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Old 12-02-2016, 09:53 AM   #1
diminsonsam2
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Default So many skills

I am a noob I have played a few games but with my new group I am the most experienced so I am the GM and I know only take what you need and I play in a more narrative fashion but I run a Nerd Club and I was asked to run a game at the store no problem but I want to give people more options for skills but there are so many and the point system on skills still confuses me. So I could really use some advice from more experienced players please I am going to have 3 people that have not played gurps and I don't want this to ruin their first experience
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:01 AM   #2
Nereidalbel
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
Default Re: So many skills

I suggest starting with GURPS Lite in this case. If your friends like the basic gameplay mechanics, you can start adding supplements into later games.

And what's confusing you about skills?
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:09 AM   #3
diminsonsam2
 
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Default Re: So many skills

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
I suggest starting with GURPS Lite in this case. If your friends like the basic gameplay mechanics, you can start adding supplements into later games.

And what's confusing you about skills?
The way points are distributed into skills I know that some skills cost more because they are more difficult it adds less of a bonus like if i put 12 points into occultism i get a +3 bonus but if I put 12 points into physician I get a +2 bonus how do I know which skills get what bonus according to points and I have been using gurps lite I am trying to gradually move into the whole game and on top of that there are just so many freaking skills like I want a pirate game but looking through the character creation book there are tons of skills that can apply here

Last edited by diminsonsam2; 12-02-2016 at 10:11 AM. Reason: needed to add more to clarify my confusion
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:19 AM   #4
Nereidalbel
 
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Default Re: So many skills

No, you get the same increase in skill for the same number of points. The difficulty of a skill determines where it starts in relation to its controlling attribute.

Easy skills start at their controlling attribute for 1 point, Average skills are Attribute -1, Hard is Attribute -2, and Very Hard is Attribute -3. Page 170 of the Basic Set has a handy table you can use for reference, until you get the hang of it.
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:19 AM   #5
johndallman
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Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: So many skills

Quote:
Originally Posted by diminsonsam2 View Post
The way points are distributed into skills I know that some skills cost more because they are more difficult it adds less of a bonus like if i put 12 points into occultism i get a +3 bonus but if I put 12 points into physician I get a +2 bonus how do I know which skills get what bonus according to points and I have been using gurps lite I am trying to gradually move into the whole game
Ah, you need to look at the Skill Cost table. This is on p170 in the Basic Set, or p13 in GURPS Lite. The values in the tables are the same, except that GURPS Lite doesn't have a column for Very Hard skills.

Occultism is an IQ/Average skill, which is marked at the start of the skill description on p212 of the Basic Set, or p16 in GURPS Lite. If you find the Average column in the table and read down to the row with 12 points, you'll see that gives you IQ+3. If your character had an IQ of 12, that would give them Occultism at (12+3) = 15. So roll against Occultism, you'd roll three six-sided dice. If the total of the dice was 15 or less, you'd succeed. If it was 16 or higher, you'd have failed.

Last edited by johndallman; 12-02-2016 at 10:21 AM. Reason: Lite page reference
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:21 AM   #6
rabuf
 
Join Date: May 2011
Default Re: So many skills

Quote:
Originally Posted by diminsonsam2 View Post
The way points are distributed into skills I know that some skills cost more because they are more difficult it adds less of a bonus like if i put 12 points into occultism i get a +3 bonus but if I put 12 points into physician I get a +2 bonus how do I know which skills get what bonus according to points and I have been using gurps lite I am trying to gradually move into the whole game and on top of that there are just so many freaking skills like I want a pirate game but looking through the character creation book there are tons of skills that can apply here
Skills have difficulties, which determines their initial offset from their base attribute. Easy, Average, Hard, and Very Hard. So Occultism is easier (by one level) than Physician, in your example. This represents the relative ease or difficulty of acquiring a particular skill.
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:25 AM   #7
diminsonsam2
 
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Default Re: So many skills

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Originally Posted by rabuf View Post
Skills have difficulties, which determines their initial offset from their base attribute. Easy, Average, Hard, and Very Hard. So Occultism is easier (by one level) than Physician, in your example. This represents the relative ease or difficulty of acquiring a particular skill.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Ah, you need to look at the Skill Cost table. This is on p170 in the Basic Set, or p13 in GURPS Lite. The values in the tables are the same, except that GURPS Lite doesn't have a column for Very Hard skills.

Occultism is an IQ/Average skill, which is marked at the start of the skill description on p212 of the Basic Set, or p16 in GURPS Lite. If you find the Average column in the table and read down to the row with 12 points, you'll see that gives you IQ+3. If your character had an IQ of 12, that would give them Occultism at (12+3) = 15. So roll against Occultism, you'd roll three six-sided dice. If the total of the dice was 15 or less, you'd succeed. If it was 16 or higher, you'd have failed.

ah thank you my good sirs you are gentleman and scholars I feel so silly now I have found the chart and I cannot believe how confused I was but putting together your comments made me it click now is there a method to narrow down the tons and tons of skills
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:35 AM   #8
roguebfl
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Default Re: So many skills

Quote:
Originally Posted by diminsonsam2 View Post
ah thank you my good sirs you are gentleman and scholars I feel so silly now I have found the chart and I cannot believe how confused I was but putting together your comments made me it click now is there a method to narrow down the tons and tons of skills
Yes but it's considered cinematic, There are the Wild Card Skills or Bang! skills.
like Science! [B175]

Where they cost 3 times the costs of VH hard skills but anything related to theme of skill you roll against the wildcard skill

You want to want to to have a dual across the rafters and not fall off, you don't need to roll against acrobatics not to fall off, you roll Sword! instead
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Old 12-02-2016, 10:42 AM   #9
johndallman
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Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: So many skills

Quote:
Originally Posted by diminsonsam2 View Post
... putting together your comments made me it click now is there a method to narrow down the tons and tons of skills
Several. Experience will take a bit of time to acquire, so let's go for other documents that will tell you about skills needed for a pirate campaign.

GURPS Skill Categories is free for the downloading, and breaks up the great big skill list into a lot of useful categories. Pirates go around on ships, which are vehicles, so they need Vehicle Skills. They take goods by combat, or the threat of combat, so they need Combat/Weapon Skills. They use intimidation and threats a lot, which comes under Social Skills. If they have the same ship for a long time, they need to maintain and repair it, which requires Craft Skills.

If you're willing to spend a small amount of money, there's a GURPS book, Age of Sail Pirate Crew which has a complete pre-built pirate crew. GURPS PDFs are discounted by 40% until December 15th, so it's a good time to buy.

A bit of web searching was also worthwhile. Here's someone's account of how he created a small pirate campaign using the Pirate Crew book.
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Old 12-02-2016, 11:26 AM   #10
Refplace
 
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Default Re: So many skills

Skill Categories is really helpful and like John said its free.
There i a simiar PDF for advantages and others.

A major thing to remember is that not everything in the Basic set (much less the entire GURPS sysem) is designed for every game. Use what fits your setting and tone and ignore the rest.
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