No idea what I'm doing: Ultra-Tech

[kirbwarrior]

So, I want to take a stab at doing a high TL campaign in gurps, because it sounds like fun, and it's something I haven't done before.

Problem is, I don't know anything about it. Anything Scifi related I do happen to know about doesn't seem to relate well to setting, have much background, or have enough separation from fantasy.

Any ideas on what I can do? I'v tried reading UltraTech, but there is just sooo much more information than I can even use, especially compared to the settings I'm used to (fantasy/medieval)

Thanks for the help ahead of time.

(Don't even get me started on how little I know about modern. I fail more at that than the few times I've tried doing High TL campaigns in the past)

[Onkl]

How about reading about the different possibilites to implement technology, as described on UT:9-11

That should give you a basic overview about what's been done. Maybe you can then choose a setting you would love to play in.

Cheers

Onkl

[vicky_molokh]

Hmmm. You probably need to start with something relatively simple. Possibly even retro. Solar Patrol?

[David Johnston2]

One simple approach is to start with the GURPS Space Atlases and the assumptions contained therein.

You have a TL 10 setting in the far future, which is slightly strange, but partially explained by the 3E default setting in which human interstellar civilization collapsed into a Long Night from which they seem to have very gradually emerged.

That keeps you from having to mess with nanotechnology. We can blame the Long Night ON nanotechnology so the Second Interstellar age is very leery of progressing much further with such things.

That would give you a place to get started.

[JP42]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Hmmm. You probably need to start with something relatively simple. Possibly even retro. Solar Patrol?

I was thinking along the same lines. First thought was Transhuman Space, but that's not simple. So either Solar Patrol or Traveller: Interstellar Wars. Both are essentially self-contained - Solar Patrol even more than T:IW, which relies more on Ultra-Tech.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

So, I want to take a stab at doing a high TL campaign in gurps, because it sounds like fun, and it's something I haven't done before.

Problem is, I don't know anything about it. Anything Scifi related I do happen to know about doesn't seem to relate well to setting, have much background, or have enough separation from fantasy.

Any ideas on what I can do? I'v tried reading UltraTech, but there is just sooo much more information than I can even use, especially compared to the settings I'm used to (fantasy/medieval)

Thanks for the help ahead of time.

(Don't even get me started on how little I know about modern. I fail more at that than the few times I've tried doing High TL campaigns in the past)

Slow down. Take a breath. Relax.

Sci-fi is a big genre. There's space opera (new and old), there's hard, space-exploration sci-fi, there's cyberpunk and 20-minutes-into-tomorrow-thrillers, post-apocalyptic, dystopian and on and on. So lets not look at the genre as a whole. It's too much. Let's look at the bits we like.

Surely there's some sci-fi you've liked. Why don't you start by talking about your sci-fi influences. Have you seen Star Wars or Star Trek? What do you think of them? Have you played any computer games with strong sci-fi themes? Which did you like most? Any other sci-fi movies or TV series (or cartoons!) that really stood out to you? Books?

And why don't you talk a little about why you want to do sci-fi, how you envision it.

We start by hammering out your vision of a setting. Then we'll start applying stats to it, getting gear that fits close to your vision. But we need that vision first, so we start there.

[sir_pudding]

Why do you want to run an sf game? If sf isn't appealing to you as a literary genre, what is drawing you to it for gaming?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

We start by hammering out your vision of a setting. Then we'll start applying stats to it, getting gear that fits close to your vision. But we need that vision first, so we start there.

agreed. so very agreed. Science fiction has lots of different ways it can be taken. It has genres and subgenres, and if two worlds look similar, readers tend to take it as a BAD thing. UT was likely one of the hardest books to write generic rules for.

That said, UT leans towards hard science fiction, with lots of switches to make it softer. Space is a wonderful place to start. build your world first, then populate it. For contrast, you don't read low-tech when say you want to run a "low-tech campagain", you read Fantasy, or one of the 3E books about a culture, like vikings, greece, or aztecs.

[Kalzazz]

Well, when I first tried running GURPS 4e Sci Fi I decided 'Hmmm, lets pick a TL . . . okay, 10! So we have lasers and ETK and stuff, all very cool'

'Hmm, but we like Force Swords . . . Force Swords are TL 11 . . . . ah! So we have Proto Force Swords, which are like Force Swords, except they have heavy power packs attached with power cords, like some of the Tales of the Jedi Era Lightsabres'

And then off you go!

[Ulzgoroth]

I'd note that Ultratech is an equipment book rather than a setting or genre book. It has a little discussion of what different tech levels and selections may say about the game but not much. The closest thing to an SF genre book (at least in 4E) is Space, though it only covers selected bits of the genre.