Campaign Overview - Horizon Effect
Campaign Name: Horizon Effect Starting Year: 2781 Bluefall Time
Genre: Hard SF/Medley Realistic or Cinematic: Cinematic Realism; inflated realism present in historical fiction
General theme: local control vs. global control; wants of many vs. wants of few
Genre: Hard SF/Medley Realistic or Cinematic: Cinematic Realism; inflated realism present in historical fiction
General theme: local control vs. global control; wants of many vs. wants of few
Campaign Background
Campaign's base planet: Bluefall.
Society/Government Type: Representative Democracy CR: CR 3 Exceptions to general CR: Transparent bioplastic, foods, various drugs and pharmaceuticals
Tech Level: TL 10 (Fifth Wave) Exceptions to General TL: Biomedicine edges into TL 11 setting wide; older starship designs maybe TL 11; alien tech can range from TL 0 to TL 12^.
Brief Description of important neighboring powers, political/economic situation, etc: Bluefall is "bordered" by the Verge Consortium and the Aquila Imperium, two major and opposing meta-empires. It's part of the Andromeda Regency, one of the largest of the meta-empires. Bluefall's economic situation is thriving and fast growing, since terraforming has recently completed planet wide and there is a large influx of population.
Society/Government Type: Representative Democracy CR: CR 3 Exceptions to general CR: Transparent bioplastic, foods, various drugs and pharmaceuticals
Tech Level: TL 10 (Fifth Wave) Exceptions to General TL: Biomedicine edges into TL 11 setting wide; older starship designs maybe TL 11; alien tech can range from TL 0 to TL 12^.
Brief Description of important neighboring powers, political/economic situation, etc: Bluefall is "bordered" by the Verge Consortium and the Aquila Imperium, two major and opposing meta-empires. It's part of the Andromeda Regency, one of the largest of the meta-empires. Bluefall's economic situation is thriving and fast growing, since terraforming has recently completed planet wide and there is a large influx of population.
Info for PCs
Starting point value allowed for PCs: 500 points, but a minimum of two (2) characters are required
Disadvantage Limit: 50 points (for all characters; background and species templates are exempt from this limit unless edited)
Especially useful/useless character types: Characters must be equipped to handle a wide-range of potential problems and troubleshoot a wide range of different issues
Starting Wealth: $30,000. Players have about 80% of their starting wealth tied up in cost of living expenses such as clothing, food, and the like. Note all money must be spent at character creation.
Starting Status Levels allowed: Any.
Languages Available: The most common languages include Alandricht English, Alitarian Finnish, Bluefallen Portuguese, and Reach Cantonese, but these are many, many others. Players are recommended to invest in translator software.
Cultural Familiarities Available: The most widespread ones include Alandricht, Alitare, Bluefall, Procyon Reach, and the Sothic Ring, but most habitats/planets have their own unique cultures.
Especially Appropriate Advantages: Cultural Familiarity [1/culture], Language Familiarity [10], Social Chameleon [5]will help facilitate interacting with different cultures.
Especially Inappropriate Advantages: Most supernatural disadvantages are not not allowed.
Disadvantage Limit: 50 points (for all characters; background and species templates are exempt from this limit unless edited)
Especially useful/useless character types: Characters must be equipped to handle a wide-range of potential problems and troubleshoot a wide range of different issues
Starting Wealth: $30,000. Players have about 80% of their starting wealth tied up in cost of living expenses such as clothing, food, and the like. Note all money must be spent at character creation.
Starting Status Levels allowed: Any.
Languages Available: The most common languages include Alandricht English, Alitarian Finnish, Bluefallen Portuguese, and Reach Cantonese, but these are many, many others. Players are recommended to invest in translator software.
Cultural Familiarities Available: The most widespread ones include Alandricht, Alitare, Bluefall, Procyon Reach, and the Sothic Ring, but most habitats/planets have their own unique cultures.
Especially Appropriate Advantages: Cultural Familiarity [1/culture], Language Familiarity [10], Social Chameleon [5]will help facilitate interacting with different cultures.
Especially Inappropriate Advantages: Most supernatural disadvantages are not not allowed.
Special Abilities allowed for PCs
Cinematic Advantages Available: Absolute Timing; Daredevil; Double-Jointed; Enhanced Defenses; Intuitive Mathematician; Intuition; Luck; Perfect Balance; Photographic Memory; Social Chameleon; others restricted to specific template.
Cinematic Skills Available: Computer Hacking/TL; Weird Science (requires Unusual Background).
PC Mages? Not in general; in areas where there is an extensive but broken Angelnet/Hyper-Utility Fog effects similar to magic can be achieved using the Ritual Magic skill. In these rare situations, the rules for Ritual Magic (p. B242; GURPS: Thaumatology p. 72-76; GURP: Magic p. 200) are employed, and the GM is the final arbiter on what is and isn't possible but should keep in mind the nature of Angelnets as a distributed cloud of motile micro- and nano-bots that can link together to form different objects allowing it to replicate a number of different magical effects.
General Mana Level: The whole campaign is Mana Level 0, but areas with working but broken Angelnets can be up to Low for purposes of "magic."
Are PC Psis allowed?: No.
Are PC Gadgeteers allowed?: No.
Unusual Background cost(s) for these abilities: Unusual Background (Angelnetted Homeworld/Angelnet Manipulator) [1] to use Computer Programming (IQ/H); Unusual Background (Familiar With Precursor Tech) [10] for Weird Science. Note that individuals who live and work within the upper reaches of the ASAI may have both; Unusual Background (ASAI) [15] allows not only for the Weird Science skill but it also allows the individual to replace Ritual Magic (IQ/VH) with Computer Programming (IQ/H) for purposes of manipulating an Angelnet.
Cinematic Skills Available: Computer Hacking/TL; Weird Science (requires Unusual Background).
PC Mages? Not in general; in areas where there is an extensive but broken Angelnet/Hyper-Utility Fog effects similar to magic can be achieved using the Ritual Magic skill. In these rare situations, the rules for Ritual Magic (p. B242; GURPS: Thaumatology p. 72-76; GURP: Magic p. 200) are employed, and the GM is the final arbiter on what is and isn't possible but should keep in mind the nature of Angelnets as a distributed cloud of motile micro- and nano-bots that can link together to form different objects allowing it to replicate a number of different magical effects.
- Illusion and Creation; Making and Breaking; and Sound - these colleges can generally be allowed without review.
- Air, Earth, Fire, Healing, Movement, Necromancy, Protection and Warning, Technology, Water , and Weather - these colleges have specific spells that may strain credibility (i.e., Body of X spells) but are otherwise possible; remember that even though "souls" may not exist, an AI uploaded into the Angelnet works very much like a soul or spirit. Also remember that while some spells - i.e. Fireball, Lightning - are wholly possible, the Angelnet has a sense of self-preservation and will not destroy itself, meaning that these spells generally don't work, or have a steep penalty associated with them.
- Food - most spells but the ones that create food are possible, since the micro- and nano-bots are generally not edible. However, if the local Angelnet also acts as a fabricator (and not all do), then all bets are off.
- Animal, Body Control, Communication and Empathy, Mind Control and Plant - GMs should review the nature of the spell before allowing its use; some are plausible, others are not. Examples of ones that are plausible that wouldn't seem such on the surface include Rider Within and Soul Rider (through use of manipulation of neurology and the radio-transmitters on the micro- and nanobots); ones that can't work include the Shapeshift spells or anything that violates conservation of mass.
- Knowledge and Light and Darkness - these colleges are generally allowed, but most spells (i.e., removing shadows) require alterations that the Angelnet isn't capable of. Examples of ones that can work include Dark Vision (which involves the Angelnet using nanobots to recreate an image of the world in the occipital cortex based on the Angelnet's awareness of everything within it; this effectively allows the user to see without light; mechanically it's similar to how the Rider Within and Soul Rider work). Ones that can't include Prehistory (the Angelnet cannot recreate events that happened before the Angelnet existed).
- Enchantment, Gate, and Meta-spells - these colleges are generally not possible.
General Mana Level: The whole campaign is Mana Level 0, but areas with working but broken Angelnets can be up to Low for purposes of "magic."
Are PC Psis allowed?: No.
Are PC Gadgeteers allowed?: No.
Unusual Background cost(s) for these abilities: Unusual Background (Angelnetted Homeworld/Angelnet Manipulator) [1] to use Computer Programming (IQ/H); Unusual Background (Familiar With Precursor Tech) [10] for Weird Science. Note that individuals who live and work within the upper reaches of the ASAI may have both; Unusual Background (ASAI) [15] allows not only for the Weird Science skill but it also allows the individual to replace Ritual Magic (IQ/VH) with Computer Programming (IQ/H) for purposes of manipulating an Angelnet.