Character Requirements

Player characters will be based on 100 points. This is slightly less than we are used to, for a number of reasons. First, I plan to start the game slow. I also plan to advance people fairly quickly early on. Second, I plan to use a three-card hand of Masterbook cards translated to GURPS. Third, I plan for the game to go on for a while, so the characters will certainly become more powerful as time goes on.

[ Vertical train on the side of one of LA's skyscrapers ] The PC group will be a reformer "cell". At least semi-secrecy is important in the Federated States for reformers in general. Because of LA's isolation and Admin Julien's dictatorial power, it is doubly important to take great care. There should be some discussion of how "dirty" we want the group to be at the outset. Are they over, clean-cut Troomer Party activists with semi-secret backers? Or are they skulking back-room espionage-style ideologues?

I am going to require everyone to have a reformist Patron or some version of Vow/Higher Purpose/Code of Honor/Duty that will truly dedicate the PC to change, even if it is for selfish reasons. This will be the first "hook" for a PC group (others will be cooked up.) Any psi order (except the Norca) or Aeon Trinity will fulfill this requirement. (Norca-loyal PCs are allowed, but required to take another reformist-motivation Advantage or Disadvantage.)

I am going to be very generous with Contacts and Allies at character creation. These will help me construct the game and I will reward you commensurately for helping me out.

GURPS Trinity Materials

NEW STATS

PSI POWER: This stat is the average of your IQ and HT. It is the basis for all psionic skills. Technically, baselines and Aberrants have this stat as well, but they cannot access it.

Psi: This stat is like the Psi pool in the Trinity book. It determines things like the range of your abilities, the power of the abilities, and how often you can use them. The starting psion has Psi 2 (see Advantage: Psion, below). Psi can never rise above your PSI POWER stat. Like the Power stat in GURPS Basic's psionics rules, it costs 5 points per level.

ADVANTAGE: Psion (15 points)

This provides the psion with: The Psi Orders and Aeon Trinity are Patrons that must be purchased separately. They are each worth 10 points. See the overview page for a quick rundown of the orders.

PSI ABILITIES

Each psi Technique costs 5 points to learn at a default of PSI POWER-4. Two of the Modes are Mental/Very Hard, and one is Mental/Hard (selected by the player at character creation). Remember, PSI POWER is the average of your IQ and HT. A full point must be put into "lower" Techniques before moving on to a "higher" Technique, though there is no reason you can't concentrate on improving a more complicated Technique rather than a less complicated one. Basic Techniques default to PSI POWER-3 and are Mental/Hard.

New Techniques will be fit into the hierarchy as best as possible, and are encouraged for players to write.

PSI ADVANTAGES

Psi Aptitude (15/25/35). See Magic Aptitude on B21.

Extra Psi Energy (3/6/9). This gives you +1 to +3 to your Psi score only for the purpose of determining how many psi abilities you can use before needing to replenish them. (not for range or power)

Psi Sink (2/4/8) (baselines and Aberrants only) This provides a +1 to 3 to ANY attribute for the purpose of resisting psi rolls (including damage, to-hit for imprinted bioware, and so forth.) However, it also makes imprinted bioware more difficult to use, or, in some cases, impossible.

PSI DISADVANTAGES

Non-Order Patron (-5) Because the psi orders and Aeon specialize in training and understanding psi powers and (as yet) the governments, corporations and groups of the world do not, they are not as good as the Orders at coping with the PC psion. GMs may apply limitations to the training and so forth as the game progresses.

Freelance Psion (-10) Independent psions have a very difficult time coping with the world and trying to make ends meet without being shafted by one of the Orders. Relations with the rest of the world are likely to be very cool for the freelance, especially in the psion-wary FSA.

Rogue Psion (-20) Rogues are actively hunted by one authority or another, since their motivations are inimicable to one of the Orders or Aeon Trinity. (This Disadvantage includes a fairly substantial Hunted disadvantage too.)

Dunked By Unfriendly Order (-2: Non-Ministry Telepath, -5: Non-Norca Biokinetic) Some orders (ISRA) will dunk whoever has the tendency to their sort of psi without keeping track of reciprocal triggering. Some orders will just take care of reciprocation themselves without expecting the psion to do anything in particular (Orgotek). The Legion will let you do whatever you want once your tour of duty is up. Others are not so generous: the Ministry generally expects at least a small favor in the future, and Norca is notorious for just re-appropriating biokinetics whenever they need them.

PSI SKILLS

Psi Resistance (Mental/Very Hard - no default). Like Running, this skill, divided by 8, adds to Will for the purposes of resisting psi abilities. This replaces the Psionic Resistance Advantage.

Venetian GURPS

Advantages

Cipher (2/4/6/8/10). This is as described in the Trinity book. The higher your Cipher, the more difficult it is for people to find information about you on the OpNet. 10 points is the equivalent of Zeroed.

Disadvantages

Can't Swim (-10). Everyone is assumed to be able to swim at a generous default level, and in ordinary circumstances will have no more trouble swimming than they will walking. However, those with this Disadvantage will not. Falling into deep water without a floatation device will probably result in drowning.

Skills

Watermusic Navigation (Mental/Hard, defaults to IQ-6, Area Knowledge-3 or appropriate musical skill -2). This is the ability to navigate around the ruins of Tidalay by the sounds of the sea.

Specific Psi Skills

Most psi powers in Trinity translate very easily into GURPS terms. However, there are a few differences between Trinity and GURPS that make a few powers slightly different.

Stun

To use the Stun power, the psychic must spend a Psi point. For every Elektrokinesis power purchased other than Stun, the range of the power is increased by one meter. (If you haven't purchased any others, the range is touch.) The degree to which the skill check is made is the penalty to the HT roll to resist the stunning. Once stunned, the character makes a HT roll every round to snap out of it, just as if stunned in normal GURPS terms.
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