Five Earths, All in a Row

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by apoc527

Can I just be the first to say "that was epic" and "thank you" for providing such a body of work to everyone on the forums to enjoy. I haven't read the whole thing yet (it is rather long!), but I got through two posts and wanted to make sure someone had responded with a "this is great work" post.

You're very welcome, though I admit that if I'd known about the '10,000 words per post' limit, I wouldn't have tried. If you think it's long reading it, imagine how long it was trying to post it when every (I think four or so posts needed moderator approval (I don't blame the mods, and I'm glad they didn't complain about it).

Originally Posted by apoc527

I assume this is for a campaign you are playing or going to play?

It's more an idea I have for a campaign setting, just not one that could easily be published, due to lawyers. I might eventually run a game in this, or participate in a game, but it's more that it occurred to me that it's something other GURPS gamers might enjoy, even if they live far enough away to make gaming with them inconvenient. As you'll see when you've read more, it's still under development, and I'm hoping to get help on some things.

EDIT: Couldn't fit this in the Overflow post. It refers to what's happening on OTL-Earth, as people start getting powers:

The basic power set is the Active Thoughtform Generation perk (or whatever replaces it), and one point in Ritual Magic, which will usually be a personal Book style, though it may be a personal Path style, a Path or Book style already being practiced by that person that now works (or 'works better', depending on who you ask) such as Wicca or Voudon, a Symbol Drawing style already known, or a Book style for a martial art that the new spellcaster practices. As mentioned above, gamers and SF fans stand a decent chance of getting a Path/Book style based on games they play or stories they read or watch (Ritual Magic (Jedi), for example, would have three Paths if you go by the games: Control, Sense, and Alter, and maybe a fourth called Alchemy, at least for the Sith variant, and maybe for the Jedi; the Force in the movies, most books, and the cartoons looks more like psi powers, though). Some few people start with levels in Path/Book Adept, Thoughtform Talent, or Wild Talent, or higher skill levels. Those with Path styles don't usually start with much skill in the individual Paths, just the style, though there are exceptions. Those who get psi powers tend to start with only the first level of an ability, and rarely start out with more than one or two per power, nor more than one or two powers. As a general rule, unless you want to run a power-centric campaign, PCs and most NPCs who have powers at all should not have more than 10% of starting points spent on powers or related skills, and most people who have powers just start with the perk and a point in a Ritual Magic style.

Empowered animals tend to get a specific, limited power and/or skill set that never improves, unless they gain an intelligence boost to the point of sapience. Psi powers are more common among non-sapient animals than spellcasting is. Lots of cats might gain a level or two of Autoteleport (Accessibility: Not While Being Observed), for example, and foxes in Japan are likely to have some form of Sensory Control, and possibly Telereceive. Sapient animals often have spellcasting in addition to any psi powers.