The place for everything else! Introductions, idle chit-chat, and non-GURPS related stuff belongs here.

First to say a big Howdy to everyone :D

And I'm the second to say a big Howdy... but the first to say Hi!

Fine then!! I'll just be third!! Hmmmpphh

Aww, what a strong little hamster! :D

And a friendly hello, howdy, and welcome to everyone who's joined so far. :)

That's right baby!  Of course, this fur coat just makes me look flabby.

hi everyone

Hey CC. GOod to see ya'

Greetings all! ^_^

Hey!  A cat, a hamster and an anemone walk into a bar... oh, I see you guys have heard that one.

Yes, you are a hamster aren't you? Well not to worry. You look like a rather domesticated rodent. And my sophisticated palate only fancies Free Range Vermin these days.

And I've been working out, just in case you change your mind.  I'll pull out a whisker on the way down!

Hey, wait a minute.  Who you calling 'vermin', furball?

Furball is it? Wait I have a brilliant come back for you. Oh yeah, it takes one to know one.

Hello all.  The furry ones will rule!

Fuzzy is overrated.

Depends on what part is fuzzy ;)

I was reading a short story recently set in the old west which included a little bit of "other-worldly" stuff such as zombies and Native American shaman that were more than just medicine men.  Was there a GURPS setting that fit that sort of description?

There sure was!

http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=148

Oh, and the cover is pretty cool, too.

Here's the closeup:
http://index.rpg.net/pictures/...pic.phtml?picid=3724

Geesh, what took you guys so long?  I posted that question, like... minutes ago?! ;P

Thanks!  I know how having just seen a movie, or getting a new video game or reading a good story can start a hankering for a certain kind of game, but this one really got me going.  Has anyone ever played such a game here?

I did briefly. Zombies were on the way to town Dawn of the Dead style. Sadly, I had to drop out due to real life issues. It was quite fun while it lasted, though.

How weird does the setting get in terms of the unnatural?  Is there a theme to the whole thing or is it just any sort of spooky monster stuff in a western setting?

I don't own it but I would think as a GM, you could run it as strange or subtle as you like.  Like in WOD, all the strange stuff (vampires and Werewolves) remains more hidden.

I never owned the book, so I don't know for sure.

As someone who's played the original game, though I once owned the GURPS version, I can say things get pretty darn weird; I prefer my supernatural pretty subtle, and a good GM can make it such, but basic Deadlands is more of the "whelp, here's a horrible, oozing monster with spiders-for-a-face, time to die in a pointless attempt to stop it, and then rise from our graves as one of the undead."  Well, it's a tad less overstated then that, but not by much.

The theme is that a group of spirits from the Hunting Grounds known as the Reckoners were contacted by an indian Shaman named Raven, with the express intent of expelling the white man.  This opened paths between the spirit world and the normal world, and basically magic came back.  Some people cast spells through cards, called Hexslingin', some through native rituals, and others invent devices thanks to the inspiration of these spirits.

Conceptually, quite interesting, but I add it to my list of things that are better done with GURPS.

Interesting.  The short story I read (and I gave the book away, a compilation of about two dozen stories) sound almost as though it were inspired by that.  It's definitely got a "white man" viewpoint, as it's the evil Indians that summon help from the spirit world to fight back the invasion.  And I agree, subtle is better, or else it ends up sounding like a bad DnD romp.

I was never big into GURPS magic though, having just learned the basics to get by - do you know if there's alternate sytems or rules for this setting, or is it just plain magic that happens to come from different sources?

There is; they have new rules for all the various magic types.  It's really, like, 3 or 4 new, but slightly unimpressive, magic systems in the one box.

Personally, in 4e, I'd almost just use Powers for all magic and be done with it, as GURPS magic is, let's face it, generic by the very nature of the beast.

GURPS Spirits and Voodoo had that fantastic Ritual Magic system; I can't wait for Thaumatology.

Deadlands produced several "dime novels" during it's run.  A group I play with either exclusively plays Deadlands or it's descendant, Hell on Earth, Wasted West, which is a post-apocolypse version of the same world.  I perfer Deadlands.

There's a GURPS Deadlands game somewhere around here, but I think it, ironically, is dead.

Personally I like the GURPS magic system, it has advantages and disadvantaged as compared with AD&D.  I am still trying to figure out the powers book so far.

Oh, there is a Deadlands GURPS game that is slowly getting going.  I thought it had died but now it seems to have some life in it.

Fantasy has a few alternate ideas for the basic magic system and Thaumatology will update some of the old systems to 4e.

I find magic systems, along with Super powers, skills or whatever, to be a matter of taste from one system to another - like apples and oranges.  Obivously, DnD has the progression of characters at its core.  You start very small and have (nearly) unlimited potential - fun at times, but very high fantasy.  I like the feel of GURPS at times, since although mages may not be super powerful, the power they possess compared to those who don't use magic can be significant.

For example: a 1st level fighter vs a 1st level mage in DnD - compared to a 150pt fighter vs a 150pt mage in GURPS.  I suspect there'd be a much more varied outcome of the GURPS encounter when compared to the DnD one.

I copied a DnD mage pretty well with Super Memorization(spells only, one use/slow reload, preparation required) I didn't go all the way with one use of spell slot per day, mine could reload in a minute.

The thing I like better about GURPS is the customization you can do.  In AD&D you can have a thief/mage or fighter/mage but there is not as much freedom as in GURPS as far as how much of a mage you may want to be verses a thief or what ever.

Amen, sister.

Absolutely.  While there is something satisfying about starting so small and growing in power at such regular intervals, I love the freedom of GURPS.  I often tell people that I didn't really role play until I tried GURPS, simply because there was no clearly defined "role" given to me by the rules... I had to define the character myself.

DnD was - and still is to some extent - more for the gambler in me; you know, the excitement of beating the odds or making that one, big roll.  It happens to me in GURPS, but the best games I've been in were those where the GM did the rolls, so I think I missed many of them, which in itself is more realistic, since we often don't know how close were are to making it or not.

Amen

Often I only use the Lite rules. It puts the focus totally on the character rather than the system.

Personally, I follow the words of Matsuo Basho, "Learn the rules well and then forget them." The GURPS rules are full of wonderful detail when you want it, but I tend to go by intuition and simple rules most of the time, in more games. I only get into the gritty rules when they seem especially appropriate. As far as when that time is exactly depends on the particular game I'm running. In some, it might be most of the time. In others, it might be rarely. That's all just my own preference, however.

Oddly, I have noticed I prefer GURPS on RPoL than I do tabletop, for some reason. I'm not sure why, really. Has anyone else felt that way?

Yeah, I have.

Of course, it may be that my group is aging and has moved apart... so we only get together once every few months!  Even then, the others have been on a big DnD kick lately, having only recently discovered the 3.x stuff so this is the only place I get GURPS.

Hello everyone.

     Just call me, 'the new guy' ... at least until another 'new' person shows up.

     I have dozens of 3e books and most of the new 4e books.  Although, pathetically, I've never played a full game.  So hard to find other GURPSers sometimes.

     Anyway, thanks for letting me join in on the discussions!

OK WordSmythe, you are officially off the 'new person' hook...

I have been playing GURPS for several years and have too many books to count.  I am still stuck in the 3e loop however as I have yet to take part in a 4e game.

Thanks for letting me hang out.

I'm in the same boat, Rahn.  I just started a 4th edition game, and the GM takes care of most all the mechanics so I'm not really learning much yet.  I also can't afford to replace all those books in a new edition, so I'm stuck with just the Characters book for now.

In all, it seems very much the same except for a few, well needed updates.

I hate it when they update things. They done it to me more times than I care to count. ;-) Of course, many times it's needed, and a good thing when I finally overcome my hidebound-ness, but then again... Look at D&D... What a mish-mash of crap that's turned into. A non-point system that builds characters kinda like a point system, except you can't do things like with a point system... Honestly, I think it's a minority system now, and GURPS used to have way less followers. I remember when... OK, maybe I shouldn't go there. But let's just say, if you want reality in your game, do one thing, if you want simplicity do another, and don't try to get the best of both in one system. The GMs & players will tweak it how they want it.  IMO, it's easier to get a lot of reality, and take it out, then put in a lot of simplicity, and add in reality. Of course, I'm one of those people who like the ordered structure of having every possible thing defined, so I know how to deal with it. Wouldn't it be grand if life had a rulebook? One that everyone had to follow the rules in? (And of course, that we could read so we knew what they were.)

Oh, but it does:

http://teacherweb.ftl.pinecres...macro/Life/life.html

 :P

ROFLOL
Yea. I wish it were that easy. Where's the rule about letting your wife have another pet...? I don't see the penalty for if she asks for a Wallaby...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I bet a Wallaby would make less noise than a kid.  Go for it... unless you already have kids, then it's just torture for you and the Wallaby.

Come to think of it, I had a Wombat once; a 125cc Hodaka.  Great bike.

I don't think you understand the rules question; I already said yes to the second Wallaby. ;-)

   HAPPY :)
  <3 HOLIDAYS!
       /\
   __  \/  __
   \_\_/\_/_/       _\/   \/_
      \xx/           _\   /_
    __/xx\__           \_/
   /_/ \/ \_\     ->->->_<-<-<-
       /\             _/ \_
       \/            _/   \_
                     /\   /\

     _\/_    *      .'.
      /\    /.\    >-o-<
           /.,.\    .,.
     o     /,.,\
  o><x><o /..,.,\     _\/_
     o    /.,.,.\      /\
         /.,.,..,\
         ^^^[_]^^^     -Veronica

I think you just blew your cover!

But again, nice work!

She blows her cover every year, though. And I for one, <3 her for it :D

What are your opinions on the Umana system?
This message was last updated by the player at 03:47, Wed 03 Jan 2007.

Like it, but haven't played extensively with it. Note that I don't mind heroic levels of magic, though- I'd even up the thresh & rec and such, maybe. The few times I've used it, it was either as an adjunct to regular magic (like in my game now where no one is brave enough to do it) or had the default values. No real earth-busting spells, as the players were still too used to tactical magic to realize how strategic they could get, and mostly did normal spells.

I was reading 4e Fantasy and got to the bit about Agrarian Magic.  That got me to wondering in what other ways magic, in your average run-of-the-mill fantasy game, might impact normal everyday life.

For those who do not have 4e Fantasy, it basically shows how a few spells at level 15 could affect the crop yield of village of at least 100 people.  The end result is that just about every year would be a bumper year with more yield from a smaller area of land.

Any ideas on what one lone "village wizard" might do to change or impact daily life of the stereo typical fantasy settlement?

Well, just think about how much impact it would be if a village mage could magically help heal people: the child mortality rate would shrink, women dying in child birth would lower and life expectancy would lengthen.

*Waves* Hey, Boston, don't forget to roll to hit for your ice wand.

Actually in my game (3E of course) the PCs are going somewhere the agriculture experts are doing exactly that. Of course, Boston & the rest don't know that yet (& never asked), but it's relatively minor in game terms. The thing that starts to happen when you take this to the extreme, is it gets out of control quickly. I n my D&D campaign, we theoretically let it happen to Nth degree with all of the players throwing in ideas. We had cities that were pretty much impregneable even to Abrams tanks, 'microwave' ovens, teleport toilets, and wands of cleaning . The most used theory was, people are lazy, money would be spent more on mass products, and the first things developed would under these ideas parrellel what we have IRL with technology. It was interesting, but it got ridiculous for a fantasy setting, although I kept a lot of the 'neat' sort of ideas. That's where a lot of the stuff in my current GURPS game is based from, but tamed way down compared to the worst case.

I would like to take a look at some of those if you don't mind 2l8m8.  If that game is on RPOL that is.

Essential Food turns a pound of food into six meals that never spoil, besides the bumper crop from Bless Plant you'd also have a backup food supply.

In a typical fantasy village, the first improvements would be in the crucial areas, such as crops, healing, water, shelter (inc. warmth), hunting and defense. Assuming a single mage per average village, and regular mana levels, I don't see the mage having time for much more than this. The primary efforts would focus on prevention of disaster- precognition to avoid the effects of a bad flood, ensuring the crops were good, the sick were healed, and so forth. After that, they'd see what they could to boost things, boosting crops, fortifying defenses maybe, and so forth. That's how I see it, anyway.

An interesting scenario might be if the village spellcaster died before he could train his or her replacement, and the village wants the PCs to find a replacement- or they want the PC mage to BE the replacement, and resort to some kind of coercion to attempt forcing it.

Yes, all of my assumptions included the fact that there would more than one, or to Nth an unlimited number, of mages.

I don't mind, but the things are mostly in the background and the PCs haven't really dealt with anything out of the ordinary. Like Lawman said, in this game I'm keeping it more down to earth, like where the guy in the agri-colony specializes in plant magic, and does a good job at crop-helping. The PCs are currently on their way there now, and don't really know this info, but it's not unbalancing so I'm revealing it here even though at least one of my players is about. One of the NPCs is an elven mage specializing in animal magic, who helps her grandfather raise animals for a living- not livestock, though, shaved fur, that sort of thing, since she's a beast-kin. They never have a problem with the animals even when they get out. ;-) And their best cash crop is displacer beast fur- makes a nice warm magical cloak. They don't get as much as some, though, because they shave it & won't skin them. But you're wlecome to take a peek, or even see if you might fancy playing. link to "GURPS 3e Free for all"

It might be a good idea for several close villages to join forces, each mage specializing in a few areas then travelling as needed. They can also trade scrolls.

If magery is genetic it also insures a breeding pool.

Never thought of that... good idea, the specialized sharing thing. But, it can also be clerical magic, and in my game you can buy the magery advantage after creation if it's divine magic. The agri-guy in the game is just that, and the PCs are traveling with his current 'apprentice'. She's not too good yet, though.

OK, let's through another spin upon it then.  What if the Umana rules were in play instead of normal GURPS magic?  If the default threshold and recovery were used, how would everyday life be impacted by magic then?

You might have some of the same impact, but with the slow recharge compared to normal magic mages will have to think carefully about when to use it.

Personally if I want more powerful mages just give them more FP and Leech, or some other method of faster recovery.

You could have fairly weak mages doing fairly large spells, like an apprentice mage doing the crop-helping spell for an entire community. He might make a crit failure and destroy the crops for that whole year, though. But, he could do it again and theoretically negate that, and do it a third time to complete the original intent. So, the minor mages doing these things you're talking about, could be very minor mages, with only the needed spells and nothing else. Training times are way down, now you can mass-produce mages for (very) specialized purposes. This is presuming there's enough around who want to be mages & have magery, or want to be clerics. Every neophyte priest of the goddess of nature might have a requirement to go to some piddling village and do the crop spells for that year, bless all the women (or the ones who are pregnant, etc) and a few other things. Perhaps a different neophyte for each spell, since they wouldn't know many. All of this sort of spell casting could easily take place in, say, a month. So it wouldn't be a huge requirement unless they had to do their one spell in every village in a 50 mile radius. But then, they could also do it in a day, if the village had everything all set up first, perhaps.
An interesting thought to this neophyte idea is the prerequisites. How many do these useful spells have? Going in to the really coll spells, there's dozens, but I've never really studied the ones needed for these helpful sort of non-in-play spells; are they fairly low?

I have the urge to play some cpunk and hope I can find someone to run a game.  What I was think is this:

Entry level characters, possibly pulled into the shadows by things beyond their
control.

Characters shouldn't start with a great deal of cyberware but certainly have the opportunity to acquire more if they desire.

Decking should be done in the background unless everyone is a Decker.

If it were to be something like Shadowrun (magic and fantasy races) then I would want to speak up for a combat mage... lol

Does that tempt anyone at all?

If there was interest, I might be tempered to run something like that but I admit I would not want to do the decking thing, I was never really into that.

For the Cyber punk part, the advantages would just equal the cybernetics.  Then there would be the magical parts, like from Technomancer.

What about the non-human races?

I might be into that, WC.

I am fine with non-human races, that is of course how un-human you are talking about.  It would be like Shadowrun in that sense.

Yes, Shadowrun is what I am talking about.  Elves, Orcs, Trolls, etc, etc.

Heck, I'm in.  I want to play the Elven Combat Wizard.. lol

I noticed the World of Darkness community has put up some nice sheet templates for use here on Rpol and wondered what you lot do for sheets.

If anyone has a nice template, perhaps you could post it (in a separate thread I suppose or in Resources.

I have a simple template for 4th, just remember the <tt> and </tt> so it lines up nicely

 Name:________________   Player:____________________   Point Total:____________
 Height:____  Weight:____  Size Modifier:____  Age:____  Unspent Pts:__________
 Appearance:___________________________________________________________________
 ______________________________________________________________________________

 Strength(ST)         :_____
 Dexterity(DX)        :_____
 Intelligence(IQ)     :_____
 Health(HT)           :_____

 Hit Points(HP)       :_____
 Will(Will)           :_____
 Perception(Per)      :_____
 Fatigue Points(FP)   :_____

 Basic Lift(ST*ST/5)  :_____
 Basic Speed          :_____
 Basic Move           :_____

 DAMAGE Thrust(Thr)   :_____
        Swing(Sw)     :_____
 Damage Resistance(DR):_____
 PARRY                :_____
 BLOCK                :_____

      Encumbrance           Move         Dodge
 None(0)=BL      :____  BM*1.0:____  Dodge  :____
 Light(1)=2*BL   :____  BM*0.8:____  Dodge-1:____
 Medium(2)=3*BL  :____  BM*0.6:____  Dodge-2:____
 Heavy(3)=6*BL   :____  BM*0.4:____  Dodge-3:____
 X-Heavy(4)=10*BL:____  BM*0.2:____  Dodge-4:____


 Languages          Spoken           Written
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]

 Technology level:__________________________[  ]
 Cultural Familiarities
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]

 Reaction Modifiers
 Appearance:____________________________________
 Status    :____________________________________
 Reputation:____________________________________
 _______________________________________________
 _______________________________________________

 Advantages and Perks
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]

 Disadvantages and Quirks
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]

 Skills
 Name                Level    Relative Level
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]
 ___________________________________________[  ]

This message was last edited by the player at 12:22, Tue 06 Mar 2007.

That's useful, thanks

You are welcome.
---
Wow just noticed that we are only 22 people in this forum. Are there really so few people that likes GURPS? Or is it a question about people not knowing this forum exsists?

Interesting question. I'm still fairly new to Rpol, I joined in December (I think, might have been November) for the sole purpouse of finding GURPS games. I don't have anyone to game with locally, so I thought I'd give this a try. And I had a hard time finding games. There were a few, certainly but for whatever reason most didn't appeal. Lately though, it looks like the number of games has been growing and I've joined several. With such a short period here though, I doubt my experience is very reliable.
But is this just the same small group of people starting new games or actually increasing numbers of players?

Regular 'advertising' should bring in a few, but I wonder how many lurk without joining. I did for a while only joining to ask for the character sheets.

So are y'all looking for a Shadowrun game using SR rules, or using Gurps rule.

I would prefer one with GURPS rules.  I am more familiar with it and think its a better system but I do have SR.

-chuckle- The SR system isn't bad.-grin-  I don't forsee myself running SR with Gurps rules since I only have the base 4E books.

GURPS rules please.  3e or 4e doesnt matter to me.

Is there a chance we can get a book review/discussion thread?  I'm curious what people think of the various new 4E books.

Interesting idea. I just got a hold of some of the 4E books, I was wondering what everyone thought - and I'm talking basics, I haven't even read them yet.

Also, where would one toss around concepts for a potention game?  In here?

I think that not only are the # of gurps players small, but that gurps players tend to be focused.  There's a few gurps games out there - 36 of which 20 have players wanted flags.  So figure 4 players & 1 gm = 180 gurpsers... But actively discussing here?  I think this is my 4th time here since it opened.

But i'm thinking about a game...

I want to start a new one after easter.  but i'm having a devil of a time deciding, and since some are gurps 3rd, i thought i'd come here first.

I have Gurps WWII...and Gurps Mecha.

So right there, you know there's trouble.

Anyone ever have any luck with a WWII game here on RPOL?  Anyone here have interest in Mecha?  Do the 3rd edition mecha rules even work?


Fred

I would play in a GURPS Mecha game even if it is geared almost exclusively toward anime.  As for the rules working, I can't answer that as I have yet to take part in a GURPS Mecha game.  I do know that designing Mecha with the rules in that book are much like designing any GURPS vehicle.. a pain in the rear end and a hopeless exercise in math.

Woo!  Jus' picked up Ultra-tech.  If it's what I'm hoping it is, I'll be starting a space game soon.

Bai - just Ultra, not Space?

I like WW2.  I am not much into Mecha personally.

I would also like a gurps Space game.  I have both 3rd and 4th ed.

I have thought about doing somekind of modern day gurps game with magic if there was interst.  It could either be mercs or students.

The mercs idea catches my attention but the students does not.

Hmm.. maybe I'd be in if were 3E... contemporary and not future, might snag a friend of mine, too...

4th doesn't have many changes a player has to worry about, and most of the point differences are covered in the 4e update.

So a technomancer game, sounds interesting.

I have Space as well, but unfortunately, both say "see other books for ship design". :(

I'm contemplating running the game anyways and jus' glossing over the ship info for now.

I have both 3E and 4E but prefer 4th.  I do have technomancer and I could do a modern day game if there is interest.

I also have most of the 3E space book and would be interested in that game.

I ran a really great (iimssms) space/mecha game for ~2 years//5000 posts that died, sadly, about a year ago, shortly after i converted it to gurps & doubled the # of players...

I just didn't want to play freeform anymore.

Of course, the gurps # intensive mecha & space rules were a bear, but I think it was the rapid influx that brought it low.

There are lots of cool toys in the new Gurps books.  Maybe I will run a SR style game until they come out with a book that will let me design space ships.

gurps SR could be tons of fun; true SR style (Magic, Orcs, Etc) or CP style (just tech)?

Umm, SR is SR, not CP. :)

Anyways, this idea is growing on me more and more.  How many of y'all would play if I started it?  It looks like quite a few of you are interested, but I'd jus' like to double check.

EDIT: BTW, this won't happen 'til next month sometime.  I'm gonna be outta town all next wk.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:15, Fri 23 Mar 2007.

I would definatly do it.

I'm so in.

I would be interested.

I would play.  I think I mentioned some where earlier that I wanted to play an Elven combat mage.. lol

Okay, I'll see about getting a game started.  Any suggestions for a title?

I'm all about being a face.

as for name, you want something generic like "Plus ca change" or "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" or "...and the rain falls heavy" or "It was a dark and stormy night." or something specific like "Bai's happy funhouse" or "Gurps gods got guns" or "SR GURPStyle" or...

There's always the bastardization of both game names...  GURPSrun or ShadowGURPS
I would think that the generic GURPS Shadowrun would be fine for a working title.

-chucke- Interting.-grin-  Although I think I'm gonna go with "GURPS 4E: Not your fathers Shadowrun" :)  I'll try an' get a game started before I leave town so everyone can put in RTJ's with their concepts.

I like it.  Looking forward to seeing what you have in mind.

Game created in the Cyperpunk section.  Send your RTJs an' I'll put more info in when I can.

I seem to recall reading about knock off productions of high end weapons some where but I cannot find it now.  Anyone else recall this?

NM, I found it.  Page 74 of the 3e book.  It's not referred to as knock offs but rather as cheap versions.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:38, Sun 25 Mar 2007.

Hi there

It seems the half-dozen games I joined back in January have died back to just 1 left, so decided to search through the system.

I have a lot of experience with 3rd ed, so went through those first. The only ones active seem to require a lot of setting specific background knowledge from certain novels or movies or other game settings.

So it looks like I'll need to get more involved in 4th ed items.

Anyway, have fun, let the long weekend start!

Ok everyone- I just bought the 3rd edition rules. I have the Basic set, and Compendium I (as well as a 2nd edition Horror and Martial arts book).
The best way for me to get the feel of a system is playtesting- so is there anyone out there with some room in a game willing to run a few solo 'scenarios' with a newbie? Maybe someone willing to go through a few scenarios as players as I DM?

Hmm - Stripe was running one game for beginners, link to "GURPS 4e - Swords and Sorcery"

Not sure if its still that way or not.

Once you get enough feel for the playing of it, by all means start to run a game.

Hey gang! Just a quick peep in to let you all know my user-name on the site will be changing to Sockpuppet. No big news, since that's my GM persona anyways; but next time you log on to the main page of the site, don't be surprised when it says this game is GM'ed by Sockpuppet instead of VH. :)

I did a search for GURPS games and noticed that there doesn't seem to be many active Science Fiction games. A few SF/Fantasy mixes, one Traveller game but other than that it's not much.

With both Bio-Tech and Ultra-Tech out, I'd have though there'd be a few more.
Any thoughts why this might be?

I have seen several GMs propose extremely high-level >500 point sci-fi games. Basically using bio and cyber to create super-people. They have seemed to die rather quickly, and I  usually don't apply to that type any more.

I think the GM's were putting too much focus on the tech, and not enough on the plot. Also taking 4 months to get from posting game opening to actually starting play because of fine-tuning (modifying) a lot of rules and equipment to match a novel setting.

So, I'd encourage anyone who wants to GM sci-fi to do so, but have a plot in mind, rather than just a great setting.

I can see how it would take quite a bit of preparation and some hard thinking sorting out all the hard- and bio-tech for an original setting.
But shouldn't both Traveller and Transhuman Space be a bit easier?

I have only browsed through the Traveller book and haven't got Changing Times yet, so I may well be wrong.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:21, Fri 13 July 2007.

I think my failed attempt at Transhuman Space suffered from this; I spent a lot of time on the rules, provided a lot of setting and theme info, and ultimately the PCs didn't seem to feel motivated to continue with the plot after a point.

I was thinking about trying another Transhuman Space game recently, but I think it might just be inviting failure again.  Do love the setting, though.

any 3E games going on with a space in?

Hello all.Just joined. I'll probably just be looking for now.

Well, mine's kinda full, but if you're desperate check it out- http://beta.playbyweb.com/fantasy1.php?_b=13152 It's on a ship at port, better hurry or I'll need to wait untill next port to stick you in. :)

If anyone is on send me a private message. I want to talk to you. Or we can talk here.

Now that Martial Arts is out is anyone planning an arena game?

I had wanted to do one, since my Spectacles of Death games seemed popular enough, but I don't have the book yet. If someone were to buy me one, I'd run a game *hint hint nudge* ;0)

If one starts, I'd like to know about it.

Anybody have any suggestions for world creation?  I've decided to try an' create a fantasy world to run, an' I could use some suggestions.

Any ideas about TL, era, etc.?

I'd suggest using a real area of earth, even if you alter things about the cultures and change names real world maps are both easily available and give an idea of the flora/fauna.

Actually, I stole an idea from the GURPS  Fantasy book.  I'm using a map of Venus for my geography. :)

I'm going for primarily TL 3, with a bit of 4 available, but not common.  I have a rough idea of what I want to do, but I'm short on specifics.  Names, especially.

I'm prolly gonna make a wiki for it to keep things organized.

Just using the map, or going to toss in other things Venus is known for? Jungles, dinosaurs, amazons, etc.?

If you mean people names I've found baby name sites to be quite useful.

Just the map.  That way it'll be some unfamiliar geography.

Baby names work okay for human names, but not for countries or other cultures.

I'm starting to think about a Gurps WWII game.  I have a great seed idea for a small commando-esque team, btu want to gauge interest.

I do like this concept. I've joined a commando style game that never went beyond character creation, and a weird war version which went only as far as the initial walk into the conflict zone.

So, you'd have at least one interested player if you go forward. Of course I'd rather play something on the side of the Allies, but could also work on the other side if the game fits.

My general idea, without getting to into specifics, is US/Pacific theatre/42-44 or so.

Well the Pacific is certainly different, most of the ones I've seen have been European based.

Is that an 'i'm interested' or simply an observation?  I'm a pacific kinda guy; been to most of the pacific countries and all, always been interested more in the pacific war.

I'm interested.
Anything unusual? Alternate history, strange powers, etc.?

Nah.  I can't carry that off.  Straight up War.

Small team, all about Plan B - Bustin' heads, Breaking stuff, Blowing Crap Up.

Rewards in the shape of: Cold Beer, Hot Broads, The Admiral sayin "I see you once more, McQuaid, and you're in the brig!" and your peers sayin 'You are amazing."

Throw in a PUC (Presidential Unit Citation) or a Bronze Star here and there, and we got a game.

I don't have any of the WW2 books, so might need some help on what the appropriate skill levels and such should be.

Luckily I already have High-Tech on my Christmas shopping list.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:48, Tue 30 Oct 2007.

Sadly, WWII is way way more about role play than stats.  Most WWII characters are between 50-75 points.      Which is to say, some are less.

But I'm targeting 50-85

Can't imagine any being less than 50, according to lite that's the low end of competent.

You'd be surprised.

regarding points - it depends whether you have any intention of throwing in allies and patrons for free or not.

If we have to pay for our ally group or patron (to call in air support or the evacuation boat) then its definitely too light on points. But if you are giving a few of those necessities for free, then its a lot more reasonable at the 70 point level.

I would imagine that many of those advantages might be balanced out with appropriate disadvantages like Extremely Hazardous Duty and/or Code of Honor, for example.

Right!  For third edition, disads are in the range of -50 to -60, and because the Navy is not a patron, it's a job, with an Extremely Hazardous Duty (-20).  Add that to some basic disads, like code of honor, sense of duty, patriotism, intolerance, etc., and it's pretty easy to get to -60.  That frees up points for other stuff.

Here's the link to the GURPSwiki with the 3rd -> 4th edition conversions.  Seems like 4th have more points for the same stuff, mostly, I'd guess, because stats got more expensive.

http://www.gurpswiki.net/defau...ter%20Templates.html


But if we just think about the setting, and the likely game, is it at all interesting?  I'd need 3 before I contemplated a start.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:35, Thu 01 Nov 2007.

count me in - I've been in the Singapore to Australia zone

I have the interest, but I'm sort of strapped for time and starting a new game of my own.  Good luck though.

I have some interest, as I did in the other advert, but I think I'm going to have to wait untill I get some things IRL nailed down that might be changing right up to the new year. Perhaps I might RtJ as the rookie replacement around then. :P Maybe even a pilot... ?

Happy New Year everyone :)

Is there any interest in a dungeon crawl game? I don't mean to blatantly copy Sockpuppet's Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, but it seems to be rather popular and I'd like to get in on the action.

I have run a dungeon crawl campaign before, and I still have my notes, if anyone was interested in playing.

Whose online Now or during the next 1 or 2 hours that wants to run a gurps game. Its basically 12 AM EST.

Has anybody ever played a game set in a fictional universe from a Western cartoon?

Where the heck did they put the Wanted - Players and Wanted - GM's boards??????

They're still on my sticky list. You can find them by clicking "Search for a Game" on the main page, and only checking the RPoL Forums category. Or just go here:

link to another game

link to another game

Thanks. I guess I'll keep 'em on my sticky list too, in fear of them disappearing on me again!

Hi, everyone! =^_^=

I'm a total n00b on roleplaying in general, that's why I joined this community to learn as much as I can about the GURPS system and roleplaying in general. =^_^=

Well, that's all I can tell for now. XDD
This message was last edited by the player at 14:31, Fri 18 July 2008.

If you haven't already got it, check out the GURPS Lite at:

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite/

It can be a lot more intricate than what is written in that book, but it should give you a basic idea of how the system works.

In reply to Shirogane (msg #149):

Well, welcome. You're probably in a good spot, the people here are quite knowledgeable, and willing to help.

Let me know if you have any questions, and let me suggest the GURPS Character Assistant program (GCA4) for 4th Ed. It does all of the math for you, and works rather nicely. I haven't found many problems with it yet, and even then only when I'm delving deep into the code so far that I really expected it would crash the whole thing. (It didn't- I highly recommend anything I can't break. :P )

Thanks for the willingness to help, guys. I really truly appreciate it. =^_^=

As a side note, I updated my profile here to state on why do I want to learn GURPS. I actually wanted to run an anime-based RP setting using GURPS, so I wanted to learn as much as I can.

But of course, since I'm a n00b, might as well join other campaigns first to get a feel of the system. =^_^=
This message was last edited by the player at 04:00, Sat 19 July 2008.

Hmm, I'll go look around for Tommy. He always runs cartoon stuff, but I don't think he uses GURPS. Ever hear of Toon? Anyhow, he's been missing a while, I'll see if I can find him for you, he's an exellent GM (but like I said, not GURPS).

In reply to 2l8m8 (msg #153):

Ah, don't mind the cartoon-related setting. XD

As long as it's GURPS, I'm good with it. =^_^= My goal is to familiarize myself with GURPS, anyway. =^_^=

Oh, and I think I prefer 4e over 3e.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:01, Sat 19 July 2008.

Yeah, 4e is more sensible. There's a few inconsistencies they've fixed, and everything meshes a little better.

I might as well not bother with Tommy then- like I mentioned, he doesn't do GURPS, I thought you might like the cartoon part though.

I'm currently playing in an arena style game, my first and I'm finding that I enjoy it quite a bit. So now I'm thinking I'll run one, but here's the thing...

I'd love to have a Magic Arena game using RAW but with little or no restrictions on character generation other than starting points. That seems to have the potential of being horribly lop-sided.

Any thoughts?

How lopsided it is depends on how magic will be handled in game. The most ballanced games will be low mana or high, normal and very high definitely favor the mages. Even in a normal mana world though enchanted equipment can level the playing field in an arena event.

I know I sound like a newbie, but what's RAW?

I was gonna ask the same thing and I don't think I'm a newbie. :)

Rules As Written

I always learn something new here almost everytime I visit here. =^__^=

Thanks. :) I still feel like it, but at least now I know. ;-)

Knowing is half the battle. (Violence is the other half.)

We used to just call it 'Standard Rules', but then there's been 30 years to come up with catchy acronyms since I started playing. In fact, I recall GM was a new one, because TSR actually copyrighted DM. Imagine that... There were lots of games with referees, arbitrators, controllers, and such until all of a sudden, they all had Game Masters.

I picked "RAW" up from the Steve Jackson forums.

I'm going to start a game: link to another game

Join me there if you want to join in the discussion...

In reply to scahill (msg #163):

Tell me about this...uhhh...game or something. XD

Yeah... I saw it there, but since that site is restricted at work, oddly enough I don't visit it much... ;-)

I was planning on discussing the finer points in the game thread and hammering out the details there to avoid hi-jacking this thread.

Basically everything is up for discussion at this point.

It would be an arena style game.
Magic would be used and might be exclusively used, i.e. no mundane combatants. You must have magery and caster spells to compete.

I'm looking at it as a fun way to try out different combat spell options and explore the limits of the magical combat system.

I plan on buying Thaumatology when it comes out in hardcover (it is on e23 now) and that might open up some other possibilities.

"Gladiators" could be resurrected if you wanted another go with that particular character, or you could create a whole new one upon death.

Like I said I'm open to ideas, and am really just looking for a place to run the magical combat system through some paces.

I noticed that Death Race 2000 is being remade.  They are dropping the 2000 from the title and changing the setting a bit but its still about an armed auto race.  That got me thinking about Car Wars.  To my knowledge, there has never been a Car Wars game here.  Is anyone interested in either running one or playing in one?

Jeez, that would be *So* map-needy... you'd certainly have to have a hex 'playing field' in some thread somewhere.

I haven't played in years, and just discovered my buddy still has all the old rules (10, maybe 15 years old). I'm sure there's a new edition... right?

So no interest in a Car Wars/Autoduel game?

Not realistically. Yeah, I'd like to play, but no time, and I'd need to drive an hour just to grab the rules. If you need an extra, and make up a car for me, maybe I'll sit in once in a while, but for a fulll game, no.

Thanks for the opportunity though.

In reply to Rahn (msg #169):

Well I'm interested, though. =^_^=

Just...I still don't have a grasp on the rules, though...

Car wars is different than GURPS. It's made by the same people, and is similar, but actually a different game. It's actually fairly easy to learn, though.

In reply to 2l8m8 (msg #172):

Another "similar" game?

That's interesting. Come to think of it, lots of game system nowadays are very similar to GURPS in one way or the other (as I noticed when I compared Tri-Stat dX with GURPS)...

I haven't played Car Wars in years! I'm sure I've long since lost my copy of the rules.

Well, Steve Jackson actually started with car wars (I think) and expanded it to include people-stats, and that's how GURPS was born. So the rules are similar, but there's no melee weapons, no pedestrians (unless you count them as targets), and all sorts of other limited , but sensible, things that aren't there. These evolved into (and might still be compatible with) GURPS vehicle rules.

I even had the aeroduel rules, and made a zepplin. Can't really move fast, but it has enough cargo & surface mount space to pretty much annihilate anything. It'd even win against a squadron of most things, given the right weapons. Missile work well, because the sheer weight of reloads make it impossible for anything *but* a zepplin to carry many rounds. It think I figured out, it had something like 1,000 shots a round... (Compared to 3 or 4 for a really heavily armed plane or car.) Just remember- Helium, not Hydrogen! :P

Oho!

Anyways, I finally bought myself a copy of GURPS Basic Set (both Characters & Campaign). =^__^=

For now, I guess all I need is these books for me to get started on GURPS.

Too bad, though. In my area (I live in the Philippines, by the way). I'm the only roleplayer around here who is interested in GURPS and BESM, so I'm forced to play online instead. Everyone else here prefers DnD...

It's the same with a lot of us.  I live on an Army post, so as you can imagine, not that many people interested in roleplaying to begin with, let alone GURPS.

Yeah, those books will do. :)

I had just the opposite experience.  I was in the Navy and we played pretty much when ever we wanted.

After reading and re-reading GURPS Lite & GURPS Basic Set - Characters, I'll try my hand into generating a sample character of mine soon.

Anyone here willing to judge if I understood the rules of character creation or not, by examining my character when I created it?

Sure, shoot it by me if you like.

I'm always willing to Critique Character Creation

Or post it and get comments from the whole peanut gallery.

I'll take a look as well.

Okay. This is what I came up with, based on what I've learned so far on character creation.

I won't fill in the backstory and such since the important thing here is if I understood the rules.




Name: Shirogane
Race: Human

Name: Shirogane
Race: Human

Attributes
ST 10
DX 11 [20]
IQ 11 [10]
HT 10

HP 10
Will 10
Per 10
FP 10

Basic Lift 20
Damage 1d-1/1d+1

Basic Speed 5.25
Basic Move 5

Ground Move 5
Water Move 1

Social Background
TL: 3 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages:
English (Native) [6]
Tagalog (Native) [6]

Advantages [101]
Ambidexterity [5]
Combat Reflexes [15]
Cultural Adaptability (Xeno-Adaptability) [20]
Fearlessness-3 [6]
Fit (Very Fit) [15]
Striking ST (+2) [10]
Trained By A Master [30]

Perks [10]
Drunken Fighting [1]
Iron Arms [1]
Iron Hands [1]
Iron Legs [1]
Iron Neck [1]
Naval Training
Special Exercises (Striking ST +2) [2]
Style Familiarity (Hung Gar Kung Fu) [1]
Sure-Footed (Slippery & Uneven) [2]

Disadvantages [-30]
Code of Honor (Xia) [-15]
Pacifism (Cannot Harm Innocents) [-10]
Sense of Duty (Small Group) [-5]

Quirks [-5]
Attentive [-1]
Dislikes (Vegetables) [-1]
Humble [-1]
Vow (Never Drink Alcohol) [-1]
Vow (Treat All Ladies With Courtesy) [-1]

Skills [32]
Acrobatics-11 (DX+0) [4]
Breath Control-11 (HT+0) [4]
Body Control-11 (HT+0) [8]
Karate-11 (DX+0) [4]
Philosophy (Buddhism)-11 (IQ+0) [4]
Power Blow-10 (Will+0) [4]
Pressure Points-11 (IQ+0) [4]

Stats [30] Advantages [113] Perks [10] Disads [-30] Quirks [-5] Skills [32] = Total [150]




I used the Hung Gar Kung Fu Style from GURPS Martial Arts as the basis for this.

Any violent corrections are welcome for me. I'm really new at this stuff, so I'll need all the learning I can get.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:41, Fri 01 Aug 2008.

I'm a bit pressed for time *fends off angry boss* but I spotted a few things:

IQ 11 [10]

IQ should cost 20 points for 11 in edition 4. Same as Dex. This may be a typo.

Will 10
Per 10

Will and perception are both based on IQ. With your IQ of 11, both of those should be 11 without any further cost.

English (Native) [6]
Tagalog (Native) [6]

I tend to limit my characters/players to one native language. The native one is free (as far as I remeber at the fluent/fluent level if you are from a literate world setting, but this could be wrong). Only your second language will cost 6 points to read/write fluently then.

Last general comment: You spent a very large number of points on advantages. Almost none on Stats and had to spend quite a bit on skills. In an ongoing campain I would probably work on better stats at the cost of some advantages and slightly lower skill values. While it is true that you can later only gain certain advantages, you need to survive to see them in the first place.

Unfortunately a karate skill of 11 (your only combat skill) will mean that you miss around 45% of the time on a basic punch. An enemy with only a 14 or 15 in swords or knives will probably shred you to bits (eventually - especially with a knife).

I should've known. Stats first over everything else.

Okay. Thanks for the pointers. =^_^=

But I got all the point distribution correct, right? I mean, I didn't go over the limit, etc.

P.S. Is it possible to just focus on Stats and not take any Advantages, Skills, or anything?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:45, Fri 01 Aug 2008.

Aside from the underpriced IQ and the free language that have already been pointed out, the only real error I see is in taking the "Drunken Fighting" Perk along with "Vow: Never Drink Alcohol." :P

There are some other mathy bits missed on the Martial Arts side of things, but for the most part you did okay. Some of the Perks you picked, including Drunken Fighting, aren't allowed by your style; and you didn't put enough points in your required skills to merit taking that many perks in the first place -- but that's a rather elusive rule to even find in the book, an you did very well for designing your first character, all things considered.

Everything else I could say would be rooted in personal preferences. Remember that actual point limits are set by the GM, so it helps to be proficient in building lower-point characters (around 100 points or so, since that's a common starting number), and building lower-point characters is harder than building higher point ones. For that reason, ToughCookie is spot on with the critique. It's a good idea to get your attributes up first, buy an advantage or two that you know you'll need, and then smatter the rest around on skills. You may get lots of 12's and 13's instead of 15's and 16's, but you'll have room to grow...and it's much, much easier to learn a new skill at a respectable level if you have a higher attribute to back it! :)

I tend to look pretty close at a player's Disadvantages when I GM. I noticed you didn't take many; as a 150 point character, going by book rules you'd be allowed up to -75 in disads and you took -30. (Note: very few GM's I've met actually use that rule, and instead set a lower cap.) As well, I also noticed you only took "safe" disadvantages. Tsk! While it is entirely a personal preference, try to be more bold...take something risky! Overconfidence and Bad Temper are great for brash characters; Truthfulness and Pacifism: Reluctant Killer are good for naive ones. Take a Phobia, and give your GM a nice wildcard they can play once in a while -- or get really creative and give your character an Enemy!

I've always felt the disadvantages in GURPS are a big part of what separates the system from all the others out there. Take something a little out of your comfort zone, and it'll make your character feel a lot more unique. ;)

Can you point out that elusive rule please?

A certain GM who's also running a GURPS game I'm interested in joining, actually said three things for notes.

150-point limit, with a -40 limit on Disadvantages, and 5 Quirks

Well, here's an overhaul of what I created, based on those rules.

BASIC ATTRIBUTES [150]
Strength(ST): 13[30]
Dexterity(DX): 13[60]
Intelligence(IQ): 12[40]
Health(HT): 13[30]

SECONDARY CHARACTERISTICS
Damage(Dmg): 1d/2d-1
Basic Lift(BL): 34
Hit Points(HP): 13
Will: 12
Perception(Per): 12
Fatigue Points(FP): 13
Basic Speed: 6.5
Basic Move: 6 (Ground Move: 6, Water Move: 1)

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: Attractive [4]

SOCIAL BACKGROUND
Technology Level(TL): 4 [5]
Cultural Familiarities: East Asian
Languages: Tagalog (Native), English (Native) [6]
Independent Income (Trust Fund, 20% of starting wealth every month) [20]

ADVANTAGES [0]

PERKS [0]

DISADVANTAGES [-40]
Enemy (Mage's Guild) [-40]

QUIRKS [-3]
Humble [-1]
Vow (Never Drink Alcohol) [-1]
Vow (Treat All Females With Courtesy) [-1]

SKILLS [8]
Acrobatics-13 (DX+0) [4]
Karate-13 (DX+0) [4]

Stats [150] Advantages [35] Perks [0] Disadvantagess [-40] Quirks [-3] Skills [8] = Total [150]


Up until now, I still can't believe that creating a character took me like...what...2 hours? Dang!

Now he can fight, somewhat, but can't do anything else without relying on defaults. And with a mages guild for an enemy, without spells or even magery for himself, he's in a lot of trouble.

Just what kind of character are you aiming for, and what is the world background?

Pages 49 and 142 in Martial Arts, both under the heading Style Perks. Page 49 explains it better. A character without any formal training can buy ONE style perk for each 20 points they have in applicable combat skills. A character with formal training (classified as having the Style Familiarity perk for a given style) my buy ONE style perk, for that style only, per ten points they've spent in that style's techniques required skills.

So, let's say a character has exactly 20 points spread between Hung Gar Kung Fu's required skills (Breath Control, Karate, and Philosophy: Buddhism) and techniques. They are eligible to buy TWO style perks for Hung Gar Kung Fu -- Iron Body Parts, Naval Training, Off-Hand Weapon Training, or Sure-Footed (slippery) -- and ONE style perk from any outside Hung Gar Kung Fu. For a grand total of three perks. :)

If they put ten more points in applicable skills/techniques, they'll be able to buy another style perk for their style. If, after another adventure, they put ten more into those skills, they'll be able to buy TWO more perks; one from Hung Gar Kung Fu, and one from outside the style.

The math gets a little screwy when the person starts buying combat skills outside their style, since those DON'T count towards the 10 points needed their styles perks, but DO count towards the 20 needed for perks from outside yur style. Likewise, it gets even trickier if you have multiple styles your familiar with. :P

Some GM's may not even bother with these rules, of course. Even if they aren't strict with the points spent in skills, these rules still serve as a good guideline for how many style perks you should be able to have.

First, drunken fighting *simulates* being drunk, and does not require that state.

I didn't even know about that rule, so I would probably let a martial artist take whatever is fairly sensible, but that's a good one to remember for when they get too many perks, for only 1 point of style or something. Thanks.

Other than that, it seems Shirogane is leaning a lot toward mastery of a certain thing, while not being very well at anything else. That's fine, but you'll find you really want to be a little more broad. You're great at karate, for instance, but can't climb a rope or sneak up on someone. And if someone is wearing armor, you're pretty much out of luck, the hand to hand damage won't penetrate most decent armor unless you're really strong. I'm not exactly sure what the iron body parts do, I hope they help with that sort of thing. Brass knuckles and gaunlets, if not, or a generous GM might rule that punching daggers can be used with karate skill.

I really appreciate all the corrections. =^_^= At least I'm getting a bit of the hang of it.

Still, I don't quite understand some things. If anyone here has the GURPS Martial Arts book, can you explain on how the heck will you buy up a Style?

Let's say...I wanted to make a character who is a Hung Gar Kung Fu practitioner within...say...100 points. Is that possible?

P.S. Whew! Now I'm beginning to realize why many people stay away from using GURPS and other point-based systems like this, or at least from what I've heard from my peer RPers.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Fri 01 Aug 2008.

Yes, it does. While intoxicated the usual -1 or -2 to DX is treated as +1 or +2 when fighting.

Hung Gar Kung Fu cost 4 points. 1 for the style familiarity and at least 1 each in Breath Control, Karate, and Philosophy(Buddhism). Techniques and cinematic skills/techniques are all optional.

Style is a grouping of skills. When you get the 'whole style' (we'll get to what that is in a minute), you can then buy some extra abilities and skills and such. You don't actually buy 'a style' per se, although there is a style familiarity that costs 1 point and is required to get that style.

There is a set of required skills to get the familiarity. Depending on the rules, you are not allowed to buy things like techniques *unless* you have a style familiarity, and which one you are familiar with dictates which ones you're allowed to buy.

For example, I'l compare 2 styles (both off the top of my head because I don't the book). The first I'll call 'fencing' and the second 'kung fu'. They're not the book ones even if they have the same name.

The skills required to get fencing familiarity might be rapier, buckler, mathematics, and expert skill (philosphy). I know it sounds weird at first, but this is simulating a European style where the positions were taught based on geometry, and the reactions of your opponent always depended on the true motivations behind him.

The skills required to get kung fu familiarity might be Judo, Karate, and Theology (buddism). This makes a little more traditional sense, probably.

When you spend 1 point on each skill, you may then buy the familiarity and use the other abilities. Techniques might include feint, dual weapon attack, disarm, and a perk of enhanced parry for fencing, or for kung fu, kick (which is -2 for everyone who does not buy up the technique- which is everyone who does not have a style), aggressive parry, spin kick, and a perk of iron hand. (Hey, Sockpuppet, what *does* that do, anyhow?)

Everyone else, without a style, cannot buy those techniques and perks. So it depends more on how much you want to spend on a different aspects of your fighting, than exactly how much a style is. There is a 'base cost' for a style, and that is the required skills (plus 1 for the familiarity), but none of the optional stuff. That cost is usually fairly low, I think the highest is still less than 20. So, just to be a practicioner and 'have a style' costs relatively little.

After all of this, there are what is called 'cinematic skills', or advantages, or perks, whatever. The point is, it's the stuff you see in the movies, that really can't be done in real life. To get *these* abilities, you *Also* need either Trained by a Master, or Weapon Master. The type or MA you're looking at, trained by a master is better, you get whatever is in your MA included for the price. Weapon Master is only weapons (and related techniques), and it costs more the larger number of weapons it is effective for. It would be great for a fencer who used rapier, but using rapier, saber, and smallsword it's actually cheaper to go Trained by a Master (although the bonuses are slightly different, trust me you want TbaM.)

Also, if you have TbaM, you get to do rapid strikes at less penalty. That basically means, buy your skill up a little bit more, and you get an extra attack. buy up a lot more, and you get more than 1 extra.

Did this help, or just confuse? Sometimes I ramble too much...

Don't get discouraged! A point based system like GURPS make better round more realalistic characters.

It can be daunting at first but it is well worth it. As a GM I always try to a full character available for new players and a few templates as well.

It will go much more quickly once you've gotten a little experience.

How do a style's optional skills fit into that, would you count them as part of the style or not?

I think it's the styles techniques and required skills only, for the 1/10 points part. But the 'not in your style' part, at 1/20 points, she mentions 'applicable skills', and that might be almost anything...?

In reply to 2l8m8 (msg #196):

Dang! Now I understand the book! You really helped me there big-time!

Because at first, I really didn't get the concept of the Cinematic Skills & Techniques. So in order to buy them, I should first have the Trained By A Master Advantage. AND to get the Style Familiarity for that certain style, you need to first buy up the Skills (and Perks) that consist it.

That's what you're trying to say, right?

P.S. 2l8m8, you REALLY should buy the book. I depend on it a lot. Plus it's a nice read for a martial art geek like me. XDDD

In reply to scahill (msg #197):

Very daunting for a newbie like me. =>__<=

Although I have to admit. It can get quite enjoyable once I got the hang of it. =^_^=

You buy Familiarity at the same time as the main skills, it's part of the cost. Then you can buy perks after you get Familiarity.

Do not be discouraged.  It can seem a bit daunting at first but I think it is the best game system I have ever used.

Ues, that's exactly it. Buying the familiarity at the same time is kind of chicken & egg question, the whole reason you buy the techniques & perks is so you *can* buy the familiarity, but with experience points in an ongoing campaign, I might treat it either way. Onw thing that's nice, if you stick to similar styles, you don't have to buy that many skills. Going from one martial art to another might be as simple as getting training IC, and buying the familiarity, if the styles are really close.

Also, I thnk there's some rule about if you know more than one style, your opponent defends at -1? Not sure about that, though.

Yeah... I'm working on that. I have the 3E version, so I'm not completely clueless, but there's a lot of changes. Makes it more sensible, though, so I can 'wing it' easier.

I think you are thinking about style familiarity, which states there is a penalty to defenses if you aren't familiar with the style your opponent is using, either by buying the style or a style familiarity skill/perk.  Mostly going off 3e here, so correct me if I'm wrong.

If you know all the styles your oppenent knows you can reduce the defensive penalty from his feints and deceptive attacks by -1.

That's what I was thinking of. So, it's better to know more than one style. It's unlikely someone would know the same style, unless you're in some sort of martial arts tourney perhpas. But it's nearly impossible for them to happen to know both (or more) of the exact same styles. So it's in your best interest to know as many styles as you can. (Although it's a very small benefit, and might not even be worth it at all.) They won't get the negaation of a feint, and you might if one of your styles matches the opponent's only style. (Again, I still doubt more than one would match, but something as narrow as fencing might have that happen, there's only 3 or 4 total.)

In reply to Rahn (msg #202):

It's okay, though. =^_^= I find it very enjoyable, once I got the hang of things. =^_^=

Problem is, it's STILL character creation. The actual RP rules itself itself, dunno if it's complicated or not. All that I can remember here is that it's a "roll-low" type of game.

P.S. By the way, I have of this so-called " GURPS Character Assistant" program. I was planning on getting it, but I've heard mixed reactions from it.

So, from you guys, is it worth getting?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:22, Sun 03 Aug 2008.

Personally, I love it. I haven't been able to break it even hacking into stuff you're not supposed to (but be careful, if you hack the wrong stuff, it'll get all crazy with the numbers.)

It does all of the amth for you, and the real nice thing is that you can change things around in 3 seconds, and see how the points add up. In fact, I'm re-installing it as we speak. (I couldn't break it, but the laptop went kaput and took it down.)

It comes with all of the data files, so you can play around with different martial arts even if you don't have the book. (Like me...)

I'm not sure what they charge anymore, but it's a really good program that gets my recommendation if you decide to use a program. Whether you want to use one, I would also reccomend it. It makes things a lot quickr, and you can literally whip up a character in ten or fifteen minutes if you know about what you want when you start.

ten or 15 minutes?
Amatuer.
I can generally get a character done in about 5. Fairly well developed for the fact that it is all defined by rules rather than background at that point.
Where it comes in really handy is creating signifigant NPCs and having them on file ready to be brought up in a minute or less. GCA on your laptop is a must for GM flexibility in my opinion.

I'm pretty big on it myself.  It makes life so much easier since I don't have to count on my fingers and toes..

Well, I'm being realistic with a newbie. I can flash one in a couple of minutes, too, but I understand the rules, and what all the options (mostly) are, and I don't think our friend does, yet.

It *is* a great tool for exploring those options, though. You can mess around, and you'll come up on a combat technique or spell or something that looks cool you didn't know about. Of course, none of the rules are included, so you'll have to look up that cool technique to see what it does. and remember, *all* the stuff is included, so there's a high chance you won't even have that book. Other than that, though, it's great for figuring stuff out, you don't need to worry about math so much as what it actually does.

Well I got a hold of the Character Assistant right now, with the latest updates included.

And you were all right. It really makes character generation so much easier, as it eases up all the math that needs to be done.

Well, you still need the GURPS books, though, since it doesn't give out a particular description on the certain Advantage, Disadvantage, Skill, etc. Still, it IS nice, that I just don't understand why some players loathe it.

The ones I heard of that don't like it, mostly don't have computers. Which means they aren't around here... ;)

But there's a hard core set, that thinks pen and paper games should *only* be played with pen and paper. They loathe computer games, and I agree with that part to some extent, but they think the resource programs cross the line.

Personally, I look at it as a combination calculator / rules database, not the game itself. An automated character sheet. But then, I work with aoutmation and that sort of computer logic stuff every day, and see the difference between the program, and the tool it controls. Bits are bits, but not one of them ever welded a car together.

This idea has really caught my fancy and I want as many ideas on the theme as I can get!

What follows is a quote from the Steve Jackson Games Forums...

Perhaps have that as a special effect of clairsentience, innate attack: crushing, telekinesis, binding, etc....?

More newbie questions from yours truly. XDD

I've already grasped most of the character creation rules in GURPS, but I still don't quite understand the concepts of Magic and Psi powers here.

So if a GM allows it, how do you use Magic/Psi powers? All I know from the basics is that you need to buy the Magery Advantage in order to use spells. but beyod that, what else? Do you also buy spells like skills? And how do you know your "mana" amount for your character to be able to cast spells.

And finally, what's this "Unlimited Mana Rule" that I'm hearing about?

Spells are similar to skills, yes. (More or less, I know someone's going to mention stuff.) You need the advantage magery to use any, though. This is required for certain spells, and a cerain amount is required for some of the more powerful spells.

In my game, I allow players to buy that up later, as long as they have bought some already. Just like stats. Some people dont allow that.

The standard energy cost comes from fatigue points. That's one of your secodnary stats, and you can buy it cheaper than actually buying the ST. It's ven cheqaper yet, if take the limit on it 'For magic spells only'. That means, you'll get fatigue for spells, but not for running, combat, or other stuff that uses fatigue.

Unlimited Mana, or Umana, isn't mana so much as a different energy point system. It doesn't (at default- there's a lot of options) come off of fatigue. It's really a misnomer, and shouldn't be confused with anything else in GURPS that mentions mana. I also allow this in my game, but no one really wants to try it. I have set the way it works at default values, for now, because it at least gives players an idea of where to start.

Basically, it lets a mage use energy from a pool of points. These points 'heal' like hit points. They are not used for anything else, like fatigue is. When you reach 0, your chances of casting a spell without any backlash are not 100% anymore. You can, theoretically, still cast a super-huge spell. Problem is, with a super-huge negative number, you're practically gaurenteed a huge backlash, like a sucking hole to the abyss that swallows the whole party. That's why people are afraid to use it. On the other hand, if you're careful, you never get a super-huge negative number, and even if you do casting past 0, your backlash chance is fairly low, and the power of whatever is going to happen is also low.

Honestly, I'd suggest against this system as a beginner. You're almost guarenteed to not know how much spells cost, go over your limit, and cause 'bad things'. (Like in Ghostbusters...) First, if you want a mage, I'd suggest perhaps a fighter with a few spells, until you get the hang of the system. Then, perhaps a full-blown mage. That way, you'll have other options if you don't get the spells right, and when you go to a full mage, you'll be relying solely on your spells. Then, after you get the magic system, maybe fiddling around with Umana and Ritual Magic and Rune Magic and all the other goodies will actually make some sense.

That's just me, though, I tend to learn in small snippets, and try to get it down before I bite off too big of a piee to chew. ;-)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:34, Tue 05 Aug 2008.

In reply to 2l8m8 (msg #217):

I didn't know ruels for GURPS magic/psi powers would be THAT complicated, especially under that "Unlimited Mana" rule. =>__<=

But don't worry. =^_^= Of course I always try to learn things one step at the time. After all, I do need that for a system that's somewhat daunting like this...

The reason GURPS is so daunting, is because you can literally do *anything*. Don't try to do *everything* at first, just have somme fun, and you'll catch on quite quickly. :)

In reply to 2l8m8 (msg #219):

I guess that's a somewhat drawback of a generic and universal roleplaying system like GURPS, VERY daunting at first. =^__^=

Hope I can get used to this system soon...

You will. How many are you actually *playing*? That's when it all starts to make sense.

My super awakenenings game is a good one to learn in in that it is designed to be used as hands on or hands off as you chose- people who know nothing about GURPS can play it as freeform but the GURPS system is still underlying it, so if you want the mechanics exposed as you go I can do that as well.

In reply to silveroak (msg #222):

Oh, so you're the GM of that game?

I actually would love to join too, but I still don't understand the concept of "Powers" there...

Powers is another optional rulebook. If you don't have the book, it would be quite difficult to understand. GCA comes with the data, but you've already seen that it doesn't tell you anything about the rules.

How do you mean? Game mechanics wise or how they appeared in the game world or what?

In reply to silveroak (msg #225):

How they appear game-wise. =^_^=

Are you refering to the 6 questions?
Simply answer them independant of each other and I will roll a die to see which one predominates in assigning powers to your character with any unspent points.

Or What the in-game explanations is? Read the hellstrom thread- he's closer to figuring it out than anyone else. :)

I was wondering what you guys think might be probable cause for kicking a player out of your game. I've recently had that happen to me (I think), and about the only thing I could think of that I did wrong was ask a lot of questions, some of them leading to the conclusion that the GM was incorrect.

Without sounding like a whiner, I was just curious as to how offensive that was. Mind you, I was careful to (try to) be polite and didn't mention the GM was wrong, just questioning the rulings with page references when I though it might not be the way I thought it should.

I was removed from the game with no warning or acknowledgement, the next thing I knew I did not have access and the GM was posting for my character without mentioning to the opponenet in the middle of an arena fight that it is now an NPC, controlled by the GM.

By the way, if the Crimson Pirate is in this 'game', you might want to know you're fighting the GM now, not a player character named Freddie. (I never did like the RPoL convention of the GM being able to steal your character, but I can live with that part.)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:03, Fri 15 Aug 2008.

It is occssionally usefull- like when someone posts in teh wrong thread you can cut and paste to the correct thread, or when someone takes over teh character in game (mind control) or of course if they ask you to. It has been my observation that the majority of arena games are run by people with lots of ego and less intelligence. I one time got kicked out of arena game for beating the GM's friend (or maybe his favorite NPC) too easilly by preparing ahead of time instead of trying to rely oninherant 'badassness' to do the job.

For the record it was a supers arena and my character was a super- mage. I first used divination to determine the character's weakness, set up a permenant gate from my lab to the center of the arena, and then set up a vat of acid (hs weakness) and a high powered pump to fire through the gate. I then won the battle simply by pushing a button on the remote control for the pump...

Hehe. I like that. As GM, though, I would probably rule out outside interference in an arena game, personally.

On another site, the GM still has the power to control the character *as long as you're in the game*, but when you leave, you take the character with you. Here, you leave it for the GM to do with as he will.

So, aside from your (Silveroak's) game, I'm actually down to just this board on RPoL. I don't think I'll be joining any more, either, it either turns out like this, gets abandoned, or dies. Plus, I have troubles accessing, but that's able to be worked around, it's just not really worth the trouble.

It's too bad, becausse the site is good, and the admins try really hard to do good stuff. Last time, I got fed up here, it ws all software and access time issues, they've ll been fixed, I think. Even the minor little annoying things. But no one can fix the members, unfortunately.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:52, Sun 17 Aug 2008.

As a reasonable excuse for a GM myself, I'd like to pitch in that GM's can boot players for any reason they want.  Notables are unexplained absence, slowing the game down beyond the intent of the GM, or general attitude incongruent with the game.  Obviously, if I GM is going to boot a player they do it according to their own guidelines, which are generally fairly loose or else they would end up GM'ing a game with no characters.  However, the goal of any game is to keep yourself (and the majority of your players, but mostly yourself) happy, so I can totally see booting a player if they could not move on from a ruling that didn't go in their favor.  If it ruins your chi, it's only going to make the game tiring, and the alternative is shutting it down altogether.  Especially in an arena game, where fights can go several

To quote Pg. 493
As the GM, you should always listen
to reasonable suggestions from the
players – and if you make a mistake,
you should be willing to reverse your
decision. But you are the final authority,
and the court of last resort. If you
make a decision that you think is fair,
and someone insists on arguing . . .
invite him to leave the game, temporarily
or permanently. Games are
fun. Arguments aren’t.

Their character challenged my character and I offered to meet them in a week, and took that week to prepare. The other player should have realized that something was up when I asked for a week to get ready...

Well, the odd thing is, I was asking him how the rules worked, and not trying to say he was wrong or even that I believe he should change anything. I guess the last straw was when he told me how long a staff was, and I merely mentioned something like "Oh, I thought it was longer" and gave a link to a treatise on the subject showing why I thought that. I also mentioned "It doesn't really matter to me, so long as I get to use the staff skill instead of defaulting to one I don't know." (Because the staff broke, and the shortr piece was short sword skill.) So, I wasn't even questioning him *at all*, let alone arguing, and he told me I was "too argumentative".

Anyhow, I think this subject has been beat to death, thanks for replying. I'm not going back there. And I think I've done pretty well not flaming or calling any names, but I guess I just needed to vent. Thanks.

Well, as far as a week's time, that would be  bit odd in an arena. However, it's even odder that the GM kicked you out for something he allowed. Let me guess- it turned into a flame war, and he kicked out the person who was *not* his buddy, instead dumping you.

I try (really hard sometimes) not to flame people when stuff like that happens. In fact, I went back and deleted the less kind things I mentioned about my problem, even though I didn't think they were too horrible. Also, looking back, I don't think the GM was really trying to be mean with usurping the character or trying to make any point, he changed the identity when I askee him if he would delete the character. I think he decided to use a humorous one just to be funny. (Hopefully.) Whether I choose to be insulted by that or not is my view.

Which comes back to avoiding the flame war. Whatever his buddy might have said, you were right according to the GM, and you didn't cheat. I might have requested the GM to ask him to cut it out if he were complaining too much, but mostly ignored him. I was given a piece of advice (I seem to not use enough) when I got married, it applies in lots of situations, though. "You can prove you're right, or you can have peace, but rarely both." And the corollary is, 'How much of a fight is it worth to prove you're right, when *you* already know?'

Although, if I were GM, I would make sure there was a rule about not bringing outside stuff into the arena. Divining his weakness, researching a spell to target it, that would be fine to me, but opening  gate for remote assistance wouldn't. It's almost the same as calling in an artillery strike. Or an air strike. If it were unmanned aircraft, you could go fight with a remote control, and a big shield... So I really agree that it wasn't *fair*, but I also agree you didn't *cheat*, because the GM said you could do it.

Nope, no flame war, he just kicked me out for winning in a manner that his buddy considered unfair.
Now if the GM had decided that the arena judges had ruled it cheating that I could have accepted, but he just kicked me off.

After seeing the posts done by 2l8m8 and silveroak about their bad experiences in this site, now I'm beginning to have doubts on joining ANY RP game here.

And to think that I was just accepted into a BESM 3e game recently, even though my character sheet isn't technically finished...

Well, don't let my bads influence you. *Most* of the GMs around here are pretty decent. Look no further than Sockpuppet, she's an excellent GM, although I haven't had the pleasure to actually be in her games for long.

You tend to know pretty quickly when you're going to have troubles. During character creation, if the GM starts getting anoyyed at you, then it's probable it will be worse during the game.

This arena game, I made a character with Weapon Master advantage. I was told that Trained by a Master is a pre-req for this. I was also told that the abilities that are in both, do not stack. I asked for clarification, because I couldn't wrap my mind around it. So, you could not learn cinematic skills without trained by a master, no matter what the rulebook said, and you only got 1/2 penalties even though you paid for 1/4 penalties and it does say in the rules that they stack. Getting this clarified apparently annoyed him into thinking I was argumentative, although really I was trying to figure out his house rules. I could tell he was annoyed, and if your GM is doing well with you, you're probably all right. I just happen to get the ones whose personalties seem to clash with mine, I suppose. Don't give up on this site, even if I am... Silveroak certainly hasn't. There will be bad things just like anything in life, but hopefully it's more fun than not. (That's why I decided to frequent some other site, the ratio has just tipped too much the other way.) However it *is* the GM's game to add rules, and that's fine with me, as long as everyone is treated the same. I remade the character, deleting all of the cinematic skills as well as the weapon master; it just wasn't worth the points to go from 20 to 50 on a character that was only 85 to start with. I still managed to max some of the skills to the limit he imposed for starting characters, I just didn't get the extra advantages.

Here's a few things just so you know what I'm talking about:
Trained by a Master: half the penalty for Rapid Strike, or to parry more than once per turn. The GM is free to set prerequisites for this advantage if he wishes. Common examples from fiction include Judo, Karate, Melee Weapon
skills, Philosophy, and Theology. (That these are skills, and we're talking one point of prereqs, not 20 - 45 points.)

Weapon Master: You also have half the usual penalty for Rapid Strike, or to parry
more than once per turn. You may learn any cinematic skill that names this advantage as a prerequisite.

PLease keep in mind that is 1 bad experience amongst hundreds of games. Sure I've also had games break up or go quiet from inactivity on me on the board. Happens even more in real life in my experience when you ahve to get everyone in the same room for several hours a week at the same time then somebody gets a ne job, or whatever.
I'm also running over a half dozen games here so please, stick arround, find what you like and if you hit a bad game do waht you would in teh real world, move on and find another game.

In reply to silveroak (msg #235):

Ah well. Some people are just wrong. The GM I had problems with may be a bit arbitrary and have other things I don't like, but he did seem to be fair, and treat everyone by the same rules. Ones I don't argee with, and might need to have explained a couple of times because I was interpreting them my way, but he did enforce them equally for everyone I saw. Then again, I don't think he had any friends in the gmae to be prejudiced toward, it could have happened.

I just think the GM should never have allowed it, if it was such a bad thing. I mean, his buddy was going to get meared, that should have been obvious. But like I said, in an arena challenge, to me it's a given that outside stuff isn't allowed. If it were a knife fight, and someone handed a combatant a sword, that would be cheating, why would grabbing a *big* weapon from outside be any different? *If* I allowed you to do it, and I might but I'd warn you first (your character should know the rules even if you don't), I'd probably say you cheated and give you the in game penalties for that happeneing. Perhaps, if you killed the guy, paying for his ressurection. Making you indenturing to pay it off if you didn't have the money, even.

No worries, guys. =^_^= I haven't given up on this site at all. =^_^=

Well what can I do? If I wanted to play using the GURPS system, I can only do it online, as my peers don't play GURPS at all, only DnD & Amber Diceless...

Honestly, if you don't mind the atitude, and perhaps explain you're a noobie and want to ask a lot of questions, the arena game might be a good place to learn. The worst that will happen is you get kicked out. ;-) And if you do, don't take it personally. Like I said, he is pretty fair, with the game, anyhow.

I don't know if you've played any arena games, but the rules tend be fairly strict, and there's obviously nothing but combat. There's a tiny bit of roleplaying in this game, but still it's a game meant to go fight, and nothing more. I would suggest uploading the map to your PC so you can look at it whenever you want, it's a bit handier that way.

In reply to 2l8m8 (msg #237):

This arena game, I made a character with Weapon Master advantage. I was told that Trained by a Master is a pre-req for this. I was also told that the abilities that are in both, do not stack. I asked for clarification, because I couldn't wrap my mind around it. So, you could not learn cinematic skills without trained by a master, no matter what the rulebook said, and you only got 1/2 penalties even though you paid for 1/4 penalties and it does say in the rules that they stack.

Just curious about the rules in 4th edition.  Im sure that weapon master does not require trained by a master as a prereq, but that is up to the GM for balance ultimately.  I am wondering however where you read that the penalty reductions stack?  Where it discusses the penalty reductions for multiple attacks says half the penalty from one or the other, not one and the other.

It never says one or the other. It does only mention it one at a time, but does not exclude them.

I believe I was reading the SJ forums, and Dr. Kromm said they stack. I can't recall exactly, but I'm pretty sure that was where.

So technically, I believe you are correct, it does not say that in the rules. It was the GM's call that his game worked that way, you needed one to get the other, and the penalties did not stack. However, at an 85 point character, there just wasn't room for a minimum of 50 points for those two attributes. Not in my opinion, anyhow. And I don't believe it was worth it for the 30 points, either. I tried the 20 points (one weapon), but that's when I found out the 30 points was a pre-req. (It was mentioned somewhere, but like I said, I just didn't get it.)

It does mention the reductions stack for fencing, so I suppose if you have both plus fencing, you can have 1/8 penalties for rapid strike and multiple parries. Add dual weapon attack and off-hand training, you can get 5 attacks for -3, not bad. Of course it costs a lot, minimum of 56 points.

Hey, here's a question. I read in Martial Art about using multiple attacks with thown weapons. They mention using dual weapon attack, and getting a minus based on each hand, ie 2nd attack primary hand is -6, 2nd attack off hand is also -6 (not -12), for a total of 4 attacks (this doesn't count off hand, dual weapon, or other penalties). I interpreted the basic book 'trade one attack for a rapid strike' to mean you can only trade one of your two attacks. I guess this clarifies that to mean trade one attack, and then you can trade the other one, too, if you feel like it. Right? Or am I missing something somewhere?

Actually martial arts p. 48 says that the rapid strike divisors and rapid parries do *not* stack

Jeepers, 2l8m8. I didn't think it necessary to burden the other Loungers with our differences by airing them publically. But if it gives you some satisfaction to do so, at least I should respond...

In my defense, I have in the many years of participating on RPOL and Playbyweb, only booted 3 active players from my games. Certainly I have booted inactive players who were slowing down the games. I try to always make it quite clear what the posting rates are and the consequences of not sticking to them. But in the nearly 8 years of running games I can think of only 3 active players whom I removed from my games.

I do not boot players lightly.

I do not boot players for 'asking too many questions', either. I'm sure there are a number of active players in my games who can attest to that! lol  Does it sometimes get frustrating for a GM to have to answer gazillions of questions each and every turn? Sometimes. Not always. Often its only a matter of attitude that makes the difference.

In your case, your attitude and tone were adversarial and I realized very early on that you were not someone I wanted to play with and I exercised my option of making you a non-player.  Maybe there was some kind of breakdown in communication due to texting versus face-to-face interaction. Maybe you didn't 'mean' to communicate your tone in the manner I read it. But when comparing it to the other players' pleasant, cooperative, good-spirited interactions, I found yours to be unpleasant, whiny, argumentative. It was clear you didn't particularly like me or my GMing style. It was also clear neither of us was fulfilling the other's needs, so I felt compelled to put an end to our short lived relationship.

Without boring the Loungers with each and every thing you said that added to my ultimate decision to remove you, I can say that I was turned off immediately by your Request to Join.  It appeared to me you were joining for the sole purpose of getting the free PDF of Martial Arts I was offering. When I explained that I was offering the PDF only as a reward to existing players who, over time, earned enough points to add to Tactics Skill, you seemed miffed.

After Freddie parried the pouncing Pirate, and you cried foul, I did some research and concluded you were right and I was wrong. Yet, notwithstanding me catching the error, the dice still rolled that your staff broke. You seemed miffed by the fact that your staff broke, that the staff broke into two pieces, and that the staff was perceived (in my mind) to be a 6 foot staff.  In Gurps a staff is a 2 hex reach weapon. One hex is 3 feet and hence two hexes is 6 feet. That's how I determined the length. You wanted your staff to be 8 to 9 feet long. Even if your staff WAS 9 feet (ie, 3 hexes long), the Gurps rules say its a 2 hex (6 foot) long weapon. You even said there was "no reason" the staff broke into two pieces. I'm no technician in tensile strength of hardwood staffs, but I think its safe to say that if a staff broke from batting some great force into a flying body, it would probably break in two. Sure, I could have made it break in three pieces, or four or ten...but I just didn't think to do that. As it turned out, there was a 4 foot section of staff laying in the dirt that you could have wielded without penalty. I also, in pointing out my error, added the parrying damage to the Pirate to be fair.

I have no intention of extending this conversation any further from my point. I only did so to let the Loungers see my side of the story seeing you wished to argue publically.

Suffice to say there are some people who like my GMing and there are some who don't. That's the joy of having so many GM's available here on RPOL. There's something for everyone here.

I personally hold no ill will toward you. I'm just not interested in playing with you.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:47, Fri 22 Aug 2008.

Well, that's fine. I hope there's no hard feelings. The thing that annoyed me the most was you taking the character over, kicking me out, and not even saying anything about it to me. You'd think you'd let me know if you have a problem, but I guess not.

Here's a few points that might have been mistaken, on both of our parts:
The 'no reason' was because I didn't realize he was doing a slam, whaich has quite a different modifier than a grapple (which the player stated he was doing, and may be completely correct for my third person view, so long as he told you privately the correct maneuver).
The PDF would have been nice, although I was interested in trading for it. I wouldn't say 'miffed' so much, as disappointed there was one & only one method you wished to share it. I have gotten that particular book, before the completion of that character's creation, in fact. Probably better anyhow, copyright rules and all.
I believe there was some breakdown in communication. I never complained about the length of the staff, I merely mentioned what I thought it was. At 4 feet, it could easily have been broadsword skill, which is what I was worried about. You were letting me use staff skill, and that's all that mattered, and I said so. I merely included some historical reference so you could see why I thought the staff was longer. As for reach, rapiers are not 6', yet have 2 heach reach. Halbers are not 12', yet have 3 hex reach. So while it is a rough idea, the weapon length is not tied exactly to the Reach stat.

A rather basic question, but necessary nevertheless.

Exactly how do YOU create a character in GURPS? No, I don't mean the mechanics of character creation, how to spend your points, blah blah blah. What I mean is how do YOU really create a character that's fit to a campaign, and to yourself?

Because whenever I look back at my previous creation attempts, I finally realized that I'm spending my points willy-nilly with random result, and hope to play soon. Now I finally realized that there's still more depth to it than simply creating a "powerful" character.

But it gets too hard, as it's easy to lose yourself due to the LARGE possibilities available to you. In other game systems (d20, to be exact), it's rather easy. Pick a class, roll your stats, that's it. But it GURPS, there's no classes, nor even template guidelines for beginners (at least, that's what I saw in the book), so it gets really hard to create a character concept from there.

You may not have a class, but you should have some sort of guideline- what they do, what people's first impression of them might be.. personally I use the GCA so it's easy to toss teh numbers arround as I see teh overall character coming into shape. It's a bit like artwork that way...

Game world...


It's 2008, but a 2008 different than in our world. Magic and technology co-exist. The world is divided into haves and have nots. Certain bloodlines allow people to do magic. Guilds like the corporations wield enormous power.

Let's see... my first step will be to come up with the hook.

I like the idea of someone that's magically null in a mana world. He's going to need an edge, so he'll probably be good in a fight.

From there, I've got the idea. He's a detective. He's good with with people in a rough-hewn sort of way.

Now it's just a matter of running the numbers.

Yeah, I like the 'hook' and 'first impression' ideas. I'm similar, but I tend to go at it backward, simply because it makes it easier.

Here's my (always modified as I rarely do it exactly the same) general way:
I figure out what sort of guy I want. Perhaps some hi-tech guy would be a mechanic / engineer type, or fantasy might be a mage, etc. That gives you a real general idea of what you're going to want.
I use GCA, like mentioned because you can see what's happening, spend time on creating instead of having numbers floating around that don't create a picture.
So you've already got some things you'll need. I start here with abilities and advantages, because they're the most expensive. Around this time, I start getting a little more idea of individualizing. Let's use the mage for an example from here on in. I'll need IQ, magery, and a decision whether to be a fighter or not. Buying IQ up to 14 or 16 (depending on campaign points, of course) is probably going to be too high, but I do it anyway so I have those 'reserved'. It's much easier to trim down, than pump up later. I think I'll go with a non-fighter, strictly spell casting. We'll go with a stereotypical Raistlin mage, excellent spell caster but lousy at just about everything else.

When you make that decision, it really narrows your focus. If you can narrow things down a lot like that, it makes it way easier. I pretty much eliminated all but the very basic combat skills, suddenly got a whole slew of disads I could pick, and have one major area to be an expert in, all in one fell stroke. You may not want to narrow down this much, but I find if you have a fairly balanced party, you can do it without much trouble.

So, we buy some health disads, sickly kind of guy might simply be a low HT, but there's all sorts of things. Even a dependence on a certain medicine / potion is appropriate. I like to get the disads in right when I'm firming up the individuality of the character, it helps to get the concept tighter in my mind.

Now, obviously there's some things you're going to want to do. I tend to go through the list (on GCA) and pick all of the advantages I might like, sort of a wish list. Then I do the same for skills. Checking back on the stats, I make sure the abilities are bringing the skills about where I them to be.

Now, I'm sure to be way over the point total. I start deleting things, I might get rid of that chemistry skill, since the GM would probably allow some sort of magery roll at a minus. I see what pre-reqs the spells need, and probably drop the IQ and magery, because as I've said, I always buy more. Now, it's time to decide: A lot of spells, or a few spells at a really good roll? I try to get a lot of spells, nd then see how high I can get the roll for all of them. If you have 30 spells, a +1 for each is 30 points. +1 IQ, which gives +1 for each, is only 20 points, and mgery giving +1 for each is only 10 points. Needless to say, I'm frequently asking the GM what the limit on magery is. (Standard in the books is 3 levels).

Eventullay, you'll bring the points down to where they need to be, and you'll be paying a lot of attention to what you really want / need, as opposed to what you think you want / need. That's mostly why I buy a lot, and boil it sown, so to speak. You tend to distill the character a lot. However, you need to be careful to want stuff out of your area, too. A mage who doesn't know how to read, can't throw anything (including a missile spell), and has absolutely no defense probably isn't a good idea.

Hope this helps. ;-)

There are also some 'magic numbers' to keep in mind: 12 is competant, 14 professional when it comes to skills. 15 is the magic number for magic, which means IQ+magery of 17 is ideal (1 point in a spell gives you 15). So if I am making a mage and it is a low to medium point game *and* teh GM allows it I take IQ:12 (40 points) and magery:5 (55 points), however frequently GMs put a cap of 3 or 4 on magery so you have to buy up your IQ to compensate.
For stats ask yourelf 'what is he generally good at' and if teh answer is more narrow than a stat plan on buying a tallent as well- they are cheaper and more focused and most of them have a secret point break where a single skill they modify has multiple uses: such as engineering which has required specializations.

Also, I forgot to mention defaults. If I want a character to have some thiefly abilities, for example, but not be the specialist, I like to buy sleight of hand. Pick pockets and holdout both default to this, and an interesting thing is that holdout is IQ while sleight of hand is Dx based. That means you can get a good holdout with a lousy IQ that way.

Weapons are another one with lots of defaults. You want to be decent with broadsword, and ok with shortsword? Well, shortsword defaults to broadsword (I think it's -3). So you don't need to buy all of the skills you think you want to be marginal at, just take a look at defaults.

Here at work without rulebooks.

Scenario:

Joe and Fred are 1 hex apart.
In round 1 Joe feints Fred successfully.

In round 2 Fred realizes he's been feinted so moves backward 3 hexes so he's now 4 hexes away from Joe. Joe runs 3 hexes forward and attacks.

Question:  Does the feint in Round 1 still have its effect against Fred's defenses in round 2?

Thanks for your help.

BS pg. 365

"If you make your roll, and your opponant fails, subtract your margin of success from the foes active defense if you attack him with Attack, All-out-Attack, or Move and Attack on your next turn."

Right, but doesn't the rule usually say the feint is only good from 1 hex away?  Not sure where I saw that.

In other words, does a victim of a feint negate the feint by moving further than 1 hex away from the feinter?

Not sure, I don't remember reading anything like that.

The quote I just posted includes the move and attack maneuver which requires movement beyond a step.

Same page further down.

"However, if your foe runs away, turns his back on you, or loses sight of you in some way after you successfully feint, he will still suffer his defense penalty if you attack him on your next turn."

Ah! That's perfect and exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks Morennyn!

(sigh)...

I have a player wanting to try out a concept that challenges me.

He wants to name his character Mr. Potato Head.  He wields a potato-peeler as a weapon. He said his main tactic will be to peel the skin off his opponent's shins.

I am assuming a potato-peeler would be treated as a poor-quality knife (from a skill standpoint). I wonder what kind of damage a potato-peeler wielded in the above fashion, would inflict? 1d-10?

Oh cripes! Now he wants to employ Dual Weapon Attack, using the potato peeler in his right (on hand) and a potato-masher in his off hand.

1d-6 skinning and blunt bashing both, I'd say. Realistically speaking, potatoe peeler cuts are painful, but hardly damaging. I assume if you really skillfully removed most of the skin along the shin, there'd be a good sized wound, though.

I'm not even going towards how stupid that is, but we all had to improvise weapons in our roleplaying careers, didn't we? :P

True, one Spy I played had to kill a man with a Barbie Doll leg.

Maybe if he were a submission wrestler of some sort he could pin his opponants and slowly skin their shins until they cry uncle. Some variant of arm lock and applying pain vs damage?

Essentially a potato peeler is a poor quality very small knife with a safety guard to make it very difficult to hurt yourself *or* use it as a weapon. I'd say make them use knife skill at -9 and damage if they hit is 1d-5.
A potato masher is a cheap club...

Or, you could just tell him it's a *Potato* peeler, and really doesn't work well on skin. Tell him it'll do 1 point, minus armor or toughness. Maybe he'll get the idea it's a poor weapon choice? (Thats the same as 1D-5 or 6, isn't it? I think there's a min of 1.) Also, potato masher would be 'cheap' and light for purposes of parrying / breakage, I've bent them using them for actually mashing potatoes... (Is there an 'E' in that? Where's Dan when you need him?)

Oh my damage selection is based on a mousebite (which I seem to remember to have found on a sidebar in the 3rd edition basic book somewhere).

I think the potatoe peeler will deal at least as much damage as a mousebite (minus the risk of rabies or whatnot, usually). Depending on the make and model, damage could be a lot worse.

With something like this http://www.falko.de/shop/popup...a7212bde70b4cb38d7ba I'm tempted to make it a funcion of basic thrust, really.

A strength 20 attacker could use that to kill someone - probably not using the normal "peeling" functionality, but it's a pointy metal object. Much like.. say.. a fountain pen or a letter opener.

Anyone have a supers game planned? I've been looking for something to use that 500 point super mage in. Actually with some tweaking the template would probable be good for standard fantasy as well.

Speaking of magic, does anyone have Thaumatology yet? What do you think of it?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Mon 08 Sept 2008.

I still have my playtest copy, not sure what has been changed since then. Most of it was pretty good, though there was a lot that was lifted from 3rd ed without enough effort being put into 4th ed adaptation when I looked at it. (my understanding is that unlimited mana was transplanted with no adaptation for energy pools or black contracts or other additions to the magic system in 4th edition, which opens up huge rifts of potential abuse... especially since the rules for black contracts are being expanded for non-demonic contracts of a similar nature (unless that got cut). But in general it is a good book.
I do have a couple of supers games running but nothing you could use the mage template in... it does assume a few varient rules in it's construction...

The only variant that really jumps out is the new wildcard, Magic!, what else?

There's one on PbW, but not only does it have a mage already, it's 3E. It *is* a 500 point supers game that allows mages, though...

It assumes the GM allows power reserves for magic (power reserves are technically an alternate rule, though one fairly widely used)- I don't in most fantasy games, and that the mana level is normal, which is not true for most of my supers games. Plus the Magic! wildcard skill is a pretty big assumption.

on the potato peeler: I'd probably say that it does actual damage (because you can scrape at someones leg with it for quite a while without really threatening their life).  However, roll.. perhaps 1d-4 and treat it as damage for purposes of pain/shock only.

Obviously, if somehow the character manages to get into a situation where the peeler becomes obviously lethal against all odds, then adjust accordingly.

Does anyone know the email address to Dr. Kromm?

seanm.punch@sympatico.ca

Thanks Silv

I'm working on creating my own setting for GURPS Fantasy.  I was wondering if people were interested in taking a look at it and giving feedback?

Of course.  I'd be interested in seeing it and I'm sure other would as well.  What kind of community would we be if we weren't interested?

thinking- do I want to see the setting or keep the option of being suprised if I play it?

Cool.  I didn't want to just start spamming stuff in here if people weren't interested. :)  Right now my two biggest issues are names and maps.  I suck at both. :)

What would y'alls suggestion be to disseminate it?  I'm working on putting it up in a wiki right.  I don't wanna do a bunch of spammy messages here, so should I just give a link to the wiki?  What do y'all think?

TIA.

PS As for playing it, it wouldn't happen here, silveroak.  RPOL is a cool site and I'm glad it exists, but I've sadly come to the conclusion that any sort of play by post/email game is just not for me.  I've tried a lot of them, both as a player and GM, and they never work out.  I've moved to doing realtime games using voice chat.

If I had more gamers where I live I might agree with that sentiment. So bring on the setting, let's see if we can help.

Sure, give us a link.

H...hi, guys. =^_^=

As you can see, I'm new around here, and I just wanted to start off by saying that I came here to learn more about GURPS and roleplaying in general.

You see, GURPS is an interesting system for me, but none of my acquaintances here are willing to try it out, referring to their past experience that their GURPS game only lasted for...one day, before cutting it short.

Well, I am a long time GURPs player, and back when I had local groups, we had individual games last 4 years, and the group in general last for 12 years. So its defenitely not intended to be a one night stand.

However, all said, it is a complicated and involved system, because it is modeled on realism. You train individual skills, rather than all going up at once based on 'levels'.

Given the very slow pace of forum play, it takes a hecka lotta patience and dedication to learn this way. Its much easier and more rewarding in a tabletop group.

Another long time GURPS player here and I agree tabletop is a great way to learn to play this system. However learning to play online is not impossible. With the right GM running a beginners game your knowledge of the system can grow quickly. Patience and dedication will come in handy but there should be lots of fun along the way.

As for learning more about role-playing, the fact you’re open to improvement is very encouraging. Things don’t always happen overnight here on RPoL. Just hang in, give it time and the right game will appear. Or if you want to give it a little push, drop an ad in the Wanted-GM's forum.

So I finally got some of my setting up and posted.  Unfortunately, it seems like what's in my brain doesn't like the transition to the wiki. :(  The link is here.

http://www.cyrrin.com/gaming

Click on the Kingdom of Heaven link under GURPS.  I'm not happy with the name, but I haven't come up with a better one.

Any suggestions relating to any part of it are welcome.  I'm adding more stuff as I can, but I'm trying to figure out the best organization of the information.

Okay, it turns out I have a specific question I need answered.  I've worked out details for a half-celestial race(children of the gods, basically), but I'm having trouble figuring out ads/disads for them.  I'd like to have a decent selection and allow the player to pick 10-20 points out of the list, but I've run out of ideas for them.  I don't want to make them standard(which is what I have now), because then every half-celestial of that god will be rather cookie cutter. :(

Oh, and what supernatural/exotic ads would you recommend for the child of the goddess of feasts?  I'm thinking kind of like Dionisius but not focusing as much on alcohol.

create food is an obvious one though I don't like the current rules when it comes to consumables (perhaps allowing them to get an income based upon create rather than having to invest and lose points), doesn't eat with a special effect that they always seem to be eating (pulling some food item from somewhere that doesn't require any real world orrigins), gizmo limited to food, detect (food) or other forms of detect for foodborne illness or poison...

Create food, etc are spell, though.  I would prefer to avoid duplicating spells, since that would be the domain of the preists.

i like the doesnt eat suggestion

 The children of gods are forbidden powers that replicate the spells of their priests? Seems a bit arbitrary to me...

Well, the priests get the food spells.  I want to avoid duplicating things.  Since if one were to be a child and a priest, then they would have the same thing twice.

Also, I think I'm gonna use threshold magic for priests.  I'm trying to figure out how to work holy symbols, etc in.  I'm thinking maybe a +1 skill if the caster has his holy symbol while casting?

or buffer items can only be enchanted onto holy items.

I'm going to be running a Black Ops campaign early next year, using 4e rules. Would anyone here be interested in that?

In reply to Ninja D! (msg #293):

Yes - however I don't own the books for it. Just the Basics.
So if you are prepared to deal with a lot of the specialized things, I'm on.

I'd bet a lot of the people that will want to play won't have the book since it is out of print. I will be posting a lot of background information because of that fact. Some will even come straight from the book.

I'd be potentially interested, but I've never actually played 4e, only 3rd, so I might need a hand adjusting to the changes

I've been in one game like that which fell appart rather quickly- I'd make sure you put some real time into the conversion from 3rd to 4th ed. I think the failure to do that was the first thing that went wrong with the other game.

I am. It won't be exact but I don't want it to be, either. It will be less cinematic and I will be doing things my own way but I've worked out templates and things. I will also recruit plenty of players, knowing some won't last, and have NPCs fill any gaps.

Huh?  Not quite sure what you mean by this.

In unlimited mana instead of power stones you have buffer items, if the buffer items have to be holy symbols...

   HAPPY :)
  <3 HOLIDAYS!
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-Veronica

Hello everyone,

I am Silvaraven, a GURPS 4e player and an aspiring GM. Nice to meet you all!

Hello Silvaraven. I'm another newbie to the group, so hi everyone.

Hey Irishman, check my game, it may help you get a grip of GURP's combat system. Don't expect gritty realism though.

If anyone may still want in, I am running a 4e GURPS Black Ops game.

link to another game

Has anyone here run a GURPS Black Ops game before? If you have, what kinds of resources did you use outside of the GURPS Basic Set (and Compendia, for 3e) and the GURPS Black Ops book did you use? What did players like? What did they dislike? Did you have any ideas that you never tried but would share now? Did you keep any notes in a format that you could make them available to me now? I want to run the best game I possibly can.

Next, has anyone here played in a GURPS Black Ops game before? What did you like about it? What didn't you like? What would you have liked to see happen or be done differently?

Also, if anyone wants to join my game as a lurker, they are welcome to do so. There may even be the chance for lurkers to play NPCs, if they would like.

I notice there is not much happening around here, so in the interest of starting some conversations, I'm going to pose this question to everyone.

What's your favourite GURPS supplement?

I'm going to go with the old GURPS Celtic Myth book, as the setting was different to what you would expect of the fantasy genre, and there was lots of research for portraying realistic Celtic societies as well as mythical heroes. And it's nice to Ireland featured so prominently in a role playing supplement.

To Ninja D: Sorry, I have no experience of Black Ops so I have nothing to offer about the setting.

I've played in Fantasy quite a lot (Yrth with Magic, Grimoire).
Also played a lot in Space (which needs Ultra-tech and Vehicles to pep it up).
I ran several alternate history timelines, which used HighTech and bits of Old West, one game also added bits of Rifts.
All those mentioned were tabletop campaigns lasting several years.

On-line, I guess I'm fairly dissatisfied. Burnt out. Hard to feel the vibe.

My favorite supplement would have to be Black Ops. A distant second, I think, would be the Action! series, followed by Covert Ops.

I always liked Super Temps. That's always been my favorite silly supplement.

In case you all hadn't heard about it, there is a group here on RPoL that has been created to teach new players the game. Some people are even running learning games in it. A noble cause, I would say.

link to another game

I've been searching for a super hero based, or somewhat day to day living simulation with GURPS 4E.  Regardless of which or what genre/setting they're placed in, I had a few character concept ideas I'd like to work through in painstakingly rich detail.  The hero/villain/supporting role concept that won't get out of my head is the crippled scientist with no powers whatsoever but has such vision and engineering excellence implimented that the resulting technologies are more than influential, etc etc.  I can play solo, with others, on a team, etc, the concepts are all maleable.

GURPS: Stephen Hawking!

Almost.  Concept revolves around a neurosurgeon who's crippled in a tragic accident and returns to work with a zeal.  S/he advances the sciences of prosthetic replacements and the way they communicate with the body, in addition to brain manipulated electronics to restore control, sight, memory, etc.  During the process of this work the character has to delve into other sciences such as nanotechnology.  Mind you the scientist is holding two careers actively, one where public work is done on important cases around the country but mostly in New York, but more secretly, working for the Department of Defense on new remote controlled/neurally controlled interfaces etc etc.

Sounds interesting.

I've got a thread up in Game Proposals about this, but I thought I'd bring it up here for some more in depth GURPS discussion of the subject.

Basically I'm looking to run a game set in one of TSR's old settings - mostly to get some use out of all the books in my garage.  I've done this twice before, setting the game in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms, and have a full set of rules/conversions written up.

I'm not using Dungeon Fantasy, because even when I ran DnD back in the day, that wasn't the 'feel' I went for.

This time around I'm looking to either reprise Greyhawk/Forgotten Realms, or move into a new setting.

Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Mystara, Al Quadem - I suppose I could also manage a GURPS Planescape game, but I'm a little planescaped-out at the moment.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:50, Fri 30 Jan 2009.

Hey, don't worry about the Planescape setting, man.  If you ever feel like returning to it, though, let me know.

I'd put in a vote for Ravenloft or Dark Sun, actually.  I never played a campaign in either (our games were always homebrew worlds back in the day), but the settings always intrigued me.

I think a Dark Sun game would be great.

Anyone know about any games that have something similar to a Heroes (The tv show) theme going on?

There are a number of superpower-themed games going on right now.  If you search through the active games that are currently requesting players, there are three GURPS games that you could join.

I don't know if any are specifically like Heroes, though.

I don't know of any like that but I know once the second mission starts, my Black Ops game would be a suitable home for the character you described in your Wanted - GMs thread.

Hey Ninja, if you wanted to throw together your templates into the base character sheet my concept would aim towards, I'd give it a looking over to see if it fit my playable agenda.   As I've mentioned before, I've had your game in my list from previous perusal.

The Black Op Template with the Tech Op lens and Gadgeteer lens (probably with the addition of Quick Gadgeteer) would be what I would think. When I get the time, I can try to put together an idea a bit more detailed than that.

Thanks. :)

How many people have Thaumatology for 4th ed?

I do.

Me too.

I'm a proud owner :-)

So - are you working on starting any new games soon? Is there something we can look forward to?

Or is there something you wish you could get going, but it just doesn't seem feasible right now?

This message was deleted by the player at 19:20, Sun 03 May 2009.

Alright.  Fantasy arena game focused on and utilizing GURPS Magic.  Thoughts?  Restricting which spells may be used is an obvious.

Well... thi is just a thought, and not really a fully-formed idea, but one-spell wonders? Seems to me there's plenty of spells that could be devastating if you were really good at them, and you don't need to be a generalist in an arena.

Make it 2 or 3 instead, and you're golden. (Maybe.)

Well, all the really cool spells have a number of prerequisites.  I wonder, though - could a wizard-character compete against non-wizards?   Would they have an edge?   Would spellsword be superior to full mage or full warrior?

I'm seeing 100 point characters, advantages and disadvantages limited to what'd matter in an arena setting, using Characters, Martial Arts, and Magic.  Thrown weapons okay, but no purely missile weapons.  Variable tactical maps, but 8x8 hexes being standard.

With 100 point characters it would seem reasonable to limit magery to 1. It would serve to limit the spell options without much work as well. A mortal combat sort of area sounds like fun, focusing on unarmed cinematic combat with some minor spell effects as "chi powers". Each fighter could have a special fatality magic attack.

As special rewards for events perhaps access to spells normally allowed only to magery 2+ of the GM's choosing.

Well, the knacks have been changed to be almost useless. They're the same as if you were a mage now, basically, except you don't get to cast the prereqs you had to pay for. (Useless IMO except as special effect). But there's some sort of min-max way to tweak it, I'm sure, so long as you keep an eye out for that, it might be fun. (Unless I'm doing the tweaking... :P )

In reply to silveroak (msg #325):

I got it, I'm using a conglomeration of alternate rules for my runecasting system from thaumatology, in my game which I'm just about to advertise in the other thread.

Anybody know of any GURPS conversions for Nightbane?  I really like the setting, but lately the Palladium ruleset has begun to wear on me.  I'm looking at converting things to GURPS, but I'd like to find out if anyone has started on this before.

TIA.

Just a curious question.

I wonder if GURPS can also be used as a system for an anime-themed campaign, or even something that is based on video games.

I tried looking here, but it seems like there's none of them.

GURPS can be used for EVERYTHING! but I don't really like it when it is used to run Supers

In reply to steelsmiter (msg #339):

Eh? Why is that?

I don't know just something I don't like about how the points break down...

In reply to steelsmiter (msg #341):

Hmmmmm...

After seeing the rules of GURPS, maybe you're right on that. It's best if the Hero System is used in a supers game.

But...I dunno.