GURPSgen

It's time for a new GURPS general, since the old one had been dead a while!

Other urls found in this thread:

gamingballistic.com/2017/08/10/martial-arts-techniques-focused-training/
sjgames.com/errata/gurps/
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

I have a question. I'm trying to stat up a "Super Mode" for a character. Ya know, Warp Spasm, Super Saiyan, etc. Temporary state where they're faster and stronger and whatnot. What's the most efficient way to do this? Alternate Form doesn't work because it's only for Racial templates(And is expensive as hell anyway)

Just a bunch of advantages with "Linked" and Costs FP, and such, to make it limited in use, and only last a minute at a time? Is there a better way to do it than this?

Also for that matter, if I take Linked(Only works with the other ability)+10%, with an Advantage that costs for the sake of example, 2 FP, and it's 3 abilities does it work like
1: I apply the "Costs FP; 2" modifier to all linked abilities, to give them -10% each, and pay 2 FP to activate them all at once
OR
2: I apply the "Costs FP;2" Modifier to all 3 linked abilities, to give them -10% each, and I have to pay 6 FP to turn them on?

If it's 2, is there any way to get around that? Maybe bundle them into a Meta-Trait, and give the Meta-trait the "Costs FP"?

>no op primer question

>Alternate Form doesn't work because it's only for Racial templates
That's how it was originally, but now it's the all-purpose "different state" advantage. IIRC, Powers has an example AF that's purely mental to represent a character's mental conditioning that lets them switch from civilian to operative mode (the AF buys off Pacifism (Reluctant Killer), adds Bloodlust, Combat Reflexes, Unfazeable, etc.).

Considering you can add limitations like Costs FP/HP or Accessibility (Only When Berserk) to the AF, I think it comes out cheaper in general than just linking everything.

Actually, no. Limitations to Alternate Form only apply to the 15 point cost of the advantage itself, not the "90% of the new forms extra traits", so it would be a LOT more expensive.

And Quote, for proof.
"When designing Alternate Forms,
apply enhancements and limitations
to the basic 15-point cost per form but
not to the form-specific cost (that is,
90% the difference in template costs)"
Powers, Page 74.

What's the trigger for your KILL MODE ?
Take all the extra stuff, lump it together, and discount it as "when exposed to unobtainium" -20%
BAM
Activated/triggered stuff gives you a minute of use (as per powers, I believe) and that duration can be further modified.

It's supposed to be an internally activated thing. The idea is it costs a good chunk of FP, has a couple nuisance effects, and can only use it twice per day, so they're not just spamming it every single time they get in a fight. Trigger doesn't make sense, with the fluff the player wants.

Working on Martial Arts for a fantasy game and looking for feedback/more ideas..

Ljósálfr Path of War (Light Elf Unarmed Martial Arts)

Emphasizes grace, defense and avoiding meeting force with force. Defensive attacks are common and All Out Attacks, or even Committed Attacks, are very rare. Evasion and avoiding static fights are hallmarks of the skill, with heavy use of Acrobatic Dodge. The greatest masters are said to be able to walk between raindrops and parry magic.

Required Skills: Judo, Acrobatics, Savoir-Faire (Ljósálfr)

Techniques: Acrobatic Stand, Breakfall, Evade, Arm Lock

Cinematic Skills Unlocked: Blind Fighting, Light Walk, Pressure Points, Parry Ranged Weapon

Unlocked Techniques: Roll with Blow, Timed Defense

Perks: Acrobatic Fents, Armor Adaption (Judo)

Optional:

Advantages: Enhanced Parry (Unarmed), Language (Ljósálfr), Magic Resistance (Improved), Enhanced Time Sense, Catfall
Disadvantages: Overconfident, Reputation (Arrogant)

Skills:Jumping, Running, Karatie, Martial Art Sport (Ljósálfr Path of War)
Techniques: Ground Fighting (Judo)

Jötunheimr Might (Troll Martial Arts)

Unlike Light Elves there are many Ogres and Trolls willing to teach their Arts to humans and others, it's simply rare to find humans able to endure training that tends to run to full contact fights with giants that possess inhuman vitality. All Out and Committed attacks are a major part of the style, with an emphasis on overpowering targets while enduring anything that they can do in return.


Required Skills: Brawling, Sumo, Wrestling

Techniques: Choke Hold, Head Butt, Kick, Neck Snap, Two-Handed Punch

Cinematic Skills Unlocked: Throwing Art, Kiai, Power Blow

Perks: Clinch (Brawling), Special Exercises (DR 1 with Tough Skin), Iron Hands

Optional:

Advantages: High Pain Threshold, Language (Jötun), Combat Reflexes, Reputation (Tough Bastard)
Disadvantages: Bloodlust, Berserk

Skills: Intimidation, Jumping, Running, Axe/Mace

I'm a new Gm to GURPS, and currently running a Cyberpunk game at TL 9 for my first game. I'm trying to focus on making combat seem decently tense and realistic enough not just to make players feel like they are the equivalent of heroes in fantasy games but not too much where they feel like they should avoid combat altogether. Their characters are about 160 or so points right now, they started at 150 and it a been a few sesh's but I wanna know about how I could maybe make combat a bit more tense without having to just make them fighter tougher guys.

Also, I was wondering if there are any reasonable rules for armor degrading from and how well would that work for balancing out heavily armored PC's and enemies.

>Armor Degradeing

Semi-Ablative makes Armor lose 1 DR for every 10 points of damage it absorbs. With guns, this can make armor lose 1 to 3 points of DR every time a round hits it, meaning even a tough suit of armor can start to fail.

>How to make it tense?

Give the bad guys guns. A SMG hit to any unarmored area is Bad News.

FIll the area with smoke and have the bad guys charge in and try to beat the PCs down with batons, trying to wreasle them to the ground and capture them.

Have them hunted by cyborg killing machines with heavy guns that are hard to stop with armor in an area with lots of cover and ways to break line of sight.

Thanks, man!
I've had some pretty harsh enemies in most of my fights. So far I've noticed that even with guns guys with melee attacks that can get into range can wreck shit.

The smoke idea is a perfect one I'll use that one in my next sesh. As for the armor though I know about the Semi ablative DR advantage makes the armor from the advantage degrade, but I'm more interested in rules for regular armor degrading over time like a bulletproof vest.

Looks good! Only comment I can make is that--based on what you've given us so far--the light elves are incredibly arrogant and snobbish, and going by that, I think replacing the grapple focus with a strike focus may make more sense. That way, they don't have to touch enemies as much and avoid those intimate grapples. The art would still be very defensive and acrobatic and still employ judo, but rather than locking an opponent's arm, they simply throw the foe and finish them off with a AOA/CA punch or stamp while they're vulnerable. Alternatively, you could ditch Judo and simply have elves AOD/Wait/Evaluate until there's an opening which they capitalize on with an AOA/CA (Strong) to the throat, vitals, face, or skull.

From what I've heard, direct attacks are sort of rare both IRL and in most action movies. Suppression fire (p. B409) is more common and may (or at least should) do a better job of scaring off any would-be Jack Churchills in the party.

Low-Tech Companion...2, I think, has rules for damage to armor. The short version is you track armor HP--and if something gets through your DR, it broke through your armor, which drops its HP--with the armor's effectiveness steadily dropping as it goes from max HP to 1/3 to 0. It also loses 1 HP/month form simple decay unless cared for by someone with points in Armory. While these rules are more for breastplates and chainmail, I can see them applying just fine to TL9 armor (though material quality may slow down the rate of decay to 1 HP/year).

Smarter bad guys and more explosions. Non-fragmentary explosions are surprisingly undamaging at the edges of the blast and so do a remarkable job of whittling away HPs. Fright checks for near misses (just don't use the table, instead apply Stun) add tension because being caught out of cover reeling, deafened, and unable to focus for a second or two while being shot at is scary.

Smarter bad guys attacking from an unexpected direction then fading away only to have another group do the same is stressful. The first time they chase the initial contact into an ambush should be the last time. Hopefully from learning instead of character creation.

Get rid of as much book-keeping as possible. A whole turn spent running for cover followed by a turn of aiming before dropping an enemy is realistic. Making it work in a game is easy if each player only takes a minute at most for their turn. Second by second turns means three attacks, three kills every turn pretty ridiculous.

That's a good point. I like Judo as a way of punishing aggression but with Arm Lock as the only finisher the style requires a lot of cuddling up to really finish things.

I think I will fix it by moving Karate into Required, adding Snap Kick to Techniques, along with Targeted Attack (Snap Kick/Throat) for a finisher that lets them keep their hands clean.

Unless that seems too brutal? They are reserved and aloof, as a culture, and those that master the art of war/dabble seriously tend to be quite confident of their ability to handle any lesser race.

Is Incantion RPM that much easy and powerful?
Our incanter have path skills around 16. And he has Field Caster and Adept, so he can cast without magic circle and get his spells loaded in 5 minutes at breakfast.
So most time he literally burns enemies to ash with cheap spells like Cone of Flame, Elemental Blast and Flaming Skulls.
Also he link his spells so he can casts couple of Elemental Blasts at once (to throw them next turn as rapid/DWA), and after throw Blasts are recasted. Is trigger works like that?
And that dude is not smartest guy or good at optimizing, he acts like "do first -- think after", and the only one time i saw him playing on caster was when we play Magika 2 in coop and D&D 4e one-shot.

I have some really clever players. They ended up doing much, much worse. I couldn't keep up with RPM, it's too unlimited and requires either heavy GM oversight or players that self-limit. It didn't work with my group much as I tried. If it doesn't work with yours it's best to drop it for another system.

Troll style is MUCH WORSE then elf style. Is that a deliberate choice or an accident?
This makes it worse.

Nothing's stopping the powerful advantages having Costs FP within the alternate form.

If you really want to make your styles distinct check out Dogulas' 'Focused training'
gamingballistic.com/2017/08/10/martial-arts-techniques-focused-training/

make sure you track damage to armour. It falls apart if it fails a HT check like a character. Well maintained items have HT 12, poorly maintained might have 10, or even 8 if it's cheap. Armour is homogeneous, so apply that to the injury it takes (homogenous damage modifiers; B380, and use the rules for object HP, B558)

I'm fine about RPM, cuz i've always thinks about it as same utility thing as basic magic, but much more wider at cost of energy roll jerking to be even more skeleton key than basic magic. But now i saw RPM in action and it looks like a swiss knife with sniper rifle with artillery shells and skeleton key at other end.
Anyway our GM is fine about our mage. And he promised to buff everyone with cinematic power-ups, to suit Incanter if i prove that he is really that much powerful or there was misunderstanding on how it should work.

I think they are pretty much equal, just for people with very different stats and combat styles.

That's an interesting post. I like the idea, but it might be a little too out there for this. Martial Arts Styles was something a player and I got on and we got pretty into.

This one needs work. I'm having trouble picking out cinematic goodies.

>Dökkálfar Blade School.

>The Dark Elves rarely practice purely unarmed martial arts, considering rather it be wise to always be armed. Mobility, grace and surprise are hallmarks of their self defense. The masters of this art learn to conjure blades from shadow.

>Required Skills: Judo, Acrobatics, Knife, Holdout, Quick Draw (Knife)
>Techniques: Duel Weapon Attack (Knife), Arm Lock, Targeted Attack (Knife Thrust/Vitals)
>Cinematic Skills Unlocked: Blind Fighting, Invisible Art
>Unlocked Techniques: Acrobatic Stand, Evade, Roll with Blow
>Perks: Acrobatic Fents, Special Exercises (Resistant: Poison at +8)

>Optional Traits;

>Advantages:Combat Reflexes, Language (Dökkálfar), Gizmos (Magic -10%, Blades Only -20%), Silence
>Disadvantages: Callous, Reputation (Killer)
>Skills: Quick Draw (Knife), Throwing Weapon (Knife), Poisons, Stealth

>surprise are hallmarks of their self defense
Good old preemptive self defense via ambush

somebody got link for the murdersim?

1. You have Fast Draw/"Quick Draw" under both mainline skills and optional traits
2. If this is a formal and refined school rather than a product of necessity and self defense, consider swapping Knife out for Smallsword or even Main-Gauche, which are both more killy and enjoys fencing bonuses, making them fit the graceful theme of the school.
3. For cinematic traits, consider Power Blow--long windup times are irrelevant if you're the one ambushing, and it helps finish off helpless foes--and Hypnotic Hands or Lizard Climb to emphasize the deception or mobility themes respectively.

>For cinematic traits, consider Power Blow--long windup times are irrelevant if you're the one ambushing
This reminds me(not him, BTW), what can you do/not do while winding up for PB? My current assumption is that it counts as a Concentrate Maneuver, so all the usual rules for that apply, but I'm not sure.

I'm 99% sure you're right. Charging up Power Blow takes concentrate maneuvers, limiting you to one Step and requiring that you make a Will-3 roll to maintain your focus when injured, defending, etc.

Do you allow the use of the gunslinger advantage in a realistic campaign?

No. What the point of calling it """realistic""" when you are using clearly cinematic advantage.

>50 point npc can easily headshot running enemies at 100 meters
>no rules prevent this
>game claims to want well rounded characters but no mechanics reward this
>no bounded skills or bounded accuracy mechanics
There's a reason this game isn't not popular.

1/10 made me respond
Saying "no rules prevent this" means you're too shallow thinking to consider the meta-game at any given time. Sure, it doesn't explicitly tell me to ruin everyone's day (though some gm instructions in campaigns point out challenge and combat do not equate) but nevertheless, the game assumes a level of maturity and capability not often seen in other gamemaster circles.

In short: fuck you, you stupid cunt

Not him, but what exactly makes gunslinger unrealistic, unless you get into some of the optional effects in Gun-Fu, and such? It mostly just makes you more broadly competent with firearms, and almost every benefit it gives can be replicated with techniques, or just pumping the Guns skill itself. Hell, it's not even that good in of itself, it's really inefficient for points compared to just buying a higher Guns level.

Thank you. I do like the idea of Hypnotic Hands and Power Blow. I think smallsword and main gauch should go into optional skills, as you noted they fit in well, it's just the style emphsizes hidden blades heavily.

Nothing more surprising then attacking an unarmed target that stabs you in the liver with a hair decoration.

Don't be hard on him, I don't think he has anywhere else to go.

The game also has a bunch of rules that do stop it, he's been told about it a bunch of times. He just wants attention.

Shooting from the hip accurately isn't something that happens IRL.

>what exactly makes gunslinger unrealistic
>This.
If you don't care on what in system postulated as cinematic and as relistic, why you asking us about can you use cinematic shit in your realistic game?
You scared about that we'll know you playing it wrong and will be sended do the walk of shame?

>There's a reason this game isn't not popular.
There are many reasons this game isn't not popular. The only reasons it isn't more popular is the lack of hand holding and historically poor art.

It's unrealistic the same way Weapon Master or Trained By a Master is unrealistic. That is, it straight-up has you ignore penalties that a more traditional user would have to overcome with skill alone. If you can land every pistol shot even when running and doing flips and shit, you have insane levels of skill, not alright levels of skill + ignoring penalties because lolynot. It's a cinematic simplification and an easier way to achieve situational high skill with fewer points.

No, I'm just a new GM and totally new to GURPS as well, so I'm just asking. Sometimes rulebooks are wrong, sometimes not - I'm not familiar with the system enough to know, so I asked.

Also because the thread was at page 10 and I didn't want it to die so early.

New to GURPS, how do I make a race of incorporeals that take damage if they're outside their special suits?

Is GURPS 4th still the latest (which I heavily doubt)? If not, where can I find PDFs for the latest version, and how much has the system changed since then?

It is the latest.

Insubstantiality, B62 + Weakness, B161

It is. Check the OP.

Hmm. Having checked over the collection of 4th that I have, it appears that what I was familiar with might actually have been 3rd, since I don't recall having read these, and don't appear to have the full set.

>Sometimes rulebooks are wrong
Then you check the errata.
sjgames.com/errata/gurps/

I'm not sure about gurps it tries to be all things to all men

Are there any other tabletop roleplaying systems that list history books in their bibliographies?

It's generic if that's what you mean. It tries to be internally consistent so as to get in your was as little as possible over as many different game types as possible.

I do not mean mechanically wrong. I mean wrong in the sense that in the eyes of the normal player, not the eyes of a developer.

What's a good disadvantage for when someone takes damage when something related to them is harmed? I looked at weakness, but that is based on time spent in someone's presence. And vulnerability just makes normal damage do more.

Well, it's sympathetic damage, definitely

Maybe a zero point ally with sypathetic injury? Though that feels an abstract way to put it.

Is the person invulnerable otherwise? This is their bane?

In the case I was thinking the character was brought to life from a book, and so harming copies of the book harms them.

I think if this is giving you trepidation in trying the system, but you are still interested in trying it out, you might want to look at one of the more focused lines that run on GURPS.
Try looking at the first two books of one of the following:
Action (80's/90's action movies)
Monster Hunter (Buffy the vampire slayer and similar)
Dungeon Fantasy (dungeon diving)
After The End (post apocalyptic wastelands)

Read GURPS lite, followed by the second book in one of those series, and ending with the first book in the series, and reference the Basic Set as often or as little as you desire. Then get a feel for how the system does that setting wrong or right, and compare it to your favorite system in the same setting. Whether you think it is a little worse or a little better than your favorite system in that setting, now realize that every single 4th edition book is written in a generic way so that with little to no tinkering, you can add in the bits you think are lacking, or take out the bits you think are cumbersome. It's a little bit of a time investment, but you can probably get a lot closer to the game you always dreamed of running with GURPS than most "purpose-built" systems, and the worst that can possibly happen is you read it, and confirm once and for all it's definitely not what you want.

Your grammar is telling.

Just got the 4e Discworld book. Any tips or advice to a first time GURPS GM?

I might think of that as a very special "wounded"; if you know what book to target, you can really hurt the guy. And the default to-hit for the target spot is -3, about the size of a big book...

Run the setting before the system

Make sure youre running a game set in Discord, using gurps. Not a game of gurps set in discworld

The rules enable the storytelling

...

First time GM here, I'm running a GURPS Battle Royal style campaign for my players, and these are the characters they came up with, + one surgeon type character I don't have a file for (pdf related).

What kind of encounters can I throw at them?

Target their strengths for fun scenes and disadvantages for fun, tense ones.

Have them attacked by a hidden person with a gun. With two high PER characters they should have little trouble spotting the shooter, then coming up with a plan for one person to get to the gunner while the others hold their attention. Then hey, free gun!

Put them in a semi-social scene, with an attractive female group holding out together, but one is planning to murder the others via a paralytic poison. Anyone that drinks it needs to roll HT to avoid being helpless to move, but aware and awake as she moves in for the kill.

Trading for food and medicine with someone they aren't sure they can trust.

And of course, a gang of punks with bats and axes attacking them in the night.

I don't know what the fuck is going on with the first sheet. It looks like the kerning's off, but the other two look fine in terms of legibility. Is anyone else seeing this?

As for actual advice, since I can't read the first one without getting a headache, I'll cover Marcus and Jameson

Marcus is a weird combination of "all over the place" and "hyperfocused." All of his advantages are physical, but he lacks the skills to capitalize on them; simultaneously, he's dumped around 62 points into brainy skills (20 into Computer Programming alone, but 0 in Computer Operation!) while not having any advantages like Gadgeteering, Versatile, etc. Additionally, since he didn't take Mitigator on Bad Sight, he's stuck squinting around like Mr. Magoo. Also, 8 points in Karate with ST8, but only one in Guns??? He can make a decent repairman, so give him plenty of electronic goodies to fix up, but he's a hot mess in combat, exploration, and general survivability, so be gentle with those.

Jameson is more focused: he's a combatant with a few branches in out-of-combat utility. He's fast and strong with enough dodge to handle his weapon of choice's unbalanced parry. Let him at some combat (maybe one-on-one duels so Marcus doesn't die) while letting him flex his craft muscles every now and then by fixing a patron's weapon or building a shelter.

First sheet brings this to the table..

Acrobatics 11 DX+0
Body Language 13 Per+0
Criminology/TL8 14 IQ+1
Detect Lies 14 Per+1
Diplomacy 13 IQ+0
Fast-Draw (Pistol) 12 DX+1
Guns/TL8 (Pistol) 12 DX+1
Interrogation 14 IQ+1
Law (Criminal Law) 12 IQ-1
Leadership 13 IQ+0
Lockpicking/TL8 12 IQ-1
Occultism 13 IQ+0
Search 12 Per-1
Shadowing 12 IQ-1
Stealth 12 DX+1

He's at best a backup gun in combat, but in a social/investigation scene could be very nice. I feel like this guy's 60 points in IQ doesn't help him much, he sort of begs for a talent.

>wrong in the sense that in the eyes of the normal player, not the eyes of a developer
Yet another i know better how swordplay and shooting should work in your system, bookworm, cuz i'm participated once in HEMA buhurt (two fingers broken, bitch!), and shot bottles, with granpa shotgun, at my cousin backyard in 90s on x-mas holidays (i shot all of them!)!

Are you having a stroke?

PC 1 (Agent) has ST 10 and HP 16. You (generally) can't do that, as HP is normally limited to within 30% of ST (between 7 and 13 for a ST 10 PC).

PC 3 (Jameson) has ST 13 and HP 20. This is also out of the normally allowed range..

PC 2 (Marcus) has ST 8 and HP 10. This is allowed, it's just.. ST 8 is very low. Picture Related is about ST 8, for example.

Can someone explain to me why you would want to play GURPS?

Why the hell would you use this for any type of game? Want fantasy? Use D&D / Runequest / all the other millions of tolkein fantasy RPGs. Want sci fi? Any of the WH40k games, Traveller. Want horror? CoC, AFMBE, WoD and so on. It just seems like so much more hassle, espeacilly since GURPS doesn't really seem to be good at playing any system really. And if we're talking just universal systems, why the hell GURPS? It's a complete chore to GM or read through the books, there is literally no reason to play it when Savage Worlds and FATE exist. And if you're going to say "Well I want to run my custom furry JoJo campaign", you can do that in pretty much every system with minor rule changes / additions, without the hassle of scanning through a million GURPS books

I just don't get it

>Can someone explain to me why you would want to play GURPS?
It's tanoshii.

Is it pasta?

Git gud casul

I legit typed it out mate, I'm genuinely curious

Someone plays with "Broken Blade" From P3-87: Low-tech 3?
Too much bookkeeping or fine enough for DF game?

>Warhammer games

Are legitimately terrible, with awful rules. The best fucking anti-armor weapons are shotgun. You also have dozens of different classes that advance in different ways.

>D&D

There is a reason they burn it down to the foundation and try again every eight years.

>World of Darkness

Is so broken and fucked up rules wise you are better off playing it in GURPS and using the books for fluff.

People play GURPS because it does a lot of things well, much, much better then many specialized games.

How can I make a single large enemy creature a scary encounter that a group of players can still beat?

Whenever I try for an encounter with a single, large beast, it either turns out impossible for the players to beat because they can't deal any damage or get killed in one hit, or if they can deal any damage at all, they can just surround it and whittle it down while dodging it's attacks, as well as doing things like going for the eyes. Somehow I can't find that sweet middle ground of a challenging fight that's still winnable, it's either impossible to beat or a complete pushover.

I know the standard advice in GURPS for making dangerous encounters is to add more weak enemies rather than have one strong enemy, but sometimes I want my players to have a fight with a single creature.

Since you are actually interested in an answer. Every set of rules has something it does well and other things it does poorly. Both by my personal criteria for well and poorly. I have had many fun hours using any one of several version of D&D, RQ, WFRP, Traveller, CoC, SW, and many others. I play any system without prejudice if someone is going to put the effort in to run a game and I'm going to put the effort in to make it as fun for all of us as I can. There are some systems in which the rules actively get in my way and require more effort to get the fun out of. Fate and WoD are two of the top examples for me there. Very few systems allow me to more or less seamlessly switch between the settings of any of those games without having to get everybody on board and up to speed with a new set of rules. Of those GURPS ticks the fewest 'poorly' boxes on my tally sheet. And, for my current group, isn't even as high as middle on the 'poorly' count for anyone. So when I run a game I choose GURPS more often than not (five of the seven distinct campaigns I ran over the last year have been GURPS). Finally, I can bring a new player up to speed faster with GURPS than any other system that isn't a narrative rules-light beer and pretzels type system than any other I've played over the last 30 years. You don't need to scan a million GURPS books. Three or four, maybe. Maybe. And it's almost always the same three or four.

ATR
DR equal to average damage of strongest character
360-degree vision
Extra Arms + Extra Attack
Area attacks/afflictions
Innate Attack + Wall enhancement
High HT/HP

It's really flexible and the community and books are great overall.

You can do almost any type of campaign without having to learn to many new rules.
The source books are generally really good.

When I have one big enemy I make it weak enough that everyone can be effective against it. Then I make it smart enough not to curl up and get kicked to death. Think how video games handle the same problem. Intermittent vulnerability, maneuverability, predictable and avoidable lethality, etc. Circling up and bashing should never be the path to victory. As you've found that's boring.

Tried all that, usually a good way to get a TPK.

I've been trying that, but it usually ends up in a routine of waiting until you have an opening and hit the weak spot anyway. I guess now that I think about it, part of the problem might be that the entire party are all melee characters and aren't very good at lateral thinking, so when circling up and bashing is all they ever do, I either let that be the path to victory or end up with a dead party. Maybe I should work towards solving that problem first.

Huge creature with powerful attacks that it takes a turn to charge up. Hard to damage body, hard to hit weak spot, weaker/no armor on six legs and four arms.

Hack off the limbs to disable it, then finish it before the limbs regenerate.

Or a huge, tough foe in an area with harpoon guns. Lure it into their limited line of fire, shoot it to keep it from moving and drag it into a fire/hazard by the harpoon cables, or just use wenches to rip it apart with the barbed spears.

If that's what they like is it really a problem? Sure, it's not terribly exiting for you but if that's the game they want to play and you stop providing their fix they'll go elsewhere. Not playing is less fun so give them what they want and get your fun elsewhere. If they are bored with it too then, yeah, that's the problem to work on first.

See "Combat Writ Large" article in pyramid 3/77 - Combat.

>make a single large enemy creature a scary encounter
In GURPS you can't. In GURPS being solitary and/or outnumbered punish you very-very-very hard.
Give him some assistance. Small slave-monsters, his mate, parasite/symbiotet companions, or make this combat as three-way combat, timer. Every way for distraction/split attention is fine enough.
Give your monster reliable way to get 1-on-1 with enemy, even if other foes will stay two yards away from him, but should spend time to get to their friend: smoke screen, webs, blinding light, ink-in-face, ways for creating obstructions/barriers: force barriers, ice walls, etc.

A lumbering beast they can't damage with normal attacks can threaten a group even if they have 3 to 1 action advantage on it.

>can't damage with normal attacks
>if party can't see monster by normal means then they can't damage him, so give monster soulreap@6, 6d*5 tox, reach C, HP 1, move 1 and throw party with hin in empty room.
Then even more weaker solitary monster can be threat to PCs.
There no need to dice rolling in such of encountes. Just said "You Died". It is like "Enemy snipers kill you all", but you need to spend two hours on tactical combat.
Srsly, invulnerable (to party) monster is always a TPK regardless he stronger or weaker than party, until party already knows about his "invulnerability" before they encounter him, to be able evade all meetings with him until they found a way to remove "invulnerable" part. He can stalk them, they can get into his combat against someone, just for show how they weak against him, but no straight confrontation.

Needing to evade things you don't have the tools or resources to fight isn't a terrible challenge for a PC, though clear communcation is key. "You are fighting a GHOST. You require a GHOST SLAYING WEAPON".

But I was meaning more "normal attacks" then "all attacks". Something with enough DR that you need a All Out Attack to hurt it requires teamwork, or you can put things in the environment to fight an enemy.

A fire monster that can burn you if you get close is a huge pain for a party of close combat fighters to handle, but if there buckets of water / fire extinguishers in the room that can put out the flames for 1d seconds it goes from "impossible" to "puzzle fight". Later on you can have them face fire monsters like that in places without such easy to get ways to suppress them, and challenge them to come up with different solutions.

I take a page from Mario when doing puzzle/gimmick encounters or dungeons. First, you introduce the gimmick safely, then employ it normally, then give it a twist, then make it a part of the climax fight, then discard it. For your fiery monster example, I'd start with something like a wall of fire--the party can take their time and approach the issue cautiously. After that, throw flaming monsters at them. For the twist, maybe have the monsters re-ignite super quickly or make them harder to extinguish in the first place--maybe you have a pool of water but no buckets, meaning you need to lure or trick the monster into the pool. Whatever the dungeon boss is should include some sort of fire hazard. After that, you're done!

>you introduce the gimmick safely
Reminds me of a GM I had that had the total opposite policy. Whatever gimmick he wanted to introduce didn't come into play until we were in a position that it would do the most damage to the party, and then we'd never see it again. He was quite fond of using some new magic to thwart our plans and explain away inconsistencies when things didn't go his way.

Needless to say he is not our GM anymore, though thanks to him I still have an irrational hate of the "it's magic, I ain't gotta explain shit" crowd.

"It's magic, I ain't gotta explain shit" really is the "But it's what my character would do" of shitty GMs.

Did GURPS have portable safehouse like Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion in D&D?

You can easily build one with advantages, but as for premade Magic spells, I have no clue.

There are rules for digging. Dig a trench.

Vaguely remember something about a pocket dimension.

With success on survival check you can find comfortable and safe shelter to rest with sleeping blanket for group.

How would one make a forcefield capable of taking rifle-rounds?

What's more convenient, wall or a modified DR (area effect, affect others etc?)

Gadget-based Innate Attack with Wall is better, since Forcefields usually have an amount of HP of damage they can take before going down. Semi-Ablative DR would probably last too long, unless you want a very resilient forcefield.

Ah.

Trying to convert a character I made in a freeform RP into GURPS in order to practice making characters.

Oh, Gadget limitations are unnecessary if it's something the character can naturally do. I thought you were talking about a Halo-esqe deployable forcefield.

Nay, it's also able to move around and for example protect others, but area effect should cover that, no?

No. But there's pocket dimensions. But they are expensive points wise or can be somewhat dangerous.
You can use one as a kind of a TARDIS bigger on the inside type of portable safehouse.