tests and the results of the same according to the personalities of other PCs. Just like the Bride section, this should also be subdivided into subsections, one for each PC. The deserted building in which Mr. Giggles "tortures" his victims is enormous and inside there are laboratories, carts, bridges, railway cars, dozens and dozens of men and women kidnapped more or less wild animals. All this to test the consistency, the honest intellectual and the temper of the unfortunates. PCs can enter Mr. Giggles' den in two ways: either being kidnapped or entering voluntarily.
In the first case, the PCs will be tied to a table and their test will consist in freeing up (see below). Otherwise, they can easily enter the main door. Going out will not be as simple.

The moral enigmas of Lucia Delli Santi
You are in front of a tied man. He is on his knees before you. In addition to being tied, he is hooded and gagged. It seems to have heard you because, as soon as you enter, you start laughing. Next to him is another man wearing what looks like a police uniform. The second man shakes hands around his head, seems extremely tried. When you enter, while the man in charge laughs, the policeman looks at you disconsolately and says: "this man is a terrorist of the worst kind, he placed a high explosive bomb in a market in Bologna, we only have a few minutes to act. Our dogs, helicopters, and intelligence experts have found nothing, there is only one way to find the bomb and save thousands of lives: that the terrorist collaborates but has no intention. Alas, we have to torture him or better. .. you must torture him. I am a simple bureaucrat but it seems that you know your fact. Please help the good people of Bologna."
Lucia is a Liberal, she would never torture anyone, although this could lead to the death of thousands of people. Lucia thinks that if this kind of crack opens up, the icy wind of barbarism will invade the whole room.
On the other hand, Lucia is also hungry for career opportunities. If he were to save thousands of innocent lives, surely his superiors would take it into account.
In addition, the lieutenant follows the philosophy of Mill, a Utilitarian of the second half of the nineteenth century. According to Mill, the good of many must prevail over that of a few, especially if the latter are execrable people.
The player who plays Lucia must motivate his choice. The correct choice, at least in the eyes of Judge Giggles, is that dictated by the nobility of mind. So Lucia would do well not to torture the terrorist if this is contrary to their principles. He could also torture the terrorist if his choice was dictated not to progress in his career, but to help thousands of lives.
Whether she has passed the test or not, Lucia will eventually find out when she meets the Judge.
In any case, at this point in the story, Lucia will be allowed to advance, whatever her choice and the motivation behind it.
The second test is more complex.
You walk away, astonished by the room, still trying to shake off the feeling of having done something horrible, and you enter the only door to another room. This is completely enveloped in the dark. Suddenly a dazzling light hits you and you see a rail in the immediate vicinity. A few hundred meters later, on the main branch of the rail, five people are tied. In a secondary branch, there is only one person linked, a man so fat that he could probably stop a moving locomotive with his own mass.
You are ahead of what looks like a change. Move it and see that with the movement the rails move from one branch to another.
Suddenly you hear the whistle of a locomotive, which is heading at high speed around five, which would surely be killed. If you want you can operate the gearbox, but this will decree the death of the fat man.
The correct answer, in this case, is to move the gearbox, save the five people and make the fat man die. Why, according to the ethical philosophers, is this the right answer? Because in this case the damage of the community would be minimized (leaving one person to die instead of five people) as a result of a threat that was not put in place by the same PC. In fact, in the case of the terrorist, the "torture" action would have saved lives but would have been carried out by the same PC, in this case, the "train" threat is accidental and foreign to the PC.
Also, in this case, the Raven Judge will evaluate, will judge, only at the end if Lucia will be acquitted or condemned.
The third test to which Lucia is submitted will be a mix of the two previous ones.
Once again you are dazed, horrified by what you had to do, from the choice you had to make. You move into the next room, hoping that this horror is over, wishing to kill the judge and leave Bologna to never return.
Unfortunately, there is still another exam: you are on a low bridge, exactly behind a woman so fat she remembers the unfortunate of the previous room. She did not see you, maybe she was drugged. As in a horrible deja vù, five people are bound under the bridge, very close to death, as a locomotive is coming.
Shooting the driver of the locomotive would be the wrong choice, as not only this would not stop the locomotive but would be an even more serious violation of Lucia's code of ethics than pushing the woman down from the flyover to stop the vehicle with her mass.
The only thing that Lucia should do is to let the five people die. It seems ruthless, but it would be even more ruthless to act, actively, so as to make the fatty fall from the bridge. The difference between diverting the locomotive with the gearbox, as happened in the second test, and throwing down the fatty lies in the fact that Lucia would activate and would herself be the source of the threat while in the case previously exposed the danger would derive from an external factor.
roland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-08-2018, 08:49 AM   #37
roland
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Default Re: GURPS King in Yellow

The moral enigmas of Gerard Reno
You find yourself in front of a wall riddled with gunshots. In front of this wall, there are ten people, terrified and ready to die. In fact, they are in front of a firing squad: ten soldiers are ready to fire with their guns.
Behind them, a small man with a slimy appearance, but with an officer's uniform, approaches you and greets you. Perhaps due to the Spanish accent, perhaps due to the complexion of soldiers and future victims, you can not help but think that you are in a country in South America.
"Good morning, my friend," the man tells you, "we are executing these Communist disbelievers for the joy of Caudillo." The lieutenant looks at you with greed "all ten will die, unless you, a great friend of us revolutionaries, do not want to ... save nine to kill one of them yourself."
Be disconcerted by the proposal. You should kill one of them to save the other nine from the fury of the firing squad. Of course one of your cold-blooded murder would save nine innocents .....
The only possible solution for a character like Gerard Reno is to take the gun, seek shelter and start a gun battle with the squad and the lieutenant. Or, take the lieutenant hostage to invite his men to lay down their arms. In fact, if Gerard accepted the lieutenant's proposal, he would commit a cold-blooded murder, and if he let shoot all ten people he would lose the chance to save at least nine.
Obviously, if the player guessed the ethical choice, it would follow a gunfight. Gerard would still be faced with inexperienced men, easily eliminable.
After your choice, you move away from the place of the massacre and take the only exit, an iron door that gives onto a sort of cave. See that there is a rail. At one point it forks in two branches. Tied to the first branch there are five people of normal build. In amazement, you see that there are also people in the second branch, also linked. Six of a normal build and before them there is a man so fat that he could probably stop a racing locomotive.
You are in front of a change bringing the rail from one branch to another. As recalled by a presentiment, a locomotive exits the viaduct at the bottom of the cave, very quickly. You do not have time to think: either leave things as they are and the locomotive will kill the five tied to the first branch or shift the gear and the locomotive will launch itself against the fat man who will stop the locomotive, in turn saving the six behind.
Unlike the choice that Lucia had to face, here we actually intend, in case you want to choose to move the gear, to kill the fat man. In fact, while in Lucia's choice, if the fat man had saved himself, a person would have had a situation of relief, as no one would have been killed. In this case, if the fat man were to escape, the six people behind would surely die. Therefore, to save the eleven people tied, the fat man must die.
The GM must ask the player to motivate the choice of the PC. A man like Gerard would certainly operate the lever by killing the fat man but saving the eleven. Gerard is an intelligent but practical man. His choice is obligatory.
Exactly like with Lucia, Mr. Giggles will not act for the moment, evaluating the moral choices of the PC and acquitting or condemning it only at the end.
The last choice of Gerard will be the most difficult.
You find yourself, after having gone away through the only possible exit, in another cave, also this very large one. Also in this case there is a rail and five people are tied to the rail. You are always near a lever. Near the lever there is a sign that says "if you move the lever, this will operate a trapdoor that will tumble the five men away from the rail, saving them. The men, however, will end up on the woman at the bottom of the hill on which it is positioned the rail. " Indeed, at the bottom of the hill there is a woman standing on a bench, perhaps drugged.
You look at the woman well and you realize you know her: she is your companion in the Foreign Legion, with whom you have shared numerous missions. If you move the trapdoor you will surely kill it.
The correct answer, at least for a man like Gerard, is not to move the lever and therefore to condemn the five tied people. Mr. Giggles, the God of Consistency, will look more favorably at the ruthlessness of letting the five die, a ruthlessness dictated by consistency rather than saving the five and condemning the woman. In fact, for Gerard the team spirit is everything and his companions, new or old, are the most important thing.

The moral enigmas of Franco Ulyanov
Suddenly you find yourself alone: your companions are no longer with you. It does not matter, you've been alone all your life. It will be the magic, your only companion, to help you. You are advancing through the only available route along a rail. Suddenly you see a lever in front of you, a few meters away. There is a sign saying: "Move the lever and you will rotate the catwalk 180 degree ". About ten meters ahead, in fact, you see a circular walkway where five people are bound, on the one hand, while on the other a man so fat that, you think, he could stop if not a train, a racing locomotive.
As recalled by a presentiment, here is a locomotive along the rail that runs at high speed. If you move the lever, you will rotate the gangway and this will put the fat man first in front of the locomotive, thus saving the five men. Otherwise, you will let the five men die, which with their total mass will stop the locomotive, thus saving the fat man.
Your first thought is: who cares?. You will let it happen what must happen. Then in a flash you think this could be an ethical test, like the ones that taught you at SISMI. The correct answer is to move the lever, condemn the fat man and save the five. You must use the "Doctrine of the Dual Effect" which prescribes: The act considered independently of its harmful effects is not in itself wrong; the agent intends the good, not the damage, neither as a means nor as an end, even if he can foresee the damage; there is no way to realize the good without causing harmful effects; the harmful effects are not disproportionately large compared to the good sought.
For a correct interpretation of the character, the player should explain the motivations behind the actions of the PC. According to the description of the history and nature of Franco, it should turn out that the character is particularly uncaring, intelligent and utilitarian.
Even in the second test, this kind of propensity should show.
Once again you are in front of a rail and exactly as before you see five people tied on the main branch. On the other hand, on a secondary branch, you see tied another fat man. It seems clear to you expert eyes that the secondary branch makes an evolution and an eventual locomotive, covering the secondary branch, would go back and, without the fat man, would kill the five. So, to save the five, the fat must really die.
As usual, when you see the locomotive approaching, you are close to a lever. From that position, you can also see something else: the fat man is loosening the ropes and soon he will free himself.
The correct answer, at least from Franco's point of view, is to kill the fat man on the spot, not so much because it would save five lives but because it was taught in military courses.
Mr. Giggles would appreciate this decision and would approve it.
After leaving the room, not at all troubled by the choices made, you find yourself in front of a wall riddled with gunshots. In front of this wall, there are ten people, terrified and ready to die. In fact, they are in front of a firing squad: ten soldiers are ready to fire with their guns.
Behind them, a small man with a slimy appearance, but with an officer's uniform, approaches you and greets you. Perhaps due to the Spanish accent, perhaps due to the complexion of soldiers and future victims, you can not help but think that you are in a country in South America.
"Good morning, my friend," the man tells you, "we are executing these Communist disbelievers for the joy of Caudillo." The lieutenant looks at you with greed "all ten will die, unless you, a great friend of us revolutionaries, do not want to ... save nine to kill one of them yourself."
Not at all terrified by the choice, take the lieutenant's gun and kill the oldest of those who would still be executed.
These kinds of psychological and ethical tricks have never upset you. Perhaps the reason is to be found in the fact that you knew death in the first months of life, when that damn bomb exploded on August 2, 1980.
Mr. Giggles is satisfied. Now he can judge his victims, absolve them or condemn them.

The GM must roll a die to choose who will first be judged by the Raven Judge. Assuming that there are three characters, the three iconic characters, with a result of 1-2 the first to be judged will be Lucia, with a 3-4 the first will be Gerard, with a 5-6 the first will be Franco.
"Welcome to my presence, my friend, I am Mr. Giggles and I am going to judge you." The Raven Judge (see Monster Compendium, page 382) is presented.
If the Judge recognizes the character guilty, the monster will descend from his throne and approach the unfortunate, assuming an attacking stand. The Judge is a martial arts expert and skilled in the technique of pressure points. For those equipped with a firearm, this is yet another test. Lucia and Gerard will have to fight with their bare hands, as they are expected by Mr. Giggles. If they were to attack him with guns, a hidden sniper would attack them and probably kill them.
Should the PC succeed in overcoming the judgment, Mr. Giggles would fulfill a desire of the character. Mr. Giggles would push himself, to fulfill desire, to kill himself, so much is the consistency that pervades the creature.
roland 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 06:41 AM.


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