Older D&D/AD&D and Other SystemsThe forum for discussions specifically related to the rules and procedures of either any of the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons (1e, 2e, BECMI, OD&D) or any other non-D&D roleplaying rules (Vampire: The Requiem, Dread), including non-fantasy d20 systems (such as Mutants & Masterminds).
Awwwwww man. Biiiig GURPS nerd over here. 7 sourcebooks, 3 supplements and 4 computer programs just for GURPS.
New to GURPS?
Spoiler
Sit around, children and jellyfish. This system will blow your minds.
GURPS stands for Generic Universal RolePlay System. Generic stands for the ability to make any character, item or setting you want with a set of simple building blocks. Universal speaks true to GURPS' compatibility; Space Opera? Dungeons and Dragons session? Apocalyptic 50s Scenario? Anything, and I mean ANYTHING can be imported and exported to and from GURPS. Want to have Frieza face off against Cthulu? With a moment or so to sketch up the two, you could see which is more badass in real time. RolePlay speaks to the other part of GURPS- it's tendency to avoid combat. Dungeons and Dragons is a great system, but it has a lot of shortfalls in roleplay- it's a system built for combat, not for setting up warehouses in a fishing district or dealing with the fighter's alcoholism problems. GURPS has guidelines for anything, making it the most efficient system for simulationist roleplay I've ever played.
I myself have a rather big GURPS obsession. I make hexmaps, own digital copies of my physical books, and use it to roll up characters in any system.
What are your experiences with GURPS? Have anything you wanted to try but never could get around to? Need help with a build or setting up a game? This thread is for you, fellow denizens of the interwebs!
My experience with GURPS is that it's almost always the second best system.
If we're doing a fantasy world, we'd prefer D&D. For super-heroes, we play Champions. For musketeers, it's Flashing Blades. Athurian romance? Pendragon.
So I've only actually played one campaign of GURPS.
My experience with GURPS is that it's almost always the second best system.
If we're doing a fantasy world, we'd prefer D&D. For super-heroes, we play Champions. For musketeers, it's Flashing Blades. Athurian romance? Pendragon.
So I've only actually played one campaign of GURPS.
While there is some truth to this, it can depend on a lot of things. An advantage GURPS has (and any generic system) is that you can do all of those things with one system. Which can be really useful if your group doesn't want to learn a lot of new systems, or if they are too poor to buy a new system for every new campaign. It is also really useful for crossover types of games and for settings where the GM has something specific in mind setting wise. For example, if I were to run a Harry Potter game, it would be easier to get that to work with GURPS than D&D.
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
--Will S.
And the time that I ran a campaign set on mythological Greece. Way easier to find info and mechanics with 2 or 3 GURPS sourcebooks.
I'd say GURPS is the second best system for a specific setting. It will never surpass Champions for supers, or Cyberpunk 2020 for cyberpunk (2021 is garbage), but be honest, which one is best for its proposed setting: GURPS or D20 Modern? Likewise, if you try to think outside the box, like making a vikings campaign with runic magic, or steampunky wild west, chances are GURPS has a supplement for that (even though I believe Dead Lands has one for the steampunk part as well)
My experience with GURPS is that it's almost always the second best system.
If we're doing a fantasy world, we'd prefer D&D. For super-heroes, we play Champions. For musketeers, it's Flashing Blades. Athurian romance? Pendragon.
So I've only actually played one campaign of GURPS.
I will say that Dungeons and Dragons is, of course, great for it's setting. Except when it's not. For instance, my dungeon master is one of those fellows who lets his players run wild and adjusts the story around them (no rails). Problem is, we tried to start a business where we sell our items without going through a merchant- he wasn't prepared, and we spent an hour devising new rules using a weird combination of rules already in place that turned out to be terribly broken in our favor, meaning we had to retroactively nerf the whole setting. GURPS is set up to let you get these sort of things without making up any rules, and is nicer for free-roaming fantasy.
@Yajirobe
A mythic greece? Which sourcebooks did you use- one of the 'one-setting' sourcebooks, or a combination of Low-Tech or a Fantasy book?
I've always liked GURPS. This is, however, largely for two reasons:
1) Magic works the way magic should work. I loathe the so-callled "Vancian" magic of D&D and other systems I've seen have either been too liberal, too harsh or otherwise unsatisfactory.
2) I'm a big world-builder as a GM. This is not easy when using setting-specific systems, even those as loosely tied as Core D&D. One campaign I ran involved a terraformed world that got taken over by a fungus-based xenomorphic lifeform and the players took on the role of the marines sent in to investigate (yeah, I blatantly ripped the general plot of Aliens ). I created the world and aliens from the ground up and GURPS allowed me to model every aspect of that world from the automatic harvesting vehicles and the power-loader mech-suits to the various stages of alien development and the bio-form structures the created by them. Without using a very simple system like PERPS or Risus, I can't think of another game that I could do this with.
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I apologise if I come across agressive. I'm the sort of person that will poke a wasps nest, just to see what happens. I don't hate you, I just like a good argument
Credit for Avvytar to drKarling (based on original artwork by Squaff, in turn based on Spectre, a character of my creation)
1) Relatively low-powered fantasy.
2) Modern to near-future stuff
3) street-level superhero stuff (it kind of falls down for four-color)
Outside of that, yeah, I'd say it falls heavily into the "second best system" trap.
The one thing that it doesn't do very well, regardless, is "heroic". Pretty much heroic anything. It's a relatively gritty, "realistic" system by default, and needs to be coerced into a more cinematic feel.
The other thing that it generally doesn't do as well as other systems is integrate fluff/theme into the rules. It *can* be done (see: the conversions of Vampire, etc.), but it takes a bit of work.
At any rate, I find the best way to look at it is as an RPG construction set. It provides a set of basic rules and character generation stuff, and then gives GMs the ability to put pieces together and tweak to make a pretty good RPG that will fit the desired setting. Out of the box, it can be a bit bland.
One campaign I ran involved a terraformed world that got taken over by a fungus-based xenomorphic lifeform and the players took on the role of the marines sent in to investigate (yeah, I blatantly ripped the general plot of Aliens ). I created the world and aliens from the ground up and GURPS allowed me to model every aspect of that world from the automatic harvesting vehicles and the power-loader mech-suits to the various stages of alien development and the bio-form structures the created by them. Without using a very simple system like PERPS or Risus, I can't think of another game that I could do this with.
Ooh. Sounds like a fun time to build, too. How did you handle the fungi moving around? Did they just spore areas and grow quickly, or did they actually move?
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Originally Posted by kyoryu
At any rate, I find the best way to look at it is as an RPG construction set. It provides a set of basic rules and character generation stuff, and then gives GMs the ability to put pieces together and tweak to make a pretty good RPG that will fit the desired setting. Out of the box, it can be a bit bland.
I suppose that, too. I once did a campaign at midnight and didn't get to starting the game because I spent an hour on the characters and letting my friend scan the books- to this day, he still thinks the game is about making characters and not playing. Ahaha!
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Originally Posted by Kaun
I have played a bit of GURPS over the years and while i love the system and have bought tons of the books i find it reads a lot better then it plays.
The source books are all ways chocked full of good stuff to pilfer for other games tho.
Ah, I totally agree. It's been the only system to make me buy seven books, so it's a really impressive thing.
Ooh. Sounds like a fun time to build, too. How did you handle the fungi moving around? Did they just spore areas and grow quickly, or did they actually move?
The fungus-aliens had a number of stages in their life-cycle:
Spoiler
1) Fungus : The first stage was a stationary fungus in form somewhat like a pitcher-plant. The liquid contained within the base of the "pitcher" evaporated easily and the microscopic spores (produced within the 'walls' of the tube) were light enough to be carried on the updraft of evaporated liquid, creating a spore-rich cloud of gas around any area infested with these stage 1 "pitchers". Spores landing in vegetable matter (living or dead) or soil would grow into new 'pitchers'. New pitchers grow at an astonishingly rapid rate, allowing them to easily dominate local eco-systems. These pitchers also grow to incredible size, comparable to five or six storey buildings. Spores inhaled by an animal, however, led to stage 2...
2) "Zombie" Host : Inhaling spores from the stage 1 'pitcher plants' was largely a death sentence. The gas produced by the evaporated liquid acted as a sedative to mammals, ensuring maximum exposure to spores. Once within the blood-stream, the spores multiply and begin a metamorphosis of the 'host'. The first symptoms of infection are sluggishness, impulsive behaviour and weeping sores. As these symptoms worsen, the host creature becomes decidedly zombie-like in both deed and appearance. The sores begin oozing an orange pus, as do any injuries. Eventually the hosts brain is overwhelmed and the host collapses dead. From initial exposure to death (for an adult human), this process takes no more than a few days to a week. The corpse continues to ooze the orange pus until completely encased, at which point it enters stage 2a; the chrysalis.
2a) Chrysalis : The orange ooze hardens into a chrysalis, within which the corpse of the host breaks down and begins its metamorphosis into the first true alien creature. The alien remains in this state for 24 hours from the formation of the chrysalis to hatching into Stage 3. Note that the remaining 'shell' of the chysalis, once the alien hatches from within, breaks down to form an almost perfect growing compund for the Stage 1 fungus pitcher-plants.
3) Worm : Hatching from the chrysalis, the stage 3 alien appears decidedly wormlike in appearance, albeit with a hard, chitinous carapace, a poisonous sting in its tail and a powerful set of mandibles framing a maw of needle-like teeth. This stage is incredibly efficient at burrowing through soil and rock and is born with the instinct to flee from danger and group with others of its kind. Hence these are usually encountered in swarms. The intellect of these stage 3 worms never progresses beyond the instinctual. Individually, their size depends on the host subject; a stage 3 worm from an adult human would typically be approximately three feet in length and six inches in diameter at the 'head' end. These stage 3 worms are psuedo-cannibalistic and feed on the stage 1 pitchers.
Once a swarm of stage 3 worms reaches a certain size, a new instinct kicks in and they begin forming the various stage 4 'advanced' stages. They do this by latching together using their powerful mandibles and merging their consciousness' to form a single entity. This merging of minds creates a deeper cunning and greater intellect; the more stage 3 worms that join the 'collective', the greater the potential of the resulting stage 4 advanced form.
4a) The Warrior : This is the most basic of the stage 4 advanced forms. Formed of anywhere between 6 and 12 stage 3 worms, this form typically takes an appearance something akin to an 8 foot scorpion. Possessing a low cunning, startling speed and fearsome strength, it is a formiddable fighting creature.
4b) The Hive-Brain : This is the most intellectually developed of the advanced forms and only one of these is ever created in a given eco-system. Its size is constantly added to and as the colony grows, as does the Hive-Brain. It quickly becomes psychically active, capable of directing the actions of both the stage 3 worms and other stage 4 advanced forms. Particularly large hive-brains are also capable of influencing psychically sensitive humans and other creatures.
4c) Artillery : This is a massive construct of stage 3 worms that is typically only created once a planet has been stripped of its natural resources and the existing hive-brain has decided it's time to leave. It's primary purpose is to hurl a chuck of rock, infested with spores, into space so as to spread the spore to new planets. It can, however, also be used a ground-to-air and ground-to-ground artillery, chucking massive rocks with disturbing accuracy.
4d) Miners and Processors : This is a catch-all term for the various types of 'industrial' bio-machinery used to strip the planet of resources of all types and add to the bio-mass of the colony. Example include massive worms that tunnel to oil or coal deposits to harvest the carbon rich resource and pit-like spawning-vats that devour organic material thrown into them and process it into new stage 3 worms.
__________________
I apologise if I come across agressive. I'm the sort of person that will poke a wasps nest, just to see what happens. I don't hate you, I just like a good argument
Credit for Avvytar to drKarling (based on original artwork by Squaff, in turn based on Spectre, a character of my creation)
Last edited by JellyPooga : 08-06-2012 at 08:19 PM.
I will say that Dungeons and Dragons is, of course, great for it's setting. Except when it's not. For instance, my dungeon master is one of those fellows who lets his players run wild and adjusts the story around them (no rails). Problem is, we tried to start a business where we sell our items without going through a merchant- he wasn't prepared, and we spent an hour devising new rules using a weird combination of rules already in place that turned out to be terribly broken in our favor, meaning we had to retroactively nerf the whole setting. GURPS is set up to let you get these sort of things without making up any rules, and is nicer for free-roaming fantasy.
@Yajirobe
A mythic greece? Which sourcebooks did you use- one of the 'one-setting' sourcebooks, or a combination of Low-Tech or a Fantasy book?
Let me see if I remember it all... It was 3rd edition and it was a few years ago...
No specific setting (dunno if one exists.). it was Low-Tech, Fantasy, Bestiary and Magic.
Everyone must be human. The races and monsters were more for my convenience (so I don't need to build a hydra for example). 200 points PCs
The main "aspect" of change was on magic. With the exception of gods and other very specific beings (like Circe. She had a major role), all magic was ritual and limited in divinations, curses and "blessings". I remember studying the magics and deciding what could be reasonably seen as luck or "favour of the gods".
The rituals could be elaborate, like bathing yourself on the blood of a bull to grant strength (serious ST bonus on the next few days) or simple, like dedicating a victory to Zeus (a +1 bonus on the skill of the weapon you dealt the killing blow on the next fight)
In the end, you had some pretty powerful players, that could take on "ordinary people" pretty easily, but you needed to be very lucky or have some god backing you up with his favor to handle the Minotaur.
The roleplay was awesome when the players got into it (by the third session). They had to appease a god whose domain was useful for them on their "odyssey" but usually do it on a way that would not anger another god. (and my Hera was a total b****)
I really love GURPS, but I must say, our group wanted to pick it up (None of us ever having played it) and it was more difficult to learn, especially how many points to give and such. Its a hard game if no one has the experience, whereas D&D was easier to learn on my own.
That said, I think the shopping/ character creation is the best part. I also agree that the magic system is exactly how I think it should be.
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Originally Posted by Hashmir
When I die, I donate my body to the cause of whatever ******* finds it first.
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Originally Posted by Bloodgruve
Really though, how effin scary would the beach be if an octopus could launch itself outta the water at a 200' move speed every 6 seconds. I'd never go to the beach again... I thought flying sharks were scary...
Blood~
I quite like GURPS, but it is too crunchy for me as a GM. I'll happily play it, and it is easily my second favorite generic system (in practice, given my propensity towards esoteric settings that means that it is my second favorite system, period for most things) after Fudge.
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Fudge Assistant in the Playground.
I quite like GURPS, but it is too crunchy for me as a GM.
I've often heard this as an arguement against GURPS and I believe it's something of a misconception. A lot of people look at GURPS and go "OMG, look at all the options and all the different rules! I can't possibly run this!", but don't realise that a)you only use the rules you need and b)all the rules boil down to the same thing: a modifier to the dice roll.
Barring damage rolls and the occasional table, everything in GURPS is "3d6, roll under". Everything. This makes it the absolute easiest game to learn, at least it was in my experience. It also makes it a dream to run as a GM because once you understand this very simple precept, you don't have to learn the rules for running, jumping, climbing trees, nuclear fallout and freezing to death, because every rule is the same.
The only difficulty in running GURPS is knowing just what a given modifier will do to a dice roll. A +1 modifier is small, but due to the nature of the bell curve produced, increasingly higher or lower modifiers become exponentially greater in effect. Thus a +5 or +6 modifier to a roll is a truly massive bonus akin to a +10 (or more) in games like d20 D&D.
Once you've played out the numbers enough times in your head, or simply played the game by the rules-as-written a few times, GM-ing GURPS becomes very easy indeed because all the fiddly effort of world building and NPC creation, etc. is done ahead of time.
As for improvisation and more freeform games, GURPS is again your friend. A professional can expect to have around a 12 or 13 in his trade skill. This is the 'proficient to good' level of ability. Know this and everything else becomes easy. You don't need to know everything about a random encounter to be able to throw it at your players, only the scores that matter. Who cares if "Orc Bandit 3" has the Soldier skill or even an IQ of 8...all you're going to need is his relevant weapon skill, Dodge, Parry and HP, at the very least and possibly his FP, ST, HT, Per and Will. Also, unless he's particularly extraordinary, none of his scores are going to be far from his racial norm; you know Orcs are strong and tough, so his ST and HT are likely to be good; around 12-13 if judging by human standards. If he's a particularly big and tough looking Orc, maybe bump him up to 14. Job done. Creating this simple NPC has taken me literally the time it has taken to write half this paragraph, possibly even less. The point is; you can do it on the fly without even looking at a book.
__________________
I apologise if I come across agressive. I'm the sort of person that will poke a wasps nest, just to see what happens. I don't hate you, I just like a good argument
Credit for Avvytar to drKarling (based on original artwork by Squaff, in turn based on Spectre, a character of my creation)
I've often heard this as an arguement against GURPS and I believe it's something of a misconception. A lot of people look at GURPS and go "OMG, look at all the options and all the different rules! I can't possibly run this!", but don't realise that a)you only use the rules you need and b)all the rules boil down to the same thing: a modifier to the dice roll.
Lets see what needs to be known here:
1) Attributes and derived attributes.
2) What the list of skills is, in a game which has very narrow skills.
3) How these skills interact, most notably how skills default off each other.
4) What these skills default to.
5) How the basics of any subsystem work, if they are being used at all.
Given the huge number of skills likely to be pertinent to individual games, that's quite a bit, and this assumes a bare minimum.
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Originally Posted by JellyPooga
Who cares if "Orc Bandit 3" has the Soldier skill or even an IQ of 8...all you're going to need is his relevant weapon skill, Dodge, Parry and HP, at the very least and possibly his FP, ST, HT, Per and Will.
This is 9 statistics*, and because of the way they are related you need all 9 immediately. If the orc has more than 1 weapon, it goes up. If they ever try to do something untrained (say they need to climb to flee), now you need to know or look up the skill default. In practice, I've usually found that you need about 3-4 statistics for character when using them for much of anything, and around 12-13 if a subsystem is being interacted with. As a GM, I prefer to have much less than that mechanically.
*It also omits weapon damage and armor values.
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Fudge Assistant in the Playground.
Lets see what needs to be known here:
1) Attributes and derived attributes.
I agree, this is something you need to know. Deriving an attribute largely comes down to either X = Y (e.g. HP = ST) or at it's most complex a calculated figure like Parry = Half [Skill] +3. This isn't rocket science to remember.
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2) What the list of skills is, in a game which has very narrow skills.
You only need to know the skills relevant to the campaign. You're not going to use, for example, Thaumatology in a Film Noir style detective game (unless it has certain Lovecraftian influences, of course!). When you actually look at the number fo skills relevant to a given game, you can usually forget half the book.
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3) How these skills interact, most notably how skills default off each other.
4) What these skills default to.
Ah, defaults. Yes, these can be a pain to remember. Right up to the point when you realise that they almost never come up and when they do, it's usually because someone's trying to do something so ludicrously hard that you may as well auto-fail them or ludicously easy that you may as well auto-pass them. Take Mathematics, for example. Its Default is something like IQ-4 (I'm away from books right now, so forgive any inaccuracy). Someone who has no training in Mathematics trying to solve algebraic quadratic equations is simply going to fail, barring a lucky guess. Auto-fail. Similarly, simple arithmatic is only tricky for the most intellectually challenged. Auto-pass.
The most common defaults that will actually come up in play are for things like weapon skills, which pretty much all have a Default of DX-4 or [simliar weapon]-2. This is only a little harder than D&Ds -4 to hit for not having weapon proficiency.
So as a GM trying to remember defaults, all you have to think is "does he have a similar skill? Yes: [skill]-2, No: [stat]-4". Stick to that and you won't go far wrong. You might not be 100% every time, but better to have a 70% hit rate than to slow the game down by half an hour every time you're unsure.
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5) How the basics of any subsystem work, if they are being used at all.
Pretty much every 'subsystem' comes down to;
a) What's the relevant stat or skill?
b) How hard is the task?
(A) is usually very obvious; resisting the effects of a drug is clearly HT, for example. (B) is usually not difficult either as it always just comes down to a modifier to (A). To extend the example; having had several pints of ale at a local watering hole, our character wants to know how wasted he is. He's been drinking a potent brew and has been at it for a while, so GM calls for a HT-3 check; a pass means the guy is only a little tipsy (maybe he had a big dinner), a fail means he's fairly wasted and a crit fail means he pukes, passes out or passes out and pukes!
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This is 9 statistics*,
You should note that I only called for 4 of immediate relevance...the other 5 are only possibly needed.
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If they ever try to do something untrained (say they need to climb to flee), now you need to know or look up the skill default.
Except you don't. Just because you haven't given an NPC a skill, does not mean he doesn't have it. As GM you arbitrarily assign him a level of skill you think appropriate to the scene without recourse to Skill defaults. If it's appropriate for the Orc to be able to flee by climbing a tree, then you allow that he may have had the skill at a reasonable level and roll against it. If not, then defaults are usually about -4 or -5 and the roll will be modified by the difficulty of the task at hand anyway, so you don't have to be precise; easy tree? Give him ST-2. Hard tree? ST-4. NPC's don't work the same way as PC's; they only need a stat block as big as required for their role; a merchant doesn't need to be statted out with 3 Phobias, the Boxing skill and a passing knowledge of the Create Fire spell, because all you're really going to need for him is his Willpower and any haggling skills you deem neccesary. If he gets into a fight, then you might need to make up some stats on the fly, but as I've already said, doing this requires almost no effort; is he good in a fight? Yes; give him Brawling 14 and 12 HP, No; give him 9 HP and a Dodge of 6 with no melee skills. Simples!
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In practice, I've usually found that you need about 3-4 statistics for character when using them for much of anything, and around 12-13 if a subsystem is being interacted with. As a GM, I prefer to have much less than that mechanically.
I agree with the first sentiment; NPC's rarely need more than 3-4 stats, but needing 12-13 for subsystems I do not. Excepting fully fledged Major NPCs (i.e. those that will continuously reappear or have detailed interaction with the PC's), I've rarely needed more than the bare minimum of 3-4 stats for any given NPC in a scene, including combats. Compared to other systems I've played, this is virtually nothing.
__________________
I apologise if I come across agressive. I'm the sort of person that will poke a wasps nest, just to see what happens. I don't hate you, I just like a good argument
Credit for Avvytar to drKarling (based on original artwork by Squaff, in turn based on Spectre, a character of my creation)
Last edited by JellyPooga : 08-07-2012 at 06:36 AM.
You only need to know the skills relevant to the campaign. You're not going to use, for example, Thaumatology in a Film Noir style detective game (unless it has certain Lovecraftian influences, of course!). When you actually look at the number fo skills relevant to a given game, you can usually forget half the book.
With GURPS skill narrowness where it is, half the book still leaves as many skills as you'd expect in about five rules light games. It's a pain as a GM, in my experience - it's still very doable, but I prefer to have my focus elsewhere, particularly when I'm doing all the math and tracking all the modifiers as I have to for some groups. Thus, I only like GURPS as a player.
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Fudge Assistant in the Playground.
With GURPS skill narrowness where it is, half the book still leaves as many skills as you'd expect in about five rules light games. It's a pain as a GM, in my experience - it's still very doable, but I prefer to have my focus elsewhere, particularly when I'm doing all the math and tracking all the modifiers as I have to for some groups. Thus, I only like GURPS as a player.
Funnily enough, I'm quite the opposite inasmuch as I only really like GURPS as a GM. As a player, I find the breadth of options limiting because there's so much to choose from (an oxymoron, I know, but I'm terrible at making decisions!), but as a GM it means I can present the picture I want to paint without the limitations of a narrow ruleset.
This is not to say I dislike more rules-lite games; I'm a massive fan of PERPS, for example (I just love the simplicity of it).
__________________
I apologise if I come across agressive. I'm the sort of person that will poke a wasps nest, just to see what happens. I don't hate you, I just like a good argument
Credit for Avvytar to drKarling (based on original artwork by Squaff, in turn based on Spectre, a character of my creation)
I like GM'ing GURPS, but I've found if you let it is really easy to get bogged down in the rules and looking for modifiers (How does an acrobatic dodge work? Can you do a retreating dodge while prone? What is the penalty for a sweeping kick? How fast can you climb that tree after stealing the angry triceratops's eggs?) However, you have to admit some times, "I don't know what the official modifier is, I'm going to say -3 for right now."
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
--Will S.
I'm most familiar with 3e, not the 4e that fixed most of my problems.
Basically, Magic owned. If you can get your skill in a particular spell up to 21, you could get 'free' magic, with no action cost, much less mana cost. This lead, initially, to things like 2d6 Deathtouch that bypasses DR loaded up into a Quarterstaff which was also a Staff (as the Enchantment spell, which lets you deliver touch spells, like Hammertouch, into it). Of course, Quarterstaff skill also gave a 2/3 skill parry mod. So if your skill was 12, then you had a base Parry of 8. Plus any PD you might have. Which is not a bad defense.
The other problem was GURPS: Martial Arts. Picking up Cinematic stuff was expensive, needing a 40 point Advantage just to get access to it, but you could set up some stupid stuff with it. And it combo'd surprisingly well with Magic, since many of the skills were M/H or M/VH, and you already had a high IQ because of magic.
Basically, to set yourself up for being able to be a powerful wizard, on 100 points, you do this:
* Half Elf race. It's 25 point race. Nets you +1 IQ and Magery1.
IQ of 14 for 30 points, thanks to the +1 from Half Elf
Magery3 for 20 points. Again, thanks to the free level from Half Elf.
Now, this gives us an effective IQ of 17 for spells. So, IQ-2 gives us a skill of 15, which is your first cost reduction point. For one character point, for a M/H. 2 points if it is M/VH.
Now, if you wanted a spell at skill 21, you would need IQ+4. Which is pricy, but doable. However, doing this with something like Flame Jet or Deathtouch can be absolutely game-breaking. Plus, the whole Body Control college is just full of really fun things, so it is one I would frequently invest in.
The other thing I'd frequently do with my mages is give them a 'street rat' background. Why? Traps is M/A. My Int is already 14, it's easy to pick up. For locks, I head over to the Movement College for Locksmith and Lockmaster.
Another cute trick is picking up Disadvantages like Paraplegic, then picking up Movement college until I can move myself around with magic without cost. Negating disadvantages is always fun.
I'm currently in a GURPS "Super Heroes" adventure!
My group loves GURPS and uses it exclusively for Super Heroes and space Sci-Fi adventures, although we have run every genre we know with it. My favorite genre to run with GURPS is conspiracy, usually a light-hearted style akin to the Warehouse 23 concept. The system's flexibility is the draw.
The only downside is the "needless" realism with combat. We usually water down the ruleset a bit to make fights play faster and more fluid. For example, the only penalty for a "Move and Attack" is the weapon's bulk rating and there is no cap of a modified skill of 9 for melee attacks when moving.
However, GURPS is fairly kind for allowing house-ruling like this.
__________________ The Arbiters - A Comical Conspiracy Comic
The critics rave about Digo Dragon:
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Succubus
Truly, there is nothing more terrifying than a DM with a sense of humour.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soras Teva Gee
No pretty sure he thinks he's Digo Dragon.
Custom Avatar by SnowHawk- My OC Pegasus, Ellie Sprocket.
Another cute trick is picking up Disadvantages like Paraplegic, then picking up Movement college until I can move myself around with magic without cost. Negating disadvantages is always fun.
If I was your GM I would reduce your Paraplegic to 0 points. As a rule of thumb, when your players cancel out disadvantages... well, they aren't disadvantages any more.
I really don't understand what kind of GM would let people build munchkins like that. It's even mentioned in the Player's Handbook (4e) that GMs should reduce point costs to 0 if it's not a disadvantage.
Of course, if it cost you FP to move around... I would mark that about -20%. You'd have to buy off Parapelegic before upgrading your Movement college, though.
I like GURPS, but unfortunately I've only ever been in two short-lived games of it (and I recently found out I'd missed a Dungeon Fantasy game. Herp derp). I like how straightforwardly modular it is. If I want something, chances are GURPS can do it. And if I lack experience with the system necessary to achiever it, chances are someone on the Internet has it. When I wished to introduce Vancian spellcasting to GURPS, the way to do it was there, waiting. Of course, I haven't had the opportunity to actually play it, but hopefully I will one day. GURPS is bulky and voluminous, but only a part of all the skills, advantages, techniques and other rules are going to be used in a given game.
And of course, GURPS is very good for gritty, realistic games that I like.
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My FFRP characters. Avatar by Kid Kris. Sigatars by Gulaghar, Kid Kris, Zefir and billtodamax, respectively.
So what has been everyone's favorite campaign that used the GURPS system?
Mine was one I ran, a Warehouse 23 style campaign that meshed elements of the TV series LOST and the video game Half-Life. Basic premise is that the Players all awaken on an island in the middle of a plane crash. They band together the survivors and then attempt to find a way off the island.
The island, however, has an interconnected series of secret warehouses and testing labs run by a group of "Secret Masters". Unfortunately the labs have recently fallen into disarray as apparently an EMP pulse shut down the electronic security (and crashed the plane) and in turn allowed some nasty experiments to break loose.
The players had to elude the island security forces, the experiments, and later the US Marines when they called them to the island (big mistake).
About 75% the way through the campaign, the players learned that the Secret Masters had planned to escape the island because a meteor was falling and would hit the island, destroying it. At this point they figured its best to try and kill off these Secret Masters before they escape.
After defeating a malfunctionig computer AI, slaying some aliens, and shutting down the remaining security systems, the players finally got to the Secret Masters' bunker.
And then suddenly learned that THEY were the secret masters and the EMP was an accidental side effect when they were trying a teleporter to board a passing airplane in their escape from the island.
It was my crowning moment of awesome for a plot twist.
__________________ The Arbiters - A Comical Conspiracy Comic
The critics rave about Digo Dragon:
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Succubus
Truly, there is nothing more terrifying than a DM with a sense of humour.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Soras Teva Gee
No pretty sure he thinks he's Digo Dragon.
Custom Avatar by SnowHawk- My OC Pegasus, Ellie Sprocket.
I like GURPS, but unfortunately I've only ever been in two short-lived games of it (and I recently found out I'd missed a Dungeon Fantasy game. Herp derp).
...If you're talking about mine, I don't mind extra players.
If you're not then never mind~
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Unskilled writers use "said" and "asked".
Amateur writers use "whispered", "shouted" and "questioned"
Skilled writers use "demonstrated", "ejaculated", "murmured", "explained", "queried" and "demanded"
Masterful writers use "said" and "asked".
Dreamer Pony is by Akrim.elf.
Spoiler
Baiyan, God of Joy, by GryffonDurime, while the C.U.T.E Scardycat and Dreamer are by Tomb Raven.
I was talking about yours, but I assumed it was already underway. Normally I might inquire about joining anyway, but I was about to go on a week-long Internet-less trip when I discovered it, and I just got back yesterday. If you're still recruitng though, that's great. Where should I post my character?
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My FFRP characters. Avatar by Kid Kris. Sigatars by Gulaghar, Kid Kris, Zefir and billtodamax, respectively.
Birthright
Ninja Scroll
Homers epics
Song of ice and fire
Currently i am re-familiarizing myself with the rules as it has been a while since we last played GURPS. I am also trying to think about the ground rules for character creation.
At the moment i am thinking of letting my players run free with 150 points to spend (as i wan't them to start with superish powered characters). All choices must be justified with fluff and everything is pending GM approval.
Figured it would be worth asking here for any suggestions/comments/advice?
Please feel free to warn me of any pot holes, or any things i should avoid letting my PC's take.
At the moment i am thinking of letting my players run free with 150 points to spend
I'd recommend capping Disadvantage points as well...something like 120pts+30pts Disadvantages is a very workable starting point limit, I've found. It allows for some quite powerful characters, but those characters will have to pay the cost if they want that little bit extra.
Watch out for 'overlapping' or redundant Disadvantages and don't let characters get away with having more points than they'll actually be playing with.
Any other advice I could give is somewhat dependant on the specifics of the campaign (e.g. will Magic be allowed, etc.)
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I apologise if I come across agressive. I'm the sort of person that will poke a wasps nest, just to see what happens. I don't hate you, I just like a good argument
Credit for Avvytar to drKarling (based on original artwork by Squaff, in turn based on Spectre, a character of my creation)
I'd recommend capping Disadvantage points as well...something like 120pts+30pts Disadvantages is a very workable starting point limit, I've found. It allows for some quite powerful characters, but those characters will have to pay the cost if they want that little bit extra.
Sound advice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JellyPooga
Watch out for 'overlapping' or redundant Disadvantages and don't let characters get away with having more points than they'll actually be playing with.
Yeah i have noticed a few of these already. Hopefully i can pick them up during my "approval" procedure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JellyPooga
Any other advice I could give is somewhat dependant on the specifics of the campaign (e.g. will Magic be allowed, etc.)
Defiantly magic involved. I hope to use a decent amount of it.
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Where's my GURPS? [GURPS Thread]
). I created the world and aliens from the ground up and GURPS allowed me to model every aspect of that world from the automatic harvesting vehicles and the power-loader mech-suits to the various stages of alien development and the bio-form structures the created by them. Without using a very simple system like PERPS or Risus, I can't think of another game that I could do this with.
