[Infinite Worlds] So, what exactly does C-31... do?

[Blind Mapmaker]

I imagine, it gets a lot of base protection duty. But let's not forget there are hellish timelines or uninhabited ones, both without real need for secrecy besides making sure Centrum does not get wind of them. C31R07 is perfect for those.

And if you want to go for a silly campaign: Maybe it has an elephant suit stashed away somewhere...

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

And if you want to go for a silly campaign: Maybe it has an elephant suit stashed away somewhere...

If it's pink, that'll take care of it entirely. Nobody would report seeing that.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

He could operate on timelines without a native population, maybe hunting dinosaurs. Or poachers.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

And if you want to go for a silly campaign: Maybe it has an elephant suit stashed away somewhere...

And if you want to go less silly: hologram disguise. Probably not as a human, but it means he can sit somewhere as an object until overwhelming surprise is needed.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

He's a giant combat robot who can in no way disguise himself who's part of an organization that needs to infiltrate places and isn't allowed to reveal that they're from another world. There's only a handful of worldlines where he'd have any chance of being allowed, and most of them are pretty much quarantined anyway. At least Iotha can wear a hat. So exactly what purpose does C-31 serve?

We're shown what it does on page B 90. It shoots down goblin-like mutants riding giant wasps. I suspect that on most worlds it stays in reserve posing as a shipping crate full of agricultural equipment until the fit hits the shan at which point most of the outworlders in the vicinity will be too dead to talk and rest can be taken, memory erased, or just written off as not likely to be believed after the team is gone. Then again there are some worlds, Hellworlds for example, where Infinity really doesn't give a damn what the locals see.

[Stormcrow]

The answer to this question is given clearly on pages 18–19 of GURPS Infinite Worlds, where ISWAT missions are described. I can't and won't quote the full text here. Basically, ISWAT operates in out-of-the-way worlds where plausible deniability is possible and fates of entire worlds are at stake. It is the campaign setup for the kitchen-sink style of character creation where anything goes and anything can happen, intended as the poster-child of GURPS 4th Edition. This is not subtlety.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

The answer to this question is given clearly on pages 18–19 of GURPS Infinite Worlds, where ISWAT missions are described. I can't and won't quote the full text here. Basically, ISWAT operates in out-of-the-way worlds where plausible deniability is possible and fates of entire worlds are at stake. It is the campaign setup for the kitchen-sink style of character creation where anything goes and anything can happen, intended as the poster-child of GURPS 4th Edition. This is not subtlety.

So much this. Also, ICOPs and ISWAT function is such different ways that I normally treat them as two different settings. One is a genre rooted in time travel and science fiction, and the other is genre rooted somewhere between superheroes and a kid bringing all their toys into one big game.



I've played in both modes... usually I tweak the setting quite a bit*. You want the challenges to fit the mode of the genre. Both can be fun, but I really have seen a way to stretch them.


I hadn't thought about the "Guy in the Chair" role for C-31, but I've found a lot of infinite worlds and ISWAT can benefit from that. Radio, surveilance, hacking, and so forth can be really useful.



*I'm running three "Infinite worlds" games right now, but only one of them has the infinity patrol and its a side entity. One game replaces ISWAT with a different organization, meaning I can get rid of homeline and the Infinity patrol and focus and crazy action on various worlds, and the other is about the discovery of parachronics by a military base after a nuclear holocaust.