GURPS central asia

[kealist]

Originally Posted by nik1979

Nice! If you need help simplifying the East, which can be daunting, you can use Qin: The Warring States. I would suggest ripping off the fluff and pasting it over with any details the Players may want about the east (with the easy use of find and replace to change names). That will save you hours of research for something not that integral to a Central Asian game.

That RPG / book looks mighty interesting, I may have to pick it up and do what you suggest. It almost makes me want to focus on just China. :)

I have to have something prepared for a first adventure for my friend next week. I'm still a bit stuck on Central Asia, but I think if I just start working on it it will pull together. My friend would rather it be mythical than historical, but haven't found a lot of resources on mythical creatures and stories quite yet. I actually have some written in a central asian language, but my language abilities are not high enough to understand them at this point. more practice with those, I guess.


So it looks like GURPS Cliffhangers, China, Places of Mystery, Arabian Nights, Low-Tech are the suggested books. I will look through them and see what is the most useful and decide what to get. Thank you all for the suggestions

Qin: The Warring States

[kealist]

Silk Road

I was looking around on RPG.net for other resources and this looks like it could be useful for a overview of geography and such.

I will stop by my local public library as well. Sure there is good info there

[nik1979]

I'd like to recomend the free gurps adventure about the caravan. forgot the title. just check out e23

just running the adventure over the central asian setting to get feel before commiting to some serious game planning will save some time and remove some of the ties gm-made stories may have which can get in the way to understand what the players want out of the game.

anyway the central asian game is beside china. it would be really easy to incorporate Qin into the game. interestingly both east and west are open to steppe adventurers (the byzants and sassanids tend to hire them often). your game can go either way (literally).

hal- ideally the npcs, names, places and flavor is all done for the gm. just place 4e over it and give page references for the players in the gm character creation guide or game primer for templates appropriate for the game and viola. Less prep the better.

I've only seen the Qin free sampler, but I was guessing it would be a great gurps setting, especially for the history nuts. personally, its like legend of the five rings but low key and more manageable.

can't wait for GLT and have that mountain armor available and all those neat imperial artificer gimik weapons.

[baakyocalder]

Caravan to Ein Arris is the free adventure. It's in either 3e or 4e flavors on the e23 site. Change the names of the NPCs and lands and maybe the NPCs appearances to better fit your cultures and you're good to go. . .

[jason taylor]

There are also a number of non-gurps sources. My favorite is The Silk Road by Franck and Brownstone. But the Peter Hopkirks are pretty good. As are some of the explorers memoirs(Hedin is a good writter). Laurence Bergreens Marco Polo biography is good too.

[kealist]

Originally Posted by nik1979

I'd like to recomend the free gurps adventure about the caravan. forgot the title. just check out e23

just running the adventure over the central asian setting to get feel before commiting to some serious game planning will save some time and remove some of the ties gm-made stories may have which can get in the way to understand what the players want out of the game.

...

hal- ideally the npcs, names, places and flavor is all done for the gm. just place 4e over it and give page references for the players in the gm character creation guide or game primer for templates appropriate for the game and viola. Less prep the better.

...

can't wait for GLT and have that mountain armor available and all those neat imperial artificer gimik weapons.

You know that's a great idea. I'm not sure if my friend has run that adventure or not beforehand. The other problem is that my gurps group right now is only myself and another guy (taking turns GMing). Can I adapt this campaign for one PC or should have have him control three? Or should he control one and I control two others in the bodyguard party?

I realized that I have a good book on Central Asian History that I forgot about. I will be reading some specific parts over the next few days in order to fit that campaign into this reality.

What is GLT?

Originally Posted by jason taylor

There are also a number of non-gurps sources. My favorite is The Silk Road by Franck and Brownstone. But the Peter Hopkirks are pretty good. As are some of the explorers memoirs(Hedin is a good writter). Laurence Bergreens Marco Polo biography is good too.

Thanks for the bibliography. I will check the library for those as the main one seems pricey online....

[Akicita]

GURPS Russia gives a couple of pages to the Mongol conquest. Marginal to your area, but since China and Arabian Nights were brought up, might as well throw in the remaining margin...

[Lord Carnifex]

If you're open to academic history in English or French, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia by Rene Grousset is often considered one of the definitive works on the subject. My version is a Naomi Walford translation into English, published by Rutgers (ISBN 0-8135-1304-0).

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by kealist

What is GLT?

GURPS: Low-Tech.

AKA Cabaret Chicks On Ice.

Don't ask.

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by Akicita

GURPS Russia gives a couple of pages to the Mongol conquest. Marginal to your area, but since China and Arabian Nights were brought up, might as well throw in the remaining margin...

That's true. Seconded.