Adventure in the Global South with GURPS Sriwijaya

[uzirath]

Looking for a fresh campaign setting? The latest monthly GURPS publication from Steve Jackson Games provides an in-depth look at the history and culture of one of the world's great maritime empires. I was lucky enough to be a playtester for the book and spent much of last winter reading drafts and providing feedback. The final book is rock solid. It is longer than the usual entries in the excellent Hot Spots series, getting closer to the GURPS worldbooks that made up the bulk of the GURPS 3e library.

As with the rest of the series, GURPS mechanics are minimal and the book can be used as a useful sourcebook for any game system. Moreover, it need not be used for a historical game. One thing I've alwyas loved about the various GURPS worldbooks is that they provide a ton of useful information for gaming that can be pillaged and mixed with other material to brew up a unique setting. Sriwijaya could be adapted to science fiction, fantasy, time travel, hidden magic, or other sorts of games. (I plan on adding more supernatural elements to my version.)

I've attached the preview PDF from SJG's online store (Warehouse23). And here's a link to the official product page.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

This reminds me that Edward Macgregor had a dieselpunk Srivijaya (our local spelling) campaign, for which he commissioned papermini artwork from Malaysian artist Khairul Hisham!

Art Commision for Edward Macgregor by Khairul Hisham

"Dieselpunk Nusantara" by Khairul Hisham

There's a wide range of these characters, from soldiers and military officers to street kids and biker gangs, for subscribers on Khairul Hisham's Paperminis Patreon!

 

[Voadam]

Cool not an area with a lot of gaming stuff that I am aware of.

 

[uzirath]

I enjoyed reading a sidebar this afternoon on Oath Stones and Water Oath Rituals. These are the sorts of rich cultural tidbits that I love to read in a good setting book:

The text gives more background on the ritual and how it might affect a person in worlds with and without explicit supernatural elements. Apparently, the oaths were often written "like magical contracts, complete
with elaborate phrasing, complex conditions, and harsh consequences." I can imagine a fantasy setting where it is relatively common for people (e.g., PCs!) to be bound by one or more oaths that pack genuine consequences. This might be fine, at first, as they merely provide some minor complications, but as the campaign evolves and loyalties shift, some might be a more serious burden that characters would want to get out of. (Quest time!)

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Yup, that's exactly what they are supposed to be. The ACOUP Blog goes into detail about how pre-modern oaths (and rituals) are specific procedures meant to achieve specific results.

Oaths:

Collections: Oaths! How do they Work?

By popular request, today we’re going to talk about oaths. Oaths appear a lot in fantasy fiction – and even in historical fiction – and they are frequently done wrong. I remarked …

acoup.blog

Rituals:

Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part II: Practice

Part II of a series at the underpinnings of ancient polytheistic (Greek, Roman, Mesopotamian, Norse, etc) religious practice.

acoup.blog

Having measurable and predictable effects of an oath or ritual isn't just a game thing - it's really how they are supposed to work in religious practice.