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 07-13-2019, 01:59 PM   #21
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: Azoth-8

France is perking along in strange ways in Azoth-8. The Events of May 1968 didn't happen...yet. All the same tensions are perking along at a lower pitch. As Algeria is still French, the Right-wing isn't seen as a paper tiger yet. French expansion into space promotes both strong rivalry with the Anglo-Americans and lots of cooperation and friendliness towards both of those nations as well (especially as team-ups between the various space forces have been good for French Space Expansion).

If the USA in this setting is more Flower Children and Star Travelers, France is something similar on way too much caffeine. Read the book The Other Paris. The sections on the Sixties and the Occult will be especially useful.

One cool campaign might be to have your agents find out the significance of the Game obsessing so many Parisians. It seems to make the map of Paris the key to using Paris as an occult game-board. I'm drawing this from Le Pont du Nord and Rue des maléfices. Games are rituals, games have prizes, rituals summon things, what prize will you summon?
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo

Last edited by Astromancer; 07-13-2019 at 02:19 PM.
Astromancer is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2019, 11:41 AM   #22
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: Azoth-8

In Azoth-8 Japan is very Tokusatsu. There are no Kaiju (which pleases everyone) but it is distinctive. In the Tokusatsu films Japan is both more modern and more traditional. This seems to be typical of period Manga as well.

Watch Toho films directed by Ishirō Honda (a gifted and humane storyteller) to get the balance right.

Also, remember, this world has a strong occult element to it. If it's Tokusatsu in the cities, then if you're isolated in the countryside it's going to tend toward Kaidan. Quiet spooky houses in the countryside that one takes refuge in to escape the summer rains will offer surprises.

For the urban occult element look up Urusei Yatsura. The Oni are dressed as space invaders! You'll want to tone down the wildness, but the sense of a magical universe that has lost it's mind is pluperfect for the setting.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo

Last edited by Astromancer; 07-15-2019 at 12:05 PM.
Astromancer is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-16-2019, 04:33 AM   #23
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Re: Azoth-8

Three seconds after the names "Emma Peel" and "Napoleon Solo" are mentioned, a bunch of Infinity analysts go "Oh, myth parallel. Quite a dangerous one. ISWAT only, and make sure that they've spent a week in the viewing theatre first. At least they'll enjoy that part."
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-16-2019, 06:52 AM   #24
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: Azoth-8

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Three seconds after the names "Emma Peel" and "Napoleon Solo" are mentioned, a bunch of Infinity analysts go "Oh, myth parallel. Quite a dangerous one. ISWAT only, and make sure that they've spent a week in the viewing theatre first. At least they'll enjoy that part."
Good point. Alternate names will be needed to snare the unwary.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-16-2019, 11:54 AM   #25
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: Azoth-8

The Italy of Azoth-8 seems to be abuzz with conspiracies. There seems to be an obsession with conspiracy for the sake of conspiracy. There is also a belief that threading one's way through the maze of conspiracies would lead to true Enlightenment. Even if the conspiracies were only games or conspiracies for the sake of conspiracy, the act of passing through the labyrinth of conspiracy can impart Enlightenment.

Beware though, Enlightened does not mean moral or wise.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2019, 11:44 AM   #26
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: Azoth-8

One planet orbiting Tau Ceti (most astronomers in our world call it Tau Ceti e, I'll call it Endymion) has bases for every interstellar navy.

The planet is Earthlike in temperature and has plentiful surface water. Earth algae were introduced into the environment and thrived. There isn't enough oxygen for most earth life forms yet, but the tends are good for a fully breathable atmosphere soon.

A Franco-American geological expedition has discovered what appear to be ruins of a local civilization. Once the first ruins were found the floodgates bust. Ruins have been found planet wide. As the local civilization had a fairly high tech level and many of their books have survived, the periodic table of elements acted as a Rosetta Stone to allow basic translations. Soon the discovery of some dictionaries in different languages allowed far greater understanding.

The few histories of the later period deciphered seem to hint at the existence of a "stagnation bomb" that stopped the life processes of an ecosystem. It is now clear that these bombs were used millennia ago on Endymion. This weapon would allow someone to sweep a planet clean of life and then effortlessly reseed that planet with your chosen life forms.

There is now a quiet nasty little race on to be the first to discover the nature and formula for the "Stagnation bomb." Some wish to sequester this toxic data. Others seek to use it.

The desolate plains and mountains of Endymion are the sight of a brutal contest.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo

Last edited by Astromancer; 07-17-2019 at 07:42 PM.
Astromancer is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2019, 01:01 PM   #27
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Azoth-8

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Um, why? I'm not particularly familiar with the outer limit but if it's the greatest distance where planets could form that would be related to density of the protoplanetary disk at a given distance.

The heliopause in contrast is determined by current out of the Sun's solar wind v. the resistance of the interstellar medium. Totally different phenomena and in particular both the snow line and the outer limit would be characteristics of the very early solar system whiel the heliopause would change over time.
I think my thought process was something like "This is the furthest point planets can form before the sun ignites and the solar wind pushes all the other particles away. This is the furthest the solar wind goes. They must be related." As you note, however, the heliopause probably changes with time, so while there was probably some relationship between the two in the beginning, as the sun matures the relationship is going to get weaker, to the point it's not something you can really use. So much for that idea, I suppose.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Astromancer View Post
The few histories of the later period deciphered seem to hint at the existence of a "stagnation bomb" that stopped the life processes of an ecosystem. It is now clear that these bombs were used millennia ago on Endymion. This weapon would allow someone to sweep a planet clean of life and then effortlessly reseed that planet with your chosen life forms.
That is a rather interesting Doomsday weapon, and one that would make me paranoid of alien species flying around with such, just looking for an inhabited planet they can use one on to kickstart their terraforming.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul
Varyon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-17-2019, 01:40 PM   #28
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: Azoth-8

Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
I think my thought process was something like "This is the furthest point planets can form before the sun ignites and the solar wind pushes all the other particles away. This is the furthest the solar wind goes. They must be related." As you note, however, the heliopause probably changes with time, so while there was probably some relationship between the two in the beginning, as the sun matures the relationship is going to get weaker, to the point it's not something you can really use. So much for that idea, I suppose.
The simple fact that the heliopause would be a changeable limit makes it attractive to me. It adds a random element. I don't know how to use it yet, but I like that randomness.


Quote:
That is a rather interesting Doomsday weapon, and one that would make me paranoid of alien species flying around with such, just looking for an inhabited planet they can use one on to kickstart their terraforming.
You understand where this is going. Cold war paranoia brought in through a different door.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2019, 02:59 AM   #29
warellis
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Default Re: Azoth-8

How does the Warp Drive in your setting work, considering it's more a catch-all term for FTL drives than describing anything specific?
warellis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-18-2019, 10:47 AM   #30
Astromancer
 
Astromancer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
Default Re: Azoth-8

Quote:
Originally Posted by warellis View Post
How does the Warp Drive in your setting work, considering it's more a catch-all term for FTL drives than describing anything specific?
Being neither a physicist nor an alchemist, I'm dead in the water in trying to come up with something. If I was both a physicist and an alchemist, and had designed a provably functional warp drive, I'd be way to busy at NASA to post here.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra!


Ancora Imparo
Astromancer is online now   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 07:38 AM.


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