Setting

• Reference TL: 9
• Reference Culture: Western
• Reference Language: English
• Magic System: None

Style

Pulp-style Action. Mystery-Thriller, not "Investigation."

• Style: Heroic Realism (ATE2 p. 49)
• Morality: Heroes Wanted (ATE2 p. 50)

Tropes

Crapsaccharine World; Settling The Frontier; Town With A Dark Secret; Wilderness of Mirrors

Central Tension

Terra Nova struggling to survive and prosper against the hostile natural environment, micromanagement by Homeline governing bodies, takeover by greedy corporate forces, and discontent from within—and maybe more, unseen.

Expectations

• Espionage Wilderness of Mirrors: Never sure whom to trust
• Quite a lot of Social Engineering
• Occasional PC "family drama"
• May not be as combat-focused as usual

Intended Features

• Sandbox play; emergent narrative
• Dinosaurs & ray-guns
• Single "hub-town" (Terra Nova colony), surrounded by wilderness and dinosaurs
• Plenty of wilderness travel, random wilderness encounters, with dinosaurs
• Secrets, lies, and betrayals (possibly with dinosaurs)

Campaign Background Information

Some of these are attempts to correct issues with the show's existing background material. Some of these are tie-ins to the Daniverse in-general. Most of these won't have a direct effect on the campaign itself, but may figure in to the characters' backgrounds.

13th Pilgrimage Departure Date: 4 Sep 2151
Local (Arrival) Date: Wednesday, 22 Jun 8TN

Homeline

The Old Future; 21(49/51); the World-that-was

The United Commonwealth

Socialist Bureaucracy; CR:4 (B506)

• World Government A Machiavellian politician named Edward Washington weaseled his way to the US Presidency, successfully became President-for-Life, and "effectively" turned the entire world into a one-world government via the UN (Long story…). The United Commonwealth includes the Americas, Europe, and parts of Asia. Predictably, not everyone accepted this rule; nations that refused to join or seceded from the Commonwealth include Australian Commonwealth, France, Quebec, many African nations, Middle East, China, Eastern Russia
• Deadly Plague: Plague is a combination of microbial afflictions that result in an AIDS-like immune-system breakdown; not contagious, but ubiquitous. The Plague believed to have first appeared ~2050; scientists predict that ~2182, N America will be uninhabitable.
• Overpopulation: Too many people crammed into too small spaces, due to environmental damage. Strict population controls in force; families limited to 2 children only, subject to large fines if caught with additional children.
• Scarce Food: “Real food” is a luxury. Fat people are extremely rare (only Domers), and looked at with suspicion/hate.
• Polluted Sky: Only the elderly remember seeing the moon/stars through the haze. The near-constant "cloud" cover has resulted in a global drop in temperature, akin to a "nuclear winter," and has severely reduced surface plant growth to dangerous levels.
• Dead Planet: Most folks will have rarely/never encountered a live animal, even as pets, except in domes.
• No Escape: Lunar and Mars colonies already maxed out on (rather limited, ATM) population, and slashed space-ops budgets mean there’s no chance of leaving the planet.
• Haves & Have-Nots: bit of a Hunger Games feel; wealthy/powerful live in the domes (=nobility), feeding off the rest, who wear rebreathers and live in the crapsack slums outside.
• Societal Breakdown: Most people accept the idea that the world is dying and they’re going with it, and have stopped caring, stopped trying. Suicide is common. Crime and violence is a daily fact of life.
• Gov’t Repression: Red-tape and jackboots rule daily life with an iron fist.
• Rampant Corruption: Batman Begins-Gotham-like levels of gov’t corruption, specifically since the first Pres-for-Life’s disappearance ~7 years ago, and rise of the current administration, to the point that it’s practically accepted as normal. Pretty much anything can be had/done if you grease the right palms.
• Constant War: The disappearance of the first Pres-for-Life was the opportunity the “enemies of civilization” were looking for, and have continuously resisted the march of the Commonwealth since then. The Bad Guy is usually the Russo-Chinese or their third-world puppet dictators.

Hope Plaza/Time Portal

• GCPA: Global Climate and Population Administration, technically “UN,” manages the upper-level portal stuff; Ref:WTO
• The Fracture is unstable: Drops in random places at random distances. Opens big/long enough for mass-traffic ~1/year, ~100 pilgrims per shot. Timing and size are roughly predictable, but not (any more) the exit location.
• The Fracture is tethered in “real-time” to a specific space-time; Ref:Timeline; real-time connection is a bit compressed, 1:1.75(?)
• The Fracture most-often manifests too weakly or briefly to allow large objects to pass, but will generally allow two-way communication in bursts. Colonists generally record “mail” to be sent when communication is open; supply requests and technical/scientific data have priority

From Pilgrims' Orientation Briefings

On Departure

• The Fracture can only be dilated to a limited diameter; pilgrims have to walk through, very quickly, so as to get as many through as possible in the short time-window, after supplies are pushed through
• The place where the Fracture appears is random. Each pilgrim is fitted with auto-deployed parachute and flotation device; infants/toddlers are placed in a shock-absorbent drop-pod
• Gear may need to be carried some distance through very rough terrain—take only what you need
• Limited container space for Pilgrims' household items is available; anything that cannot be carried will be secured in the luggage container.

On Arrival

• Initial Instructions: (1) Get everyone together in the vicinity of the supply-drop and tend any injuries, (2) ensure locator beacon is transmitting, (3) seek/erect shelter, (4) wait for pickup or instructions from colony authorities. Follow designated Group Leader's instructions.
• High Oxygen Content: Atmospheric oxygen content is near 30%.

This will make visitors Overconfident, with IQ rolls at -1; it will also hasten corrosion, and increase the risk of fire. Higher oxygen concentrations may also dry out their eyes; roll HT+2 every minute, with every failure reducing Vision by 1. Protect against this by wearing reducing respirators with goggles. GM: I figure there will be a period of acclimation; haven't determined what that is, yet—after that, using eye-drops and breathing techniques, and/or drug-treatment, should avoid the physiological effects

• High Fire Danger: No open flame allowed at any time (except with special dispensation). No smoking; e-cigs, only. Gear that relies on open flame or combustion are strictly regulated, if not openly prohibited.
• Wildlife: Contact with local species is to be avoided.

Other Setting Details

Technology

GURPS TL9 (no superscience, neverminding the "portal" itself). Should be all available as-is, unless specifically called out. Some elements seen in the Show:

• Sonic weapons (rifles, pistols, grenades, mines)
• Man-portable anime-missile launcher
• Palm/phone-sized, "forearm," handheld "Plex" personal computers, large "desktop" panel; transparent screen
• Available single computer system ("The Eye"), liquid-cooled, containing "all human knowledge"
• Thermal-optic mini-HUD
• Multifunction bio-bed, med-scanner, bandage-spray, "sonic surgery", laser-scalpel
• Bio-scanner sensor capability
• Tracking-chip implants
• Full-holographic two-way communication, open-air holo-projected elements
• Fabricators (specifically for microchips, but others are likely)
• Full-size, long-range electric vehicles

Economy

Coin-of-the-Realm: Terras (₸) = TBD#GURPees

Transactions at the colony are taken in Terras, but there is also a strong "barter economy" that can sometimes supercede it.