IST25 Outline, as of 10/22/2013

[Mamorien]

On second thoughts, Brigid works better as the Academy headmistress (unless you already had someone else in mind for the post). Better for Supreme Commander would be either Drifter or Warrior. (Maybe we should have an election thread a la Legion Leader elections...)

[Bob Schroeck]

I actually hadn't settled on anybody for any role yet, so all suggestions (and justifications thereof) are welcome.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mamorien]

An election/discussion thread exists now in the parent forum. Use it in good health, chief.

[robkelk]

Just noticed this on the SJGames forums: the GURPS Line Editor has posted about the status of the new-product pipeline now that the new version of OGRE has finally been shipped to everyone who bought it.
http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php? ... count=3452

Bob, this might explain why you haven't heard anything about the IST25 proposal yet.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Ah, maybe, maybe. I should probably wait until Q1 15 before asking to buy back the rights, then.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

Hmmmmm... I'm not suggesting you pander to the Line Editor's tastes in games, but if you really want to, you might add a little more Warriors' World and a little less four-color to the mix.

The important bit:

I don't really like the Big Damn Heroes version of the comics, so I'd be at odds with you there. The only mainstream super I ever liked was Wolverine, and he kills people left and right. (When I read about supers at all . . . I spent more time reading comics closer to Those Annoying Post Bros.) I can't get it out of my head that plausible bad guys play for keeps, so plausible agents of good have to play just as hard. The protagonists' heroism emanates from using their power only to foil bad people, and from making an effort never to harm the innocent . . . not from some high-minded vow not to give as good as they get when battling evil. I find that the latter wrecks my willing suspension of disbelief about as much as fighting Hitler by tying up his thugs with Silly String when they're trying to shoot you.

--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Mamorien]

I hadn't seen that Kromm post, but Bob was thinking along similar lines back in the original version, so I'd say he's got that covered. ("[C]ombat should be realistically deadly, otherwise the U.N.'s stand against violent solutions becomes a sham." -- p.IST70) I have notes describing the IST world in the terms WHS uses for the campaign seeds in GURPS Supers, and in the Mode section, I put "Speculative, but combat is usually gritty."

[Bob Schroeck]

Yeah, pretty much. I'm sure Kromm remembers that detail from IST.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Scarman]

Wow!  I posted on RPG.net to see if anyone had ever worked on updating the IST world's timeline post-2000 and someone directed me here. This is amazing! I would sell my first born son for a copy of the timeline if it exists yet, although I've already copied this outline to my laptop so I can tinker with it. IST is one of the greatest settings of all time, in my opinion, if not the best. And I don't even like GURPS all that much! It doesn't seem like there's been much activity around here since August, is the project still in the planning phase?

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, first, that was August 2014. And second, no. I've been hesitant to admit this in public for a while now, but my personal life has gone through more than a few upheavals in the last two years, and the outline and all other development has been shoved aside during that time. I've been telling myself to get back to it -- in the last few days, actually -- but the upheavals haven't really stopped yet.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Scarman]

Oh, I didn't mean this thread specifically. I saw that someone else posted in this forum in August and you had replied, so I figured it was still marginally active.

And brother, you're preaching to the choir about upheaval in the personal life. I've been there. Hell, I'm still there. I feel your pain, and offer whatever condolences I can!

[Bob Schroeck]

And because MyBB doesn't flag a thread as having new content when you just edit a post, this is a little note that I've performed some minimal cleanup on the outline in the first post so that it's at least slightly readable.

[robkelk]

Well, since you've dusted off the thread anyway...


Why I believe SGames would probably not accept this proposal any time soon:

BB The Crazy Years - The 1990s (6 pages)
...
DD American government restricts magical research
dramatically due to Evangelical Christian influence
on the Buchanan administration; only the threat of
foreign magical attack prevents it from being
outlawed entirely.
...
CC The United States
DD Acceptance of "New World Order" conspiracy theory in
mainstream Republican thought
DD Growing anti-IST sentiment and xenophobia
C-BOX The "America First" movement
DD King narrowly re-elected in 1992, while Congress
shifts to Republican control
DD Patrick Buchanan elected U.S. President in 1996,
Congress remains controlled by Republicans
PULLQUOTE "Pat's a goddamn Nazi, but you always know
where you stand with him." - Hunter S. Thompson
(attributed)
DD Refusal to pay U.N. dues in 1997, rush to implement
the Singapore discovery and construct U.S.-owned
fusion plants
...
DD General perception overseas of the US decaying into
a "second-tier" nation
...
DD And the Pendulum Swings - the election of Democrat
Aaron Catalano as President in 2000 and the so-
called "Return to Rationality"

Too close to polarizing Real Life events.

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, yeah. That's the part that depresses me every time I go back to this project in recent years. I thought I was writing satire, that the GOP would go full fascist in reaction to a black President. I didn't realize I didn't go far enough.

[Vulpis]

Well, yeah.  That's the part that depresses me every time I go back to this project in recent years.  I thought I was writing satire, that the GOP would go full fascist in reaction to a black President.  I didn't realize I didn't go far enough.

Yep, that's been the lament of comedians and satirists the past several years...real life events keep out-absurding them.