I'm considering trying something new.

To run a modern-day thriller (which I've never done before) in a cinematic and somewhat supernatural setting. And to try to keep that kind of feel in the story, I would need players willing to post daily (at least Monday through Friday, I'm online on Saturdays too, but not on Sundays).

I will have some input on the backstory of each PC, like the fact that they are all women (though players don't have to be). But most of the backstory will still be left to the player as will all the approximately 300 character points you have to create your GURPS 4e character. These characters will be "normal" people with "normal" jobs that suddenly are thrown into circumstances that aren't normal.

I am considering using the mature flag on this game (which I've never done before either), but as I don't like swearing, there won't be any actual swear words in the game.

Is this something that would be interesting to people?
This message was last edited by the user at 17:41, Tue 22 Mar 2016.

Look into the game and background behind Delta Green and/or Call of Cthulhu.

Maybe?  GURPS would work for it, though I honestly think there are better systems out there for it.  Delta Green has a lot of sanity mechanics that are very interesting.  Fear Itself is actually very good for the horror movie feel.

Overall... you may be better off rating it Adult than Mature.  Horror movie tropes really skew hard toward adult.

If you are interested in the Delta Green rules, I've been running a game with them and have most of them posted (with permission) in the game.  I'll happily discuss them with anyone.  (I'm part of the playtest group.)

I'm going for thriller, not horror. And I definitely don't want it to be adult.

I have played Call of Cthulhu, but I don't have the opportunity to run anything in that system. And though I've heard of Delta Green, I've never played it, so I cannot use that system either. The settings might give me some ideas though.

Thank you for offering the rules, but I don't really have the time to learn another set of rules at this time.

Assuming you stick with GURPS, I'd probably drop point values to 100 or 150.  300 is a lot for a "normal" person, unless you're going for super-competent FBI agents or something.  If you play things out episodically, it can work well to start at 100 point for Suzy the Secretary, introduce the bizarre circumstances, and then give a big slug of points to allow Suzy to adapt to the new reality and all of that.

My warning on adult is that a lot of stuff with gore, corpses, and the like can verge into adult material pretty quickly.  "Adult" is not the same thing as "sexual" (though that can be a reason for it to be adult).  You're almost certainly going to end up in the wide grey area between "mature" and "adult", per the rules, and it's usually better to err on the side of caution.

I am aware of that distinction, but I don't expect the violence to be graphic enough to force it into adult territory. When I said I'm considering making this a mature game, I was erring on the side of caution.

The template for a U.S. Navy Seal in SEALs in Vietnam is 240 points, which is why I used "normal" rather than normal. But lowering the point budget to approximately 250 points could be a good idea as I don't expect all of them to be that competent from the start.

If you promise big shots of points sometime shortly after character creation, you take a lot of the pressure off the players to somehow justify having all the skills they'd need.  It tends to reduce the case where Suzy the Accountant also has "hobbies" in medical forensics, wilderness survival, and kung fu (unless she's a retired-Mossad agent turned accountant or something).

Really, though, that's secondary to more details on the game world/setting.

As to the world/setting, as the characters knows it, it is this world. Today. Or almost today. Even movies supposedly set today have other Presidents or what not. London has Fallen, just to mention one example. As to the rest, I have a pretty good handle on it.

And as to the points, I hear what you're saying. Though I like players spending points on a broad array of traits, which require more points than it otherwise would.
This message was last edited by the user at 20:00, Tue 22 Mar 2016.