Leif's DISCONTINUED GURPS Traveller Game OOC01

[Leif]

Excellent additions, Shayuri! Although, I was thinking that Zhodani technology may have edged ahead of Imperial tech in certain areas. This is hard to quantify in an absolute sense, of course, because of the vast distances involved. But I was thinking that the Zhodani culture of psionics had led to some leaps in computer technology. There are other areas where Imperial tech will be the clear frontrunner, though, like medicine and the defense industries, for instance.

And, as I see in my notes written about this game some time ago, the K'kree, of all the unlikely races/species have the cutting edge tech in the field of agriculture. So as you can see, what I'm going for here is a galaxy where no single race/people/species/whatever is clearly the technological leader across the board. The Vargr, apparently, aren't even the leaders in any branch of tech, but the alpha males on Lair are probably too busy keeping their territory 'marked' to worry overmuch about such things.

And the Zax has been outfitted with the most cutting-edge goodies available, illustrating how vital your mission is to the Consulate. And, still, its weaponry may be just a bit behind the Imperial curve.

Your answer to the riddle ought to be correct, even if it isn't!

EDIT: Sorry I missed your 'joke' earlier, Kookalouris. Anyway....
"So this Zhodani walks into a[n Imperial] bar, but no one notices because he psionically shrouded himself from their awareness."
Not funny, I know. Sorry.

 

[Leif]

I've screwed up. Does it bother anyone that our Rogue's Gallery is in the "Plots and Places" forum instead of the spiffy new "Rogues Gallery" forum that I'm not fully used to remembering yet? I have asked that it be moved, but my prayers have fallen on deaf ears, apparently. Seems like an awful lot of trouble for little gain to make a new thread in the correct forum and have everybody copy the pcs again.

 

[kookalouris]

Just an interim post here,

AMC is showing two good movies tonight, Forbidden Planet and Alien (both the right combination of good and cheesy). Both are inspiring me, so is the wonderfully hokey Logan's Run short (glad it's a movie, I'm the wrong side of Carousel ).

What gets me is that both movies treat space travel as common, mundane, even boring at times. That is so Traveller to me, especially Alien, which has the 'space truckers' riff that Ridley Scott was going for. There's also the idea that travelling in space is your life, the travel times are so long, you pretty much give up on family planetside. Traveller also reminds me of the nautical fiction genre (Hornblower, Aubrey), the long journeys, the hard and dangerous life.

Dunno really know why I'm mentioning this but I guess the movies are getting my creative juices flowing.

I love both your punchlines, IMO, they are better than the actual punchline which I include in this spoiler...

Spoiler

"Q: How many GDW designers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: That isn't funny!"

Let me know if this need explaining. It did for me.

Actual character pitches today or tomorrow, I think...

 

[Leif]

[sblock=kookalouris, punch line commentary]I get it! Saying that GDW designers are of the Polish persuasion, right? [/sblock]

For Shayuri: The SDB that can strike fear into the heart of the pilot of the Zax isn't even a spaceship architect's wet dream yet!
["Unidentified Zhodani vessel! Halt at once!"
..... W-W-W-W-W-H-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-S-H!!! .....
"Hey! Come back here!"]

 

[Scotley]

A Zhodani walks into an Imperium bar and asks, "Do you serve my kind in here?" The Bartender just looks at him. The Zhodani says "Well?" and the Bartender replies, "I thought not."

Okay, pretty weak, but I'm pretty tired.

 

[kookalouris]

Actually, I like your punchlines but here's how the joke was explained to me...

Spoiler

GDW products have NO humor in them, none! Look through them and try and find just ONE joke. It's as if the entire product line was written by dry and dusty professors. I can't think of another game company like it.

As far as a character goes:

I think my character will be human. It is a complement to Traveller that its humans are as interesting as its alien.

I'm thinking of one of three basic skillsets:

An old expert (Traveller was one of the few games that rewarded the older characters), say an intendant class Doctor, Scientist, Historian, etc, maybe even a Jack-Of-All Trades.

A drone bodyguard, born and bred to protect the Zhodani upper-class (and by extension mission crew). I'm thinking more of a martial artist than a cybered or power-armored fighter (an opponent that could challenge a person wearing power armor would SLAUGHTER the other crew).

A psychic; I realize that Zoe is also moderately psychic as well as being as skilled pilot but I am thinking of a real psychic talent who is useless at anything else. Also, my psychic might have the really CREEPY psychic powers, like telepathy or precognition, etc. In any case, I don't want to steal Zoe's fire.


Let me know what you think and I will work on a background...

 

[Leif]

I like all three of your proposals, kookalouris! I don't think you'll be in danger of stealing anyone's thunder, whichever you choose, but Shayuri may see that differently?

 

[Shayuri]

Zoe's focus is not on psionics. She's a fairly powerful telekinetic, and that's her strongest discipline. She has some telepathic power, evidenced by her Telesend power and her Mind Shield, but she hasn't developed it beyond those very basic techniques. Her 3D Spatial Sense might constitute a flicker of ESP, a kind of general, subliminal psychic awareness of her position...but even if it does, it's unlikely she'd be training it beyond that innate faculty.

So in short, yeah, I don't mind if you're a 'dedicated' psychic. It'll be nice to have someone to 'talk' to via Telesend.

 

[Leif]

Cool! Sounds like we're all one big, happy [dysfunctional] family then!

 

[kookalouris]

Sounds good.

OK, from my way of thinking, there are two kinds of psychics that might be aboard.

A deliberate psychic, meant to be part of the mission (as I'm late to the game, this is probably an agent-in-place who joins the group by prior design or sudden necessity). Absolutely committed and focused to the goal. I'm thinking Bester from B5 or the Op from Serenity (if he was psychic).

An accidental psychic, someone who didn't expect or even want psychic powers. This could be a adolescent who suddenly awakens or a victim of botched psychic training. This character could actually be Imperial as the Zhodani would probably feel a kinship for the 'awakened' stray. It could be that the psychic accidentally reads the party's mind and knows of their subversive goals but will keep quiet for the so needed psychic training. I'm thinking River from Firefly/Serenity or Jean Grey from the X-Men (SOME of her many origins have Xavier supressing her powers in childhood to (ha, ha) prevent something like a Phoenix-level awakening). The movie X3 was just one telling of this story.

A truly powerful and trained psychic would pretty much end up running the Imperium and the rest of the characters would get 'Skye' coffee and donuts. So, the psychic has low power but superb control over modest talents OR the psychic has wild but uncontrolable fluctuations of power and usually works to supress any psychic abilities.

It could be that the psychic is both accidental and professional. The character Grey from the first season of Babylon 5 was a awakened psychic who wanted to be a pilot but was forced to be Psi Corp (it was that or prison and/or mentally crippling drugs).


In my opinion, the best psychic powers are those which cannot be simulated with game tech. The effects of TK and ESP can be simulated by Imperial/Zhodani tech. Besides, Zoe seems to be very psychic with objects and the space they reside in. Primarily, I'm thinking of telepathy and/or teleportation (at a level high enough to take others or the party is unecessarily split).

Leif,

Would you like me to keep to the powers in the original Traveller book for nostalgia or can I use the wider GURPS palette (precognition is a great moodsetter and tool for the GM)? Do you have the original ruleset?

Speaking of the original Traveller books, I am selling them on eBay primarily to give them good homes (like pets ) to people who would appreciate them. I need space, not money. So would you (or any of the players) like some old Traveller books just for the cost of shipping?

If offering these books is against the spirit of this thread or against ENWorld policy, I won't mention them again.

Anyway, some thoughts on a character. Let me know what you think, team (my character already knows what you think but I don't )