04-16-2020, 09:56 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jun 2016
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600 point ISWAT Tips and Experiences
I知 planning a campaign of slumming angels, reformed demons, and pagan gods working for ISWAT. I知 fairly new to GMing GURPS. What advice do you have building characters for and running this type of campaign?
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04-17-2020, 03:12 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Denmark
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Re: 600 point ISWAT Tips and Experiences
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Figuring out how to build powers in GURPS so they represent what your actually after is a lot of work. It's a hole "subsystem" in itself. It can be much easier to just use the normal Magic system than try to build abilities with Powers. First off. Personally I would make some default templates for the characters. So a "demon has these and these stats and abilities" that's a default demon, that's what can be expected from a demon. Same for angels minor dieties and so on. Then I would also make some benchmarks. How strong do you want them to be. How much DR do you want them to have? This is especially important if you want them to fight in a world with guns. But the same for skills. It's easy to get skill of 30-40 with 600 pts. Do you want that? How well-wersed are your players in GURPS powers? It's quite possible to create a world killing ability for under 100 pts if you have complete freedom to design your powers. I, as a GM, would either have the players describe what they want, and then design powers for them (to make sure they are balanced with each other) or at the veyr least co-create with the players. Just because it's so important. You have to consider guns. In GURPS guns are freaking efficient and deadly. In urban-fantasy ficton guns are almost noneexitsent. It's usually explained by some "guns don't work well on demons/vampire/monsters"-hand wave. But you have to either outright ban guns or make sure the rules support it. Else you are quickly going to end up with a pack og supernatual beings tryig nto get the biggest guns they ca nget their hands on shooting rogue demons and fallen angels with LMG's and AK47s... and my guess is, this is not the mood you are going for. |
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04-17-2020, 08:03 AM | #3 | ||
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: 600 point ISWAT Tips and Experiences
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Supers uses this scale. I'm not sure I agree that 400 points is enough for individual human beings to be no threat. Quote:
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04-17-2020, 08:09 AM | #4 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: 600 point ISWAT Tips and Experiences
I find that at point values that high, It works best to impose structure on the points, and to vary the number of points according to concept. Skills in particular can get out of hand, and strength can lag far behind. I like to give a number of points to build the "Person" (Stats minus strength, skills, disadvantages, talents, non-power advantages) and then build a set of powers that don't use nearly as strict point accounting.
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04-17-2020, 11:24 AM | #5 | |||
Join Date: May 2010
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Re: 600 point ISWAT Tips and Experiences
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If you're really committed to only 600 points, I'd be looking at very minor deities or ones that have been de-powered because they've been "kicked out of the pantheon" or somesuch. You could take a look at GURPS Monster Hunters for inspiration預ll the inhuman templates are 200 points, which usually makes them much weaker than the corresponding NPC monster types, but this is justified by angels having been kicked out of heaven, vampires subsisting on animal blood, etc. Aside from explicitly downpowering your gods, however, I can't see how to do a god worthy of the name on 600 points. 600 points is close to the bare minimum for a celestial in GURPS In Nomine, and that's a 3e book; a 4e version would have to use a higher point total. I'd consider bumping things up; 1000 points would probably not be too much for a credible god, angel, or demon. Quote:
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I've never done the thing of "fixed budget for mundane stuff, flexible budget for powers" but I see the appeal, given that the way GURPS prices superpowers can be wonky. |
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04-17-2020, 07:38 PM | #6 | ||
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Vermont
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Re: 600 point ISWAT Tips and Experiences
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For the OP, one thing that's CRUCIAL for high point total I-SWAT campaigns is having a good idea of the types of threats and challenges the PCs will face and communicating that to the players. It's a situation where the players can build anything, and can face anything. And points aren't everything. You can build a truly badass giant robot for 600 points, but it's going to be pretty useless in an espionage, intrigue situation.
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My ongoing thread of GURPS versions of DC Comics characters. |
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04-18-2020, 08:31 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: 600 point ISWAT Tips and Experiences
Fallen angels, exiled demons, unacknowledged demigods, and the like are probably good at 600 CP.
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infinite worlds, iswat |
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