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Old 09-03-2015, 11:44 AM   #1
Kromm
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Default GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

Goonan see problem
Goonan hit with real big stick
Goonan solve problem
— Goonan the Barbarian
What is best in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy? Sometimes it's playing a learned spellcaster . . . or a cunning, agile rogue . . . or a strategic master of the art of war. And sometimes it's ditching the fussy equipment, intricate tactics, and head-hurting thinking, and just whacking enemies with the biggest weapon possible! "Quantity has a quality all its own" was never so true as for the barbarian, whose strength and size make him more than a match for any other delver. Yet there's a surprising subtlety to his lack of subtlety – enough to fill GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians.

The first volume in the new Dungeon Fantasy Denizens series, Barbarians gives you everything you need to play the ultimate low-tech heavyweight. Choose one of four basic barbarian archetypes, and use starting lenses and a wealth of customization options to make it your own. Gear up with crude and oversized armor and weapons. Then get out there and take advantage of the handy combat advice to earn points for barbaric perks, impressive feats of strength, animal companions, cross-profession lenses, and the all-new Rage power, which includes skinchanging, superhuman shouts, and even limited spellcasting. Be sure to keep your keen eyes open for legendary barbarian items along the way!

Love ale, double-bitted axes, and horned helmets? Tired of being upstaged by mincing fencers and know-it-all casters? Want to turn berserk rage and wilderness savvy to your advantage? Then GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians is a good reason to learn to read!


Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-0330
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Old 09-03-2015, 03:46 PM   #2
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

I don't want to seem churlish, but we're getting this and not GURPS Criminals/Mobsters?

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Old 09-03-2015, 04:03 PM   #3
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

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I don't want to seem churlish, but we're getting this and not GURPS Criminals/Mobsters?
I don't see why they're mutually exclusive.

On the topic of the book - read through it already, as I'm sure everyone would have guessed. I'm still digesting, and will probably reread it before writing a review.
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Old 09-03-2015, 04:12 PM   #4
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

Is this implying that over the course of the next 6 or 18 or perhaps 30 months, we'll get a series that covers the other 10 classes, doing the same for them?

Or is it just completely random, like the Plant College PDF for GURPS Magic that was a one-time thing (or I think a two-time thing - I think there was one other College PDF published more recently), rather like in Vampire the Masquerade if White Wolf had decided to publish splats for the Ventrue and the Brujas, giving more options specifically to them, and then stop?

Or is it a carefully considered publication, based on a legitimate perception of the Barbarian profession needing a buff PDF tob ecome "on par" with the other 10 classes?
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Old 09-03-2015, 04:15 PM   #5
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

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Or is it a carefully considered publication, based on a legitimate perception of the Barbarian profession needing a buff PDF tob ecome "on par" with the other 10 classes?
I don't have this book yet. Is there an option to skip purchasing Outdoorsman and/or Gigantism?
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Old 09-03-2015, 04:20 PM   #6
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

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I don't want to seem churlish, but we're getting this and not GURPS Criminals/Mobsters?
Because nobody has put forth a proposal to write GURPS Criminals/Mobsters?
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Old 09-03-2015, 04:21 PM   #7
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

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Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ View Post
I don't have this book yet. Is there an option to skip purchasing Outdoorsman and/or Gigantism?
It's GURPS - it's always an option. Just make sure that it makes sense for your game. That is, the Barbarian's classic role in DF is "nature guy". If you take that away, give her something else that is her niche.
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Old 09-03-2015, 04:25 PM   #8
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

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Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ View Post
I don't have this book yet. Is there an option to skip purchasing Outdoorsman and/or Gigantism?
Outsdoorsman: the Rage Barbarian and the Savage Warrior each have only two levels of Outdoorsman. The Sea Raider lens replaces any Outdoorsman the base template has with Seafarer.

Gigantism: the Short Barbarian lens takes away Gigantism, so this one is an unqualified "Yes."
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Old 09-03-2015, 04:25 PM   #9
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

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It's GURPS - it's always an option.
DF has its own set of assumptions, though. Sure you're able to deviate from them, but I don't think that's fitting with the spirit of the series.
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Old 09-03-2015, 04:35 PM   #10
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Default Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Barbarians

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Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ View Post
I don't have this book yet. Is there an option to skip purchasing Outdoorsman and/or Gigantism?
I don't know that there'll be an option to skip Outdoorsman, but DF11 offers an alternative Talent for more Viking-type Barbarians.

It'd be a serious oversight to not introduce an option to have that Talent instead of Outdoorsman, in this type of volume, and SJ Games sometimes surprise positively. I remember being delighted to see an "Urban Explorer" version of the Parkour'er template in Action volume 3, not really because I have any personal interest in urban exploration, but because I remembered that years earlier, more than one Daily Illuminator had touched upon the subject of urban exploration. So it'd have been a sad missed opportunity, a failure for the volume to be truly complete, but SJ Games didn't miss that opportunity.

Sometimes they do deliver.

In this particular case, though, an official RAW-published option isn't really needed. It seems very reasonable for me for a DF GM to say yes to a player request to have his Barbarian have a different Talent than the one in the DF1. Barbarians are characterized by modest IQ (examples from written fiction, such as Conan and Lord "Tarzan" Greystoke notwithstanding) and so it makes sense that a Barbarian should be forced to start the game with at least a few levels of some Talent to partially compensate for modest (if not downright low) IQ. But there's no reason it has to be Outdoorsman.

At worst the Talent might be required to not cover any weapon or other combat skills, and to be of a breadth to cost 10 points/level, same as Outdoorsman, but as long as the player-proposed Talent lives up to those two criteria, and as long as it smells at least vaguely barbaric, then I don't see why an even semi-reasonable (and somewhat experienced) GM would say no.



Gigantism... I think it kinda fits the the barbarian stereotype. Big and very strong. I'm under the impression that DF barbarians routinely end up with ST 25. That is, for me, a lot easier to swallow if they're SM+1 than if they're SM+0.

I can envision a more or less "tarzanic" type who isn't big and who isn't almost super-strong (ST 25 feels rather less super than something like DX 20 or IQ 20), but at that point a different template might be warranted. Either the Hunter template from DF1 (or whatever it's called) or else the new template from the Action volume of Pyramid v3. Obviously that's for Action and now DF, and so would need to be adapted, but it could be a good starting point.
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