Patreon Polls: June

Every month, for my Patrons, I hold a poll on topics for the next month, so I (ideally) give you guys at least one post per month that suits your interests.  A patron recently suggested that I make these polls visible to the public, so that people can see what we're talking about behind the scenes and, if they like it, maybe become a Patron.

All Patrons ($1+) get to vote on a general GURPS topic

• A Deep Dive into Conditional Injury: I've been using Douglas Cole's Conditional Injury for my ships, but how well does it handle personal combat? I'll do a thorough review of the article, make suggestions on how to alter it or improve it and discuss how it might apply nicely to certain genres.

• A Review of Fantastic Dungeon Grappling: I backed Douglas Cole's recent backstarter, not for the product itself, but because I wanted a copy of Dragon Heresy and Fantastic Dungeon Grappling.  This might also turn into a review of Technical Grappling, as they're essentially the same thing (as I understand it).

• Trademark Moves as Style Basis: Back when Pyramid was still a thing, I had one idea for writing an article: the synergy between designing trademark moves and martial arts styles, and how to use one to build the other.  It's a topic I find myself explaining to people online regularly, so I could codify it into a single post.

• Martial Arts as Power-Ups: When I started working with GURPS Martial Arts, I found it a little disappointing, as I was used to a different style, similar to Exalted where one buys moves and powers rather than some nuance to a skill.  I've recently been exploring power-up ideas for martial arts and struck upon an idea of how to combine the two. (This topic has obsessed me recently, and I actually have a mess of worked examples already)

• Plague Creation Rules: As part of Orphans of the Stars' biotech rules, I worked out some guidelines for creating your own diseases: how severe should they be, what sort of knock-on effects might a disease have, etc.

• A New Ultratech Framework with Setting: So back when I created my series on Ultra-Tech frameworks, I had a sample setting that I wanted to release to illustrate it.  I left it unfinished as it took more work than I expected.  I could round it off fairly easily and release it, if you're interested.

$3+ patrons ("Fellow Travelers") get to vote on Psi-Wars topics. Normally I allow a lot of leeway, but recently I've seen a lot of demand for rule collation, so we have two polls running right now:

For Rule Collation:

• The Basics: BAD in Psi-Wars, Impulse buys, and other basic core rules of Psi-Wars
• The Call to Adventure: how to get a Psi-Wars adventure started
• The Road to Adventure: Space and Planetary Travel in Psi-Wars
• Unveiling the Secrets of the Galaxy: Investigation in Psi-Wars
• Action: Combat rules and Vehicular Action rules
• Templates! Just pick a template and revisit it!
• Psionic Powers, including Negative Psi and new Techniques and Powers
• Communion, with all the various little rules its picked up over the years. 

Last month, we had the Eldothic Deep Engine, but this turned out to be a bit more involved than I expected, so I pivoted, and this month we're looking at which race we'd like to see elevated to a full "conspiratorial" setting element, complete with their secrets, stats-as-monsters, and how one goes about defeating them.  Options here include:

• The Eldoth, the Deep Engine, and their servitors
• The Skairos, the Devils of Persephone and the Labyrinthine Worlds
• The Templars and their secretive Chapters and the Temples of Communion
• The Cult of the Mystical Tyrant, the Imperial cult and their catspaws
• The Ghosts of Broken Communion and Death Cults
• The Anacridian Scourge, its corruption, its relics and its connection to the Machine-World of Azrael. 

If you'd like to join in, just hit the link on the side.  Otherwise, I'll see you later this week when I announce the winner and thanks, as always, for reading.