GURPS Toon City Copyright (c) 1996 by James C. Patten The idea was actually originated by a roommate of mine in college a few years back (ah how I long for those carefree days again...). His campaign was done for the Marvel RPG system. I borrowed the idea, GURPS-ified it (is that a word?), and added some ideas of my own. As you can probably guess, ideas for it were taken heavily from the movies "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Cool World." BACKGROUND Toon City - an entire metropolis (size unknown) populated entirely by cartoons - and the occasional "real" being, otherwise known as Noids. First discovered in the early 1920's by an agent of Walt Disney's, who brought back Mickey Mouse. A gateway was built between Toon City and Disney Corporate Headquarters, and several more toons were brought back. Mickey became one of the first toons to star on TV and in the movies, and as a result he and his family became extremely famous, both in Toon City and on Earth, along with several other toons. In the mid 60's, however, several rival firms to Disney Corporation began creating their own toons. This, along with Disney's mismanagement after Walt's death, contributed in part to their demise. Disney still faithfully used toons from Toon City, however, as they still do today. In 1979, rejected toons from failed cartoon shows on Earth began appearing in Toon City, and Disney Corp. quickly realized that there must be another gateway. Michael Eisner, upon taking control of Disney in 1984, ordered the other gate to be found and closed. The hit team, made up of both toons and humans, never returned. The flood of both failed and expired toons continued. Currently, Disney Corporation still draws its inspiration from Toon City, with such movies as "Who Framed Rodger Rabbit," and by drawing toons from the City for their cartoon shows. Still, the flood of toons from other companies in the cartoon business continues. THE CITY AND SURROUNDING AREAS How far Toon City extends is unknown among humans, even though extensive exploratory parties have been sent out. Even the toons brought over to Earth do not know or refuse to tell. But it is known that Toon City contains many and varied burroughs, just like any human city. Disneyville is the newest, but most well-known section of town. This was set up by Walt Disney several years before his death for those toons which worked or were still working for Disney. The Disney gate is located within Disneyville. In this burrough, both retired and active Disney toons live in absolute splendor, having made more money through their movies and shows than they can ever spend in Toon City in their life-times (see Economy). The estates of such greats as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck can be seen in the heart of Disneyville. Disneyville is on the edge of the City. The area around Disneyville is one of the better parts of the City, being under the benevolent rule of the Disney Corporation. City Hall (named by Disney because no rulers ever stepped forward to claim leadership of the city) is here, with a duly elected toon mayor and city council. City Hall claims jurisdiction of the entire City, but in fact rules only certain burroughs. Just outside Disneyville on the east side of the city is a huge natural area which extends for several hundred miles south and east. Toon City University is an ivy league-type school, established long before Disney. It has been partially taken over by Disney Corp. for its training of toons to be actors and for survival on Earth. It is the only currently known school in Toon City, and is attended by young toons from all over the known parts of the city. The University teaches the higher sciences such as Economics, etc. All types of toons come here. Cool Town is one of the grimier and nastier sections of the City, populated by a varying breed of toon called Doodles. This burrough, over a hundred miles from City Hall, is one of the burroughs rarely touched by the Disney Law. Organized crime is rampant here. Law and Order is not known here--at least not Disney Law and Order. Cool Town is near the home of the other gateway, located (unbenownst to Disney) in the nearby burrough of Merrill. Merrill is a burrough mainly populated by those failed toons dumped here by such companies as Hannah-Barbera. Merrill also has a City Hall, claiming its own jurisdiction over the entire city. This City Hall is outwardly run by a mayor and council, but they are all goons of the real power behind the scenes, Stephen Merrill, a Noid hired by the other companies to run their sections of Toon City the way they like. Residents of Merrill are poor and live in daily fear of Merrill's toon goons and, the real threat, the Toon Patrol (qv). The Toon Sea lies to the south and east of Toon City. Several rivers that run through the City run into it. There are several port areas, with bustling traffic. The Sea has not been explored very much by either Disney or Merrill. It is known that other cities lie beyond it, but no attempt has been made to find those other cities. The Jungle borders the Sea for as long as has been explored, at least 1000 miles, and several hundred miles inland. It consists of thick tropical growths, along with other fauna relating to warmer climes. The city has been steadily encroaching upon it for many years. North of the Jungle is mixed deciduous forests, with the occasional farm. This extends east beyond the city for about 300 miles. Somewhat north and east of the city are low mountains, that are used mainly for recreation in winter. Beyond the farms and the mountains lies a large desert, one that humans have never penetrated beyond. Rumor has it that beyond the desert lies WackyLand, a weird, psychedelic area where the laws of nature are suspended. No known toon has ever returned from that area. DEMOGRAPHICS Toon City is populated by many and sundry types of toons, some (but not all) living in their own burroughs. SILLY TOONS: By far the dominant "race" of toon. Silly toons have the well-known ability to stretch themselves when they need to, although some are better than others (see point cost). They also have a basic ability to flatten out or re-arrange their face temporarily. They start with Stretching of level 3 (they can stretch to 8 hexes away), but can increase that to whatever level they desire - there is no limit. Each level costs 15 points. Silly toons also have a morphing ability which allows their bodies to assume another shape (such as that of a puddle when crushed by a 16-ton weight). This ability is involuntary unless the toon wishes to control it. The skill is known as Morphing, and it is a Physical/Hard skill. SERIOUS TOONS: Serious toons, those toons that look and act like real beings, were not terribly prevalent before the Disney Breakthrough, and were never numerous until Stephen Merrill came to Toon City, when the other companies began dumping toons. Now there are nearly a million serious toons, and the number keeps growing. Serious toons are a lesser breed of toon, not having the morphing or stretching ability of the Silly toons, but they are not subject to the Auto Slam and Auto Stun. Serious toons cannot increase the amount of stretching that they innately possess. If they wish to use their stretch, they must roll DX to activate it. DOODLES: A very inferior and unstable type of toon. They have some of advantages of Silly toons, all of their disadvantages, and some unique disadvantages of their own. ECONOMICS The economy of Toon City is based on the basic unit of purchase, the Somolian. Somolians are distributed in a system dating further back than the oldest living toon can remember: a certain number of somolians are given to residents of Toon City each week. Toons get these somolians from the different banks around town. Where the banks get these somolians, or who runs the system, is a mystery not yet solved, by neither Disney nor Merrill. (In other words, I'm stumped) All human currencies and somolians are exchangeable, at fanstastic rates, but only the successful toons eventually dumped by the other companies have any money. All toons hired by Disney are given an initial contract amount, plus whatever they make on their films or series (which makes working for Disney very lucrative among toons - the competition to even get an interview for a screen test is high). Average wealth for starting toons is about 100 somolians a week. STEPHEN MERRILL AND THE TOON PATROL Stephen Merrill is the master behind all that goes on in the seedier sections of Toon City. The Disney Law knows very little about him, other than the fact that he exists and lives in an area where the Law cannot touch him. The enforcer of Merrill's reign of fear and terror is the Toon Patrol. The Toon Patrol is made up entirely of mercenary Noids, hired by the companies, to savagely cut down resistance to Merrill's Law in Toon City. These Noids carry with them the one thing toons have learned to fear the most: the Dip. The Dip, developed by some twisted genius under Merrill's control, completely eradicates toons. They are disintegrated with no hope of recovery (other than re-drawing back in the labs of the other companies). The Patrol also has various other devices and weapons to immobilize, catch, and, in one case, completely de-toonerize, the toon. TOONS AND TOONERIZING There are two skills concerned with toons: Toonerize Self and Toonerize Others. If someone is Toonerized, and it ends up becoming permanent, points must be paid to buy the advantage of Tooned. The person doing the toonerizing may choose what form of toon to change to. Toonerize Self: A Mental Very Hard skill. This skill involves turning oneself into a cartoon, and all the abilities and advantages coming with a toon. This also allows de-toonerizing of the self. A critical failure on a role to change the toonerized state will make the state unchangeable by that person - only someone with Toonerize Others can undo it. A critical success on the toonerizing roll will allow reversal without a roll. In a universe with magic, this is a magic spell; in a universe with psionics, this is related to Psychokinetics. This is also the skill to use if toon wishes to de-toonerize himself (tantamount to suicide in many cases). Toonerize Others: A Mental Very Hard skill. This skill allows the turning of other beings or things into toons if within range. Critical failures and successes have the same effect as Toonerize Self. Range is determined by dividing the skill level by 5 and comparing it to the Telepathy range table in a non-psionic universe; in a psionic universe it is a Psychokinetic power. Auto-Slam: Quick Contest of DX. See Slamming Rules in GURPS Supers for details, but double slam distance by two instead of halving. Auto-Stun: stun is normal with large amounts of damage; for all blunt damage roll vs. IQ to avoid mental stunning. The Tooned Advantage: All toons have the disadvantage of a Vulnerability of 5 levels (5 extra die of damage) to Dip, which is Rare substance. -15 Silly: 55 pts. DR 5 vs Physical attacks (common attack). . . . . . +10 DR 3 vs all other attacks (occasional). . . . . . . + 3 Modified morphing; a form of plasticity which allows the involuntary stretching of the body, and can be used for very brief periods . . . . . . . . . . . . +20 Stretching level 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +60 Modified Unaging; silly toons can grow old, but they do not need to make aging rolls. . . . . . . . . . + 7 Auto-Slam; see description above. . . . . . . . . . -10 Auto-Stun; see description above. . . . . . . . . . -20 Silly toons make take any physical form that the player desires. Available improvements: Extra DR may be bought in higher quantities, with no limits: @ 4 points/level vs. physical, @ 3 points/level vs. other attack types. Morphing skill, a Physical/Hard skill, allowing the toon to further control its plasticity. Extra levels of Stretching, @ 15 points/level Serious: 35 pts. DR 3 vs Physical attacks (common attack) . . . . . + 6 DR 1 vs all other attacks (occasional) . . . . . . + 1 Stretching level 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +30 Unusual Background (most are drawn) . . . . . . . . +13 Serious toons make take any physical form that is realistic, usually a human one. Doodles: -15 pts. DR 1 vs Physical attacks (common attack) . . . . . + 2 Modified morphing; same as Silly toons . . . . . . +20 Stretching level 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +30 Absent-Mindedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -15 Compulsive Behavior: continuous action . . . . . . -10 Vulnerability of 2 levels (2 extra die of damage) to Fire, which is an Infrequent substance . . . . . . -10 Auto-Slam; same as above . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10 Auto-Stun; same as above . . . . . . . . . . . . . -20 Two free quirks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 2 Doodles may take any form the player desires, however the form is not stable and may change at the DM's discretion. TOON SIZES Toons come in five basic sizes, from really, really tiny to HUGE! Tiny: -10 points: Any toon that is really, really tiny, such as the Smurfs. Anything under 1' in height. Small: -5 points: About half the size of a human. Mickey Mouse is about this height. 1' to 4.5' in height. Human-sized: 0 points: The size of the average human. Bugs Bunny is about human sized. From 4.5' to 7' in height. The majority of toons are Human-sized or Small. Big: -10 pts: Larger than a human, from 7' to about 9' in height. Mother Brain is about like this. Huge: -20 pts: Anything taller than 9', such as the giant from Jack in the Beanstalk, or Senintal robots from X-men. These size toons are exceedingly rare in Toon City. TOONS AND DAMAGE Toons do not normally do actual physical damage to each other if they use toon weapons. Instead they do Stun damage, and the DR protects vs both real and stun damage. If a toon wishes to do real damage, they must so state before they attack, and make a Will roll after they hit to do real damage. Noids will always do real damage, and toon with noid weapons will do real damage. Toon have Stun points equal to 5 x their HP, and when their stun points reach zero they unconscious. Any blunt damage will still cause Auto-Slam, even if it is stun damage. RELEVANT TOON SKILLS Brawling: to get into (and win) those classic toon fights, where all you see is a cloud of dust with the occasional foot, head, etc. Guns: see guns under toon items. Cosmic Shift: a Mental/Hard skill. One of the more powerful toon skills. It allows the toon to fool his enemy by running through a hole painted on wall - and then have a truck exit the hole and run over the toon in the entrance. (Nods to *Toon* for this one) Fast-Talk: a more dramatic effect when involving toons, a fast-talking toon sounds like the Chipmunks talking fast-forwarded.