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Change my mind ...

GURPS is very flexible and one can use it for almost anything you want.

I've been away from gaming for a while, so my rules knowledge is fuzzy at the moment.

My gut feeling is that what I want to build is some sort of malediction or innate attack, but I'm not entirely sure of the pieces.


Some Context: In the old Gauntlet video games, you could be tagged "it." This meant that all creatures would target your specific character and essentially ignore everybody else.

More Context: I wanted to post this idea in the DF Megadungeon thread on the SJ Games fora.

The Idea: I have an idea for a Dungeon Fantasy encounter which would involve an undead skull. In my head, I imagine it as a modified version of either a Flaming Skull or a Horrid Skull. Upon entering a room, the skull will activate and use an "attack" which tags one of the PCs as being "it." When this happens, blue portals will activate and (modified) Horde Zombies will swarm out: seeking the destruction of whomever is "it."

-Whomever is "it" will be relentlessly pursued.
-The zombies get a bonus on attacks against whomever is "it."
-The zombies are a little faster than normal zombies, but they only move toward and attempt to attack whomever is "it."
-The zombies have some limited ability to sense the general direction of whomever is "it."
-The Skull cannot use the "It" attack again while someone is currently "it." The attack only recharges after the target dies.



Whomever is "it" can "tag" somebody else and transfer being "it" to a different target. (But the Horde Zombies are immune to being "it." Fleeing to a different room and tagging a random NPC or wandering monster does work though, and may be a tactic to use.)



I'm completely aware that DF Monsters need not follow the rules. I think it may be best to simply describe what the ability does and not bother working out actual rules for it. However, I'm curious if there is a legitimate way to do this.

Also, I am trying to figure out the general in-game function of how the attack works. Doing so will help flesh out if there are defenses against the attack or other ways way to get rid of the effect.

My initial thought was to have the Skull shoot some sort of "fireball" at a target, with the only valid defense being to dodge (because a parry or block would still mean being touched by the attack.) I think a visual element will help convey to the players what happened to cause the effect.

I have also considered making the attack some manner of aura or malediction, but I don't know what makes sense as an ability to attempt resisting the attack. I would like to avoid an attack which simply hits and allows no defense. I also prefer the visual cue of a beam or some ball of energy.


Rough Ideas for the creature(s)

Party Skull - stats as a Flaming Skull, but with the following changes: IT:Diffuse changes to IT:Undead; speed is increased to 10; the flaming bite attack is replaced with the ability to make someone be "it"

Party Zombies - stats as Horde Zombie, but with the following changes: +2 Cosmic bonus to attacks, skill checks, and ability checks versus whomever is "it"; increase Speed to 6; increase move to 5; gains Absolute Direction (It) which functions as Absolute Direction in regards to "It" rather than North; extra noisy (see below)

As I envision the skull, it is wearing a jester hat. The zombies are dressed in some manner of festive party clothing. This causes them to be extra noisy because of worn bells (or similar item). Upon seeing whomever is "It," some of them are compelled to blow into a kazoo (or similar party favor) to announce their arrival.

So if one of the Non-IT characters goes over and smashes the crap out of the skull, what happens?

I'm undecided.

Idea 1: It removes the "It" condition. (I'm favoring this idea.)
Pro: I believe that would seem most intuitive.
Con: I'm not sure this is exactly a con, but the skull doesn't have much of a way to fight back.
-Part of the challenge could be being able to attack the skull (which can fly and move quickly).
-I've considered giving the skull a weak secondary attack. It would be a ranged attack which doesn't inflict damage, but is an annoyance in some way. I was thinking dbl knockback modifier, with the idea being that the skull just tries to avoid contact.


Idea 2: The skull is dead and the "It" condition cannot recharge, but the target remains marked as "It" until the condition is transferred to someone else or the zombies are killed.
Pro: Possibly more challenging.
Con: I feel as though this is counter-intuitive from an in-game problem-solving perspective. My gut feeling is that it would be unfun for a player to do what seems logical and to have it not work without explanation.

Other things I've considered as optional details for encounters
-If the skull is attached to a specific room, smashing the skull releases a psychic scream and the room begins to do a cliche 80s movie crumble. (This would be made intentionally very obvious, with plenty of time to safely leave.)
-Given the party theme, a secret (lore) way to deactivate the skull might be to offer a gift or sing a festive song associated with whatever occasion for which the skull and zombies are dressed.

1. can be pretty difficult, especially if the skull can fly up out of reach.

Applying a wet blanket might cause the hex to be lifted and the skull to go back to it's pedestal. The zombies either dissipate or all sigh and go back into their respective closets.

The '80's crumbling room might be cool too. It takes out any Zombies still inside the room.  The room could reset in some period of time too. It might be worth having a significant treasure hidden in the room as well.

The skull gives all the monsters Intolerance ("It") when activated. When destroyed, it stops sending out this psychic (or whatever) pulse.

Question:

If a Wizard casts Minor Healing on Fred multiple times in the same day, I understand it that the Wizard's casting is at -0 the first time; then -3 the second time; then -6 the third time and so on and so forth, is that right?

What about Major Healing?  The book suggests its always at -3 no matter how many multiple times you cast Major Healing on the same person in the same day.  Was it Steve Jackson's intent to make the penalty exponentially worse also, like Minor Casting?

The community's wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Sara

"-3 per casting" means -3 per time you've already cast it.  It was a badly carried over copypasta error from 3e.  It's meant to be identical in this regard to the Minor Healing spell.

Thank you Eeyore!

One of my players asked about my Favorite characters. Now I'm longing to play a GURPS Cyberpunk character who's not had a good record of games lasting.

In reply to Rockwolf66 (msg # 17):

How many CP? We have a kind of Shadowrun thing happening in Interstellar wars universe in one thread at the moment...

Currently at 175cp. He's been in a few games. He's actually intended for late TL8 ~ Early TL9 games.

In reply to Rockwolf66 (msg # 19):

So TL 10 might just work depending on the level of Cyberware or Bioware he has. G:ISW have about TL8 for that...

He's made for a High TL:8/ Low TL:9 setting. You get high tech stuff like cyberware but your local gang member is likely to have something like a Lorcin L-25.

His original GURPS setting was a near future Pacific Northwest. The character does have a backstory and both friends and enemies.

Can anyone point me to the rule for a person breaking a chain that is shackling them to a wall? (or better yet give me the rule!) Figure a TL 3 iron link chain affixed to a neck collar and affixed to a ring well mortared into the stone wall.

Generally, breaking objects are treated the same way as breaking people.  Objects are given DR and HP, usually with the injury tolerance (homogeneous page B60) with failure possible at 1/3 HP and imminent at 0 HP.  Generally, iron would have a DR of 4 and HP dependent on weight.  It depends on how complicated you want to make it, really.  You could treat the whole chain as one object that is easy to hit (SM 0/-1) with a high HP (around 24 HP), or treat every link and the ring well as individual objects which are much more difficult to hit (SM -4/-7) though with much less HP (maybe 6).

Rules for damage to objects are on page B483 and the Object HP table is on B558.

Hope that helps.

GURPS Action 2 Exploits and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2 Dungeons come in handy here.

Forcing:  Quick Contest of ST vs objects DR+HP, Character gets +2 for having the right equipment (like a crowbar) and bonuses from Forced Entry (+1 if at DEX +1, +2 at +2).  Success busts a link or overcomes the wall attachemnt.  Repeated attempts have a cumulative -1 and cost 1 FP apiece.



Treat chains as bars of the same material and thickness.  For ropes... eh, this isn't very realistic.  I'd honestly triple a rope's stat for this QC.

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 24):

But ropes would have very little DR to represent vulnerability to wear...

I'm not discussing wear, I'm mentioning "bursting".  IE forcing a door, snapping restraints, yanking chains from walls, in one sudden burst of violence.

If someone is assaulting a rope over time, ie wear, just use the rules as presented in GURPS Basic as Raddek mentioned.  But against a sudden snap or yank?  Rope's elasticity should be represented, which the rules I quoted from Action and DF do not well represent (because they were explicitly written for kicking in doors).

Thanks for everyone's wisdom! I appreciate it! :)

And it's occured to me I've never played straight up Yrth GURPS Fantasy.
I have the books but I have never played the setting.

Until recently, neither have I.  One reason I suppose that there are not as many "stock" Yrth games and campaigns out there is due to the very nature of Gurps.  The toolbox aspect of the system makes it so desirable for a GM to make their own world.

Also, unlike some other systems, the basics of Gurps Fantasy are not hardwired into a specific setting (or settings).  Plus, Yrth (the setting) is not so extremely detailed.  While the detail can be interesting, all it takes is one canonista to make things less fun when the GM changes things.

Another thing that some players and GMs don't like about Yrth is the inclusion of real world religions and much less of classic mythology (or ones completely made for a specific setting).

These are just a few things that come to my mind as to why there are fewer Yrth set games as opposed to home brewed settings.

I do know of at least one Yrth set game (and it is great) here on Rpol, but I'm sure there are more.

I have been running one for years, changing here and there as people or groups come and go.
Right now i have one player, Blue Dwarf and he can provide his thoughts on Yrth camapigns, he has been in many of mine.

I concur, if you want absolute GURPS by the book, no changes, everything in the open, you need to be playing D&D.
The system is a giant guide, which you can take or leave as you wish, change as you see fit and have a good time.
I for one, think the story is the reason to game and the mechanics are just to facilitate the story, not drive it.
I sometimes push players in a direction, but they are free to refuse to go there, althought that may be come a part of the story.
Anyway, Yrth is a decent background for a Mediaeval or early Renaissance game.

In reply to Aethulred (msg # 30):

In my experience so few people actually know or understand history of religions in reality they may as well be fantasy, hence the inclusion of real life religions by name, but in reality far from them simply gives real life names to fantasy religions. I don't see why that should offend people. I always saw Yrth as a subset of dungeon fantasy...with low magic. Perhaps it is the low magic part that is off-putting to players.