GURPS Warehouse 23 by S. John Ross is a role playing game supplement published by Steve Jackson Games for use with GURPS Third Edition.
The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $9 or in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The original printed version is the one reviewed, although it is now available as print on demand as well. The book has 128 pages, with one being the front matter, two the Contents and two the Index.
The Introduction explains that this is a book of treasures and plot hooks, and can be used for anything from the deadly serious to the shamelessly silly and it can be hard to tell the difference.
1. Legacy of the War contains rumours about the Warehouse; whether any are true or not is up to the GM. In the Beginning explains that humanity has never been alone. It covers the Nazi pact with aliens and the Special Research Office of the United States which was founded in 1935 to counter supernatural and super-terrestrial threats. It was eventually disbanded in 1941 and its role taken over by the OSS. Sidebars look at the OSS foreign offices and the current caretakers of the warehouse; the latter sidebars continue through several parts of this chapter, detailing various important NPCs, agents, equipment and the computer system.
The OSS Connection looks at how the Office of Strategic Services provided the funds to build the Warehouse and also got various items to store inside it. After the war ended, the OSS was disbanded, its role taken over by the CIA, but Truman kept Warehouse 23 going as a private project and secret from the CIA. The CIA become the principal puppet of the UFOs, though not everyone was happy with this. As to what happened later, that is up to the GM.
On Site: Exploring Warehouse 23 gives an overview of the places of interest in the facility, along with a map of the above ground exterior – the Warehouse is hidden beneath the surface – a sideview of the Warehouse and a map of one level as a sample.
2. Alternate Warehouses explains that the previous chapter is rumours and this one is dedicated to questioning those rumours. It looks at things that can affect the Warehouse, its location, occupants, real owners and cosmology, which is whether or not there are such things as magic, alien technology or psi powers. Sections are devoted to each of these. The Real Owners gives as options governments and government agencies, organised crime, corporations, churches, private interests and the Conspiracy, covered in more detail in GURPS Illuminati. Cosmology looks at the mundane, occult, the Fortean, the Conspiracy and all of the above, and how psionics, magic and technology affects the Warehouse. A final section looks at Warehouse security. Sidebars look at having the Warehouse’s master be imperfect, because a flawless Warehouse is essentially unplayable, signs of where it exists and memoranda related to it, as well as the sort of vermin a facility of this type is plagued by and the even the technical true owners of the Warehouse might not know they own it.
3. Gallery of the Strange covers things that can be found in the Warehouse. These are divided into different sections, and the different items have extensive descriptions, including of important related things, which can include organisations, as appropriate, and notes and crossovers on using them. The first section is Occult Secrets, which covers the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the Spear of Longinus, the Genetic Interrogation Device, the Emeralds of Hermes Trismegistus, the Green Grimoire, the Memories of Michael Perry, the Crystal Skull, the Crystal Bell and the Oracle Gem.
Conspiracies, Cover-ups and Hoaxes looks at various of these. These are done similarly to the previous section, with details on the conspiracy, hoax or cover-up, plus notes and crossovers, details on other related things and further details on technological items. What’s covered in this chapter are the computer game Astro Globs!, the Martian invasion of 1938, black helicopters and cattle mutilations, a weight loss organisation that went a little strange, a strange item called the mechanical textbook, the Men in Black and the Warhertz Papers, which claim that Earth is a forgery.
The True Face of Science has new technology, again covered in a similar way, with descriptions, details on associated things and notes and crossovers. The technology covered is the barb needler, the devolvo ray, the dream stage, explosive flour, the flying saucer, which is an extensive section, the freeze ray, the genius machine, the love potion, the paratonic key, pocket silence machines, slipspray, super-metals and super-plastics and the Weldon pharmacy.
Bizarre Finds has things that don’t really fit into the previous sections but are again covered in the same manner, with descriptions, associated things and notes and crossovers. What’s covered in this section are Atlantis and the lost Platonic dialogues, the caves of the Dero, the Albemarle dictionary, the soulmate database, the blood rifle and telekinetic bombs.
4. The Cryptozoo is a similar chapter to the previous one, but it covers living creatures. It starts by talking about cryptozoology and how the Warehouse stores the creatures it has, as well as explaining that the creatures in this supplement are only a sampling of what might be found in the facility; the GURPS Bestiary books can be used for others. The creatures are covered in a standard manner and there’s a wide variety of types.
5. Odds Unbeatable and Grisly Ends starts with Illuminated One-Liners and a d66 table of briefly-described things that could be found inside a box. Sidebars cover the conspiracy theory skill, Forteanism, mind control skill and esoteric history skill, as well as other things to find, each described in more detail than the d66 table of items, though not as thoroughly as those from Gallery of the Strange.
The Tools of the Masters has things used by the Illuminati; orgone energy, hypno-power, mind control and brain hacking. Finally, the chapter looks at using the Warehouse in other genres; GURPS Supers, GURPS Cliffhangers, GURPS Atomic Horror, GURPS Old West, GURPS Cyberpunk, GURPS Fantasy: Secrets of Megalos and GURPS Bunnies & Burrows.
6. Illuminated Timeline has every significant date from both Warehouse 23 and GURPS Illuminati.
Bibliography has various sources of inspiration for the book, covering television & film, periodicals, deliberate fiction, other books and Usenet. This gives overviews of the different items, including how they were used for the supplement; though the book is old, most of the reference materials still have value.
GURPS Warehouse 23 in Review
The Contents covers the major sections and sidebars. The Index is more thorough. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a single column with sidebar format and appeared to be free of errors. There are various black and white illustrations, up to full page in size, which may all be custom. Presentation is decent.
The primary use of this supplement is, of course, as a facility connected to some kind of organisation where all kinds of weird things are stored. This works best in a modern setting, and less so in a futuristic one, as a lot of the technology stored in the facility quickly becomes less hi-tech and more commonplace-tech. However, the non-tech items remain weird even in futuristic settings. The supplement can also be stripped for parts; there are a lot of curious things described in it, often in a great deal of detail, that could be incorporated into other games without ever needing to have the Warehouse itself in existence.
Though there are many ways in which the supplement could be used, it will likely work best in a world in which GURPS Illuminati is used, whatever other setting materials are incorporated. In addition, GURPS The Prisoner would also be a useful supplement, though one that’s harder to obtain; perhaps the Warehouse is built under The Village. GURPS Warehouse 23 is an interesting collection of material and it can be found by clicking here.
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