GURPS Illuminati University (1995) (), also called GURPS IOU, is a 128-page softbound campaign setting sourcebook for the "GURPS" role-playing game. Page 11 is notably the first printed appearance of Agatha Heterodyne, the star of the 2001 comic series Girl Genius.
Contents.
The book details a fictional college where absurdity and awful puns are the order of the day; its students range from witches and werewolves to secret agents and space aliens. Adventures can involve joining fraternities, surviving dorm life, dealing with rampaging lab accidents, conquering other worlds on field trips, getting caught up in faculty bloodfeuds and even attempting to pass a class.
Characters from every "GURPS" setting can be fitted into the campaign with little or no difficulty. The setting shares much in common with the equally bizarre game "Teenagers from Outer Space". Agatha Heterodyne, from the Foglios' "Girl Genius", is also featured in the book.
School structure.
IOU is divided into nine major schools of teaching, listed here, along with a sampling of the departments each contains.
Due to the extremely dangerous nature of the academic work done at IOU, many of the staff undergo The Treatment, a mysterious and dreaded procedure that makes them virtually unkillable and thus immune to their own recklessness. In addition, there are resurrection facilities on campus for student use.
Academic rivalries at IOU tend to result in extreme violence, property damage, and mayhem. There are rules to such conflicts (Faculty Bloodfeuds), one of which is that "freshthings" in their first semester are off-limits and harm done to them will attract the unfavorable attention of the Archdean.
Any student asking what the "O" in "IOU" stands for will be told he or she isn't cleared for that information.
Publication history.
"GURPS Illuminati University" was published as a 128-page softbound sourcebook by Steve Jackson Games. The authors are Elizabeth McCoy and Walter Milliken; the illustrations are by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio.
The setting began life as an online campaign run on the Steve Jackson Games BBS Illuminati Online. It was codified into a book for the Third Edition of "GURPS". There have been no announced plans to officially update the setting for 2004's Fourth Edition ruleset.
Reception.
Rick Swan reviewed "GURPS IOU: Illuminati University" for "Dragon" magazine #228 (April 1996). Noting SJG's success with the "" card game, he commented that "despite its title, "GURPS IOU" has nothing to do with cards. Nor, for that matter, does it have much to do with the "GURPS Illuminati" supplement of a few years back. "IOU" looks like a setting for the "GURPS" role-playing game – and indeed, it has its share of game stats and adventure hooks – but the anything-goes, logic-down-the-dumper approach makes it virtually unplayable, at least by anyone who takes their games even semi-seriously. So what is it? Basically, "IOU" is a glorified joke book, a drop of Monty Python mixed with a bucket of Three Stooges." Swan concluded his review by saying: "Maybe you consider yourself too sophisticated for silly stuff like this. But you've gotta admit – Democrats for Cthulhu, that’s pretty good."