Yellow Sign
Explorer
Does anyone know anything about Gurps' Transhuman Space? Do you like it? Is there a d20 conversion of it anywhere? Thanks!
Transhuman Space?
- Thread starter Yellow Sign
- Start date
Desdichado
Hero
A little, yes (for what it's worth) and not that I know of. 
What do you want to know?
What do you want to know?
THS is a hard sci-fi near-future setting. It dumps a lot of the baggage associated with both cyberpunk and space opera. No aliens, no warp drive, no universal translators, and no guys with trenchcoats and katanas...closer to Gattaca or even Minority Report.
Looks like a lot of heavy ideas. Good reading, but it would take some work to get the players sufficiently immersed in such a highly-detailed and original world.
No d20 version that I know of...I'd run it with d20 Modern [and eventually d20 Future] and maybe dial the massive damage threshold down.
I've read the playtest files for "Toxic Memes," and it is just fascinating stuff...a future where advertising has evolved into a multidisciplinary field called "memetic engineering," controlling and manipulating ideas in a scientific fashion.
Looks like a lot of heavy ideas. Good reading, but it would take some work to get the players sufficiently immersed in such a highly-detailed and original world.
No d20 version that I know of...I'd run it with d20 Modern [and eventually d20 Future] and maybe dial the massive damage threshold down.
I've read the playtest files for "Toxic Memes," and it is just fascinating stuff...a future where advertising has evolved into a multidisciplinary field called "memetic engineering," controlling and manipulating ideas in a scientific fashion.
Trivial Nonsense
First Post
I agree with JPL: It's just too much to handle casually.
I guess, maybe the middle of next year, I'll try to collect the rest of the series. But it doesn't appeal to me as much as Terradyne did.
I guess, maybe the middle of next year, I'll try to collect the rest of the series. But it doesn't appeal to me as much as Terradyne did.
Byrons_Ghost
First Post
Actually, I just got the book and I'm reading through it now. For a short book, it's extremely heavy. It reads like a textbook much of the time- there's some serious stuff happening in the game. Not to mention a 100-year timeline.
I think the setting has a lot of potential provided you can get people into it. It might be easiest to start someplace isolated, like a space station or asteroid, and introduce details gradually.
As for conversions, there's probably a GURPS-D20 set somewhere, I'd start with that and then add specifics from the setting. The various "breeds" of humans, for example, could easily be done as races. Or templates, but you have to choose race at birth, so template seems more appropriate to things like AIs and the like.
I think the setting has a lot of potential provided you can get people into it. It might be easiest to start someplace isolated, like a space station or asteroid, and introduce details gradually.
As for conversions, there's probably a GURPS-D20 set somewhere, I'd start with that and then add specifics from the setting. The various "breeds" of humans, for example, could easily be done as races. Or templates, but you have to choose race at birth, so template seems more appropriate to things like AIs and the like.
Achan hiArusa
Explorer
d20 Conversion
Actually I have been toying with a conversion. I have been jumping back and forth between finishing my very old Masque of the Red Death Conversion and this one (a 300 year jump). I've been using Omega World for the parahumans (mutated humans) and have simply incorporated the Franks and Moreaus from Genetech. Right now its in its infancy, I made a basic conversion of 3 Gurps points = 1 mutation point (which I may change later to 5 = 1). I think it allows for a wider variety from the start instead of forcing everyone into a few premade races templates. I'm not sure about how many defect points I will force on parahumans. I usually start out cheesy trying to find d20 equivelents and then evolve from there. Not sure I can post without SJG permission though.
At its base I used Modern d20 and I want to convert the GURPS THS professions into occupations (which shouldn't be hard, just work).
Actually I have been toying with a conversion. I have been jumping back and forth between finishing my very old Masque of the Red Death Conversion and this one (a 300 year jump). I've been using Omega World for the parahumans (mutated humans) and have simply incorporated the Franks and Moreaus from Genetech. Right now its in its infancy, I made a basic conversion of 3 Gurps points = 1 mutation point (which I may change later to 5 = 1). I think it allows for a wider variety from the start instead of forcing everyone into a few premade races templates. I'm not sure about how many defect points I will force on parahumans. I usually start out cheesy trying to find d20 equivelents and then evolve from there. Not sure I can post without SJG permission though.
At its base I used Modern d20 and I want to convert the GURPS THS professions into occupations (which shouldn't be hard, just work).
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Yellow Sign
Explorer
After looking over the Anime d20 rules, I thought that might be a good way to go with a conversion.
FWIW, the implied world which existed BEFORE the Gamma World mines a lot of the same tropes as Transhuman Space. In other words, while the pre-Gamma-World of earlier GW editions was a very Gernsbackesque future of aircars and bubble helmets, the pre-Gamma-World of GW D20 (while still having a lot of the classic tech) is one which is influenced more by AI, nanotech, and bioengineering. There's no concrete setting info per se; rather, as it was asked "What kind of world would LEAD TO the Gamma World?", the answers came together to form an 'implied' pre-gamma-age that has a lot in common with TS.
While I'm not sure how useful the GWD20 core book would be, the monster book and the tech book will both provide a lot of D20 material very useful in that style of setting.
While I'm not sure how useful the GWD20 core book would be, the monster book and the tech book will both provide a lot of D20 material very useful in that style of setting.
zero skill LPB
First Post
I [heart] Transhuman Space
Precisely the reason I'm interested in grabbing the main TS book for source material. And "Under Pressure". GURPS: Bio-Tech has been fantastic for this same purpose.
GURPS gives good source, eh.
Edit: I went to my local game store seeking out the new Gamma World. There were no copies yet to be had (or even on order
), but I found a (second edition, first printing) hardcover copy of Transhuman Space to keep my future-history wheels turning. It's a great book filled with tons of cool ready-for-mining info and lots of hyper-cool Christopher Shy art. Totally worth the $30 I paid for it.
Lizard said:
Precisely the reason I'm interested in grabbing the main TS book for source material. And "Under Pressure". GURPS: Bio-Tech has been fantastic for this same purpose.
GURPS gives good source, eh.
Edit: I went to my local game store seeking out the new Gamma World. There were no copies yet to be had (or even on order
), but I found a (second edition, first printing) hardcover copy of Transhuman Space to keep my future-history wheels turning. It's a great book filled with tons of cool ready-for-mining info and lots of hyper-cool Christopher Shy art. Totally worth the $30 I paid for it.
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