Making the party roleplay through everyday activities in all but the simplest of methods is a potential disaster, risking a mutiny due to boredom. But without at least an element of the routine, the fantastic becomes mundane, as the party of murderhobos slides along from encounter to encounter like an old fashioned FPS game protagonist. How do you split the difference?
I've tried a number of things. I like to request my players use a forum or blog post to lay out how they use their downtime. Non-spur-of-the-moment shopping (particularly shopping for unusual things or where they don't know what they want) is to be done not during play. But how to make them take this seriously, and really immerse themselves in the world?
Give the party a morale counter. Every player has morale points equal to their willpower. Morale points are lost whenever the player experiences trauma, or just as a function of fatigue. Points are regained through leisure. Drink with friends, tell scary stories or sing around the campfire, watch some enjoyable programming, enjoy a hobby, getting a good night's rest, etc. This needn't be roleplayed extensively, just sufficiently to establish that the character actually exists outside of adventuring.
Morale Point Costs:
Making a Fright Check, 1 point; Cannot lose more than half morale to passed fright checks
Failing a Fright Check, 1-3 additional points; Degree of trauma (failure) determines point cost.
Performing questionable actions by the character's morals; 1-5 points for degree
Long or boring tasks, 1-2 points.
Extended periods without downtime; at Will-(days since last rest) days, begin making will rolls to maintain morale. Each subsequent roll is at -1, 1 point lost upon failure.
Substantial loss, 3-10 points.
Effects of low morale:
Half Morale: Below half, the character is fatigued. This may take many forms, depending on their personality, but there is always a sense of malaise. It would be wise to rest.
Below 3 Morale: Depression. Use the rules given under Chronic Depression (B126)
Negative Morale: Below 0 morale, rolls to resist depression are at a penalty equal to how negative your points are. At -1X(Will), make a will roll to resist becoming suicidal.
EDITS TO COME: adjusting rate of morale loss (likely a modified will roll), and the effects certain advantages have on losing, gaining, and maintaining morale.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
GURPS Metro: A Charred New World
War is the norm, rather than the exception, in and around the Wastelands. Usually the punchups between the governments of the coastal nations were small, not unlike the minor spats between our European nations. But sometimes, things got out of hand. Superweapons powered by magic and mad science had long existed, but their use was limited in nature, reserved more for threatening and posturing because of their terrifying potential. With the war in which that changed, everything ended in the Calamity.
It was a war unlike any other, a total war. More than just two or three nations at war, nearly a full quarter of the world's countries chose sides, and gave it everything they had. No weapon was too terrible, only a few were ill suited to some targets.
Hex carronades fired cursed shells, filled with the devil's breath. Wherever they hit, an evil mist filled with monsters blighted the land. A single shell was enough to turn a city to a ghost town; thousands of them were fired.
Magical backlash bombs destabilized the ambient mana, igniting manastorms. The already volatile magic of the wastelands went berserk, unleashing the fury of reality's bounds itself upon the world.
Chemical weapons of all sorts spread across the lands, from choking toxins that ate flesh from bone, to mutating agents that warped minds and turned plant and animal alike into ravenous horrors.
Nuclear weapons in all their various forms even made a few appearances, and a few more inventive and unusual incarnations charred the world to boot.
The tunnels, caves, and fortresses of the underdwelling races were hit with boring rockets, filled with a plethora of nightmarish payloads. Hex shells, backlash bombs, chemical weapons, nukes, the lot, focused into the protected cities, turning them into sealed tombs. Without the option of dissipation to the atmosphere, many will never be habitable again without dedicated purification. Those who survived were forced to the surface, which was by no means untouched.
Surface cities were ravished by the horrors, driving survivors underground, into the metro systems and bunkers. Rudimentary subterranean cities were improvised together, the inhabitants protected from the horrors by thick concrete and determined fighters.
And so, this transition of the old world to the new came to be known as The Calamity.
In the aftermath, the region's mana was reduced to negligible levels, granting protection from some of the warping effects of uncontrolled magic, but limiting the use of spells to ease the burden of survival. The ravaged ecosystem adapted, and those races that remained unwarped by the Calamity must maintain a constant vigil against the monstrosities that walk the land.
It has been 40 years since the world ended as it was known. Since then, things have settled down. The surface can be traversed, with enough protective equipment. In most places, a gas mask and a layer of tough clothing will suffice. The militaries of the city stations and station states have begun to reclaim the areas of surface around them, and underground frontier towns have been carved out. Old world equipment has been reclaimed where possible, and older designs modified and adapted for creation from the limited materials salvageable. Young recruits hold the lines against marauding animals, and brave adventurers range far from home in search of surviving treasures. All the while, new abilities have begun to manifest , and magic has begun to return, at least a little. Many of the mutations are helpful for survival.
Life isn't easy, but it isn't that bad.
It was a war unlike any other, a total war. More than just two or three nations at war, nearly a full quarter of the world's countries chose sides, and gave it everything they had. No weapon was too terrible, only a few were ill suited to some targets.
Hex carronades fired cursed shells, filled with the devil's breath. Wherever they hit, an evil mist filled with monsters blighted the land. A single shell was enough to turn a city to a ghost town; thousands of them were fired.
Magical backlash bombs destabilized the ambient mana, igniting manastorms. The already volatile magic of the wastelands went berserk, unleashing the fury of reality's bounds itself upon the world.
Chemical weapons of all sorts spread across the lands, from choking toxins that ate flesh from bone, to mutating agents that warped minds and turned plant and animal alike into ravenous horrors.
Nuclear weapons in all their various forms even made a few appearances, and a few more inventive and unusual incarnations charred the world to boot.
The tunnels, caves, and fortresses of the underdwelling races were hit with boring rockets, filled with a plethora of nightmarish payloads. Hex shells, backlash bombs, chemical weapons, nukes, the lot, focused into the protected cities, turning them into sealed tombs. Without the option of dissipation to the atmosphere, many will never be habitable again without dedicated purification. Those who survived were forced to the surface, which was by no means untouched.
Surface cities were ravished by the horrors, driving survivors underground, into the metro systems and bunkers. Rudimentary subterranean cities were improvised together, the inhabitants protected from the horrors by thick concrete and determined fighters.
And so, this transition of the old world to the new came to be known as The Calamity.
In the aftermath, the region's mana was reduced to negligible levels, granting protection from some of the warping effects of uncontrolled magic, but limiting the use of spells to ease the burden of survival. The ravaged ecosystem adapted, and those races that remained unwarped by the Calamity must maintain a constant vigil against the monstrosities that walk the land.
It has been 40 years since the world ended as it was known. Since then, things have settled down. The surface can be traversed, with enough protective equipment. In most places, a gas mask and a layer of tough clothing will suffice. The militaries of the city stations and station states have begun to reclaim the areas of surface around them, and underground frontier towns have been carved out. Old world equipment has been reclaimed where possible, and older designs modified and adapted for creation from the limited materials salvageable. Young recruits hold the lines against marauding animals, and brave adventurers range far from home in search of surviving treasures. All the while, new abilities have begun to manifest , and magic has begun to return, at least a little. Many of the mutations are helpful for survival.
Life isn't easy, but it isn't that bad.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Student Loans
Much has been posited about the problems with and caused by the current student loan scheme.
I'm sure all one of you who might possibly read this have read, if not written such things.
Regardless, I've got some, a fairly nice new car's worth (in fact, right about the base price of all the hot-hatch-or-equivalents that I'm looking at down the line). Tomorrow, my grace period ends. This is not a problem.
Why? Because engineer. I solve practical problems. And that pays fairly well. Still only a contract worker, but now I have work experience and positive references, at an extremely regulation heavy industry (We design medical tools. LOTS of paperwork and paper trails, more than just about any other industry I'm likely to hit as a newer engineer), so I should be fine to take care of these. The payments aren't bad, either.
I'm sure all one of you who might possibly read this have read, if not written such things.
Regardless, I've got some, a fairly nice new car's worth (in fact, right about the base price of all the hot-hatch-or-equivalents that I'm looking at down the line). Tomorrow, my grace period ends. This is not a problem.
Why? Because engineer. I solve practical problems. And that pays fairly well. Still only a contract worker, but now I have work experience and positive references, at an extremely regulation heavy industry (We design medical tools. LOTS of paperwork and paper trails, more than just about any other industry I'm likely to hit as a newer engineer), so I should be fine to take care of these. The payments aren't bad, either.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
GURPS Metro: Apocalyptic Gear
So, I've rounded up enough interested parties for a Metro2033/Fallout styled game. The world (or at least substantial vicinity) has been bombed or otherwise into an uninhabitable wasteland. What's left of civilization has retreated into caves and metro tunnels, fortifying them into city-stations and station-states. Pre-calamity gear is a rare luxury, carried only by the best soldiers and the luckiest survivors who went out to find it.
What's left for everyone? Stuff cobbled together from scraps. Over the next few days/weeks I'll be starting the process of figuring out all of the gear, from guns, to armor, to miscellaneous gadgets and gizmos, that will be available to my players and the rest of the world. How it works, what it costs, and maybe some doodles of how it looks.
Metro 2033 assumes that the "default" combat weapon is chambered in reloaded 5.45x39 brass, even the shitty, made-from-junk Bastard Gun. This however, doesn't make sense to me, because even the simplest possible operating system for an intermediate carbine is still far more complex than that of an SMG.
Gun progressions will be roughly as such, in terms of stats/performance;
Combat SMG: STEN, UZI, TMP
Pistol: Derringer, Revolver, makarov, glock
Intermediate Rifle: Single shot, bolt, pump/lever, AK
Shotgun: Slam tube, Improved slam tube (functionally single load only pump shotgun), double barrel, pump, semi-auto, box fed
Rifle: Single shot, bolt, FAL/Dragunov
Melee/muscle powered weapons will be around and fairly commonly used, because ammo is scarce and loud. Gear will probably go good TL6, Cheap TL7, good TL7, fine TL7, to account for it having been a higher TL than it presently is, and the knowledge to make good steel being available if resources allow.
Gadgets will be things like watches (simple through fancy combination watch including air quality meters or Geiger counters), radios, flashlights and lamps, and will mostly just be treated as "what can be made by hand? K, use the cheap gadgets rules."
I'll be going into greater depth on each of these topics, with actual stats for each, but links to books or mention of other work done to this end is appreciated.
What's left for everyone? Stuff cobbled together from scraps. Over the next few days/weeks I'll be starting the process of figuring out all of the gear, from guns, to armor, to miscellaneous gadgets and gizmos, that will be available to my players and the rest of the world. How it works, what it costs, and maybe some doodles of how it looks.
Metro 2033 assumes that the "default" combat weapon is chambered in reloaded 5.45x39 brass, even the shitty, made-from-junk Bastard Gun. This however, doesn't make sense to me, because even the simplest possible operating system for an intermediate carbine is still far more complex than that of an SMG.
Gun progressions will be roughly as such, in terms of stats/performance;
Combat SMG: STEN, UZI, TMP
Pistol: Derringer, Revolver, makarov, glock
Intermediate Rifle: Single shot, bolt, pump/lever, AK
Shotgun: Slam tube, Improved slam tube (functionally single load only pump shotgun), double barrel, pump, semi-auto, box fed
Rifle: Single shot, bolt, FAL/Dragunov
Melee/muscle powered weapons will be around and fairly commonly used, because ammo is scarce and loud. Gear will probably go good TL6, Cheap TL7, good TL7, fine TL7, to account for it having been a higher TL than it presently is, and the knowledge to make good steel being available if resources allow.
Gadgets will be things like watches (simple through fancy combination watch including air quality meters or Geiger counters), radios, flashlights and lamps, and will mostly just be treated as "what can be made by hand? K, use the cheap gadgets rules."
I'll be going into greater depth on each of these topics, with actual stats for each, but links to books or mention of other work done to this end is appreciated.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Tech Tuesday: Sick Edition
Managed to catch a bug that slipped through my ridiculous HT stat, at least I can do something (vaguely) useful and write a bit.
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-make-progress-development-one-size-fits-all-artificial-blood Exactly what it says on the tin, progress on making artificial blood.
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/new-type-computer-capable-calculating-640tbs-data-one-billionth-second-could and another step up in processing power, complete with a substantial power requirement reduction.
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/hologram-projectors-your-smartphone-could-be-close Portable mini-hologram projectors? Closer than you think.
http://elitedaily.com/news/world/scientific-breakthrough-may-laid-groundwork-human-teleportation/613912/ Teleportation of the "copy, reproduce, and destroy the original" variety has all kinds of ethical problems, but if you can just teleport without any of that? Not bad, not bad.
http://sploid.gizmodo.com/holy-crap-nasas-interplanetary-spaceship-concept-is-fr-1589001939 Warp drives and spaceship concept art.
http://www.iflscience.com/space/scientists-discover-smallest-known-star It's barely bigger than Jupiter
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-make-progress-development-one-size-fits-all-artificial-blood Exactly what it says on the tin, progress on making artificial blood.
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/new-type-computer-capable-calculating-640tbs-data-one-billionth-second-could and another step up in processing power, complete with a substantial power requirement reduction.
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/hologram-projectors-your-smartphone-could-be-close Portable mini-hologram projectors? Closer than you think.
http://elitedaily.com/news/world/scientific-breakthrough-may-laid-groundwork-human-teleportation/613912/ Teleportation of the "copy, reproduce, and destroy the original" variety has all kinds of ethical problems, but if you can just teleport without any of that? Not bad, not bad.
http://sploid.gizmodo.com/holy-crap-nasas-interplanetary-spaceship-concept-is-fr-1589001939 Warp drives and spaceship concept art.
http://www.iflscience.com/space/scientists-discover-smallest-known-star It's barely bigger than Jupiter
Saturday, June 14, 2014
"Project" guns
Friend and flatmate's father had some health problems, and it was discovered that his house had descended into Hoarderdom since they were last there. A substantial amount of guns and ammo have been rescued from the place, but many of the firearms are in seriously bad condition. Rust is rampant, and other such problems.
Presently I have hold of a revolver that was left soaking in oil until the oil congealed in it. I'm going to disassemble the thing, hose it out with brake cleaner, and see if I can get it halfway presentable. Might just get a near-free revolver out of all of it. Definitely going to take that and all the other guns to a professional for a judgement whether any of them are safe to use after they've been cleaned up.
Presently I have hold of a revolver that was left soaking in oil until the oil congealed in it. I'm going to disassemble the thing, hose it out with brake cleaner, and see if I can get it halfway presentable. Might just get a near-free revolver out of all of it. Definitely going to take that and all the other guns to a professional for a judgement whether any of them are safe to use after they've been cleaned up.
Traffic Driving
Just took a glance back through some of my various posts up here. Average views were 0-3. And then there's one of the ones mentioned/linked by McThag. Which has about 70.
'Preciate the shout out!
'Preciate the shout out!
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