GURPS general /gurpsgen/

Thanks. I'll take those into account. I was asking here because I'm still a bit new to GURPS, and I've never come across it before.

>SM+5 Major Laser Battery deals 4d(2) damage
>SM+5 Major Electromagnetic Gun Battery deals 6dx25(2) damage
Really makes you think.

What really makes you thing is that each of 30 cannons with Very Rapid Fire in Tertiary Battery still does enough damage to at least take ship out of combat.

RoF anyone?

What's your favourite magic system, and why. I don;t really want to use GURPS magic.

I love RPM!

I like Sorcery. It's really good if you're good at enhancement-fu to make your perfect little spells using advantages, without having to pay full cost for all of them.

RPM is cool but more fiddly than I'd like. Effect shaping seems like it would fix that. How is it?

TFW those were the exact 2 I was thinking about using.

I use a vaguely cribbed version of this for Grimwyrd

I suspect the group should buy up new powers soon too... Lots of points hoarded

Symbol. It's flavorful, mechanically straightforward, and flexible.

No, GURPS uses turns for individuals. There's no round. Other than that, yes.

I've heard people vehemently defending this choice of vocabulary, the round versus turn thing; why does it matter? does it have a semantic meaning if operating out of cycle due to wait maneuvers?

Alice has Speed 5.75. Bob has Speed 5.5. Cody has Speed 5.25. Alice attacks Bob twice with a Rapid Attack, and makes good attacks both times. Bob parries twice with his sword, the second at a -4 penalty due to cumulative parries. Bob attacks Alice and misses. Cody now attacks Bob.
>Rounds: Bob has a -8 penalty to parry Cody's attack.
>Turns: Bob has no penalty to parry Cody's attack.

Because rounds go in guns.

To avoid confusion, especially for people with background in other games where there is Round containing separate Turns. When talking about game mechanics you should always use terminology as defined by the book, otherwise we inevitable end up flinging shit at each other because people hate to define/clarify terminology even when there is obvious misunderstanding.
What the fuck is this supposed to mean? What kind of rounds are you even using here?

Oh hey what have we here?

Sorry if this and the following pics are sideways.

Ok. I sometimes use the term "round" as the enveloping second where all the "turns" occur, but it hadn't occurred to me that it might be misleading.

Eldritch, unspeakable die. Always a good omen!

Gentlemen! Behold!

T H I C C

Bunch of other swag in here. Munchkin cards and a comic book (plus two bookmarks) and a tiny pamphlet for SJG's other products...

... plus a historical retrospective on Shrek.

All in all, not a bad combo, especially considering I got it on sale. Next up is a look at the book itself.

The writing is solid from what I've seen so far, and the first chapter is dedicated to explaining the Disc to those that aren't overly familiar with it, from physics and metaphysics to geography and sociology and technology.

Sorry for the glare. The lighting in here is awful so it's either that or intense shadow.

One that that I absolutely love is how skills were reorganized. It is so much more straightforward and easy to parse, with related skills being collected under headings like Medical Skills, Movenent Skills, etc.; if there's ever a 4.5e or a Rules Compendium, I want it to do something like this.

I hope you'll continue writing. What's with the gurpsgen nowadays, it's pretty dead. And don't give me that discord excuse again.

What is the best way to fix the crafting system from low tech companion? Or explain why I shouldn't think it's broken, especially crafting fine weapons.

It's the..
>don't give me that discord excuse again.

It's a mystery I guess.

Cool! Wish I have enough resources to collect printed books. With PDFs there is no difference between bought and borrowed ones.

Discworld guy here. Have to step away for a bit, but from what I've read so far, the magic system seems very nice. At the very least, it's not default Magic. More details to come.

My houserule for my DF game:

Rather than using margin of success to determine results, I use a flat -5 to make Fine weapons, -10 for Very Fine, with Time Spent and Equipment providing their usual bonuses. Other qualities are at -1, plus a further -1 quality after the first, so making a Fine, Balanced weapon would be at -5 for Fine, -1 for Balanced, and -1 for two qualities.

I also give a flat +4 for "non-adventuring conditions" if they're working out of a proper smithy/workshop/whatever (usually for NPCs only, given the investment).

Failure means you need another 10% of materials and time before making another roll, or you can accept an item one degree worse. Crit Failure means everything's wasted.

For crafting time, I just use cost/10 hours rather than the calculations in LTC3.

It's worked well so far, but this is for DF, so it's mostly been used by the Knight to upgrade an axe to Fine, Balanced, Dwarven or to make spares.

>he doesn't write his own personalized HTML versions of his PDFs

My rules for crafting:

You can only make a quality you aimed for or worse. You can never make a better weapon then you were attempting to.

Materials cost is equal to 10% of final cost. This does include Cost Factor, so someone attempting to make a Fine (Materials) weapon pays as much for materials as a finished Good quality weapon.

Cheap quality provides +2 to the skill roll to construct. Good provides no modifier, while Fine gives -2 per type and Very Fine gives -4.

A crafts-person performs $60 a day of labor up to TL 4, but may double that at -2 to skill or half it to get +2. Roll daily, critically failing or failing three times in a row reduces the quality of a item by one step.

Putting it together.. Bob wants to build a sword that cost $500. He goes and pays $50 for steel, wood, wire and oil, then starts to work.

He is working with common tools (no penalty or bonus), making a Good weapon (no penalty) and he's under no real stress so he won't rush or take his time. It takes him 7.5 days to make the sword and he rolls under no penalty or bonus each day. If he doesn't fail three times in a row or critically fail, he's made his sword when it is done.

If he'd tried to make a Very Fine (Materials) and Fine (Balanced) sword his $500 sword would instead be a $27,500 sword. He'd roll every day at -6, and would be looking at 459 days of labor to produce the weapon. He also has to pay $2,750 for materials and is very likely to end up with a weapon that isn't quite as good as he'd hoped for, as 459 days is a lot of chances to critically fail.

Discworld guy again. I've read most of the magic section at this point, and I absolutely love it. It's significantly different from any other GURPS magic form. I was honestly expecting them to take an existing system and slap a fresh coat of paint on it, and I am very pleasantly surprised at how wrong I was. Do you guys want an infodump on what I already have, or should I wait until I've got the entire picture?

Wait until you have the entire picture.

What's the discord?

Not disseminated on Veeky Forums for obvious reasons.

A hugbox of fathers and authors with a no-no word bot who deletes your posts if you f***ing swear.

Oh it's a non Veeky Forums thing. Meh. I prefer Veeky Forums for discussion.

New Pyramid

mega.nz/#!ngFDmT4L!kwOeXhLTnP9HYOiChnM3QdvFJvFQNLXEUsYYrBGVugQ

Alrighty, there are a few big points.

>Building a spell
Spells are built on a very loose system; in general, the more complex a spell's effect, the bigger the Magical Form skill penalty is, and the bigger the effect (more damage, larger area, etc.), the more MP it takes. Thankfully, the guidelines in the book for determining complexity/power and fairly straightforward.

>Magical Style
While there are a number of magic traditions on the Disc, the main two worth noting is Wizardry and Witchery. Wizardry is the type of magic seen in graduates from the Unseen University and is mostly straightforward. Witchery, however, is quite different and is very focused on the power of the narrative; the more the witch and her magic follows the plot (or a plot) or the better they match traditional story elements, the better her magic is. While a wizard would be fine standing on a cliff dropping explosive fireballs on a city, a witch would get a serious discount to her spell's costs by flying around the city thirteen times cackling madly because that's what witches do; if the town's fiery destruction served some role in a story--e.g. it spurred a wishy-washy hero in to action, or the city was evil and needed some punishment in the story's final act--even better!

>Magic Points
Rather than using FP or gathering ambient energy, magic on the Disc is power by discrete magic points, or MP. A character's personal stock of MP is LOW; it looks like even a thoroughly optimized character wouldn't end up with more than about 6. Witches, thankfully, get that narrative boost, and wizards get a magic staff that roughly quadruples available MP. Ritual casting requires multiple people (at least three) and is slower, but it can be the only option for expensive spells.

>Magical Forms
Magical Forms are the least new and exciting part of the system. We've all seen these before as RPM Paths or oWoD Spheres. They do the job, but they're nothing to write home about.

wait, why is ATR not a physical advantage when it allows your body to move faster than it is humanly possible?

Feel free to tag it as both or either in your games user

>Magic Points
>when the disc has an in-universe unit of magical energy

Because physical advantages are pretty much limited to what is humanly possible. Supernatural is beyond human limits.

From a footnote in the section
>For atmospheric purposes, gamers can refer to Magic Points as "thaums" if they wish. It doesn't really fit the Discworld meaning of the word (p. 270), but never mind. This looks right for wizard characters, less so for witches.

I think it comes down to the thaum having an already established effect and that effect not being practical for measurements, like measuring D&D's five-foot squares in yards--it can be done, but you'll be regularly dealing with messy fractions, so why bother? 1 MP is enough to make "a few ounces of matter"; 1 MP is enough for many types of spells, but it's only a fraction of the amount of energy required to summon three billiard balls. Rather than deal with half-thaums or .63 thaums or whatever, they made a new gamist unit of measurement.

Can you target chinks in armor only with imp/pi attacks, or are all the damage types okay? Wouldn't make sense for crushing damage.

Pretty sure he was griping that it's labeled as Sup/Mental rather than Sup/Physical.

While it does break the rules of gross physiology, the reaction and perception time granted by ATR breaks other rules sooner.

I think chinks in armor also covers areas where armor is thinner, cracked, or poorly formed, all of which would allow cr and cut to break through more easily.

I always wanted Gurps Supers Wildcards or Bloodtypes, do they exist in 5th Ed?

GURPS is in 4th Ed
But otherwise look up the aptly names Supers and Powers books for help making stuff for the setting.

Basic page 400. Only piercing, impaling, and tight beam burning.

Thanks!

Thanks friend.

Neat, thanks for the break down.

/raises hand

Are they going to republish EVERY single goddam 3rd edition book in 4th edition? Or is there a conversion system or... something?

No plans to convert every book, though many are converted. Otherwise, there's this PDF that covers how to handle other conversions.

sjgames.com/gurps/resources/4eupdate.pdf

Why would they? What made 90% of those splats awesome was the fluff or historical background info, not the crunch, and like said, there's a free pdf for translating what little crunch there is. SJGames is re-releasing some of the more popular splats on W23, but they're unaltered from their 3e form; it's just a digital version of a previously dead-tree-only book.

Maybe if there were more staffers available, we'd see actual updates, but GURPS is on a fairly minor budget because it's not a real moneymaker for the company. I hope that Dungeon Fantasy is going to change that, but for now it's still being produced mostly as a labor of love. That's why I sometimes shill for it an push for others to be buyfags for the products they really enjoy and/or have been looking forward to. I think legitimately buying all the books and issues of Pyramid I've pirated would empty my bank account, but I do purchase major books (BS, Powers, *-Tech, and hopefully soon Thaumatology and MA now that PoD is available) as well as specific splats/Pyramid issues that I actually use in my games.

Thanks for the writeup, anons. I'll definitely steal some ideas, need to playtest this.

>Neat, thanks for the break down.
No problem. Here's hoping a few other fa/tg/uys were motivated to buy it too.

One other thing I like but didn't touch on earlier is that the book brings up multiple times in multiple areas that funny does not mean stupid or nonsensical, and it certainly doesn't mean incompetent or two-dimensional. It gives some really solid advice for humorous games in general that I think a lot of people--GMs and players--should read up on.

>it's just a digital version of a previously dead-tree-only book
Don't forget, w23 has a few 3e books that are literally just SCANS--e.g., GURPS China.

Being an archer is slow. It's something for a new player to know before they go for one that you are typically only going to shoot an arrow once every 3 to 4 seconds. Go for close combat weapons if you want to attack every turn.

Asked in another thread if the Stormbringer RPG is good if I just want an RPG with a vibe similar to the Elric Saga and someone suggested GURPS with the options I want.

I've never run or even played GURPS. Is there a "package" I can start with for sword-and-sorcery and then just tweak from there?

You can mitigate this with Heroic Archer and Quick Shot. You can fire every turn at a -2 penalty I think. But you need to do 3 rolls - one to fast draw, and one to quick shoot and one to hit.

There's a houseruled "Instant Shot" technique here :
mygurps.com/r_techniques.html?p=ir&v=0

Which eliminates the 3 rolls.

(Even so, it's often better to spend a turn or two aiming).

There's a Dungeon Fantasy box set which is coming out, which might be what you're looking for. It's more like dungeon crawling stuff though.

Otherwise I'd suggest Basic Set + Dungeon Fantasy 1 + (potentially GURPS magic) should be able to cover most of what you need. The trick with GURPS is to not get overwhelmed with rules, and just choose stuff that will actually ADD to your gaming experience.

Martial Arts is a pretty good supplement for more combat options, Powers is good for weird abilities, and Thaumatology is pretty decent too but it might be too much to get started with.

Dungeon Fantasy is the generic "fantasy game" product, albiet focused on... dungeons. You can go from there at the very least.

Thanks. Based on what you're all saying, I might start with Basic Set + GURPS magic + Powers and just skim Dungeon Fantasy to see how it fits what I want, but I'll look at all the stuff you're listing.

Dungeon Fantasy 1 has very few rules really, a lot of it is prebuilt templates for classic tropes/classes.

Yeah if you're stuck on too many options, just throw the templates down until you get the hang of it

DF2 and Wilderness Adventures (forgot the number) are prime resources for rules though.

Need some help with physics of ether sea.
Atmosphere domes on islands: say, if island have SM X, then it will be fine if dome would have SM X+1?
Sea level: i've started with 2d sea, where every thing on same level of elevation [ships and islands are big enough to be not moved from that altitude], as it's easier and no troubles like "suicide bombships", but after some rethink 3d looks more favorable. So question, at what altitude ship should be able to fly above the island, and what will be when ship will try fly below that altitude?

How do you build a character that doesn't exist?

I'm trying to make an intelligence that exists in a completely different dimension. It cannot be affected by any physical stuff.

Do I just set all of my stats besides IQ at -

Do I take insubstantial with a cosmic modification?

>Do I take insubstantial with a cosmic modification?
This one is good. Do not modify your stats, you literally cannot interact with the physical world, therefore you never need to take a test involving any of those stats, it would be quite literally free points. Never take a disadvantage that can never affect you.

At breakpoints of 1, 2, 3, 6, and 10 times Basic Lift, a character's Move (i.e., his acceleration in yd/s^2) is reduced by 20% of its normal value. Would it be reasonable to increase a character's Move if his weight were reduced, in a mirrored version of the same pattern?

For example: Let's say a standard human weighs 150 lb and has Move 5 and BL 20. If his weight is reduced to 130 lb, he gets Move 6. If his weight is reduced to 110 lb, he gets Move 7. This continues until his weight has been reduced to 50 lb, at which point his Move has been increased to 10 yd/s^2 and cannot be increased further.

In accordance with the contragrav rules in Vehicles, this would stop working at 10% of original weight, due to lack of traction.

It's more nuanced than that. Newton tells us that F=ma, where F is the force exherted on the object, m is the object's mass, and a is the object's acceleration. Your statement is definitely true if you make the Force constant but decrease the mass (a must increase to maintain the F constant), unfortunately biology makes a clear correlation between mass and capacity to exhert force (more massive muscles are capable of exherting more force), therefore reducing a person's mass won't necessarily result in increased acceleration. It is true, though, in the context of a vehicle, so long you don't mess with the engine and the efficiency of the system, the more pieces you remove, the faster it will accelerate.

Is there any hacking systems besides cyberspace cowboys from cyberpunk pyramid?

I'd just have atmosphere be ubiquitous rather then isolated to islands to avoid people needing to deal with spacesuits and stuff, but if you don't like that idea then the air around islands reaching out to 1 SM over the size of the island would work well enough.

As to getting higher..

The Ether Sea is divided into layers. Islands float on the boundary between the Blue Ether (in truth nearly colorless) and the Thin Ether.

Ships may rise into the Thin, but it takes extra boyency and thrust that generally requires specialized designs, and even then the Thin offers less and less support as you get higher. Most ships can get to +4 fathoms in the Thin (12 feet), when lightly loaded, and specialized attack ships made to fly over islands and other ships can get to +16 fathoms (96 feet) feet.

Sinking into the Blue is easy to do once, but being able to do it and come back is harder. Lift systems strain and, if pushed too low, implode and fail. A dive under 10 fathoms (60 feet) is the limit of most ships, and represents a serious risk. Specialized Ether Divers can get lower, but most people that need to get that deep rely on being lowered from ships at the boundary layer.

There any good meme images? Like a full size version of the pyramid-headed cthulhu in the OP?

Computer Intrusion from Transhuman Space is semi-realistic but requires ever-present AIs.
Computer Hacking skill from the Basic Set
Realistic hacking from the Basic Set.
3e Cyberpunk's realistic hacking
Ergokinesis from Psionic Powers; swap the Psi power modifier for Gadget/Electrical and you have out-of-the-box hacking gear/implants.

Someone please help me understand raising skills from defaults. I didn't understand the example it gave.
If I raise Two-Handed Sword to skill 20 for 40 points, how much does it cost to raise Broadsword to 18 or 20 from the default of -4?

...

Here's the picture you mentioned.

4/level. I find that it helps to think of it like this: you're paying the difference between how much it would take to buy the skill up to that level normally and how much it would take to buy the level to its current default. For example, if you've got DX 10 and Two-Handed Sword-22, you have Broadsword-18 for free. If you want to buy up Broadsword to 20, you need to pay 40 (how much it takes to get Broadsword-20 at DX 10) - 32 (how much it would take to get Broadsword-18 at DX 10), or 8 points.

You're treated as already buying the skill up to that level. All you have to do now is pay the difference.

Yes you are right, and like previous anons have said you can make a Fast-Draw roll and cut one ready out.

Also, in Martial Arts there's a rule known as Quick-Shooting Bows that allows you to shoot a bow in two turns - or just one if you use Fast-Draw. However, the rule is cinematic and might only be available for those with the Heroic Archer or Weapon Master (Bow) advantage.

If you're Quick Shooting the process to shoot in one turn is:

Roll vs Fast-Draw to pull out arrow
Roll vs Bow at -6 (-3 with Heroic Archer or Weapon Master, or -1 with both) to quickly draw the bow
Roll vs Bow again at same penalties as above, plus any modifiers related to speed, range, etc. to shoot.

This is pretty risky at low skill levels, seeing as you have to make 3 rolls, but can allow you to spew out arrows like crazy. Some GMs might even allow you to quick-shoot with two arrows at once, depending on how cinematic they want their game.

I can respect a filter if they want to keep it clean for incoming newbies.

I wouldn't appreciate a bunch of sweaty neckbeards tapping insults at me just because they're allowed to.

Why are swords so expensive in DF?

Thank you, I understand now.

Because they're finely crafting tools intended to kill people. You can buy 'em cheap, if you want.

Wait a second

What if I already have my bow in hand?

Is it just " ready an arrow ->shoot target"?

It's still only like a month's pay for a craftsmen. Expensive, but worth the cost if you are a professional. You can always grab a cheap sword or light club until you can afford a good one.

If you are holding a ready bow in one hand but aren't holding an arrow in the other, the sequence is..

Turn 1) Draw arrow from storage. You can do this without useing a Ready action if you pass a Fast Draw (Ammo) roll.

Turn 2) Nock and draw the bow. You can't skip this part, but after this you are ready to make an attack.

...

When I say "Draw Bow" I mean draw the string.

Hey! That's mine! Good to see it getting reposted!