[OOC] - Inter-solar Rodeo

[Harry O'Gane]

Roster is officially closed and no further applications are possible. In case you're interested, send me a PM, I'll send you a notification in case someone drops out.

An friend of mine recommended this very forum to me once I asked him if there were any people on the Internet who might be interested in a setting like this.

I've been GM-ing GURPS for a while now, and decided to give it a shot with PbP GM-ing. To cut with the boring introduction of mine, I'll just get straight to the point.

Setting name: Inter-solar Rodeo

Short Synopsis: For those of you who have watched Cowboy Bebop anime series, I guess there is not much to explain. For those of you who haven't, here's some brief info:

In 2022, a terrible accident happened on a testing facility on Moon. The research facility was testing a new prototype of hyperspace stabilizators, which would allow the humanity faster travel around the Inter-Solar system. However, the facility exploded into smithereens, therefore completely destroying Moon and spraying the Earth with asteroid rain of Moon's "leftovers". Those who could manage to leave Earth did so, eventually colonizing the nearest planet - Mars, which later became the main hub of human civilization.

As the years passed, wild technological discoveries started sprouting. Humanity invented fully functional hyperspace gates which allowed them to travel through the Inter-Solar system in a quick, yet inexpensive way. Asteroid belts between Mars and Jupiter were colonized, with Jupiter's satellites, as well.

It is year 2074 now. The Inter-Solar system is abundant with many self-proclaimed governments and colonies all from Venus to Jupiter. ISSP (Inter-Solar System Police) is appointed for the security in the System. The problem is, there is never enough cops to handle all the criminals, which resulted in creation of a "Bounty Hunt" system like in Old West. ISSP puts data of a wanted criminal online, visible to all the bounty hunters with a legal permit to see, and bounty hunters simply take on the job and hunt the marked criminal, preferably alive and breathing. Once they do so, they get rewarded in woolongs (Inter-Solar currency).

Average TL: Regarding transportation, it's on TL10. Fast inter-planar voyage is possible through hyperspace drives built from Venus to Jupiter. Spaceships of all kind cruise around the Solar System, big and small. Most of the ships, however, belong to Bounty Hunters all around the system, who keep on searching for criminals all the time.

Regarding weapons, it's TL 9. Roughly said, you could call this a "cyberpunk western" kind of setting. Transportation is really the most significant technology at the moment. Most people generally use weapons similar to those of the present day, since electrolaser guns are both rare and preposterously expensive.

Regarding power, TL is 9. High-temperature conductors and wireless power transmission is possible, which enabled high-range broadcast of radiowaves all around the System. Solarnet, (version of Internet in the year of 2074) is not available in rare parts of the System. Those who have enough woolongs to get their hands on a Hyperspace Environment Router (HER) may even browse Solarnet while driving through Hyperspace!

Regading biotech and medicine, it's TL9. People who lost their limbs, if they had a good insurance or just a lot of woolongs in their bank accounts, can afford to get their limb back in a more "metallic" manner. Medicine has been skirocketing for a while now. Cryogenic preservation, for example, has been available for 30 years now. AIDS is long since gone, and many diseases can be treated pretty efficiently nowadays.

Aliens? No such thing.
Magic? Nuh-uh.
Psionics? No, sir.

Characters: Characters are 150 pointers, with max of 40 pts of disadvantages and 5 quirks. Quirks are higly optional, you may put them on your sheet, but I really won't mind if you don't. The same goes with disadvantages.

There are couple of conditions when it comes to character creation:

First, almost every supernatural and exotic advantage/disadvantage is out of the question. However, if you could think of a way to... for example, through some technological (read: Cybernetics) devise a way to have a Dark Vision, feel free to elaborate. My word is final, however. The characters that are needed for this don't really need to be supercyborgs. As long as they know how to deal a punch or two, bribe a couple of crooks and are skilful with interrogation, they'll work out just fine.

Second, we deal with every kind of question via private mail when it comes to your character creation, and most important - background story. Before we even start the [IC], you will have a small solo arc, simply an introduction. In order not to spoil anything in advance, all characters will be acquainted with a certain NPC.

Third, don't worry about the combat. Most of my campaigns are based on espionage and puzzle solving. When it comes to combat, we can use Invisible Castle to pop out a couple of combat rolls and do the calculations. As long as your skills are high, you're pretty much safe. Rolls do not play a big part, in short.

Fourth, you will be getting points on either weekly or 2-week basis. Points will vary from 2-6, depending on your roleplaying ability and mission progression. Almost every mission you accept are story arcs of their own. I am not sure how fast paced they will be, but I guess you'll be able to solve them in a week or two. As 150 point characters, you are somewhat expected to be skilled.

Fifth, don't make a completely uncongenial character. Very few bounty hunters operate on their own, meaning lots of them team up on order to fetch bounties. Therefore, congenial and charismatic characters are the way to go.

And finally, sixth, there are a couple of roles your characters should take. The crew of bounty hunters should all be skilled in fighting. However, some specializations are necessary. Since you're travelling by ship, you'll need a good engineer and a pilot. A medic to heal some serious wounds, as well. A hacker to crack secret codes and open doors on abandoned satellites that might hold some important information. A character with a lot of contacts that knows his way around the System could also be very useful to the group. It's all up to you to come up with an idea. A lot of things can be put in 150 points.

Miscellaneous Feel free to ask questions. We're not starting until everything is clear to you. The setting like this might be very new to you, so I expect you have a lot of questions. How do people live? Where do they live? What's the situation with politics? General questions like that should be discussed here. Personal related questions - private mail.

I will put the roster down here. I am looking for a minimum of 3 players, and I guess the maximum of 6 players will be fine.

Roster

ErhnamDJ as Luka Garrett
kabbalist_ninja as Daniel Walker
Magdeburg as Blade
Galedeep
Michael Thayne
1iOneeyed