still not writing
Jun. 22nd, 2009 06:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethtoday I have been mostly reading GURPS Special Ops
because there isn't a GURPS dystopian space guards.
I've been thinking about this future space society. They try and control knowledge/training. But they also need lots and lots of guards. So your first place source for restricted knowledge would be the people that restrict it. See: Mercenary companies / security advisers, herenow.
So what do the Guards know that they could wander off with?
Their government would want them to be highly loyal. How do they arrange that? What perks do Guards get? Why risk themselves?
What level of risk is it? Are they mostly scaring litterbugs or do things blow up quite often?
How much of a rebellion is there, really?
Do they stomp on it whenever it happens?
What about the underside, black market, criminals?
Rationed society is going to be a lot like the page in the Special Ops book about trying to get equipment assigned, only without the swap for cash option. People will borrow, beg, steal. And they'll carry tools they shouldn't ought to have, because they're so useful even if they are restricted. And since knives are really useful tools and currently age restricted even in our not quite dystopian yet probably society how many people are carrying illegal useful things? And how hard to Guards try to stomp on it?
And given how close they are to seized property, how close are they to the black market?
Plenty of room for a symbiotic relationship there.
I could just sit down and write. I've probably got enough to get through the story.
But I have two Guards in a cell. I decided one takes bombs apart and the other is a people person. Technical skills, investigation and diplomacy skills. Tendency to stomp kick people. End up as rebels because they don't fancy ending up as prisoners.
So the more I know about the system they come from the more I know about the two of them, and the things they'll try to avoid their fate. What have they got stashed for a rainy day? Who do they know? Who do they trust and who trusts them? What does this say about how the Guards work?
And are they stomping around heavily armed and military or are they wandering police like with sticks?
So far the only thing that's staying decided is they've got cameras on their heads.
I should write. I can make it makes sense for one story. Got the parts lined up.
... I just got distracted by shiny information and neat little tables full of numbers.
I like it when you can turn the world into tidy numbers. I know it isn't much to do with reality but that's the fun. Numbers make a model you can do anything with.
So today I figured out once again the GURPS Character Points one can earn in a college year.
The rulebook says 10CP per year, but it also gives more detailed rules about hours studied alone, hours taught, hours in your job, and how they all translate to points. Taking into account that you round everything up I can get it to be 10CP. But they're' spread between taught units at college, hours spent on weekends, things you felt like studying in the holidays, and a holiday part or full time job. Which is interesting because it suggests where to put the points into, split up between college topics and carousing.
... it's not useful in any way shape or form, but it's still interesting...
... which is my basic problem in a nutshell...
Tomorrow: Write!
... or possibly take books back to library.
... actually I'm not sure which computer I can write on. This one lacks Word and is awkwardly perched and crashes a lot, the other one was going so slow it effectively doesn't work. Note to self: Fix the computers.
because there isn't a GURPS dystopian space guards.
I've been thinking about this future space society. They try and control knowledge/training. But they also need lots and lots of guards. So your first place source for restricted knowledge would be the people that restrict it. See: Mercenary companies / security advisers, herenow.
So what do the Guards know that they could wander off with?
Their government would want them to be highly loyal. How do they arrange that? What perks do Guards get? Why risk themselves?
What level of risk is it? Are they mostly scaring litterbugs or do things blow up quite often?
How much of a rebellion is there, really?
Do they stomp on it whenever it happens?
What about the underside, black market, criminals?
Rationed society is going to be a lot like the page in the Special Ops book about trying to get equipment assigned, only without the swap for cash option. People will borrow, beg, steal. And they'll carry tools they shouldn't ought to have, because they're so useful even if they are restricted. And since knives are really useful tools and currently age restricted even in our not quite dystopian yet probably society how many people are carrying illegal useful things? And how hard to Guards try to stomp on it?
And given how close they are to seized property, how close are they to the black market?
Plenty of room for a symbiotic relationship there.
I could just sit down and write. I've probably got enough to get through the story.
But I have two Guards in a cell. I decided one takes bombs apart and the other is a people person. Technical skills, investigation and diplomacy skills. Tendency to stomp kick people. End up as rebels because they don't fancy ending up as prisoners.
So the more I know about the system they come from the more I know about the two of them, and the things they'll try to avoid their fate. What have they got stashed for a rainy day? Who do they know? Who do they trust and who trusts them? What does this say about how the Guards work?
And are they stomping around heavily armed and military or are they wandering police like with sticks?
So far the only thing that's staying decided is they've got cameras on their heads.
I should write. I can make it makes sense for one story. Got the parts lined up.
... I just got distracted by shiny information and neat little tables full of numbers.
I like it when you can turn the world into tidy numbers. I know it isn't much to do with reality but that's the fun. Numbers make a model you can do anything with.
So today I figured out once again the GURPS Character Points one can earn in a college year.
The rulebook says 10CP per year, but it also gives more detailed rules about hours studied alone, hours taught, hours in your job, and how they all translate to points. Taking into account that you round everything up I can get it to be 10CP. But they're' spread between taught units at college, hours spent on weekends, things you felt like studying in the holidays, and a holiday part or full time job. Which is interesting because it suggests where to put the points into, split up between college topics and carousing.
... it's not useful in any way shape or form, but it's still interesting...
... which is my basic problem in a nutshell...
Tomorrow: Write!
... or possibly take books back to library.
... actually I'm not sure which computer I can write on. This one lacks Word and is awkwardly perched and crashes a lot, the other one was going so slow it effectively doesn't work. Note to self: Fix the computers.