Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbwarrior
I mean GURPS is a fairly complex system and it sounds nearly impossible to build a sheet where you can build (say) Innate Attacks without having to type them in. But secondary characteristics and made quickly (including now thrust and swing), combat effects can be attached to skills and whatnot, points are totaled up, etc. With something like D&D and its absurdly complicated but exact spells being able to have them in the character sheet already is super nice. I guess, what does the sheet not do that other system's sheets do? Maybe I just haven't seen it done well.
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Standard GURPS is not *that* complex...especially if you aren't you using lots of powers...it just has a lot of options...like DnD has lots of spell options. Because SJGames doesn't support the VTT, they don't allow the VTT character sheets to have any
information. So can't have any drop down menus with skills or advantages or disadvantages, etc. You have to hand enter in all of that yourself. Call of Cthulhu and Dungeons and Dragons not only have all the data in the character sheet, but they also have charactermancers to help guide you through making your character. So you can click on spells and click the ones you want and all the relevant data is loaded into your character sheet. D&D and Call of Cthulhu also allow you to buy (from the publisher) a compendium so from within the VTT you could, for example, look up what the abilities mean, etc. You have a reference right there in the VTT.
Because SJGames doesn't want the data anywhere...If I want to make a GURPS character in Roll20, I have to look up all the data in my book and then hand enter in each skill, advantage, and disadvantage and the relevant info. It takes a lot of time for stuff that is just the typing part...not even the choice making part, or deciding how to make an Innate attack part...just data entry. The Roll20 D&D sheet doesn't to that at all, in contrast. I can make up 5 level D&D character pretty quickly. And if I have purchased the special compendiums (which gives the publisher money) then I can look up all the references. And I don't have to type in too much by hand. And I can make characters all day. Now...with GURPS? For every character I have to type in each skill and its data for every single character every time.
I want to do an arena game with people who've never played GURPS at all. But the Roll20 sheet is not newbie friendly. Either I spend hours eating in all that info myself as the GM and then giving them the pre-gens..or...they do it...but why would they spend hours on data entry when they could just play Call of Chtulhu, or Shadowrun or D&D or Blades in the Dark, or any number of other RPGs that have full support in Roll20? The ones that make making characters easy...and making multiple characters easy.
To be honest, if I were to run a GURPS game in Roll20...I would be so much faster for me to use GURPS Character Sheet program. But then nothing is integrated into the VTT.
There are so many sheets that are amazing to play with. D&D has an impressive character sheet, Call of Cthulhu's is nice. A lot of the sheets are just way, way more functional. And this is not the fault of the people who are maintaining that Roll20 sheet. They have made it a much nicer sheet that it was two years ago. The problem is that they are not allowed to include the things in the sheet what would make it more useful.
A GURPS sheet with a charactermancer and with an integrated compendium in the marketplace that would generate income for SJGames and well as making it easier to make characters would go a long way to help me recruit new GURPS players.