GURPS General /GURPSGEN/

I think I've finished it. I'll get around to adding it to the archive after this thread dies so it's preserved, as long as there aren't any corrections needed.

Just thought on how (romero type) zombies fighting
At most they probably not grab, but scratching and accidentally happens grip...

I'm not sure that's the case. I just watched clips from Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead both '68 and '90 versions, and they all seemed to go out of their way to grapple or tackle.

If you wanted to do zombies with a sort of accidentally-grabs deal, though, you could just treat their attacks like a dog's bite, having them automatically grapple if their attack is successful, but without the free damage from worrying, since it's just a normal grapple.

Also, damn that's a lot of styles of machete. I guess most cultures have a need for knives that can clear out brush.

I started Grimwyrd at 150/-50
It worked well. They're in the neighborhood of 350 points now. Still mortal, but very pointy mortals.

For a magical "gravity well" attack, I have something like:
>Innate Attack, Crushing, Double Knockback, Area Effect, Persistent, yadda yadda yadda.

What would be the cost of a "reverse knockback direction" modifier? +50% Cosmic? Or is that too generous, considering it could potentially trap opponent in the well on par with a strong Binding attack?

>reverse knockback direction
0-point feature i think, thanks to area effect.

Kromm suggested +20% at some point.

How fine to change HP/pound to 2 HP/pound, when every one gets 2 HP per ST, with 1 HP [1]?

Hey

I'm putting together a Tactical Shooting-style SWAT vs. Vampires (plus Vampire minions) campaign. Squad tactics, check your corners, etc.

I'm looking for hacks to keep combat from dragging out too long. Any rules I should ignore/replace? What has worked for you guys?

Remove
>Tactical Shooting and other SWAT-things
And use Gun-fu range table, and write down for everyone gunskills with&without aim bonuses, etc.

People will be tough as hell. Why would you make that change?

>Why would you make that change?
Everyone feels like glass cannon

What is the best way to make a nonlethal superhero?

That's what everyone is. When you get shot, you generally die.

Then they need to buy some armor to up their DR, or use cover. GURPS combat is semi-realistic in that you generally don't shrug off bullet wounds.

80 P O I N T S I N G U N S

>That's what everyone is. When you get shot, you generally die.
Oh, gtfo, with that! 50 cent got nine shots!

If I take multi-millionaire in a high TL campaign, could I theoretically just buy everyone power armor and railguns?

>Then they need to buy some armor to up their DR, or use cover.
And, poof, we back to the same glass cannon problem, but now we need bigger hammer, with which killing much more guaranteed...

Malediction affliction that knocks people unconscious if you don't want them in any danger of dying.

Theoretically, you could, but in practice, that's a question for your GM.

You should have read entry for Wealth.

80 P O I N TS I N S H O R T S W O R D S

Yeah, in the hand, legs, extremities, cheek...one shot in the chest. Limb damage in GURPS isn't as deadly, and a low roll to the torso by a 9mm is survivable.

It's not like 50 took nine shots to the gut or heart.

Wealth doesn't seem to say anything about not buying things. Can you be more specific or at least something other than useless?

Fucknugget here means the Starting Wealth blurb on B26
>"The GM should not allow wealthy PCs to bankroll their poorer associates. This makes below-average Wealth little more than “free points.” The GM might allow rich characters to hire poor ones. If so, he should make it obvious – through such means as NPC reactions (“Oh, so you’re the hired help?”) – that the poorer PC is earning his disadvantage points by giving up some of his independence."

I am not trying to be rude only a little bit but it's just right there.

See Wealth starts on B25. Starting Wealth is on B26.

50 Cent is also literally famous for getting shot nine times; that's literally the one thing people know about him. If getting shot nine times was no big deal, no one would give a shit.

If someone's famous for doing [X], that means [X] is one or more of extremely difficult, extremely dangerous, or extremely rare. It should be considered the outlier, not the norm.

Okay.

I don't think that's, y'know, constitutional, but okay.

When does the fantasy starter come out? Anybody know if it's easier to get into than the basic set?

If I had lite and the fantasy pdfs could I get a game going before the box set comes out? (Newb)

hello friends I don't want to spam but if anybody has any recommended strats / resources for keeping things flowing in combat I'd love to hear about 'em.

In the past I've GMed a Western with noob players who never wanted to """waste""" a turn aiming and were appalled at the reload times for their six-shooters. I want to compensate for that phenomenon by making these turns pass quickly.

Reality TV stars.

Being famous for something doesn't mean it was hard. It also helps that he was rushed to the emergency room before he reached -5x hp, don't you think?

Am I getting this right?
So if I buy a 20d6 burning attack for 100 points, then increase its range by 5x for +50%, it costs me 150 right?

Then if I buy an affliction, that makes people unconscious +200%, it costs me 20 points per level. If I then make this an alt attack of my innate attack it instead costs me 4 points per level. Then I can increase the range for +50%.

For a grand total of 300 points I have an attack that deals 20d6 burn damage, as well as an affliction that attacks for HT -25.

Am I doing this right? Suppose I have 300 points left over what could I spend them on to make this character a bit more survivable?

Some time in August or October. I certainly hope it's easier to get in to than the Basic Set as that's literally why it was made.

Nothing that's really GURPS specific. Make sure people are planning their turns in advance instead of zoning out and THEN spending time thinking when it's actually their turn. Promote the idea of a default action, something the PC will always fall back on if there's nothing better (this part is GURPS specific, I guess, as you can give out Trademark Move perks for free). In extreme cases, get a small timer for combat turns if people just can't stop wasting time. Ditch crit tables. Don't look shit up mid-fight. Eyeball and wing situational mods (Action's simplified range tables help).

Use Action and/or Gun Fu. Action specifically was designed for high-speed shout-and-roll games, so it simplified some things.
>never wanted to aim
>boo-hoo long reloads
Meh. He would be fine with Gunslinger and decent level of Fast-Draw plus Quick Reload perk.

When you buy alternative attacks you pay full price for most expensive advantage. Cost per level is irrelevant in those calculations, you should use final cost of each advantage.

Affliction is a separate advantage at 10 points/level, making the total for knocking people unconscious 30/level. You can buy a max of 5 levels, for a total of 150 points, before it becomes too expensive to be an alternate ability of Burning Attack. Making it an AA drops the price back to 30. You have an improved-range 20d burn attack and can hit people to force them to roll HT-4 vs unconsciousness for a total of [180].

Honestly, 20d burn is overkill. Drop the damage and maybe add one or more of Armor Divisor, Area of Effect, Homing/Guided,Explosive, Knockback, Rapid Fire, Incindiary, or Cyclic.

As for other things, remember you need the Innate Attack skill to actually hit. If this is a 600-point super game, grab some fucking survivability traits like DR, enhanced speed, or Flight, because you're going to be going up against Supers-tier threats that can juggle cars, shoot lasers from their eyes, control robot armies, and have a host of skills in the 30s.

What happens when someone runs out of FP?

Read the Basic Set to find out.

They have 0 FP.

Thank you, after some consideration, this seems about right.

So if I spend 50 points I get a 10d6 cr attack, if I spend 10 points I get a 5d6 fat attack if it is an alt of my cr attack.

Would it just be wiser to increase rof or something?

If I spend 100 points on DR(20) then spend 200 points on injury tolerance(DR) I divide things by 10 then subtract my DR from them?

I could survive a 200 point attack to the face, whereas if I spend 300 points on DR it would only be 60. Right?

Crap I did that wrong it would be divide by 8

Crushing and fat attacks? What are you, the Blob?

>I divide things by 10 then subtract my DR from them?

"Damage Reduction: You divide the
injury you suffer by 2, 3, or 4 after sub-
tracting DR from damage and apply-
ing wounding modifiers."
I am not sure if you are high or just don't have a book and have to do everything by memory.

Can a cone be dodged?

Yeah. Same as any area attack you can Dive for Cover. If you're caught wide in the open and a large cone hits you you obviously can't cover enough ground to get into cover. Check the segment on Active Defense Options.

What is your favorite advantage that no one uses?

Same question for skills, disadvantages, perks, etc

Does the 4th edition have any steampunk resources anywhere, or need I go back to 3e?

Visualization. I actually didn't even realize it exists for a long time.
There is Steampunk pdf for 4e although it has less material than old books

...

Opinions of GCS vs GCA?

Somebody mentioned on here you could get data files for gcs that contained the descriptions from the books. I can't find a link to anything like that anywhere.

I dunno if they communicated wrong, or if you heard wrong, but GCS does have a feature to open up a pdf to the right page of a certain ability; eg, if you highlight the stealth skill with a page reference of B222, and press Ctrl+G it opens the Basic set book right to page 222.

Is there no charge maneuver in GURPS combat? All I can find is move & attack, which seems to actually penalize your hit.

It is harder to move and attack than it is to attack while standing, it's realistic that your hit is penalized.

All-Out Attack lets you move up to half move and attack, that way you sacrifice your defense instead of offense.
There's also an optional rule called Extra Effort you can use to get rid of or minimize the penalty for move and attack by spending FP. If I recall correctly it's in Martial Arts.

Can someone explain to me that if I have a gun with the RoF in the hundreds, and shoot at someone, I still only hit them 6 or seven times?

You do recall, rate of fire bonuses add to your effective skill, yeah?

What are some good ideas to make the Low TL disadvantage "worth the points" in a dungeon fantasy setting beyond limiting the player to lower TL gear?

IIRC slams don't incur a penalty to hit. Their damage is based on your velocity and weight.

Most guns which fire that fast aren't really meant to put hundreds of shots into one target but saturate an area so that everyone in it is going to be hit by a couple of shots. But yes, the rapid fire system breaks down quickly with lots of shots, which can be an issue with things like birdshot or firing a beehive round at a dinosaur.

Charging at someone is usually an All-Out-Attack, which lets you move up to half your full move (or more, with martial arts rules). It sacrifices defences, which is generally pretty realistic; charging at someone is dangerous and you generally rely on the impact of your attack to overwhelm them before they can hit back. It's also a good time to use Extra Effort in Combat rules (Basic Set p. 357, Martial Arts p. 131) to do as much damage as possible. A charge carried out at a full run is usually going for a slam or tackle (which don't take the penalties for move and attack) or made by someone on a mount (who isn't making a full move manoeuvre, just sitting on something that is).

Latest Pyramid:

mega.nz/#!7pt2FRJD!Qk7sdntoPuINH82crzPHuL7lQRKPaKNrPn1BTPQYgyw

Ball of spikes man?
Ball of spikes man!

Is there a better way to get modified spells than ignoring the spell list and building each spell from an advantage with enhancements and limitations, and letting the final cost determine the learning time?
I'm still reading through the Basic Set, and didn't see anything about modifying spells in the Magic chapter, and got the impression that spells were just skills.

Skills like First Aid suffer from low TL. Technological traps, locks and devices might as well.

RoF 300 is a bonus of +8. Assuming Skill-16, Rcl 2 gun, a moving target five yards away, and a skill roll of 10, that's only 6 hits out of 300, or 12 hits out of 300 for Rcl 1. I don't know how realistic that is, but the feeling is off if you only score one more hit over RoF 100, despite pumping out 3x the lead. This is a case of GURPS not playing well with extremes.

noschoolgrognard.blogspot.com/2013/08/using-size-modifier-table-for-rapid.html If you use these rules, the RoF 300 gun has a bonus of +13, meaning we succeed by 17. Divide that by two and subtract one, look value up on the SSR table, we score 30 hits. That's a lot better, but still not quite there. I don't really have a good solution to that problem.

Thanks.

One of the core failures of GURPS. The basic magic set is neither generic nor customizable

The magic book has some pretty good stuff, though, doesn't it?

You can Slam (B371), which damages your target AND you, but has a chance to knock down.

Taking an All-Out Attack (B365) maneuver allows you to move half of your Move score, but forsakes defense as normal. Martial Arts adds All-Out Attack (Long) which adds +1 to your reach (a 1 yard reach sword can attack someone 2 yards away), which can be found on pp. 97-98

Martial Arts also adds a new way to spend FP in combat in the form of a Heroic Charge. When you spend 1 FP on this option, which can be added to a normal Move and Attack, you can ignore BOTH the skill penalty and the skill cap.

Hope this answers your question.

What about Thaumatology?

What do you mean? You could just modify the spells as you see fit. The basic Magic system isn't based on advantages with enhancements. It's its own thing entirely. I recommend picking up Thaumatology, because it offers some good ideas to modify the basic Magic system, from minor to a complete overhaul.

Don't listen to , he doesn't know what he's talking about.

>You could just modify the spells as you see fit. The basic Magic system isn't based on advantages with enhancements. It's its own thing entirely. I recommend picking up Thaumatology
So ad hoc customization if the basic set spells
Which means the exact caveat had: the basic set is very rigid and needs some heavy customization, or the thaumatology book, to be better

Very rigid? How's the basic magic system rigid?

I want a new fire spell called Great Fireball. It will basically be a fireball on steroids, that only masters will be able to cast.

Great Fireball (VH) - Missile
Creates a large fireball in the caster's hand. This has 1/2 25, Max 50, Acc 1. This spell is very likely to ignite flammable targets.

Cost: Any amount up to 2x Magery level per second, for three seconds. The fireball does 5d burning damage per full 4 points of energy.

Time to cast: 1 to 3 seconds.

Prerequisites: Magery 4 and Fireball.

Some balance tweaking, some play testing, and you got a new spell easy.

That's modifying an existing spell. There isn't a system for creating entirely new ones. There are guidelines, but that isn't the same has having a system to tinker with, such as Powers.

>Nothing is rigid when you make stuff up on the fly!
I get what you're trying to say, but dude that is a horrible example.

You can really just case Explosive Fireball with more energy.

Slams with shields (a.k.a. Shield Rushes) don't deal damage to the attacker, making shields one of the only ways for realistic low-tech warriors to close the distance aggressively without being suicidal.

The list of reasons why shields are master race just keeps growing!

They deal damage to shield

Closing the distance exposes one critical flaw of the shield: close combat! Your shield is useless if someone is right up against you, even worse if they're grappling you. Of course, that's only an issue in single combat, but single combat's a rare event.

Most games ignore damage to shields, but point taken. How much DR do shields tend to sport?

Would it be uncool to just boost RoF of an innate attack instead of boost damage?

Would it be smart?

That is true. Building spells as powers/advantages offers a way to fit a spell into a certain power level, for sure.

However the thing with the basic Magic system's approach is that is all seems to be "skillfully eyeballed." If you can figure out the general concept of a spell, such as how hard it should be to cast, how complicated the spell is, if it's a Regular, Area, etc. spell, and how long it lasts, you can probably figure out a ballpark estimate on what the spell should cost. what the difficulty should be, and what prerequisites exist.

and are correct in that my example was shit.

Ask your GM, I suppose. If it makes sense for the innate attack to have a higher RoF then it wouldn't be that uncool. For example, if your innate attack was a built in machine gun, a high RoF would make sense. If your GM gives you a pass on your Innate Attack, then it's cool.

>Most games ignore slam damage to self
Why you don't?

Shield damage is a good rule to enforce, especially if you're using Low-Tech's expanded shield list, which almost requires it in order to justify a difference between shields of the same DB.

youtube.com/watch?v=GPhZsauluXM

Stat me

Yeah, leather on wicker shields shouldn't survive the same abuse as a plywood. If you don't want to do that, at least make light shields roll HT after each day of use to see if it's busted.

Yeah if you're not using damage to shields, just stick to Basic Set's shields.

S I G N A T U R E G E A R (MAIN BATTLE TANK) beats both

Why not just spend those points having two Allies that are always around and are 150% as strong as you? Maybe they even have 120 points in guns, each.

Why not spend 80 points on Mind Control and just force everyone to be your friend?

Why not spend 80 points Insubstantiality and ignore all your problems earthly problems all together?

So, my group is ending sci-fi campaign that has been ran using 2nd ED Dark Heresy. Our next-to-be GM wants to try out GURPS, since he doesn't know much about 40k and he said he will be running more rational, but still space setting.

Thing is not a single one of us have ever played GURPS, and looking at the plethora of books, I really don't have a clue to which we should include and since it is kind of my fault because I told him about the system, I would really like to help him.

>Basic Set - Characters
>Basic Set - Campaigns
These are two parts of the same book, and define the core of the system.

>Ultra Tech
Has some problems, considered one of the weaker GURPS books, but is a good starting point for a sci-fi campaign. Explores future technology, from computers and batteries to tools and railguns.
Mostly you'll want to look at equipment lists and ideas.

>Bio-Tech
Optional. An excellent book that explores the more organic aspects of the future. Bioroids, bioengineering, artificial parahumans, uplifts, artificial organs, artificial diseases, etc. but also the seedier underbelly that's commonly glossed over. Future drugs, sex-bots, fetishes, prostitution, etc.

>Spaceships
Highly optional. Doesn't translate 1:1 with the rest of the system, which is a big problem. Only really compatible with itself, and spaceship battles are sort of broken as they are (armor and hull does Jack Shit, missile-spam from across the solar system ends every fight before they begin).
But Spaceships can be handy as a GM tool for designing space-stations, slow-moving world-ships, transports and the like.

>Transhuman Space series
Super optional. A series of setting-books you might glance through as part of your extracurricular activity, for inspiration mostly.
Personally I don't consider them worth your time unless you're playing a setting very similar to the one presented. Of special note is Transhuman Space - Shell Tech, as it contains templates for a large number of robotic shells. The templates are occasionally a bit weird, having been shoddily updated from 3E, but they can be a good starting point regardless.

That about covers it. Remember the platinum rule: In GURPS; less is more. I'd recommend Basic Set and Ultra Tech only. If you're a furry and/or want to explore genetic engineering gone wild, add Biotech.