Roleplayer #25, August 1991
Uplift Engineering
Copyright © 1991 by Stefan
Jones
Prologue: A Slacker's Guide to the Uplift Universe
If you haven't read any of David Brin's "Uplift" books, I strongly
encourage you to do so. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, a
brief synopsis: Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War
are set in a future history quite different from the run-of-the-mill
Star Trek / Star Wars milieu. Humanity isn't the major contender,
or even a bit player, in this future. Human starships making the tentative
first steps out of the Solar System found a galaxy full of immensely
powerful, ancient cultures.
The one thing keeping humanity from being enslaved was something it did
quite innocently: the "uplift" of chimpanzees and bottle-nosed
dolphins into sentient creatures. This made humanity a patron species.
Status among the Galactics, it turned out, depended on how many races your
culture uplifted to carry on the traditions of the clan. The ingenuity that
let humanity create two wonderfully competent and unique "client"
species -- not to mention achieving star travel -- without the help of the
great Galactic Library endeared us to some Galactics, such as the Kanten
and Tymbrimi. Unfortunately, it insulted the most powerful and fanatically
conservative races. They had served their stern patrons for a hundred
millennia before being allowed to play the game of galactic politics, and
bitterly resented "wolfling" humanity's acceptance into the Galactic
fold.
And thereby hangs a tale . . . three, actually, with a fourth on the way.
Uplift, the Game
I'd like to say that the notion of adapting David Brin's "Uplift"
books came to me while first reading them. Surprisingly, at the time I thought
the task would have been impossible. If you've read the books, you may know
what I mean. The sheer bulk of detail, and the complexity of the political
and cultural situation, seemed to be too vast an edifice to tackle. Besides,
the series seemed too, well, high-falutin to be made into a roleplaying
game. While chock-full of action, heroism, and derring-do, the Uplift
books tackle weighty topics like environmentalism, the ethics of galactic
civilizations, and the maturity of humankind. Would gamers used to a diet
of "Merchants and Mercenaries" type adventures go for a campaign
where they might play a genetically engineered chimp desperately trying
to win the right to have a kid? Would playing a representative of an impoverished,
despised race appeal to someone used to kicking butt in a giant robot?
I had my doubts, until I began discussing the notion with fellow gamers
and SF fans. I was further encouraged by the publication of GURPS
Space (and, frankly, its major competitor) because they
showed a commitment to realism that was missing in past space RPGs. People
who played and enjoyed these complex games wouldn't have a problem dealing
with a universe as complex and diverse as this!
In early 1987, I had a chance to talk briefly with David Brin at an SF convention.
It seemed that a game company had expressed interest in the rights
to the "Uplift" books . . . but he hadn't heard from them in a
while. A light bulb labeled "opportunity" flashed in my head.
I was working on Unnight
for Steve Jackson Games at the time, and mentioned the idea to Steve.
Negotiation-type things happened. In mid-1988, I got a call: Did I want
to do GURPS Uplift?
Does a Brother of the Night molt underwater?
The Ecstasy and the Agony
By the time the 1988 Worldcon in New Orleans rolled around, I had a fair
chunk of material ready to show Steve and Dr. Brin. Dave, a gamer and simulation
enthusiast, handed over some notes he and Steve had worked up at a previous
meeting: They detailed the bare-bones beginings of the "personality
trait" system. These gave me a lot more grist for the mill; work on
the project proceeded quickly.
Over the next year, I sent Dr. Brin rough drafts of each chapter, along
with many, many questions. Dave answered the huge bulk of these quickly
and conscientiously, for which I owe him a vast debt of gratitude. Occasionally,
we ran into something which I call the "beyond the mountains"
gap. The creator of the Uplift universe didn't know everything about it.
This wasn't a failing on his part, of course. The job of an author is very
different from that of a game designer. Authors tell stories. Stories
are about people, and the things they do and see. While Middle Earth, the
Witch World and the Uplift universe are wonderfully detailed places, their
creators can't be expected to know everything about them. More important,
for the purpose of a good story, is the ability to weave the appearance
of depth, with enough real detail included for the purpose of the story.
This isn't good enough for a roleplaying game supplement, unfortunately.
I was left with the moderately daunting task of detailing a dozen worlds
and dozens of alien races.
Whoops! Did I say unfortunately? I love worldbuilding! Getting
to do so in a universe I liked was a real kick, especially when Dr. Brin
indicated that some of the stuff might become "official." (This
isn't unusual; the authors of GURPS
Witch World and GURPS Horseclans
said that Andre Norton and Robert Adams similarly approved of the additions
to their fictional realms.)
"That's Not The End Of The Tunnel . . . It's The Train!"
What I thought would be the final draft arrived horribly late. Unfortunately,
hopes for a quick edit and on-time release in winter '89 were squelched
when serious problems were spotted by the playtesters and the crew of the
Illuminati BBS. Dave's personality attribute system, which I tried to keep
relatively intact, didn't synch well with GURPS. My
"patches" to merge the systems didn't bear up under the weight
of scrutiny. A balky 1-100 rating system for traits, bizarre tables to generate
d100 rolls with six-sided dice, and rules for making "personality rolls"
went out the window. This stung at the time -- Dave really liked the percentile-based
system, and I tried hard to keep it -- but it was all for the best. The
current system, cooked up by Steve with suggestions from the playtesters
and BBS crew, is much more elegant and GURPS-compatible.
More time was spent adapting my uplift rules to GURPS
standards. I had unknowingly and unnecessarily duplicated much of the
material from Aliens,
Ultra-Tech
and Fantasy
Folk. The systems that Chris McCubbin and David Pulver
cooked up for critter parts and future technology were better than my rushed
efforts. I extend a hearty thanks to these gentlemen for the material I
"borrowed" from their publications.
Finally seeing GURPS Uplift in print was a great
relief. The two years it took to see the light of day were quite an adventure.
I'd like to thank Steve for his infinite patience and faith during a time
when the demands of my "real world" employment made beating deadlines
awfully tough.
Want More?
GURPS Uplift was a massive project. Still, some
things didn't make it into the final edition. Several
races (including the Episiarchs and Acceptors, the Tandu's horribly
twisted clients) and a world or two were left out due to lack of space.
An introductory adventure was cut, too. If enough people out there give
the word, I would consider working these into an Uplift supplement. Contact
me with your comments via the Illuminati BBS or write care of SJ Games.
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