GURPS-Gygax75: Week 1

Last weekend I began the Gygax 75 Challenge using GURPS to create an SF-inspired Universe for roleplaying. Today, I want to update you on the journey and share the outcome of Week 1.

Recap: The Gygax 75 Challenge

Legendary podcaster Ray Otus has spoken about something called “The Gygax 75 Challenge”. In short, it’s a 5-step process to get you going with a D&D-style fantasy campaign. Ray, being who he is, decided to transform that process into a mini-zine which he published via his Plundergrounds Patreon. In short, I liked the idea of doing this challenge.

The five steps are:

• Establish a setting concept.
• Develop the surrounding area.
• Create 1-3 levels of a dungeon.
• Detail a sizable, nearby town.
• Build the larger cosmos of your setting.

“You are allowed one week, (no more, no less!) for each step. This may sound a bit overwhelming, but don’t overthink it! Just get started.”

Ray Otus, The Gygax 75 Challenge

Week 1: Establish the Setting Concept

The main goal for Week 1 was to write down 5-7 well-crafted bullet points that will “pitch” the world to the players. Each bullet should be concise and focused (one to three direct, related sentences).

The other goal was to build a stack of resources, ruminate on them, and reference them in your bullets. In Ray’s own journey, this seems to have taken the form of art and film as much as stories and books. For me, it was RPG sourcebooks.

You can read my initial bullet points in the last post. Suffice it to say, they have morphed. Here goes:

• There is a dark secret that almost no Human in the Universe knows: in the far distant past, Humans evolved on a world that was a prison to powerful and morally corrupt group of beings composed of an energetic animus, capable of feats that early Humans learned to describe as magical. These prisoners became known as “Demons”.
• Humans learned to replace their dirty and limited energy resources with the energy derived from this captive species. While it cost the imprisoned “Demons” many of their brethren, teaching Humanity how to reach the stars meant that they could escape their prison.
• Humans exploring the Known Universe in faster-than-light hyperspace starships built an Empire that spread across 10,000 stars and brought a golden age of exploration and discovery. This Empire has been brutally attacked, destroyed, and reduced to ruins by an Alien species which appears to be particularly focused on destroying the energy technology of the Humans. Most people don’t know the reason for this war. 
• In some parts of the Empire, Humans fight on to defend their colonies and homes, while much of the rest of space is filled with ruins and struggling survivors trying to rebuild now that the Alien forces have swept through. In my initial subsector, Human survivors are visiting worlds to exploit the resources and transport goods back to safer worlds. Colonial bases are being re-constructed as waypoints.
• The Terran technology level is like that of Classic Traveller – harder SF best exemplified by the laser pistol with a belt power pack and a cable to connect the two. Magic, unknown and hardly comprehended by Humans, is a primary element in “technology” of the Aliens.
• Characters in this universe are to be more “realistic” and will be built with believable personal motivations. (Low-powered, around 75pts)

In terms of resources, I have stacked a goodly pile of GURPS sourcebooks together. The most important of these are GURPS Basic Set (for the rules), GURPS Space, GURPS Thaumatology, and GURPS Ultratech. I have also placed Monster Hunters, After The End, and several GURPS Traveller supplements near the top.

Into Week 2…

Step 2 is to develop the surrounding area. The Gygax 75 Challenge, being based on playing D&D, is obviously assuming a Fantasy world. I am going to adapt this to my SF setting by simply replacing the 1-hex-per-mile hexmap with a 1-hex-per-parsec subsector map in the Classic Traveller style. It looks like GURPS Traveller First In can provide a decent process for generating a subsector map, so I plan to utilise it as a random generator and general source of inspiration.

I need to include:

• One world of a significant population size (as a starting point).
• Two other worlds with settlements.
• One major “terrain feature” within the subsector.
• One mysterious site to explore.
• One dungeon entrance.

I am going to interpret the “dungeon entrance” pretty literally – a large underground location filled with interesting stuff and dangerous challenges. That said, Week 3 is the time to worry about the details: right now, I just need to locate an entrance.

Hope that sounds interesting. Game on!