GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

Sup everyone!

Well, I've just come down with the GURPS blogging bug and started up one of my very own!

And to mark off my start into the world of bloggerdom I decided to kick it off with a little GURPS Day love!

Love plasma weapons but don't feel there's enough variety? Want to make your own but don't know how? Feel that there should be a few more options on how to customize weapons? Well, I think it's time for some Plasma Guns, Re-Energized!

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

That's very interesting content. I expect I'll end up using it very shortly. I hope you stick with it!

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

Thanks for being interested! I got a couple of ideas still I want to get out, don't know which one I want to do for my next GURPS day post.

I got an idea to do an article that expands on the ideas I laid out on using modifiers to add character to weapons to also add character to the setting. Basically come up a couple of corporations, think about the type of weapons they'd design and come of with a list of modifiers that they would give the weapons they build. Basically, Macrotech makes baseline weapons with no modifiers, Fortschritt Corp makes rugged and reliable weapon that cost a bunch but are liked by SWAT and spec ops, Oosthuizen Ldt makes advanced but less reliable tech and so on.

My other one idea is to do to battlesuits what this article did to plasma weapons.

But if you want some help designing weapons let me know, I love this kind of stuff heh.

But anywho, keep at your Psi-Wars stuff. While I'm not too keen on super cinematic games I have liked some of your starships tweaks and how you expanded on Langly's robot system.

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

Nice blog and yeah the different company builds was nice flavor I liked in some GURPS books and think its cool.

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

Ok, so that's one vote for the corporate idea! By all means, I'm open to ideas (just keep in mind I'm more of a modern/scifi orientation so I don't know how good any dungeon fantasy ideas I came up would be heh) so if there's anything you'd like to see let me know!

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

One thing I think is often overlooked is how important a good, cohesive technological infrastructure is. Sci-fi is often about exploration of science and engineering, which means that exploring a civilizations infrastructure and technology is just as important as discussing the meaning of sapience and what a diamond planet might look like.

Cyberpunk, for example, is often at least partially an exploration of the implication of particular technologies and networking designs. But you can expand that concept to other elements. For example, Star Craft contains within it an exploration of three technological infrastructures: the hard materials engineering and electronics of the Terrans, the advanced physics of the Protoss, and the bioengineering of the Zerg. Another example of that sort of exploration is historical treatises on the technologies of WW2, from the rugged "good enough" design of the American warmachine to the cheap mass-production of the Russian warmachine, to the over-engineered precision of the German warmachine to the minimalism of the Japanese warmachine.

Often, RPGs turn on presenting interesting opponents. An obvious example of this is Dungeon Fantasy, where Orcs present a fundamentally different tactical challenge than the undead. Why would the same not be true of sci-fi (or Action)? The typical terrorist force, like ISIS and the Taliban, is driven by a doctrine of expendable, low-cost soldiers with low-cost equipment that need to be good at taking out high cost, highly trained opponents. This shapes how they're equipped, and how they train. But contrast this with, say, Chinese or Russian equipment, which can afford to be a lot more expensive, is grounded in a different logistical train (A lot of Chinese stuff are deliberate rip-offs of American technology, creating a weird, fun-house mirror of American technology, while Russians seem interested in "doing their own thing" and finding different niches in the arms market), which means they train differently, which means they fight differently.

A Sci-fi setting can afford to turn this sort of thing up to 11, since you're in control of how technology is depicted. I've definitely done this in Psi-Wars (It'll come up later), where Imperial Forces use a different sort of equipment and fight with a different theory than Alliance Forces. But it's something I'd like to explore more completely. I have two back-burnered projects, Cyberscape and Echoes in the Dark, which explore this concept. The first is straight-up cyberpunk, so corporations build not just your physical hardware (guns, computers), but the geography of the internet, as well as powering the services of the internet. Technological infrastructure becomes the "second world" that the hackers get to explore. Echoes in the Dark is a post-apocalyptic space-setting, where you're digging through the ruins of a human civilization, trying to cobble together enough repairs to get home. This is an even grittier exploration of infrastructure as it'll get down into THIS faction built THESE components and parts which have these benefits, while that one built THOSE components, which have those benefits. And so you'll end up scavenging a Russian engine for the ruggedness with an American power-supply for the ruggedness and then use Chinese interfacing between the two to try to compensate for the problems that the combination gives rise to.

So, I definitely support this line of thinking. I think it's vital to a good sci-fi setting, and not something I see discussed enough.

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

Interestingly enough I came up with a similar thought when reading his blog.
UT gave us a taste of various technologies and possible devices based on them.
High Tech and its companions did a broader job.
I thought about posting a note to all GURPS (Especially Pyramid) writers for such articles. They could even be systemless.
But what does a given tech do and feel like for a society that uses it?
Grav Tech, and enhanved power sources are pretty well covered but could see some fleshing out.
But what does plasma tech do besides weapons?
Assumptions need to be made based on the technobable but I could see good world fluff and adventure material based on various technological breakthroughs.

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

I agree. Fluff like this makes a world "pop". In real life there's a lot more to why people buy gear, whether it be tools, computers, guns, whatever, then just the stats. It's things like design, brand loyalty, price range and perceived value that drives it.

So I guess I know which article I'm doing next. Hell, I already started it heh.

Also defiantly can wait to see your other settings idea, especially the cyberpunk one since I'm all about the cyberpunk life heh. I also came across your G-verse stuff... gotta say I might have to "borrow" a few things from it :D

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

Cool stuff! Keep writing. :-)

Re: GURB- The Generic Unoriginal Roleplaying Blog
 

Hey pal, welcome to the game, I look forward to reading more from you. I've added your blog to my feed reader.