Delta City Blues

[TheNinjaD]

I'm currently planning a game that I am calling Delta City Blues. If you're interested, a little more information can be found here. The short version is that the PCs are to be cops (or people that work with the cops) in the Robocop universe.

What I'm mostly looking for is suggestions on how best to make this happen.

• If anyone has already done some work with mechanics for something similar to this, sharing them would be much appreciated.
• Also, to anyone who has run GURPS : Cops games set in a present day or near future setting, I could really benefit from your experience. What worked and what didn't? What did the players like the most?
• The same, just to a lesser extent, goes for people that have run Cyberpunk games. Anything even semi-relevant you have to share would be appreciated.

The relevant (or potentially relevant) GURPS PDFs that I own are (going down my library list) :

1. Action 1 - I don't plan to run the game quite so cinematic but I figured this would probably come up.
2. Action 2 - I don't plan to run the game quite so cinematic but I figured this would probably come up.
3. Basic Set - Obviously the one thing I really need.
4. Bio-Tech - Probably of limited usefulness but I might use some bits and pieces.
5. City Stats - I may or may not use this to stat out and write up a modern Old Detroit / Delta City.
6. Cops - I expect I will draw a lot from this, even though I grew up around cops (my mother is a Sheriff's Deputy).
7. High-Tech - This will probably be the Tech book that I end up using the most.
8. Mysteries - This will probably be used more with certain "adventures" than the entire thing but it can't hurt to have around and read through.
9. Social Engineering - I haven't read any part of this yet and don't know how much I will be using it but it seems like a good thing to have.
10. Tactical Shooting - I haven't read any part of this yet and don't know how much I will be using it but it seems like a good thing to have.
11. Ultra-Tech - Probably of limited usefulness but I might use some bits and pieces.

Are there any other products that I should look into before digging deep into designing the setting, game, campaign, and everything? In particular, does anyone familiar with Robocop think that Reign of Steel would be useful? I'm the kind of GM that likes to have full stats for everything and I'm sure that ED-209s, or a more modern version of them, will come up at some point but creating stats for them could be a nightmare.

Really, anything you have to offer would be appreciated. Also, this game will be run online and if you may be interested in playing (though that's quite a ways in the future yet) please let me know and provide me with a way to contact you when the time comes to gather a group and choose a play time.

[Phantasm]

You need to use the "Alternate GURPS" issue of Pyramid (I forget which number it is, but it's recent) in conjunction with Spaceships to produce the 2000SUX sports car. :D

[TheNinjaD]

Vehicle Design will be nice to have when it comes out. If I see things going more toward ED-209s and whatever, Spaceships might be worth the investment. How are the mech rules in the later release?

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by TheNinjaD

Vehicle Design will be nice to have when it comes out. If I see things going more toward ED-209s and whatever, Spaceships might be worth the investment. How are the mech rules in the later release?

Small-size vehicles are somewhat lacking in resolution, and the SM gradients allow little differentiation between similar-sized craft. For example, the Battlemechs from the classic FASA wargame would all fall into SM+4 (10t), SM+5 (30t) and SM+6 (100t) with no way to distinguish between, for instance, a 50t and 60t mech. This can make it difficult to convert existing designs to GURPS. However, if you convert based more on the spirit of the design than the exact numbers, it works well enough. It's also very simple to use, with 20 equal-sized "slots" for the various ship systems.

[TheNinjaD]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

Small-size vehicles are somewhat lacking in resolution, and the SM gradients allow little differentiation between similar-sized craft. For example, the Battlemechs from the classic FASA wargame would all fall into SM+4 (10t), SM+5 (30t) and SM+6 (100t) with no way to distinguish between, for instance, a 50t and 60t mech. This can make it difficult to convert existing designs to GURPS. However, if you convert based more on the spirit of the design than the exact numbers, it works well enough. It's also very simple to use, with 20 equal-sized "slots" for the various ship systems.

That sounds fine for something like grappler ships (a la Outlaw Star) but would probably feel lacking for my purposes. Thanks for the quick reply to that question.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by TheNinjaD

That sounds fine for something like grappler ships (a la Outlaw Star) but would probably feel lacking for my purposes. Thanks for the quick reply to that question.

For something like the ED-209, I'd build it as a Robot (ie, character) rather than a vehicle. A good fit is the Warbot (UT pg.167), a half-ton bipedal combat robot. You may have to tweak it to fit - swapping out the arms for an extra couple Weapon Mounts and adding No Fine Manipulators, for example. Of course, if it's only going to be used as an NPC you don't need to worry about point cost.

[TheNinjaD]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

For something like the ED-209, I'd build it as a Robot (ie, character) rather than a vehicle. A good fit is the Warbot (UT pg.167), a half-ton bipedal combat robot. You may have to tweak it to fit - swapping out the arms for an extra couple Weapon Mounts and adding No Fine Manipulators, for example. Of course, if it's only going to be used as an NPC you don't need to worry about point cost.

I was also thinking of building the ED-209 as a character, even though that would probably be even more work. This game will be set more or less in the present day, though, so the Enforcement Droid line has probably advanced some. If the PCs start wanting to involve more heavy support for some things, I could see myself creating vehicles like that to give them a little more control in those situations and remove any sort of deus ex machina.

I know that full stats aren't really NEEDED for a totally NPC thing but I guess that's one of my quirks. I sort of feel the need to have everything complete, like my own sourcebook.

[dcarson]

Monster Hunters has a collect enough clues to solve where the bad guy is system.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

For something like the ED-209, I'd build it as a Robot (ie, character) rather than a vehicle. A good fit is the Warbot (UT pg.167), a half-ton bipedal combat robot. You may have to tweak it to fit - swapping out the arms for an extra couple Weapon Mounts and adding No Fine Manipulators, for example. Of course, if it's only going to be used as an NPC you don't need to worry about point cost.

You think the ED-209 actually had 5 Weapon Mounts? I agree that it lacked manipulator arms.

As an alternate note you could build the ED-209 as a character by taking some limbs off the Iconic robot in Basic and drastically lowering the IQ. :)

[TheNinjaD]

Originally Posted by dcarson

Monster Hunters has a collect enough clues to solve where the bad guy is system.

I do have Monster Hunters 1 and 2 but didn't figure it would be relevant to mention.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

As an alternate note you could build the ED-209 as a character by taking some limbs off the Iconic robot in Basic and drastically lowering the IQ. :)

A good thought. I'll probably build it from the ground up, heavily stealing from multiple sources.