Land of the True Game: Campaign Roadmap

This post is a table of contents covering what I will address in the Land of the True Game campaign and setting on this blog. (Read the one-paragraph description here before you read this.) I’m not sure how far I will go before I get tired, but I am eager to try.

I’ll attempt to update this post with links to the posts I finish so that there is a central directory for the setting.

As you can tell if you’ve read the books, for now I’m focusing on the first three books — with a few excursions here and there.

Key:

✅ = player-friendly, no spoilers content

Campaign/Setting Basics

What the Players Need to Know (a capsule history of the setting) ✅
Mysteries of the World (campaign plot, who’s who, adventure seeds)
Technology
Government/Society
Geography
Vocabulary and Sayings ✅
Religion of the True Game ✅

Game Mechanics

Handling Player Magic
Talents (see also The Index)
Power-holding a.k.a. Sorcery
Wize-Art
Lom
Devices (Psi-Tech)
Campaign Planning Form (as PDF)
Combat Rules Subset (I use the same combat rules in both campaigns) ✅

Clarification: I’m using the setting terms in the above list, these are not the GURPS rules terms “talent” or “power(s)” or “sorcery”.

Key Concepts

The Index
Demense
Festival

Important Locations

The Old Road
Schooltown(s)
The Blot / The Labs
Wind’s Eye
The Bright Demensne

Character Templates

There are a few tables/traits that are relevant just for character creation:

Rank, Status, and Social Stigmas
Codes of Honor / Vow
Useful Skills List and Discussion
True Game ESP, -20% (a campaign power modifier)
Allowed/Disallowed Character Builds

There are a few modules/lenses that apply across templates.

All gamesmen (meaning: those with talent) are descended from one of the original eleven talents. After #11 are the other important pieces in the game world. I’ve put a (*) next to the classes I think are not playable by PCs.

Armiger
Demon
Elator
Tragamor
Seer
Sentinel (†)
Sorcerer (†)
Healer
Ruler
Shapeshifter
Necromancer
Wizard
Magician
Dervish (*)
Immutable (*)
Pawn

(*) = Not playable by PCs

(†) = Similar roles, may want to limit to one per party

The first twelve are like character classes, with hybrids also allowed, but I’m not sure how much I will get into the hybrids. Those listed above after the first 11 are more like special cases.

Alien Races

Shadowpeople
The Agirul
Eesties
Stickies

Organizations

(e.g., potential patron/enemy)

The Council
The Magicians (this is also a character template)
The Immutables (also a character template)
The Sevens
The Dervishes
Shadowpeople (this is also an alien race)
Eesties (this is also an alien race)

Alien Creatures

Groles
Krylobos
Flood-Chucks

Monsters/Other

Gifters
Tallmen
The Centipig

There’s a bunch of other stuff I didn’t list here because I don’t think I’ll have the energy for it.

The d’Bor! The Bridgers! The Daylight Bell! The Great Maze! The Backless Throne! etc.

But if you know the books feel free to suggest something else if you think it counts as a must-have.

(The image highlight for this post is a c. 1310 medieval illustration of men harvesting wheat with reaping-hooks, on a calendar page for August, from Queen Mary’s Psalter [Ms. Royal 2. B. VII] at Wikimedia Commons. It is in the public domain.)