Ultra-Tech: TST ChemRail

Para uso único Asgari. [For Asgari Use Only.]

‒ User label of the TST ChemRail

Elysium (2013) is one of the more credible attempts at a cyberpunk film, even though many concepts of that genre are so 1980s. Perhaps to make up for this, the film is set in the much more distant future, the year 2154. Nevertheless it features many of the typical cyberpunk tropes, such as the juxtaposition of the sprawling masses and the filthy rich, the wonky cyber gear including datajacks and exoskeletons, the almost instantaneous computer hacking, an orbit community, etc.

And of course it has the weaponry, a mix of the antique – a katana (if that is not taken straight from Shadowrun’s street samurai then it is an incredible coincidence …), an Izhmash AKM assault rifle, and a Remington Model 870 pump-action shotgun, both with homing rounds – and the ultra-modern – Cousar Crowe storm carbines with ETC ammunition and 4Sure manportable ground-to-space multiple missile launchers.

The most fun, if not the most realistic, weapon featured in the film is the TST ChemRail Dual-Stage Linear Motor Rifle (LMR) – a variant of the portable rail gun (GURPS Ultra-Tech, p. 141).

Ultra-Tech: Amtrak Federation Air Rifle

A three-barrelled high-velocity .25 calibre air rifle that could be switched from triple volley to full auto, hung from the flexible mounting above the cockpit. A ground-crewman checked the two racks inside the cockpit filled with 180-round magazines … With a comparatively high rate of fire of one hundred and eighty rounds a minute, they were able to direct an almost continuous rain of nickel-coated lead …

‒ Patrick Tilley, The Amtrak Wars 1: Cloud Warrior (1983)

 

Patrick Tilley’s The Amtrak Wars (1983-1990) is a six-part epic chronicling the events in 2989/2994 AD prior to the fulfilment of the “Talisman Prophecy.” It is set in a devastated and substantially changed North America, with several factions involved in a deadly struggle for supremacy. These include various tribes of Mutes, the Iron Masters, and the Amtrak Federation ‒ inexplicably changed to the Lone Star Confederation in the later reissue, making the many train connections obsolete. It is perfect as a setting for a GURPS After the End campaign.

Ultra-Tech: Armat M41A

OK, I wanna introduce you to a personal friend of mine: This is an M41A pulse rifle, 10mm, with an over-and-under 30mm pump-action grenade launcher.

‒ CPL Dwayne Hicks, 1st Platoon, A Company, 2/9 USCM, in Aliens (1986)

The Armat M41A is the famous weapon arming the US Colonial Marines in Aliens (1986) and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation security forces in Alien 3 (1992) ‒ also, for some obscure reasons, the bank robbers in The Simpsons #13.12 (2002) … It accounts for a lot of the pseudo-realistic setting of Aliens, giving the main characters a mean-looking yet functional weapon to combat the dangerous Xenomorph XX121. Ultimately, the powerful, effective carbine ‒ and all the other ultra-tech gear of the year 2179, from nukes to sharp sticks ‒ does not mean much against the swarm intelligence, evolutionary perfection, and insidious breeding habits of Internecivus raptus, giving the Alien saga a distinct, rather desperate Lovecraft-esque vibe.

Tactical Shooting: Predator

Contact!

‒ Mac Eliot in Predator (1987)

John McTiernan’s Predator (1987) is a superb classic that combines science fiction, horror, and military action. While Predator fulfils many action movie tropes and is hence overall better suited to GURPS Gun Fu, some details merit discussion in context with GURPS Tactical Shooting. The team’s response to the first sighting of the Predator is almost a textbook counterattack manoeuvre (Tactical Shooting, p. 22) following the advice in the US Army’s field manual FM 90-5 Jungle Operations (1982): “Once contact with the enemy is made, the unit’s first action is to build up a large volume of fire.”

Ultra-Tech: Shadowrun

Back in the day, one of my favourite game settings was the original Shadowrun, First Edition. I just loved the unique blend of cyberpunk and magic, combined with its heavy dose of Native American myths and of course the awesome presentation. I did not like the game system very much and never upgraded to one of the later editions.

Instead, I used GURPS as game engine and also blended in material from GURPS Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020, and Cyberspace. That was in 1989/1990. I have since lost most of my notes, but still have some material from that time. Among it are a few drawings of customized weaponry I made to capture the spirit of the setting, inspired in part by real firearms and in part by illustrations in Shadowrun, First Edition, and in the Street Samurai Catalog, First Edition. I have written up the back story and game stats for these for your enjoyment. They work especially well together with my article “Tactical Shooting: Tomorrow” in Pyramid #3/55.