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GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 3 Born of Myth and blogger.com GURPS Fantasy Tech 1 - The Edge Of blogger.com GURPS Monster Hunters 2 The blogger.com 6/10/ · GURPS Collection opensource Language English GURPS Lite is a page distillation of the basic GURPS rules. It covers the essentials of character creation, combat, Nearly all of this material has been incorporated into GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition and GURPS Powers, most in substantially revised versions. So have the gadgeteering rules. In 26/06/ · Download GURPS For Dummies Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle. This is it—the key that unlocks the riches of GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) and gives you a An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS® from Steve Jackson Games GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, ... read more

Chairman Victor Paul Richardson Federalist Party YY Born in San Antonio, Richardson had previously served as Governor of Texas, President of the United States, and President of the United Americas. He boosted Federation military spending and attempted to improve coordination between the various national fleets, but found this difficult to get through the Council and Assembly. Nevertheless, his preparedness program was a major reason that the Federation was able to withstand the Romulan onslaught when war broke out in Y He retired from politics after his second term, writing books about politics and history, and becoming president of Texas Tech University. He died of a heart attack shortly after being reelected by a larger margin in Y The chairmanships of Hortefeux and Tankanv are regarded with admiration by many historians, despite the political difficulties they faced in centralizing Federation power.

Tankanv returned to Andor and became High General of the Andorian National Guard. Chairman Abdel Naguib Taleb Union Party Y71Y A native of Alexandria, Egypt, Taleb took office following the razor-thin electoral victory of the Unionists in Y His government confirmed bipartisan support for the formation of the United Star Fleet and expanded the military infrastructure to support its operations. The first of the Republic-class starships were laid down during his administration. Due to family concerns, he retired after one term in office. After a promising start, her administration was rocked in the last two years by a slowing economy, as well as a series of diplomatic blunders involving non-aligned planets, giving rise to a series of reforms in Star Fleet and the Diplomatic Corps. This eventually resulted in the adoption of the Prime Directive in Y Tensions with the Kzintis were growing in this period as well.

A war was narrowly averted in Y83, but this was only a temporary respite. She spent parts of her childhood on Vulcan, Rigel, and Tellar, and was educated at the best universities on Earth and Andor. Despite her cosmopolitan views and wide-ranging education, her chairmanship brought mixed results. On the positive side, she negotiated a series of commercial treaties with the Klingon Empire following First Contact with that species in Y She felt that the Klingons were natural allies of the Federation, despite the dictatorial nature of their government, due to the threat posed to both powers by the sentienteating Kzintis. Her internal economic policies also succeeded in boosting domestic growth rates. Isenhavel had serious problems holding the Federalist coalition together after the Kzintis struck.

Forced from the chairmanship after the Y90 elections, she remained in the public eye, founding the Foundation for Interstellar Union, a private organization encouraging greater cooperation between member worlds. Her work in this regard gave her broad popularity with the public, and she was elected Federation President in Y Her public support for the controversial Federation Defense Act in Y helped Chairman Rustvem pass the legislation through the Assembly. Chairman Sudheendra Kulkami Federalist Party YY A human from Calcutta, India, Kulkami took office following the narrow Federalist victory in the wartime Y90 elections. Although they won the election, a schism in the party between conservative and moderate factions over the course of the First Federation-Kzinti War made it impossible for Chairman Isenhavel to continue in her post. Kulkami, a compromise candidate, was able to bridge the gap and led the war effort to a successful conclusion. As Chairman Sissah-Al did during the Romulan War, Kulkami brought leaders from other parties into the cabinet during the war.

The Federalists won these elections, but did not obtain an outright majority and were forced to rely heavily on the support of the Conservatives and smaller right-wing parties to form a government. The coalition collapsed during the severe economic recession of Y, forcing a new election. One key component of his plan was solving the poorly defined border problem in regards to the Kzintis and Klingons, resulting in the Border Declaration of Y The limit was defined by the distance from the capital to the Romulan Neutral Zone. It included territory claimed and in some cases occupied by both the Kzintis and Klingons, and set the seeds for future conflict with both empires.

His second term was dominated by the outbreak of war with the Klingons in Y Star Fleet performed well in this conflict, and the war ended with a status-quo-antebellum arrangement within less than a year, which Formin believed was due to his diplomatic prowess and which his opponents including some of his allies in the Council believed was due to internal Klingon politics. By the end of his tenure economic growth had slowed again, thanks to a breakdown in trade agreements between Orion, Andorian, and Tellarite industrial cartels. Member planets were also stalling on the disbandment of the National Fleets Chairman Rustvem Federalist Party YY The Federalist Party was elected in late Y on a platform of solving economic problems, and centralizing and strengthening Star Fleet. Chairman Rustvem, an Andorian economist, used momentum from the election to push through the Federation Defense Act, upgrading Star Fleet while also creating the National Guards to act as a reserve and local defense force.

Sixteen Orion starships and over 9, crewmen mutinied and disappeared, heading to secret Orion colonies in Romulan space and forming the core of the Orion Pirates, thus humiliating the Rustvem government. Although a vote of no-confidence in Y failed, the Federalists were blamed for the Orion mutiny and Rustvem lost most of his political capital. Chairman Sanal Union Party YY The Unionists won election handily in Y, on a platform of using scientific research and colonial exploration as a way to unify the bickering member planets. Chairman Sanal, a well-known Vulcan diplomat who had served as the ambassador to the Federation for several years, successfully negotiated a series of agreements that eased tensions between Andor, Tellar, and Vulcan interests, although some aggressive Earth and Orion corporations remained dissatisfied.

In Y, Sanal pushed through the Exploration and Expansion Act, beginning a massive program of exploration toward the galactic core. The Unionists were reelected in Y, but cost overruns in the exploration program and the mysterious disappearance of the Aurora Colony in Y caused a major political scandal. Former president of the United States of Africa and a cabinet minister in the last Federalist government, he cut back the expensive Unionist exploration program and reduced taxes. The last year of his tenure was marked by increasing tensions with the Kzinti Hegemony over planets such as Cygnus and Mantor. In October Y, a Kzinti cruiser acting without orders destroyed the Federation police ship Behan, but last-second negotiations prevented the outbreak of war. An exhausted Obasanjo suffered a debilitating stroke in November Y, but the moderate and conservative wings of the Federalist party were unable to agree on a candidate to replace him as Chairman, forcing an election several months earlier than constitutionally mandated.

Chairman Ignacio Guerrero Juarez Union Party YY A human from Monterrey, Mexico, Chairman Guerrero took office after the Unionists barely won the hastily called March Y election. He was thrown into crisis almost immediately due to the outbreak of war with the Kzintis in August. The new Kzinti Patriarch, seeking resources from the disputed regions to fund planned future wars with the Klingons and Lyrans, believed that the Federation was weak and politically fractured by democracy and the constant arguments between member planets. But the Kzintis gravely underestimated Federation resolve.

The initial offensive, while successful on the surface, failed to knock the Federation out of the war with the first blow, and the superior Federation economy eventually ground the Kzintis down. Like most wartime Federation leaders, Guerrero brought political opponents into his cabinet during the conflict. Guerrero proved to be a very effective war leader, rallying morale and support even after initial reverses along the Kzinti front. The war was brought to a successful conclusion in Y, formalizing the pre-war border and bringing Cygnus, Mantor, and many 17 HISTORY AND CULTUREX other worlds firmly into the Federation orbit. Guerrero and his government were easily reelected in the euphoria that followed. However, his second term was much less successful.

Internal disputes between member planets over as usual economic concerns split the moderate and liberal wings of the Unionist party, bogging down the Council and Assembly in infighting and leading to a Federalist resurgence in Y Chairman Rena Manfe Federalist Party YY Alpha-Centauran political figure Rena Manfe took over as Chairman following the Federalist victory in the Y election. Disagreements between Vulcan, Andor, Tellar, and Orion over admitting new worlds to the Federation were particularly common. When the Conservative Party left the coalition with the Federalists in Y, Manfe was forced to call new elections. Chairman Qnorna Kannal Union Party YY Granddaughter of popular Chairman Moerv Kannal, Qnorna Kannal led the Unionists to a victory late in Y on a platform promising economic revival, a new exploration drive, and a reform of Star Fleet and the rest of the Federation military. Kannal backed a major expansion of the National Guard and planetary defenses, in part to make sure that there were plenty of local government contracts available to satisfy the various member planets.

Star Fleet was not expanded in terms of fleet size, but additional money was allocated into technological research to improve the quality of the fleet, and to provide more jobs and reduce bickering among the member planets. This program was successful in reducing economic friction between the various worlds. All three wars were resolved through negotiation. Kannal presided over the signing of the Treaty of Pelione that that ended the war with the Romulans and re-established the old border and neutral zone. Formal diplomatic relations were opened and strictly controlled trade began to cross the border for the first time.

The Organian Peace Treaty ended the conflict with the Klingons. Brokered by the powerful but not omnipotent Organians, the new treaty allowed for economic development and scientific exploration of uninhabited planets within the neutral zone between the two powers. The Organians also agreed to act as neutral arbiters in disputes between the two powers. Alas, in some ways the treaty actually increased tensions, rather than preventing them, as many planets within the neutral zone became focal points for conflict rather than cooperation. The upgrade of border base stations to battle stations which had begun much earlier was completed in Y Here, the Federation apologized for attempting to colonize the territory of the then-unknown Gorns, while the Gorns paid reparations for the destruction of the Federation colony on Cestus III. That planet was beyond the limits of the Y declaration, and its establishment had been hotly debated.

The Federalists felt that since no one was there, the limit was not relevant. The Unionists felt that the principle was important, and that there were plenty of worlds inside the declared limit. When it was discovered that there was another species in that direction, the Federalists were humiliated. The Gorns were happy to accept a border based on the Y Border Declaration. Trade routes were established, and the two sides began a series of diplomatic and cultural exchanges. Reelected by a huge margin in Y, Kannal herself believed that this flurry of diplomacy only postponed a wider war, although she did not make this belief public, as she still hoped to avoid it.

In her second term, she began pushing for greater military spending, but found this difficult to get through the Assembly. The Klingon-Romulan Treaty of Smarba brought the two empires closer to each other, and boxed the Federation in. Kannal attempted to counter the closer relations between the Romulans and Klingons by opening up the Romulan Empire to the galaxy through détente; she hoped to reduce the Romulan xenophobia, and to pursue closer relations with the Kzintis and Gorns. Kannal also began a new exploration drive toward the galactic core, looking for more resources. This was highly controversial, as any sustained drive would quickly go beyond the Y Border Declaration. By the end of her second term in Y, Kannal felt that war was still possible but no longer inevitable, provided that wise leadership remained in power.

She retired to academia at the end of her tenure, but during the General War she returned to public life and served as the ambassador to the Gorns under the Baranov and Kirnad administrations. She helped convinced the Gorns to join the war in Y In Y, she was assassinated. The culprits were never caught, but Romulan operatives were suspected. Chairman Randolph C. Buckner following the Unionist victory in the Y elections. An experienced figure in the politics of Luna, United Earth, and the Federation, Buckner had served in two previous Unionist cabinets, was a general in the United Earth Defense Organization, and was considered the ideal and obvious candidate to follow up Kannal.

His military policy was more controversial. Star Fleet wanted to build new classes of ships carriers, a new class of light cruisers, light dreadnoughts, fast cruisers, and more while Buckner wanted to restrict the military budget to spend more on social programs and focus more of the military budget on National Guard forces popular with Unionist politicians who increasingly used this as another social program. As a compromise, Buckner supported the modernization of existing Star Fleet ships, adding drone racks and more phasers, and accepted the design and production of a very limited number of new ships, with an equal number of old light cruisers placed into mothballs. Opposed to spending so much money on new ships, Buckner allowed that program to become law without his signature by refusing to sign or veto it within the Chartermandated period of 30 days. Buckner put little political muscle behind the modernization program, bending to domestic economic concerns and limiting the pace of refits and new construction.

This program, while helpful, was far less than what Star Fleet wanted or needed, and left the Federation unprepared for the war to come. Buckner and the Unionists were reelected narrowly in the spring of Y on a platform of keeping the Federation out of the Second Four Powers War while supporting the Kzintis with massive sales of weapons and supplies on credit. Tensions with the Klingons were very high, but a diplomatic initiative to resolve the crisis collapsed when the Organians, who had served as neutral brokers for 15 years, disappeared. At that point everything fell apart. Buckner had several personality flaws that made him a poor war leader. He was a micromanager, and found it very difficult to delegate responsibility to those who knew more than he did. Outwardly confident, inside he was plagued with self-doubt and guilt. When the invasion began, Buckner panicked and began interfering with military deployments in an attempt to stop the onslaught. His political opponents accused him of using the fleet to shield the worlds of his political allies.

Some historians agree with this, while others believe that Buckner was simply incompetent and out of his depth. The front stiffened in Y when the Klingon offensive ran out of its initial stockpile of ships and supplies. Romulan and Klingon ships even raided Federation member planets. By the middle of the year, the situation seemed almost beyond hope. Vice Chairman Baranov and several others disagreed with this decision and wanted to fight on or at least hold out for better terms , but were outvoted. Star Fleet was outraged and the Federalist Party called for a vote of no confidence, which was stalled by parliamentary maneuvering.

Born in Vladivostok in Y, Baranov was a dynamic figure. He had no military experience, but was extremely skilled in economics, politics, and diplomacy, and was a quick study about any topic to which he put his mind. Baranov faced an immediate crisis in the looming noconfidence vote, which the Unionists were certain to lose. Faced with the choice of defeat or resignation, he masterminded a political compromise, pointing out that a no-confidence vote and hurried new elections in the middle of an invasion would disrupt the Federation government at the worst possible moment. To remain in power, he formed what was effectively a coalition government with the Federalists, naming noted conservative Federalist Andorian politician and jurist Aelastok Kirnad as Vice Chairman, and retired Admiral Kincaid MacKenzie as Defense Minister.

Buckner had forced MacKenzie to retire because he was pushing too hard for construction of new classes of ships. While nothing was said in public, rumor had it that Baranov had reached a deal with Kirnad: the Unionists would run the Federation while the Federalists would run the war. Over time, Baranov earned the respect of his Star Fleet advisors, showing a deep understanding of the major strategic and operational dilemmas of modern war. His diplomatic initiative to the Gorns and the appointment of former chairwoman Qnorna Kannal as ambassador succeeded in bringing the Confederation into the war against the Romulans in Y, creating the Grand Alliance. Although Baranov held office for only three years, he is credited by many historians with saving the Federation, energizing the people and the economy, and providing outstanding leadership in the darkest hour. His critics claimed that he simply got out of the way of Kirnad and MacKenzie. Not unexpectedly, the Unionists lost the Y elections, but few held Baranov responsible.

Baranov served as a symbol of unity and hope for the remainder of the war. Kirnad himself turned out to be an excellent war leader. Like Baranov, the Andorian politician avoided military micromanagement and concentrated on tending the political and diplomatic side of the war. His first order was to launch Operation Wedge, which separated the Klingons and Romulans and turned the war around. Kirnad won reelection by a large margin in Y, but at that point warweariness began to set in as economic strains and the failure of several Alliance offensives hurt his standing. By the time the Organians reappeared in Y, the pre-war borders had more or less been re-established, with both sides conducting tedious attrition operations that made any kind of strategic victory impossible. When Kirnad and the Council accepted the Organian proposal to mediate a ceasefire, a political firestorm exploded.

Some conservatives claimed that the millions of dead had been betrayed by the cowardly Kirnad accepting a ceasefire that ended the war with no territorial gains, but most agreed that the Federation had never wanted anything more than status quo antebellum. Some liberals claimed that the warmongering Kirnad administration had dragged the war on for at least three years, and that the ceasefire could have been negotiated much sooner without so much additional loss of life. Faced with the collapse of his position in the Council and Assembly, Kirnad called for early elections. Chairman Millard M. Torrance Unionist YY The Unionists under the leadership of Millard M. Torrance won a very narrow victory in Y From the major XHISTORY AND CULTURE colony world of Sigma Draconis IV, Torrance was a wily political operator in domestic political matters, but was out of his depth as a leader of a major empire.

These negotiations failed dismally. The ISC considered the wartime destruction of the Romulan capital planet Remus a deliberately genocidal act, and was convinced that the Federation was just as irrational and violent as any of the other major powers. Torrance lasted just over one year in office, forced to resign after an investigation by a major trivideo news program exposed severe corruption in dispersal of government contracts benefiting his supporters. The Progress Party threatened to pull out of coalition with the Unionists and collapse the government if Torrance did not bow out. Torrance resisted at first, until President Baranov himself, in an unusual move, publically pressured him to resign. Chairman Ises Lerona Unionist YY A military hero of the General War, retired Alpha-Centauran National Guard General Ises Lerona who had never been a member of any party had been brought into the Unionist government as Vice Chairman by Torrance during his attempt to unify moderate and liberal factions in the party during the Y elections.

Later investigation found very few cases of actual profiteering, but the contractors that supplied Star Fleet its ships and weapons did make enormous profits when counted in total credits. The percentage profit was very low, but even a tiny percentage of huge expenditures was an astronomical total. She appeared on path to reelection in Y, but the Andromedans began massive attacks on Federation facilities three months before the elections, hurting her standing. He presided over Operation Unity and the final defeat of the Andromedans. Easily reelected in Y, his second term was marred by domestic political missteps and economic problems that dramatically reduced his popularity. Chairman Tinian Bock Federalist YY A heroic starship captain of the General War who had served as Defense Minister under Deng Mei, Admiral Bock from the Titan Colony was not expected to win the elections of Y, but a scandal in the Unionist Party a month before the vote resulted in his narrow upset victory.

Very little is known of his term in office except for reports of political bungling that nearly caused a new war with the Klingons. He was soundly defeated in his bid for a second term by an electorate that apparently believed they had made a mistake in Y There is little about him in the historical record; all that is known is that he was very popular, and was reelected in Y Government Agencies The Federation maintains many agencies and bureaus managing the affairs of the government. Both the President of the UFP and the Chairman of the Council maintain their personal offices in the city of Paris on Earth, while the Council itself and the General Assembly meet and conduct business in the city of San Francisco. The various government bureaucracies will have a main headquarters on one of the Federation core worlds, but also maintain satellite locations on worlds throughout the Federation.

In the early days of the Federation, warp travel was not nearly as safe, convenient, or rapid as it was in later years. As a result, when Earth was selected as the seat of government, many ministries were located there for the sake of efficiency, to be closer to the Assembly, Council, and President. This caused controversy among some of the other members, but the wide dispersal of government contracts among different planets, as well as the establishment of satellite facilities on other member worlds, mollified most opposition. The bureaucratic flow chart is rather complex. Government is divided into several ministries which provide overarching direction and support for their respective bureaus.

Each ministry is headed by a cabinet minister appointed by the Chairman with the approval of the Council. Each bureau has numerous secretaries and under-secretaries who are also appointed by the Chairman and approved by the Council. For more details, see the section on the Federation military. There are three main bureaus: Bureau of Planetary Treaties The Bureau of Planetary Treaties manages relations between the Federation and independent planets within recognized Federation space. MINISTRY OF ECONOMICS This ministry is the largest of the civilian-oriented ministries. It contains many bureaus and sub-bureaus, some of which have overlapping responsibilities which can lead to infighting and duplication of effort. Rather, the purpose of the Ministry is to encourage economic growth and to ensure that economic relations between member planets operate as smoothly as possible. Important bureaus within this ministry include: Bureau of External Relations This bureau manages relations between the Federation and outside empires Klingons, Kzintis, etc.

Bureau of Embassies, Immigration, and Tourism This bureau is responsible for the day-to-day operation of embassies and consulates, including the issuance of passports, visas, guest worker permits, and immigration permits. It executes policy but does not determine such policy. Bureau of Agricultural Affairs This bureau is responsible for the development of sustainable agricultural practices on Federation member worlds and colonies. It funds research into new crops and farming techniques, is charged with ensuring the safety of the food supply, and assures distribution of foodstuffs among the various Federation colonies. It is headquartered in Ames, Iowa, on Earth, with a huge agricultural research complex based at Iowa State University. Similar facilities exist in Canada and the Ukraine on Earth, on Alpha Centauri, and on Tellar. The BAA maintains hundreds of agricultural research colonies throughout the Federation, and charters thousands more run by private groups.

Its bureaus include: Bureau of Arbitration This bureau provides a source of neutral arbitration to help solve disputes between member planets that regular diplomacy has been unable to resolve. As part of Federation membership, planets agree to submit disputes to a panel of mutually agreed neutral arbiters. If the parties cannot agree on such a panel, the Bureau of Arbitration selects the panel with approval of the Council. Bureau of Data and Statistics This bureau generates economic statistics, providing reams of non-partisan and objective data for the use of government and private analysts. Bureau of Industrialization This important bureau helps ensure that trade between the various planets is conducted on a fair basis, and enforces minimum wage and worker safety regulations. The bureau also provides economic aid and grants for struggling planets, and works hard to help new member worlds integrate their economies and industries into the Federation without undue disruption.

Galactic Cultural Exchange Agency This agency encourages exchanges of culture between the various Federation worlds, providing funding for art exhibits, plays, trivideo programming, documentaries, and literature. The GCEA provides travel grants to help artists and writers travel from world to world, encouraging the dissemination of information and exchange of ideas between worlds. Bureau of Tariffs and Trade This bureau coordinates trade regulations with nonFederation entities, including independent planets within Federation space as well as the larger outside empires such as the Klingons, Romulans, Kzintis, and Gorns.

There is little if any trade with the Tholians. MINISTRY OF JUSTICE Headquartered in the city of Stockholm on Earth, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for the administration of justice and the maintenance of sentient rights within the Federation. Other Bureaus Other departments within the Ministry of Economics include the Bureau of Weights and Measures and the Federation Patent Office. Most crimes are minor and are punished by fines or community service. Major crimes merit imprisonment, but prison focuses on education and training in both ethics and job skills to avoid the social causes of crime. All member planets are required to bring their prisons and penal systems into accordance with Bureau of Penology standards in regards to living conditions and rehabilitation opportunities as a condition of Federation membership.

In some cases, particularly for violent crimes, criminals convicted by the judicial systems on member worlds are turned over to the Central Bureau of Penology for their rehabilitation. If such imbalances and flaws can be corrected, the Federation reasons, such individuals can still make a positive contribution to society. It is supposed to cooperate closely with the Ministry of Economics; however, some of their responsibilities overlap, and there is often considerable tension and infighting between the two ministries and their respective bureaus. Federation Commission for Colonization The FCC acts as the clearing-house for all planetary survey data submitted to the Federation. This data can come from Star Fleet, UESPA and similar exploration agencies from other member worlds, private corporations, universities, or independent scouts.

The FCC then decides which worlds warrant further study and colonization. The Commission is charged with distributing such worlds in a fair and equitable manner. The FCC must present a yearly report to the General Assembly. It is expected to accept recommendations from the Assembly, but in general it is free to make its own decisions. The FCC is very powerful. The selection of the Minister of Development and the FCC Director-General is one of the first things a new Council Chairman does, and the decision is closely scrutinized by the Assembly and the independent press. Complaints about FCC allocation of colony worlds are a common plank in election campaigns. The BGR is responsible for the distribution and allocation of mining and resource rights in solar systems not directly controlled or colonized by a member world, through the generation and distribution of Claim Certificates. Such certificates can be sold or transferred with BGR approval.

For example, 23 Librae is a G5V main sequence star about 84 light years from Sol. The system has a system of six planets, but none are habitable or particularly resourcerich. Aside from an automated navigation beacon maintained by the Federation Police, the system was ignored for more than a century after it was initially mapped by the Vulcans in Y Investigation revealed Interstellar Court of Justice The main judicial department of the Federation, the ICJ establishes the system of Federation law, rules, and regulations that are enforced in all locations directly controlled by the Federation.

Individual member worlds operate their own systems of justice, although as a condition of membership in the Federation they must abide by the principles of Sentient Rights laid forth in the Federation Charter. Crimes committed on colonies or facilities directly controlled by the Federation fall under ICJ jurisdiction. Cases of treason, espionage, or crimes committed by citizens of other empires also fall under ICJ jurisdiction. The ICJ has various levels, beginning at the provincial level and rising to the highest level, the Federation Supreme Court. Judges serve a year term. They may be renominated, but by law no judge can serve on the court for longer than 20 years in one lifetime. The Volan Mining Company of Prelaria which owned the Brelarus immediately put in a claim with the BGR to exploit the find. The BGR approved the application, granting Volan a claim certificate for the planetoid.

But the discovery encouraged a new look at the system by other entities. Several Terran, Martian, and Orion corporations dispatched ships to study the system in greater depth. Martian Mining and Manufacturing put in claims on several asteroids with significant mineral deposits. However, MMM never actually exploited the asteroids, and the claim certificates were eventually sold to Volan. Weygand-Yulani eventually won the claim, resulting in a series of lawsuits and complaints that the BGR was biased against the Orion cartels that had also put in claims. However, the cost of fighting the lawsuits, combined with the high overhead involved in extracting what proved to be just poor-to-medium-grade topaline from the moon, made the operation barely a break-even proposition for WY.

With approval from the BGR, the topaline mine was sold off to Volan Mining in Y, giving the Prellarian company control over all mining rights in the system. MINISTRY OF HEALTH The Ministry of Health, headquartered on Vulcan, administers the system of hospitals and health clinics throughout Federation space. Physicians in private practice submit their bills directly to the Ministry of Health. Federation Emergency Management Agency FEMA was originally a part of the Ministry of Development. However, in Y, the outbreak of famine on an important Earth colony caused a major scandal. FEMA was accused of mismanaging the crisis due to too much Development Ministry red tape, which was true. FEMA responded that the agency was underfunded, which was also true.

As a result, FEMA was split off from the larger agency and became an independent department with greater funding levels in Y FEMA is responsible for coordinating relief efforts and distributing emergency supplies to member worlds or colonies in danger due to natural or other disasters. Headquartered in the city of Augel on Rigel IV, FEMA cooperates closely with Star Fleet, the National Guards, and the Federation Police. The FRB is headquartered in the city of São Paulo on Earth, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH, AND SCIENCE Headquartered in Gennake Metropolis on Alpha Centauri, this ministry is responsible for encouraging the free dissemination of knowledge and learning throughout the Federation.

Bureau of Education The Bureau of Education provides funding support for universities and colleges, as well as both public and private research institutions. Federation Science Bureau This bureau provides for the exchange of scientific and technical data to all member species, providing equal technological accessibility for all. The bureau also reviews all new technical proposals from public and private entities, provides grants for promising avenues of research, and provides recommendations to the General Assembly and Federation Council over scientific issues. port duties and restrictions by planets inside the Federation. In theory, free trade is the rule, and any planet can freely ship its products to markets on other planets at least, those not under quarantine or protected by the Prime Directive.

The realities of biology provide exceptions. Common substances on one planet may be powerful narcotics or dangerous poisons to a species residing on another planet, and all planets have the right to ban the importation of such substances. Planets are also allowed to prevent the importation of goods or substances which are defective or contaminated, and some planets have more restrictive environmental laws that others. It is illegal to ship just about anything containing lead or bismuth to Earth, for example. There are also extensive laws to prevent predatory trade practices. A planet which pays its workers seven credits per hour can be prevented from shipping finished goods to a planet that pays its own workers 12 credits per hour, as this would destroy local industries. No planet wants another planet to export its unemployment. No one in the Federation is actually unemployed, see the Social Contract section below, but all planets prefer their workers to be in productive jobs rather than taxpayer-funded community service.

All of this is seen by some planets as a means to prevent the importation of items which would compete fairly or otherwise with local industry. Such trade disputes are resolved by the Bureau of Arbitration. Galactic Intelligence Agency The GIA provides independent intelligence analysis for the UFP. This includes signals intelligence, historical analysis and study of cultural trends, forecasts for the future, diplomatic assessments, and espionage operations on independent worlds within Federation territory and within other empires. The GIA is forbidden by law to operate spies on Federation worlds, or to spy on Federation citizens.

Counter-espionage is supposed to be handled by local authorities and the Federation Police. In practice these rules are often difficult to follow, especially in war time, and are often bent or outright ignored. The GIA has a stormy rivalry with Star Fleet Intelligence. GIA Headquarters is located in the city of Berlin on Earth. No system has ever shown that it can generate wealth and economic productivity as well as capitalism. But at the same time, history also shows that the weak and powerless the sick, the elderly, children do not do particularly well under a purely capitalist system. Excessive boom and bust cycles that outstrip the ability of private charity to deal with social problems provoke political backlashes: the excesses of 19th-century Social Darwinist early capitalism on Earth, for example, provoked the reactions of reformist democratic socialism and destructive totalitarian communism.

Most species which adopt a capitalist economic form went through similar development crises, trying to find a balance between the pure free market and a total command economy. The dilemma is this: if the government raises taxes too much, and provides too many social services, it will choke off growth and discourage work and wealth creation. A rising tide may lift all boats, but some of them get swamped when the weather gets stormy, and at times the passengers drown. But the Federation economic engine is extremely dynamic and robust, and Federation citizens enjoy the highest standard of living among all the major empires.

The harder you work, the more you will get ahead. Education and health care are provided to all citizens of the Federation. Education at public schools from kindergarten through high school is free to all; tuition vouchers for certified private institutions are provided, as long as those institutions accept and teach the principles of the 25 HISTORY AND CULTUREX Federation Charter. All schools, public and private, must conduct standardized testing and those unable to deliver a quality education are de-certified. In all cases, students who cannot maintain an acceptable performance level lose their free tuition, but can pay for readmission. The military and some government agencies also offer a number of scholarships in exchange for later service. Many who get medical or engineering degrees agree to spend years on a colony world, for example. Health care is free of direct charge for citizens, through the series of public hospitals and clinics located on every Federation planet and funded by taxpayer credits.

Many doctors work for the government directly, while others usually specialists serve in private practice. The Ministry of Health, with input from the Federation Medical Association, revises the Table of Remuneration for Private Practice every two years. As medicine is a difficult discipline to master, physicians are given ample if not extravagant compensation in order to recruit the best and brightest minds to this critical profession. It should be noted that TL12 medical care is exceptionally good by TL standards, and that many difficult and expensive to manage or cure health problems for 21stcentury humans are easily curable in the Federation. Kidney failure, for example, required expensive dialysis treatments at TL At TL12, most kidney problems are easily solved through medication, or in rare cases artificial organs, eliminating the need for expensive lifelong treatments.

For a citizen of the Federation to die from a preventable or curable illness, or to be denied medical care for reasons of cost, is almost unthinkable. Aggressive corporations vie with one another in the strong consumer goods market. Mining, manufacturing, almost all heavy industry, food production, software, military equipment, general technology, and virtually all consumer goods and services are provided primarily by the private sector. There are huge corporations, smaller medium-sized entities, and untold countless mom-and-pop operations.

As part of the Social Contract, there is a minimum wage, enough for a nuclear family with a full-time breadwinner to keep house and hearth intact. Housing is not paid for by the government directly: people rent apartments or houses, or purchase them directly or with private mortgages, although the government does provide some guarantees to banks to encourage mortgage lending. In such cases, unemployment insurance is available for up to one year. At that time, if the recipient has not been able to find a job, they will be required to perform community service in order to receive their monthly unemployment credits. This can be anything from tutoring students, to tending a park, to fighting forest fires, to working for a road maintenance crew, to performing janitorial duty.

The point is for the individual to give something back to society in exchange for support during what is assumed to be a temporary period of unemployment. Such community service can sometimes morph into an actual government job, if there is an open position and the individual is properly qualified. Being an anti-hero is one version of lacking moral qualities. Either approach leads to characters with comparatively low point costs because they have low attributes, limited powers and skills, or massive disadvantages. In a setting where humorous and nonhumorous heroes coexist, the humorous ones may be built on substantially fewer points. The original Legion of Super-Heroes continuity, for example, included the Legion of Substitute Heroes, a team whose members had been rejected by the Legion of Super-Heroes as having powers that were useless or dangerous; a large part of their role was providing comic relief.

On the other hand, humorous heroes may exist on their own in entirely comedic settings. Anthropomorphic supers see p. Most of these campaign types are designed around heroes with a specific power level, from street-level heroes not much better than highly trained normal men indeed, many of them are highly trained normal men to world-shakers built on thousands of points. But comic-book universes often include heroes at all these power levels and sometimes bring them together in the same story or on the same team. A campaign can do the same thing. This setting needs careful management by the GM. Having the powerful supers win the battles while the weaker ones cheer them on is a guarantee of frustrated players. The stronger heroes in comics may use their powers ineffectively, leaving a role for the rest, but few players are this obliging.

One way to give the weaker members a role is to require heroes to have specialized powers, and to confront them with tasks that make such powers necessary. A team should be like a pantheon where each god has his own sphere. For example, the Avengers had Captain America as a charismatic and inspiring leader; the Justice League had Batman as their investigator and problem-solver. Here are some examples. Breaking the World Most campaigns, whatever their genre, have the same basic division of labor: the GM creates the world, and the PCs have to deal with it. But the most powerful supers can change the world.

But several memorable titles have set aside such restrictions, to show worlds where supers try to change things, and succeed. Among these were Watchmen, Miracleman, and The Authority. A campaign can take such alterations as its main theme, but to do so the GM should plan for it in advance. Instead of learning the hard way what mighty and determined characters can do, he should plan to let the PCs do whatever is in their power, and to show them the consequences. Characters can be built without the ethical limits that restrain standard supers, and perhaps with other disadvantages that force them to take action — for example, a Sense of Duty to humanity or the biosphere, or a Vow. villains pursuing evil the same way. Good is exaggerated: Heroes will never risk killing anyone, let an innocent person go undefended, break their word, or take unfair advantage of their enemies.

On the other hand, evil is often toned down: Villains often try to subdue or humiliate their foes rather than killing them, and many insist on playing fair with their foes. The laws of nature may even work differently. A battle that levels several city blocks may not kill anyone. Deaths occur only for dramatic reasons, such as establishing a revenge motive or showing heroic self-sacrifice. Outside combat, heroes lead upstanding lives, following all the rules of conventional morality. Effects of powers can include anything that could be drawn, animated, or imitated with a huge special effects budget, even if it violates natural laws: transmuting elements, creating matter out of nothing, growing or shrinking, seeing when invisible, and wielding mysterious forces unknown to physics are normally fine.

Cinematic Four-Color The classic style for supers; both DC and Marvel, along with their lesser competitors, followed it all through the Silver Age. In a four-color campaign, good and evil are clearly distinguished sides, with heroes pursuing good for its own sake and LARGER One step closer to realism than four-color supers, the cinematic mode follows the conventions of recent genre films, such as Batman Begins or X-Men. Many comic books now are also written in this mode! Motives are treated somewhat more realistically, and heroic codes of behavior are less exaggerated. In THAN LIFE 16 particular, cinematic heroes may use deadly force in emergencies, and villains seldom hesitate to do so.

Important characters still die only for dramatic reasons — but large-scale battles or catastrophes may kill bystanders accidentally. The level of disregard for natural laws is similar to that in a four-color campaign. The new rules presented in this book are mainly intended for use in four-color and cinematic campaigns. Powers that seem to violate natural laws require at least a plausible scientific explanation. This style works well in standard GURPS, without cinematic options or the special rules in this book. Gritty The gritty treatment of supers is a further step toward realism.

Its most important feature is that combat is realistically lethal and ugly. The game should also emphasize the emotional stresses of a life of combat and the toughness needed to withstand them. Crime-fighters in this style are more likely to carry guns or wear body armor rather than relying solely on their powers. Other conventions of the genre can also be questioned. Noir Noir is akin to gritty, but with an emphasis on moral corruption. The setting of a noir campaign should be a city whose LARGER officials have sold out to organized crime, or given up on trying to govern effectively. Heroes themselves may have a streak of dishonesty, but should be better than most of the people around them; however brutal or cynical they are, they have a core of decency. It works just as well for a present-day campaign of weird protagonists and mystical forces, or for upgraded heroes of a cyberpunk dystopia. Noir figures often display the ability to keep operating despite extreme fatigue, pain, or injury.

Ultraviolent Ultraviolent campaigns have the power level of four-color campaigns but the grim realism of gritty or noir game. In a traditional setting, a hero strong enough to destroy a tank can knock a street thug out with one punch; in an ultraviolent campaign, he can punch through his entire body or tear his head off — and is likely to do so. Some current series like The Authority and Squadron Supreme treat violence in this style. The heroes of ultraviolent games accept deadly force as part of their role. Silly The silly campaign goes off in a different direction — not toward realism, but away from it.

Heroes may be ineffective or clueless but their struggles work out for the best, or at least do no serious harm. Ironically, one way to achieve a silly campaign is to exaggerate the violence of a gritty setting and simply assume that none of the destruction does lasting harm. THAN LIFE 17 CHAPTER TWO HEROES Heat was a tangible presence in the underground room. It struck at St. One step at a time, careful not to spill its contents on the floor, he approached the quenching tank. Clouds of vapor filled his workspace, and slowly dissipated. As they settled, he approached the surface and saw a glint of light within. He reached out once more with the tongs and moved the crystal to a second container, this one filled with simple pure water for cooling. While he waited, he fixed his mind in meditation, recalling the formulae of the Great Synthesis, seeking the clarity of intent of the true workman.

At last he thought it had cooled sufficiently, and he took it up once more with the tongs and placed it in the receptacle he had prepared for it, a band of metal with a shallow cup in its inside surface. He picked up the band, measured for his own arm, and closed it just above his left wrist. At first he felt nothing, and he thought for a moment he might have failed. But it would take time, he realized, for the chemical influence to travel through the fluid medium of his blood, to reach his heart and his brain. And then — he did not reel, for reeling is a loss of balance, and his equilibrium had never been so certain; he was not intoxicated, for intoxication causes the faculties to fail, and his faculties were strengthened.

What he felt had the intensity of staggering drunkenness, but it led not to stupor but to an uncanny clarity. He looked at his own life, and weighed its vanities and deceptions in the new balance of his mind, and found it — less than he needed it to be. Well, there would be time enough to amend that. Time to become a different man, a perfected man. He picked up the tongs and ascended the stairs. As he came into the daylight, the gripping surfaces of the tongs had the glint of gold. More than in most genres, characters are central to supers adventures. The crucial step in deciding how the campaign works is to decide what kind of supers exist in it. Chapter 1 gave a first look at the options; this chapter explores the details. For superteams, this can be explained either by saying that the teammates all gained their powers from the same source and in the same measure, or by saying that heroes sort themselves out into power levels, with the heavy hitters joining a national or worldwide superteam while the lightweights stay in lesser groups that protect single cities, states, or small countries.

To create this kind of lineup, assign players a point value in one of the following ranges: Wild Talents: points. The heroes are normal human beings with one exotic ability or a group of related minor abilities; usually this supplements rather than replaces their normal skills. Best suited to a hidden heroes campaign see p. but Not Super Heroes, p. New heroes-in-training, who may have only one ability and no Talent, or one Talent and no manifested abilities, also work well in this power range. Low-Power: points. The heroes are better than any ordinary human being, and are well-suited to a street-level campaign or a game about advanced trainee heroes in a fourcolor setting.

It can also work for a hidden or weird heroes campaign. Moderate-Power: , points. The heroes have several powers at fairly high levels; individual human beings are no threat to them, and they can perform quite impressive feats. This is suitable for a four-color campaign; in one about darker protagonists, the existence of beings at this power level may make the world a scary place. High-Power: 1,, points. The heroes are a significant threat to governments; dealing with them may be an important political issue. Good for a world-shakers campaign, or to weird heroes who spend most of their time dealing with alien dimensions and mysterious inhuman powers.

A low-power hero with points in disadvantages may be believable if designed well; a high-power figure with points in disadvantages is almost always a caricature. GMs may instead want to set a limit of points in disadvantages, plus any that are campaign requirements like Duty, Secret Identity, or Social Stigma. GMs have the option of treating these power ranges as rough guidelines for players. Some GMs may want to consider wide-open games, where players first agree on character concepts and functional roles and then build their characters to those ideas, spending as many points as it takes to realize a given concept. This kind of campaign calls for more active management to make sure that all the players have something to do. It works best if everyone avoids overlap in their designs, with the high-powered heroes being massively capable in one or two areas rather than being able to do everything.

GMs may also want to place limits, not on point value, but on combat capabilities. A convenient reference point for these is the rules for scaling damage on p. B; these rules provide for dividing damage, HP, and DR by 10 or to avoid excessive dice-rolling. In high-powered supers campaigns, a further scale step may be needed: M- or millennium scale. These limits ensure that heroes on a given scale are not quite immune to attacks by other heroes on that scale. These are in addition to, not instead of, point value guidelines; a hero whose powers do not add to his ST, DR, or dice of damage may still be a formidable threat in ways that this scale does not capture.

I-scale divide by 1 : Maximum dice of Innate Attack or basic swing damage: 15d. Maximum DR: Maximum Damage Reduction factor: Maximum level of ST with Super-Effort see p. Heroes at this level are comparable to infantry forces. D-scale divide by 10 : Maximum dice of Innate Attack or basic swing damage: d. Heroes at this level are comparable to tanks. C-scale divide by : Maximum dice of Innate Attack or basic swing damage: 1,d. Maximum DR: 5, Maximum Damage Reduction factor: 1, Heroes at this level are comparable to large warships. M-scale divide by 1, : Maximum dice of Innate Attack or basic swing damage: 15,d. Maximum DR: 50, Maximum Damage Reduction factor: 10, Heroes at this level are more powerful than the largest military vehicles.

Rather than flatly prohibiting combat abilities above the desired scale, GMs may want to follow a suggestion from GURPS Powers: charging an Unusual Background cost for them. For this purpose, treat D-scale abilities as comparable to LC1 armaments, with an Unusual Background cost of points. Treat C-scale abilities as comparable to LC0 weapons, or strategic weapons, with an Unusual Background cost of points. M-scale abilities should have an Unusual Background Cost of points. Several patterns have emerged during the evolution of the genre. SOLO HERO The original pattern was the solitary hero. He may be the only one in his continuity, or he may coexist with others but have no interest in associating with them. Helpers like these could be player characters in a campaign. The hero is invariably more capable than his assistants and should be built with more character points, though this creates a risk of his overshadowing them, making their actions meaningless to the storyline except perhaps as comic relief.

GMs can give helpers a bigger role in three main ways. First, they can have skills that the hero lacks. Third, the GM can allow them a wider range of cinematic options discussed in chapters 6 and 7 than he allows the hero, letting them achieve dramatic successes at key moments. In such a campaign, the central hero can be either a player character or a non-player character. Strategically, the first option puts all the important decisions in the hands of the players; how the plot develops is the result of their choices. Dramatically, it encourages player-player scenes, but it also requires the hero to let the others make meaningful contributions. The second option puts all the PCs on an equal footing. GMs should choose the approach that best fits the personalities of their player groups. LEAGUE Some supers pursue solo careers, but also come together regularly or irregularly. They may join forces when one of them discovers an emergency that demands more than they can accomplish alone — a higher power level or a wider range of abilities.

The first such event can lead to establishing regular channels for requesting backup. They may go on to hold periodic meetings and compare notes. This was the original pattern for such classic groups as the Justice League of America and the Avengers. The Justice Society of America evolved into this model after starting out as a variant on it: the club, where heroes met to tell stories of their solo adventures and share data. HEROES 19 How closely league members work together varies. A big marker for this is whether they reveal their true identities to each other.

Keeping these hidden was common in Silver-Age teams; later comics more often show associations whose members trust each other with this information. Members of a league started out working solo, and usually continue to do so. They need to have suitable abilities, as discussed in The Formula see p. They should also have separate supporting casts discussed in Chapter 3. Most campaigns emphasize the major crises that bring the entire league together rather than solo adventures of the members. A GM who wants to spend more time on lone forays may find it useful to adopt a form of troupe-style play in which each player runs two or more characters.

Such organizations may be relatively small, like Alpha Flight, or large, like the Legion of Super-Heroes. The Avengers and the Teen Titans both followed that path, for example. They own a base, train together, and have a formal chain of command, much like police or military forces. As a solo hero he would need better fighting or protective abilities that could resist such attackers. Basic combat training is still desirable, and full-time teams often provide it. Players may want a theme for characters who always work together. Classic examples are the four elements, as seen in the Fantastic Four and the Elementals, and light and darkness, as seen with Cloak and Dagger and in Jade and Obsidian, two members of Infinity Inc. Thematic abilities are even more common in villain superteams discussed on p. Full-time team members in fiction often have smaller supporting casts because they have personal relationships mostly with teammates rather than ordinary human beings.

On the other hand, the entire group can have a supporting cast see p. LEGION Supers groups in roleplaying campaigns commonly have one member for each player, but some published groups are bigger than that. There are several ways to approach such large teams in gaming. For a slightly larger organization, the GM may introduce one or two NPC heroes as additional members. See p. A better approach is to have the players create the members of one squad within the team, who regularly work together and get assigned to suitable missions.

Or a team could maintain special-purpose crews, with separate functions like investigation, espionage, or street operations. Another option is troupe-style play, with each player running two or more heroes. Some large groups may assemble a new force for each mission, including one hero for each player. Others may have permanently assigned squads, with players alternately taking the roles of members of two or more different squads. Heroes who belong to large groups can be even more specialized in their abilities. Some players may play one combatant and one noncombatant, for more variety. This can be a common enemy or a disaster that they all have to deal with. They may simply all live in the same city and keep running into each other; for example, both the Marvel Universe and the Wild Cards series give New York a large superhuman population.

They may be celebrities who share the stresses of public visibility and media attention. Non-comics treatments of supers, such as Wild Cards and Heroes, can serve as models for a non-team campaign. A non-team campaign has to spend a good part of its time on the solo activities of the PCs, or on the two or three of them who happen to be together. Keeping this interesting to the players whose characters are off stage can be a challenge. HEROES 20 ORIGINS In addition to a power level, each super has an origin story that explains how he got his powers and what motivated him to pursue his specific mission. Part of planning a campaign is deciding what origins are possible. This choice reflects, among other things, the range of power sources that are available in the universe. Many origins can be conceived as encounters with a power source, which may be anything from a god to an innovative technology.

In classic universes, the choice of origins is wide open see Many Origins, p. Everyone has a unique beginning and powers have diverse sources. The best way to capture this sort of world in a campaign is to let the players come up with origins to suit themselves, incorporate their power sources into the understructure of the setting, and build the game around their choices. Many GMs set limits on power sources, and as a result on possible origins. In a stringently realistic campaign, powers may have to be scientifically and technologically plausible among other things, this severely limits energy output from powers! A broader approach may accept speculative or fringescience ideas like psionics or chi defined in terms of biomorphic energy fields or the like. A still broader one may accept any power that can be given a scientific-sounding explanation, but disallow divine, moral, and spirit abilities.

On the other hand, a modern-fantasy campaign may allow supernatural powers, but forbid any nonsupernatural violations of strict scientific plausibility. GMs influenced by science fiction may restrict players to a single source or origin, following H. In this setting, players have to show that their characters have powers with the permissible source and origins that involve encounters with it. Supers may all be mutants, or psis, or agents of higher moral powers. Even in such a world, heroes without powers may still be an option — for example, the Yeoman in the Wild Cards universe. A GM may also run a campaign where everyone is powerless, relying on high attributes, skills, and devices — for example, a classic pulp heroes background. For a somewhat freer campaign in the same style, PCs may be allowed to have powers, spells, or superscientific devices, but only one or two per hero, and they may have to be low-powered.

Finally, even if a universe allows many origins, all the members of a team may have the same origin. Two specific types are especially suited to this approach. FAMILY Some teams are based primarily on personal relationships among the members. For example, the Fantastic Four all knew each other before they gained their powers; in fact, it was because they knew each other that they were all together for their shared origin. Super families gain new members by developing new personal relationships. This happened a number of times with the Fantastic Four. It was also responsible for the development of the Marvel Family around the original Captain Marvel, published by Fawcett in the s and now more often referred to as SHAZAM, for the magic word that grants his superpowers. COMMUNITY Other teams are brought together by its members having the same background.

The prototype for this is the X-Men, a coalition of mutants; other possibilities would be aliens, artificially constructed beings, members of lost races, or wizards. A community-based team can recruit new members by seeking out other potential heroes with the same background. Some communities support more than one supergroup, and PCs may have to deal with a rival group of heroes or a group of villains with the same background see The Dark Mirror, p. The personal relationships within the team should be affected by their shared experiences as members of their particular community, and the character designs should all include suitable mental and social traits.

The X-Men introduced the concept of a school for supers into the genre, and several entries have developed it further, including the film Sky High. Attendance at a special school, particularly a boarding school, can itself be a form of community, as illustrated by martial-arts academies and schools of wizardry as well as supers colleges. ELEMENTS In comic books, most supers have powers. In GURPS, characters can often have powers. There are also supers with no powers at all, who get by with natural talents, highly trained skills, and possibly some cutting-edge technology. HEROES 21 POWERS In GURPS terms, a power has three game-mechanical features. First, it has a list of advantages, called abilities, through which the power can be expressed; these abilities should be based on a common focus or theme, such as fire, magic, or plants.

Second, it has a power modifier that can be applied to an advantage to turn it into an ability within the power; these modifiers are based on the source of the power, such as chi, psi, or spirits. For more information on powers, consult GURPS Powers. Such abilities can still be included within the framework of a power. A passive ability can be shut down by powers or devices that affect its source, or by the unpredictable nature of the source itself. GMs can look for indirect ways that Talent could affect a passive ability. GURPS Powers provides some examples: Power Block attempts based on Damage Resistance; improved HT rolls for crippling with Independent Body Parts or Unbreakable Bones; bonuses to Stealth skill for Invisibility. For example, superhuman strength is commonplace among supers see Strength and Super-Strength, p. A treatment that shut down his superpowers, though, would also reduce his food intake.

GMs may also design meta-traits that package together advantages and disadvantages and give both the same source modifier. For example, he might be resistant to injury because he has bony plates covering his skin, or his skeleton was reinforced with metal. Such traits can be bought as bare advantages, with neither a source nor an associated Talent. An advantage of this sort is usually an inherent trait, but it could also be the result of a transformative power, magical spell, or weird device. Which way a transformational ability works is usually a 0-point feature of the power; there are benefits and costs either way, as the example of Growth should suggest.

RACIAL TEMPLATES Some heroes are nonhuman beings of various types — not just mutants or members of lost races, but aliens, robots or androids, enhanced animals, or supernatural entities. Such beings have racial templates. If being a member of a race requires having a source, then being denied access to the source means death or long-term incapacitation. In GURPS terms this is Dependency. For example, dragons might be inherently magical to such a degree that being cut off from magic would kill them; this is Dependency on mana, an energy that is Very Common in most fantasy settings. On the other hand, racial templates can include powers if every normal member of the race has the ability in question.

For example, dragons might all have a flame power manifested as fiery breath, with a magical source. A no-mana zone would render dragons unable to breathe flame, but they would still be huge serpentine creatures with armor, claws, fangs, and massive strength. The ability to acquire a racial template can itself be a power, based on the Alternate Form or Morph advantages. Like any other transformational power, this can be taken either as actively maintaining the body in a specific form, or as reshaping it into a form that remains stable until modified again.

A single score of 20 puts someone into the street-level power range, while boosting all four to 20 puts him into the classic comicbook range. GMs may want to set the ceiling on attributes at 25 or 30 instead of 20 for super normals, especially for those who only take a single attribute at this level. SKILLS Some supers get along without any actual powers, simply by being amazingly skilled. These include both specialists, usually in combat skills such as archery or kung fu, and Renaissance men who are masters of many skills. Heroes who have skills of 25 and up can easily do things that an ordinary master of the skill would hesitate to attempt. In effect, a skill that high is the equivalent of a superpower — but one that the hero has learned.

Attributes and Skill Defaults Most skills in GURPS have default levels based on attributes. Those defaults are limited by the Rule of 20 p. B : if a basic attribute is higher than 20, skills default to it as if it were But some supers are universal geniuses, possessing many different skills at very high levels. Paying the points for all of them can get expensive! As an alternative, a GM might allow them to break the Rule of Apply the enhancement to attribute points in excess of 20; each point bought that way raises the limit for skill defaults by 1. Example: Divine Grace has DX She pays points for DX 22; she then buys four more points of DX with Super Attribute, which cost her points, for a total cost of points. The four points of DX with Super Attribute raised the normal limit of DX 20 for skill defaults to DX 24, so she has Acrobatics, Cloak19, and Knife, without spending points on them.

GMs may want to consider allowing heroes to purchase wildcard skills p. B; see p. In four-color or cinematic campaigns, GMs might want all characters to take wildcard skills, possibly with optional specializations. Genres other than comic-book adventure may have characters with equal breadth. Spock on Star Trek and Marshall Flinkman on Alias are just as good examples of Science! skill as Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four. One way to avoid this is to divide characters into two groups. Supers and major supporting characters — anyone who keeps coming back and has a name and a full character sheet — have access to wildcard skills. In effect, the first group is similar to Allies, and the second to Contacts. Skills and Talents In a campaign with a more realistic flavor, GMs should stick with skills of ordinary breadth. For heroes with high proficiency in several fields, GMs should define suitable Talents.

In supers campaigns, Talents may have more than four levels, and GMs may want to consider defining Talents for combat skills. SPELLS In a universe where magic works, the range of skills heroes can learn may include spells. However, such traits as Mana Enhancer could form part of a superpower that enhanced the use of learned magical spells. If the character is a brilliant scientist — or a powerful enchanter — these may be his own creations. Otherwise he may have a Patron who granted them to him in exchange for his services, or an Enemy he took them from, or he may simply have found them in some museum collection or crashed spacecraft. For a discussion of such devices, see Chapter 4. HEROES 23 Other heroes have advanced devices built into their bodies, as in the television series The Six Million Dollar Man. These can be defined as new power modifiers see p.

Entire robotic bodies may instead give the character Electrical or Maintenance as a disadvantage. SUPER-STRENGTH Superhuman strength is one of the most common superpowers in the comics. Unfortunately, increasing ST in this way makes it extremely expensive, if not impossible, to match the feats of comic-book crime-fighters. The rules presented here make it feasible. In four-color campaigns, the enhancement Super-Effort from p. It has the following effects: Lifting: As described in GURPS Powers, it allows heroes to lift extreme weights.

Find the number of points of ST bought with this enhancement in the Base Value column of the SuperAbilities Table see p. Striking: When you are striking a blow with Super-Effort, use dice of damage based on the supervalue. When you are engaged in any ST-based attack, add those dice of damage to the normal damage from the attack. This also affects knockback from the blow. Throwing: When you throw an object, use your supervalue bonus to figure throwing range, use the thrust damage based on it in figuring out damage from thrown objects, and use the BL derived from it in figuring out both of these.

Knockback Resistance: When something collides with you, if you have time to brace yourself, include your supervalue bonus in the ST score you use to resist knockback. This is a passive use of super-strength and does not cost FP. Fatigue Cost: Using Super-Effort costs 1 FP per lift, throw, blow attempted, or brace against knockback. For various reasons, a character might spend some points on ST without the Super-Effort modifier, and then add on more ST with the modifier. For example, he might be big and strong, even apart from his superpowers; he might be a giant, and need the extra ST to function at all. In other words, a character that has super-strength is stronger than any normal human being even without the benefits of Super-Effort. The columns for ST in the Super-Abilities Table are based on this assumption. B rather than looking them up in the table.

For such a character, list the ST that benefits from SuperEffort as an advantage, with its own point cost. Under Attributes, give two total ST values, separated by a slash: total ST without using Super-Effort, and total ST with Super-Effort. In GURPS Powers, Super-Effort only applies to Lifting ST. Super-Effort does not affect HP; to gain the ability to withstand massive damage, take Injury Tolerance Damage Reduction as discussed on pp. That is, each level of super-strength costs 40 points. In four-color campaigns, the applications of superstrength in combat are restricted to avoid injuries to normal human beings see p.

HEROES 24 section. For example, the Archetype template see p. A character might also take Striking ST, possibly with modifiers like One Attack Only p. This fits a hero whose muscles contract rapidly against light loads, but no harder than normal against massive loads — such as a speedster see the Speedster template on p. The Super-Effort modifier has no effect on HP; to get a character who can withstand massive blows, take Injury Tolerance Damage Reduction as defined on pp. The Super-Abilities Table gives point costs for Injury Tolerance factors higher than 4. Strength and Weight Increasing ST by adding muscle, bone, and sinew normally adds to body weight; see the Build Table on p. B or damage suffered from falls or collisions pp. B , and disregard it in figuring knockback p. The size of a dose of poison p.

B also is unaffected by ST or HP with a power source. Players may designate ST or HP with a power or source modifier as granting virtual weight or not, though the GM may override this and have all super ST and HP work one way or the other. Instead, this section discusses two other aspects of supers. Second, it discusses traits that reflect the special role of the hero — both his personal image and how he fits into his society and culture. Appearance See p. B21 Comic-book supers commonly have above average looks. Affliction See pp. B To teleport people or objects without teleporting yourself at the same time, buy Affliction Advantage: Warp. To limit this to small objects, add Exoteleport p. Then use the lower-cost version of Warp to determine the percentage for the Advantage modifier.

See Itching right for details. To enable it to counter super-strength, Binding can be taken with a new enhancement: Special Enhancements Super-Binding: Through massive effort, you can create elaborately layered bonds and snares. This counts as extra effort, costing 1 FP per attempt. When you try this, ignore the normal extra-effort rules. Instead, find your level of Binding in the Base Value column of the Super-Abilities Table p. Itching Itching is an irritating condition. You are at -2 to DX for the duration of the itch. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. GURPS Lite is a page distillation of the basic GURPS rules. It covers the essentials of character creation, combat, success rolls, adventuring, and game mastering for GURPS Fourth Edition.

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This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below! Home Add Document Sign In Register. Supers GURPS, 4th Edition Home Supers GURPS, 4th Edition. Written by WILLIAM H. STODDARD Edited by ANDY VETROMILE Cover Art by DAVID DORMAN and JOHN ZELEZNIK Illustrated by JOHN Author: Steve Jackson Games. DOWNLOAD PDF. LARGER THAN LIFE but Not Super Heroes. SETS AND PROPS. Dell'Orto Martial Arts Guy , Scott Michael Harris The Pontificator , Martin Heidemann Pomphis , Steve Kenson Mastermind , Jason Levine Reverend Pee Kitty , Patrick Ley Hexslinger , Christian Maillefaud Cosmic Catman , Phil Masters, Brian Rogers Agent of THEM , and Emily Smirle Gal Dynamo GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.

Pyramid, Supers, e23, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. GURPS Supers is copyright © , , , , by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Some art copyright © www. All rights reserved. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this material via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. CONTENTS 2 Alchemical Preparations. AMAZING FEATS. CLASHES OF TITANS. Our address is SJ Games, P. Box , Austin, TX Please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope SASE any time you write us!

We can also be reached by e-mail: [email protected] Resources include: Pyramid www. Our online magazine includes new GURPS rules and articles. It also covers the d20 system, Ars Magica, BESM, Call of Cthulhu, and many more top games — and other Steve Jackson Games releases like Illuminati, Car Wars, Transhuman Space, and more. Pyramid subscribers also get opportunities to playtest new GURPS books! New supplements and adventures. For a current catalog, send us a legal-sized SASE, or just visit www. Our e-publishing division offers GURPS adventures, play aids, and support not available anywhere else! Just head over to e Everyone makes mistakes, including us — but we do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata sheets for all GURPS releases, including this book, are available on our website — see below.

Visit us on the World Wide Web at www. To discuss GURPS with SJ Games staff and fellow gamers, come to our forums at forums. The GURPS Supers web page can be found at www. Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin with B refer to that book, not this one. With its help, almost any power from the comics can be defined and balanced against other abilities. Their adventures are an entire genre, with its own themes and conventions. And there have been many comic book heroes with no powers at all. GURPS Supers is a guide to the supers genre. Building on the material in GURPS Powers, it shows how to use that book to run a campaign that feels like stories about supers.

Players who love game mechanics will find some here, especially in chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 1 of this book reviews the history of the genre and examines its key features. Chapters look at the heroes themselves; their supporting casts; and their equipment, costumes, vehicles, and bases. Chapter 5 examines the typical plots of comic book adventures and shows how to make them work in a game. Chapters 6 and 7 provide game mechanics for superhuman action. And Chapter 8 discusses the construction of supers universes as campaign settings. ABOUT THE AUTHOR William H. Stoddard acquired an early enthusiasm for reading and the English language, partly with the help of Silver Age comic books. This eventually led him into a career as a developmental editor, specializing in scientific and scholarly materials. He discovered roleplaying games in time to play Superhero and Villains and Vigilantes when they first came out; he currently plays in two campaigns, runs three, and writes game books, including the Origins Award winning GURPS Steampunk and his most recent book, GURPS Fantasy.

All this gives him more reasons for indulging in his other favorite hobby, research. The supers genre is still one of his favorites. He lives in San Diego, California, with his girlfriend of twenty-plus years, in an apartment that holds one computer, two cats, and far too many books — despite which he still visits two libraries as often as he can. Nearly all of this material has been incorporated into GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition and GURPS Powers, most in substantially revised versions. So have the gadgeteering rules. All of this material was inspirational for this volume, but almost none of it was specifically incorporated into it.

This is partly because the mechanical aspects have already been incorporated into the core GURPS rules, producing a more smoothly integrated system — rather than laying the same foundation, this book focuses on customizing that system to the needs of the four-color genre and a specific campaign world. The Scarab moved cautiously, not wanting to stumble over anything. Drawing attention to himself would be a bad idea; this part of the building was off-limits to the public, even during the daytime. The devotees might be eccentric, but many of them were wealthy; the police would side with them against a masked intruder. But his questions were too urgent for him to be bound by legalities. There, up ahead, was a source of light: a single fixture mounted above an alcove. Shielding his eyes, he peered into the shadowed space below and made out a door, and a still figure — a statue? no, it was moving now — a man, standing guard. As it stepped out into the light, the air seemed to shimmer as if his vision had blurred.

Then there were three figures, not one, all clad alike, and each holding two knives. They came down the corridor toward him; there must have been enough light for them to see him. He briefly considered whether it would be better to retreat — but any room guarded by a sorcerer would surely yield important information. He raised his staff. At least in this narrow corridor it would be hard for them to get behind him. Two of them moved ahead of the third. He struck one with his staff, but felt no resistance.

Were these glamours of some kind, then? But the one at his left slashed at his arm, and he felt the impact as the blade glanced off the metal bands of his armor. The three figures spoke, in unison, in a carrying whisper. You cannot defeat us. Listening carefully, he could tell that one of the three figures was breathing audibly, and he could feel the vibrations of its footfalls on the wooden floor. The other two had SOURCES no such physicality. Having found his true target he struck out, and as his staff slammed against its head the two creatures of goetia shimmered and faded away. He pressed forward against his dazed opponent, batting the knife from his left hand.

One final blow and the sorcerer was unconscious. Now to see if he could get through the door. Supers adventures, as a genre, came into being in with the first appearance of Superman in Action Comics. Every element of the story had precursors in earlier fiction, but the combination was new — and wildly successful. It was quickly imitated, as publishers rushed other titles into print. Over the following decades supers dominated American comics, and branched out into other media: film and television, novels and short stories, and roleplaying games. Most genres try to limit their wonders and marvels, tracing them all back to one fantastic premise; supers adventure usually piles them up, creating a world of open-ended possibilities. If the GM wants to run a campaign in such a world, this book shows him how.

All of them were changed in the process. Characters in such campaigns can still find inspiration in the older concepts. MASKED AVENGERS Earlier 20th-century fiction featured many heroes who fought crime or oppression in disguise and under pseudonyms. LARGER Some operated in historical settings, such as the Scarlet Pimpernel published , the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh published , Zorro published , and the Lone Ranger aired ; others were present-day adventurers, such as the Shadow published after earlier radio appearances and the Green Hornet aired In an early example of shared continuity see p. From these heroes, comic book heroes took the idea of fighting evil under a false name and in disguise.

GURPS Lite (Fourth Edition),Newest Books

GURPS FEDERATION The Good Guys of the Star Fleet Universe 1st Printing — updated for GURPS 4th Edition Written by John Sickels. Additional material by Steven P. Petrick, Gary GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 3 Born of Myth and blogger.com GURPS Fantasy Tech 1 - The Edge Of blogger.com GURPS Monster Hunters 2 The blogger.com 6/10/ · GURPS Collection opensource Language English GURPS Lite is a page distillation of the basic GURPS rules. It covers the essentials of character creation, combat, Nearly all of this material has been incorporated into GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition and GURPS Powers, most in substantially revised versions. So have the gadgeteering rules. In 26/06/ · Download GURPS For Dummies Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle. This is it—the key that unlocks the riches of GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) and gives you a An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS® from Steve Jackson Games GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, ... read more

Several Terran, Martian, and Orion corporations dispatched ships to study the system in greater depth. In spite of the known merits of careful planning, you may have to take the same tactic: if your players are floundering, throw some trouble at them. Tree pollen on this planet has unusual biochemical properties, acting as a stimulant for certain areas of the central nervous system of most humanoids. A mystery is rational. The setup is definitely mystery-like, usually in a hard-boiled or procedural format. It contains many bureaus and sub-bureaus, some of which have overlapping responsibilities which can lead to infighting and duplication of effort. As unscrupulous local businessmen or officials usually keep contacts with offworld pirates secret, cleaning up such contamination is usually possible, when detected.

These gurps pdf download are expressed in the form of Guarantees. But it allows you to do many mental tasks at the same time speeding up certain kinds of mental work. Dell'Orto Martial Arts GuyScott Michael Harris The PontificatorMartin Heidemann PomphisSteve Kenson MastermindJason Levine Reverend Pee KittyPatrick Ley Hexslingergurps pdf download, Christian Maillefaud Cosmic CatmanPhil Masters, Brian Rogers Agent of THEMand Emily Smirle Gal Dynamo GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Such crimes are good fodder for procedurals and hard-boiled stories. The Federalists won these elections, but did not obtain an outright majority and were forced to rely heavily on the support of the Conservatives and smaller right-wing parties to form a government. Police detectives gurps pdf download come across evidence of police corruption or misdeeds and be placed in a difficult ethical situation. You have been building up to this one scene; the hardest, most vital scene in your adventure.