10-12-2013, 05:22 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Schenectady, NY
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Real-World GURPS Resources
I'd like to see a GURPS reference (probably on a wiki) showing what the (present-day) real world is like.
For example, The Solar System on p. 124 of GURPS Space or San Francisco, 2010 on p. 18 of GURPS City Stats. I'd like to see a canonical list of cultures. So far, I think we only have East Asian, Muslim, and Western, which covers a lot of ground (and may overlap — Indonesia is both East Asian and Muslim). (Remember, for Cultural Adaptability to be worth its 10 points, you need significantly more than 10 cultures.) If GURPS still used language skills with defaults, I'd ask for a list of languages with associated defaults. Since a list of Earth languages can be easily looked up online, I'm not sure it needs to be specifically referenced. I'd like to see at least a rough estimate of what percentage of people are in each Wealth group. I'd like to see a GURPS Infinite Worlds data box. Obviously, some entries (Divergence Point, Quantum, Infinity Class, and Centrum Zone) don't apply (unless you want to count present-day Earth as Earth-Beta), but I'd like to see a list of Major Civilizations and Great Powers (countries with government types and CRs). Thoughts? |
10-12-2013, 06:32 PM | #2 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
We have never published such a list, but behind the scenes, we use this one:
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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10-13-2013, 04:29 AM | #3 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
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10-13-2013, 09:02 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
When we were discussing a 1920's horror campaign we came up with a list fo 25-30 cultures (I think). I can dig up the list but it's not canonical, of course.
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10-13-2013, 03:37 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
I'm working on a 1930s game so a 1920s list would be useful. I would expect that there might be more in that era then now, less mass media and slower, costlier travel.
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10-13-2013, 06:34 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. |
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10-13-2013, 07:25 PM | #7 | ||
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
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“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
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10-13-2013, 10:17 PM | #8 | |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
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To do something like that in GURPS, you'd have a Major CF cost 2 CP, and a Minor CF cost 0.5 CP (so you get 2 for 1 CP), and then define various subsets of Africa and so forth, and the Inuits, as Minor Cultures. Done that way, it's probably quite doable to match the 10 CP "target", without having to do silly things like split The West into Anglo vs Continent. As for modern Languages, the PK guy has a list over on his MyGURPS website that looks fairly good. At least he knows enough about Languages to group the Scandinavian ones as a single Langauge, something I do too. Just google the site name, if you don't stumble over the link in his forum signature. I once wrote up a list of Languages for my 10th century Ärth historical fantasy setting, but it's rather old, so I'd prefer not to share it until I've updated it. If you want to get an idea of how closely different Languages are related to each other, e.g. whether they should "default" to each other at 1 or 2 levels lower, you can take a look at the Hero System RPG, either the 5th Edition Revised (or maybe unRevised), or for an even more massive example The Ultimate Skill for 5th Edition. Although the same material is probably present in 6th Edition and it's version of TUS. Hero System uses a more fine-grained system of Language Ability, though, so you'll have to convert to adapt the materail for use with GURPS. |
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10-13-2013, 10:19 PM | #9 | |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
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As for the list in Crusader Kings, it's obviously not suitable for my Ärth setting, since it doesn't have Geats and Svea as separate cultures. |
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10-14-2013, 12:43 AM | #10 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Real-World GURPS Resources
I tried the "lots of Cultural Familiarities" option in an older fantasy campaign. The players were not impressed. It simply isn't fun when Combat Guy's fighting abilities, Sneaky Woman's thieving skills, and Magical Thing's spells all work at 100% effectiveness in Faroffia, but Face Lady is constantly being hosed for -3. Players will respond by giving all face characters Cultural Adaptability, making the GM's work on cultures kind of irrelevant . . . and non-face characters won't bother putting a point into a couple of social skills for color, because at -3, it won't be worth it. You'll end up with Face and the Silent Trio, and it'll be hard to argue against Face just covering for the Trio, because she paid points to be their spokeswoman – that's what "face" means.
Which isn't to say that "lots of Cultural Familiarities" is a bad thing! This is just a caution that then you also want travel to be special, and fish-out-of-water roleplay to be a major focus, so the -3 isn't just a penalty but also a challenge, even an adventure. You can also make it work if social interaction is just about irrelevant, so that the -3 almost never comes up. However, if you're running a high-powered, globe-trotting game where travel – especially fast, long-distance travel as by jet or teleportation portal – is routine, and where larger-than-life social interaction is a vital niche on a par with heroic combat, impossible heists, etc., then you're better off having just a handful, because the -3 will mostly be an obstruction to the Rule of Awesome.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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