Designers' Notes: GURPS Bio-Tech
by David Morgan-Mar and David Pulver
For me (David Morgan-Mar), it all began in February 2004. I had no inkling that
GURPS Fourth Edition was well into the production stages, and was wondering which
of my Third Edition book ideas to try submitting next. The e-mail from Dr. Kromm
contained two bombshells: GURPS Fourth Edition was on its way, and I was being
invited to co-author the new edition of Bio-Tech with David Pulver.
The first order of business was to assign duties on the new edition. Since David Pulver
was working on the new edition of Ultra-Tech, I took on the job of outlining and
writing enough new material to expand the previous edition by 112 pages.
That's a lot of new material.
I grabbed some stuff from Transhuman Space, which had raised the bar on biotech
rules and material since the old edition. Then I added an entire chapter on medical
technology, including expanded rules for medical conditions and treatments beyond
those in the Basic Set. The plants and animals chapter from the previous edition was
expanded into two chapters, one devoted to microorganisms and the many things they
can do in a biotechnological society. Drugs and wet nanotech also got a new chapter.
Given a directive from editorial to keep the "Generic" in GURPS, I wrote a section on
variant biotech, covering everything from magic through steampunk and on to horror.
The expanded size gave us room to include the biological magic spells from David
Pulver's
original edition designer's notes
.
Then there's campaign material. I added a big section on the ethical and legal issues
surrounding biotech -- problems that simply ooze plot hooks for GMs wanting to
challenge a group of heroes with an ethical dilemma or a call to action. And finally, I
developed four new campaign settings to showcase the diversity of possibilities for a
biotech world, spanning tech levels from TL2 to TL12, some in which biotech enables a
better existence, and some in which it produces despair.
With that done, David Pulver began revising all the material from the first edition of
Bio-Tech, to turn it into Fourth Edition rules. He also added a few new bits and pieces,
which helped round out the manuscript. The playtest was fast and furious, and we
received an enormous amount of useful comments and suggestions that polished the
rough edges. The last edition of Bio-Tech had to be hastily rewritten to include
information about Dolly the sheep, who was cloned from another sheep as the
manuscript was being finalized. In a field that changes as fast as biotech, we were
naturally faced with similar last-minute developments. Thankfully some of our
playtesters do biotech for a living, and kept us informed of breaking news while also
making sure we got the facts right.
Finally, when all was said and done, we had to cut something because, well . . . 112
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pages just wasn't enough! With sadness, I agreed that two of the campaign settings
would be the simplest to remove. But despair not, for you are about to receive one of the
cut settings in its entirety. Enjoy!
* * *
Atrivita
In 2004 the United Nations enacted a treaty outlawing the production of human clones.
Not only babies who would grow into adult clones, but also cloning of embryos for stem
cell research. Powerful governments the world over grew ever more paranoid and
conservative in the face of rising terrorism and global uncertainty, and passed repressive
laws to restrict personal freedoms and moral choices. The technologies that promised
more reproductive liberation for those wanting non-traditional sexual relationships
struggled under the weight of regulation and religious condemnation.
But what mainstream culture fights against will inevitably find expression on the streets,
in the black markets, and in the secret labs of people who will do anything for those
desperate and rich enough to fund them. This movement has been dubbed atrivita --
"grey life" -- life hidden amongst the edges of outlawry.
The World
This is Earth, how it might turn out if new breakthroughs in reproductive and
therapeutic biotechnology are pushed underground by legal restrictions. But the
governments who fight human genetic engineering allow corporations to develop and
patent techniques applied to crops, livestock, and disease control. The resulting
explosion of gengineered species can sustain an ever-growing human population with
ease, but only at the cost of becoming increasingly beholden to the biocorps.
The Developed World
Atrivita is a dark future to some, but average citizens in developed nations are little
affected by the geopolitical and economic state of the world. Living standards are high,
and most middle-class people don't miss the personal freedoms that have slowly been
eroded, let alone the new possibilities that have not been granted over the past decades.
Throughout Europe, North America, and the developed Asia-Pacific nations, people are
free to travel, gather, and protest, although security is heavy. Travelers and attendees at
large events must pass biometric identity checks and a battery of scans designed to
detect metallic, chemical, and -- most of all these days -- biological weapons.
Most citizens support the legal restrictions against cloning and human gengineering, so
do not see these as onerous. The tragic examples of children with crippling diseases who
could be saved by gengineered siblings, or those who die waiting for donated organ
transplants instead of receiving a stem cell tissue engineered organ, are too few and too
far between to concern the faceless majority who disallow such procedures. And those
who express a desire to produce clones or adaptively engineer human germlines for the
"benefit of humanity" are shouted down as ethically misguided.
Civil liberty action groups campaign against what they consider unnecessary restrictions
on personal freedoms. Their tactics are generally public awareness campaigns, political
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lobbying, and peaceful protests. Occasionally a protest degenerates into violence as
security personnel and protesters become overheated. A handful of groups engage in
terrorism against government and corporate targets to further their cause. The media
sensationalize the violent aspects and underplay the peaceful protests, which contributes
to the general feeling that genetic liberty groups are radical extremists.
The Underworld
Below the average lifestyle lived by the silent masses is a seedy underworld populated
by growing ranks of disaffected poor, unable to secure a job in a world becoming
increasingly automated and turning to drink, drugs, and crime. Welfare payments are
woefully inadequate to provide for the sheer number of unemployed, especially as many
nations have reduced welfare budgets in order to finance increased security and law
enforcement programs.
Many members of this lower class struggle along as best they can, taking menial labor
when they can get it and begging when they can't. Others live a life of petty crime,
stealing what they need to avoid starving or freezing to death.
Some people form organized gangs for mutual protection and resource sharing. Gangs
can hit bigger targets than individuals and make away with more goods. Gang members
can occasionally afford cheap biomods and frequently use enhancement drugs when
they mount raids or attack other gangs in turf wars.
A few criminals form a core of organized crime that permeates all levels of society. A
job as a hired thug or enforcer is one of the most reliable pay packets on the streets. It
also represents one of the few ways a person at this stratum of society can work his way
up. By being tougher and smarter than the rabble, a thug can become a mid-level crime
boss. The cream of the crop rise to manage national and international criminal
syndicates. These Mr. Bigs can afford the best medical care and biomods that money
can buy, so are frequently physically enhanced and receiving anti-agathic treatments.
The Third World
Life in the developing world is tough. Exploding population growth means ever more
resources need to be put into food production. Although genetically engineered crops
and livestock easily supply enough food, they are only available by paying biotech
corporations for the privilege of growing them. Effective treatments for diseases that
have plagued the developing world for millennia are also now available, but at a similar
cost. With no other options, Third World nations are increasingly in debt and their
populations remain desperately poor.
Only a lucky few are able to scrape together an education and make their way into
professional careers. But multiplied by the enormous population base, this has generated
a significant upper class, many of whom are now questioning the dependency of their
nations on the existing biotechnology cartels. With what resources and knowhow they
can muster, these crusaders are trying to set up gengineering labs of their own -- a move
looked on with hostile eyes by the established corporations.
Space
Government-funded space exploration and
colonization never recovered from the stagnation
around the turn of the 21st century. A handful of
The Destruction of
Kinshasa
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commercial enterprises attempted to gain footholds in
orbit, but it wasn't until Umbrium Corporation
launched its successful space laboratory that others
began to appreciate the true potential of a microgravity
environment.
Umbrium developed small-scale biotech processes
rather than attempting the more ambitious zero-gravity
metallurgy programs of its competitors, which allowed
it to turn a profit without investing in heavy lift
launchers. It patented several microgravity
gengineering techniques and new products such as
isotropic bacteria-grown crystals impossible to
produce on Earth. Other companies followed and now
there is a small but thriving community of corporate
research settlements in orbit, serviced by regular
shuttle flights. With regular service came tourists, and
a few corporations have built space hotels where the
rich may spend time in orbit. It costs a fortune, but the
views are worth it.
The next target is the moon, which beckons with
minerals and helium-3 for research into fusion power.
Nobody has yet returned there, but plans are on
several drawing boards.
Technology
Atrivita is a mature TL9 world, with all appropriate
technology from GURPS Ultra-Tech and this book
available somewhere. This is not to say that such
technology is easily available. Human biotech
involving cloning or germline gengineering is LC0
and available only through black market channels or to
secret government projects that all countries deny
operating. Biomodification is also banned in many
countries (LC0), although some use biomodified
police and military forces, making biomods LC2.
Most non-human biotech items exist at their listed
legality classes. The exception is any attempt to uplift
animals by augmenting their intelligence, which is
banned under a U.N. treaty. Many nations allow non-
uplift experimentation on animals and some
companies specialize in biomodded and gengineered
animals. Besides changes to livestock for improved
health and productivity, genetically modified working
animals and pets are increasingly common. A typical
enhanced beast of burden has ST 10% higher than
average for its baseline species and +1 HT. Pets come
in varieties ranging from glow-in-the-dark to
miniature versions of large animals. Miniature
versions of wild animals are often as aggressive as
their unmodified counterparts, so they are kept more
The worst biotech
disaster in history
precipitated the
destruction of the
neighboring cities of
Kinshasa and Brazzaville
two years ago. An
experimental biological
control lab accidentally
released a gengineered
virus designed to sterilize
mosquitoes and thus wipe
out malaria and other
insect-borne diseases. It
failed on two accounts: a
natural mutation in the
mosquito population
quickly led to future
generations being
immune to the effect; and
worse, the virus proved
horrifically fatal to a
large fraction of the
human population
because of susceptibility
carried on a particular
gene not identified during
development.
With great reluctance and
no other option, western
powers agreed to sterilize
the area using saturation
bombing of fuel-air
explosives, before the
infection could escape
and ravage the rest of the
world. Isolated cases who
escaped the cities were
quarantined. Six months
later, with close
monitoring of
surrounding territory, the
United Nations declared
the region safe.
The drastic action
attracted widespread
condemnation, but the
leaders who made the
decision stood by it,
presenting terrifying data
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by an avant-garde subculture than mainstream families
with children.
Illegal Biotech
Despite human cloning being illegal, there are many
uses for it. With stem cell research stifled, it's almost
easier to grow an entire body than just a spare organ
for transplant. A clone can also be ready with fresh
organs at any time, whereas a custom organ takes time
to grow. The infonets circulate persistent rumors that
high-profile political figures and celebrities maintain
clone "brothers" in case of emergencies. The clones
are treated well . . . until the original requires a spare
part.
Clones of famous people are also big business for
traders in human flesh. Prostitution rackets pay well
for genetic material verified to be from celebrities.
Some go as far as selling the resulting clones to rich
buyers. Genesnatching has become a crime feared by
the famous, and almost impossible to guard against
while maintaining a normal lifestyle.
Organizations
Many of the government and corporate entities
existing today still exist in the world of Atrivita. Real
world names can be used to establish familiarity,
while the following fictional organizations help to set
the tone of the campaign.
Agrigene
This multinational specializes in agricultural bioengineering. It is known for its
genemod high-yield crops and livestock, as well as aggressive marketing policies in
Third World countries.
Agrigene began as a small biotech concern in Sweden. It hit the big time in 2011 with a
patented method for making crops drought-resistant. In a world starting to feel the
effects of greenhouse warming, this attracted heavy investment and allowed the
company to expand rapidly. It posted huge profits in the following years, built on a
succession of proprietary breakthroughs with commercial plant and animal
modifications.
The company is now the world's biggest agricultural biotech business. It has as many
genetic patents as its top three competitors combined, and uses them to maintain an
unassailable corporate position. Although it licences many of its enhanced productivity
genemods, they typically contain hormone dependency sequences, and Agrigene
maintains a monopoly on the production and distribution of the various enabling
hormones.
This practice has resulted in a growing black market for cheap copies of Agrigene
on plague simulations
supplied and verified by
several prominent
epidemiology research
labs. They showed that
the virus would likely
have wiped out over half
the world population
within two years -- faster
than any reasonable
estimate for the
development of a
vaccine.
Major biotech
corporations have used
this event to criticize the
efforts of developing
countries to engineer
their own biotechnology,
claiming they lack the
experience to handle it
safely. Conspiracy
theorists note that the
entire incident appears
calculated to boost the
standing of the
established biocorps
while discrediting
potential competition that
could overthrow their
dominance . . .
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hormones, particularly in developing nations where law enforcement is lax. Agrigene
uses its considerable international influence to pressure governments to crack down on
the forgers. It's directors suspect some of the sophisticated synthesis labs are backed by
competitors, and play games of industrial espionage to uncover the truth. Agrigene itself
is the target of several consumer groups concerned with its greedy marketing strategies.
Umbrium
This company made its fortune with microgravity gengineering and biological materials
science. It operates a trio of orbital laboratories and several ground facilities. The
materials it produces in space are ultrapure microbially grown crystals impossible to
manufacture on Earth. These crystals are in demand for military grade electronics and
weapons systems, forming the basis of the fastest and most hardened computer systems
in the world.
Umbrium is now a leading microbial biotech firm, producing commercial microbes of
all types. Directors deny the company has any military contracts to develop biowarfare
agents.
United Nations Genetic Control Programme (UNGCP)
This specialized agency of the United Nations is an arm of the United Nations Office for
Drug Control and Crime Prevention. It was established in 2005 soon after the outlawing
of human cloning to enforce the ban. When artificial modification of the human genome
was also banned in 2006, the UNGCP took responsibility for policing that as well.
Now, the UNGCP has three main branches: administration, investigation, and
enforcement. The investigation and enforcement branches operate field agents,
ostensibly at the discretion of the U.N. Security Council, although in practice senior
UNGCP administration directs operations and they are seldom called to account. The
agents -- commonly known as gene cops -- accumulate evidence of human
bioengineering activities worldwide, and mount special operations to break up illegal
cloning rackets, germline gengineering labs, and other "violations of the human
genome."
The UNGCP keeps tabs on known genetic offenders, as well as people who have
publicly expressed a desire for the technology. This includes people who have suffered
personal tragedies due to the lack of availability of therapeutic gengineering techniques,
as experience shows people in this group are statistically more likely to engage in
militant civil rights activities.
The UNGCP is strongly supported by the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, the
Vatican, most Muslim countries, and much of Africa and South America. Continental
Europe is less enamored with the agency, but tolerates it as a necessary control against
cloning.
COF
This is a consumer activist group dedicated to stopping the runaway use of genemod
plants and animals. COF stands for Consumers Opposed to Frankenfoods, but the group
is more commonly known by its initials -- spelled out by supporters, used as an acronym
by detractors. The group operates in developed nations.
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COF uses peaceful means to promote its agenda, involving consumer education and
picketing of biotech corporations. Its educational material urges consumers to boycott
genetically modified products in favor of natural ones. The major problem is that almost
all food on the market is modified in some way, with the only alternatives being
expensive produce grown by niche farmers or growing it yourself. Even people who
agree with the sentiment find it difficult in practice.
The UNGCP keeps files on prominent COF leaders and members, but they are a
relatively low priority for investigation. There are rumors that COF funds more militant
groups, but publicly they maintain a clean profile.
Rhea Silvia
Rhea Silvia is an outlawed group which helps desperate people to find the expertise and
technology they need for human therapeutic and reproductive cloning. It operates high
quality black labs in several countries. Despite their illegal nature, these labs are state of
the art and employ brilliant biological and genetic engineers. In some Third World
countries, Rhea Silvia operates behind a front of providing medical care to needy
citizens, and provides it better than the government or legitimate aid agencies.
A militant arm of Rhea Silvia, nicknamed Romulus, engages in acts of terrorism and
assassination targeted at the institutions and people who perpetuate the cloning ban.
With its access to high levels of biotech, Romulus prefers genetically targeted viruses as
weapons, but also uses more conventional methods such as firearms and explosives
when an adequate genetic profile of the primary victim or victims is unavailable.
Conspiracy theorists persist in spreading rumors of a second, secret, branch of Rhea
Silvia, which they call Remus. They allege that it consists of only a few members, who
are insinuated into positions of power within major world governments and the United
Nations. There they purportedly pursue agendas to destabilize the current doctrine that
human biotechnology should remain banned.
Clinique Rouge
When people want illegal biomods or to produce clones, they seek out a black market
clinic. One of the most highly regarded is the Clinique Rouge, begun in Marseille,
France, but now with branches in several developed nations around the world. It is a
high-class and very discreet operation, contactable only if one has the right connections
on the streets. The Clinique has built its reputation on two pillars: impeccable work, and
absolute secrecy about its client list.
Characters
Depending on the style of the
campaign, suitable character types in
Atrivita include the following:
Gene cops work for the UNGCP or
affiliated federal agencies. A simple
campaign can be played in a law-
enforcement mode, in which heroic
gene cops investigate truly heinous
crimes such as cloning and
Adventure Seeds
Sterile Crop Outrage
For millennia, farmers have been saving
some of the seed from the previous crop to
sow for the next one. Now, when they can
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gengineering people for use as slaves
or replacement parts. The enemies
can be mad individuals or secret
programs run by ethically dubious
corporations. This can lead into a
campaign of moral exploration and
discovery as the gene cops become
aware of peaceful political
campaigns in favor of human
biotechnology and the reasons why
some people want the freedom to
pursue therapeutic gengineering. As
the cops realize their world is not as
black and white as they thought, they
may be tempted to switch sides.
Bounty hunters are less sympathetic
to the justifications of their targets, as
they are only interested in doing the
job of bringing them to justice.
Freelance hunters lead an
adventurous life, traveling the world
in pursuit of prey and using
investigative and infiltration
techniques to gather intelligence
before striking. Although less likely
to consider the moral implications of
their job, a campaign in which
bounty hunters begin to support the
campaign for genetic freedom would
be interesting.
Corporate executives run the biotech
companies that hold the world in the
palm of their hands. Although an
unsympathetic lot, an executive with
more moral fiber than most would
make a suitable protagonist. An
interesting role would be the head of
a small biotech company attempting
to develop new techniques to feed the
developing world without the
attendant greed of the multinationals.
This would naturally attract
unwelcome interest from larger and
more influential corporations who
don't want their business undercut.
Industrial espionage and intrigue can
result. Another possibility is a
biotech executive willing to push the
envelope and develop life-saving
human gengineering techniques in
violation of UNGCP policies.
afford to, they buy the latest gengineered
seeds from biotech companies for greater
yields and better pest resistance. But if
they fall on hard times, they can still save
seeds for the next crop, risking only being
a year or two behind the latest
developments.
But this is about to change. Agrigene's
latest set of enhanced seeds contains a
gene sequence that renders seeds of the
next generation sterile. Once farmers
switch to the new seeds, they will have no
choice but to buy more every year, or have
none. What's worse, Agrigene hasn't
announced this until after hundreds of
thousands of farmers across the
developing world have grown the new
seeds. Now, people are angry, from the
farms of Bangladesh to the halls of the
United Nations. Agents will be needed to
maintain order against rioting, to
investigate Agrigene, and to work out a
solution to the problem before millions
starve.
Genesnatchers
A media celebrity has become aware that
criminals have somehow managed to get
hold of a sample of her tissue, despite her
paranoid precautions against this. She puts
a huge bounty on the genesnatchers and
suitable evidence that her sample hasn't
been copied. Bounty hunters (and any
tempted gene cops) follow a twisting trail
of clues, meeting a chain of contacts along
the way. When they finally reach the
culprits, they discover no samples
matching the celebrity. They can either
give up on collecting the reward, or
attempt to gain a sample some other way .
. .
Outbreak
Something odd is happening in
Copenhagen. Media reports indicate a
strange new disease is filling the hospitals,
and many patients are dying. This is no
variant influenza from an Asian melting
pot, and suspicions begin to climb that it is
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Bioengineers will either work on
plants and animals, or risk
stigmatization and legal
repercussions by experimenting on
human cells. Corporate gengineers
may engage in field testing in
agricultural regions, where locals
will see them variously as heroes or
scourges. Others will be attracted to
illicit human engineering either by a
desire to help individuals with
nowhere else to go, or by simple
greed. Some affiliate with groups like
Rhea Silvia or the Clinique Rouge,
while others go independent.
Surgeons are required to take care of
the people who fall afoul of the tough
life on the streets. With crime
rampant, trauma surgery is a never-ending job, and surgeons can come into contact with
people with all sorts of secrets. The pay is better doing black market biomods, though,
and the working conditions might even be less dreadful.
Neo-Luddites support the bans on human biotech, which puts them in the mainstream in
Atrivita. Some will go further and campaign against any form of genetic engineering,
bringing them into conflict with biotech corporations and Third World governments.
They may receive support from poor farmers keen to break the cycle of dependency on
the corps.
Genetically engineered individuals are rare in Atrivita. Nobody expects to meet a clone
or gengineered person, and most would react with revulsion if they learned they had.
Although it is not a crime to be cloned or genetically altered, such people are
stigmatized by society if recognized, and have a hard time passing security identification
checks and holding jobs. Some try to live normally while guarding a terrible secret,
while others turn to crime.
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Article publication date: September 22, 2006
Copyright © 2006 by
Steve Jackson Games
. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read
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.
a bioengineered weapon. The United
Nations dispatches epidemiologists and
bioengineers to collect data and analyze
the plague, while shutting down most
travel out of the city and surrounding
countryside.
Is it a new mutation of an old bacterial
enemy of mankind, or indeed a
bioweapon? And if so, who is responsible
and why target Copenhagen? There are
plenty of opportunities for danger in the
field and machinations in the halls of
power as the U.N. team races to contain
the outbreak and prevent another Kinshasa
-- this time on the European continent.
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