Fallout to GURPS

GaiusT · 10-05-2007, 02:50 PM

Hello,

I'm not a ultra-active forum user, and have been looking at the latest posts. So far, so good!

I've heard from people months earlier they were coming up with Star Wars in GURPS form; wonder how that went?

On topic, I wanted to know if anyone has ever considered making a Fallout in GURPS? To me, Fallout is the greatest post-apocalypse roleplaying game I've played when I was just a teen. Still is as I am older.

I've considered going into it to build a Fallout GURPS campaign, but I wanted to get some insight from anyone who's done stuff like this with games, movies, or books they've loved back then.

It also might help me get some inspirational juices going, and see where I can come up with this. Or see where past experiences have taken them to where they are now.

Have a good afternoon.

Polkageist · 10-05-2007, 03:22 PM

I've toyed around with the idea of running a Fallout game of GURPS for a while, and a couple of my friends have shown some interest so it might be next. (I'm currently running a Star*Drive game. God, I love that setting)

As far as I can see, nearly all of the pieces are already there. Advantages, disadvantages, skills, etc. Fallout has some fancy high-tech stuff from before the war, so Ultra-tech might be useful. A lot of the TL-9 stuff just won't be available though, so you might not use much. Brotherhood of Steel would be the main users of stuff like powered armor. Humans are humans, ghouls probably have either a Terminal illness or some bizaare toughness (rad resistance?) to emulate their massively mutated state. Super-mutants are humans w/ Gigantism, massive strength and seriously deficient IQ. Bio-tech might be useful for handling the crazy genetic mutations that have afflicted folks. It has good ways of describing how different traits can be bought and how they operate. I think the biggest issue will be the tech level spread. Outside of the vaults people are running around at basically TL 4, possibly 3 in some places with salvaged bits of TL 7-8 floating around. No production, so high-TL stuff is rare.

So ask yourself, are there any crazy supernatural stuff that needs to be resolved? Star-Wars has the force, which requires some interesting footwork to emulate right. I don't think fallout has anything magic/psi/supernatural though. Really, it's the flavor text and descriptions that sets Fallout apart from the bog-standard post-apoc setting. Because, it really is a bog-standard post-apoc setting. Beautifully presented, masterfully detailed and a shining example of what a good post-apoc setting can be.

Since I haven't run it myself either, I can only really offer the though processes that I have gone through in figuring what I'd need to lauch a game off the ground.

jspade · 10-05-2007, 04:05 PM

I've never played the game; I know of it only because, according to some sources, it was originally supposed to use GURPS as its engine (3rd edition revised, given the dates). So I wouldn't imagine a conversion would be hard.

MIB 1473 · 10-05-2007, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jspade

So I wouldn't imagine a conversion would be hard.

It depends. Fallout is much more cinematic than default GURPS -- armor and weapons are the prime culprits, but the stim-packs and absurd numbers of ablative hit points are other examples. Also, while conversion of the character traits should be straight-forward, it's not as if you can do simple math. For example, GURPS doesn't use Luck in anywhere near the same way as Fallout.

So it may not be a particularly difficult conversion (unlike, say, Rifts, or Burning Wheel), but I don't think its GURPS heredity (if there is any) helps much.

Oggsmash · 10-05-2007, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Fallout is much more cinematic than default GURPS

Not really, IMO its damned gritty. Its not the gear in fallout that makes it SEEM cinematic, its the save game feature.

Try a game of Fallout (especially Fallout 2) without saving at all except when you are done playing for the day/night, see how cinematic that is; especially when one of your team mates accidentally blows your head off.

krapou · 10-06-2007, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaiusT

Hello,

I'm not a ultra-active forum user, and have been looking at the latest posts. So far, so good!

I've heard from people months earlier they were coming up with Star Wars in GURPS form; wonder how that went?

On topic, I wanted to know if anyone has ever considered making a Fallout in GURPS? To me, Fallout is the greatest post-apocalypse roleplaying game I've played when I was just a teen. Still is as I am older.

I've considered going into it to build a Fallout GURPS campaign, but I wanted to get some insight from anyone who's done stuff like this with games, movies, or books they've loved back then.

It also might help me get some inspirational juices going, and see where I can come up with this. Or see where past experiences have taken them to where they are now.

Have a good afternoon.

Hello,

For GURPS/Fallout stuff, there are a few things on my website :
http://gurps.fallout.free.fr/

You will find weapons, armors, equipment, templates and creatures. The site is mainly in French, but the converted information is in English.

About inspirational juice, I recommend reading "The Fallout Bible"

GaiusT · 10-08-2007, 07:28 PM

Thank you very much, everyone for your help.

I find this wealth of information much inspirational, and brings me back a surge of nostalgia about Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics.

Tactics ruled. I liked the part where O'Reilly screams at everyone in the camp, "Wake up, you pissants!" I finally nailed him but he was pretty funny with the Australian accent.

Thank you very much. ;)

Razgovory · 10-08-2007, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jspade

I've never played the game; I know of it only because, according to some sources, it was originally supposed to use GURPS as its engine (3rd edition revised, given the dates). So I wouldn't imagine a conversion would be hard.

Actually I think that's were I first heard of GURPS. An Ad for Fallout in a gaming magazine.

xguild · 10-09-2007, 01:58 AM

I have to agree with you that Fallout may have been the crowning achievement in CRPG's, it had a great addictive story and its open endness made it one of the few RPG's worth replaying. It used a great percentage based system with a perk and flaw mechanic which was great and statisticaly speaking it was much easier to know your odds in any given situation and roll and I really liked that. I wish all game mechanics were as informative in that way.

One thing I can tell you about GURPS (or any system for that matter), please note that I am a huge fan of GURPS and love the system for its enormous flexibility, is that its not a particularily good system to use for conversions. Conversions as a whole more often then not loose much in the translation and in the end it isn't the mechanic thats important to capture, but the spirit of the source material, in particular the story and imagnitive powers.

What I mean is converting another system (mechanic) to GURPS can be a very frustrating and painful (and vise versus) experiance because although GURPS is flexibile, it is geared towards realism which the large majority of RPG mechanics are not. This isn't the only issue but as a realistic system their are a lot of contradictory and unflexible aspects which would require a lot of massaging to make work. The results of most conversions I've seen have been pretty poor.

There are some viable systems like GURPS: Vampire, but in my OPINION I found such conversions missing the point of the source material despite successfully converting from a mechanic standpoint, an achievement in its own right and certainly deserving of a pat on the back for GURPS. Vampire was never ment to be realistic RPG from a story perspective however and in that conversion the flow of the game was lost, it was in fact run best under the storyteller system for which it was created and although you can certainly re-create vampire in GURPS it does not at all play the same. Its true for most of the official conversions, you mentioned Star Wars and there was a GURPS Star Wars book and again it didn't capture the mood of Star Wars at all. I mean veteran Jedi's were dying from Stormtrooper blaster fire in random encounters, it just didn't fit the story content or the mood of the gameworld.

With that said there are some GURPS books, like Star Trek which do a far better job then any of the official RPG's for that particular world, but in those cases they weren't system to system conversions which I believe is the key to using GURPS. It was simply Star Trek fans using GURPS to create the world, rather then Star Trek fans trying to re-create the D6 system of the Star Trek mechanic and when approached in this fashion GURPS shines.

My point, or I should say suggest is that you take the Fallout story and world and re-create it using GURPS, but don't attempt to convert the Fallout mechanic to GURPS because although its possible I think that more will be lost in the conversion then gained. The wonderful aspect of Fallout was its story and using GURPS you could certainly tell it without a problem and without question be able to re-create the mutants, brotherhood and various wasteland creatures (in fact I believe there is a wasteland creatures PDF out there somewhere). As for the Perks and Flaw system, the large majority of those perks and flaws already exist in GURPS under different names so it would require absolutly no work, simply use the GURPS mechanic as is. Just from the top of my head 'Night Eyes' = Night Vision.

If you really want to however the Fallout Mechanic itself is quite simple, although very math heavy. Everything in that system was percent based so it would be a matter of getting access to the data for that mechanic which at this point I believe may be available on the internet. This mechanic however was intended for a CRPG and Im not sure how well it would convert to PnP.

10-05-2007, 02:50 PM	#1
GaiusT Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Gregalion... Is it?	Fallout to GURPS Hello, I'm not a ultra-active forum user, and have been looking at the latest posts. So far, so good! I've heard from people months earlier they were coming up with Star Wars in GURPS form; wonder how that went? On topic, I wanted to know if anyone has ever considered making a Fallout in GURPS? To me, Fallout is the greatest post-apocalypse roleplaying game I've played when I was just a teen. Still is as I am older. I've considered going into it to build a Fallout GURPS campaign, but I wanted to get some insight from anyone who's done stuff like this with games, movies, or books they've loved back then. It also might help me get some inspirational juices going, and see where I can come up with this. Or see where past experiences have taken them to where they are now. Have a good afternoon. __________________ http://oneshots.forumotion.net/f8-orange-badlands (Orange Badlands, currently playing as Holger Brauns)

10-05-2007, 03:22 PM	#2
Polkageist Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Fallout to GURPS I've toyed around with the idea of running a Fallout game of GURPS for a while, and a couple of my friends have shown some interest so it might be next. (I'm currently running a Star*Drive game. God, I love that setting) As far as I can see, nearly all of the pieces are already there. Advantages, disadvantages, skills, etc. Fallout has some fancy high-tech stuff from before the war, so Ultra-tech might be useful. A lot of the TL-9 stuff just won't be available though, so you might not use much. Brotherhood of Steel would be the main users of stuff like powered armor. Humans are humans, ghouls probably have either a Terminal illness or some bizaare toughness (rad resistance?) to emulate their massively mutated state. Super-mutants are humans w/ Gigantism, massive strength and seriously deficient IQ. Bio-tech might be useful for handling the crazy genetic mutations that have afflicted folks. It has good ways of describing how different traits can be bought and how they operate. I think the biggest issue will be the tech level spread. Outside of the vaults people are running around at basically TL 4, possibly 3 in some places with salvaged bits of TL 7-8 floating around. No production, so high-TL stuff is rare. So ask yourself, are there any crazy supernatural stuff that needs to be resolved? Star-Wars has the force, which requires some interesting footwork to emulate right. I don't think fallout has anything magic/psi/supernatural though. Really, it's the flavor text and descriptions that sets Fallout apart from the bog-standard post-apoc setting. Because, it really is a bog-standard post-apoc setting. Beautifully presented, masterfully detailed and a shining example of what a good post-apoc setting can be. Since I haven't run it myself either, I can only really offer the though processes that I have gone through in figuring what I'd need to lauch a game off the ground.

10-05-2007, 04:05 PM	#3
jspade Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Top of the deck	Re: Fallout to GURPS I've never played the game; I know of it only because, according to some sources, it was originally supposed to use *GURPS* as its engine (3rd edition revised, given the dates). So I wouldn't imagine a conversion would be hard. __________________ [][] C. Lee Davis © 2014 C. Lee Davis, some rights reserved

10-08-2007, 07:28 PM	#7
GaiusT Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Gregalion... Is it?	Re: Fallout to GURPS Thank you very much, everyone for your help. I find this wealth of information much inspirational, and brings me back a surge of nostalgia about Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics. Tactics ruled. I liked the part where O'Reilly screams at everyone in the camp, "Wake up, you pissants!" I finally nailed him but he was pretty funny with the Australian accent. Thank you very much. ;) __________________ http://oneshots.forumotion.net/f8-orange-badlands (Orange Badlands, currently playing as Holger Brauns)

10-09-2007, 01:58 AM	#9
xguild Join Date: Nov 2004	Re: Fallout to GURPS I have to agree with you that Fallout may have been the crowning achievement in CRPG's, it had a great addictive story and its open endness made it one of the few RPG's worth replaying. It used a great percentage based system with a perk and flaw mechanic which was great and statisticaly speaking it was much easier to know your odds in any given situation and roll and I really liked that. I wish all game mechanics were as informative in that way. One thing I can tell you about GURPS (or any system for that matter), please note that I am a huge fan of GURPS and love the system for its enormous flexibility, is that its not a particularily good system to use for conversions. Conversions as a whole more often then not loose much in the translation and in the end it isn't the mechanic thats important to capture, but the spirit of the source material, in particular the story and imagnitive powers. What I mean is converting another system (mechanic) to GURPS can be a very frustrating and painful (and vise versus) experiance because although GURPS is flexibile, it is geared towards realism which the large majority of RPG mechanics are not. This isn't the only issue but as a realistic system their are a lot of contradictory and unflexible aspects which would require a lot of massaging to make work. The results of most conversions I've seen have been pretty poor. There are some viable systems like GURPS: Vampire, but in my OPINION I found such conversions missing the point of the source material despite successfully converting from a mechanic standpoint, an achievement in its own right and certainly deserving of a pat on the back for GURPS. Vampire was never ment to be realistic RPG from a story perspective however and in that conversion the flow of the game was lost, it was in fact run best under the storyteller system for which it was created and although you can certainly re-create vampire in GURPS it does not at all play the same. Its true for most of the official conversions, you mentioned Star Wars and there was a GURPS Star Wars book and again it didn't capture the mood of Star Wars at all. I mean veteran Jedi's were dying from Stormtrooper blaster fire in random encounters, it just didn't fit the story content or the mood of the gameworld. With that said there are some GURPS books, like Star Trek which do a far better job then any of the official RPG's for that particular world, but in those cases they weren't system to system conversions which I believe is the key to using GURPS. It was simply Star Trek fans using GURPS to create the world, rather then Star Trek fans trying to re-create the D6 system of the Star Trek mechanic and when approached in this fashion GURPS shines. My point, or I should say suggest is that you take the Fallout story and world and re-create it using GURPS, but don't attempt to convert the Fallout mechanic to GURPS because although its possible I think that more will be lost in the conversion then gained. The wonderful aspect of Fallout was its story and using GURPS you could certainly tell it without a problem and without question be able to re-create the mutants, brotherhood and various wasteland creatures (in fact I believe there is a wasteland creatures PDF out there somewhere). As for the Perks and Flaw system, the large majority of those perks and flaws already exist in GURPS under different names so it would require absolutly no work, simply use the GURPS mechanic as is. Just from the top of my head 'Night Eyes' = Night Vision. If you really want to however the Fallout Mechanic itself is quite simple, although very math heavy. Everything in that system was percent based so it would be a matter of getting access to the data for that mechanic which at this point I believe may be available on the internet. This mechanic however was intended for a CRPG and Im not sure how well it would convert to PnP.