Ravens N' Pennies - GURPS Content Posts

[Kalzazz]

Ah, I was going off this line in Sorcery for thinking it might have no signature "Buffs always have Increased 1/2D, 10x,
to keep things simple and No Signature to avoid
being obvious. "

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Ah, I was going off this line in Sorcery for thinking it might have no signature "Buffs always have Increased 1/2D, 10x,
to keep things simple and No Signature to avoid
being obvious. "

You know what? You're right. I always forget that part.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Gamemaster's Guidepost: Back to the Drawing Board

I toss out a few thoughts on creating new traits or modifying existing ones for GURPS.

[Kalzazz]

Interesting, very different than how I approach it

My approach
1. The new trait is for a PC (I do not bother with prices with stuff for NPCs or monsters etc) - chargen is the primary purview of the players, I will assist as a DM, and will approve or veto certain things, but if they want a new trait, then it is upon the player to do the majority of the pondering on it and present good reasoning for why this trait should exist and what it should cost, which I then may take, leave, modify or whatever

2. The forum is awesome. Ask the Collective Consciousness of the forum. I may or may not agree with what the forum says, but it is always good to see its input. As a DM, when a player wants something, a lot of the time my response is 'Go and take it to the forum'

3. I will then after viewing the players inputs (and the forums) decide how it should be, and usually to appease the Pentagods pick something in increments of 5, this will be based on whatever 'more or less seems right', combined with the input of people I feel good about . . . . or if someone like PK or Ghostdancer or Kromm or such offers a post on it, chances are I will just take that value and roll with it

[Christopher R. Rice]

I'm not arguing that I'm an authority - what I'm arguing for is that sometimes there is no formula that lets you do what you want to do. Some people forget this and it's extremely jarring when things aren't priced in a powers-style way.

[Kalzazz]

Ah, I just thought you were talking about your approach, which I thought very different from mine as it was DM centered instead of player centered, so I was explaining my approach in the general name of discussion on a discussion board

Though I admit, I generally do think of you as an authority, so if you say X is a valid thing worth Y points, I will certainly tend to consider that a strong argument in favor of X for Y

I am perfectly cool with the notion of 'sometimes there are things you can't derive from a formula and you need to determine what the price is', I mean, I can decide 'whats behind this door?' 'whats the dragon want for dinner?' 'Do toaster pastries have souls?' and all the sundry things the DM needs to decide when running an adventure, I can certainly make up a number which I think is valid enough for a new advantage

Of course, whether I think it is valid as a snap decision may or may not actually produce the best results, so I usually prefer to see what the forums think as another source of input

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Ah, I just thought you were talking about your approach, which I thought very different from mine as it was DM centered instead of player centered, so I was explaining my approach in the general name of discussion on a discussion board

No, I got that. I was just making sure that my intentions were clear.

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Though I admit, I generally do think of you as an authority, so if you say X is a valid thing worth Y points, I will certainly tend to consider that a strong argument in favor of X for Y

If other folks think that that's their decision - I don't claim such lofty titles though. :-)

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

I am perfectly cool with the notion of 'sometimes there are things you can't derive from a formula and you need to determine what the price is', I mean, I can decide 'whats behind this door?' 'whats the dragon want for dinner?' 'Do toaster pastries have souls?' and all the sundry things the DM needs to decide when running an adventure, I can certainly make up a number which I think is valid enough for a new advantage

Which is a point on your side. There are folks out there that can't or don't or just aren't flexible enough.

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Of course, whether I think it is valid as a snap decision may or may not actually produce the best results, so I usually prefer to see what the forums think as another source of input

And playtesting. Lots and lots of playtesting. New traits require it.

[The_Ryujin]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Gamemaster's Guidepost: Back to the Drawing Board

I toss out a few thoughts on creating new traits or modifying existing ones for GURPS.

It still amazes me how much you rock as this stuff. I gotta say that between your posts, blog and even your direct feed back I've improved greatly at being able to eyeball new modifiers and come up with new meta-traits, powers and advantages.

On that note, and I'm surprised this idea didn't dawn on me earlier, have you ever thought about doing some "How GURPS Works" youtubes vids were you go over why come GURPS is awesome and hopefully attract new converts into the flock. Given how well you seem to understand how GURPS works I think you'd be a good candidate to break the system down to people who might be on the fence and it could even help the ones who already do play but struggle on parts.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by The_Ryujin

It still amazes me how much you rock as this stuff. I gotta say that between your posts, blog and even your direct feed back I've improved greatly at being able to eyeball new modifiers and come up with new meta-traits, powers and advantages.

That is high praise indeed. Thank you. I do my best. :-)

I've always been good at puzzles and figuring out how things function. While I hate the former (the protagonist of the Sword of Truth and I have that in common), I love the latter.

Recently I've been cracking open FATE and DnD5 and seeing if GURPS can benefit from my knowledge of them (and eventually,vice versa).

Originally Posted by The_Ryujin

On that note, and I'm surprised this idea didn't dawn on me earlier, have you ever thought about doing some "How GURPS Works" youtubes vids were you go over why come GURPS is awesome and hopefully attract new converts into the flock. Given how well you seem to understand how GURPS works I think you'd be a good candidate to break the system down to people who might be on the fence and it could even help the ones who already do play but struggle on parts.

I've thought about it, but my issue there is that I kind of suck at the after video editing. I'd want it polished. If I could find a decent video editor who'd be willing to work for cheap/free I'd think about it some more. I have put some serious thought into how to help others learn different modes of play since this seems to be a REAL problem for some folks.

For example, I can't understand how people can struggle with 150 point characters. I'm running THREE games right now: A-Team point total is about 2,000; B-Team is about 1,300; and C-Team is about 500. I've yet to had a player say "This is too easy and I'm bored." Usually it's more like "That was cool! We barely survived...can we do it again?"

That and the timing of gameplay. This is something I'm told I'm masterful at. I'd love to try to condense that knowledge into something GMs could use for their own campaigns.

[The_Ryujin]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

That is high praise indeed. Thank you. I do my best. :-)

I've always been good at puzzles and figuring out how things function. While I hate the former (the protagonist of the Sword of Truth and I have that in common), I love the latter.

Recently I've been cracking open FATE and DnD5 and seeing if GURPS can benefit from my knowledge of them (and eventually,vice versa).

You've earned it. When I started my perk level OCD would cause me to over analysis and second guess my choices but now this stuff is almost become second nature for me.

Also good idea, nothing wrong with adding a little new blood into the mix.

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I've thought about it, but my issue there is that I kind of suck at the after video editing. I'd want it polished. If I could find a decent video editor who'd be willing to work for cheap/free I'd think about it some more. I have put some serious thought into how to help others learn different modes of play since this seems to be a REAL problem for some folks.

I feel you there. I've been wanting to do something like this myself but I don't even know where to start with editing and then there's the fact that my crap box of a laptop has a very under powered CPU and a laughable amount of ram heh.

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

For example, I can't understand how people can struggle with 150 point characters. I'm running THREE games right now: A-Team point total is about 2,000; B-Team is about 1,300; and C-Team is about 500. I've yet to had a player say "This is too easy and I'm bored." Usually it's more like "That was cool! We barely survived...can we do it again?"

That and the timing of gameplay. This is something I'm told I'm masterful at. I'd love to try to condense that knowledge into something GMs could use for their own campaigns.

Three? O.o!!!! Holy mother of a shaved orangutan! I'm having issues just trying to get one game up and running!.... Though to be fair that's mostly my jobs fault... it's slowly eating away at what little life I have and by the time I get home it's almost midnight and I'm so tired and stressed out that I might be able to work on things for half an hour before me brain rage quits =_=