/gurpsgen/ GURPS general

>design every advantage
To an extent
The demonoligists tend to have the same presets : green fire innate attacks, shadow swords, battle fury
And the elves tend to have elemental themed control : air, water, lightning
And the humans tend to single focus abilities : flight, warp, regeneration, explosions

Nothing is hard to stat, and things tend to orbit their core beliefs

>Implying DX+21 is realistic

Please stop posting this shitty misleading pasta, is for shit like this that people are discouraged to try new games.

Is there a setting book or something for this? I want it.

Don't forget "Knowing Your Own Strength" from Pyramid #3/83: Alternate GURPS IV. It also contains other great articles.

No but I have a WordPress of session logs (about 30 sessions behind in backlog)
Kendelyzer.wordpress.com

Explain how it's not realistic for someone who has clearly done NOTHING but train in rifles for his entire life, making him a master of shooting, to be a master of shooting?

...

Yep, that too although KYOS is primarily just about recalibrating strength scaling in general (I do use it in my own giant monster focused campaign though).

But yeah, all the Alternate GURPS issues are filled to the brim with great stuff.

Because a powerful, flexible system lets you do what you want. Repeatedly pointing this out as an example of a flaw just shows you're a dipshit.

Here's your (you) so you can stave off crushing despair for a few moments.

Titan Fightin' is a huge help here.

forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=115624

Is there a catalog of these? I would love to see examples.

>Deloth Ainur was an elven mystic, steeped in the arts taught by The Lords of Darkness. Bonded with demonic power granted by the Silver Prince, she learned how to blend herself into the shadows of the world. Her armor shell of living scaled coins clads her in a near invulnerable shell, and the counselor themselves can never be destroyed permanently. As they bend to vicious claws and writhe upon her skin, she is whispered to by the silibant voice of her master, tantalizing her with wicked dreams and visions.

This was the first version of a major npc encountered in Grimwyrd. She's matured a bit since and even worked with the party, after they freed her from the demons... For a time.

And the pic that inspired me to her creation

For organizations from Boardroom & Curia, are their any rules for monthly upkeep? Administration or other skill rolls to keep the place running? Random event tables? It seems weird that B&C explicitly covers player-owned organizations and commercial organizations but doesn't include so much as "make monthly Job rolls, -X for 1d-2 months on a failure" or something like that. The only way an organization can suffer is from failed attempts to increase resources, and even then those things are minor.

youtube.com/watch?v=e9iURozEEtk

Here's a guy making headshots at ~100 yards on pigeons in flight.

That said, obviously there is a limit to what a realistic character can take. Someone with a ST score of 20 is stronger than any living man, someone with an IQ score of 20 is more intelligent than anyone in the real world, someone with hundreds of points in skills is probably beyond human. That isn't a flaw in the system. GURPS is an unusual game system in that it can do realism fairly well, but it was never intended to only do realistic stuff.

Penalties:
100 yards away flying at 24 y/s: -11
SM-5: -5
Neck: -5

Bonuses:
Acc: +6 (match-grade and fine)
Aim: +2
All-Out Attack: +1
Non-Combat Bonuses: +2 (no risk to self/others)
Rapid Fire: +8 (2.79mm birdshit, HT172)

We come up with an eminently reasonable -2 to ruin a pigeon under hunting conditions with gear fitting of a world champion. This would put him at Guns (Shotgun)-14 to reliably take down pigeons, but it's entirely possible he has a Perk for pigeon-hunting, or Targeted Attack.

Penalties:
100 yards away flying at 24 y/s: -11
SM-5: -5
Neck: -5

Bonuses:
Acc: +6 (match-grade and fine)
Aim: +2
All-Out Attack: +1
Non-Combat Bonuses: +2 (no risk to self/others)
Rapid Fire: +8 (2.79mm birdshit, HT172)

We come up with an eminently reasonable -2 to ruin a pigeon under hunting conditions with gear fitting of a world champion. This would put him at Guns (Shotgun)-14 to reliably take down pigeons, but it's entirely possible he has a Perk for pigeon-hunting, or Targeted Attack.

Actually, watching further into the video, he points out a fairly large "vitals" zone, so make that +1. He only has to have Guns (Shotgun)-11, but the overcast sky may be worth -1 in darkness penalties. He's probably around 12 or 13, going by TS42, which fits a frequent hunter.

Seems workable for NPCs. How do you work it out with PCs?

Running a solo game for my brother that is in the same ongoing campaign world as the larger group I also run (though we are fairly careful in keeping the major elements of each separate).

He's basically a minor demigod, interacting with other low-level gods and demons, conflicting interests and politics and scheming and all that, and building a new celestial empire for himself in the process.

Here's his two-part character sheet.

>This second one is just the same character sheet but with the Dragon alternate form enabled, "avian" morphology used for hit location table (yes, really, avian) and the container expanded so you can see the advantages and attribute bonuses it applied

Anyway, maybe it'll entertain someone, who knows.

Where I can find good guidance about third grade skills?
Like Area Knowledge, Current Affair and other such useless but very RP skills.

It's not bad. I'd suggest using skill containers to organize his skills into groupings. If you are looking for options to get though a social situation it's a long list to hunt though.

So that is Evil Elf Girl's sheet. Goddamn, no wonder I couldn't push her.

Good suggestion, thanks.

Is there somewhere GURPS Drugs book or like?

There are drugs in the Basic set, and I think Biotech has some too.

forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=369148&postcount=21

Is.. not really what you are looking for. Instead it's a breakdown on skills every 'hero' should have.

That said, Area Knowledge, Current Affairs, House Keeping, ect aren't necessarily skills that won't ever be useful, and can be quite useful to allow a GM to move the game along quickly.

Just heard that you need to find a monster that hides in abandoned buildings? You know where the closest abandoned building is with Area Knowledge.

Spookey hints about vampire politics getting shaken up and people dying? You've heard of the people that died and know who they worked for because of Current Events.

More rarely stuff like Games skills can even come up, if the GM remembers to work them in.

So my advice: if you are running a game, look at the 'useless' skills on people's sheets and try to figure out a way to make them important.

If you are playing a game, mention your useless skills sometimes, and try to suggest when you might be able to use them.

I don't need ways to make useless skills useful, I need a suggestion on what useless skills fine to be added to be alive and don't be another 80-pt in guns.

Most of the players started out quite mundane. They were just given parameter, made sheets, and we did sessions.

Those who wanted powers, I gave a bit more attention to at session zero. Syviis started out as a semi-vanilla legolas style elf, but the player also wanted to work in the natural elven magic talent into lightning based powers. We discussed how that works in-setting and agreed on a power where arrows carry a follow-up tight beam burning innate attack, costs FP to perform, and voila!

Since then, the player and I have kept a dialogue open during the game. When Syviis develops her powers and steeps herself in deeper knowledge of the magic of Grimwyrd, he buys up powers related to it. She was exposed to the dark Eldritch powers of The Darkness beneath a Derugar keep. Demons and elementals bound to service for centuries, maddened by their servitude. When tempted with the fires of hell... she became a holy warrior!

It's been awesome

Is there any Psi Power that focuses on control of the psionics body? Self-buffs, adrenaline surges, and the like? It's not in Psionics Powers (unless I missed it), and all my googlefu brought up was a 3e pyramid article.

Pretty sure he's not using birdshot there. It wouldn't have the range. The wound looks like it was caused by either a single pellet of buckshot or something like a .22 (it's not clear to me if that's a rifle or shotgun he's using).

Doubt you can claim Fine (Acc) or match-grade ammunition bonuses for a shotgun.

Seems like he was only taking about 1 second to aim, so no bonus above Acc.

So actual skill would be somewhere in the low 20s, which is fine for world-class experts.

Isn't that Psychometabolism on p.75?

Yes, but it only contains two powers, and the rest is just advice on making your own. I was hoping for something more comprehensive.

You have Powers book and Basic set. And they contain almost everything that can be used as "Psioic Body Enhancement". And your GM anyway will check powers, if he is not retarded or he trusts you like himself.
>Also Chinese Elemental Powers
>Also "/sjforums/ check my custom power ability"-threads

Area Knowledge and Current Affairs are far from useless in any game where investigation is significant.

Really, almost every skill they bothered to write up fully exists because someone found a way to make it useful.

That said, the following are the least useful skills in my experience...

Artist.
The exception being Artist (Drawing) which my players use a lot in investigations to record details or produce identity sketches.

Dancing, Musical Instrument and Singing.
These mostly only seem useful for earning a living, disguising yourself as an entertainer and a prerequisite for special abilities.

Physics
Maybe it would be helpful in a space-opera game where weird particles and energy fields are actually relevant to the plot, but in my experience it never gets used. Biology and Chemistry on the other hand seem to come up quite a bit.

Law
Except for criminal law and sometimes contract law.

Fortune Telling
I could see it maybe being helpful for very specific character builds, but in my experience it's mostly a 'fluff' skill.

Most Hobby skills.

Connoisseur
Mostly useless, although specialities like 'weapons' and 'treasure' can be pretty helpful.

Erotic Art
Even if it comes up, not very useful. It can be helpful with some powers, magic styles and so on, but so can pretty much anything.

Philosophy

History

Savoir Faire (Dojo)

>Gets a pool of points
>Spends 80% of their points on guns
>Is so far beyond human norm in guns that they are the outlier of outliers
>System adaquately handles and conveys this in a satisfying, reasonable manner, allowing almost supernatural gun use to a character with frankly supernatural gunskill

>EXPLAIN THIS WHY IS THIS WHY FUCKING ISSUES

Have you considered the explanation may be: "Because it's meant to work that way?"

I swear, trolls get weirder every year.

I always hear people saying that GURPS is bad for supers, why is that? As long as you're using Powers to actually know how to build a power, it seems like it would be fine. The only time I would see it breaking is when you get to super high level supers (Superman etc...) with 1500+ points

It gets harder to "balance."
Two 10 point advantages with no modifiers are probably similar in capability.
Two 100 point advantages with enhancement and limitation lists longer than some character sheets could be absurdly different in ability.

It's not necessarily anywhere near "impossible," but it is objectively more difficult; good gm and good players though can make it work well.

>Why GURPS is bad for supers?
>GURPS is fine for supers!
>But not for cool supers like DC iconics, but IT WORK FOR SUPERS!

>Pretty sure he's not using birdshot there. It wouldn't have the range.
He is and it does. Says in the video he's using Gamebore Black Gold Dark Storm, n.5 shotshells. 3mm pellets, which gives us just over 1x200 RoF, keeping the +8 bonus.
>Doubt you can claim Fine (Acc) or match-grade ammunition bonuses for a shotgu
There is nothing preventing it in GURPS or in real life. Shotguns are actually very accurate. I'd wager that his shotgun, a Perazzi over/under worth almost $8,000, is actually Very Fine (Acc), but we'll be conservative and keep it Fine (Acc). I think the ammunition also fires very well for his gun, but we'll leave off the match-grade bonus since it's just off the shelf stuff around the same price as Federal ammo.
>Seems like he was only taking about 1 second to aim, so no bonus above Acc.
We can't tell if he is, due to video editing, but let's assume the worst.

Penalties:
100 yards away flying at 24 y/s: -11
SM-5: -5
Vitals: -3

Bonuses:
Acc: +4 (base)
Aim: +0
All-Out Attack: +1
Non-Combat Bonuses: +2 (no risk to self/others)
Rapid Fire: +8 (3mm birdshot, HT172)

Total modifier: -4. That would give him Guns (Shotgun)-16 to reliably take down pigeons a hundred yards away. With very fine and multiple seconds of aim, we're at no penalty. So, no, not even close to low 20's. 16 is high, but it isn't Wild Bill Hickok. Also, fuck off with the redditspacing. Shit's unsightly.

Interesting. I'm running my first GURPS game tomorrow(!) and I've built everyone a character sheet on 250 points after asking a whole bunch of questions. I feel like I've built the characters badly but hey...

WRT. Powers as advantages, how does that work for spellcasters? It seems like Sorcery would really fit quite neatly in there.

>redditspacing

I have seen people space their posts like that on this site for years, why have people started bitching about it suddenly?

It's not suddenly. In fact, people have been bitching about redditspacing for years. archive.4plebs.org/tv/thread/44755927/#44756605 Here's the earliest one I could find (desu's search is down, there might be earlier). The reason why people bitch about redditspacing is because it marks you an outsider, one that carries their sole netculture with them everywhere, with no regard for time or place. Used to be that people would lurk on a board and learn the culture before posting, and those that didn't were called out on it. Also, subjective opinion, but it looks bad.

Huh. I only started noticing just recently. Either way, I'll continue to not care about random anons browsing habits.
But seriously, I get what you mean about lurking and getting the bord culture,
but it just seems like a pretty insignificant detail that's also not at all exclusive to reddit.

>Powers as advantages, how does that work for spellcasters?
Power Modifier (Magic). Basic Book, page 34

I also understand that some will find it pretty insignificant, but saying it isn't exclusive to reddit is missing out on a lot of details. Due to reddit's awful text formatting, users newline every one or two sentences to make their posts readable. If you go to reddit and copy and paste multi-line posts from a few threads, you'll see just how prevalent it is over there. Veeky Forums and reddit also have a lot of similar boards (r/rpg and r/gurps, just to name two), so the simplest explanation is that redditspacing posters come from reddit.

The reason is because people aren't used to running supers games. If you go talk to Ghostdancer or read his Aeon AARs, you'll see that GURPS is quite well suited to superheroic games. GURPS Supers has a lot of good advice on how to run a supers game, and many useful rules for the sort of comic book bullshit you regularly see with things like Wildcard Powers (SU41) and Ultrapower (SU30, 112). Super-Strength is a hack and it's probably better to use KYOS or GULLIVER for strong supers, and give them an ST-based IA for punching if you want them to be able to punch through a tank.

You know there's other super heroes than DC iconics right? Is it blaspheme if I want to play X-Men or something?

>I feel like I've built the characters badly
Post them here for feedback

>It seems like Sorcery would really fit quite neatly in there.
Sorcery us a very specific use of alternative abilities and power modifiers. It is exactly what we're talking about, and a great example of how to design things

Who the fuck wants to play DC heroes anyway?

There's what, Batman? The rest are stupid and/or lame.

Bumping for this. I'm looking to see how much my merc PCs need to take in to keep the lights on.

...

2/7

3/7

4/7

5/7 (I am not posting familiars or allies, just stole templates from GURPS dragons & GURPS DF allies)

6/7

7/7

Characters are in order:
Fire Spellsword, Orc Barb, Norse Ish Raider Queen, Human Bear Wrestler, Half-Elf Warlock, Gnome Sky Pilot, Human Ranger

I'm probably going to bed, spent like 4 hours doing this & creating a primer cheat sheet for players. Any feedback welcome, am noob.

No complaints. Straight to the murderhobo point with him

Why Grip mastery: greataxe?
Also, berserkers tend to benefit more from armor than basic defenses, but good on you for battle rage

Weird but cool; I like the divine curse.
Again; why greataxe grip mastery?

Have stronk; must bear

Describe to us, tibbles
Also, "often mistaken for a woman" is hilarious

Interesting choice for Duty/Debt. I like how his occupation is literally "do dangerous shit for money"

Sense of duty nature vs I WANT CASTLE
interesting dichotomy

Also, your group all seem to be either STRONK or MAGIC
just an observation

I'm partial to the ideals of Superman.

Hey guys, have a real life GURPS PC.

>Watch dozens of hours of FilthyRobot's Battle Brothers videos
>See him ranting about how difficult looting armor is
>The chance of looting a piece of armor is based on how much HP it has at the end of the battle
>To have any chance at looting armor, you have to rely on either the flail's head-targeting skill or the dagger's armor-chink-targeting skill

I wonder whether running a low-tech mercenary-band campaign in GURPS would be fun.
>Roam the countryside fighting for pay
>Have to pay camp followers (tailors, armorers, etc.) in addition to the mercs themselves--or maybe train the mercs in Armoury instead
>Every so often, stop by a town to buy materials for Major Repairs
>Make economical decisions: Should I pay the armorer to fix this armor, or just sell it for materials cost?

Sounds comfy senpai. Just some dudes kicking around, fighting for pay, and living the good life.

I don't even.

The Archer breaks the pattern. Got to wonder what the regular bow is for rather then a longbow or compound bow.

"Spells Only" limitation for Eidetic Memory, you think -60%? -80%?

What do you expect to get out of it? Also, what magic system are those spells using?

My character is partially (underhalf) behind cover (standing).
Enemy shoot at me (torso):
>He get -2 for trying to shoot uncovered half-torso, or he can shoot through cover with -2.
If i dodge, i can end in fullcover (crouching/kneeling)? Or i must use dodge&drop?

Doesn't Modular Abilities "Long ago i'm learned suitable spell, hold on, i try call to memory for it" for mages are more canonical way?

Wild Talent can do that sort of thing too.

Not much, just a counter to my Absent Mindedness and the bonus to IQ for learning things.

I guess there is no real need as GURPS assumes a Magery Mage never forgets their spells and such

>counter to my Absent Mindedness
But AM is not about forgetting, it is about troubles to paying attention to anything except whatever you're currently interested. Like ADHD without Hyperactivity.
You know you have half-empty clip in your gun, but you don't reload it, because it is not so important thing as what you doing right now.

That's a good point, thanks for the reminder.

Or even drawing your gun and realizing you didn't put put the magazine back in after cleaning it.

I could see leaving a half empty clip in an M1 Garand, just because the manual of arms to remove a loaded clip is such a fucking pain in the ass.

For everything else, Always reload when you have a few seconds. Spare magazines are cheap and you never know when you might need 31 or 16 chances to make your point.

I've grown fond in my game how we've taken to calling 'bullets' our 'chances'

See a nice gun, first question "How many chances does it give you."

Thanks for the feedback. I chose grip Mastery just because I didn't want to have my players deal with switching grip for the different reaches. It felt like something I would end up forgetting, and it's only a perk.

Tibbles is simply a cat familiar.

That's what my players wanted *shrug*

Regular bow is just because of $. I couldn't afford a longbow or composite bow.

Why greataxe? It's.. kind of awful. Swing + 4 is sweet, but it's at the cost of un-readying after each attack. I'd note that when you re-ready after an attack you can change reach anyway, so it's not a huge deal.

If the extra reach isn't vital, a throwing axe does nearly the same damage, can be thrown and can be one-handed at need. It's barbaric as fuck in a French sort of way to hurl francisca at people.

Oh forgot to mention. When you said berserkers tend to benefit more from armor than defences, should I remove high pain threshold/combat reflexes and get DR or armor instead? Or lower basic speed?

Greataxe is what the players wanted. They have over 1.5x strength needed so it doesn't need to be readied after every attack but I will bear that in mind. Should I use the rules for greataxes from Low Tech? That increases damage by quite a bit.

I'd try to show them the joys of throwing axes. They are damn fine weapons and can look pretty fucking cool..

But if they DO want greataxes, I'd give them the Low Tech ones. It's a mercy to at least get the greater damage.

Not that guy, but it's mostly that Berserk gives you the same effects as High Pain Threshold, but better, and Berserk prevents you from using Active Defenses. That said, it takes a really specialized build to make Berserk as a combat tactic work, going with a normal build that also has Berserk isn't exactly a problem.

Ok, thanks. I am allowing the player to also use Committed Attack (like in DF Barbarians), so active defences aren't completely useless. I'll look into it though

Isn't that the Reach Mastery perk, not Grip Mastery? IIRC, GM is for switching between one- and two-handed grips, defensive grips, and the like.

Oh my God, why are those two separate perks?

You get the reach from the different grip, right? So why would it be separate to gain the benefits?

Why you don't remove perks and said it just works?

To differentiate two different styles of combat. Someone with RM has a very flowing style, able to attack near and far and control distance much more effectively. Conversely, someone with GM is flexible in how they approach combat, sending out powerful two-handed blows when needed, freeing a hand to grapple, throw a weapon, or do anything else otherwise, and dropping instantly to defensive grip when things go south.

You being bootybothered that you confused the two is not a reason for the distinction to not exist. If it's such an issue, collapse them into one perk or ignore them and let everyone do it for free in your campaign.

A nice gun like that, he almost certainly has a Weapon Bond with. So that'd be another +1

Batman's kind of retarded too. But yeah DC heroes are basically "what will 11 year old boys like" personified.

I figured as it's only a perk it's fine. Also, I wanted to stay away from house rules as much as possible while I learn the game.

Is ritual path magic somewhere in the mega archive? I can't find it.