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omorkaWell, no one has shown up for gaming other than ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bassfingers, so it's morphed into him and the Spouse playing each other random tracks off their iPods - mostly blues/Motown stuff. I'm debating whether I should make cookies anyway.
While I think about baking (or not), let's go ahead and start on the fifth installment of our adaptation of GURPS Jorune:
The sources cited for previous editions are still the primary contributors for this edition. We'll be pretty much out of Petersen and Pook's very helpful 3rd edition adaptation after this installment.
As previously mentioned, most skills for Jorune characters should be at TL 3 unless stated otherwise. It is highy unlikely that any starting character will have an Earth-Tec skill to start out with. Medical skills should be TL 5 unless stated otherwise.
First of all, let's visit some standard GURPS ads, disads, and skills that are merely tweaked for Jorune:
Advantages:
Status: The levels of Status for Burdoth and Jasp are as follows:
7 - The Dharsage of Ardoth; the Dharsage of Jasp
6 - any of the Sages of the provinces within Burdoth or Jasp
5 - any of the Lystras of the divisions of the provinces (roughly equivelent to governors)
4 - the Kesht and Keshtia (roughly equivalent to knights); the Chell of Ardoth; the Chell of Jasp
3 - the Chell of a smaller city (roughly equivalent to a mayor)
2 - the Drenn of the realm
1 - Tauther of good families or who have been recommended by respected Drenn; the yords and daijic of the city (equivalent to the royal guard)
0 - Tauther of poor families; the Toth (non-voting citizens) of the cities; merchants; wealthy farmers
-1 - Servants; poor farmers; unskilled laborers
-2 - Githerin (guilded thieves); dyte punks (poor urban muadra)
-3 - Street beggars; criminals & non-guilded thieves
Heridoth, the East and West Trinnu Jungle Lands, and North and South Khodre have the same system except they have no 7th level. The levels of Status for Thantier are roughly equivalent, ecept that level 7 is the Imperitur of Thantier, level 6 is the Generals of Thantier, level 5 is the Heads of the Old Families, level 4 is the other members of the Old Families, and there are no Drenn or Tauther - level 2 is the officers of the military. Similarly, salu have a parallel structure with similar names, but level 6 is the Prince Under Sea, and there is no level 7.
The levels of status for Dobre and Lundere are as follows:
6 - The realm's representative to the Council of Ardoth
5 - The realm's representatives to its own governing councils (known as Goueri in Dobre and Iriu in Lundere)
4 - The Chells of large cities
3 - The Chells of smaller cities; those who are recognizeds as Kesht in the human realms (note: this is a very small group)
2 - Respected members of the realm's military; heads of religious groups (in Dobre)
1 - Those recognized as Drenn in the human realms; heads of wealthy families; yords
0 - Pretty much everyone else
-1 - The authew (in Lundere)
-2 - Known criminals
-3 - Slavers
The crugar levels are simple: unifying military leaders are Status 6; other military leaders are Status 4; the dominant crugar of a village is Status 1; everyone else is Status 0.
Acubon owe their fealty to local chieftains of Status 3; respected fighters have Status 2 or 1, most acubon are Status 0, and those who are exiled from their realms are Status -1. A trarch chieftain is Status 2; respected fighters, metalsmiths, and crafters are Status 1, and all other trarch are Status 0.
Thriddle and shantha status are largely a mystery to everyone else. Thriddles of high status are known as Seers. Shanthas of moderately high status (Status 2?) are known as Copra, and those of even higher status (Status 4?) are known as Sholari.
If the few ramian who will speak about it are to be believed, ramian culture is relatively egalitarian. The infix "Denni" marks a ramian who is named as an ambassador and able to speak for the ramian as a whole; this appears to be somewhere around Status 4 or 5. The infix "Dichi" marks a ramian who can negotiate with other races, but cannot speak for the ramian as a whole; this appears to be something like Status 3. Ramian who master their rage and bloodlust, called the "Chiven Rachu-Eh," have a status something like Drenn in ramian culture (Status 2). All other ramian are Status 0. Whether there are leaders higher than the Denni is unclear.
Wealth: No one on Jorune, strictly speaking, has wealth higher than Filthy Rich. The Dharsages of Ardoth and Jasp might theoretically qualify for Multimillionaire on the basis of the ownership of the world's largest cache of Earth-Tec and the largest known outcropping of levitational crystals, respectively, but those are both priceless assets that probably could not actually be sold.
Cultural Familiarity: The major cultural groups are Burdothian, Thantieran, Drailian, Dau-ou-dehn (covers both blount and acubon), Jaspian, Crugar, Bronth, Woffen, Ramian, Thriddle, and Shanthic. Cleash culture is too alien for hominids or Children of Iscin to become familiar with. The human ones are all 1 point each for hominids; the others are all 2 points each, except for Shanthic, which is 5 points (and requires justification to the GM!). For Children of Iscin, all of theirs are 1 point each, and the others are all 2 points, except for Shanthic, which is 5 points (see above caveat).
Languages: There are a large number of languages on Jorune. Fortunately, the thriddle know all of them, and will teach them to anyone for a reasonable fee. The breakdown by difficulty is as follows:
Easy: Corastibon (corastin) (half cost for each level of the language)Medium: Boru (bronth), Chaun-Tse (crugar/cygra), Entren (human/boccord/muadra/salu), Inago (thivin), Thowtis(woffen), Troffa (trarch) (normal cost) Hard: Abahth (blount), Acuba (acubon), Gee'bo'ko'ushic (scarmis), Ngri-uk (croid), Rorch-ko (ramian), Triddis (1.5 times usual cost) Very Hard: Kk'tk'lik (cleash), Shanthic (double normal cost per level)
Note that there are also several different alphabets in use: Entren and Chaun-Tse both use the English alphabet, as do Acuba and Trarch on the few occasions when they are written; Boru and Thowtis use an extended alphabet including several Russian letters; Rorch-ko, Inago, and Corastibon all use a common 31-character symbol set that bears no relationship to any human alphabet; the croid and scarmis use a set of ideograms; the thriddle have their own 42-character alphabet; and the shanthas use a writing system that combines ideograms and a complex syllabary, using either or both depending on context. The blounth and croid are illiterate (in their own language, at least).
Remember that humans should record their dialect of Entren, and that it will be detectable to other Entren speakers (and most thriddle). Woffen should record whether they speak the Anasan or Lundere dialect of Thowtis. Acubon speaking Entren will have a tendency to put the verb first, which confuses native speakers.
Literacy (10 pts): This advantage is relatively uncommon on Jorune. Iscin-students, professional scribes, printers, querrids and others who spend significant time around thriddle, and accountants are the only ones likely to have it starting out.
Semi-Literacy (5 pts): Most tauther have this level of literacy. Those that do not start with it should learn it before becoming Drenn.
Skills
Beam Weapons - this is the skill necessary to fire most of the Earth-Tec weaponry. Most of the known ones are pistols, and the Dharsage is not known to let the rifle-style ones into the hands of any but his most trusted soldiers.
Electronics Operation - This is usually called Earth-Tec Operation by the inhabitants of Jorune.
Genetic Engineering - This skill is used to identify and use the various forms of biotechnology that have been left on Jorune by the original research colony, especially the incupods and recos. It is usually called Bio-Tec by those who practice it. (Note that biotech does not particularly upset the shanthas, unlike the use of electronic technology.)
Herb Lore/TL (3+2) - This is called "Limilate Lore" on Jorune, and allows one to locate and use plants known to have interesting or medicinal effects. It does not permit one to concoct elixers, as in standard GURPS, but some of the limilates have similar effects due to the isho influences.
Pharmacy/TL (3+2) - This skill is usually known as "Limilate Preparation" on Jorune, although the effects are largely the same. Take the herbal specialization; the preparation of synthetic limilates has not developed yet.
Riding/Animal - The possible animals that can be ridden on Jorune are bochigon (12-foot-tall behemoths something like a cross between a giant camel, a rhinoceros, and an army transport), horses (basically the same as on Earth), lothern (slow-moving, short-legged creatures the height of an elephant and significantly longer) , talmaron (an eyeless, featherless flying creature the size of a pony), and thombo (Jorune native creatures the size of draft horses that can travel on either two legs or four). All of these are DX/Average except for talmaron, which are DX/Hard.
Savoir-Faire - Every race, sub-race, and nation has its own Savoir-Faire skill. Etiquette is extremly important on Jorune; saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can have consequences ranging from a heavy club being slung at your head to an invasion of your nation. Most non-humans living in Burdoth will know Savoir-Faire (Burdoth) as well as their own; for example, a muadra tauther will almost certainly have both Savoire-Faire (muadra) and Savoir-Faire (Burdoth), and might also have Savoir-Faire (Caji) if s/he belongs to a secret society.
Now, some new ones:
New Advantages:
Drenn Points (special): As tauther travel about Burdoth and beyond, they accumulate marks on their challisk, the metal badge that marks them as one trying for drenn-ship, from drenn, kesht, and noted members of other races. The goodwill and honor that these marks represent are tracked in game terms by one's Drenn Points. A character can apply to become a Drenn at a number of points determined by their race:Humans - 50 DP Boccord - 60 DP Muadra - 70 DP Woffen - 80 DP Bronth - 90 DP Salu - 90 DP Any other race - 100 DP If one's application is turned down, one can attempt again after accumulating 20 more DP. None of the NPC races can become Drenn through the process of tothis, although a few thriddle have received the title for immediate and impressive service directly to the Dharsage. If desired, a Drenn can continue accumulating DP after achieving his or her title; at (150 + the number of points required to apply for Drenn-ship) one is eligible for Kesht-ship, although this is granted only by the Dharsage himself - getting the interview may be an adventure in and of itself! The GM will tell you when you have gained a DP, but keeping track of them is the player's responsibility.
Tra-Vision (50 pts): Many natives of Jorune, including the shanthas, have no eyes; instead, they directly perceive the isho around them. This gives them a complete, three-dimensional, 360° perception of their surroundings that cannot be blocked by smoke or darkness. This is the truth of which Tra-Sense is just the shadow. It is (just barely) possible for a character with Isho Awareness to purchase this advantage in play, with shanthic assistance.
New Disadvantages:
Odious Personal Habit/Thriddle Language Complex (-5 pts): Hominids and Children of Iscin who learn Triddis, the thriddle language, at the Native level invariably find that the structure and style of Triddis are leaking back into their own language. This results in using gargantuan words when diminutive ones would do, constructing sentences out of multiple dependent clauses, speaking in extended similes, and worst of all, compulsive listing. (Note that almost all thriddle do this no matter what language they are speaking in, also.) This results in a -1 to reaction rolls from anyone trying to speak with the affected character.
Poor Color Vision (-5 pts): This is an incomplete form of color blindness. You can tell that things are colored, and you can clearly tell red from blue, but red and green appear to be the same color to you, as do blue and yellow. This results in a -2 to any artistic or fashion-related skills that require the use of color. All woffen have this disadvantage, which is one reason they gravitate towards black, white, and grey as clothing choices.
Scatter-Brained (-10 pts): This is the disadvantage for which the paired advantage is Common Sense. Any time you do something too sensible and intelligent, you must make an IQ roll or somehow foil what you are doing. All scarmis have this disadvantage, but it also shows up in occasional blount, woffen, and (rarely) humans. It never occurs in Bronth or Trarch.
New Skills:
Naull Reading - This skill allows one to interpret the patterns of a naull orb, a projection of one's isho that can be created by anyone with Isho Manipulation or the projective form of Isho Resistance (that is, anyone who can weave a dysha, Unweave a dysha, or Interfere with a dysha). It is considered polite for one to display one's naull orb when entering a kerning bay, or when asked by someone; in some primarily muadra areas, it is considered part of the normal process of an introduction. Someone who successfully reads a naull can tell which Colors of isho a person is attuned with, and on a critical success can get an idea of his or her emotional state. One does not have to be able to form a naull to read one.
Sis-Naun (Physical/Hard - no default) - This is a martial art skill developed by the people of Glounda and the Trinnu Jungle Lands. It is equivalent to the Karate skill. Note that the cinematic martial arts are not avaiable on Jorune; other forms of unarmed combat available are Brawling, Boxing, and Wrestling. The shantha have a martial art of their own, but they will not teach it to humans, or even muadra.
Thikes (Physical/Easy - defaults to DX-4, Brawling-2, or Boxing-2) - These are metal and leather gauntlets with artificial claws at the tips and a set of sharpened spikes on the backs of the hands. The skill to use them as weapons involves striking with the spikes and raking with the claws. They are not suitable for parrying, although they do provide DR 1 to the hands. They do thrust/impaling damage, cost 100 gemules, weight about a pound apiece, and have a range of Close. They are popular with gladiators and the jungle fighters known as jers.
Next installment: professions and types (I'm not going to do full templates, sorry).
bassfingers, so it's morphed into him and the Spouse playing each other random tracks off their iPods - mostly blues/Motown stuff. I'm debating whether I should make cookies anyway.While I think about baking (or not), let's go ahead and start on the fifth installment of our adaptation of GURPS Jorune:
The sources cited for previous editions are still the primary contributors for this edition. We'll be pretty much out of Petersen and Pook's very helpful 3rd edition adaptation after this installment.
As previously mentioned, most skills for Jorune characters should be at TL 3 unless stated otherwise. It is highy unlikely that any starting character will have an Earth-Tec skill to start out with. Medical skills should be TL 5 unless stated otherwise.
First of all, let's visit some standard GURPS ads, disads, and skills that are merely tweaked for Jorune:
Advantages:
Status: The levels of Status for Burdoth and Jasp are as follows:
7 - The Dharsage of Ardoth; the Dharsage of Jasp
6 - any of the Sages of the provinces within Burdoth or Jasp
5 - any of the Lystras of the divisions of the provinces (roughly equivelent to governors)
4 - the Kesht and Keshtia (roughly equivalent to knights); the Chell of Ardoth; the Chell of Jasp
3 - the Chell of a smaller city (roughly equivalent to a mayor)
2 - the Drenn of the realm
1 - Tauther of good families or who have been recommended by respected Drenn; the yords and daijic of the city (equivalent to the royal guard)
0 - Tauther of poor families; the Toth (non-voting citizens) of the cities; merchants; wealthy farmers
-1 - Servants; poor farmers; unskilled laborers
-2 - Githerin (guilded thieves); dyte punks (poor urban muadra)
-3 - Street beggars; criminals & non-guilded thieves
Heridoth, the East and West Trinnu Jungle Lands, and North and South Khodre have the same system except they have no 7th level. The levels of Status for Thantier are roughly equivalent, ecept that level 7 is the Imperitur of Thantier, level 6 is the Generals of Thantier, level 5 is the Heads of the Old Families, level 4 is the other members of the Old Families, and there are no Drenn or Tauther - level 2 is the officers of the military. Similarly, salu have a parallel structure with similar names, but level 6 is the Prince Under Sea, and there is no level 7.
The levels of status for Dobre and Lundere are as follows:
6 - The realm's representative to the Council of Ardoth
5 - The realm's representatives to its own governing councils (known as Goueri in Dobre and Iriu in Lundere)
4 - The Chells of large cities
3 - The Chells of smaller cities; those who are recognizeds as Kesht in the human realms (note: this is a very small group)
2 - Respected members of the realm's military; heads of religious groups (in Dobre)
1 - Those recognized as Drenn in the human realms; heads of wealthy families; yords
0 - Pretty much everyone else
-1 - The authew (in Lundere)
-2 - Known criminals
-3 - Slavers
The crugar levels are simple: unifying military leaders are Status 6; other military leaders are Status 4; the dominant crugar of a village is Status 1; everyone else is Status 0.
Acubon owe their fealty to local chieftains of Status 3; respected fighters have Status 2 or 1, most acubon are Status 0, and those who are exiled from their realms are Status -1. A trarch chieftain is Status 2; respected fighters, metalsmiths, and crafters are Status 1, and all other trarch are Status 0.
Thriddle and shantha status are largely a mystery to everyone else. Thriddles of high status are known as Seers. Shanthas of moderately high status (Status 2?) are known as Copra, and those of even higher status (Status 4?) are known as Sholari.
If the few ramian who will speak about it are to be believed, ramian culture is relatively egalitarian. The infix "Denni" marks a ramian who is named as an ambassador and able to speak for the ramian as a whole; this appears to be somewhere around Status 4 or 5. The infix "Dichi" marks a ramian who can negotiate with other races, but cannot speak for the ramian as a whole; this appears to be something like Status 3. Ramian who master their rage and bloodlust, called the "Chiven Rachu-Eh," have a status something like Drenn in ramian culture (Status 2). All other ramian are Status 0. Whether there are leaders higher than the Denni is unclear.
Wealth: No one on Jorune, strictly speaking, has wealth higher than Filthy Rich. The Dharsages of Ardoth and Jasp might theoretically qualify for Multimillionaire on the basis of the ownership of the world's largest cache of Earth-Tec and the largest known outcropping of levitational crystals, respectively, but those are both priceless assets that probably could not actually be sold.
Cultural Familiarity: The major cultural groups are Burdothian, Thantieran, Drailian, Dau-ou-dehn (covers both blount and acubon), Jaspian, Crugar, Bronth, Woffen, Ramian, Thriddle, and Shanthic. Cleash culture is too alien for hominids or Children of Iscin to become familiar with. The human ones are all 1 point each for hominids; the others are all 2 points each, except for Shanthic, which is 5 points (and requires justification to the GM!). For Children of Iscin, all of theirs are 1 point each, and the others are all 2 points, except for Shanthic, which is 5 points (see above caveat).
Languages: There are a large number of languages on Jorune. Fortunately, the thriddle know all of them, and will teach them to anyone for a reasonable fee. The breakdown by difficulty is as follows:
Note that there are also several different alphabets in use: Entren and Chaun-Tse both use the English alphabet, as do Acuba and Trarch on the few occasions when they are written; Boru and Thowtis use an extended alphabet including several Russian letters; Rorch-ko, Inago, and Corastibon all use a common 31-character symbol set that bears no relationship to any human alphabet; the croid and scarmis use a set of ideograms; the thriddle have their own 42-character alphabet; and the shanthas use a writing system that combines ideograms and a complex syllabary, using either or both depending on context. The blounth and croid are illiterate (in their own language, at least).
Remember that humans should record their dialect of Entren, and that it will be detectable to other Entren speakers (and most thriddle). Woffen should record whether they speak the Anasan or Lundere dialect of Thowtis. Acubon speaking Entren will have a tendency to put the verb first, which confuses native speakers.
Literacy (10 pts): This advantage is relatively uncommon on Jorune. Iscin-students, professional scribes, printers, querrids and others who spend significant time around thriddle, and accountants are the only ones likely to have it starting out.
Semi-Literacy (5 pts): Most tauther have this level of literacy. Those that do not start with it should learn it before becoming Drenn.
Skills
Beam Weapons - this is the skill necessary to fire most of the Earth-Tec weaponry. Most of the known ones are pistols, and the Dharsage is not known to let the rifle-style ones into the hands of any but his most trusted soldiers.
Electronics Operation - This is usually called Earth-Tec Operation by the inhabitants of Jorune.
Genetic Engineering - This skill is used to identify and use the various forms of biotechnology that have been left on Jorune by the original research colony, especially the incupods and recos. It is usually called Bio-Tec by those who practice it. (Note that biotech does not particularly upset the shanthas, unlike the use of electronic technology.)
Herb Lore/TL (3+2) - This is called "Limilate Lore" on Jorune, and allows one to locate and use plants known to have interesting or medicinal effects. It does not permit one to concoct elixers, as in standard GURPS, but some of the limilates have similar effects due to the isho influences.
Pharmacy/TL (3+2) - This skill is usually known as "Limilate Preparation" on Jorune, although the effects are largely the same. Take the herbal specialization; the preparation of synthetic limilates has not developed yet.
Riding/Animal - The possible animals that can be ridden on Jorune are bochigon (12-foot-tall behemoths something like a cross between a giant camel, a rhinoceros, and an army transport), horses (basically the same as on Earth), lothern (slow-moving, short-legged creatures the height of an elephant and significantly longer) , talmaron (an eyeless, featherless flying creature the size of a pony), and thombo (Jorune native creatures the size of draft horses that can travel on either two legs or four). All of these are DX/Average except for talmaron, which are DX/Hard.
Savoir-Faire - Every race, sub-race, and nation has its own Savoir-Faire skill. Etiquette is extremly important on Jorune; saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can have consequences ranging from a heavy club being slung at your head to an invasion of your nation. Most non-humans living in Burdoth will know Savoir-Faire (Burdoth) as well as their own; for example, a muadra tauther will almost certainly have both Savoire-Faire (muadra) and Savoir-Faire (Burdoth), and might also have Savoir-Faire (Caji) if s/he belongs to a secret society.
Now, some new ones:
New Advantages:
Drenn Points (special): As tauther travel about Burdoth and beyond, they accumulate marks on their challisk, the metal badge that marks them as one trying for drenn-ship, from drenn, kesht, and noted members of other races. The goodwill and honor that these marks represent are tracked in game terms by one's Drenn Points. A character can apply to become a Drenn at a number of points determined by their race:
Tra-Vision (50 pts): Many natives of Jorune, including the shanthas, have no eyes; instead, they directly perceive the isho around them. This gives them a complete, three-dimensional, 360° perception of their surroundings that cannot be blocked by smoke or darkness. This is the truth of which Tra-Sense is just the shadow. It is (just barely) possible for a character with Isho Awareness to purchase this advantage in play, with shanthic assistance.
New Disadvantages:
Odious Personal Habit/Thriddle Language Complex (-5 pts): Hominids and Children of Iscin who learn Triddis, the thriddle language, at the Native level invariably find that the structure and style of Triddis are leaking back into their own language. This results in using gargantuan words when diminutive ones would do, constructing sentences out of multiple dependent clauses, speaking in extended similes, and worst of all, compulsive listing. (Note that almost all thriddle do this no matter what language they are speaking in, also.) This results in a -1 to reaction rolls from anyone trying to speak with the affected character.
Poor Color Vision (-5 pts): This is an incomplete form of color blindness. You can tell that things are colored, and you can clearly tell red from blue, but red and green appear to be the same color to you, as do blue and yellow. This results in a -2 to any artistic or fashion-related skills that require the use of color. All woffen have this disadvantage, which is one reason they gravitate towards black, white, and grey as clothing choices.
Scatter-Brained (-10 pts): This is the disadvantage for which the paired advantage is Common Sense. Any time you do something too sensible and intelligent, you must make an IQ roll or somehow foil what you are doing. All scarmis have this disadvantage, but it also shows up in occasional blount, woffen, and (rarely) humans. It never occurs in Bronth or Trarch.
New Skills:
Naull Reading - This skill allows one to interpret the patterns of a naull orb, a projection of one's isho that can be created by anyone with Isho Manipulation or the projective form of Isho Resistance (that is, anyone who can weave a dysha, Unweave a dysha, or Interfere with a dysha). It is considered polite for one to display one's naull orb when entering a kerning bay, or when asked by someone; in some primarily muadra areas, it is considered part of the normal process of an introduction. Someone who successfully reads a naull can tell which Colors of isho a person is attuned with, and on a critical success can get an idea of his or her emotional state. One does not have to be able to form a naull to read one.
Sis-Naun (Physical/Hard - no default) - This is a martial art skill developed by the people of Glounda and the Trinnu Jungle Lands. It is equivalent to the Karate skill. Note that the cinematic martial arts are not avaiable on Jorune; other forms of unarmed combat available are Brawling, Boxing, and Wrestling. The shantha have a martial art of their own, but they will not teach it to humans, or even muadra.
Thikes (Physical/Easy - defaults to DX-4, Brawling-2, or Boxing-2) - These are metal and leather gauntlets with artificial claws at the tips and a set of sharpened spikes on the backs of the hands. The skill to use them as weapons involves striking with the spikes and raking with the claws. They are not suitable for parrying, although they do provide DR 1 to the hands. They do thrust/impaling damage, cost 100 gemules, weight about a pound apiece, and have a range of Close. They are popular with gladiators and the jungle fighters known as jers.
Next installment: professions and types (I'm not going to do full templates, sorry).
