07-04-2017, 12:45 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
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[House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
I wanted to share some house rules I've been using overhauling the way GURPS handles techniques. These have now been play-tested for more than 2 years in over a hundred sessions of around 8 different campaigns, though of course only games run by my gaming group.
Problems these rules set out to solve:
The rules:
All in all, it's worked out pretty well. It definitely increases paperwork a bit, but not too much. It increases the amount of time it takes to spend points, but my players have said (and I have found) that it makes that time more fun. It also nearly doubled the nominal value of buying skills but seems not to have made advantage or attribute builds suboptimal. It has made characters with several skills at moderately high levels relative to their atttributes more viable, though. Notes:
Some example techniques from our games:
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07-04-2017, 03:47 PM | #2 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
I've been trying to create more techniques for non-combat skills lately. This is interesting, but it changes things quite a lot, to something a lot more like Ars Magica or World of Darkness specialisations.
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
07-04-2017, 05:19 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
It's not a bad idea per se (sort of like the 'buckets of points' system in one of the Pyramid articles), but I usually go with a simpler revision, which is to remove the concept of Hard techniques, and give all current Hard techniques a further -1, thus keeping point-costs the same.
That said, if I were inclined to use a bigger change, yours certainly isn't bad. It's just that it adds more complexity to a system that already seems to scare some gamers away with the existing complexity.
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. |
07-04-2017, 06:55 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
I was thinking about something similar some time ago, but I abandoned this, because of one important thing: techniques ARE something to distinct 2 skilled martial artists. Because of this cap for "optimal deal". If there is two players with nearly identical characters and they are some free points yet, they can make their characters different by purchasing techniques. Simply you are much more efficient with one or two "flag-moves" than others. And other player is more efficient with other "flag-moves". And this is working great in my campaigns. When my players had "free techniques" from their styles, that was just freakish. Simple there was no sense to do this, and if you have whole list of techniques, this is really bog down your game. After that we was liked and returned to "original techniques system" RAW ;) 1-3 techniques at most. Think about this, maybe you too will notice what is purpose (IMO) of this optimum-limit ;)
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07-05-2017, 08:10 AM | #5 |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
The real knock on a system like this is that it turns techniques from something you choose to do to something you HAVE to do. If you get a point in an unarmed combat skill, you must then allocate your Technique Points. It's a barrier to fast play, because if you just throw down (say) Judo at DX+2 and Karate at DX, for 12 and 4 points, respectively, you have 32 Technique points, which can be used to (roughly) offset -10 in penalties from various stuff.
That's a big delta (of course, it's a BIG point expenditure) in ability if you just want to get on with it. That being said, the basic concept is sound, though my preference would be to take those 32 build points and be able to allocate them to ALL aspects of a skill, including the basics. That would ideally mean that if you just say "forget it, it all goes into my primary skill!" you've lost nothing. You're a well-rounded and non-specialized fighter. If you do shift around, you give something to get something.
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07-06-2017, 06:25 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
Another thought would be to use something like the Dabbler perk to purchase techniques (if we're reducing the effective price of techniques, anyway. That's pretty close to what the OP does, but it's optional, rather than feeling required.
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Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted. |
07-06-2017, 06:54 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Calgary
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
The group I'm in runs two games concurrently. The house rule we adopted was that all techniques are average (hard ones don't get made any more expensive). Additionally, in TL5+ melee techniques are half price. Those two together work fairly well, and the technique buff helps melee vs guns to some extent. Mostly in the way that it makes combos easier. Combos to disarm enemies with guns for example.
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07-07-2017, 12:55 PM | #8 | |||||||
Join Date: Dec 2008
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
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As for bogging down the game, do you mean during character creation or play? It definitely makes character creation take longer (maybe 20% longer, I would say), but doesn't seem to slow down play much at all. I have players keep track of their own techniques and we write techniques directly under skills, so when they look up their skill levels, they just glance slightly downwards and see if any techniques apply. Occassionally, I have to field a "Do I get the anti-demonic bonus on my exorcism?" or the like, but usually, there's no real slowdown. Quote:
That said, it definitely slows down character creation (as I said above, by about 20-25% in my experience). I'm fine with that since I generally play longer ongoing campaigns, but I definitely wouldn't want to use it for, say, a convention game or even a game with people who weren't used to GURPS. Quote:
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07-19-2017, 03:59 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
My only house rule on this is that all techniques are Average. This eliminates one big breakpoint.
I also allow players to trade in points from techniques (max one per technique) to count alongside character points when buying the affected skill level up. So you can buy higher skill levels on the installment plan, parking the points somewhere where they'll see some use while you save up enough to buy a full skill level. IMO the design decision that techniques shouldn't overshadow skills is the right one, so that's where I come down, but they do have their place. My favorite house rules are those that add fun and flexibility even as they simplify the game. Ghostdancer's use of Impulse Points is one of the best examples. Next up are systems like Sorcery which show you all kinds of potential in the systems we already have. |
07-19-2017, 07:00 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Denmark
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Re: [House Rules] Technique System Overhaul
I really like your system, as I run long campaigns with many characters ending up getting many similar skills (as they are useful for that particular campaign).
I currently use blunt force to make them more distinctive (ie. a hard skill-cap but then allow techniques). Although none of them have reached that cap yet. However, in my game, it's mostly combat-skill that they all get. And getting Targeted Attack or Feint for free just seems too powerful. Your examples are mostly none-combat skill and a few very different combat-techniques. Do you not run into the problem of your players simply getting "the best"? Or are your players less min/max'ers than mine? |
Tags |
house rule, house rules, overhaul, technique, techniques |
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