Are you afraid of GMing THS?

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by sn0wball

But with a fine, detailed work such as THS, I´d probably be afraid to mess something up, to, well, make something wrong.

I had the same problem at first. Then like I said, I thought about how I could run Total Recall in THS. That might make Mr. Pulver cry to see what I've done to his beautiful setting, but the point is, if I can run something that out of character for the feel of the setting, whats the worst I could do? I may not be able to capture all of the "flavor" of the setting, but at least I'm capturing some of it. I find Changing Times is excellent, especially pages 18-30, for taking a quick look at the major concepts of the setting when writing an adventure. After I think of a plotline, I just thumb through that chapter, asking "how would this change things." I've missed obvious things before, but so long as everyone is having fun, you just keep moving and let the minor hiccups work themselves out.

Anyways, I definitely understand the tendency to "freeze" when presented with this beautiful, pristine setting. That was my first reaction. And I have to fight the temptation to drag my players on a whirlwind tour of the whole solar system, just to show them how cool the setting is. But I guess my question would be whether it is better to leave the setting in it's glass case, pristine and perfect, or to break it out, run it through it's paces, twist and bend it over backwards, and leave it smoking in a heap after a thoroughly fun ride? I'd really rather just run it perfectly, but in all likelihood I'm gonna screw something up. So it comes down to not running it or running it to the best of my ability. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, IMO.

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

I had the same problem at first. Then like I said, I thought about how I could run Total Recall in THS. That might make Mr. Pulver cry to see what I've done to his beautiful setting, ...

:-P "Your campaign, it makes baby Pulver cry!!!" :-P

I agree completely with all you've said here. At first, I was intimidated too: how could I remember that huge spiderweb of companies, countries and organizations with all of their ideologies and other memeplexes. Then I just said what the hell, and I just ran the damn thing. And yes, I often have to wing it, and I've probably broken canon plenty of times already, but even then the beauty of the setting seeps in anyway. So, IMO, running THS? Just do it! :-)

[Gnophilist]

The concept of GMing THS scares the crap out of me. I've only ever played once, and I know that only went well because the GM was a professional screen writer.

[MrKay]

I reread my THS books every now and again; every time I do I think 'I really should run a campaign in this setting, that would SO rule!'

And then the same thing happens, every time. I read the core book and then the supplements and go: 'Damn, some cool stuff about the TSA, I should use that in a spy games type setting... Oooh, AI's in Europe? Technothriller fun... Duncanite insurgents in the Kuiper Belt? Can't leave that out, it just rocks too much... Rust China? Zing!! Oh, and I really should do some stuff where the PC's get in a space ship and orbit the sun, since Sunshine was such a great sci-fi flick... And thinking of sci-fi, I loved Event Horizon... Mmmm, existentialist musings around the nature of Humanity ala Blade Runner in an all-Bioroid campaign... Yeah!!' and then I realize that my grand 'Campaign Ideas' spreadsheet contains not so much ideas as just the sum of everything I find cool and absolutely MUST have in a campaign...

In short, there's just too much to choose from. Just way too much!!

... thank you, SJG ...

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Greetings, all!

A question to all of you. Are you scared of GMing THS? Because I certainly am. Main reasons are that THS GMings requires knowing about a lot of different stuff, requires a mindset quite different from the modern one (I take the transhumanism easily, but fail at the techno aspect, many others are vice-versa), and one can very easily be left as a fool by a tech specialist (someone geekier than me, e.g.). All in all, THS is a cool setting, but I know of nobody who would be willing to GM it in my gaming group. Just wondering about you sentients.

Thanks in advance!

Yes I am. Part of it is I don't have time to read enough about it and put together the campaign. THS would be harder to handle than most settings. However, I haven't yet bought and read GURPS Transhuman Space: Changing Times. I think that would make the task much easier. Of course, I really want to play in a THS campaign first, but the one player I know who's willing to GM, has had too many real life issues to get time to plan out a campaign and run it. He's actually not been able to game with our group for nearly a year now so I don't see it happening any time soon.

[JAW]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I was just thinking that there's a terrible irony here. There are recurring calls for SJ Games to go the route of a well-supported campaign world, with adventures and sourcebooks and everything. Well, they did. THS has five main books detailing the politics, military, economy, technology, culture, and daily life of a huge, sprawling setting in vast detail, followed it up with suppliments containing additional detail (Toxic Memes, Personnel Files, etc.) and a handful of adventures (Polyhymnia, Orbital Decay...). It's even supported by a stack of Pyramid articles (I stopped counting at twenty). It's a pile of documentation to go up against just about anything else short of, say, Harn or Greyhawk, and probably better thought-out than anything else.

And what do we (and by "we," I most certainly do mean me) do with this marvel? Stare at it in wonder and say "I wish I could figure out what to do with that..."

When you put it that way..
If I wasn't chronically short on money and shelf space I'd buy all the available THS material - just so I could stare at it and wonder - even if I hadn't got the time to GM it.

But...
Even if it is a "well supported gameworld" I suspect it's not as well supported and "ready to play" as many others. You mentioned Harn and Greyhawk - but how about traveler universe, glorantha, battletech universe...???

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

I was just thinking that there's a terrible irony here. There are recurring calls for SJ Games to go the route of a well-supported campaign world, with adventures and sourcebooks and everything. Well, they did. THS has five main books detailing the politics, ... It's a pile of documentation to go up against just about anything else short of, say, Harn or Greyhawk, and probably better thought-out than anything else.

And what do we (and by "we," I most certainly do mean me) do with this marvel? Stare at it in wonder and say "I wish I could figure out what to do with that..."

I thought that part of the point of THS: Changing Times was to show how to run adventures in the setting and detail how GMs can set up a campaign. Check out the preview. I can't personally vouch for how well it helps GMs comprehend the setting or set up campaigns as I don't own it and haven't read it yet. However, the resource is available.

Note, one item regarding GURPS THS material. It is still largely GURPS 3e, so in addition to the learning curve, you also need to do some translation. Of course, once again THS: Changing Times should help with that.

[amertes]

This is a very interesting thread. I don't own any of the THS books, yet, but I'm thinking about getting into it. I know its Gurps 3e, and I understand that Changing Times is suppose to help with conversions, how much better is 4e from 3e? If I wanted to get started in THS would you recommend me getting Gurps 4e, the THS corebook, and Changing times? Or some other combination?

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by amertes

I know its Gurps 3e, and I understand that Changing Times is suppose to help with conversions, how much better is 4e from 3e? If I wanted to get started in THS would you recommend me getting Gurps 4e, the THS corebook, and Changing times? Or some other combination?

Personally, I honestly think that 4e is a significant improvement on 3e. It tightens up a lot of detailed rules features - many of them directly relevant to TS games.

If you play TS using the new edition, there'll be a certain amount of cross-referencing involved at times - to Changing Times, and also to Shell-Tech if you're using various cybershells - but you should become familiar with things soon enough.

To play TS under 3e, you need (at minimum) the TS core book, the 3e Basic Set, and Compendium I. To play with the setting under 4e, you need (at minimum) the TS core book, the two volumes of the 4e Basic Set, and Changing Times. The former will probably work out cheaper, but if you want "best" rather than "cheapest", I'd recommend the latter. But I'm flagrantly biased.

(Okay, the hardback version of the TS core book includes a copy of the "GURPS Lite" minimal rule set, so in theory you could play with that. But honestly, you'll want to expand beyond it pretty soon. Anyway, for that matter, you can find a free copy of the 4e GURPS Lite online.)

In either case, you'll want to extend your TS library sooner or later - but which books you want depends where in the setting you want to play, and what sort of game. (Deep Beyond for the outer solar system, High Frontier for Earth orbit, Toxic Memes for games about propaganda wars and social movements, and so on.)

[The Wrathchild]

Originally Posted by JAW

Even if it is a "well supported gameworld" I suspect it's not as well supported and "ready to play" as many others. You mentioned Harn and Greyhawk - but how about traveler universe, glorantha, battletech universe...???

I find that THS is well supported by the current scourcebooks. But you do have to do some work on the specific locations you want to use and you have to develop your storylines. This might count as "not ready" for some.