Steve Jackson Games GURPS – Generic Universal RolePlaying System

Some thumbnails from arcangel's on-going campaign

Except for the con-bunch - the This Way Up and XenoSolutions characters - many of the characters here are designed to fit into a local campaign background.

The concept is that there is a lost human colony-world, New Garavar, which was founded by some stray generation ships. There are various aliens running around loose, too, in a loose confederacy. I have some stories set in this universe, which appear in PawPrints.

Thrals

Basically humans in blue body-paint. They have a rep as "instant thugs," and their government is essentially run by the Organization. They get +1 DX and +1 HT, mostly. Stereotype: Criminals.

Recently, Parva, a lost Thral colony, has been discovered. (Their world is based on GURPS Reign of Steel.) Stereotype: Poor relations.

Unars

Reptile men in space, but they're +1 ST and +1 IQ. They're heavy in sciences, especially medical stuff. Stereotype: Cold-blooded doctors.

Kintarans

Space-faring cat-centaurs, with lower-body ST of 20. They tip the scales at around 400 lbs. each, and have (among other things) a reputation for being rowdy, touchy and lecherous. They also have Curiosity at the -10 point level. Stereotype: Barbarians.

Kestralians

One-armed humanoids, specializing in drive tech (warp drive and thrusters; hyperdrive exists in this universe as well, but it's not used much). They don't sleep. Stereotype: Engineers. Created by ddumont@christa.unh.edu.

Kylarans

Very human-looking. Their home-planet is off-limits to everyone who isn't born there. Genetically, they split (at about 20-30/80-70 percentages) into Bad Tempered "warriors" who go out and become mercenaries and Self-Defence Only "pacifists," who stay on the planet for the most part. They're known for being Very Good at their specialites. Kylarans are created and explicitly COPYRIGHT 1996 by Jada Olson (JadaO@aol.com). Stereotype: Mercenaries.

Hive Beetles

Hive-minds - "queen" and "drones". The drones are the "workers," too, and the immobile queen has a special telepathic link with the non-sentient drones, with a range of one mile. They're also racial Practical Jokers. You really don't want to know. Not many have made it off their planet, fortunately. Walter Milliken's fault. Stereotype: Pests.

Hurricanians

Sentient slime-molds, often telepathic, rarely space-faring. Stereotype: Biochemists, porn stars.

Sparrials

From GURPS Aliens, (and GURPS Space, and Roleplayer #10) these are basically space-faring Kender*, but they steal to gain personal status instead of unconsciously. They're small, furry, and have a homeworld where consensual anarchy rules. They have a racial +2 to DX, and make great hot pilots. (We're also working on "Sparrial Judo" rules.) Stereotype: Smugglers.

Irari

From GURPS Aliens, pterodactyle-ish scientist types - reasearch is an Irari's life. They can still fly, though. They get a +2 or +3 IQ (I forget which, and the book's downstairs). Stereotype: Research Nutcases.

Fasanni

From GURPS Aliens. Five-foot-tall scarlet rats who get along with everybody real well. Stereotype: Journalists.

Tamile

From GURPS Aliens. Giant (well, up to six feet long and a couple high) singing slugs, often psionic. They have no starships of their own. Stereotype: Gentle artists.

Cidi

From GURPS Aliens. Foot-tall crosses between teddy bears and hamsters, but they HATE to be patronized. A recent addition, and currently possessing (apparently) a racial paranoia for some reason . . . No one is allowed to land on their planet. Stereotype: <none yet>

Kaa

From GURPS Aliens, these are snake-people (two arms, no legs, lots of tail, fangs, etc.). They're the Bad Guys - but fortunately a tech level below that of the Sector, for the most part. That doesn't stop them from nibbling at the edges. Stereotype: Villains.

New Garavarans (humans)

The humans have one major home-world (New Garavar), and a selection of others in the Sector that sort-of count. Notable are Preserve (where all the back-to-nature humans go), Lunatic Fringe (a Libertarian/Anarchist O'Neil colony), Pelageos (a water-world that was settled by some other batch of humans, regressed to primitivism), Alardin (patriarchal nutcases, from GURPS Space Atlas 4), and Byte (the computer and data specialists, from GURPS Space Atlas 1). AIs (Artificial Intelligences, as opposed to non-sentient Expert Systems or Personality Programs (I *hate* the term: "Artificial Sentience" . . . )) are fairly common, and though indentured to start with, can become free citizens (though usually with Status -1; New Garavar's a nice place, but it's not Utopia for everyone). Stereotype: Civilized.

For those who like Martial Arts, I'm working on the rules (and GURPS Martial Arts, 2nd ed. stats) for some New Garavaran sports, like Force-Sword tournaments.

If you want to know more, for some reason, read these Campaign Logs . . .


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