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What I'm working on now, running now, or wrapping up

Steel Ships & Space Marines (Campaign)

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What's New

  • 16May13: House Rules updated to reflect current tweaks.
  • 12Mar10: Faraway: Outlanders II campaign section is “complete,” finally, barring some minor tweaking. In the process of adding downloads and more illustration.
  • 12Mar10: Alternative Character Point Usage and Taking the Minimum/Maximum (AKA Taking 10/20) house rules have been refined.
  • 12Mar10: The Village Model concept, for handling of large and small NPC groups, added. Still in mostly-untested concept stage. If you use it, let me know how it works, and what needs tweaking.
  • 12Mar10: GM Tips updated, regarding “Party Capture.”

Disclaimer, and Other Information

  • The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use primarily with the GURPS system from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games.
  • GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy. Everything on this website should be considered my intellectual property unless specified otherwise, so you can safely assume you cannot use anything you find here, in a legal sense, without permission (which would likely be granted, should I ever be asked).
  • This site is written in such a way as to assume you (the reader) have a basic knowledge of what role-playing games are. I will not attempt to explain role-playing here, for those that don’t.
  • I do not agree with the modern convention among gaming publications of late, with regard to the “random switching of gender” in their writing, so as to not exclude the fairer sex. As such, throughout these documents, I use the male gender in the more traditional “inclusive” sense, unless context dictates otherwise.

What is the Daniverse?

Of course, no one can be told what the Daniverse is...

Many authors publish multiple stories which all exist in the same “universe,” with characters, places or events that are shared among them. Some universes are even shared among multiple authors (Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft, for instance). The same is true of many TV series or movies, and is the rule for most comic books. The Daniverse is the name I use to reference the collective universe in which all my role-playing campaigns or adventures exist (Who am I?).

There are several base elements that make up the Daniverse. At its heart is the original White Wolf Games’ World of Darkness setting (with some revision, and a more Lovecraft-ian twist) making up the basic framework. The second most prominent (but first to appear) element is a line of comic book series, never published, which I and several friends have participated in the creation of over the last several years. The remaining elements are made up of all the movies, books, TV series, and the like that I think are cool, and fit neatly into the aforementioned framework (usually with a little tweaking). The point of it all is that whatever story I like could have or did actually happen in my universe, in some form or another. Theme and mood still varies from game to game, but it is generally dark and gritty, with an emphasis on realism (as much as is possible in a work of fantasy). Having all campaigns occur in the same basic universe offers the Players a bit of familiarity and predictability with regard to the basic “laws” of the universe, and gives the GM a framework to start from when designing new adventures or campaigns.

One important rule to note about the Daniverse is that it is constantly being changed and refined as I am introduced to new ideas. Nothing is particularly set in stone...not yet anyway. Some campaigns or adventures have changed considerably since I first wrote or ran them. Some that have not been revisited since their inception would change considerably were I to.

The Campaigns

Daniverse-Prime

Apocalypse
Contemporary horror/Sci-Fi campaign taking place in a single small town, TV series-styled, including one completed pilot Episode
Dreamland
Contemporary genre-hopping weirdness campaign, including one completed Adventure, using self-characters
Steel Ships & Space Marines
Space-pirates sci-fi background, including two complete Adventures, focusing on age-of-sail historical parallels
Fortune Hunters, Inc.
1930s pulp high-adventure, mixed with historical flashbacks, movie-styled, including one half-completed movie
Temporal Solutions (TempSol)
Contemporary (or otherwise) time travel background, including a couple of old completed Adventures and some later ideas
The Crusade
Sandbox-styled, procedural campaign, featuring a group of English pilgrims headed for the Holy Lands in 1173A.D.

Alternate Realities

Outlanders
Contemporary characters in a Dark Ages fantasy setting; includes single completed Adventure
Underground
Near-Future, classic cyberpunk composite, cinematic-styled adventure; completed TV series pilot
After the End
Modern zombie-apocalypse, sandbox/hex-crawl campaign, featuring the survivors of a post-apocalypse–themed reality show
Incomplete Campaigns or Campaign Concepts:

Rules and Conditions

Overall Daniverse Basics

Most of the campaigns listed here were begun long before GURPS 4e was released, and as such are meant for GURPS 3e. I won’t bother to go through them all and convert them to 4e unless I have some need for it, myself. My house rules in effect are detailed on this site, in the House Rules section. A couple of adventures were actually designed and/or run in the Atlas Games’ Feng Shui system, and are so noted.
GURPS Time Travel
GURPS Magic
GURPS Space
GURPS Religion
(Old) World of Darkness, Revised

Sources and Analogues

Influences, inspirations...and outright-plagiarisms...that make up the whole

The following are some random examples, and do not represent the totality of what has been incorporated into the Daniverse.
Movies
T.V. Series
Video Games

Crossover Elements

These are some of the elements that are shared among multiple Daniverse campaigns. I will go into more detail on these elements in the campaigns themselves, but here is a basic description.

Raymond Atchisson:
A psionic time-traveling/teleporting antique dealer and adventurer, who specializes in the hard-to-get. Not only one of my first GURPS characters created and played (in a precursor campaign to TempSol), but my first self-character. He has so far appeared in TempSol and Fortune Hunters Inc campaigns.

Solomon, Son of Goeffrey:
AKA The Saxon. An Immortal (HTG) sorcerer and adventurer, born ~700A.D. A character I made for a short WoD adventure, shortly after having discovered the unofficial HTG and WoD:Sorceror rules. Appears in the background of a couple of my campaigns, in several different historical periods.

President Edward Washington:
A super-genius who turns America into a one-world government on Earth, through Machiavellian manipulation of politics. Not really “evil,” but definitely ruthless. So far, merely a background character.

Myrddin:
AKA Merlin. A Sidhe (see GURPS Celtic Myth, if you don’t know) Magus that has been meddling in human affairs for centuries, in some form or another. A main character in the Outlanders alternate campaign, and a background character in pretty much any campaign involving Magi. Among other meddlings of his, he befriended a certain J. R. R. Tolkien and told him some stories about the Otherworld he came from, and of the Nine Rings, which inspired Tolkien’s writings.

The Destroyer:
An Evil™ entity, in the finest tradition of evil entities. A generally Lovecraft-ian creature, Nephandus Avatar (WoD), that appears (or is summoned by Evil™ cultists) from time to time throughout history. Appears as the centerpiece of the Apocalypse campaign.

The Nine Rings:
AKA Nine Rings of the Magi. One ring for each Sphere of Magick, meant to destroy the Magi through their want of power, in a manner similar to Tolkien’s One Ring. Appear in several campaigns, in one form or another.

Common Daniverse Abbreviations

These abbreviations and conventions are used throughout all my notes and such, as well as on this web-site. If you’re confused about something, look here. If you still don’t get it, contact me and I’ll attempt to explain myself.

Movies, Games and Such:

  • WoD = White Wolf Games’ “old” World of Darkness setting—I know little-to-nothing of nWoD
  • VTM = Vampire:The Masquerade
  • WTA = Werewolf:The Apocalypse
  • MTA = Mage:The Ascension
  • CTD = Changeling:The Dreaming
  • WTO = Wraith:The Oblivion
  • HTG = Highlander:The Gathering
  • BtVS = Buffy the Vampire Slayer series
  • B5 = Babylon 5 series
  • ST:TOS = original Star Trek series
  • ST:TNG = Star Trek:The Next Generation series
  • ST:V = Star Trek:Voyager series
  • ST:DS9 = Star Trek:DS9 series
  • ST:E = Star Trek:Enterprise series
  • CoLC = City of Lost Children
  • RotLA = Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • BTiLC = Big Trouble in Little China
  • DLDune = David Lynch’s 1984 Dune movie
  • FHDune = Frank Herbert’s Dune miniseries
  • LotM = Last of the Mohicans
  • LotR = Lord of the Rings
  • 13thW = The Thirteenth Warrior
  • SW:TPM = Star Wars:The Phantom Menace
  • SW:AotC = Star Wars:Attack of the Clones
  • SW:RotS = Star Wars:Revenge of the Sith
  • SW:ANH = Star Wars:A New Hope
  • SW:ESB = Star Wars:Empire Strikes Back
  • SW:RotJ = Star Wars:Return of the Jedi

Overall:

  • IAW = In accordance with
  • UOS = Unless otherwise specified
  • @GMD = At the GM’s discretion
  • @PCD = At the Player’s discretion
  • w/ex = With Exceptions
  • CoS: = Contest of Skill
  • QC: = Quick Contest
  • (Sct) = indicates a “secret” check
  • (Clr) = indicates a “color” check
  • XP = experience points
  • CP = character points
  • tCP = temporary character points

Other Conventions:

  • [Text] = Placeholder, until I come up with something better or more final.
  • Ref:X = See (REFerence) X for an example or instance; when referring to an Actor, indicates a specific role that Actor has played as inspiration for the Character.
  • “Actor” = If the listed actor is in quotes, it’s because I don’t know the actor’s name, or wouldn’t recognize him by name.