GURPS General

Technology edition

What is your favorite tech-level and why?

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Grimwyrd today!

Gotta love these guys :D

I like TL 3+1 fantasy because it's easier to handle but I'm also open to TL8 or 9 "modern" settings and TL11 or 12 ultra tech setting, though for the latter I'd probably go with Eclipse Phase instead of GURPS.

Speaking of TL, did anybody ever try playing a high-tech dungeon fantasy game?

Which advantage best represent a beneficial version of Weirdness Magnet? Serendipity?
I'm thinking things like "the fairy you saved is a noble from the seelie court" and "the lamen shop you entered is run by an eccentric and friendly elder thing". Bad examples but I hope you get what I mean.

Definitely serendipity

Hey guys. How would I stat a power that lets me steal ST from others?

> Magic Steal ST
Thats the easiest bet.

Actually, let me provide more detail. The power is ranged area of effect ability that allows the character to steal strength temporarily from everyone inside the area. As they steal more strength they grow larger.

What book is that from?

I am considering using a game of Victoria 2 as a basis for a 21th century alternative history campaign.

What would be the realistic strength of such a country? (Anglo-french)

Leech (Powers) (steal ST)
Area effect
Linked Growth (trigger, leeched ST)

What do you mean by this?

Its in GURPS Magic, listed under Steal Attribute.

I know this has probably been asked many a time, but please, I'd appreciate input:

What GURPS books would be good for a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure game? Elements that come to mind are obviously supernatural, but also horror and sleuth.

Read Powers and Action 2. You already know the tone of the game.

GURPS Powers for the Stands, read Enhanced Senses, The Weird, Divine Favor, Psionic Powers and Sorcery for example of some abilities.
Pyramid #61 contains "Hundred-Handed Strike" which is pretty much Ora-Ora.
For the Jojo Poses I'd go Appearance (Transcendent; Impressive, +0%; Universal, +25%; Requires Gesture, -10%) [23]

Don’t forget the perks that let you Intimidate and Sex Appeal nonverbally.

Economic strength of an almost united south america that has more luck than south america in real history.

Right, so what's your question?

Well, IIRC Brazil has one of the largest deposits of iron, manganese and aluminium in the world and according to quick googling it seems their rivers are pretty nice for navigation so it's possible that with proper management and industrialization they could be very powerful.

Making a character for Dungeon Fantasy, I have 15 points to spend on advantages. I'm interested in many but I narrowed it to either Luck or Danger Sense. My character has IQ 12 so the Danger Sense should be reliable enough.
Which one in your experience has proven more useful?

Combat reflexes

Already got that, sorry for not mentioning. Here's what I already have: Combat Reflexes, Fit and Heroic Archer.

I’d say Luck is more useful in general. As an archer, you likely won’t be in the front and thus will not take the brunt of most ambushes. Additionally, you probably have enough Per to spot threats through mundane means. From a meta perspective, Danger Sense is one of those advantages the GM needs to juggle; there’s always a chance they’ll forget you have it and not give you a roll until it’s too late.

Also this is purely anecdotal, but if you have my luck, you will ALWAYS fail an important roll, and in those cases, Luck is essential. Luck has kept me from shooting allies, let me dodge one-hit blows, put a knife in a monster’s eye, and patch up a vital NPC.

I have quite good Perception, actually. 14, +2 from Archer template +2 from IQ from Treasure Hunter template. I thought it was enough for mundane dangers but I was worried about supernatural stuff you wouldn't pickup with mundane sense (not sure what would that be but I'm sure there would be some).

Anyway, you convinced me to go with Luck, particularly the part about GM forgetting to roll against it. Thanks!

I’m sure there are some insidious magical traps that leave no physical sign, but that’s what the thief and wizard are for. If you’re woried, save up for the Scout-Wizard lens; not only do you get magic arrows, but with Magery, you get to automatically roll Per when seeing/coming into contact with anything magical.

Brazil's greatest weakness is that it's very tough terrain and the general challenges of developing the Amazon basin, but otherwise it's not bad country. Adding Argentina and Columbia like that the real problem would be that you've got a low population. Such a nation could be an economic match for Germany.

Does Cheaper Gear perk works from the start? For instance, would Cheaper Gear (Dwarven Axes) allow me to start with a Dwarven Axe ($250) for just $100?
Also, does the Acc bonus from Crossbow Sight (DF1 p25) adds normally to hit rolls when attacking with Heroic Archer (Crossbow)?

In DF discounts on gear prices for race and being able to build things do apply to your starting gear.

It sounds like you went full RIFTS. Storytime?

>What GURPS books would be good for a Jojo's Bizarre Adventure game?
Every book you find

>[Detect] requires one second of concentration, after which the GM will secretly make a Sense roll for you
>Telekinesis requires constant concentration to use. In combat, this means you must take a Concentrate maneuver on your turn. Your TK may then perform one standard maneuver
What's the difference for the purposes of deciding duration in Sorcery? The former is instantaneous, the latter is indefinite, and I don't understand the reasoning.

IDHMBWM but info spells are a flash of insight, buffs have a fixed duration, buffs on self only are indefinite. You can only cast the second one one someone else.

Telekinesis for yourself isn't a buff in Sorcery.

Telekinesis for yourself isn't a spell in sorcery. Telekinesis shoehorned into a resisted spell is. As is a self-buff (None keyword, Indefinite duration, maybe other criteria I can't remember).

It's bundled, but TK for yourself is just normal TK with the Sorcery modifier.

That's a sorcerer granting himself an advantage via a spell. Those are always Indefinite duration. One could say the sorcerer is casting a buff on self only. The range is the range of the TK. Not the range to the target of the granted advantage.

The question is: if sorcerers can do that with TK, why can't they do it with Detect?

You can, just slap maximum time and sorcery pm on it.
And you always can check your target (GM secret roll) with GPS in your mind while spell is active.
He just don't understand how powers work.

Maximum Time? Where can you find that enhancement?

power-ups 8

The game did kinda go full rifts this week
>WHERE LAST WE LEFT OUR HEROES
>The town of Academ lies in ruins, blasted by a mystical storm and shredded with gale force winds. The party have ventured deep in the maelstrom, led by an eerie calm path through the chaos to the center of town. There, they found a den of ghouls nesting in the remains of the Academy! Carnage ensued, blasts of fire and fury destroying the fell beasts. Then, within the eldritch lair, they find a mystic circle inscribed with the runes of power binding the storm to bidding, and inside that, IT dwells!

The party dwells on the portal a bit, but ultimately decides they need to venture inside and face whats there

And on the other side is a bigass mortifying demon torturing a wizard in a magic circle

They waste no time drawing steel and facing the chunk of meat down!
Syviis blasts the guy, aiming to take the silver sword from his grasp and disarm him; but the blow lands, explodes and ruins the MAGE'S hand instead! The pain was being channelled magically!
Gray twigged ot the fact that IT was in the control box nearby at the portal and BASHES it with his Ogre Blade! SQUISH GOES THE DEMON GLOBE. Demon goes flying away from the magic circle! Sword flies from his grasp!
"ILL EAT YOUR BONES!"

Then Suthri draws down on the demon big guy and drops a fucking critical hit, headblow... Maximum normal damage to the skull

Sufficed to say, the demon died in less than a combat round.

Are TK and Detect "normally "on" indefinitely"? I don't think Maximum Duration is a valid limitation.

The meat slumps to the floor, they huzzah, and then turn to the demonically charged man floating in the magic circle over them.

And then he speaks

[REDACTED]: "please, Roderick, help me"
[REDACTED]: "they're killing me....please, end it"
Suðri Skornbrekker: “I pity you, man, but what good did you think would come from pacting with demons who let you butcher innocents with a sword forged from the Earth's very spirit?”
[REDACTED] speaks, slowly, as if concentrating very hard to compose the words
[REDACTED]: "It was not [REDACTED]'s choice, Suðri. The power of IT has warped reality. "

Gray lifts the silver sword carefully and studying it, then offering it to Suori. "You mean to say this man is innocent here?"
[REDACTED]: "Just another cog in the infernal machine, Gray"

[REDACTED]: "End it quick...and [REDACTED] might simply cease to be. That would be the best outcome...."

Syviis: "How do you know my name, sir? Have we met?
Syviis aims regardless, but holds her arrow
[REDACTED] sighs, weary and tired
[REDACTED]: "We used to, before IT changed things"
Rod moves about the circle, smudging out symbols in a precise order. The glow of the circle fades, and [REDACTED] slowly drifts to the floor. [REDACTED] begins to seize up, wracked with pain, his wounds freshly bleeding out!
[REDACTED] SCREAMS as he settles, his terrible wounds now free
Roderick reaches down to heal the man, The healing light washes over the man, and his gaping wounds bind; the bleeding stops, and pink flesh thinly veils the damage. His stump is a clean nub, and the hole in his chest is closed. He shudders still. This close, you can see the intricate runes and scars that cover his bare flesh. His face is a ruinous mass of them, his eyes nearly missing under the layers

>Maximum Duration
You activate spell
Spell works for limited time and then it goes on cooldown. Doesn't count as active spell

>indefinitely Duration
You activate spell
Spell works for one tick, you need to reactive if you want it to work for another tick. Count as active spell.

Roderick looks at [REDACTED] and asks the most important question he can think of. "Who are you?"
[REDACTED]: "Once, your firend. A long time ago, we grew up together. Studied magic together. You went away to seek fortunes and glories. The story of your family was disgraceful, but not on them. On Jadeite's work. HIS hand moved the wheels of fate."
"When the good king died, when the Gray blade faltered, [REDACTED] went with the others to help. To find ways to fix things. jadeite led us, taught us. We couldnt know what he was doing"
"When you used the ansible, it was as he hoped; you released the energies inside it in haste, without pause. He had engineered the whole thing. You had no other way to survive"
"When you used it, you destroyed [REDACTED] from reality. And yet, the body before you speaks."

Gray frowns at the sad story the man tells, the strange, terreble tale of a man lost to even time, left in hell itself. The beastman stalks the room uneasy, sure Hell will turn on them soon. He stays ready to fight.
[REDACTED]: "I had hoped your memory would retain something of [REDACTED]...."

Suðri Skornbrekker listens carefully to the man's story while he tries to figure out which buttons not to press.
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Are you his body whose soul is departed from it, and which speaks… as a kind of imprinted reflex?”
[REDACTED]: "That....is one theory" A look of fearful wonder crosses his face "That would mean your firend really died that day. And this body would be free of sin, of guilt"
Gray: "If you'd like to leave hell, now is your chance. We plan to blast this place to flanders and slam the door behind us. I'm suprised it isn't already closeing, with your power no longer draining to feed it."
[REDACTED] shudders
[REDACTED]: "My pain was not powering the gate. Only the storm. Binding the elementals. The gates are powered by Jadeite and his works. He had them built throughout his new domain"

Read Powers, p. 153. Detect is a Transient ability. A sorcerer can grant it to himself directly, see Sense Life. Because Detect is transient and therefore Instantaneous it can't be Indefinite. Or it could be that I just don't understand how powers work.

Gray nods grimly at that. "Explains that, then."
Syviis: "Can you come back with us? If so, is there a place you still call home and rest you may have?"
[REDACTED]: "Jadeite will see this body dead, one way or another. He sent me here to waylay you, while he mustered forces. He won't know of treachery yet. Not until the results are apparent"
"Send this body away, and you need not see it again. There are places in the world hidden away that jadeite might not see them"
"Face him though!" The voice hardens, the face twisted in pain and also grim remorse "Take him to task for his evils! He has done more than he could ever fathom to ruin this world!"
Syviis: "That...is the one thing we've known for a long time."
Roderick: "One of the few things that is not a mystery."

Gray: "I've no reason to condem you, fool of a mage. You may be what you desire now.. I will see him dead and Grayhold restored for it's people. For everyone that will suffer for the choices I made to survive." He assures the mage,t hen ask SUori. "Rig a charge to blow the controls, or just hit the switch and jump though the gate?"
[REDACTED]: "Careful! The gates are ancient workings! Power tapped from the earth itself!" he staggers forward, lurching, weak
"Don't be so hasty to shatter them with brute force!"
Suðri Skornbrekker: “Power tapped from the earth itself, you say?” The Dwarf raises and eyebrow, and touches the control panel (but no buttons or anything), and listens to his crystial. Could it be the Earth-spirit?
(To Suðri Skornbrekker): The thrum of Quicksilvers power is in the controls! They are tied in to her bindings as well!

Suðri Skornbrekker 's expression becomes one of anger. “Shatter them with brute force is what we ought to do! This machinery is another link in Quicksilver's chains!”
Gray: "Seems about right. Mages enslave whatever they can"

Suðri Skornbrekker turns to Bomrek and Grey: “Can we set it up so it explodes after we have gone back?”

Gray nods, searching amoment. "Lay a powder train to a charge. How much powder do we have left?"
Bomrek: "Enough. At least for that. " he looks the fragile controls up and down "As long as we're far away from it..."

Suðri Skornbrekker helps Bomrek setting it up.

Bomrek begins measuring powder from his pack, a small wooden box and some fuse together, to make a charge
[REDACTED] seems quite afraid of what youre doing, edging for the portal
[REDACTED]: "the destruction you will bring here....it will be IMMENSE"
"Be careful, old friends"
Suðri Skornbrekker: “That's the idea; as long as we're far enough away. Take care.”
Gray: "Aye.. no reason for everyone to remain on this side. The rest of you go. I'll spark the fuze and join you."
[REDACTED] steps through the portal, one last sad look over his shoulder


The group sets the charge, steps away, and then on the other side, the veil dissipates, the gate powered down.

They ride back to their men, send dispatches into town to look for survivors, and put their feet up to rest.

Suðri then scouts ahead from a hilltop...
..and witnesses the keep of Greyhold on the horizon floating through the sky.

The party are now debating the best way to assail a flying keep.

What is this le epic edgy xD shit?

>Sufficed to say, the demon died in less than a combat round.

Bad case of laserbrain. Do you find that happens a lot with GURPS? I found with TL 3 low fantasy that players could put 2 or 3 arrows or crossbow bolts into a enemy fast if they could all focus on one target.

GIT GUT
GO BACK TO CASUL D&D THIS IS REALISM!!!!

We could launch the ancient Dwarven nuke at it!

How is GURPS compared to Genesys? Can such an old system with archaic features like bell curves and point-buy still hold up in 2018?

How do I make ammo/arrows with magical abilities? like an arrow of healing that heals instead of damaging or an arrow that spawns a plant that entangle whatever it hit or whatever was close to the hex where it landed, speaking of which, does aiming at a specific hex add any kind of penalty/bonus?

Well, Mr. Bait, for starters, GURPS is actually generic and universal instead of a method of selling you different prepackaged settings that just use the same proprietary dice.

Assuming you’re working with advantages and want to use a mundane bow, Follow-Up could work for most. Maybe use a less-lethal arrow type for healing arrows.

Aiming at a hex is at +4.

Follow-up wouldn't work for the healing arrow, I want my archer to be full on utility using magical arrows, the healing arrow may explode on contact and releases a healing aura or penetrate the target and dissolve instantly while casting a minor heal, It could even have a flask in the place of the arrow head, although I'm worried about the accuracy of such setup.

Tl4 for fantasy
TL9 for cyberpunk.
TL10 for sci-fi.

Don't you get a warm, fuzzy feeling when you think of all the hours of diligent research that your purchases of GURPS books have funded? I certainly do.

Speaking of research: Have you found any particularly-interesting gems in GURPS bibliographies?
I learned about the Xanth series from the GURPS Powers bibliography.

UT cybernetics merged as name-cost-tl table is exists somewhere?

What's the logic behind character points and stats/advantages/skills worth? how did they balance it?

...

But you can only apply maximum duration to advantages that are normally always on: Regeneration, Indomitable, Hyperspectral Vision, etc.
Detect is used via one second at a time is thus not valid for maximum duration.
That helps a bit, since I now I have qualifiers for what powers should be instantaneous, and which should be indefinite. However, that doesn't explain why Detect, which "requires one second of concentration" is different from TK, which requires "a Concentrate maneuver". What's the difference between constantly concentrating for TK, and constantly concentrating for Detect?

In my opinion, if you can't raid the nearest normie board game for dice, it's not a generic system.

There hasn't really been much invention since bell curves and point-buy, it's almost exclusively memes and gimmicks that you can use to peddle a flavor of the month system with a low lifetime expectancy.

What is more correct variant?

>One Arm (Mitigator (magic), -70%) [-6]. Total: [-6]

>One Arm [-20] + No One Arm (Magic, -10%; Maintenance, 1 person, weekly, -5%) [17]. Total: [-3]

I was asking of the worth of 1 CP and the logic behind giving advantages 50 CP cost or even 100 CP, it seems a bit arbitrary

The second, assuming you have been modified to have some sort of golemic/Eldritch replacement. If you miss a maintenance cycle, you lose the effect of the Not no arm, and have No arm left over

>the worth of 1 CP
I don't think that such granularity is intended, outside the rules for gaining points in play (pic related).

It happens a bit more if you're uncreative with your enemies; this one in particular was a bigass meatslab, but with no weird hit locations or immunities. What it DID have was a deferment of damage down to the tortured soul in the circle, while a very specific spell was up. So they killed IT, the spell dropped, and demon gets a Dwarven first empire heat Ray to the face.

Also a feasible plan, if you DONT plan in using it or any other magic devices in the blast radius to restart the Ansible. Remember, the Witch Queen advised you to "collect mortal implements of magic and use them as fuel"

How do you design vehicles, /gurpsg/?
>GURPS Vehicle Builder
>Excel (or LibreOffice, Lotus 1-2-3, etc.)
>Pencil and paper (with lots of iteration)

We don't need vehicles until release of 4e vehicles!

This only works for realistic traits, the brokenness seems more apparent with magic, but slight obvious with exotic abilities such as invisibility and undead.

If character lost both arms will he get No Fine Manipulators [-30] or No Arm x2 [-40]?
I'm not sure about NFM as it gave same result as if he lost both hands, but since he lost both hands he still have stumps...

NFM means having paws or loosing hands not the arms, No Arm is more accurate if even the little you have left doesn't have any use

are there new, non-pyramid books still getting released? I can only find information about reprints

It is possible to use melee weapons with UT Weapon Mounts bodmods or they designed for firearms only?

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TK is switchable. Detect is transient.
With TK you concentrate and have a pair of ten yard long arms (for lack of a better description) to use while you continue concentrating.
With Detect you concentrate, get your flash of insight, then the power shuts down. You can't keep it running without modifying it to no longer be transient.

So with TK you press a button and have to hold it, and with Detect you have to repeatedly press the button. Would turning Detect into a switchable advantage just be Cosmic(can be maintained) +50%?

I think Reflexive from Powers would be a better fit. Powers: Enhanced Senses seems to go this way too.

So with detect i can't make something like mental minimap/compass in my head, which will point me for next hour in which direction my target, and requiring (GM secret) checks to refresh info?

There is no 'no arm' disadvantage. The disadvantage is called 'one arm' which pretty much explains why you can't take it twice.

>Cosmic(can be maintained) +50%
I can't think of a case off the top of my head where I'd allow it I'm not at your table :D so go for it. What I would allow is to rebuild the spell to Affliction (Detect, Reflexive) (

Detect with Reflexive would work as far as I can tell. It comes coupled with Reduced Time 1, so you can ping/glance at your compass as often as you want as a free action, and if for some reason your target suddenly starts moving, your Detect should kick in automatically. and tell you.

Sort of. If you add Reflexive to Detect you get your flash of insight (like glancing at the compass/minimap) every time (if you make your sense roll) your target moves or more appear or disappear. Either way the map doesn't stay open. It's (almost) the same effect but you have to look at it differently.

No i speak about something like:
I cast "Global Positioning Spell".
And for next hour i will see on floor an arrow. That arrow points direction to my target last Detected position.
If i want i can concentrate (as per Detect) to refresh information about target last position for that hout every time i want.
And if i add Visible, everyone can see that arrow.

Pyramid #3/72 Alternate Dungeons has suggestions for minimaps in the Dungeon Fantasy Video Gaming article.
>Mini-Map: 3D Spatial Sense [10] + Para-Radar (Always On, -10%; Extended Arc, 360°, +125%; Nuisance Effect, cannot be used to target unseen targets with supernatural abilities, -5%; Penetrating, +50%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%) [92] + Shtick (Character’s “footprints” can be “seen” on Para-Radar) [1]. Notes: This ability lets you “see” everything 20 yards from your current location from a 360º arc. It works in any environment and is effectively undetectable. You always know which way north is and receive bonuses to certain skills (see 3D Spatial Sense, p. B34). When in an enclosed area, make an IQ roll – Engineer (Mining) if underground, Architecture or Urban Survival if in a building. Success allows you to build a mental map of the area, even if you’ve never been there. Finally, you always know where you’ve been in an area and can follow your mental footprints to and from any location you’ve visited with no roll. It cannot be used to target detected subjects. 103 points.

It's not exactly what you're after, but perhaps useful as a second opinion. Detect would probably work for getting a metaphorical quest arrow towards your target if you follow the other anons advice and reduce duration/make it reflexive. You'll probably also want to increase the range, of course.

>Mini-Map: 3D Spatial Sense [10] + Para-Radar (Always On, -10%; Extended Arc, 360°, +125%; Nuisance Effect, cannot be used to target unseen targets with supernatural abilities, -5%; Penetrating, +50%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%) [92] + Shtick (Character’s “footprints” can be “seen” on Para-Radar) [1]. Notes: This ability lets you “see” everything 20 yards from your current location from a 360º arc. It works in any environment and is effectively undetectable. You always know which way north is and receive bonuses to certain skills (see 3D Spatial Sense, p. B34). When in an enclosed area, make an IQ roll – Engineer (Mining) if underground, Architecture or Urban Survival if in a building. Success allows you to build a mental map of the area, even if you’ve never been there. Finally, you always know where you’ve been in an area and can follow your mental footprints to and from any location you’ve visited with no roll. It cannot be used to target detected subjects. 103 points.

This is great (although really expensive), how can I turn it to the radar you see in Btooom! anime? basically it's a battle royal where every player has an embedded stone in his hand, you can "ping" and it will send a radar signal to detect other people nearby but will also notify them with your position at the time of the ping.

Can anybody give me a quick rundown on magic and which system is better by experience? I have the magic and thaumatology supplements but I don't want to read through all that, I just want something reliable for any setting.

Vanilla is alright, not very flexible and has a few really broken spells.
Sorcery is like advantages, and works the best out of the box for "any setting".
RPM is really cool but requires a TON of GM oversight and ruling.
Incantation magic is like RPM but better and less fiddly.

Read sorcery and roll with that.

Where can I find more Low-Tech adventuring gear, like what you find in Dungeon Fantasy #1 and Basic Set? Stuff like caltrops, smoke bombs, magical potions, etc.

What about symbol magic? I've found vanilla dull and sorcery need too much preparation.

No experience, I'm afraid.
For what it's worth, Sorcery requires less preparation than RPM and Incantation.

>I've found vanilla dull and sorcery need too much preparation.
You started with wrong question.

Made another character, this time purely for DF.
I'm pretty happy with him!

Anybody running sessions on discord? how is it going?