Pyramid 4-002 - Modern - Action I

Stock #37-2752
Contents
In This Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Derelicts on Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
By Carolyn Ivy Stein and Steve Stein
Into the Forbidden Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
By J. Edward Tremlett The Hunter’s Reliquary II . . . . . . . . . . 36
By Christopher R. Rice
The Phoenix Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
By S.A. Fisher El Rancho Fin del Camino . . . . . . . . . . . 40
By Matt Riggsby
Phoenix: Birds of Prey . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
By S.A. Fisher Highway Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
By Roger Burton West
Three Steampunk Monsters . . . . . . . . . . 16
By Phil Masters Random Thought Table:
Get Paid, Heroically . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Secret Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 By Steven Marsh, Pyramid Editor
By Rory Fansler
The Checkpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

By Michele Armellini About GURPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
The Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
By Sean Punch
From the Editor

The pre-modern issues — what we usually call fantasy – are
easy. If it feels like a Renaissance Faire or has orbs of glowing Article Colors
energy and floating castles, or features a real-world or histor- Each article is color-coded to help you find your favorite
ically based place from ye olden days, it fits. And the futur- sections. Not all themes appear in every volume.
istic issues are also straightforward; spaceships, bioroids,
implants, and ultra-tech robots stand out. Red-Brown: In every issue.
But the “modern” issues tend to be trickier to classify. Dark Blue: Character options.
It’s a genre that encompasses everything from steampunk Green: Locations.
to espionage or military to modern-day fare in the vein of Orange: Monsters and creatures.
GURPS Action to more near-modern magical campaigns à
Dark Pink: Gear.
la GURPS Monster Hunters.
Fortunately, although it’s challenging to provide an exact Purple: GM advice and adventure ideas.
definition of what modern material is, there’s a certain “we
®
know it when we see it” aspect to it. It’s a broad era where
technology assumes supremacy, expanding the world in com-
munications, possibilities, goals, and dangers, where you can
drive fast vehicles (pp. 44-47), start up a business (pp. 48-50),
and maybe use a magic item or two (pp. 36-39).
At least, that’s how it seems to us! We haven’t really done
Write Here, Write Now
Your comments help us give you what you want! How
a broad-themed issue like this before, so let us know how are you using this material in your campaign? What do you
much you enjoyed this. After all, Pyramid is nothing without wish we’d write about? Let us know via private feedback at
you, dear reader! So please, join us; the near-now has never [email protected], or join the public discussion online
been better! at forums.sjgames.com.
– Steven Marsh, Pyramid Editor
GURPS System Design z STEVE JACKSON Editorial Assistance, Production Artist, President/Editor-in-Chief z STEVE JACKSON
GURPS Line Editor z SEAN PUNCH & Prepress Checker z NIKOLA VRTIS Chief Executive Officer z PHILIP REED
GURPS Project Manager z STEVEN MARSH Page Design z PHIL REED Chief Creative Officer z SAM MITSCHKE
Production Manager z SABRINA GONZALEZ & JUSTIN DE WITT Chief Operating Officer z SUSAN BUENO
Director of Sales z ROSS JEPSON Project Manager z DARRYLL SILVA
Pyramid Magazine 2 Modern/Action I

In This Issue
The modern world is defined by chaos, speed, change, form The Company. GURPS Action mastermind Sean Punch
and – in its own way – magic. With this modern-themed issue provides this group’s history, recruiting tactics and metrics,
of Pyramid, you’ll get all of the above and more as we explore and adventure possibilities. Also includes a new GURPS
aspects of today and the not-too-distant past. Action template plus design notes.
Looking for a sinister travel destination? Consider journey- You’ll need a bigger boat as you explore a strange cove on
ing Into the Forbidden Zone. Become acquainted with three the coast of Greenland, filled with Derelicts on Ice. The possi-
unsettling locations that were abandoned in the 20th cen- ble reasons for the trapped ships are as varied as the vessels
tury: what remains, how to get there, and ways to use them themselves. A few of the more interesting lost ships – includ-
in adventures. ing their secrets and treasure – are awaiting the intrepid gaze
Recent history can provide insight and inspiration for all of adventurers.
kinds of campaigns, such as the counterinsurgency aspect of Relics are powerful and mysterious artifacts that can help
the Vietnam War handled by The Phoenix Program. Find out monster hunters win the day . . . for a price. The Hunter’s
more about this important initiative from GURPS Action 7: Reliquary II – from the library of How to Be a GURPS GM:
Mercenaries author S.A. Fisher, including what the group Ritual Path Magic scribe Christopher R. Rice – reveals the
did, who its members worked with, and who secrets of six new supernatural
they fought against, plus GURPS City Stats for items, ready as adventure rewards
Saigon in 1969. or goals for quests.
The history lessons of S.A. Fisher continue When you need a place to lie
with Phoenix: Birds of Prey. Discover the differ- low, head over to El Rancho Fin
ent kinds of personnel needed and get sugges- del Camino. Matt Riggsby – author
tions for creating characters to fill those roles, of acclaimed GURPS Hot Spots
including GURPS insight and references to other and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy
useful aspects of the GURPS library. Adventure installments – provides
Steampunk fears are made manifest in these this location’s history, the key
Three Steampunk Monsters. Learn more about buildings, and several adventure
their origins and game stats from Phil Masters, ideas. Complete with a map of the
author of GURPS Steampunk Setting: The central complex.
Broken Clockwork World. You’ll also get tips for Give your action hero or mon-
using them in a variety of adventures – including ster hunter something interesting
GURPS Monster Hunters. to drive with one of these Highway
Instead of being a pawn in the conspiracy, Stars. Roger Burton West – author
become one of the Secret Masters. Uncover suit- of GURPS Disasters: Meltdown
able advantages and skills, new traits and tech- and Fallout – includes a plethora
niques, campaign ideas, and an overview of some of ready-to-use modern-day vehi-
notable conspiracy groups you can add to your own campaign. cles, with brief descriptions, a table of stats, tips for modi-
Your vehicle slows down and anything can happen in your fications, and more, bringing your dreams from 0 to 60 in
next adventure as you approach The Checkpoint. This ready- no time.
to-use locale from GURPS Locations: St. George’s Cathedral Wouldn’t it be great to receive a paycheck while doing the
architect Michele Armellini offers insight on the best features right thing? Discover how to Get Paid, Heroically, as Pyramid
and personnel for hasty and established checkpoints, tips for editor Steven Marsh explores what it takes to go into business
different ways to use checkpoints, and a sample map that can in otherwise heroic endeavors.
be used for a hasty checkpoint. With this issue, you’ll explore the recent past and shadows
In world breaking apart from greed, apathy, and fear, a of today to go faster, farther, and more modern than ever
group of powerful and ethical people have come together to before!
Cover Art: Tithi Luadthong • Interior Art: Rick Hershey and Tithi Luadthong
Cartography: Matt Riggsby and Michele Armellini • Additional Material: Sean Punch
Pyramid, GURPS, Warehouse 23, the pyramid logo, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. Pyramid is copyright © 2021 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Some artwork from
Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © 2021 Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games, fatgoblingames.com. All rights reserved. Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.
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the Into
Forbidden Zone By J. Edward Tremlett
Pripyat, Centralia, Hashima Island: there’s something British government, with a little extra eked out from tourism,
incredibly compelling about an abandoned habitation. Even farming, and manufacturing.
if the facts of their ending are well-known, they still evoke a
sense of overwhelming mystery. They also present a feeling Remnants
of almost incalculable loss – hundreds of thousands of futures
The once-stately port city of Plymouth is now a sad and
ended in such places, their rightful owners scattered by cata-
sorry place – akin to walking on the Moon, only with a
strophic change.
semi-active volcano nearby. The Soufrière Hills mostly just
But for every Chernobyl, there’s a Wittenoom – some small
bubble and smoke, but the threat of another blast is constant.
place, perhaps out of the way, not as nearly as well-known out-
The gorgeous Georgian buildings in the center of town
side of its region. Maybe only “disaster tourists” or those who
are either half-sunk in gray pyroclastic flow or buried under
constantly search for dark mysteries can name them offhand.
mountains of ash. More modern structures in the outly-
Perhaps that is for the best, as some places should be left
ing areas are little more than burned-out shells, slowly
undisturbed.
crumbling in the Caribbean weather. The hillside homes
This article presents three habitations, ranging from small
are eerily intact – left exactly as they were the day of the
to large, all abandoned in the 20th century. Each gives the
initial eruption.
story of what happened, a description of what remains, and
The further south one goes from Plymouth, the less recog-
plot hooks that could be used to craft a scenario using various
nizable things become. Villages and smaller towns were bur-
GURPS supplements.
ied under ash or flow from one of the eruptions. The only way
Note that, as research constantly changes, the following
to safely view them is from the coastline, on special tour boats
can only be a mixture of fact and fiction. Some events hap-
that show off the devastation.
pened as described, some are inventions, and some things are
The northern half of the island remains blessed with
left purposefully vague. Feel free to invent “facts” to befuddle
the gorgeous, lush greenery one expects from a Caribbean
players who impulsively read online articles about offbeat and
island, and boasts reasonable accommodations and decent
sinister travel destinations.
restaurants.
Plymouth (Montserrat) Getting There

Outside of a war, it’s rather difficult to “lose” a capital. Montserrat lies 25 miles southwest of Antigua. A ferry runs
However, in 1997, the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat from there five days a week (unless the waters are too rough).
did exactly that. Now the southern half of the island is techni- The new, small airport accommodates planes from the sur-
cally a no-go zone, and the town of Plymouth is known as the rounding islands.
Pompeii of the Caribbean. It’s relatively easy to find a licensed guide to the exclusion
The self-governing island had already been having a bad zone’s less-dangerous areas. Venturing deeper (or after hours)
decade; hurricane Hugo had wrecked nearly all structures requires either substantial bribery or chancing one’s luck with
in 1989, devastating its economy. But then, in 1995, the less-scrupulous characters. Such illegal ventures carry the
long-inactive stratovolcano overlooking Plymouth – Soufrière threat of being caught by the authorities, or finding out at the
Hills – erupted, causing the evacuation of the city and sur- wrong time that one’s guides have no idea what to do in case
rounding towns. People returned after things calmed down, the mountain reawakens.
but, almost two years later, an even greater eruption buried
Plymouth under ash, and wiped other towns and cities off the Buried Treasure
map. This time, there would be no going back.
Decades after the eruption, the people of Montserrat
Montserrat’s southern half was declared an exclusion zone.
live with the terrible knowledge that they stand on uncer-
Thousands of inhabitants fled to the United Kingdom, but
tain ground. It may be even more uncertain than they could
some remained to rebuild their lives elsewhere on the island.
imagine.
To this day, a great deal of the island’s money comes from the

Volcano Base Zed
GURPS Action. Irish millionaire Ciarán Ó Cionaoith was
Butugychag
a man of vision, however questionable. The disgraced “evil
genius” spent the 1960s on Interpol’s radar, mostly for trying
(Russian Federation)
Pripyat isn’t the only area in Russia abandoned due to
to disrupt petroleum supplies so as to gain support for his sig-
severe radiation. Another much smaller, almost pathetic place
nature geothermal alternatives instead. He vanished not long
lies in the far northeast of Magadan Oblast – the least-popu-
after the OPEC embargo of the United States – presumed dead
lated area in the nation.
in a ridiculous skiing accident. In reality, he decamped to
The ruins of the Butugychag labor camp lie within the aptly
Montserrat to build a secret lair inside Soufrière Hills, where
named “Death Valley” – a place long-shunned for its poisoned
he could further develop his technologies and plan his return
soil. Old legends speak of hills of bones and herds of diseased
to splendor. But contact with his cat’s-paws was lost after the
reindeer. In spite of that, a mine was opened there in 1937,
second eruption, and all attempts to enter his lair have met
first extracting tin and gold, and later uranium.
with deadly failure. Is the time at last right to go into what
From 1945 to 1955, it became a Gulag whose prisoners
could be a genius’ workshop and retrieve his works?
were extracting uranium without any safeguards. It’s said
almost 400,000 died from radiation, though this number
Ghosts of the Fire
seems excessive, even for that time. More “promising” speci-
GURPS Mysteries. Old father Cecil of the Antiguan
mens may have died at the hands of scientists at a secret med-
Josephs – an old-money family whose great wealth has also
ical research facility, operated at the camp.
bred contention and intrigue – finally died last week after five
For some still-unknown reason, Butugychag was closed
years in a coma. The reading of his will (supposedly unaltered
after only ten years. Some say it was an early victim of the
since 1993) revealed he’d split his fortunes between his least-
winding down of the Gulag system, after the deaths of Stalin
favorite son and daughter, which is curious considering he’d
and Beria. Others say its existence was too cruel to justify,
stopped talking to them in 1992. The other children, think-
even in that benighted era. The surviving prisoners were either
ing they’ve been cheated, hire the PCs to look into the mat-
sent elsewhere or shot, the guards quietly reassigned, and the
ter. Trying to ask the solicitor further questions turns up his
workers at a nearby electric substation moved to Ust-Omchug,
dead body, shot in his own home, with all his papers burned
almost 35 miles south.
or missing. But there remains one hope: among the victims
Alone and forgotten, Butugychag was left to rot in the cold,
of the first eruption on nearby Montserrat was the Barclays
rediscovered only by scavengers. Since the end of the Soviet
Bank of Plymouth, whose sealed, 20-inch concrete vault was
Union, there has been a reawakening of interest in the place
left behind. It’s said the Josephs had a stack of legal papers
and what happened there – especially as it’s never been offi-
there, just in case. Can the party dodge both the authorities
cially recognized as a labor camp. However, explorations are
and an assassin to find the family’s buried secrets?
limited both due to the remote
location and the high radiation;
The Mermaid some areas are too “hot” to
GURPS Monster Hunters.
One of the stranger legends of
. . . Montserrat itself is a investigate for long, if at all.
Montserrat is its mermaid, for- treasure waiting to be discovered.
merly residing at the pond on Remnants
Chances Peak, the highest point – Howard A. Fergus, The camp consists of small
in Soufrière Hills. She suppos- Montserrat and clusters of buildings, situated
edly stood guard over the trea- along an “E” of higher ground
sure of that pond, crying as she
Montserratians in the mined-out valley near the
slowly brushed her hair with a Kolyma river. The ground is
gold-and-diamond comb. The scored with regular geological
legends also say that, if someone stole that comb before dawn trenches. Most structures are just roofless, concrete shells or
on Easter Sunday, and took it down to the coastline – dodg- heaps of wooden rubble. The ore-processing plant is one of the
ing a diamond snake the whole way down – the treasure few places remaining mostly intact.
would be theirs. The genesis of this bizarre tale is uncertain, Pathetic cemeteries litter the area – graves marked by rude
but as Chances Pond was destroyed in the 1995 eruption, Orthodox crosses or sawn-open skulls. Piles of worn-out shoes
and only hardy volcanologists dare climb the peak, the point bear mute testimony to the day the workers were either moved
seems moot. However, Professor Janson Smoot of Edelweiss out or “disappeared.” Of the research facility that supposedly
University (accreditation pending), the foremost expert on stood here, no traces have been found.
Homo sirenia (he says), claims to have the diary of a ship’s
captain from the 1700s whose crew fell prey to the creature Getting There
while passing the island. He’s been given an impressive grant
No real road goes into Death Valley – one has to rough it
to investigate the phenomenon, most of which was spent on
from Ust-Omchug, usually via motorbike or ATV. Small, unof-
a small exploratory vessel, a helicopter, and a mini-sub. The
ficial tours catering to “danger tourists” operate in the spring
rest was spent on the PCs, who most likely got the chance of a
and summer, but groups never stay too long. Tour guides
lifetime to look for a missing pond, search the waters off the
advise to bring a personal supply of water, eat nothing that
exclusion zone, and enjoy the island on EU’s dime . . . unless
grows there, and carry a Geiger counter. Remaining after dark
Smoot is onto something?
is not advised; the ghosts walk at night.

Poisoned Possibilities area to take advantage of the increase in tourism, financing
hotel after hotel. Many international millionaires and Holly-
They say that, in the new Russia, the only constants are
wood stars could be seen sunning on the beaches, and the strip
corruption and opportunity – sometimes one and the same.
beyond the sand had many high-quality shops and restaurants.
They also say that what has been buried must eventually come
Unfortunately, a toxic combination of internal strife and
to light, and perhaps not for the best.
international meddling led to armed conflict. The Turkish
army invaded, following the Cypriot coup, and – fearing a
Old Wounds
civilian massacre – Varosha was evacuated. After the ceasefire,
GURPS Horror or GURPS Monster Hunters. Despite Turkey thought they could use the city’s value as a bargaining
gruesome rumors, the research facility that operated at the chip to have their hold over Cyprus recognized, and locked it
camp was merely dedicated to studying the effects of radiation down with walls, barbed wire, and soldiers. Unfortunately, no
poisoning. Their scientists constantly rotated prisoners in and one budged on the issue. As the decades have worn on, it looks
out of the mines to try and establish a happy medium between increasingly unlikely the hotel owners and displaced citizens
exposure and “cooling off.” All they really achieved was a post- will ever return home.
ponement of the inevitable, as their crude postmortem exam-
inations showed. However, late in the camp’s existence, a new
doctor came from Moscow with an experimental drug. This
drug allowed its users to withstand the mine’s radiation, but Southward along the Mağusa
caused catastrophic mutations. As the guards were unable to
kill what they had created, the affected workers were knocked
seashore was an entire city of
out with gas and placed at the bottom of the mine, which was high-rise apartment blocks and
then collapsed before Butugychag’s abandonment. Starvation
and the dark only made them stronger. They are finally ready
hotel buildings that looked like
to come up into the light. a ghost town: broken windows,
Ongoing Profit dangling gates, decrepit stairs,
GURPS Action. The mine is active again. One of the many, decaying walls.
less-reputable political organizations has taken it over and is
extracting uranium to sell on the black market. “Government – Yael Navaro-Yashin,
scientists” lurk along the easiest path to the camp, warning
of increased radiation and turning people back at gunpoint.
The Make-Believe Space
Sneaking around them reveals the mine entrances have been
refurbished, with miners coming in and out in NBC gear. The
ore-processing plant’s innards have been filled with prefab- Remnants
ricated habitation modules. Every so often a military-grade The roughly rectangular line of streets running parallel to
helicopter with sound-baffles swoops in to drop off supplies the beach is an armed camp, patrolled by unamused soldiers
and pick up a load. They also bring in fresh personnel, but no who’d clearly rather not be chasing graffiti artists and disaster
one seems to leave. tourists. The deserted streets lie overgrown and deteriorat-
ing in the Mediterranean sun. Windows are cracked or bro-
Evil Ground ken. The belongings left by fleeing people have been largely
GURPS Horror. The uranium wasn’t what truly poisoned untouched. Once-stately beach hotels – some bearing artillery
the valley of death. Something has been asleep below it – some scars – slowly succumb to the elements. People take quick pic-
great spiral monstrosity that’s slumbered here since the dawn tures from the walls along nearby beaches, hoping not to get
of time, feeding on the life force of others. Its unique metabo- caught in the act.
lism slowly transforms the rock about it into uranium so as to
incapacitate and kill those who stay too long. It had a magnif- Getting There
icent feast for about 10 years, but then the camp closed. Still, Traveling to the Turkish side of Cyprus isn’t too difficult,
only a few more deaths might sate its appetite, at which point and finding someplace to stay in Famagusta/Gazimağusa is
it shall awaken. On that day, it shall extend its spiral shell a fairly easy. Getting past the walls, barbed wire, and patrolling
half-mile up to the skies, and expel its eggs onto distant lands Turkish soldiers is another matter. The guards are authorized
like seed pods. to shoot trespassers, though they usually pursue and capture.
Time spent as a prisoner of the Turkish army is not pleasant,
Varosha (Cyprus) and neither is standing trial for criminal trespass in a military
zone (up to 15 years if convicted).
The fabulous, shoreline neighborhood of Famagusta
(known for its line of luxury, high-rise beach hotels) has been
shut down since the Turkish invasion of 1974. The island Guarded Capabilities
itself was subsequently partitioned, but this remnant of 1960s It seems perfectly logical for an internationally unrecog-
high-rolling culture – considered one of the top destinations nized occupying force to lock down valuable real estate to use
in the Mediterranean – still remains under military control. as a hostage during ongoing political negotiations. But even
From the late 1960s right up until the invasion, Varosha though great strides have been made toward freeing Varosha
was quite the place to be. Cyprus invested quite highly in the in recent years, something keeps stopping the deal. Why?

Project Tin Man
GURPS Action. The Turkish
armed forces have been one of the
backbones of NATO – second in
numbers only to the USA. In the
late 1990s they began a program
of modernization, hoping to end
dependence on foreign military
technology. To that end, they’ve
invested in “alternative” forms
of warfare – mostly battlefield
robots (Tenekeci, or Tin Men),
though there’s some highly ques-
tionable psychological techniques
being tried out as well (such as
sonic fear generators). Varosha
has become their test bed for
covert urban warfare, as they
can run simulations and gauge
whether anything was seen (or
felt) in surrounding Famagusta.
The PCs have been employed to
steal the latest Tin Man, only to
run afoul of weird vibrations that
make them think they’re being
attacked by aliens or worse.
The Lead Box

GURPS Horror or GURPS
Magic. “You never heard of the
time (actor) bought a demon?
Well, it was the early ’70s, and
he was not doing very well in
mind or body, and he decided
that, even if he didn’t believe
in God, he’d at least talk to the
opposing side. So some of his
weirder friends made a couple of
calls, and one night at the Argo,
while (actor’s spouse) was out on
the town, these extremely well-
dressed Greek fellows show up
in his suite with a lead box the
size of a seaman’s trunk. Money
changes hands, they give him the
key, and he goes into the other
room to talk with his purchase.
No one hears what’s being said (I
think they had the stereo turned up)
but not five minutes later, he rushes out, pale and shaking, Monte Carlo) but was much less risky to be seen in. So when
and demands they take the thing back. But money’s already the neighborhood was occupied in 1974, there was much sad-
changed hands, and it’s his, now, forever. So he has his friend, ness among the global criminal element. Luckily, a few mega-
who lives in town, lock it up somewhere. That was early 1974. geniuses figured a way to re-create pre-invasion Varosha a few
The Turks invaded in July, and that lead box was left behind steps outside reality. For a $100,000 annual fee, it’s possible to
along with everything else. (Actor) died some time later – I go to Kar Küresi: a snow-globe copy of Varosha as it was that
wonder what he asked?” resets every 24 hours. All kinds of evil fun is permitted with
the simulacrums, but denizens of our reality who die there
The Frozen City (or are killed, more likely) reappear in a random spot of the
real Varosha. So when our heroes learn the infamous Kýrie
GURPS Supers. Varosha wasn’t just popular with high-
Kranío was found dead in the Toyota dealership, wrapped in
rollers and movie stars – supervillains really loved it, too. It
a bathrobe from a hotel that hasn’t existed since July of 1974,
had all the glamour of other Mediterranean hot spots (like
clearly an investigation is called for!

The Phoenix
Program By S.A. Fisher
The Vietnam War was a war with many fronts. Perhaps the its guerrilla forces. The NLF was the political movement that
most controversial of those was the counterinsurgency war, supported the Peoples’ Revolutionary Party (PRP), the com-
Phung Hoang, named after a mystical bird of Vietnamese leg- munist revolution in South Vietnam – itself an offshoot of the
end. In English, it was called Phoenix. PRP of North Vietnam.
This article assumes the reader has GURPS SEALs in One Phoenix advisor called the VCI “a mirror image of
Vietnam. Also recommended are GURPS Special Ops, [Vietnamese] society. The smallest unit of society was the
GURPS Social Engineering, GURPS Social Engineering: hamlet. A group of hamlets made up a village, a group of vil-
Pulling Rank, and GURPS City Stats. lages made up a district, several districts a province. The VCI
acted as the agents of a shadow government that ruled from
The Vietnam Wars hamlet to province level.”

There were several leadership positions in the VCI, includ-
The Vietnam War is best thought of as three different wars. ing the party secretary, the finance chief, the security chief, the
There was a conventional ground war, of “body counts” and military chief, and the propaganda chiefs. The most powerful
“search and destroy,” and a second air war over Indochina as VCI position was the party secretary, the chief executive of the
U.S. aircraft attacked military targets in North Vietnam while shadow government. The propaganda chief – also called the
also trying to stem the flow of supplies down the Ho Chi Minh proselyting chief – was the most vulnerable, as they to move
trail. A third war, however, was fought over the “hearts and around to the various hamlets and villages to directly con-
minds” of the South Vietnamese civilians, a counterinsur- vert the people to the cause. This was done through speeches,
gency war. plays, personal harangues, threats, torture, or simply killing
This program of pacification intended to destroy the uncooperative villagers. These “armed propaganda teams”
National Liberation Front (NLF) and its Viet Cong (VC) and the VCI tax collectors were the most highly sought-after
guerrillas. On one hand, U.S. money and manpower built targets because they worked most directly with the villagers.
roads, bridges, schools, and health clinics in the provinces. Some VCI cadre held multiple positions, especially at the vil-
On the other, U.S. spooks and special forces directed CIA- lage level.
paid Vietnamese mercenaries against the VC. This was the The Viet Cong demanded rice and livestock as taxes, forced
Phoenix Program. villagers to produce weapons, conscripted them as porters,
or forced young people to fight with the guerrilla forces. One
particularly hated VCI element, the security section (or Ban-
Shadow Government: an-ninh) was the terrorist arm of the Viet Cong. VCI tribunals
NLF and the Viet Cong made a show of questioning, sentencing, and then executing
villagers who cooperated with the Americans or GVN. The
Infrastructure 25,000 agents working for the Ban-an-ninh “security section”
terror teams murdered “class traitors” and placed bombs in
In 1967, South Vietnam had a population of 16 million markets, cafés, clinics, schools, and buses. They tossed gre-
people living in its 44 provinces and 243 districts. Of its 11,000 nades in open car windows. All landowners, teachers, doctors,
hamlets, the South Vietnamese government (GVN) controlled and Catholic clergy were “class enemies,” and therefore tar-
less than half. The remainder were in the hands of the NLF geted for kidnapping or murder. At hamlets such as Dak Son,
and its VC guerrillas. To win the war, the GVN had to fight on Son Tra, and Phutahn, the VC terror teams murdered almost
the hamlet level, to take back the countryside. It had to iden- everyone. According to one historian, between 1957 and
tify the VC to root them out, without indiscriminately killing 1972 the Ban-an-ninh murdered over 36,000 and abducted
the peasants. another 60,000. In the words of VC expert Douglas Pike,
Since the Viet Cong adhered to a strict party structure, the the VCI directed a “genocide” against a generation of South
common VC guerrilla was not the concern of the counterin- Vietnamese village leaders. These bombings and executions
surgency program. Instead, Phoenix focused on the VC lead- demonstrated that the GVN in Saigon was weak and could not
ership, what the CIA called the Viet Cong infrastructure (VCI). protect them.
The VCI consisted of the leaders of the communist NLF and

CORDS help to the GVN. At the lowest level of Phoenix was the District
Intelligence and Operations Coordinating Center (DIOCC),
In 1967, the United States and GVN launched CORDS where Vietnamese Phung Hoang and American Phoenix team
(Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support) members worked side by side, often in the same compound.
as a counterinsurgency program to wrest South Vietnam’s vil- A similar situation occurred at the province level (at the
lages and hamlets from VC control. Referred to sardonically PIOCC). These OCCs or collection centers secured VCI intelli-
as “Peace Corps with guns,” the CORDS program placed U.S. gence from various sources and created target folders on sus-
advisors alongside Vietnamese leaders at the province and dis- pected or confirmed VCI. Using photos, informants, captured
trict level, as well as at MACV (Military Assistance Command documents, and VC defector statements, the centers directed
Vietnam) corps and division areas. attacks on the VCI by say, giving intelligence on a VCI hiding
Coordinating several existing programs, the CORDS pro- spot to a U.S. military or GVN unit in the area. The OCCs also
gram drew information from the GVN Central Intelligence filed intel and operational reports with the national Combined
Organization (CIO), the Rural Development (RD) cadre, and Intelligence Center (CIC) at Tan Son Nhut Airbase in Saigon.
the Census-Grievance (CG) program. In addition to count- The cavernous CIC had over 600 American and Vietnamese
ing heads, this last program provided economic relief and working together in the largest single-story air-conditioned
listened to villagers’ most pressing concerns for the GVN building in Southeast Asia. The 519th Military Intelligence
to address. CORDS also supervised the Hamlet Evaluation Battalion processed Phoenix reports around the clock, feeding
System (HES), which surveyed hamlets and reported back to punch cards into a bank of IBM computers. The software data-
Saigon each month, tracking pacification progress through- base was called the Viet Cong Infrastructure Neutralization
out South Vietnam. This CORDS approach was called a pop- System (VCINS) in 1967. By 1971 it was called the Phung
ulation-centric counterinsurgency, one that emphasized the Hoang Management Information System (PHMIS). According
protection of the civilian population. to the CIA, this database program was “an automated means
CORDS-affiliated agencies included the U.S. Agency for of processing and reporting data on the location, identifica-
International Development (USAID), the U.S. Information tion, and neutralization of the Viet Cong Infrastructure.”
Agency (USIA), the Joint U.S. Public Affairs Office (JUSPAO), Drawing from all its input sources, the VCINS/PHMIS
and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as generous database contained biographic data on each VCI cadre down
support from MACV and its nearly 500,000 ground troops and to district level (and without problems like dual reporting or
10,000 helicopters. The number of Americans directly involved erroneous reporting). Computer operators could sift through
in the counterinsurgency war was staggering. The CIA alone the database and produce reports such as “all known associ-
had a peak of 6,000 personnel in South Vietnam, supported ates of Nguyen Phu Thanh.” The database also provided statis-
by over 600 civilian contractors – most of those drawn from tical information on progress on neutralizing the VCI.
current or former MACV military officers. Many special-op- Weekly lists on the VCI were published in the Green Book
erations units (such as the U.S. Army Special Forces, Marine (so named because of its cloth cover). Green Books were dis-
Recon, and SEALs) acted as Phoenix advisors. seminated to the OCCs so they could check informant reports
against the Phoenix system. The system graded each name
Phung Hoang as an A, B, or C. A was a known VCI cadre, B was a proba-

ble cadre, and C was a VC guerrilla or low-level functionary.
The heart of the CORDS process was the nationwide Phoenix wanted As, not Bs and Cs. As one advisor put it, “we
implementation of what in 1966 was called the Intelligence wanted thick files to go after, not thin ones,” meaning they
Coordination and Exploitation Program (ICEX). The program wanted known VCI.
was relaunched in December 1967 as a “joint inter-agency
intelligence program” renamed Phoenix. Despite lurid
tales of assassination and torture, Phoenix was not a
covert organization of spies and assassins, but rather
a very public program for crowd-sourcing intelligence
Bibliography
Andradé, Dale. Ashes to Ashes: The Phoenix Program and
information on the VCI. the Vietnam War (Lexington Books, 1990).
Many U.S. and GVN agencies and organizations Colby, William E. Lost Victory (Contemporary Books,
shared intel with Phoenix. These included Vietnamese 1989).
sources, such as VC defectors, villager statements, and Cook, John L. The Advisor: The Phoenix Program in
shared reports from the National Police, the National Vietnam (Schiffer Military History, 1997).
Police Field Force, the Police Special Branch, the Chieu Finlayson, Andrew R. Marine Advisors with the Vietnamese
Hoi amnesty program, the Vietnamese Information Provincial Reconnaissance Units, 1966-1970 (USMC History
Service, the RD cadre, and the Military Security Service. Division, 2009).
U.S. sources for intelligence included all the CORDS- Finlayson, Andrew R. Rice Paddy Recon: A Marine Officer’s
affiliated groups, such as the CIA, of course, but also Second Tour in Vietnam, 1968-1970 (McFarland & Company,
the MACV intelligence and operations staff (J2 and J3), 2014).
National Security Agency, and the Army Security Agency. Herrington, Stuart A. Silence Was a Weapon: The Vietnam
The structure of the program was straightforward. War in the Villages (Presidio Press, 1982).
Since, according to the CORDS director, Phoenix was a Moyar, Mark. Phoenix and the Birds of Prey (Bison Books,
“Vietnamese responsibility employing essentially police 2007).
type techniques,” the Americans were advisors providing

The CIC in Saigon also tracked the progress of pacifica- D meant VC control; an A meant totally pacified. The monthly
tion with the Hamlet Evaluation System (HES), with Phoenix HES reports were collated into charts, maps, and tables,
officers reporting monthly on the condition of each hamlet in which were designed to show the effectiveness of Phoenix offi-
their province. The HES scale ran A to D. The rating of C or cers and to help focus resources on problem areas.
Another component of Phoenix was the Province
Interrogation Center (PIC). Each of the 44 provinces
had a center for interrogating captured VCI. This was
S aigon , 1969 manned by Vietnamese Phung Hoang officers, usu-
ally National Police or Police Special Branch. Often a
Terms are as defined in GURPS City Stats. CIA case officer was assigned as a Phoenix advisor to
Population: 2.5 million (Search +3) the PIC. Information from PIC interrogations was fed
into the Phoenix system.
The priority of neutralization was always to take
Physical Environment the target alive. However, Phoenix and Provincial
Terrain: Swampland Reconnaissance Forces (PRU) veterans reported that it
Appearance: Average (0) was not easy to simply arrest the VCI. The cadre were
Hygiene: -1 armed and often surrounded by bodyguards. Indeed,
many were fanatical and chose to die in a firefight
Culture and Economy rather than be captured and interrogated. This created
Language: Vietnamese, French, English a lot of bad press for Phoenix, which labeled the pro-
Literacy: Native gram as an “assassination” operation.
TL: 7 In fact, thousands of VCI were killed. However,
Wealth: Struggling (¥1/2) Status: -2 to 6 a far larger number were captured and turned into
assets for the GVN, some even joining Phoenix or
the PRUs. The program worked, with several post-
Political Environment war interviews of former VCI claiming that the worst
Government: Representative Democracy, Municipality enemy they faced was Phoenix. One captured docu-
CR: 4 (Corruption -3) ment reported that Phoenix had so decimated the VCI
Military Resources: $13M Defense Bonus: +4 in their district that “the people now lose confidence
in the final victory of the people’s revolution.” This
Notes was precisely the intent.
By 1970, bad press about Phoenix drew increasing
The former capital of French Indochina, in 1969 Saigon is
criticism from back home. By 1971, the U.S. public
the capital of South Vietnam; Cholon is a major suburb. The
was reeling from general anti-war sentiment amid
city is 45 miles upriver from the South China Sea on the Saigon
the shocking revelations of the 1968 My Lai massa-
River. It is the major trade port of Vietnam, and the site of one
cre. Phoenix’s time had come, and it soon faced a
of the busiest airports in Indochina. Perhaps a million people
congressional inquiry. In truth, the operation had
in Saigon and its environs are refugees form the war in the
been increasingly taken over by GVN as part of
provinces, all living in shantytowns in squalid conditions.
Vietnamization. Though the last U.S. military Phoenix
Saigon was once considered the “Paris of the Orient,” but
offices closed up shop in December 1972, GVN contin-
in 1969 it is a city at war. Barbed-wire roadblocks, sandbag
ued the program under another name until 1975.
bunkers, and machine-gun emplacements are everywhere.
citywide curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. is in effect.
The city is full of American and Vietnamese military and the
establishments that service them – bars, cafés, brothels, steam
R unning hoenix P
baths, cheap restaurants, opium dens, electronics shops, and This section describes various ways to structure a
so forth. Traffic is constant, full of olive drab military trucks, Phoenix Program campaign.
Honda bikes, Vespa scooters, tuk-tuks, and the ever-present
blue-and-white cabs. The Pacification Game
The city is the terminus of the world’s major heroin route One possible campaign is a Phung Hoang/Phoenix
(+2 to search rolls). The environs are inundated with soldiers, team running a district center (DIOCC). The PCs over-
guerrillas, bandits, and Cholon mafia thugs armed to the teeth see efforts to track down and eliminate the VCI in a
and looking to turn a quick buck (+2 to search rolls for arms or single district and its 2d¥4 hamlets. The typical tour
military equipment purchases). for a Phoenix advisor was one year, so the structure is
The national currency is piastres, exchanged at 118 to $1 12 monthly “turns.”
(black-market rates are about 275 piastres to $1). The high Each month, the Phoenix team faces off with the
CR reflects high taxes, military curfews and movement VCI in a Quick Contest of skills. This might be the
restrictions, and the high level of suspicion in the security Phoenix team’s Intelligence Analysis skill vs. the VCI’s
apparatus. For U.S. troops, treat the city as CR2. Tactics skill, though it could be other skills, such as
The city is defended by 14 battalions of military police, Interrogation vs. Intimidation, as the GM decides.
infantry, and armor. The following skill categories may be used to add
to the monthly roll as complementary skills (p. B206).

Talk: Interrogation, Fast-Talk, Current Affairs (Regional), cadre or cell. An important aspect of this approach is generating
Detect Lies, Streetwise, Intimidation, or Carousing can be intelligence through informants. GURPS Social Engineering
used to score information from the population. is an ideal resource for this. It
Fieldwork: Observation, Shadowing, Tracking, explores developing all types
and Search for details discovered during opera- of relationships, including
tions, inspections, patrols, or checkpoints. soliciting informants (p. 23)
Files: Research, Photography, Cartography, and searching for known indi-
and Expert Skill (Military Science) can extract viduals (p. 24), an important
useful intelligence from local DIOCC files, maps, part of the counterintelligence game. The sup-
charts, etc., as well as ICEX data, or cooperating plement has great advice for using advertising for
sources. searches (p. 61) such as the notorious (but effective) Phung
Combat: Guns, Explosives, Gunner, Throw- Hoang “wanted posters” put up in the provinces. There are
ing, etc. These are gains accomplished in fire- also rules on how to conduct psychological operations (p. 62)
fights and ambushes. and revolutionary politics (p. 64). All page numbers are for
Social Engineering. The stats on Saigon (see p. 10 in this arti-
The Phoenix teams gets a bonus for equipment quality
cle) may prove useful with these rolls, especially in regard to
from its intelligence network. Someone using Research or
corruption. In terms of population size, Vietnamese provinces
Intelligence Analysis gets +4 to skill if they have access to the
tend be worth +2 to +3 for search rolls.
latest information from the Phoenix OCC.
Another interesting way to setup a Phoenix game is to use
Both sides roll. The winner consults the following table.
GURPS Social Engineering: Pulling Rank, which uses the
Margin Operations Margin Operations GURPS Rank advantage as a Patron. The PCs request cer-
0 (tie) 1 5-8 3 tain types of assistance from their Patron to accomplish their
1-4 2 9 or more 4 goals. Each request may succeed or fail, and even if provided,
the assistance is limited in scope. This keeps the PCs focused
The number of operations indicated on the table is the on using their abilities and not over-relying on the Patron to
number of actionable operations the winning team can launch hand them an easy out.
that month. There will be many “dry holes” or failed oper- The GM can require the Phoenix team to request assistance
ations any given month, but these are the highlights. If the at each step of a VCI neutralization, with assistance roll failures
Phoenix team wins by 3, for instance, it can launch two oper- played out as problems with social customs, the labyrinthine
ations to neutralize VCI. U.S.-GVN bureaucracy, the weather, rules of engagement, and
Roll 1d to determine the nature of each operation. A roll of so forth. Good rolls get the team the help they want when they
1-4 is a squad ambush, pitting a squad of Phoenix advisors and need it, but failed rolls mean a slow response, or the specific
their assets against a cell of three to five VCI and bodyguards. help is unavailable at that time.
A roll of 5 is a cache or tunnel system, which may contain doc- The specific types of assistance (see Sample Assistance,
uments, weapons, or VCI cadre (in urban settings, this may Pulling Rank, p. 13) most appropriate to a Phoenix cam-
be a safehouse or cooperating establishment, such as a bar, paign include warrant, bribe, technical means, consultation,
café, or retail shop). A roll of 6 is a “sweep,” a platoon-sized files, records search, and specialists. (Keep in mind that no
operation with two or more squads against a VCI-held hamlet agents or officers would likely have Computer Operation in
or remote camp. The GM may want to expand these options 1969!). These would be the bread and butter of Phoenix staff
with a larger table. and most likely receive a bonus on the request if tied to VCI
The group can play out each mission or simply roll a Quick neutralization. Other types of assistance such as gear, safe
Contest of Tactics. Losers take 1d casualties; winners take house, evacuation, treatment, shipping, and travel would be
half that (double for both sides involved in sweeps). Winning available on a case-by-case basis, some possibly used to solve
by 3 or more collects intelligence good for +2 on the next the “hearts and minds” aspects of the program. The use of fire
Intelligence Analysis roll. Winning by 5 or more gives enough support, the cavalry, and insertion/extraction, for instance,
intel to launch another op this month (roll again for outcome). might be authorized when Phoenix advisors are carrying out
To track the progress of pacification in the district from a direct attack on the VCI. Uses of disappearance or muscle
month to month, create a scale numbering -10 to 10, with the are certainly possible “off books,” perhaps by locals looking
needle starting at zero. This represents the hamlets most in to get revenge on the VCI.
contention in the district. A successful mission for Phoenix The GM should offer a list of the aid the team can call
moves the scale positive, while a successful mission for the upon. Each team member should deal with requesting
VC moves the scale negative. A score of 10 means Phoenix the support that fits their position and background. For
wins, the district is pacified, the VCI is wiped out, and a pos- instance, one American member may be responsible for
sible promotion for the Phoenix officers. A score of -10 means using the radio to contact nearby military units to call in
the VCI wins, and the Phoenix team is deactivated or reas- a medevac, artillery fire, or the cavalry, while a Vietnamese
signed as the district is written off or turned over to a larger member may have contacts with the National Police and can
military operation. whip up warrants, consultation, files, or specialists. Another
may have seedier contacts, making rolls for bribe money,
Claws of the Phoenix muscle, or cover-up. However, in the interests of keeping the
A more conventionally structured Phoenix Program cam- game moving, the GM should be generous with the types of
paign might focus each adventure on neutralizing a single VCI requests the PCs can make.

Phoenix:
Birds of Prey By S.A. Fisher
This is a companion article to The Phoenix Program in The National Police (NP) maintained police departments
this issue (see pp. 8-11). Whereas that article introduced the in every city neighborhood and rural village. They were often
Phoenix Program and structures of campaign play, this article overwhelmed, undermanned, and frequent targets of Ban-an-
focuses on units which participated in the counterinsurgency ninh forces. The police seldom had the personnel to directly
war, and provides character-creation guidelines for using assist Phoenix neutralization operations, but did provide
them in the setting. warrants and take custody of any VCI captured. National
This article requires GURPS SEALs in Vietnam. Other Police also staffed the Province Interrogation Center (PIC),
useful books include GURPS Special Ops and the GURPS where captured VCI were debriefed and processed before
Action series, especially GURPS Action 4: Specialists and being tried by the province chief and sentenced to prison.
GURPS Action 7: Mercenaries. Weaponry was limited to handguns, including some obsolete
French revolvers.
Indigs, Grunts, and PRUs The National Police Field Force (FF) was a mobile reinforce-
ment arm for the NP, combat police in the style of European
From 1967 to 1971, a major focus of U.S. and South Viet- gendarmes. It was the first-line backup in case of a riot, nat-
namese government (GVN) strategy was the elimination of ural disaster, or large-scale search and sweep. Field Force
the Viet Cong (VC) leadership, a process they called pacifica- police could be called in to handle checkpoints and traffic con-
tion. This meant that allied forces tried to identify, locate, and trol in coordination with a military action in the area. While
then kill, capture, or turn specific individuals working for the the FF was meant to supplement the NP in case of VC attack
People’s Revolutionary Party and its political movement, the on police stations, its two to three platoons in each province
National Liberation Front. often became static guards at the province or district chief’s
Phung Hoang-affiliated units which were used to target the headquarters and sometimes home. The FF was armed simi-
Viet Cong cadre included a number of indigenous units fight- lar to the RF/PF.
ing forces (or “indigs”). The most common were local militia The Police Special Branch (PSB) was the internal security
units, such as the Vietnamese Popular Forces (PF). These were intelligence arm of the National Police, focused on espionage,
part-time units of uneven quality, intended to defend villages subversion, and counterinsurgency. The PSB were matched
and hamlets, and often riddled with VC or VC sympathizers. directly against the VCI and primarily opposed its efforts.
The Regional Forces (RF) numbered about one per district. The PSB kept its own files and maintained its own network of
They were often familiar with the people and locations they informants. Typically, the PSB operated from district stations,
were assigned to neutralize. Since the village or district chief inspecting each National Police station or Field Force outpost.
commanded them, RF/PF were sometimes easy to tap for a Members of this group also worked at the PIC alongside NP
Phoenix operation. Some were at best marginally compe- and Phung Hoang. However, the PSB jealously held its intelli-
tent, and so used as a last resort; others were well-led hard gence close to its vest, fearful of losing power.
chargers, eager to kill VC. Generally, they were armed with Because VCI targeting was “big business” in the late
obsolete U.S. WWII arms, such as M1 and M2 carbines, BAR 1960s, many other units, agencies, and organizations were
automatic rifles, and M3 submachine guns. By 1969, they had involved in it. Some were only loosely associated with Phoe-
received M16s and other modern weapons. nix, while others were directly tasked to assist the program.
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) military For instance, some U.S. military units at the division or reg-
units (such as the Rangers and Marines) were rarely used imental level developed a counterinsurgency plan by creat-
by Phoenix, being elite units involved in fighting the main ing a Combined Reconnaissance Intelligence Platoon (CRIP),
force VC on the battlefield. Occasionally, intelligence on the pairing U.S. soldiers with RF/PF or Provincial Reconnais-
VCI could be handed off to them if the units were operating sance Forces (PRU) teams. This brought to bear the local
in the province. They tended to function in units no smaller knowledge of PRU teams and the firepower and resources of
than a platoon. Though they were effective at killing VCI in a the “Big Army.”
firefight, they tended to be poorly inclined to take prisoners. In a less direct manner, conventional military units oper-
These units were equipped with the latest U.S. military aid, ating in a province might be called upon to provide a secure
such a M16 rifles and M79 grenade launchers. perimeter for PRU or RF/PF operations at behest of Phoenix.

These requests typically were issued by Phoenix to the neigh- sampans or hitched a ride with military PBRs or landing craft.
boring military unit’s intelligence officers (S-2), who then, if Vietnamese or U.S. military helicopters or trucks might sup-
properly enticed, set a call for a company or platoon to pro- ply transportation, though this was not always available.
vide support for the Phoenix request. Thus, practically any
military unit in Vietnam could find itself stumbling into a
Phoenix operation. While fictional, such a situation is the plot PRU Advisors
of Apocalypse Now, wherein the crew of a PBR (Patrol Boat, PRU advisors were the American NCOs or officers assigned
River) transports a former Phoenix Program soldier, Special to assist the teams. They worked directly with the Vietnamese
Forces Captain Willard, on a mission to “terminate the com- PRU commander, providing him with advice, direction, and
mand” of a rogue U.S. colonel. support to ensure the operations against the VCI were suc-
cessful. Technically, the PRU advisor was not in charge of the
The PRUs team. Instead, a Vietnamese officer was in command, with the
American simply as an observer and assistant. However, PRU
CORDS preferred to handle a target neutralization with the advisors frequently paid the team’s payroll and their aggres-
Provincial Reconnaissance Forces (PRU). Originally formed sive can-do attitude often drove them to call the shots. One
by the CIA and GVN as Counter-Terror (CT) teams in the early province advisor said of them, “[PRU teams] killed more VC
1960s, the PRU were the elite of the Phoenix Program’s indig- than any ARVN regiment in my province.”
enous “action arm,” selected for loyalty and paid handsomely PRU advisors were usually drawn from U.S. Special
by the CIA. They were also a motley assortment of characters Forces, U.S. Navy SEALs, or U.S. Marine Corps Marine Force
whose major qualification was knowledge of the local area Reconnaissance; some were CIA paramilitary officers. The
and hatred of the VC. appointments were usually for a one-year hitch, but some
The best PRU team members were former ARVN Rangers extended their tours. The typical PRU advisor had a proven
or Marines who had completed their term of service and combat record as a strong leader, often with several tours in
joined PRU to fight in their home provinces. Some were Vietnam before being selected as a PRU advisor. Some PRU
Montagnard tribesmen from the Central Highlands, oth- advisors attended a five-week advisor course in Vung Tao,
ers were ethnic Chinese Nung or Khmer Kampuchea Krom, taught by U.S. Navy SEALs, although apparently not all PRU
both being minority groups traditionally persecuted by the advisors had such training. For more on PRU advisors in the
communists. Some PRU were reportedly ARVN deserters, SEALs, see GURPS SEALs in Vietnam.
criminals recruited from the infamous Hoa Lo Prison, or the PRU operations gave the American advisors a tremendous
so-called Cholon Cowboys (Chinese street toughs and mob- amount of operational leeway, and PRU advisors reported
sters from the criminal underbelly of Cholon, Saigon’s sister that the best advisors demonstrated “objectivity, maturity,
city). Many were hoi chanh, VC defectors who had come back and sound judgment.” The advisors were usually the equiv-
into the “open arms” of the GVN Chieu Hoi program. Despite alent of gunnery sergeants or master sergeants (Rank 3), and
the ad-hoc nature of the units, U.S. advisors rated the PRU as the officers were ideally captains (Rank 4). In many cases,
“extremely competent and experienced,” a “pack of pit bulls” however, PRU advisors were Rank 2 NCOs and Rank 3 offi-
ready to settle personal scores for VC atrocities. cers. Above all, the advisors needed creativity, aggressiveness,
The Tay Ninh Province PRU, for instance, was divided into and cultural sensitivity.
five 18-person teams, each separated into three six-person
squads. One team was assigned to each of the four districts in
Tay Ninh Province. The final team – as well as the Vietnamese Spooks and Brass
PRU commander, his operations officer, and the American Another type of operator often associated with Phoenix
advisor – were headquartered in Tay Ninh City. were CIA officers and U.S. military intelligence officers. Early
Andrew R. Finlayson advised the PRU in Tay Ninh Province on, the CIA contributed hundreds of case officers to pacifi-
in 1969. Finlayson recalled that the PRU were armed with cation, then slowly converted those positions to U.S. military
“M-16 rifles, M-60 machine guns, 45-caliber automatic pistols, officers. Both groups had similar training and backgrounds,
and M-79 grenade launchers” as well as VC weapons such as though there were some important differences.
the AK-47 and RPG. Other weapons, according to Finlayson, CIA officers learned their intelligence craft in a year-long
included an eclectic assortment of “Browning 9-mm automatic course at “the farm” in Camp Peary, Virginia. Other train-
pistols, 38-caliber Colt Cobra revolvers, Browning automatic ing for the CIA officers, particularly paramilitary officers,
rifles (BAR), M-2 carbines, Swedish K submachine guns, and took place at “the point” in Hertford, North Carolina. Many
British Bren guns.” Ammunition was plentiful, sourced by CIA officers were ex-military, former State Department, or
the CIA and stored in the compound of the senior CIA prov- former law enforcement. As a group they tended to work at
ince officer. The PRU wore civilian clothes except when in the the province level and out of daily combat, safely ensconced
field, where they wore “leopard spot” or “duck hunter” cam- in Phoenix compounds collocated with the Province
ouflage, tiger-stripe camouflage uniforms, or the black outfits Interrogation Center or Province Operations Coordinating
of Vietnamese peasants. Finlayson described the PRU as oth- Center. While often portrayed in fiction as cowboys and
erwise well-equipped, with “PRC-25 radios, 7¥50 binoculars, romantics, most were hard-nosed professionals, meticulous
[and] medical kits.” administrators that carefully followed policies and proce-
PRU teams lived together in a compound or villa, and had dures, ever cautious of a scandal with their bosses in Saigon
access to 4¥4 Toyota or Honda trucks, or Honda motorcycles. or among the local GVN leaders.
Teams near the coast or in the Mekong Delta used civilian

Military officers at the district level tended to be younger it came from the PRU team’s own informants. PRU teams also
men in their early 20s. They attended military intelligence and/ gleaned a lot of information from debriefing captured VCI
or counterintelligence courses at Fort Holabird, Maryland and themselves, which led to quickly launched operations against
Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Many of the young Phoenix advisors, targets of opportunity. In some rare cases, the captured VCI
far from being mysterious old Indochina hands and cynical was “neutralized” simply by recruiting them into the PRU
mercenaries, were in fact fresh-faced “butter bars” (second team on the spot. The newest PRU team member then led the
lieutenants) straight out of ROTC. Assigned to district Phoenix group to their next target.
coordinating centers, what they lacked in experience they
made up for in enthusiasm. They arrived with idealistic views
about advising and often left jaded and disheartened about Becoming a Phoenix
the war. There are several GURPS sources to draw from for cre-
In contrast, province-level military officers tended to be ating appropriate characters for a Phoenix campaign. First
older, careerist captains and majors, sometimes lieutenant is GURPS Special Ops. It includes templates for Rangers,
colonels who were WWII or Korean War veterans with previ- Recon Marines, and Special Forces. While the templates
ous tours in Vietnam. These senior advisors were sometimes are for GURPS Third Edition, it’s simple to adjust them for
poorly selected for the unconventional nature of the job, fall- use in Fourth Edition games, namely keeping mind that the
ing into the posting through political connections or dumb latter has no half points. The SEALs template in GURPS
luck. A number were old-school artillery or armor officers, SEALs in Vietnam can be helpful as a reference when mak-
bewildered by the advising task and simply marking time at ing conversions.
their desks. Others were Special Forces officers with experi- An appropriate power level for the campaign depends on
ence working with the locals. At times both types struggled the type of game the GM wants to run. A realistic or grit-
to find a happy relationship with province chiefs and tier game may keep the power level low,
other GVN authorities. at perhaps 100-150 points. A campaign
where everyone is part of the SEALs
PRU Operations or other elite forces would have a

275-point level. If players want a
Operationally, the senior CIA officer in mix of levels, the group should
the province (called the province officer in work out an agreeable approach.
charge, or POIC) and the Vietnamese prov- Phoenix characters can also
ince chief commanded the PRU team. The PRU be created using GURPS Action 4:
team was deployed only if both men agreed to an Specialists. Although Action is expressly
operation. Typically, given good intelligence, the Amer- a cinematic treatment, a more realistic
ican advisor could secure a signature from the POIC approach can be had simply by toning
and province chief, and a warrant from the NP, in a down the attribute levels and making a
few hours. While the official standard operating proce- careful selection of abilities. First, start
dure was that the PRU were controlled by the president of with the Basic Action Template (BAT;
GVN and his ministers, in reality, “the CIA POICs controlled Action 4, pp. 4-7), reducing DX to 11. Next,
the PRUs and used the American PRU advisors to ensure the discard Luck, bringing the cost of the template to 85 points.
PRU teams were properly employed” to target VCI operations, Refer to Advantages, pp. 14-15, and Disadvantages, pp. 15-16,
according to the PRU advisor. This was the idea at least. in SEALs in Vietnam for help in selecting appropriate traits.
However, the PRU teams were sometimes treated as the The categories in Action 4 under the disadvantages section
private army of the province chief, who might have the PRU of the BAT can be inspiring (Antisocial, Checkered Past,
attack rival political enemies in the province. Fighting between etc.), keeping in mind trait restrictions from GURPS Special
the Greater Vietnam Party (Dai Vet) and the Vietnamese Ops or SEALs in Vietnam.
Nationalist Party (VNQDD) was so common that, according to A CIA officer assigned to Phoenix could start with the BAT
one American PRU advisor, “these two political parties prob- and add the Detective Work, Intelligence, and/or Tradecraft
ably spent more time fighting each other than they did the skill sets from Action 4; see the lenses on p. 15 for more inspi-
[VC].” In these cases, the PRU advisor’s main job was to keep ration. Vietnamese Phung Hoang officers and U.S. military
the PRU team out of reach of the province chief, usually by officers assigned to Phoenix collection centers might start
putting them in the field on operations. with the BAT and Infantry Training (Action 4, p. 17) and then
Since PRU advisors were to advise, not lead the team, add another package or two related to their military back-
the advisors were expected to stay out of combat and simply ground. Unlike CIA case officers, few military PCs would
issues orders and provide training to the PRU team. However, have a full slate of detective or tradecraft skills, although U.S.
PRU teams were not as effective without an American on the intelligence officers might justify skills selected from Intelli-
ground with the troops. PRU advisors often had a reputation gence, Interrogation, or Journalism. Most attended Phoenix
for going out to “observe” the teams, which actually meant training.
leading them in combat operations themselves. This tended to A PRU mercenary could be quite a colorful addition to the
bond the advisors with the teams and make the VCI elimina- party, as discussed in SEALs in Vietnam, pp. 57-58. PRUs
tion program more effective. or RF/PF forces were often assigned as runners, drivers, and
Most PRU team advisors reported that their best opera- bodyguards to the Phoenix teams by the Vietnamese province
tions were carried out with fresh information, especially when or district chief.

Rank (Southeast Asia) [1]; Administration (IQ/A) [1]; Diplo-
macy (IQ/H) [1].
In terms of Rank,
Military Assistance Security Advisor (MASA) (+8 points):
the tables below pro-
Taught at the JFK Special Warfare School at Fort
vide a greatly simpli-
Bragg, North Carolina, this 12-week course pro-
fied approach to the relative power levels of
vided eight weeks of language training and four
individuals in Phoenix/Phung Hoang organiza-
weeks of training for military intelligence offi-
tional structure. The Rank itself may be Military,
cers assigned to Phoenix. Cultural Familiarity
Administrative, Police, or Intelligence, as the case
(Southeast Asia) [1]; Language: Vietnamese
may be, depending on their parent organization. Phoenix rank
(Broken) [2]; Administration (IQ/A) [1]; Area
should be considered Intelligence Rank until Rank 5, after
Knowledge (Vietnam) (IQ/E) [1]; Diplomacy
which it is Military or Administrative Rank, if it matters. GVN
(IQ/H) [1]; Expert Skill (Communism) (IQ/H) [1]; Intelli-
Rank is always Administrative Rank. ARVN military ranks are
gence Analysis (IQ/H) [1].
functionally two ranks lower compared to U.S. military ranks
Phoenix Coordinators’ Orientation Course (+1 point): U.S. mili-
(an ARVN colonel is treated as a U.S. Army Captain when deal-
tary officers assigned to Phoenix attended this 10-day advi-
ing with U.S. personnel). Rank levels are especially important
sors’ course. Intelligence Analysis (IQ/H) [1].
when using GURPS Social Engineering: Pulling Rank.
PRU Team Advisors’ Course (+5 points): This was a four-week
course taught by SEALs at Vung Tau, at the Vietnamese
Level Phoenix/Phung Hoang Rank (see text)
National Training Center. Language: Vietnamese (Broken)
8 U.S. Commander Military Assistance Command [2]; Intelligence Analysis (IQ/H) [2]; Teaching (IQ/A) [1].
Vietnam (MACV), U.S. Ambassador Province Senior Advisor Course (+8 points): A 33-week training
7 Deputy to COMUSMACV for CORDS program in Arlington, Virginia at the Viet-Nam Training
6 Assistant Chief of Staff for CORDS Center of the Department of State’s Foreign Service Insti-
5 National Director of Phoenix, GVN Province Chief tute. Cultural Familiarity (Southeast Asia) [1]; Language:
4 Corps Senior Advisor (CSA), Province Senior Vietnamese (Broken) [2]; Administration (IQ/A) [1]; Area
Advisor (PSA), GVN District Chief Knowledge (Vietnam) (IQ/E) [1]; Diplomacy (IQ/H) [1];
3 Province Phoenix Coordinator, Province Officer in Expert Skill (Communism) (IQ/H) [1]; Intelligence Analy-
Charge (POIC), GVN Village Chief sis (IQ/H) [1].
2 District Senior Advisor (DSA), Advisor School (+2 points): A three-week course taught at
District Officer in Charge (DOIC) Di An, South Vietnam to train military pacification team
1 DIOCC Coordinator, PRU Advisor members. Administration (IQ/A) [1]; Diplomacy (IQ/H) [1].
0 PRU Team Member, National Police Officer District Operations Course (+7 points): A 12-week training pro-
Level Military Rank, U.S. Army gram in Arlington, Virginia at the Viet-Nam Training Cen-
8 General, U.S. Commander MACV: General, ter of the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute.
Lieutenant General Cultural Familiarity (Southeast Asia) [1]; Language: Viet-
7 Corps Commander: Major General, namese (Broken) [2]; Administration (IQ/A) [1]; Diplomacy
Brigadier General (IQ/H) [1]; Intelligence Analysis (IQ/H) [2].
6 Brigade Commander: Colonel Career Training Program (+6 points): The CIA’s 12-week basic
5 Battalion Commander: Lieutenant Colonel training program for case officers at Camp Peary, Virginia.
4 Senior Officer: Major, Captain Administration (IQ/A) [1]; Expert Skill (Communism)
3 Junior Officer: First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant (IQ/H) [1]; Intelligence Analysis (IQ/H) [2]; Research (IQ/A)
2 Senior NCO: Sergeant First Class, Sergeant Major [1]; Writing (IQ/A) [1].
1 Junior NCO: Sergeant, Staff Sergeant Clandestine Services Training (+16 points): The CIA’s 18-week
0 Private, Corporal course in “advanced operational training” for case officers
at Camp Peary. Acting (IQ/A) [1]; Detect Lies (Per/H) [1];
Level Intelligence Rank, CIA Diplomacy (IQ/H) [1]; Electronics Operation (Surveillance)
5 CIA Chief of Station (IQ/A) [1]; Fast-Talk (IQ/A) [1]; Filch (DX/A) [1]; Holdout
4 Project Manager, Senior Officer (IQ/A) [1]; Guns (Pistol) (DX/E) [1]; Interrogation (IQ/A)
3 Case Officer [1]; Judo (DX/H) [1] or Karate (DX/H) [1]; Observation
2 Paramilitary Officer (Per/A) [2]; Photography (IQ/A) [1]; Shadowing (IQ/A) [1];
1 Secretary Stealth (DX/A) [1]; Urban Survival (Per/A) [1].
0 Security Officer, Admin Clerk PRU Basic Course (+19 points): This is an 11-week course
taught by SEALs for indigenous PRU team members at the
Training Lenses Vietnamese National Training Center at Vung Tau. Boat-
This section covers some appropriate training backing (Motorboat) (DX/A) [1]; Camouflage (IQ/E) [1]; Guns
grounds based on training involved in the Phoenix Program. (Rifle) (DX/E) [1]; Guns (pick one specialty from among
Other training lenses can be found in GURPS Special Ops GL, LMG, Pistol, Shotgun, or SMG) (DX/E) [1]; Hiking
and GURPS SEALs in Vietnam. (HT/A) [2]; Judo (DX/H) [1]; Karate (DX/H) [1]; Navigation
(IQ/A) (Land) [1]; Parachuting (DX/E) [1]; Savoir-Faire
Military Assistance Training Advisor (+3 points): A six-week (Military) (IQ/E) [1]; Soldier (IQ/A) [2]; Scuba (IQ/A) [1];
course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina to help officers learn Spear (DX/A) [1]; Stealth (DX/A) [1]; Swimming (HT/E)
the ropes of being a military advisor. Cultural Familiarity [1]; Running (HT/A) [1]; Throwing (DX/A) [1].

Three
Steampunk
Monsters By Phil Masters
Games referencing the GURPS Steampunk series can Researching such threats could be an entertaining plot ele-
cover a wide range of styles, from “mannerspunk” social ment for a monster-hunters game, sending the party’s sage
adventuring to wild spacefaring or dark Gothic horror. Several into old diaries and newspaper archives.
such styles can involve fights with weird creatures and mon- Steampunk as Modern Supers: Another option is to run ste-
sters; this article provides three such opponents, each with a ampunk heroes as true superheroes as per GURPS Supers.
steampunk twist. Against full-power supers, these monsters may not be a huge
threat, but they do have that capacity for sneakiness.
Using the Monsters GURPS Infinite Worlds: Some timelines accessible to

Infinity are in their own Steam Ages, with varying amounts
These creatures are designed to be tough but not unbeat- of steampunk flavor. Agents who become complacent in such
able foes for reasonably competent heroes, ranging from seri- settings thanks to their technological advantages could be in
ous opponents in a straightforward fight to great menaces for a nasty shock when they discover what supernatural pow-
against which all but the mightiest heroes must prepare care- ers or mad science can throw up.
fully. Whether they attack openly (individually, in hordes, or
with allies), or skulk in the shadows as insidious threats and
mysteries, depends on the genre and the power of the heroes. Monster Stats
A few styles of game work particularly well for these The game stats for these monsters follow the format from
monsters. GURPS Monster Hunters 3: The Enemy and use the abbrevi-
ated version for animals (p. B456) with two variations.
Steampunk Adventure: In a pulp-flavored steampunk game
with competent normal PCs, monsters such as these are best Attack Details: These take a form such as “Electrical
deployed individually to prove the heroism of the protago- Touch (14): 2d‑1 burning surge” for a monster that can
nists. They will usually be the focus of a scenario, whether a attack, rolling 14 or less, to inflict 2d‑1 burning damage with
straightforward hunt or a complex investigation. the surge modifier. These details appear instead of the equiv-
Screampunk: Steampunk horror can feature more mon- alent traits; e.g. that monster’s “Traits” block wouldn’t list an
sters being more monstrous. They should always be set up to Innate Attack.
be serious threats, whether by dint of numbers or allies, or Fright Check: The monster’s suggested Fright Check mod-
because they lurk in the shadows and use cunning tactics. It ifier, as discussed on p. B360 and on pp. 28‑29 of GURPS
will be necessary for PCs to research the monsters to identify Monster Hunters 2: The Mission. This assumes a campaign
their vulnerabilities. in which the PCs have some expectation of encountering
Steampunk Monster Hunters: In a game combining the dangerous and formidable sights; inexperienced “normals”
two established GURPS options of Steampunk and Monster meeting uncanny horrors may take an additional penalty, as
Hunters (see p. 19), these three monsters can work well. A may rational “science heroes” encountering blatantly super-
small group of 400-point hunters should be able to handle natural menaces.
them well enough. Indeed, the monsters may need some
assistance (e.g., other creations from the same laboratory or
human minions) or to use clever hit-and-run tactics to chal- The Galvanic Creature
lenge a competent team of hunters. The late doctor of Ingolstadt was a genius, but like many
Modern Monster Hunters: Given how easy it is to imagine innovators, he failed to recognize the implications of his work.
monsters stalking the Steam Age, what’s to say that some His creation was animated by lightning; consider the scale of the
such period monsters haven’t survived to the modern era? galvanic forces it could withstand and absorb!

Frankenstein’s creation, “Adam” (see GURPS Horror, Two-Handed Neck Grab (11): Attack the neck at Reach C.
p. 97), was a formidable creature, but most dangerous when See pp. B370-B371 and pp. B398-B400. Usually followed
it lurked in the shadows, harassing a single victim. But sci- by a neck snap (above) or galvanic induction (above).
ence can improve on this! The Galvanic Creature is a deriva-
Traits: Ambidexterity; Berserk (15); Catfall; Combat Reflexes;
tive of that original in a setting where the idea of electricity is
Eidetic Memory; Enhanced Move 1/2 (Ground Speed 12);
key to the creation, as seen with varying degrees of emphasis
Fearlessness 2; High Pain Threshold; Indomitable; Injury Tol-
in different treatments of the source material.
erance (Damage Reduction – see GURPS Powers, p. 53; take
Its creator was aware of the disasters which followed
1/3 injury after DR, only vs. electrical attacks); Metabolism
Frankenstein’s work, so he incorporated a solution to the
Control 2; Regeneration (Slow); Social Stigma (Monster).
problem. The new creature made even greater use of elec-
Skills: Brawling-14; Climbing‑14; Electrician‑13; Electronics
trical energies, to the point of dependence; it was linked to a
Operation (Comm)‑14; Engineer (Electrical)-14; Intimida-
generator, and would soon fall inert if disconnected. The cre-
tion‑14; Jumping‑14; Research‑13; Science!‑12; Stealth‑12;
ator also took care to retain control of the electrical systems,
Urban Survival‑12; Wrestling-14.
with many hidden switches and cut-offs.
Notes: If the Creature is cut off from its “backpack” elec-
However, this plan missed one thing; despite its brutish
tricity supply (an Unliving contraption with SM ‑2, DR 7,
appearance, “Adam” was highly intelligent – and so was this
and HP 4, attached to electrodes implanted in its flesh), it
new version. Working in its creator’s laboratory whenever it
immediately gains Combat Paralysis and Laziness. After
was left alone, it constructed a portable battery and dynamo
1d turns, it loses ‑5 ST, ‑3 DX (with ‑3 to all DX-based
that could keep it active for hours. Then, it attacked its creator
skills), ‑2 IQ, Will, and Per, ‑1 HT, ‑1 Speed and Move, ‑2
(whether lethally or not is up to the GM) and escaped.
Dodge, and its Combat Reflexes (which in turn gives it ‑1
Like the original, the Galvanic Creature is a hulking
to Parry). It suffers the same attribute reductions again
assemblage of body parts, well over 7’ tall; it was made to be
every hour thereafter until one of its attributes reaches
classically handsome, even beautiful, but something about it
zero, at which point it falls unconscious. Its base HP and
is askew, even if observers do not come close enough to note
FP are unchanged, however. Conversely, if it experiences
the crisscross of fine scars all over its body. It usually wears
a powerful surge of electricity (such as being struck by
a bulky “backpack” – actually its electrical supply system.
lightning), even if it takes serious damage, it gains +5 ST
However, it can pass as a huge human being, especially if it
(but no extra HP), +2 DX (with +2 to DX-based skills), +2
wears loose, hooded garments. The sparks which sometimes
HT (but no extra FP), ‑2 Per, +1 Speed, Move, and Dodge,
crackle around its hands are clearly unnatural, though.
+1d damage to both its galvanic attacks, Bad Temper (12),
The Creature is intelligent and studies human society,
Impulsiveness (9), and Overconfidence (9), for 2d turns. If
languages, and science when it has the chance. Like “Adam,”
the monster could be connected to a high-power electri-
it would like company, but as it experiences a joyous thrill
cal source which was attuned not to damage it, this effect
when electricity surges through its body, it is more inter-
could continue indefinitely.
ested in power, in every sense. Hence, it seeks to infiltrate
laboratories or factories which are working with electric-
ity, using hired servants and remote communications. But,
again like its predecessor, it eventually hopes to create
The Vital Metamorph
more creatures like itself, as minions and lieutenants as The sallow-skinned scientist shook his head. “I swear!” he
well as mates. Then, it will relegate its human employees exclaimed. “Once the horrible consequences of Dr. Jekyll’s work
to subservience. became clear, I disposed of my samples.”
Suddenly, the inspector was alert. “Disposed of? How?” he
ST: 28 HP: 28 Speed: 7.25 demanded.
DX: 12 Will: 14 Move: 8 The scientist shrugged. “I poured them away,” he said, “into
IQ: 14 Per: 12 Weight: 350 lbs. the drains.”
HT: 17 FP: 18 SM: +1
The existence of a radical version of the “Jekyll treatment”
Dodge: 11 Parry: 11 (Brawling) DR: 2 (Tough Skin) (GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire, p. 49) implies
something unusual in biochemistry: a chemical agent which
Fright Check: ‑2
induces physical transformations linked to emotional states.
Galvanic Blast (13): 3d burning surge. Treat as a jet attack But why should this only work on one species? And, more gen-
with Range 2/5. Costs 2 FP per use. erally, Steam Age science isn’t always careful about hazardous
Galvanic Induction: After a successful grapple, the Creature materials; what problems might radical, careless scientists
can inflict 2d burning surge damage on subsequent turns. cause for their surroundings?
Can increase damage by up to +3d by spending 3 FP per The “Vital Metamorph” is a Steam Age version of the clas-
extra die. sic swamp monster (GURPS Horror, p. 64) or the B-movie
Neck Snap: Must follow neck grab (below). Then roll a Quick killer blob. However, seen through a steampunk lens, it rep-
Contest of the Creature’s effective ST 26 vs. the higher of resents less a fear of nature or the alien than a fear of uncon-
victim’s ST or HT. Damage is 5d+1 crushing; flexible DR trolled science and – even more – of uncontrolled emotion.
does not protect. Formed from an accumulation of microscopic life, aquatic
Punch (14): 3d+2 crushing. Reach C, 1. invertebrates, and revivified decaying matter, it adopts a crude
Two-Handed Grapple (14): See pp. B370-B371. Usually fol- quadrupedal shape most of the time, rising onto two legs to
lowed by a galvanic induction (see above). strike with its forelimbs. It is covered in a viciously corrosive
digestive slime.

It is dangerous but nearly mindless, employing a crude ST: 13 HP: 12 Speed: 6.00
merger of the mental organs of its component creatures. It is DX: 11 Will: 10 Move: 6
also quite sluggish in its basic form, feeding by dissolving such IQ: 2 Per: 11 Weight: 275 lbs.
organic matter as it encounters. However, it responds dramat- HT: 13 FP: 13 SM: +1
ically to the subtle chemical emissions (what might one day by
Dodge: 10 Parry: 9 DR: 3
called “pheromones”) generated by complex creatures experi-
encing strong emotions – any strong emotions – and instinc- Fright Check: ‑4
tively moves toward the source of such stimuli.
It initially simply attacks and devours any large animals or Corrosive Slime: 1d+1 corrosion. This harms anyone who
people that it encounters. However, it has some capacity for touches or is touched by the monster in close combat.
learning, so it will soon move on to terrorizing victims with- Envelop (11): Grapple, followed by a Constriction Attack
out killing them, at least until it becomes overexcited by their (p. B43) + corrosive slime (see above). Reach C-2.
fear. It then learns to enjoy different emotional “flavors” and Smashing Pseudopod (11): 1d crushing + corrosive slime
to defer its lethal attacks for hours, lurking in the vicinity of (see above). Reach C-2.
groups of humans who are feeling strong emotions, in the sew- Traits: 360° Vision; Addiction (To strong emotions nearby, as a
ers beneath theaters and concert halls or near radical political psychological dependency on a stimulating drug); Appear-
meetings. It may even learn to savor especially intense emo- ance (Horrific); Bad Smell; Body of Water (p. B262); Cha-
tions from individuals, skulking near devout religious believ- meleon increased to 6 (Only in swamps, sewers, stagnant
ers or around couples in the first flush of romantic love. Worst pools, etc.); Combat Reflexes; Discriminatory Smell (Emo-
of all, after absorbing enough neural material from animals, tion Sense); Doesn’t Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Indomita-
and being stimulated to organize it by contact with complex ble; Regeneration (Regular); Semi-Upright; Social Stigma
emotions, it will grow increasingly cunning. Still, it is mostly (Monster); Stretching 2; Vibration Sense (Water).
a threat because it is inherently stealthy and hard to kill; orga- Skills: Stealth‑13.
nized adventurers can probably drive it off with fire or chemi- Notes: The Metamorph usually uses All-Out Attack (Deter-
cals, but stopping it from returning in larger form later means mined), relying on its Diffuse nature (from Body of Water)
tracking it down and obliterating it. and DR to protect it. Strong emotions nearby may energize
The details below are for a relatively new Metamorph. See it, at the GM’s option, giving it, say, +4 DX and +1 Speed
the notes for later transformations. and Move. Consuming neural tissue may eventually raise
its IQ by 1‑3 points. If it grows larger, for every +1 to
its SM, multiply its ST and HP by 1.5 and its weight
by 3, increasing its striking damage accordingly.
The Tyrannical Tulpa

Beaten and bloodied, in the grasp of two ruffians, the
revolutionary could still snarl defiance. “You are naught
but running dogs,” he told the conspirators. “Your cow-
ardly master skulks in the shadows!”
“You are unworthy to meet their leader,” a new voice
replied, “and yet, here I am.”
The revolutionary stared at the newcomer. The fel-
low had the look of a typical member of the oppressive
classes, tall and proud, and yet there was something odd
about him – the shadows across his face were too deep,
and his voice had a strange multitudinous reverberance.
“Who are you?” the revolutionary gasped.
“Ha!” the figure replied, now in grinding tones of metal
against metal. “Ask rather – what are we?”
The Tyrannical Tulpa, sometimes called the “zeit-
geist” by German speakers, is a spirit but not a ghost
(it is unaffected by necromantic magic, and is perfectly
happy on consecrated ground). Rather, it represents an
idea. It may be generated by the collective imaginations
of the population of an area, by the combined think-
ing of a group of mystics or radical philosophers, or
even by the mind of a single, psychically powerful indi-
vidual under the influence of strange drugs or vapors.
(Which of these origins is the case of course determines
some possible ways of getting rid of it.) Ironically,
the people generating it hate what it represents.

(Note: Historically, the term “tulpa” only arrived among
Western mystics in the 1920s, but those who named the
Tyrannical Tulpa may have been ahead of their time.)
The Tulpa manifests the dark nature of a steam-pow- Steampunk
ered world – all the oppression and dehumanization that
enemies of materialist industrial capitalism dread. Initially
Monster Hunters
intangible, it soon begins manifesting in physical form. A GURPS Monster Hunters campaign could be set in
This may be a dark, hulking, human-seeming figure, look- some version of the Steam Age, with steampunk equip-
ing like the archetype of a captain of industry, its face per- ment. After all, several of the foundational stories of
manently shadowed by the brim of its top hat; or looking human heroes vs. supernatural monsters not only come
like a symbol of industrialism made solid – a gigantic, from that period, but also have elements of science fiction,
clanking mechanical figure. whether it’s the whole idea of Frankenstein or Van Hels-
The Tulpa is fully aware of its own nature and is coming’s invocations of scientific jargon in Dracula.
pelled to promote relentless industrialism. To do this, it Most standard Monster Hunters character templates
uses its spirit form for spying, its “human” form to orga- can be converted to a Victorian/steampunk setting easily
nize industrialists and politicians to crush dissent, and its enough. If it doesn’t feature many steampunk land vehi-
monstrous form to destroy problems that don’t respond to cles, Driving may be switched to Riding (Horse). In set-
subtlety. It can be driven off, but it may return eventually tings where electronics are unknown or rare, Electronics
so long as the Steam Age continues. Operation and Electronics Repair skills may be deleted or
changed to useful specialties of Mechanic, while computer
skills can generally be dropped (unless the setting features
Tyrannical Tulpa – Intangible Form a lot of Babbage engines), with the points reassigned to
The basic form of the Tulpa. Research. Also, see GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and
ST: 0 HP: 20 Speed: 6.75 Scientists for some potentially useful character features,
DX: 12 Will: 15 Move: 8 and Pulp Hunters! in Pyramid #3/31: Monster Hunters
IQ: 13 Per: 13 Weight: N/A for more guidelines – the pulp era is close enough to the
HT: 15 FP: 20 SM: +1 Steam Age for most of what it says to apply equally well.
Dodge: 9 Parry: N/A DR: 0

Fright Check: 0
Tyrannical Tulpa – “Monster” Form
Traits: Astral Entity (p. B263; can become substantial – see The Tulpa can transform to this form by spending 4 FP; it
below); Bully (15); Callous; Dark Vision; Indomitable; Injury must then spend 2 FP every 10 minutes to maintain it. These
Tolerance (Homogenous); Obsession (Promote Industrial- costs are halved if it is in a mechanical workshop, heavy-
ization); Photographic Memory; Regeneration (Regular). industrial factory, junkyard, or similar. It cannot regain FP
Skills: Acting‑13; Administration‑12; Current Affairs (Busi- while solid. HP losses are converted in proportion when
ness, Politics, Regional, and Science & Technology)‑18; transforming.
Intimidation‑15*; Leadership‑14*.
ST: 50 HP: 100 Speed: 7.00
* Certain traits in other forms modify this skill. DX: 12 Will: 15 Move: 12
IQ: 13 Per: 13 Weight: 6 tons
Tyrannical Tulpa – “Master” Form HT: 15 FP: 20 SM: +3
The Tulpa can transform to this form by spending 2 FP; Dodge: 10 Parry: 9 DR: 18
it must then spend 1 FP every 10 minutes to maintain it. It
cannot regain FP while solid. Fright Check: ‑4
ST: 15 HP: 20 Speed: 7.00 Huge Punch (12): 5d+2 crushing. Reach C-2.
DX: 12 Will: 15 Move: 8 Scalding Breath (12): 3-yard wide by 6-yard long cone of
IQ: 13 Per: 13 Weight: 200 lbs. scalding air (originating at the Tulpa’s mouth) does 2d
HT: 15 FP: 20 SM: +1 burning without blunt trauma or knockback. Costs 3 FP.
Terrible Roar: Requires a Concentrate maneuver. Anyone
Dodge: 10 Parry: 10 (Sword) DR: 3 within 12 yards must roll vs. HT‑6 + (distance from the
Fright Check: 0 Tulpa in yards), or be deafened for (margin of failure)
seconds. Those deafened may roll vs. HT every hour to
Sword Cane (14): 1d+2 impaling. Reach 1. recover. This also acts as use of Intimidation skill.
Traits: Bully (15); Callous; Catfall; Charisma 2; Doesn’t Traits: Appearance (Monstrous); Bully (15); Callous; Can-
Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; Illuminated; not Float; Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t
Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Injury Tol- Sleep; High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Haz-
erance (No Blood, No Vitals); Obsession (Promote Indus- ards; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Unliving);
trialization); Photographic Memory; Silence 3; Vibration Obsession (Promote Industrialization); Pressure Support
Sense (Air). 3; Social Stigma (Monster); Vacuum Support.
Skills: As the intangible form, plus Smallsword-14. Skills: As the intangible form.

Secret Masters By Rory Fansler
Rumors are always out there about people pulling the critical to understanding and manipulating society. For mun-
strings, those who work from the shadows manipulating dane campaigns, the GM may decide that there are no super-
everyone (even governments) for their own inscrutable ends. natural beings to communicate with. Additionally, the ability
GURPS supports several conspiracies: Black Ops, Cabal, to recognize other Illuminati on sight might be based on facial
Illuminati, Voodoo, and Warehouse 23. Even GURPS Action expressions, body mannerisms, clothing styles, and so on,
can involve conspiracies. rather than on any paranormal connection.
Most of the time, the player characters are pawns or, at
best, witting tools instead of leaders. This article explores
options for them to be among those leaders!
This article can stand alone, but GURPS Social Become one of the secret masters, and
Engineering: Pulling Rank can help when the PCs want to determine the fate of the world!
get an organization to do something for them. Some traits
and rules were pulled from other supplements and Pyramid
articles; although they provide interesting options, these
resources are not central to this article and references can be Illuminated Master
ignored if those sources are not available. 30 points
You are one of the string pullers. If not a true Illuminatus,
Advantages you’re at least working your way up the ladder. This advan-
tage is to social manipulation what Trained by a Master is to
Several advantages are useful for this role, with Illuminated martial arts, and allows access to several traits, even if they
and Illuminated Master being the most vital. Rank is exten- are not normally available after the campaign begins. These
sively used to control organizations, though protagonists can include Alternate Identity, Claim to Hospitality (including for
start off with none and build from there. groups you aren’t otherwise connected to), Contacts, Contact
Groups, Foresight, Illuminated, Independent Income, Indom-
Contacts itable, Intuition, Obscure (Traces) (see below), Oracle (basic
version, Digital, or Network) (see p. 21), Reputation, Seren-
see p. B44 dipity, Status, Wealth, and Zeroed. This is not exhaustive, and
Finding just the right person for the right job is essential some groups may provide other choices.
to getting things done, especially without getting your hands Further, as a master of behind-the-scenes manipulation,
dirty! While the rules in the Basic Set have the basics covered, you can buy Rank in any known organization without being
GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact is helpful part of that organization. Instead of working your way up the
for nuanced situations and includes some new tricks. I Have chain, you find people in it whom you can control through
a Friend (GURPS Monster Hunters Power-Ups 1, p. 16) is a various means.
useful Modular Ability that demonstrates an alternative way Taking Illuminated is highly recommended, as that ability
of getting temporary and permanent new Contacts. is key to working behind the scenes and avoiding the traps of
others like you.
Foresight The GM may require skills or other advantages as prereq-
uisites, such as Unusual Background, Illuminated, Current
see Pyramid #3/53: Action, p. 32
Affairs, Hidden Lore, or Intelligence Analysis.
Planning ahead and contingency plan after contingency
plan are hallmarks of a true mastermind! Other information
in the article in which Foresight appears is very suitable to Obscure (Traces)
Illuminated masters. see p. B72
You can erase the paper trail that follows most modern
Illuminated transactions, sometimes even making people vanish, forget
what they know, or simply be discredited. This may be through
see p. B60
mundane means such as associates in the right places, a gov-
This advantage implies a supernatural basis, though it
ernment agency clearing records, or supernatural means.
could also be a special form of genius. Whether from expertly
researching and modeling events, intuition, or supernatural Statistics: Obscure (Traces; Cosmic, Lingering, +100%;
abilities, your ability to make the connections others miss is Defensive, +50%; Stealthy, +100%) [7/level].

Oracle (p. 20) tend to acquire them through subtle manipulation.
By controlling the right organizations and influencing the
see p. B72 right people (legally or otherwise), most social advantages
As presented, Oracle suits supernatural Illuminati. In mun- can be acquired. They may be tied to specific cover identi-
dane situations, a lot of information is gathered from multi- ties or even none at all, just some name on a list. Purchase
ple sources (people, news outlets, etc.) and simply needs to be the social advantage with the Switchable modifier (GURPS
looked at and interpreted in just the right way. Oracle (Digital) Powers, p. 109) if temporarily hiding the trait would further
[15] (GURPS Powers, p. 65) works for those with superior your goals; for example, some situations benefit from positive
computer resources. Oracle (Network) [15], a new variant Reputation and Status, and other circumstances don’t.
of the Oracle advantage, represents sifting through detailed
reports from puppet organizations. When bought as alter-
native ability to Rank in a specific group, Oracle (Network)
reflects information from that source only. As a standalone
Skills
A few skills are important to Illuminati, though effects vary
trait, Oracle (Network) offers insight based on the combined depending on the setting and type of group they represent.
information from all your puppets.
Administration
Rank
see p. B174
see p. B29 The Administration skill is often an Illuminatus’ great-
Rank represents a clean way to get an organization to est tool for dealing with bureaucracies. Most directives to
do things for you, though most people with this advantage controlled organizations and even targeted individuals
typically work for or are retired from the organization in within them are made with this skill. See GURPS Social
question. The Illuminated Master advantage (p. 20) allows Engineering for the many possible applications and effects
an Illuminatus to buy effective Rank in a group without of this skill. In some circumstances (such as dealing with
being a member! This represents controlling people within puppet organizations), the GM may decide that this is an
that organization and using them to get things done for you. Influence skill. Note that some secret organizations use
Normally, Rank is limited because high Rank typically alternate means to control pawns; see Rumored Masters
requires significant time investment and curtails adventur- (pp. 22-23) for suggestions.
ing activities. However, since you are working behind the
scenes by manipulating others, those constraints are not
a problem. For these purposes, Rank can be considered as Manipulator!
buying a Patron in leveled steps, as exemplified in GURPS IQ
Social Engineering: Pulling Rank and GURPS Powers: When it comes to behind-the-scenes manipulation, you’re
Divine Favor. among the very best! You are also adept at recognizing and
The assistance options available for different types and understanding the ramifications and patterns of moves made
levels of Rank are explored in Pulling Rank, which also by other Illuminati.
introduces the assistance roll for determining how success- This wildcard skill replaces the following skills: Account-
ful a particular request is. Illuminati typically use Admin- ing, Administration, Computer Operation, Current Affairs
istration to make these requests; this represent their pawns (Headline News), Economics, Electronics Operation (Media),
unwittingly doing what’s desired. Other skills, especially Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory), Expert Skill (Memetics),
Influence skills (p. B495), may be used, though they increase Hidden Lore (Conspiracies), Intelligence Analysis, Market
the risk of exposure because they usually require direct con- Analysis, Mathematics (Applied), Mathematics (Statistics),
tact with someone to be effective. As a trade-off for using Propaganda, Research, Sociology, and Writing. If using
others, your modifiers from social traits do not aid the assis- GURPS Power-Ups 7: Wildcard Skills, further effects apply:
tance roll (though see Manipulator!, below) so it is best to
have high-ranking pawns. Wildcard Benefits: Wildcard Points may be exchanged
for Buying Success and Player Guidance (both p. B347)
to modify rolls to manipulate an organization. If using
Serendipity GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys, Buying Effect, Favors
see p. B83 in Play, Trading Points for Money, and Upgrading Margins are
Serendipity can be a lucky break or the result of careful also available.
contingency planning – especially with the Wishing modifier Full Bonus: Add the full bonus to IQ rolls for Common
(GURPS Powers, p. 73). See Fortunately, I Saw This Coming Sense, Intuition, and Oracle.
in Pyramid #3/53: Action for additional ideas on ways of rep- Half Bonus: Add half the bonus to any assistance roll for
resenting contingency planning without the need for players an organization you are a part of or control, even indirectly.
and their characters to actually have planned for everything.
Social Advantages Techniques

Certain techniques are helpful to getting things done as
Variable discretely as possible. Getting caught manipulating pawns is
While most social advantages are earned by recogni- embarrassing at best, and what self-respecting seeker of world
tion and personal deeds, people with Illuminated Master domination wants that?

False Flag the organizations described therein have no stat blocks to con-
vert. GURPS Boardroom and Curia is handy for the GM who
Hard prefers to give groups defined game traits, which can make it
Default: Administration-5. easier to decide what members of each organization will do
Prerequisite: Administration; cannot exceed Administra- during the campaign. Below are just a few of the many possi-
tion. ble secret masters, to provide inspiration.
This is an effort to falsify the origin of orders and relevant
documentation so that it appears to come from someone else Adepts of Hermes
or another department in the organization. If anything goes This organization has ties to all magical traditions. It could
wrong, they get the blame instead of your pawns and tools. be replaced by any supernatural organization, including many
Forgery can be a complementary skill (see GURPS Action of the lodges from GURPS Cabal or GURPS Voodoo – or per-
2: Exploits, p. 5), though most internal documents are boil- haps those groups are members of this organization without
erplate and signatures are rarely looked at very closely. This realizing it?
technique can be used to fake requests from an organization
you do not have minions in, though the penalty is at an addi- Member Traits: Magic use is expected, though low-level
tional -5 to do so. members are typically wannabe mages. Masters may use
spells to manipulate groups; in situations that normally call
for Administration, members of this group use Thaumatology
Organization Recruitment or Ritual Magic instead.
Hard
Defaults: Administration-10, or Administration-5 if work- Bavarian Illuminati
ing through an already controlled minion.
Prerequisites: Administration and Research, both at 14+; see GURPS Illuminati
cannot exceed either prerequisite skill. Founded in medieval Europe (at least that’s the story), this
group seeks to wipe out all magic and is thus directly opposed
Most people recruit or gain friends directly, but as an Illu- to groups like the Adepts of Hermes.
minatus, you work behind the scenes, so it is a tad more chal-
lenging. Administration and Research are the typical skills Member Traits: The group is very well-funded, and its
used to learn enough about potential pawns to manipulate high-ranking members are extremely wealthy. These funds
them properly, though the GM may permit an Influence skill are dedicated to anti-magic propaganda campaigns. The orga-
to replace Administration. nization’s members are skilled in Finance and Propaganda.
Gathering enough manipulation information is typically
done over a long period of time, so apply Time Spent modifi- The Discordian Society
ers (p. B346) with base time being a month. Methods include
blackmail, bribery, and appeals to the target’s desires and
see GURPS Illuminati, p. 64
better (or worse) nature. Use the base technique penalty of People should be free, and governments are just a means to
-10 when recruiting indirectly, but the effort becomes much control people – at least that’s how these anarchists see things.
easier (dropping to -5) when working through an already con- Member Traits: Members are more interested in manipulat-
trolled minion, witting or not. ing like-minded individuals than controlling a hierarchy, so
affiliates prefer Propaganda to Administration. However, true
Plausible Deniability masters of chaos do not underestimate the value of controlling
anti-institutionalist groups!
Hard
Default: prerequisite Influence skill.
Prerequisites: Administration 12+ and an Influence skill; The Gnomes of Zurich
cannot exceed Influence skill+6. see GURPS Illuminati, p. 66
Often, it’s not what you say, but how you say it! For every -1 Money makes the world go around! Certainly, modern
to skill, investigators are at -1 to attempts to prove your culpa- society would be lost without it; this organization’s members
bility – they may even think they misunderstood the situation. believe in maximizing profits and expanding their markets to
If things go wrong, the blame can be on those attempting the gain more money.
task for misunderstanding or exceeding the orders. This tech- Member Traits: Members are wealthy financiers, mostly
nique never gives a net bonus. Each Influence skill has its own bankers but also treasury secretaries, hedge fund managers,
associated technique. and others. Economics, Market Analysis, high Status, and
Wealth are common
Rumored Masters The Network

What kind of conspiracy campaign would it be with-
out rival groups vying for world domination? A few GURPS see GURPS Illuminati, pp. 64-65,
supplements dedicated to assorted conspiracies and run- and GURPS Y2K, pp. 33-44
ning conspiracy campaigns are GURPS Black Ops, GURPS Composed of hackers and perhaps even artificial intel-
Cabal, GURPS Illuminati, GURPS Voodoo, and GURPS ligences, the Network is one of the more recent groups.
Warehouse 23; because they are Third Edition supplements,

Members of the organization manipulate vast amounts of Broker
computer data.
Whether you are demon, fae, or just plain human, a lot of
Member Traits: Computer skills are paramount, especially people owe you a favor, and sometimes it’s a real whopper.
Computer Hacking and Cryptography; masters leave the Usually supported through Independent Income, you keep
dumpster diving to their pawns. busy accumulating favors in return for your help (either by
personally becoming involved or by getting someone else to do
Warehouse 23 it to clear their own marker). The broker should have a good
Body Language and Psychology (Applied) to anticipate desires
see GURPS Warehouse 23 before the negotiation even begins. Merchant with a specialty
The world is full of dangerous and society-disrupting in favors is appropriate, as you rarely accept cash.
(or -destroying!) artifacts and relics. Members of this group
find and confiscate them! Objects range from powerful reli-
gious or occult artifacts to inventions and knowledge best
Outfitter
kept out of the public eye. From weapons to medical shipments to remote areas, you
know people and have the resources to acquire what’s needed.
Member Traits: Encyclopedic knowledge and investigation Contacts can help with small favors, while wealthy or pow-
skills are standard, as is more than a little Luck. Curious erful Patrons can deliver quite a bit more. Streetwise and
is not only common but the way most Administration can both help, though
members come to the Warehouse’s under different circumstances.
attention. This is a good fit
for a GURPS Monster Hunters
campaign, though the PCs are
Politician
less likely to be Illuminati than Whether elected to public office,
Warehouse 23 agents. a community organizer, or a busi-
nessperson, you have a visible profile
and public persona. Much of your
The Illuminati real control comes from behind-
the-scenes activity, with the public
in a Campaign role as either a front or a stepping
An Illuminated character works stone to real power. This is a good
best in a conspiracy or political starting point for an Illuminatus as
intrigue campaign, but they can it provides easy access to a variety of
be an interesting variation on the organizations and people.
“social engineer” archetype. The
classic social engineer tends to Retiree
have high reaction modifiers and Maybe you were once famous,
Influence skills, and gets along maybe just well-known in your
with almost everyone. Having this field, or maybe you just acquired
kind of person in a group requires lots of friends and business connec-
a careful balancing act for the GM: tions over your career. Most think
too little time spent in social situ- you are retired and simply enjoying
ations, and the player feels cheated; life now. However, when the cause or
too much time, and everyone else is person appeals to you, you are willing
bored. Additionally, the GM must come up with a variety of to act. Whether a grizzled war veteran or cop or an elegant
interesting NPCs for the social engineer to interact with. philanthropist, you not only have considerable skill and
Illuminati characters do not (and often do not want to) experience, but also former associates you can call on. This
stand out. They are designed to work in the background and is also an interesting stage in an Illuminatus’ career, either
hence don’t need as many scenes devoted to them. Players of the satisfying end of a well-lived life or preparation before
Illuminati expect to make some dice rolls to get things done, disappearing to rebuild it in the shadows.
rather than have their characters engage in long conversations
with various NPCs. The GM needs to come up with organiza-
tions instead of specific people. Spymaster
The GM and player both need to remember that repeated You or your predecessor put into place moles in various
requests tend to accumulate penalties, so the more organi- organizations, often at low levels where security is lax and
zations that the Illuminatus can pull resources from, the they could work themselves up the hierarchy. Some of them
better. The GM should not be afraid to assess audits and are witting tools thinking they serve a righteous cause; oth-
investigations when significant resources are diverted for ers just people who think you helped them, and they owe you
strange purposes. Use this to keep things under control and for it. Additionally, you are likely to have bribed and black-
for plot twists, but be careful to avoid punishing the player. mailed a variety of individuals. This strategy works for any
After all, they paid a considerable amount of points for Illuminatus but is especially suited to family dynasties where
their character’s capabilities. generations of puppets are passed along.

The Checkpoint By Michele Armellini
Whenever and wherever violence is just around the corner, a bottleneck before them, where vehicles have to move in sin-
the authorities will use police or military might to control, reg- gle file.
ulate, or reduce the flow of people and goods. They will use
checkpoints. The Obstacles
These locations are useful in any modern-day setting
Obstacles are meant to slow down and channel traffic, so
with war, a guerrilla uprising, or rioting in the background.
that no vehicle (or mount) can simply speed through. Entry
In post-apocalyptic campaigns, militias and survivor bands
into the checkpoint through three obstacles forces the traffic
might construct similar posts at the edges of their territory.
to follow a slow, S-shaped course. In a hurry, an officer can
Checkpoints may also exist on backward planets or in heavily
make do with two means of controlling traffic movement.
controlled locations in science-fiction or fantasy settings.
The GM should have at hand the HP, Move, and DR of
The main purpose of a checkpoint is to control the flow of
any vehicles an adventuring party might be using, as well as
traffic (vehicles, people, and goods) along a land route. That
details for the checkpoint’s obstacles, in case the players and
entails having power over the route and in the surrounding
their characters like the brute-force solution. See pp. B430-
territory.
432 for the game mechanics of collisions.
Checkpoints can also be used to prevent the movements of
unwanted or unfriendly groups (including covert movements
of enemy guerrillas), to collect taxes, to gather intelligence,
Hasty Obstacles
and to allow only certain classes of vehicles through. Encoun- The quickest way to deploy obstacles in a modern-day set-
ters at checkpoints might involve ting is to use concertina wire coils; see GURPS High-Tech,
haggling, bribing, spying, smug- p. 204, for rules for how difficult it is to
gling, or engaging in a firefight. cross such a coil on foot. Typically, each
Checkpoints control concertina-wire obstacle is composed of
three such coils, the first two spiked to
Features the flow of vehicles, the ground and supporting a third on
top. This can be treated as impassable
A checkpoint may have been
hastily prepared, which might
people, and goods on foot, without throwing something
thick over it. An ordinary wheeled vehi-
provide the benefit of coming as
a surprise to travelers. On the
along a route. cle will automatically have its tires punc-
tured, but it might get over one such
downside, it is less well orga-
obstacle (-7 to the driver’s control roll)
nized and defended. Or the location might be a well-estab-
before stopping. The subsequent effects are those of having
lished post; although everybody knows about it, it is harder to
run over a spike strip (see High-Tech, p. 204), which is also a
attack or infiltrate because the area has been fortified.
useful device to have at the entry of a checkpoint.
Any checkpoint has a few modular components, however.
A simpler hasty checkpoint might use anything that can be
These are quickly set up in the case of a hasty roadblock, or
quickly moved: expendable old vehicles, boulders, or water-
sturdier and more complete for an established checkpoint.
filled steel fuel drums (for empty 55-gallon drums, see High-
Tech, p. 54). When filled with water, such a drum has HP 64
The Route and weighs 510 lbs., but can be placed somewhat easily by
Checkpoints are placed on important land routes. The spe- rolling it. Once upright, it stands nearly 3’ tall. Used as cover
cific location might be just a dirt road (subject to problems in during a firefight, the drum provides DR 20.
bad weather) or a paved road; see p. B466.
The route should be one used by most of the traffic through Established Obstacles
the area. It’s largely pointless to set up a checkpoint on the A more-permanent checkpoint has three rows of obstacles
highway (save if it’s a surprise spot check) when there are sturdy enough to defy any attempt to crash through them,
three country roads that bypass it. The location chosen should even with heavy vehicles. These might be multiple Jersey
be a choke point along the route. Otherwise, alternate roads barriers, reinforced-concrete walls, rows of fuel drums filled
should also be blocked. with sand, or thick mounds of stone and debris. See p. B558
For a hasty checkpoint in particular, the ideal position is for the DR and HP of different materials, for when someone
at a place along the route where oncoming traffic cannot see attempts to crash through any of these or destroy them with
it until it is too late to turn around. Many checkpoints feature heavy weapons.

A real-world solution to heavy obstacles is the improvised approaches to the checkpoint. It contains the available com-
bomb on wheels: a suicide driver steers explosives straight into munications facilities. It may be enclosed within the inner
the first obstacle, weakening the post’s defensive capabilities. area; if not, it should have its own defensive measures.
The Holding Area Hasty Command Post

At a minimum, the command post may be just the com-
Some checkpoints feature a waiting place where vehicles
mand vehicle of the unit involved.
can move off the route and wait for their turn, especially if pri-
ority traffic is expected. In urban areas, this may be a parking
lot located just before the obstacles.
Established Command Post
The holding area is not defended, and only lightly patrolled A well-established command post includes a command and
by the checkpoint personnel (see below). It is a good place for communications room; an area for interrogating and detain-
some intrigue. Friendly intel officers operating under cover ing high-interest suspects who did not pass the initial screen-
and enemy spies alike can pose as travelers or street vendors, ing; storage for supplies; and possibly an area where person-
and attempt to gather intelligence. Enemy agents may try to nel can rest while not on duty. All of these feature reasonable
spy on the checkpoint itself. This is also a place where shady protection against the most common attacks (particularly frag
deals might be made. damage from mortars).
Hasty checkpoints don’t always have this feature.
The Overwatch Position
The Inner Area This is a defensive position that overlooks the whole check-
This is where vehicles are searched, documents are point and the accesses to it. Sometimes, two or more such
checked, and travelers are questioned. It is an enclosure, positions are needed. The best positions have a commanding
possibly surrounded by more coils of concertina wire (see field of fire. Personnel assigned here do not search or interro-
GURPS High-Tech, p. 204) or some other form of fencing or gate; they only provide security.
standing defense. In urban environ-
ments, existing buildings and walls Hasty Overwatch
are exploited. In improvised checkpoints,
security may be provided by the
Hasty Inner Area second vehicle of the team, or by
A hastily organized checkpoint a heavy-weapon emplacement.
has a basic defensive perimeter
around an empty inner area. Pos- Established Overwatch
sibly, only one vehicle at a time This usually features signif-
can be searched. Personnel here icant cover, including protec-
might be operating out of their tion with a minimum of DR 30,
own vehicles, though this is not such as sandbags and dug-in
considered a secure practice. positions. A squad automatic
weapon or other heavy arma-
Established Inner Area ment is set up here; there are
In the case of an established also surveillance and targeting
checkpoint, the perimeter fea- devices. The position is normally
tures hardened cover that can- elevated, such as a hilltop, tower,
not be quickly climbed over. In the or top-floor gun emplacement in a
most secure versions, only one vehicle preexisting building.
at a time is checked. Structures may be in place – sheltering
personnel and travelers from the weather – where searching The Reaction Force
people and personal items, and interrogations, can be carried If available, this is another vehicle with checkpoint crew.
out. Tents, huts, or preexisting buildings might be used for It is parked under cover and concealment, outside the inner
these purposes. area. Its purpose is to stand ready to pursue any vehicle that
This area contains devices to detect and defeat likely tries to withdraw from or bypass the checkpoint. If the enemy
threats. For instance, chemical detectors might be used to is aware of this practice, care should be exercised in the pur-
locate explosives (see GURPS High Tech, p. 48), or equipment suit, so as to avoid falling into an ambush.
might be available to find hidden compartments and contra- Not all checkpoints have such a component – it depends on
band. In many post-apocalyptic settings, radioactive sources the strength and equipment of the units involved.
pose a significant danger (see GURPS After the End 2: The
New World, p. 25), so personnel might have means of finding
and neutralizing these. Personnel
Any military position is only as good as the soldiers serv-
The Command Post ing it. If the protagonists make up the checkpoint crew, then
The command post is where the unit occupying the check- the GM needs stats for travelers (or attackers) and possibly
point is controlled from. Ideally, it is out of sight of the generic civilians, support personnel, and cannon fodder.

If the party is on the outside, wanting to go in or through, or Sensitive. This NCO has a future in counterespionage. This
if the PC group is part of a larger unit, use the suggestions person won’t swallow any lies that aren’t perfect. If deception
here to create important NPCs. Each character description is absolutely necessary, either the trick has to be flawless, or
focuses on one defining GURPS trait. These sketches can be the attempt should be made when this sergeant is off-duty.
fleshed out by the GM if the adventurers will have to stop at Bad Temper. This is the average irascible sergeant. Better
the checkpoint for some time. The GM should note the oppor- just not to irritate them; be meek, and look harmless. An alter-
tunities for roleplay with more than one NPC involved, which nate tactic is to innocently point out another car as a target
might happen when two or more versions of the same arche- worthy of the terrible temper.
type are together. Perception. This kind of second-in-command is not an easy
victim of a surprise attack. Observation is one of their key
The Commander skills. The usual workaround is to provide something worri-
some to check out, such as a decoy.
The commanding officer’s attitude defines how well the
checkpoint does what it’s meant to do. Commanding officers
also affect the behavior of the soldiers. If getting through the The Grunts
checkpoint is an important encounter for the PCs, the com- For a firefight, the soldiers at the checkpoint need only
mander should appear on the scene. combat stats. If the scene involves a noncombat encounter,
then the GM may give the group one trait they have in com-
Sense of Duty. A thorough, no-nonsense professional, most
mon, such as Acute Vision, Compulsive Behavior, Fearless-
common with above-average military outfits. This officer isn’t
ness, Fit, Laziness, Lecherousness, or Secret. Paramilitaries
the weak spot of the checkpoint, and the other personnel are
and post-apocalyptic gangs might have members with such
more alert with this person in charge.
unprofessional disadvantages as Bloodlust, Bully, Cowardice,
Combat Reflexes. This is a veteran, who reacts as per the
or Intolerance.
description of this advantage (see p. B43). Never caught by
surprise in a combat situation, the GM should pick this ver-
sion of the commander to encourage the PCs to develop a non-
combat solution to the checkpoint problem!
Tactics
A checkpoint is not a front-line combat position. The lim-
Paranoia. This person sees enemies in every vehicle – not
ited assets available to it are used to defend it, and to maintain
an unlikely trait in an after-the-end setting, for instance. This
control over the territory against lesser threats than a conven-
type of commander imposes hefty reaction penalties (see
tional frontal assault.
p. B148) during interactions. Offering this person intelligence
about some (real or invented) major threat around the corner
would be one way of getting past the checkpoint. Paranoiacs Civil Disorder
are well-prepared against real enemies, too. Angry civilians with improvised weapons are the most
Hidebound. This by-the-book person is often found within common problem. Nevertheless, the occasional armed guer-
well-structured organizations. Requests for exceptions are rilla might exploit a crowd as cover.
ignored or met with hostility. Although the disadvantage The purpose of a checkpoint in this scenario is to main-
description does not mention this, the GM might decide to tain control over the territory, to prevent aggressive crowds’
penalize a Hidebound commander’s reactions to a truly cre- movements, and to check vehicles for weaponry. In a Third
ative approach. World or post-apocalyptic scenario, preventing smuggling (of
Leadership. With this type of person in charge, any plan goods or people) and levying a toll can be additional goals.
relying on noncompliance or indiscipline by the soldiers is A small crew is normally used for such a checkpoint.
unlikely to succeed. However, the checkpoint crew count on One person directs traffic, one searches vehicles and people,
their officer’s guidance, which becomes a problem if the com- one stands guard, one is on overwatch, and one is the com-
mander is incapacitated. mander. The guard has a nonlethal weapon. The checkpoint
must be strengthened with additional personnel or obstacles
The Sergeant if there is a risk of large crowds trying to overwhelm it with
sheer numbers.
Since the commander can’t be everywhere all the time, the
sergeant may be important in the initial interaction with the
party at the checkpoint. Or maybe the heroes deliberately Guerrillas Afoot
choose to carry out their plan while a strong commander is If the place is teeming with guerrillas, the checkpoint’s first
asleep and a weak sergeant is on duty. task is to interdict them from using the route and to catch
them if they try to slip through. Keeping tabs on civilians and
Code of Honor. This professional sergeant does things
showing them who is in control is another purpose. The post
the proper way. They are hard to surprise and impossible to
must be able to withstand hit-and-run tactics.
bribe. If the code is known, however, then this person reacts
Two people search travelers, with a third soldier stand-
predictably, which can be used against them.
ing guard. Two combatants are in the overwatch position
Greed. A common problem with underpaid lower-
with a heavy machine gun. Two sentries stand at each of the
rank service members in third-class armies is bribery.
two entry points. A reaction force of at least one vehicle is
The commander has to be kept in the dark about the kick-
available. Additional or relief personnel might be off-duty but
back. Bribable sergeants may turn a blind eye to minor
nearby. One intel officer, one interpreter, and one representa-
transgressions.
tive of the local authorities are useful additions.

The holding area is occasionally patrolled (or there is an contents. They might be required to take off their outer gar-
undercover agent). Vehicles are ordered to stop for a visual ments. Only then they are allowed to drive into the inner area
inspection before approaching the obstacles. Once inside, for further inspection.
travelers must get out, documents are checked, questions are
asked, and the vehicle and people are searched. Suspects may
be detained for further questioning. The Map
The overwatch position and the reaction force stand ready The map below portrays a hasty checkpoint in a counter-
to open fire if needed. Either should be able to engage distant insurgency operation. A logistical truck, now gone, carried
targets (to counter standoff attacks). in the fuel drums used as obstacles. There are three soldiers
aboard the reaction-force vehicle. The perimeter is protected
Suicide Attacks by one coil of concertina wire. The cover provided for the
overwatch position can be customized by the GM.
In the event of guerrillas known to use suicide tactics, the
The main direction of traffic is from the upper left corner;
checkpoint is further strengthened with additional guards and
vegetation and a bend make it so that the checkpoint can-
passive defenses. The overwatch position features a weapon
not be seen from a distance. Trees provide concealment for
with firepower enough to stop a loaded vehicle. Signs and
both the command post and the reaction force, but it is worth
loudspeakers are used to direct vehicles to stop at a distance.
noticing that they might be used for a stealthy approach by
The initial visual inspection is more thorough. Travelers
enemies on foot, too.
have to get out, open the trunk, unload cargo, and show the
Vehicle N
9
1
Sentry
Obstacles
(fuel drums)
Vehicle
8
3
4
Guard
7 2
6 Obstacles
(fuel drums)
10 yards 5 Sentry
Map of a Hasty Checkpoint

Key
1. Holding area 5. Command post (with off-duty 7. Overwatch position
2. Inner area soldiers outside) 8. Perimeter (concertina wire)
3. Search team 6. Command vehicle (commander is 9. Reaction force
4. Search team’s vehicle in front of the vehicle)

The Company By Sean Punch
GURPS Action fans who follow the author’s GURPS cam- difference: law enforcers, soldiers, spies, and counter-spies
paigns know that the series was inspired by such a campaign. tired of their masters’ methods; members of nongovernmental
Here’s the organization at its heart! organizations dedicated to rooting out injustice, curing dis-
ease, and rebuilding villages, but frustrated by lack of funding;
People often grumble that “somebody” should do some-
even “ethical independents,” from white-hat computer hack-
thing: About countries that run torture chambers, secret pris-
ers to repentant ex-mobsters. They needed individuals aware
ons, and concentration camps; that prop up dictators; that
of the causes of and the solutions to violent and criminal prob-
assassinate anyone who disagrees with them. About wealthy
lems – and who had a conscience.
corporations that poison the land, exploit workers, and destroy
economies. About so-called freedom fighters who hold their
people hostage while sowing terror. About international crim- A Company Is Born
inals engaged in human smuggling, slavery, and arms-dealing. This group’s first act was to fund what they called sim-
When that “somebody” is the world’s power elite, what ply “the Company” – of which they were the “Directors” – to
they do seldom makes the world better for all. They act out of develop cutting-edge psychosocial metrics for identifying suit-
self-interest, causing more problems than they solve. Or they able problem-solvers. While most candidates proved not to
don’t act. Out of fear of trade sanctions, diplomatic isolation, have a conscience, algorithms and profilers weeded them out.
or war – or in return for concessions – they turn a blind eye. The Directors approached only the tiny subset who had per-
Fortunately, not every corporate mogul is greedy and sonalities capable of setting aside national or corporate inter-
immoral, and not every official blindly supports organiza- ests. They did so covertly, in the guise of offering ordinary
tional or national agendas. work, taking pains to ensure that meetings that went poorly
would look like simple misunderstandings.
The Early Days The Directors invited in the rare few who shared their
vision and goals. Anyone who could quit or retire without
The Company started as the shared vision of a handful of setting off alarms, did. Many (especially hackers and digi-
powerful-but-ethical people. They had their differences, but tal activists) were functionally anonymous, or wouldn’t be
all agreed that while the world needs harmony, most laws and missed. Those doing dangerous work – undercover detec-
treaties ostensibly aimed at that goal serve mainly to manu- tives, intelligence officers and special operators on clan-
facture a paralyzing fear to act against those who drafted and destine missions, ex-criminals, and even doctors in isolated
signed them, giving those policymakers free rein to pursue Third World villages – “vanished” in plausible ways. In real-
unjust goals. These thinkers realized that peace, not merely its ity, all joined the Company and set about assembling the
illusion, must exist before anyone can keep it. They believed resources needed to fight evil covertly. Above all, that meant
that policies leading to inaction against evil are themselves more people like them.
evil – that law isn’t always justice.
These visionaries were wealthy: ethical Recruitment
captains of industry, Old Money that grew
These “Handlers” established rigor-
a conscience, a few idealistic media stars,
ous clandestine recruitment protocols for
even a lottery winner or two who knew
“Agents.” They felt out only individuals
what it was like to be downtrodden. To this
who shared the Company’s stance against
day, nobody knows who got them talking;
corruption and injustice, and made sure
theories range from frustrated UN officials
that all were top-drawer professionals
with a dream but no clout, through digital
whose views and actions had gotten them
activists conducting a radical social exper-
marginalized, discharged, fired, or left
iment, to Elvis. Whoever the mastermind
for dead (or actually dead, before being
was, they lit the fuse and stood back.
resuscitated). They spent the necessary
The assembled cabal realized that
funds to ensure that these candidates
money alone couldn’t right all wrongs.
would have no idea as to the Company’s
They knew that bankrolling vigilantes
true nature prior to screening for moti-
and troubleshooters would feed corrup-
vation, mental stability, and professional
tion and bloodshed, and that they had to
skills. Then they arranged new lives for
use their influence to feel out like-minded
those who passed their tests.
people with the skills to make a real

The Company Today
All that planning, organization, and recruit-
ment happened between the late 1990s and
The Company
today – but the Company just opened for business. Here are GURPS Boardroom and Curia stats for the Company.
The PCs are first-cohort Agents, in on the ground They follow the rules – but the Company was designed for a cam-
floor. They’re making history – and if they do it paign launched eight years before Boardroom and Curia, so inter-
right, nobody will ever know! pretation demands some flexibility!
The Company has no headquarters. It’s Mission Statement: The Company recruits skilled Agents and
organized primarily through private, strongly sends them on secret missions to solve often-violent problems that
encrypted telecommunications networks and the nation-states are unwilling or unable to solve.
“dark web.” Physical meetings are rare. Directors
rarely assemble in large numbers; Handlers never
meet, know a single Director apiece, and run
Capabilities
one or perhaps two teams of six to eight Agents; TL: 8 Members: 500 (?)
Agents interact exclusively with their team Wealth: Filthy Rich
and Handler. Contacts: Deceptive skills-21 [20]; Technological skills-18 [15]
Agents who need equipment or travel put in a Member Traits: Duty [‑20]; Secret [‑20]
request to their Handler. If things can be bought Notable Resources: Endless temporary safehouses. Although
legally, through conventional channels, Agents the Company itself owns no permanent facilities, the Directors
find the necessary funds in their numbered control their enterprises closely enough to put them at Agents’ dis-
accounts – or, when even that seems risky, in posal at times, providing anything from a quiet basement for an
small, unmarked bills at a dead drop. Restricted after-hours interrogation to a private clinic or ski lodge.
gear is also dead-dropped if portable, often in Reaction-Time Modifier: ‑1. The Company makes decisions
hotel rooms or abandoned buildings. Larger quickly, but the need for secrecy means RTM is from +2 to +4 for
items are left where they can be “stolen,” and the riskier requests for aid.
Agents are tipped off in time to beat the under-
world to the prize. Costs and Values
Agents rarely need external human resources, Startup Cost: $1,482,000,000 Resource Value: $7,410,000
as Handlers assemble self-sufficient teams that Patron Value: 30 points Enemy Value: ‑30 points
have combat, investigative, medical, social, tech- Ally and Dependent Value: The only Company members PCs
nological, and vehicular skills covered. Where can count on in the field are other PCs, who cannot be Allies or
unavoidable, helpers are always locals who Dependents. The rare Handler who gets in harm’s way would be
believe they’re working for someone else – typi- their equal. Directors would rival them in points due to social traits.
cally the underworld.
Staging take place out of temporary safehouses
that disappear tomorrow. Social Attributes
Type: Investigative, Secret
CR: 4 Loyalty: Very Good (16; +5)
Who? Rank: Company Rank 0-3 [3/level]
The Company preferentially recruits former Income Range: $2,600 (Average) to $260,000+ (at least Filthy
intelligence, law-enforcement, military, and Rich)
paramilitary personnel who’ve quit or been dis- Reputation: None!
charged over philosophical differences – along
with ex-criminals – but that doesn’t mean
“rejects.” The Company can afford to be choosy: Notes
It’s rich, its pool of potential recruits is global, Many Directors own high-tech businesses that push the bound-
and its personnel needs are minuscule. aries of TL8, especially in bio-tech, computers, medicine, and tele-
Thus, the Company approaches only ideal can- communications; that’s what “Technological skills” represents.
didates. As its missions are clandestine, that means Equipment is often the best TL8 offers, and security is extreme
people who can blend in. And as those operations when it comes to keeping outsiders from learning about the Com-
vary immensely and there’s no longstanding “play- pany. The latter is covered by “Deceptive skills”; enemies must
book” to work from, that means people capable overcome this level to find paper trails, hack records, penetrate
of improvisation: physically fit, mentally gifted, Agents’ temporary false IDs, etc., and it definitely includes Admin-
exceptionally cross-trained. istration. Control Rating is high because although the Company
exerts limited influence over Agents, those who break its rules find
themselves hunted by other Agents.
What?
The Company is a secret organization with a
sworn mission to deal with injustice and human
suffering wherever it’s found. That doesn’t mean lobbying for efforts. It means action against those causing the problems
good causes and sending food and medical aid – although . . . action that goes beyond peacekeeping and law-officer
many Directors contribute vast sums of money to such exchanges . . . direct action.

As a check against abuse – and to keep its activities from Autonomy doesn’t make the job easier. To take down the
being too directed and hence predictable – the Company unjust, Agents must often employ their targets’ methods: espi-
rarely hands out assignments. It supplies each team of Agents onage, murder, and occasionally worse. There’s a time and
with intelligence on a variety of wrongs in the world. The place for torture, and that’s when some dirtbag is keeping a
Agents’ responsibilities are to pick the problems they believe secret guaranteed to destroy the lives of innocents. Ensuring
their skills can solve, investigate them, and act if possible. that the cure isn’t worse than the disease explains why the
Company recruits only a special kind of person.
It would be a fair criticism to proclaim that by
operating outside established channels, equipping
C ompany M en
Agents with everything from lockpicks to guns to
explosives, and taking often-violent action against
Contrary to GURPS Action 1: Heroes, pp. 24-25, the Company people who haven’t been formally tried and con-
is handled as a Patron – mostly because its structure is extremely victed in anybody’s court, the Company is as bad
“flat” and often informal: as the problems it purports to solve. The Company
doesn’t deny this. Indeed, the Company makes
Rank Position Rank Position clear to Agents that it’s aware of this, and wants
0 Agent 2 Director every one of them to be as certain as possible that
1 Handler 3 Chairman* every lock they pick, every bullet they shoot, and
* Maybe the shadowy mastermind who first assembled the every bomb they explode will result in something
Directors, perhaps their primus inter pares. If the Directors know, ordinary people can look at and say, “We’re better
they aren’t saying! off that this happened.” If there is any doubt, there
is no doubt: Abort!
All PCs are Agents – and all Agents have the same Rank. Some
teams elect leaders, others follow charismatic members, still oth-
ers revert to old habits and use past rank, and a few vote on (or
Where and When?
debate) everything. Handlers and Directors don’t get involved. The Company recognizes no national boundar-
Consequently, Rank is a poor fit. ies. It bars no country’s citizens from recruitment
Instead, the Company functions as a Patron. The Directors can, and denies no region its aid. Wherever there’s
collectively, siphon billions (though not tens of billions) of dollars grave injustice – criminal, political, social, or oth-
from legitimate sources to clandestine ops, making the Company erwise – the Company takes an interest. When that
a “very powerful organization,” worth a base 20 points. It provides injustice looks like it will respond to conventional,
impressive gear, including military weapons, private cellular sub- overt aid, the Company’s wealthy Directors sign the
nets, and vehicles (Equipment, +100%). However, Agents deal with check. But when it’s a problem that only action can
the Company as a “black box,” and vice versa, so what they get isn’t resolve, that’s a job for Agents.
always what they had in mind (Minimal Intervention, ‑50%).
For Assistance Rolls, use frequency of appearance. That’s 9 or
less for all, and subject to AR modifiers.
W orking for
What assistance is possible? The Company controls more
resources than a big-city police department, but isn’t as lavishly
the ompanyC
In game terms, Agents are cinematically compe-
funded as a federal agency (the FBI, CIA, etc. have $10-15 billion
tent: they’re 250-point GURPS Action characters!
budgets). Still, it has so few people in the field that individually,
They’re built using GURPS Action 4: Specialists,
Agents are better supported than government operators. Good
with a variant Basic Action Template (BAT) and
examples of assistance include Cash, False ID, Files, Replacement
several other tweaks.
Gear, Safe House, and Transportation – and perhaps Facilities or
Technical Means via some Director’s company. But never noisy
helicopters or armed men! Company BAT
In return for this – and for the Company picking up the Agents’ 150 points
tab for food, clothing, lodging, and travel, and eventually paying This replaces the BAT on pp. 4-7 of Specialists.
them a pension that would make them Very Wealthy – Agents are The most important difference is high DX and IQ,
always “on call.” They aren’t permitted to have spouses or children, representing the Company’s rigorous selection pro-
or even long-term lovers beyond fellow Agents. They aren’t allowed cess. Ordinary spies, soldiers, and cops don’t even
to contact anyone from their former life. They live nomadically, come close!
and often barracks-style, with other Agents.
This can be luxurious: A “safehouse” might be a five-star hotel Attributes: ST 11 [10]; DX 13 [60]; IQ 13 [60]; HT
owned by a Director. “On call” could involve staying within an 11 [10].
hour’s drive of that hotel, doing whatever the Agent wants. When Secondary Characteristics: Damage 1d‑1/1d+1;
the call comes, though, Agents are expected to drop everything to BL 24 lbs.; HP 11 [0]; Will 13 [0]; Per 13 [0]; FP
operate illegally in global hotpots, against armed opposition, with 11 [0]; Basic Speed 6.00 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0].
nobody but their teammates for backup. Advantages: Cultural Familiarity* [1]; Language
This amounts to Duty (Extremely Hazardous; 15 or less) [‑20]. (Native)* [6]; Patron (The Company; 9 or less;
Equipment, +100%; Minimal Intervention,
‑50%)† [30].

Disadvantages: Duty (Extremely Hazardous; 15 or less)† forbidding Allies, Claim to Hospitality, Clerical Investment,
[‑20]; Secret‡ [‑20]. Contacts/Contact Groups, Favor, Independent Income, Legal
Skills: Three of Area Knowledge (any), Current Affairs (Busi- Enforcement Powers, Legal Immunity, Reputation, Security
ness, Headline News, People, Politics, or Regional), or Clearance, Social Regard, Status, Tenure, and Wealth, and
Savoir-Faire (Mafia, Military, or Police), all (E) IQ [1]‑13; Patrons or Rank outside the Company.
Heraldry (Insignia and Uniforms) (A)
IQ-1 [1]‑12; or Expert Skill (Military
Science or Political Science) (H) IQ-2
[1]‑11.
Slush Fund: 10 points.
IJ G
ust otta e B M ! e
Agents can have diverse Cultural Familiarities, Languages, and back-
* Any culture and language different ground skills; millions of possible skill-set combinations, some custom-
from the Agent’s native ones. The GM izable; and whatever they buy with their Slush Fund, which can be made
should ensure that the whole team shares bigger by taking the player’s choice of quirks and disadvantages. Yet
one culture and one language, though this Agents are also subject to strict limitations, especially on disadvantages,
needn’t be everyone’s original background. which can make them seem a little alike.
† See Company Men (p. 30). Optionally, the GM can allow more than ‑10 points of personal disad-
‡ The Agent isn’t anybody’s officially vantages. Going up to the ‑50 points of standard Action templates would
sanctioned representative and can’t afford be extreme – with the ‑40 points from Duty and Secret, that would be ‑90
to get caught doing their job. If they are, points! But it wouldn’t hurt to split the difference and go with ‑30 points
they’ll be tried as a common criminal of personal problems. This will give Agents another 20 points to spend (a
at best, a spy at worst, facing imprison- good thing) but make them easier to profile (definitely not).
ment – and, likely, execution. That’s worth
‑20 points instead of the usual ‑30 because
it’s shared with a whole organization and
because while the Company can’t bail out Agents, it provides
high-quality false identities whenever needed.
C A
ompany dventures
Agents can find themselves confronting any problem
that’s tolerated by, too risky for, or unknown to The Powers
Building Your Agent That Be. Dramatic examples include exposing the secret
1. Start with the Company BAT and customize it. state backing of criminals, terrorists, or dictators; foiling
2. Add four modules from Skill Sets (Specialists, pp. 10-24). high-tech attempts to crash stock markets or manipulate
Given the scope of the Company’s work, no individual set or free elections (probably to get someone awful elected);
combination is out of the question. procuring blackmail on corrupt leaders; shutting down
3. Select up to ‑10 points in personal disadvantages – which concentration camps, human trafficking, illegal medical
cannot reduce or “sell back” anything on the BAT – and up to experiments, organ theft, and similar atrocities; and elim-
five quirks. We Have Standards (Specialists, pp. 7-8) definitely inating thugs forcing Third World villages to mine blood
applies, ruling out all serious physical and psychological prob- diamonds or produce narcotics.
lems. Traits that risk compromising the Secret are also off-lim- There are plenty of ordinary examples, too! The whole
its, eliminating Debt, Dependents, Enemies, Reputation, world might agree that someone or something needs dealing
Social Stigma, highly unusual looks (Distinctive or Unnatural with, but official decision-makers may be unable to act in
Features, Dwarfism, Gigantism, etc.), and any Duty or Secret time. Governments let some atrocities go unpunished not out
other than the required ones. Charitable, Chummy/Gregari- of support for them, but due to a shortage of cash or a surfeit
ous, Code of Honor (Soldier’s), Intolerance (of untouchable of bureaucracy. The Company lacks these limitations.
criminals, corrupt power elites, etc., worth ‑5 points), Pacifism Also remember:
(Cannot Harm Innocents), Selfless, Sense of Duty (to team-
mates, for ‑5 points), and Workaholic are encouraged. Add the • Agents are required to act but not often assigned specific
extra points to your Slush Fund. missions. They’re given information on everything wrong in
4. Following By the Book (Specialists, pp. 28-30), fiddle the the world and turned loose, and receive aid when they act.
results so far to get legal trait levels, adjusting the Slush Fund Sometimes there’s no right choice.
as needed. • The Company is global. Agents could end up anywhere.
5. Optionally, optimize skills and attributes. Any points In the author’s campaign, it would be easier to say where
saved go in the Slush Fund. they didn’t go: South America (for some reason) – oh, and
6. Spend your remaining Slush Fund as you like; Antarctica. Sometimes they traveled like rock stars, on yachts
Specialists offers many ideas. Luck is highly recommended, and private jets, but they also stowed away in cargo holds and
and other excellent choices are Combat Reflexes, Fit/Very flew on Cold War-era planes that fell from the sky. Languages
Fit, Versatile, more Cultural Familiarities and Languages, and vehicle skills consumed many earned character points.
and almost any realistic Talent or perk. More skills are • The Company is new. “Rubber hits the road” adven-
always welcome. Anything cinematic must be cleared with tures are likely. In the original campaign, Agents had unin-
the GM, while the exotic and supernatural don’t suit Action. tended contact with other teams and Handlers – and even a
Traits associated with persistent social connections are Director. Many adventures involved recruiting for or protect-
off-limits for the same reasons as social disadvantages, ing the Company.

Derelicts
on Ice
By Carolyn Ivy Stein and Steve Stein
Notus motioned to the coffeemaker with its supply of black “Just find them. Bring back the answers and anything worth-
liquid. I could almost taste the bitter burnt sludge from the sour while that you find. Obviously, we need to pay for your mission
odor reaching me from across the office. I suppressed a shudder with your finds. And if you can bring back the Sun’s Victory,
and shook my head in a vehement no. there’s a reward in it for you. But don’t get killed.” 
He shrugged and tossed a sheaf of papers that slithered across
Somewhere in the Arctic, north of Greenland, lies a grave-
his empty desk, resolving into a messy bunch. I barely caught
yard of derelict ships. Drawn to their doom from across the
them before they could spill onto the pitted, dark wood of the
North Atlantic over the last thousand years, they include a
port office floor. It looked like something printed from a captain’s
Viking longship, a 16th-century Dutch fluyt, an 18th-century
logbook. Yes, Captain Elizabeth Galloway, a freelancer for the
English frigate, a 19th-century Scottish whaler, an American
Bright Exploration Company. I checked the date. A year ago. 
steamship, a German U-boat, and several others. Melting
“So?” I asked. 
Arctic ice reveals masts, superstructures, and upper decks.
The last time Notus had been on a mission was a decade plus
Who knows what secrets they hold? Who can reach them
change. It showed. His body had surrendered its fight against
before the ice closes in again? 
fat and his skin had paled to landlubber white, which his green
This article describes the ships trapped there, how they
Patagonia fish shirt made look sickly. He sighed and took a sip of
arrived, and the adventure seeds associated with them. The
foul-smelling black coffee, scrunching his face in distaste.
GM should add as many ships as they like to the graveyard.
He leaned across the desk pointing at the log. “That there is
For a chilling account of an attempt to retrieve the men
the last known log from the Sun’s Victory. My best captain.”
of a scientific expedition in the far north (which could prove
He looked up at me quickly and cleared his throat. “Except for
inspirational for adventures), read Greely Relief Expedition
you, of course. She set sail a year ago. Promised to bring back
at history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/
amazing treasures from a ships’ graveyard in the Arctic, north
title-list-alphabetically/g/greely-relief-expedition.html.
of Greenland.”
He took another sip of the coffee, wincing again. “Then noth-
ing. Not a word. Until one day, about three months ago, I got a
transmission of this log. Nothing else.”
How Does This
“Ships’ graveyard, huh? Revealed by global warming?” I
asked. The one clear upside to climate change was the scientific
Area Trap Ships?
Periodic warm currents and strong winds ease ships’ voy-
opportunities and the additional jobs for ships like mine to find
ages north. The weather pattern shifts rapidly, though. The
new treasures.
crews of ships that stop by the southern shore of a convenient
Notus nodded and said piously, “It’s a boon for archaeology.
cove in Greenland see ship masts, leading them to explore.
And science.” He picked up a 16th-century pewter wine goblet
If they stay too long, they find the ice has closed in around
that had been part of the take from another expedition. His fin-
their vessel.
gers found the molded characters and caressed them.
Unable to break through the suddenly thick ice, they are
“Treasure hunting, you mean.”
trapped in the cove like a mouse in a cage. The ice gets worse
“Whatever,” he said with a noncommittal wave of his hand.
during the winter, encasing their ship and slowly crushing it,
His unwillingness to rise to the bait and continue our old argu-
as it has older derelicts. The combination of wind, current,
ment convinced me it was serious. I sank into the soft depths of
and drifting ice also brings the occasional ship wrecked else-
the leather wingtip chair. “Tell me what you need.”
where. Once the wreck floats into the cove, it’s stuck. It is a
“The ice has melted again. Go there with your people. Find
rare, but natural, weather phenomenon unique to this region
out what happened to the Sun’s Victory. Rescue the crew if they
north of Greenland.
are still alive. While there, explore a bit. See if there’s anything
Or perhaps there is a supernatural reason. An ancient evil
worthwhile. I mean, that many ships . . .” He held up his hand
trapped in the far north can draw (when conditions are per-
as if he were waiting for someone to place a doubloon in it.
fect) the unwary to its frigid lair where it feeds on them to
“Yeah, I take your meaning. Lots of treasure there to dig up
satisfy its insatiable hunger. 
in the graveyard.”

Or perhaps alien visitors have a base here, drawing ships Grishilde, a Dutch Fluyt
north by tampering with the weather. The ships’ crews become
The 110’-long, 200-ton Grishilde spent part of the year
their experimental subjects. Depending on the aliens’ level of
carrying cargo and the rest as a privateer for the Dutch East
technology, sailors from some of these ancient derelicts might
India Company. Its 30 crew members and two dozen marines
still live, kept in stasis by their captors. 
are long dead. Rot and ice damaged the hull. The masts tum-
bled into the sea ages ago. The hold, though, contains the
Other Dangers Grishilde’s last great haul.
Inspired by Piet Heyn’s capture of Spain’s silver fleet, the
Apart from any hazards posed by the trapped ships them-
Grishilde’s captain sailed north where pirates were rarer.
selves, the Arctic is a dangerous place. Long periods of cold
Finding few targets, since commerce was also rare in north-
and ice are interrupted by short periods of warming, which
ern waters, he raided towns along the Norwegian shore. Pick-
are insufficient to melt its permafrost. 
ings were slim until they found a village with a vast store of
Conditions are changing as Greenland’s ice sheet melts.
Viking treasure. It filled the Grishilde’s hold nicely. Unfortu-
With the region warming, protagonists may assume they are
nately, the overloaded Grishilde was drawn north and trapped. 
safe. After all, the Arctic reached a record-setting 100°F in
2020. But the Arctic punishes such optimism. Sudden cold When it became stuck: December 1629.
snaps spring from nowhere. Water freezes and ice advances Secret: The fate of the crew. A secret journal locked in a
with startling suddenness, trapping ships in place and then chest reveals that to survive, the crew resorted to murder and
slowly crushing them. Their crews have little choice but to cannibalism. The most aggressive cannibal, one who devel-
abandon ship and trek south, hoping for rescue. For damage oped a taste for human flesh, is the direct ancestor of a current
from sub-zero temperatures and thermal shock from sudden prominent politician. Another journal records the cannibal’s
immersion in freezing Arctic waters, see p. B430.  favorite recipes and his musings on who tasted best. Reve-
Local wildlife offers its own dangers. Animals grow large lation of his ancestor’s gruesome deeds would destroy his
in the Arctic. Polar bears are larger than more southerly bears descendant’s political career. 
and will eat anything they can catch, including people. Whales Treasure: Viking treasures raided from Norwegian towns,
destroy small boats with a single tail swipe. braided-silver collars and brooches, a Viking axe, finger
rings, carved whalebone, and around 300 coins from the fifth
The Derelicts to 17th centuries.

Adventure Seed: One group of modern-day treasure hunt-
The following ships were trapped in the ice relatively near ers (seeking lost pirate ships and their gold doubloons)
one another. Each has mysteries, treasures, and adventure tracked down the Grishilde ahead of the PCs, but the vil-
seeds, which the GM may use singularly or in combination. lains’ ship was damaged. Recognizing the potential wealth
Except for the German U-boat and the Sun’s Victory, none of of the graveyard, the treasure hunters guard their claim
the wrecks can be made seaworthy. while they wait for rescue. Feigning friendship at first, they
eventually turn on the newcomers and try to kill them and
Swartaz Barden, a Viking Longship take their ship. The deceivers reason that a bullet to the
brain is much better than slowly freezing to death in the
A member of Eric the Red’s expedition to Greenland, the
harsh Arctic environment. Killing the “intruders” is practi-
Swartaz Barden was separated from its companions in a storm
cally a humanitarian act.
and blown north. Contrary winds and a strangely fast cur-
rent foiled their efforts to rejoin Eric’s squadron. They made
camp in a warm, sheltered bay, awaiting better weather to sail HMS Calliope, an English Frigate
south. Instead, freezing ice trapped them through the winter, A 28-gun English frigate launched in 1775, the HMS
while sickness spread through the group. All died, and they Calliope patrolled the North Atlantic during the American
left no records explaining their fate.  Revolution. After suffering minor damage battling a French
warship and taking aboard prisoners from the captured ves-
When it became stuck: 985 A.D.
sel, a fierce storm drove both ships toward Greenland.
Secret: Vikings settled in the Arctic, leaving a map showing
The French ship sank, and contrary winds and currents
the location of their settlement. It would be the archaeological
pushed the 600-ton Calliope and its 200 crew members and
find of a lifetime. 
prisoners farther and farther north until the ship was trapped
Treasure: Several items belonging to Eric the Red, includ-
by rapidly advancing ice after anchoring to explore and gather
ing mostly intact written records of the journey.
supplies. Among the prisoners was William Palfrey, a former
Adventure Seed: A map leads adventurers to a 1,000-year-
aide to George Washington and paymaster of the Continental
old Viking settlement, revealed by thawing ice. Among armor,
Army. Before capture, Palfrey was heading to France on a dip-
weapons, and other artifacts, they find several frozen bod-
lomatic mission. Who knows what secrets he carried?
ies, the last of the settlement’s inhabitants to die. Autopsies
reveal that a virus sickened and killed the colony. Unless they When it became stuck: January 1781.
take extraordinary precautions, the virus infects the crew. Secret: The fate of William Palfrey, who disappeared in 1780
First symptoms appear in 1d days. Each day after symptoms on his way to France, is a mystery that historians do not yet
appear, roll HT-2. Failure causes 1d of injury. Continue rolling have an explanation for. If the explorers search, they find his
each day until either the victim dies, or makes a successful journal, which explains in exhaustive detail what happened.
roll, showing recovery has begun. See pp. B442-444 for more Treasure: Perfectly preserved letters between George
on diagnosing and treating illness.  Washington and William Palfrey.

Adventure Seed: Palfrey’s letters describe a small Caribbean anyone else, some of which are extinct. There are also jars
island on which several Revolutionary privateers buried their filled with scientific samples and a barrel of whale oil with
loot. It might even still be there! carved scrimshaw.
Adventure Seed: Several of the plant and animal specimens
Zephyr, a Scottish Whaler are unusual, so much so that the party’s scientists cannot
explain them. Perhaps they should seek their original source?
Launched in 1843, the 350-ton whaler Zephyr followed the
The ship’s logbook suggests a rough location, but the Zephyr
whale harvest. Then, a British scientific exploration mission
may already have been lost by that point. 
hired it to find the Northwest Passage, a sea route through the
Arctic connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Like previ-
ous expeditions, this one became lost amid the frozen islands. Pollux, an American Steamship
Trapped by encroaching ice, the Zephyr drifted into the grave- A small cargo steamer, Pollux, delivered supplies to an
yard, where its crew survived for a time by scavenging other Arctic expedition before becoming stuck. The hull has buckled
ships and hunting. Some treasures from the Viking longship in several places. Ice and water fill its lower decks. Most of the
and the Dutch fluyt can be found in its hold. supplies are gone, and not a single ounce of food remains, just
scattered, empty tins. At the GM’s discretion, a determined
When it became stuck: September 1857.
search by divers equipped for the conditions may uncover
Secret: The strange plant and animal samples gathered by
some cold-weather clothing, tents, and related equipment
the Zephyr’s crew might win the explorers scientific acclaim,
wrapped in oilskin in the submerged and icy lower holds.
or perhaps lead them to a “lost world” in the Arctic. 
There are also several dozen tons of coal for the ship’s engines,
Treasure: The crew finds notes of scientific observations
which are wrecked beyond repair and mostly underwater.
of the heavens as well as plants and animals never seen by

When it became stuck: July 1881. Treasure: Lost artwork by the masters, gold bars, and bags
Secret: The captain of the ship couldn’t afford to fully stock of jewels.
his ship, so he and picked members of his crew “borrowed” Adventure Seed: In the last days of World War II, two sub-
what they needed from a nearby ship before leaving port and marines departed Germany, carrying Nazi war criminals, gold
sailing north. Among the stolen supplies was a treasure box. bars, art treasures, and other valuables. One arrived safely
When the crew opened the box, they found a creature unlike in South America and established its passengers in modest
anything seen before. It clouded the men’s minds, inducing comfort. The other, an advanced U-boat fueled by hydro-
powerful emotions of panic and rage. The sailors turned on gen peroxide, sailed north to avoid Allied patrols. Drawn
one another. Several died in the melee. The creature fed on into the Arctic, it was trapped among other derelicts after
their remains, never revealing itself. In the confusion, the exhausting its exotic fuel in escape efforts blocked by advanc-
Pollux was damaged and trapped in the ice. Most of the crew ing ice. Today, descendants of those safely arrived in South
escaped. They set sail in small boats and were eventually res- America – raised on tales of vast riches aboard the U-boat
cued. All swore an oath to go to their grave without telling that didn’t arrive – search for it avidly. Some want it for them-
what they saw. Or what they did. selves; others hope to fund neo-Nazi political efforts. Their
Treasure: Apart from the coal, there is no treasure here. Just most ambitious plan is to recover the submarine itself as part
death. of their growing weapons arsenal. Loosely allied, this trans-
Adventure Seed: Drifting ice carried the wrecked Pollux national group of Nazis funded an expedition to locate and
north, where it joined the graveyard’s other derelicts. Whatever recover the submarine. They are motivated, well-armed, and
drove the crew mad, though, is still onboard. Its exact nature have several tons of concentrated hydrogen peroxide (which is
is up to the GM: an aquatic monstrosity, a foul necromancer, corrosive and dangerously explosive) to refuel the submarine.
a hungry ghoul, etc. If positing a supernatural cause for the
graveyard, the PCs could discover it linked to whatever haunts Sun’s Victory, a Polar Research Vessel
the Pollux. 
Launched in 1979 and twice upgraded, the 4,800-ton Sun’s
Victory is an aging-but-sturdy ship designed for Arctic research,
with a strong hull and hardened bow to break through ice. The
The anxiety of some forty 325’ ship sits at anchor among the older derelicts. The hull
hours was severe and wearing; is intact, and the ship is seaworthy, but a fire damaged both
engines. The party can repair one of them, using parts of the
but little sleep was obtained other for a Top Speed of 10 mph. The radio and navigation
equipment are smashed.
by the commanders. At any The ship carried a crew of 35 and two dozen researchers
(and has quarters for two dozen more), but no one is on board.
moment both ships might be Investigators find a few small bloodstains on the bridge, and
crushed and their crew, thrown debris scattered about, but the ship’s supplies and equipment
are undisturbed, including its well-equipped labs and hospital
on to the ice. bay. Four small boats remain in their davits, but the ship’s
helipad is empty.
– Winfield S. Schley, When it became stuck: Last year. 
“Report of the Greely Secret: The ship’s logbook, hidden as attackers over-
whelmed the ship, reveals the existence and location of the
Relief Expedition” terrorists’ base. 
Treasure: The ship itself, if the PCs can rescue its crew to
sail it home. 
U-1409, a Type XVIIB German U-Boat Adventure Seed: If positing a supernatural or alien cause
for the graveyard, the Sun’s Victory is simply the latest vic-
One of only a handful of Type XVIIB U-boats built before
tim of its horrors, and the surviving crew desperately need
Nazi Germany’s surrender, this submarine can reach speeds
rescue. Otherwise, the ship was overwhelmed by terrorists
of 30 mph underwater, triple that of Germany’s more com-
who recently occupied a Soviet military base abandoned and
mon Type VII boats. Streamlined and powered by hydrogen
forgotten after the Cold War. An old listening post, the base
peroxide, they were the most advanced submarines of their
is 50 miles south of the derelicts and still hidden under the
day. Measuring 90’ from stem to stern inside the pressure hull,
ice. Using the base’s equipment, periodically upgraded, the
the ship carried a crew of 19. It is still seaworthy but requires
terrorists tap into maritime, military, and diplomatic com-
special fuel: an 80% concentration of hydrogen peroxide
munications. Their mix of old and new technologies helps
(H2O2) to which a catalyst is added to produce water (H2O),
them penetrate a host of security systems. The terrorists have
oxygen (O2), and energy to power its engines. It has torpedoes
schemes of their own, including maritime piracy, but the
loaded in its two forward tubes but carried cargo instead of
arrival of Sun’s Victory attracted their attention. Fearing the
spare torpedoes.
revelation of their base, they responded in force, quickly over-
When it became stuck: May 1945. whelming Sun’s Victory. The surviving crew are held captive at
Secret: Among the ship’s papers are clues to the location of the base, their fate undecided. Other explorers risk a similar
other Nazi loot, hidden in the war’s closing weeks.  fate, if discovered.

The Hunter’s
Reliquary II By Christopher R. Rice
The Hunter’s Reliquary appeared in Pyramid #3/82: Magical If the owner knows they’ll be fighting vampires, they may
Creations, adding a new element for champions to use to fight “blood” the gem, sacrificing 1 HP to double these bonuses.
dark powers: relics. Powerful, mysterious, and often operat- This damage must be healed naturally (that is, no spells,
ing in ways that defy conventional thinking, relics can provide regeneration, etc.).
champions an edge when they need it . . . but sometimes with Sheltered Thoughts: All resistance rolls against a vam-
a price. Here are half a dozen new relics for the GM to use as pire’s attempts at mental coercion, mind control, etc. are at
quests or rewards for monster-hunting PCs. +4, regardless of their actual origin. If the gem is blooded (as
For an explanation about how to read the relic entries, above), this bonus rises to +8.
including definitions of the power pool and the possible ori- Fangdar: If the amulet’s owner concentrates, they may
gins, see pp. 19-20 of Pyramid #3/82. attempt to locate the nearest vampire or vampires. This
requires a Perception roll (plus ESP Talent, if applicable),
Amulet of Orlock using normal range penalties (p. B550). Success yields an

exact direction and general distance, but not how many vam-
Power Pool: 6 FP pires may be at any given location. Even without concentra-
Possible Origins: Magical. tion, the amulet glows a sullen red when within 10 yards of a
vampire, and weeps blood when within one yard.
Orlock was a 17th-century mage who was also a consum- Weight: 0.5 lb.
mate vampire hunter; legend says her family was slaughtered
by an undead clan. In revenge, she destroyed the vampires’
entire bloodline, but not the master himself. Instead, she
Price
tortured the wretched thing for over a decade, gleaning the Bearers of Orlockian amulets suffer from Bloodlust (12)
secrets of vampires from him – and the reason he had killed when fighting vampires – taking one alive is near impossible
her family. He had seduced her mother, and the destruction for them. Additionally, those who use the amulet to sense a
of Orlock’s living family had been his attempt to claim his vampire’s presence must make a daily Will roll (14+ always
dhampir child: Orlock herself. Only after she was convinced fails) not to attack the undead in question. (Attacks need not
he knew nothing more about vampires did she kill him and be thoughtless, but a failed Will roll means the amulet’s owner
use his crystallized heart’s blood to create her first amulet. must prioritize an assault on the vampire they sensed, above
Orlock gave it to her chief lieutenant, who – now very all else.)
resistant to vampiric powers – went on to slay one vampire Vampires react at -2 to anyone possessing an Orlockian
after another, returning their heart-blood, until Orlock had amulet, if they can see it. (They instinctively sense it is malev-
created several amulets. After the whole of vampire-dom olent to them.) The penalty is doubled for vampires who know
rose up against her, the amulets were scattered around the what it is!
globe. They are now used by ambitious monster hunters or
would-be vampire slayers. The power pool may only be used Variations
to fuel supernatural powers or mundane extra effort used The GM may decide that +1 to active defenses is too small,
against vampires. and can make it +2 or even +3. This can apply to all of Orlock’s
Each amulet is made of pure silver and strung on a silver amulets, or only some of them. The GM might rule that the
chain. Inside is a crimson gem in the shape of a human face last-made (or first-made!) amulet offers the wearer some DR
with fangs and a slightly chiropteran cast. vs. vampires – or base such bonuses off the power of the vam-
pire whose heart’s blood was used.
Qualities After many years of hunting, Orlock vanished. It’s unclear
Blood Ward: When fighting vampires, the amulet flashes when, or if, she died. New amulets that appear might indicate
brightly in a spectrum that vampires find distracting; if the that she’s still alive or that she’s passed on the secrets of their
amulet is not concealed, it provides +1 to all active defenses. creation to someone else . . .

Deadman’s Gun Qualities
Containment: A hex box can contain any cursed object,
Power Pool: 25 FP malevolent supernatural being, or harmful paranormal
Possible Origins: Racial and one other (often Magical or phenomena. For physical objects or beings, this requires
Mystical). that they can fit in the box in the first place. Spirits, insub-
A “deadman’s gun” is a firearm which was buried with the stantial demons, magic, or similar can always fit in a hex
dead; its “spiritual echo” is now carried by an unquiet spirit. box. Cursed beings can transfer their curse into the box by
Creating a Deadman’s Gun relic requires finding a firearm that placing a head or limb inside it, then slowly withdrawing
exists on the spirit plane and somehow returning it to the cor- while shutting the lid.
poreal world. It’s a powerful weapon, but the dead tend to hate Once the containee is boxed, roll a Quick Contest of 20 vs.
those who bear them – each Deadman’s Gun was stolen from an appropriate trait: the caster’s effective Path skill for magic,
a ghost, leaving it unarmed . . . or destroyed. the better of HT or Will for supernatural beings, or HT for
cursed objects. Victory means the subject is now contained in
the hex box until the box is opened.
Qualities While inside the box, attempts to use supernatural abilities,
Affect Insubstantial: The Deadman’s Gun does its physical influence, etc. automatically fail if the target is not also inside
version’s damage to insubstantial targets, notably spirits. the box. Opening the box removes this protection until the
Dead Aim: On an aimed shot, wielders may subtract any lid is closed again, but the captive gets another roll to resist
amount from the weapon’s Accuracy bonus and add it to the staying in the box. If they resist, the box cannot (or can no
weapon’s damage roll. They may also choose a penalty to their longer) contain the subject at this time; perhaps it needs to
roll to hit, giving +1 to damage per -2 to the roll. be properly (re)attuned. As well, if the box critically fails, it
Gun Quality: Treat the underlying firearm as a very fine can never contain that subject. If the box wins with a critical
(accurate) and very fine (reliable) weapon, regardless of success, though, the lid can be opened and the subject manip-
whether it could normally have those properties! The weapon ulated while it is still trapped and unable to affect those not
never requires maintenance and cannot be made to malfunc- fully inside the box.
tion – even by supernatural means. If wielded in melee com- Releasing the subject from the box has the obvious results,
bat, it’s considered a balanced, very fine weapon, granting except for curses or harmful magics that were originally on
+1 to skill rolls to use it and +2 to damage. This bonus also another subject. Those, if released, immediately affect the
applies to any integral weapons, such as bayonets. box’s opener, who must now resist as if they were the original
Reaper Shot: Any critical hit by the firearm that would nor- target of the curse, spell, etc.!
mally require a roll for a major wound instead requires the Weight: Varies based on size and composition.
victim to make a HT roll to avoid death.
Weight: Varies with base firearm.
Price They’re built to contain the power of

Spirits can sense the gun as both
part of their world and not; this causes
the cursed object.
most spirits to react to the bearer at -4,
no matter where they are when they
– Sam Winchester, in Supernatural #3.3
spot the Deadman’s Gun. Owners may
get pesky poltergeists without realiz-
ing it, if the spook is subtle enough.
Variations
The GM may decide that hex boxes come in “lesser,” “typi-
Variations cal,” and “greater” varieties. If so, lesser boxes contain curses
Each Deadman’s Gun is its own variation, as each one is a with a skill of 15 in the Quick Contest, while greater boxes have
different firearm. a skill of 25. Typical hex boxes can be purchased for at least
$50,000, while lesser ones are worth around $10,000. Greater
Hex Box hex boxes can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The GM may allow player characters to construct such
Power Pool: N/A things. Box-makers must be capable of Warding (GURPS
Unusual Background Cost: 0 points Monster Hunters 1: Champions, p. 35), craft the box them-
Possible Origins: Magic, Materials, and Mystical. selves, and bind it with blessed incantations of a protective
deity, spirit, or powerful being. One of these three things
Hex boxes are constructed to contain cursed objects, can be done by an assistant, but the other two must be done
errant magic that cannot otherwise be dispelled, or harmful by the maker. Every month of working on the box requires
paranormal phenomenon. They use a combination of special a roll against the worst skill involved (Path skills for the
materials such as silver, iron, or blessed wood; the blessings magic, the skill actually used to construct the box, and
of priests, shamans, or other holy folk; and special magical Religious Ritual). Success gives $2,500 toward the final value
spells and symbols. of the box. Thus lesser boxes take four months, typical boxes
take 20, and a greater box takes at least 40 months.

John Dee’s Quill by triple the margin of success of the user’s roll. Magic can be
used to decode it; the ritual or spell needs only to beat the orig-
Power Pool: 10 FP inal margin of success. A quill might be used to try to decode
Possible Origins: Magical. the work of a different quill, but may give only partial decryp-
tion of the symbols; roll against Cryptography or Mathematics
John Dee was one of the greatest magicians to have ever (Cryptology), with the difficulty to decode equal to the margin
lived. He was also secretive and thus crafted a special quill to of success for writing the material.
let him hide the contents of his correspondence, journals, and Weight: Negligible.
other writings. When the command word is given, anything
the quill writes becomes encoded in strange glyphs, symbols,
letters, and numbers. Another command word allows decod- Variations
ing via sweeping the feather end of the quill over any encoded Dee’s master quill would have the ability to function as any
text it was used to write. Dee made dozens of these quills over of the others, allowing it to decrypt or encrypt at will in the
the years – maybe even hundreds, each etched with a tiny language of the master quill’s user, as well as having its own
golden name along the shaft. Rumors persist of a master quill unique code.
that can decode anything the others write.
Qualities
Sword of the Rood
Cryptoquill: Using the quill to encode text requires a roll
Power Pool: 50 FP
against Artist (Illumination or Calligraphy), Cryptography, Suggested Origins: Cosmic and Mystical.
Writing, or IQ at +4. Success means the text is encoded with a Down through the ages, many tales and stories describe
unique cipher known only to that quill. so-called holy swords – but the Rood Blades (pronounced
Decode: Decoding anything the quill has encrypted is as “rude”) are the real deal. To understand the Rood Blades, one
simple as swiping the quill’s feather over the encrypted text. must first understand their legend. Once there was a black-
This takes about one second per page, and the symbols rear- smith who, paid well by Pontius Pilate, made the nails to cru-
range themselves to legibility 3d seconds later. People may try cify Jesus Christ. God condemned the blacksmith to wander
to break the code, but they must succeed on a Cryptography the earth and never settle.

However, certain Romani tell it with a spin. According religion or spiritual tradition) or blessed by the divine. To
to their legend, the blacksmith dreamed God told him to use a Rood Blade requires a prerequisite advantage: Blessed,
make four nails, but only hand over three, as the fourth was Divine Favor, Power Investiture, or True Faith. Further, Rood
intended to pierce the heart of Christ. In return, God gave Blades demand selfless, altruistic intent; using one for selfish,
his descendants the right to wander the earth, making all petty reasons drains the weapon’s power until the wielder
lands their homeland. Truth lies somewhere in the middle: proves themselves (GM’s call) – and the sword will automat-
The blacksmith made the nails, but kept the fourth nail him- ically fail to hit the target of such intentions. This also holds
self. After the crucifixion, a dream from God commanded true if another picks up the sword and uses it for an unjust
him to retrieve the nails and then make four swords, setting reason.
each nail into the tang of the blade.
Over the years, some of the blades have been reforged:
they might have all begun life as Roman spathas, but are
currently a zweihänder (GURPS Fantasy-Tech 1, p. 11), a
Spirit Phone
longsword (GURPS Martial Arts, pp. 227, 230), a katana Power Pool: 10 FP
(pp. B271, B274), and – oddly enough – an edged rapier Suggested Origins: Magical or Psionic.
(GURPS Martial Arts, pp. 227, 229). Almace, Durendal,
An ordinary, innocuous-looking cell or wall-mounted
Excalibur, Hauteclere, Joyeuse, Masamune – all are some of
phone, usually of a off-brand variety like GL (instead of GE),
the names the blades have gone by . . .
or perhaps Kanyo (instead of Sanyo). At first glance, it doesn’t
appear special in any way, but if viewed through a special
Qualities sense (such as an ability to identify magical items), a dull radi-
Affect Insubstantial: Rood Blades do the usual damage of ance emanates from it.
a weapon of their type to insubstantial targets, notably spirits
or demons. Qualities
Bane: Rood Blades add +2 to basic damage and to effective
Ultimate Rollover: A spirit phone’s most mundane ability
skill when used against demons, undead, and other supernat-
is perhaps its most useful: as long as the owner actually has
ural evil creatures (and only those foes). Further, when used
a service plan for their phone, any charges, rates, or monthly
against supernatural foes, Rood Blades ignore all forms of
fees are “waived.” The phone uses the astral plane/spirit world
damage-stopping advantages (DR, Injury Tolerance, etc.). If
to connect to whatever number is dialed. In game terms,
the attack lands, tally the damage and apply it directly to the
this means the owner never has to pay the phone’s bill, for
target’s HP.
whatever reason the GM wants. No matter the appearance
Blade Quality: Treat Rood Blades as very fine for damage
of the phone, treat it as a satellite phone (GURPS High-Tech,
purposes (+2 to damage), but as indestructible for breakage
p. 40) in its capabilities (such as dialing other countries, area
purposes, except vs. another cosmic artifact. Then they merely
codes, etc.).
get the usual -2 to breakage. They are always balanced (+1
Can You Hear Me Now? Cellular spirit phones use the astral
to skill). If a wielder uses one for selfish reasons (see Sacred
plane/spirit world for reception and therefore always have
Purpose, below), treat it as if it were a normal sword, with
“full bars,” unless the owner visits someplace cut off from the
no special properties – though if it breaks in selfish hands, a
astral plane/spirit world.
sufficiently devout smith may reforge it.
Rugged Like Mr. (AT&)T: Spirit phones have DR 10, HP 40,
Brilliance: The weapon radiates light in a 5’-radius around
and HT 16. They’re immune to any EMP-like effect, shorting
the wielder, with the natural sun’s effects on monsters. This
out (via rain, sprinklers, being dropped in a toilet . . .), etc.
removes all darkness penalties within a two-yard radius, with
They’re amazingly sturdy, but if reduced to 0 HP, a spirit
each yard reducing its effectiveness by one (e.g., six yards
phone evaporates into thin air.
from the sword in total darkness would inflict -4 in Vision pen-
Yes, Grandma, It’s Me: Spirit phones have one final ability.
alties). This effect instantly dispels any supernatural darkness
When used as a focal item to communicate with the dead, they
of less than cosmic origin (e.g., dark gods could overcome its
provide +5 to any rolls to made to do so.
power, especially on their home plane).
Weight: 2 lbs. for a cell phone (use the statistics from
Holy: All of the Blades are powerful holy symbols; they can-
GURPS High-Tech, p. 39 for an early model cell phone), or 4
not be touched by any supernatural creatures that would be
lbs. for a regular wall-mounted phone.
affected by holy water or a cross. Foes who would be hurt by
holy or blessed weapons increase their level of Vulnerability
by ¥1 (additive, not multiplicative). For instance, a vampire Price
who receives double damage from blessed weapons would Unfortunately, spirit phones tend to attract ghosts who
take ¥3 damage from a Rood Blade. will call the phone at inappropriate times, turn calls into
Silver: The Blades count as silver against anything vulnera- “party lines,” etc. Some just want to chat, others want spirit
ble to silver, but without the breakage penalty. money burned for them or to have their relatives checked on,
Weight: As per the sword type (typically 3 to 10 lbs.). and occasionally one will insist they died by murder and the
phone’s owner needs to avenge them! Whenever the phone is
Price used during a game session, roll 3d. On a 6 or less, the dead
plague the phone’s bearer. The GM decides how, but ghostly
Sacred Purpose: A Rood Blade is a powerful holy object,
visits, spirit phenomena, or just the phone ringing (even if it’s
meant to be wielded only by those of stout faith (of any
turned off!) are all possible.

El Rancho Fin
del Camino
By Matt Riggsby
Way out west, somewhere amid the hills near the Mexican across the border in both directions, arms smuggling, and
border, is an old, old ranch. It’s a place where any number of other side effects of the hostilities.
things can happen: ghosts, smuggling, skirmishes, and more. The remainder of the 20th century was relatively quiet.
This article describes the ranch and its use for adventures in Mining became more industrialized and legally well ordered,
campaigns ranging from the Old West to pulp-era cliffhangers violence decreased, and the region slowly gained the benefits
to the modern day. of modern technologies like electricity and air conditioning,
particularly after World War II. Today, it’s as remote a spot
The History as it can be, but the world is a smaller place, with Internet,
spotty cell-phone coverage, and people driving past every
The Rancho Fin del Camino is in rural Santa Cruz county now and again. Still, the nearest neighbors are over a mile
in southern Arizona, close to the Mexican border. It’s some- away, and it continues to be a good place to get away from
where north and east of Nogales and several miles from the prying eyes.
tiny towns of Patagonia and Harshaw. Indeed, it’s so far
south that it wasn’t in the United States until the Gadsden
Purchase of 1854. This corner of the state had significant The Ranch
silver mining, though most mines are now played out. Over The ranch is on a broad plateau between low hills. A quar-
the years, the area experienced increasing amounts of cattle ter mile of level pasture circumscribes the buildings. The
and sheep ranching. pasture is subdivided by fences (split timber early on, but
The Fin del Camino dates back to the late 1700s. The name replaced with barbed wire early in the 20th century). A few
purportedly comes from being at the end of a path leading stands of small trees punctuate the area. It’s nearly impossi-
all the way back to Mexico City, though there’s little support- ble to approach in daylight without being seen a long way off.
ing evidence of that. It was built by a Spanish rancher, Don The surrounding terrain is hillier, with a mix of light woods
Sebastien Melchor Villon y Casas Alvarez, who, according to and open grassland, plus several seasonal streams.
legend, was killed by raiding Apaches. The ranch spent some The climate is hot, with summer highs over 90° and winter
years abandoned, but was occupied by lows into the low 30s. It’s fairly dry, with a
settlers moving in from the United rainy season in mid-late summer.
States in the wake of the Mexican- Three significant structures make
American War. up the ranch: the bunkhouse, the main
Through the second half of the house, and the barn. Other small struc-
19th century, the region saw an tures are either not in the area of the
increasing population of prospec- map or may be placed where desired.
tors, miners, and ranchers. The area These include outhouses, auxiliary
was subject to occasional Apache tool sheds, water troughs, and the like,
raids and corresponding Army pres- which may be replaced or moved rela-
ence. Around this time, an owner tively frequently.
of the ranch came up with the Fin For a map of the ranch’s key build-
del Camino’s brand, a circle with a ings, see p. 43.
horizontal line through it, and an
inverted V descending from the line, Bunkhouse
making the abstract shape of a road
The bunkhouse is a long rectangu-
vanishing in the distance.
lar structure made of rough 2”-thick
The local military presence
planks. It was originally divided into an
reached a peak in the second decade
office/bedroom for a foreman or chief
of the 20th century, as the Mexican
ranch hand, and a large dormitory space
Border War, which grew out of the
for the rest of the ranch employees.
Mexican Revolution, saw incursions

By the end of the 1940s, it had been subdivided into multiple Dr. Evil
rooms (indicated on the map by the light blue lines) which have
A remote location makes a good workshop for a mad sci-
been used variously as bedrooms, offices, and storage rooms.
entist. This one is away from prying eyes, but close to possibly
The southernmost room was converted into a bathroom.
unusual mineral resources and close enough to the railroad
(like the ones running through Patagonia or Nogales) to bring
Main House in unusual equipment from elsewhere. In the pulp era, the
The main house dates back to the original construction Fin del Camino is owned by a disgraced former professor
of the ranch. The walls are 12”-thick adobe with solid logs and industrialist, kicked out of the academy and shunned by
as structural members and 12’ ceilings. Rooms open on one businesses for his extreme theories. He has retreated to the
another directly and into a small courtyard. The rooms noted isolated ranch to develop his ideas, and will some day have his
on the map on p. 43 are: revenge. Indeed, he’s already got a plan in motion.
In this scenario, the Fin del Camino is still unconnected to
A. Family chapel. This room was originally used for devo- external utilities; an unreliable phone line is plausible, though
tions and in later years retains both a 19th-century altar and one might have to ride into town to find a working phone.
small-but-colorful stained-glass windows. However, the ranch is amply electrified by a windmill (just
B. Parlor/living room. off the map to the east), a diesel generator by the barn, and a
C. Dining room. powerful experimental generator underground near the main
D. Entry/reception room. house (it might be geothermal, nuclear, or based on some
E. Courtyard. The original well was covered and a deco- kind of weird science). The cellar near the main house isn’t
rative fountain installed in its place when water mains were just a modestly sized, unfinished underground chamber, but
installed. rather a fully equipped scientific laboratory with a wide range
F. Bedroom. of chemicals, electrical equipment (like X-ray machines and
G. Study. powerful radio gear), and more.
H. Bedroom. What particularly dangerous project is the evil scientist
I. Bedroom/nursery. This was converted into a bathroom preparing to spring on the world? Perhaps it’s artificially cre-
when running water was brought in. ated hybrid animals (winged rattlesnakes, wolf packs who
J. Cookhouse. This was converted into a more modern weave giant spider webs, radio-controlled giant ants, bears
kitchen in the 1960s, connected to the house by a covered, with two heads, etc.), which could wreak havoc on the coun-
glassed-in patio (indicated by blue lines on the map). tryside. It could be invisible rays that can knock the fastest
K. Cellar. The cellar is a separate structure from the rest biplane out of the air from miles away and give no indication
of the house. It started out as a small dugout under the sod. of the source. Perhaps it’s remote-viewing equipment, letting
It was then converted into a 20’-by-20’ fallout shelter in the one look inside the most private and secure facilities at will.
1950s with steel, concrete, and cinder block. A subsequent Whatever it is, the mad scientist has started field testing with
owner reverted the room to its original use as storage. See horrible consequences, and somebody has to put a stop to it.
Adventure Seeds (below) for other suggestions about
what’s under that trap door.
Barn Building Stats

The barn is of the same general construction as At the time of construction, the largest buildings of the Fin del
the bunkhouse and has changed little over the years, Camino had these stats: All buildings had HT 12. The bunkhouse
save for the addition of electricity and a standing cost $23,400; the entire building had HP 258, with walls having
pipe bringing in water. The barn is divided into DR 2, HP 30. The main house cost $178,398; the structure had
three aisles by north-south-running short walls HP 733, and its walls were DR 12, HP 61. The barn cost $128,250;
and support posts. It has a second story running it had HP 455, with walls that were DR 2, HP 30. All interior and
the length of the wide center aisle. The northwest- exterior doors had DR 1 (ablative), HP 23.
ern corner has traditionally served as a workshop,
originally containing a good supply of lumber and a
variety of woodworking tools, gaining a selection of
mechanical tools in the 1920s. By the 1950s, the barn
houses a tractor (and a large tank for diesel fuel) in addition Smuggler’s Blues
to the horses usually living there. Where there’s a border, there’s almost certainly illicit trade
across it, whether it’s to avoid taxes and tariffs, work with
A dventure eeds S outlawed groups (such as criminal cartels or revolutionary

cabals), or obtain outlawed goods. From the late 19th century,
The Rancho Fin del Camino can be the site of a variety American companies recruited Mexican workers and brought
of events running through the years. Some are suitable for them across the border. During the Mexican Revolution, the
specific eras, while others could take place at any time. These United States was a major source of arms smuggled into
ideas can be combined for more complicated adventures and Mexico. In the 1920s, Mexico was a significant source of
campaigns – adventurers may need to bust some ghosts in alcohol smuggled into the US. As the 20th century wore on,
order to successfully smuggle arms to rebels, or employ dino- Mexico became an increasingly significant source of drugs for
saurs to prevent a Villista raid across the border. U.S. markets.

The Fin del Camino is well-positioned as a stop along the chamber. The chamber is the size of a city or larger. It is
way for that traffic, whether the smugglers are cowboys or illuminated by an unusual and not-yet-understood radiation,
cartels. It’s not on the border, but it’s a short jaunt past it, and filled with jungle and dinosaurs. The Fin del Camino
good for a final dash to deliver goods or to safety once crossing is the gateway to exploring relics of the distant past. If the
it, depending on which direction one is going. Moreover, the dinosaurs start getting out and savaging the countryside, it
ranch is not too close to a town big enough to have a bigger may be the key to figuring out how they’re getting out and
law enforcement presence than the local sheriff. The terrain is to stopping them. GURPS Lands Out of Time and GURPS
open enough to see outsiders coming in time to take precau- Big Lizzy are prime source material for this kind of cam-
tions, and there’s enough level ground to serve as an airstrip paign. The 1935 Gene Autry serial The Phantom Empire takes
for small planes once those are invented. As a modern smug- the idea a step farther, putting an advanced lost civilization
gler’s den, the Fin del Camino has a backup electrical genera- under a Western ranch.
tor, a network of CCTV cameras keeping an eye on
approaches, hidden chambers for contraband and
weapons all over, and perhaps even fortifications
for the cellar, turning it into a panic room.
Spanish Ghosts Sykes: What are your plans,

People in the neighborhood of the Fin del
Camino are having trouble sleeping. There are
now?
dreams of anger, betrayal, burning, and torture.
People in the dreams are described as wearing
Deke Thornton: Drift around
clothes of the old days when Arizona was still
part of Mexico. The closer one is to the Fin del down here. Try to stay out of
Camino, the worse it is. At the ranch itself, closed
doors open themselves and vice versa, mirrors jail.
crack suddenly, and sometimes objects fly across
rooms without being touched. The ranch is
haunted, but by who, and why?
Sykes: Well, me and the boys
Extensive research can turn up some clues.
A dedicated search through the disorganized
got some work to do. You want
records in a nearby mission uncovers details
about a fire in the year 1801, which killed a Dona
to come with us? It ain’t like it
Leonor Maria Alvarez. Official land records
record the death of Sebastien in 1804 in a raid used to be, but it’ll do.
led by an Apache called Talichaio (probably a
Spanish-language corruption of an Apache name – The Wild Bunch
meaning Red Sun), who was apprehended and
executed shortly thereafter. Different versions
of local folklore tell that Talichaio was seeking
revenge for Sebastien taking Apache land, or that
Sebastien and Talichaio were friends, but fell out over a love
triangle they were involved in. And basic magical or other-
The War
wise spiritual investigations indicate multiple ghosts. The Mexican Border War didn’t spill far over the border
Finding out more requires dangerous expeditions into for very long, but it was a constant concern for people liv-
the spirit realm, and there’s a lot to unravel. Was Sebastien ing nearby. Villistas sometimes raided settlements on the U.S.
or Talichaio responsible for Leonor’s death, and did she die side for money and arms. The nearby border town of Nogales
angry at one or both of them? Was Leonor Sebastien’s wife? saw sporadic outbreaks of violence between neighboring U.S.
Sister? Or something else? Did Sebastien take Apache land? and Mexican communities. Residents of the Fin del Camino
Did he betray Talichaio in some more personal way? Did he may be involved in a number of ways. They may need to for-
only defend himself from Talichaio’s anger over something tify the ranch and defend it against raids by militants or by
else? When the reasons for the ghosts plaguing the ranch bandits taking advantage of the breakdown in law and order
become clear, how can they be reconciled, or at least ban- in the area. Ambitious Americans can find ample opportu-
ished? And whose bones are buried under the chapel? nity to smuggle arms and supplies to the rebels; the Fin del
Camino is a good staging area for the jump across the border.
The ranch also can be a staging point for anyone needing to
The Lost World cross the border to become involved in the revolution them-
Silver isn’t the only thing under the ground. Far beneath selves. The bloody classic Western The Wild Bunch involves a
the surface is a vast cavern holding remnant populations gang of outlaws in 1913 fleeing a botched raid in the United
from the past. The distant past. The very distant past. The States to join a Mexican general with more border crossings
cellar has another trap door beneath it. This leads in turn to a in the offing; the Fin del Camino would be a useful way station
series of tunnels that connect to down to a huge underground for such an adventure.

Map of El Rancho Fin del Camino
D. Entry/reception room H. Bedroom
Key E. Courtyard I. Bedroom/nursery
A. Family chapel F. Bedroom J. Cookhouse
B. Parlor/living room G. Study K. Cellar
C. Dining room
The nearest neighbors are over a mile away, and it continues

to be a good place to get away from prying eyes.

Highway Stars By Roger Burton West
The Basic Set (p. B464) gives a useful array of vehicles, and SS officers in Occupied France; after the war, engine
but doesn’t always have the variety needed, especially when improvements eventually increased Move to 3/40*.
adventurers must to cross rough country or fight in a busy Volkswagen Beetle (1938-2003). The “people’s car” was
urban environment. This article adds more cars and trucks intended to populate the Autobahnen of Nazi Germany,
to the list. though Volkswagen had higher priorities during the war.
Prices are representative only, especially when the same Afterward, British car makers turned down the opportunity to
model has undergone gradual upgrades over a period of buy the factory at a deep post-war discount because “it is quite
decades. The original may even come back as a “classic”; unattractive to the average buyer.” When German reindustri-
a Jaguar XK-E bought today could cost $80,000 in GURPS alization began in 1951, the Beetle was a usefully cheap export
terms. product for a newly motorizing post-war Europe. The Beetle
is also popular for conversion to a Baja Bug beach buggy
(remove * from Move).
Land Rover (1948-1985). This is a Series III LWB
The storm has dumped a mirror in (Long Wheel Base), seen wherever the British Army
the street went, and still in service all over the world. In 1992, the
maker claimed that 70% of all their production was still
A Jaguar goes by like the fastest MTB in use; second-hand prices have never gone below £1,000
in all the fleet (about $2,300 in GURPS). Ladder-frame construction
and a notorious ruggedness make field or amateur main-
The girl at the wheel is food for tenance easy.
Mini (1959-2000). An icon of Britain in the 1960s, the
heroes Mini was designed to be the smallest car that would fit
Her hubs full of halos are strobing four adults. Wins in races and rallies (until then domi-
nated by big heavy cars) didn’t hurt its popularity either.
like a finger dialing zeros Jaguar E-Type (1961-1975). Another iconic British car,
– Clive James and Pete Atkin, the E-Type (XK-E in North America) is still hailed as one
of the most innovative and beautiful cars of its day.
“Rain-Wheels” Lotus Elan Series 4 DHC SE (1962-1975). Jaguar’s
main competitor concentrated on light weight, using a
fiberglass body shell. Early models gave Lotus a reputa-
Driving (Motorcycle) tion for unreliability.

Aston Martin DB5 (1963-1965). Not all that different from
Dirt Bike. This particular one is based on the 2008 Honda its predecessor (the DB4) but made famous in Goldfinger, the
CRF450R. Designed for off-road racing, it is also useful for DB5 remains the best known of the Aston Martin cars.
getting to places that nobody expects a wheeled vehicle to go. Porsche 911 (1964-1989). Famous for its tendency to over-
Pavement Scooter. Covers both the Segway (2002-2020) steer, lose traction, and hit an obstacle sideways, but still sol-
and hoverboards (2013 to present; early models have HT 10f). idly popular until production ended.
Move can range up to 7 for production models. Removing the Chevrolet Impala (1965-1970). The Impala name has been
limiters drops SR to 2, but raises Move to 6/10*. Off-road ver- used on and off since 1958, but this is the Generation 4 ver-
sions are available. Operating this is a familiarity of Driving sion that set sales records in the United States. The SS (Super
(Motorcycle), or Bicycling, though tourists are trusted with Sport) package raises Move to 5/62* and gives +1 to Hnd.
them after a 10-minute familiarization session. Most mis- Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow (1965-1980). Rolls-Royce
haps eject the rider, requiring Acrobatics to land safely. dragged itself out of the drum brake and body-on-frame
era to produce the Shadow, renowned for the quality of its
Driving (Automobile) ride even by the company’s own standards.

Ford Transit (1965-). With the similar Econoline (1960-
Citroen Traction Avant (1934-1957). The first mass-market 2014), this is the universal urban and mid-distance cargo-
car with front-wheel drive also popularized unibody con- mover, popular with anyone who has bulky loads to move,
struction, independent four-wheel suspension, and rack-and- or who just wants to look like everything else on the road.
pinion steering. Reportedly very popular with Wehrmacht Available in cargo and passenger versions.

Ford Mustang Mach I (1968-1978). The Mach 1 perfor- Mini Cooper (2001-). The replacement for the classic Mini
mance package adds power to what’s already a classic mus- manages to retain some of the styling on a standard modern
cle car. chassis.
Land Rover Defender 110 (1983-2016). The successor to Pagani Zonda S (2002-2017). A track car in spirit, but tech-
the Series III, the Defender shares its reliability and ease of nically road legal, this car is famously frightening to drive – or
maintenance. After 2007, Occ. is 1+6 but the heater actually great fun, depending on who’s talking.
works. Toyota Prius XW50 (2015-). The latest iteration of the first
Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV (1985-1990). One of the commercial hybrid car (gasoline engine that charges a stor-
iconic slab-sided, rear-engined sports cars of the 1980s, still age battery to drive electric motors), the Prius is popular
popular in spite of its terrible visibility, heavy clutch, and with urban drivers, including taxi services – so it blends into
extreme noise. most places. Those with less savory intentions may appreciate
GMC/Workhorse W42 (1998-2012). A typical stepvan (multi- the ability to run for a few miles purely on the quiet electric
drop van), used for urban deliveries. This frame may also be motors. The vehicle has a Hearing distance of two yards, or
repurposed as the basis for motorhomes or light buses. 70 dB(A), instead of the usual eight yards, or 90 dB(A), for a
typical gasoline engine.

Lamborghini Urus (2018-). In its basic form, this is an harvesting, its Move drops to 1/3. To harvest people, see
undistinguished modern SUV with emphasis on the “sport,” GURPS Action 5: Dictionary of Danger, p. 14.
but an off-road kit (a further $40,000) removes the * from
Move as well as adding reinforced bumpers, skid plates, and
a roof rail. Driving (Construction
Motor Trike. Often built by combining the engine and
back axle of a rear-wheel-drive car with the front forks of a Equipment)
motorcycle, the trike has more hauling capacity and endur- Skid Loader. A modern compact loader with arms that
ance than a motorcycle but the low profile of a car. (Reversed pivot behind the cabin. Lifts with ST 33. The bucket can be
“tadpole” trikes can turn while braking, and get +1 SR.) The exchanged for a variety of heavy tools, including forks, back-
performance of sensible custom builds runs from the ver- hoes, and drills. Tracked versions have Move 3/3.
sion listed in the table (a 998cc engine) on down, and they
may drop HT by a point or two depending on the skill of the
builder. Other builds use outsized car engines. Modifications
Light ATV. Also known as a “quad” or “four-wheeler,” this Among car fans, vehicles that they’ll never get to drive
vehicle is good for rough terrain with a bit more capacity can take on mythical attributes. To emulate this, use a vari-
than the dirt bike, but just as noisy and prone to roll over on ant of the Cool Ethnic Weapons rule from GURPS Low-Tech
slopes. Companion 2: Weapons and Warriors: a Cool Car gets
+1 Hnd, +1 HT, double Acceleration, and +10% to Top Speed
and Range. Price is unchanged; logically the car should be
in great demand, but the unenlightened clearly don’t per-
Adventure Seeds ceive its obvious superiority.
Cars can be and are modified from the baseline numbers
Delivery Men: A rich patron just bought an expen- given here, by the manufacturer or by their owner later on.
sive old car over there, and wants it delivered here. Older cars in particular can be customized in a shop more
It’s faster and more fun to drive it than to load it easily than new models that also need a software upgrade.
into a truck, but potential problems include reliabil- The rules in GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides can be
ity, paperwork (especially across national borders), applied to any of these vehicles, though some combinations
hijacking or theft by less-scrupulous collectors, the don’t work well; most sports cars are designed never to be
need to get unusual fuel, and whoever knows about inconspicuous, and it would be fair to argue that a Rolls-
that bag of MacGuffin that somebody hid in the Royce already has a level or two of luxury built in.
secret compartment back in the day.
Night of the Living Truck: The machines are sud-
denly out to get us! Compared with humans, they’re
tougher and faster, but they need refueling and they
Getting Your Ride
All of these vehicles can be legally purchased, often for
don’t have hands.
cash; that’s not the hard part. Player characters tend to want
Bait and Switch: Steal the thing, put the fake in
a car right now, but the sellers of new high-end vehicles
its place – routine business for PCs. But the thing
cater to the customer who’s picking options and having their
is a classic car weighing a few tons and with a dis-
new toy set up exactly the way they want it, typically taking
tinctively loud engine. Or it’s a bus wired for surveil-
one to four weeks to deliver. Most car salespeople can read
lance, part of a much larger scheme.
their customers as part of the job, and a PC who’s happy to
drive away the showroom model raises all sorts of red flags,
brings on extra credit checks, and so on, unless the buyer
can talk their way out of it.
Driving (Heavy Wheeled) Meanwhile, interesting second-hand cars are in short
supply. Most people who own a classic want to keep it, and
10-Wheeler. These larger non-trailer trucks may be used it may only be sold when they need the money, or die. Even
with a van body for shipping, or may have specialized bodies finding one for sale takes Research. As in any business where
built onto them (such as a street cleaner, cement mixer, or large sums of money pass between strangers and price may
garbage truck). depend on authenticity more than on things that can be
City Bus. A smaller bus (p. B464) for when demand doesn’t tested, sharp practice abounds, with fake parts and forged
justify an expensive full-sized people transport. paperwork. A car that’s been looked after well may have its
Double-Decker Bus. While the AEC Routemaster (1954- original game stats 50 years after it was made; one that’s
1968) never sold well outside London, it remained in regu- just been sitting, or has been used and not fanatically main-
lar service there until 2005 and influenced the design of its tained, loses HT first, but later also Range, Acceleration, and
replacement. An open rear platform allows easy access when Top Speed.
stopped in traffic. Of course, there may be other options for acquiring a
Combine Harvester. The modern combine harvester fancy or unusual vehicle. GURPS Boardroom and Curia:
includes a multi-ton storage tank, GPS navigation, all-round Tomorrow Rides describes one way of getting high-end vehi-
cameras, and an array of monitoring systems to spot over- cles into the hands of PCs without worrying too much about
heating, leaks, and shaft breakages as they happen. While who’s going to pay for damage.

Vehicle Table
Terms and notation are as defined in Vehicle Statistics (pp. B462-463).
TL Vehicle ST/HP Hnd/SR HT Move LWt. Load SM Occ. DR Range Cost Loc.
DRIVING (MOTORCYCLE)
8 Dirt Bike 24 +1/2 10f 10/54 0.21 0.1 0 1 3 28 $6,300 E2W
8 Motor Trike 39 +1/2 10f 7/44* 0.67 0.22 +1 1+1 3 180 $12,000 2E3W
DRIVING (AUTOMOBILE)
6 Citroen Traction 52 0/3 11f 1/30* 1.53 0.4 +3 1+3 3 250 $14,000 G4W
Avant
6 VW Beetle 48 0/3 10f 2/30* 1.28 0.4 +3 1+3 3 200 $9,300 G4W
7 Land Rover Series 57 +1/4 11f 3/31 2.34 0.87 +3 1+8 3 290 $33,000 G4W
III LWB
7 Mini 43 +1/3 10f 2/37* 1.04 0.4 +2 1+3 3 300 $16,000 G4W
7 Jaguar E-Type 56 0/3 10f 5/68* 1.65 0.28 +3 1+1 3 315 $20,000 G4W
7 Lotus Elan Series 46 +1/3 10f 4/59* 0.96 0.2 +4 1+1 3 295 $26,000 G4W
4 DHC SE
7 Aston Martin DB5 59 +1/3 10f 4/73* 1.95 0.33 +3 1+3 3 425 $80,000 G4W
7 Porsche 911S 53 +1/3 10f 5/73* 1.44 0.25 +3 1+1 3 400 $40,000 G4W
7 Chevy Impala 1967 61 0/3 10f 5/48* 2.17 0.4 +4 1+3 4 275 $22,000 G4W
7 Rolls-Royce Silver 67 -1/4 12f 3/56* 2.89 0.51 +4 1+5 5 350 $110,000 G4W
Shadow
7 Ford Transit 64 -1/4 12f 2/57* 2.64 0.64 +4 1+1 4 390 $20,000 G4W
7 Ford Mustang 61 0/3 10f 5/64* 1.96 0.2 +4 1+1 4 270 $13,000 G4W
Mach I 1969
8 Land Rover 62 0/4 12f 1/35 3.36 1.49 +3 1+8 4 265 $40,000 G4W
Defender 110
8 Lamborghini 59 +1/3 10f 5/90* 1.84 0.2 +3 1+1 3 595 $160,000 G4W
Countach 5000
QV
8 GMC/Workhorse 87 -1/4 12f 2/34* 7.25 2.07 +4 1+2 5 300 $32,000 G4W
W42
8 Mini Cooper (new) 55 0/4 11f 2/63* 1.86 0.55 +3 1+4 4 460 $14,500 G4W
8 Pagani Zonda S 57 +1/3 10f 6/103* 1.71 0.3 +3 1+1 3 150 $1,870,000 G4W
8 Toyota Prius 58 0/4 11f 2/56* 2.01 0.5 +3 1+4 4 500 $18,000 G4W
XW50
8 Lamborghini Urus 65 +2/3 11f 8/93* 2.67 0.56 +3 1+4 3 314 $204,000 G4W
8 Light ATV 29 +1/2 10f 6/37 0.3 0.11 +1 1 4 200 $7,000 E4W
8 Pavement Scooter 20 0/3 10 5/5* 0.19 0.13 -1 1 2 10 $5,000 E2W
DRIVING (HEAVY WHEELED)

8 10-Wheeler 86 -1/4 11f 1/27* 12.25 7.25 +4 1+2 5 600 $150,000 G10W
8 City Bus 92 -1/4 11f 1/25* 12 6 +5 1+30 4 450 $20,000 G4W
7 Double-Decker 102 -1/4 11f 1/27* 15.43 7.2 +5 1+72 4 350 $40,000 G4W
Bus
8 Combine 125 -1/4 12f 3/9 25.8 10.55 +5 1 4 400 $80,000 G4W
Harvester
DRIVING (CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT)

8 Skid Loader 54 0/3 12f 3/3* 2.07 0.85 +2 1 3 170 $10,000 G4W
or G2C
Prices are representative only, especially when the same model has undergone
gradual upgrades over a period of decades.

Random
Thought Table
Get Paid, Heroically
By Steven Marsh, Pyramid Editor
Hello again! Welcome once more to a corner of my brain. presented here work well for less-than-heroic campaigns,
As part of an effort to provide my child with a quality edu- and may even inspire you to create something cool and awe-
cation during these trying times, I showed him the original some on your own.
Ghostbusters movies (my first time seeing
them in well over 15 years). They hold up
pretty well. I was particularly surprised
at how much I enjoyed Ghostbusters II; This probably isn’t a good time to bring
I think the conventional wisdom about
that 1989 film was “wrong,” in that it this up, but the last time we did a job for
did a lot of things right, and its biggest the city you stiffed us.
crime seems to have been focusing on
a relatively optimistic and hopeful emo- – Dr. Peter Venkman,
tional space at a time when cynicism and
Batmania reigned supreme. in Ghostbusters II (screenplay)
One feature struck me about the
whole franchise – one which is particu-
larly applicable to modern gaming: It is an exceptionally rare
modern movie that hinges its heroism on capitalism. There T A
he ppeals of
are plenty of movies with heroes; we’re currently a decade-
plus into a wave of superheroic films, and countless examples M aking M oney
exist before and after. And there are plenty of movies and TV Keeping your “eye on the prize” as far as what’s enticing
shows where the pursuit, acquisition, and retention of money about a genre idea can help us find problems and solutions.
form a central theme, but the protagonists aren’t “heroes” in Here’s a quick overview of why we might want to meld hero-
the adventure-game context. ism with commerce:
But those two seldom meet. Heroes like Spider-Man have • Defined adventure goals and rewards. It’s fun to resolve a
money problems all the time, but they don’t do the obvious big client’s situation!
thing and just use their abilities to make money. • It provides new campaign possibilities: “We need to rus-
Why is that? Well, let’s look at the reasons why this tle up some new clients; maybe we need to film a commercial!”
approach might be appealing, why this approach isn’t used This can be especially true for players who enjoy bookkeeping
more often, and what we can do to help make it happen. or juggling numbers.
• A melding of self-determinism and overarching necessity.
Heroes With a Capital “H” Many heroic games have the problem where the players can
Plenty of modern-day campaigns revolve around money; feel hamstrung by their adventure options; if they don’t take
perhaps the most common are the worlds of organized the opportunity to stop Dr. Bwahahaha from stealing all the
crime, mercenaries, treasure-hunters, and so on. But we’re batteries in the city, then there isn’t going to be an adventure.
setting our sights a bit higher today, looking at modern Putting the heroes in charge of their own decisions can be a lot
ideas that would obviously be considered extra heroic, in the more satisfying (especially if the GM gives them genuine free-
vein of GURPS Monster Hunters, GURPS Supers, GURPS dom to say no to potential business transactions). However,
Action, and the like. In other words, putting the protagonists ongoing financial concerns mean the heroes can’t be entirely
in the roles of obvious heroes, with the wrinkle that they’re picky about what they take. It’s a good tension, if you can get
charging money for their efforts. However, some of the ideas it right.

The Pitfalls of for example, a world where all cryptography and secure elec-
tronic communications have somehow been cracked – say,
Private Enterprise by a new, commonly available algorithm that can decipher
any essential message in seconds. Suddenly there may be a
The biggest challenge of designing a campaign like this is demand for a service of human transporters who can take
the many fiddly bits the GM needs to sort out to make it work. physical documents or lockboxes from place to place – or
To wit: intercept those who do so. That would certainly allow the
• The protagonists need to find professions that are both heroes to be (ostensibly) “heroes” (in a James Bond-esque spy
heroic and mercantile. It’s probably best to make one up, since kind of way) while still being employable.
coming up with a problem only the heroes can solve lets the
GM control both sides of the supply/demand “equation.” The Economics
• The money values have to be juggled carefully for the The trickiest bit is making sure that the campaign financial
campaign to maintain a certain economic feel. In the same way system is set up in such a way that it “makes sense,” without
you don’t want a Traveller-esque spacefaring entrepreneurial allowing the heroes to become super-rich or too desperate.
campaign to result in the heroes becoming billionaires
in their first mission, you don’t want the heroes to
buy their own islands after the first adventure.
Ghostbusters has a solidly middle- to lower-mid-
dle-class feel to it, but it wouldn’t take much to
make that aesthetic fall apart. If Egon’s inven-
tions weren’t exclusively useful to catch ghosts,
he could almost certainly make a boatload of
money just selling them. (There might need to
be vague manufacturing or economy-of-scale
reasons for not selling the gizmos, since those
proton packs seem like they’d do a fair bit of
damage against non-ghosts if used – say – by the
military . . .) Check out Out Standing In My Field,
All Alone from Pyramid #3/46: Weird Science, pp.
36-37, for some possible explanations for limited
distribution.
• It can be tricky to have enough num-
ber-crunching to be an interesting diversion, but
not so much juggling that it chews up too much
game time – unless the players enjoy that.
Let’s Do It!
Now that we know what we’re getting into,
and we know the potential problems, let’s sort
this out bit by bit.
The Profession
As noted earlier, it’s almost always going to
be easier to come up with the problem and solu-
tion at the same time, since you can adjust both
sides of that. You also need to figure out how
the heroes can be special enough to be interest-
ing and heroic, but not so interesting that they’ll
become filthy rich overnight.
The supernatural is an obvious place to start,
and it’s the one Ghostbusters uses. If the heroes
have some kind of unique skill, magical ability,
superpower, or insider knowledge which lines up
conveniently enough with a threat, then you’re
golden! “Only the first dozen people born after
midnight on January 1, 2001 can detect and fight
the Midnightmares — time to set up a business!”
However, it is also possible to create a plau-
sibly realistic problem in search of a solution
that only the protagonists can provide. Imagine,

Fortunately, GURPS does a lot of the heavy lifting for be added to the gross profits needed). Although contracts
you. An easy method is to use the Jobs rules (pp. B516-517) can specify that the clients are responsible for any collat-
to determine the Wealth level and typical monthly pay for eral damage the heroes do, “I blew up your entire house
whatever profession the GM and players envision. For exam- to resolve your goblinoid infestation” isn’t going to earn
ple, if they agree that Midnightmare hunting should afford repeat business.
Comfortable Wealth at TL8, then each PC needs to bring • How often the heroes go on assignments. If the play-
home $5,200 a month – after expenses and everything else. ers meet weekly and those “missions” are the only ones the
If there are four players, then the campaign is looking at heroes are expected to go on, then the GM can divide the total
$20,800 a month. monthly expenses plus desired profit by four to get a suitable
If the heroes are working for some kind of franchise or amount to charge clients. If the heroes are assumed to go on
large company, then the rest can all be handwaved away; the “easier” missions between the more-interesting ones that have
organization they work for charges enough to make it worth- actual adventures, then either assume all missions have the
while, and they pay the heroes enough to sort out the calcula- same cost and divide accordingly, or assign some kind of “pre-
tions above. But isn’t it fun to be your own boss? mium” to the challenging cases. (The former is recommended
In that case, you need to figure out: because the PCs probably won’t know ahead of time which
goblinoid infestations are “routine” and which involve a trip
• How much the expenses would be for an organization of
to the Fae Realm of Yestermorrow).
that size. If the heroes want a cool headquarters or vehicle,
it’ll cost ’em. GURPS Boardroom and Curia can be invalu- Once you’ve got a threat and an economic model to back it
able to sort out the numbers here. up, you’re ready for business – literally!
• What kind of cool equipment or gear they’ll have,
and – especially – whether it’s expendable.
• What kind of extra expenses they’ll have. In partic- About the Editor
ular, collateral damage can eat into profits (especially if Steven Marsh is a freelance writer and editor. He has con-
the law becomes involved). Once you decide on typical tributed to roleplaying game releases from Steve Jackson
services, the Collateral Damage guidelines from GURPS Games, Green Ronin, West End Games, White Wolf, Hogshead
Powers, p. 165 – perhaps tempered with Rules for Cinematic Publishing, and others. He has been editing Pyramid since
Campaigns from GURPS Supers, p. 116 – can be incredibly 2000; during that time, he won four Origins awards. He lives
useful in sorting out those extra expenses (which should in Indiana with his wife, Nikola Vrtis, and their son.
Legality Bites
The default assumption of this “genre” (such as it is) is likely balk if their funds are reduced by half because of
that the heroes are operating largely above board. This is taxes. But it becomes an understandable inconvenience if
primarily because there are already plenty of tropes and the cost of the Probsolvium they rely on has gone up dra-
examples of underground folks doing shady things for matically and they have to spend more to get it. Besides,
money. And, really, it’s harder to do a pure “heroic” thing the latter spurs plot possibilities of the heroes going out
if the law is after you. Besides, photo ops at charity events and finding their own Probsolvium . . .
and children’s hospitals are awesome. In the case of cutting-edge or new threats, the most-
However, if the campaign is going to have subplots likely scenario is that the law simply hasn’t caught up
where the heroes skirt up against laws or bureaucracy yet with whatever the heroes are doing. If the play-
(which is 100% recommended), then it’s best to keep that ers are into it, trying to shape and negotiate new laws
from being heavy-handed. If the heroes have twice as and legislation can provide a different kind of adventur-
much money as they should have, then the players will ing opportunity.
Money – Why Bother?
The question may arise: Why bother with exact num- most middle-class households, but nothing insurmount-
bers for expenses or clients? There are a couple of reasons. able and certainly comparable to thorough-but-mun-
First, bookkeeping is fun! Many players enjoy the dane extermination or cleaning service. Conversely, if
thrill of shopping with exact numbers and dollars, and the numbers say that the heroes need to charge $50,000+
negotiating a $1,000 “inferno bonus” on the spot can be per “client,” then their prospects are only going to be
deeply satisfying. corporations, millionaires, or really desperate folks
Also, understanding the numbers will help the GM scrounging every penny to deal with a problem. If one of
understand the kinds of clients who can actually afford these versions doesn’t suit the campaign – at least most
whatever the campaign revolves around – or what kind of the time – maybe the players and GM need to devise
of exceptions need to be made. For example, if the heroes’ a pro-bono or lottery system that can ensure lower-tier
actions run to about $1,000 per “adventure,” then that’s socioeconomic adventure possibilities.
relatively reasonable; it’d be a challenging expense for

About the
Authors
Michele Armellini lives in Udine, Italy, with his very From 2008, he has served as lead creator of the GURPS
understanding wife Silvia. Michele makes a living out of for- Action and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series; work on the
eign languages, but he loves dabbling in and studying the latter led to his design of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying
obscure and the uncanny  – and trying Game, released in 2017. Sean has been a
to convert them into game mechanics! gamer since 1979, but devotes most of
He has written for Pyramid, and he his spare time to Argentine tango. He
is the author of GURPS WWII: Grim lives in Montréal, Québec with son
Legions. He is the author or co-author amour, Geneviève.
(with Hans-Christian Vortisch) of sev- Christopher R. Rice has been pub-
eral other GURPS products: GURPS lished in Pyramid multiple times, and
Locations: St. George’s Cathedral, now he’s been published in the newest
GURPS WWII: Their Finest Hour, iteration. He’s authored, co-authored,
GURPS WWII: Doomed White Eagle, or contributed to eight GURPS sup-
and GURPS WWII: Michael’s Army. plements (and counting!) on a range
Roger Burton West wrangles com- of subjects. Of course, if he’s not writ-
puters near London, UK. He has had ing about GURPS, he’s blogging about
articles published in volumes 2 and 3 it. Visit his site, “Ravens N’ Pennies”
of Pyramid, co-wrote GURPS Reign of (www.ravensnpennies.com), for more
Steel: Will to Live, and wrote GURPS GURPS goodies. He wishes to thank L.A.,
Disasters: Meltdown and Fallout; who- for being the wonderful, amazing, inspiring
ever’s monitoring his web searches has probably dismissed woman that she is – not every man gets his muse personified
him as a harmless crank. His gaming website is tekeli.li. in the flesh! He also wishes to thank his gaming group – the
Rory Fansler (also known as “refplace”) is an analyst and Headhunters – for alpha testing, his family (especially his
tinkerer, preferring “kitchen sink” campaigns with rich mother), and Elizabeth “Archangel Beth” McCoy, his Sith
backgrounds to explore and puzzles to solve. Some of his Editrix mentor.
ideas can be found at warehouse23.com/products?utf8= Matt Riggsby is trained in anthropology and archaeology
&keywords=rory+fansler and refplace.blogspot.com, where and, like the rest of his generation, has a job in computers.
he also does reviews and provides information to help new- He works for an international healthcare IT company, has
comers to GURPS. written or contributed to numerous GURPS supplements and
S.A. Fisher is from Arkansas, where he teaches military his- Pyramid articles, and lives with his lovely and talented wife,
tory. He is a former infantryman and police officer. His hob- an above-average child, and a pack of dogs.
bies include blacksmithing and gun-making. He is the author Longtime gamers, Carolyn Ivy Stein and Steve Stein have
of GURPS WWII: Dogfaces and GURPS WWII: Hand of played GURPS since the release of the Third Edition in 1988.
Steel, and co-author of GURPS High-Tech, GURPS Gun Fu, Carolyn is a freelance writer. Steve is a professor of military
and GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters. and maritime history at the University of Memphis, and has
Phil Masters is the author of numerous GURPS books, published three books, most recently The Sea in World History:
including GURPS Banestorm, GURPS Thaumatology, Exploration, Travel, and Trade (ABC-CLIO, 2017). He also
and the Fourth Edition GURPS Steampunk series – as well teaches strategy for the Naval War College.
as of several books for other games and a roleplaying game J. Edward Tremlett, a.k.a. “the Lurker in Lansing,” takes his
of his own creation, The Small Folk, which can be found ancient keyboard from its hiding place and unfurls his words
at warehouse23.com/products/the-small-folk. Quantum upon the world. His bizarre lifestyle has taken him to such
physics still works for him, and his house is mercifully free exotic locales as South Korea and Dubai. He is a frequent con-
of steam robots. tributor to Pyramid, was the editor of The Wraith Project, and
Sean Punch set out to become a particle physicist in has seen print in The End Is Nigh, Worlds of Cthulhu, and the
1985 and ended up as GURPS Line Editor in 1995. In that anthology Ride the Star Wind. He’s the author of the fictional
capacity, he has written, edited, or contributed to hundreds blog SPYGOD’s Tales (spygod-tales.blogspot.com), and lives
of GURPS releases, revised the game into its fourth edition in Lansing with two cats and enough Lego bricks to make a
(2004), and been a regular contributor to Pyramid magazine. Great Old One. Maybe he already has.

About GURPS
Steve Jackson Games is committed to full sup- ideas to add to your own game! The Pyramid web page is
port of GURPS players. We can be reached by email: pyramid.sjgames.com.
[email protected]. Our address is SJ Games, P.O. Box Store Finder (storefinder.sjgames.com): Discover
18957, Austin, TX 78760. Resources include: nearby places to buy GURPS items and other Steve
Jackson Games products. Local shops are great places to
New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues to
play our games and meet fellow gamers!
grow – see what’s new at gurps.sjgames.com.
Bibliographies. Bibliographies are a great resource for
Warehouse 23. Our online store offers GURPS print
finding more of what you love! We’ve added them to many
items, plus PDFs of our books, supplements, adventures,
GURPS book web pages with links to help you find the
play aids, and support . . . including exclusive mate-
next perfect element for your game.
rial available only on Warehouse 23! Just head over to
Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but
warehouse23.com.
we do our best to fix our errors. Errata pages for GURPS
Internet. To discuss GURPS with our staff and your
releases are available at sjgames.com/errata/gurps.
fellow gamers, visit our forums at forums.sjgames.com.
You can also join us at facebook.com/sjgames or Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the
twitter.com/sjgames. Share your brief campaign teasers GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that
with #GURPShook on Twitter. Or explore that hashtag for begin with B refer to that book, not this one.
STUCK FOR AN ADVENTURE?

NO PROBLEM.
Warehouse 23 sells high-quality
game adventures and supplements
in print and PDF formats.
l Free downloadable adventures for GURPS and In Nomine!

l Fun gaming accessories – shot glasses, shirts, specialty six-siders, and more!
l PDFs from Atlas Games, Amarillo Design Bureau, Goodman Games,
and many others – plus gems from the up-and-comers.
l Original material for Transhuman Space and new GURPS supplements
from Kenneth Hite, Phil Masters, David Pulver, Sean Punch, and
William Stoddard!
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warehouse23.com

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The Checkpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

­From the Editor

Pyramid Magazine 2 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 3 Modern/Action I

Plymouth (Montserrat) Getting There

Pyramid Magazine 4 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 5 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 6 Modern/Action I

The Lead Box

Pyramid Magazine 7 Modern/Action I

The Vietnam Wars hamlet to province level.”

Pyramid Magazine 8 Modern/Action I

Phung Hoang as an A, B, or C. A was a known VCI cadre, B was a proba-

Pyramid Magazine 9 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 10 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 11 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 12 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 13 Modern/Action I

PRU Operations or other elite forces would have a

Pyramid Magazine 14 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 15 Modern/Action I

Using the Monsters GURPS Infinite Worlds: Some timelines accessible to

Pyramid Magazine 16 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 17 Modern/Action I

The Tyrannical Tulpa

Pyramid Magazine 18 Modern/Action I

Dodge: 9 Parry: N/A DR: 0

Pyramid Magazine 19 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 20 Modern/Action I

Social Advantages Techniques

Pyramid Magazine 21 Modern/Action I

Rumored Masters The Network

Pyramid Magazine 22 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 23 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 24 Modern/Action I

The Holding Area Hasty Command Post

Pyramid Magazine 25 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 26 Modern/Action I

Map of a Hasty Checkpoint

Pyramid Magazine 27 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 28 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 29 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 30 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 31 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 32 Modern/Action I

The Derelicts to 17th centuries.

Pyramid Magazine 33 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 34 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 35 Modern/Action I

Amulet of Orlock using normal range penalties (p. B550). Success yields an

Pyramid Magazine 36 Modern/Action I

Price They’re built to contain the power of

Pyramid Magazine 37 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 38 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 39 Modern/Action I

Pyramid Magazine 40 Modern/Action I

Barn Building Stats

A dventure eeds S outlawed groups (such as criminal cartels or revolutionary

Pyramid Magazine 41 Modern/Action I

Spanish Ghosts Sykes: What are your plans,

Pyramid Magazine 42 Modern/Action I

The nearest neighbors are over a mile away, and it continues

From the Editor

Amulet of Orlock using normal range penalties (p. B550). Success yields an