09-04-2017, 04:14 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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Question for a one-shot demo GURPS Martial Arts game
I am working on a demo game for GURPS at a convention (Likely March at the earliest)
It's an over the top martial arts game where the PCs go from being good, but plausible fighters to Street Fighter, Kung Fu Hustle, Kung Fury -esque over the top. An idea is to demostrate going from pretty simple GURPS to throwing Chi punches and throwing people through doors. I'm just looking for a suggestion on how to put that change into a three hour session. So far I've considered a training montage, some sort of event that triggers their Chi, and/or transition from a film withing a film. Any thoughts/ ideas? |
09-04-2017, 02:41 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho
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Re: Question for a one-shot demo GURPS Martial Arts game
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I like the idea of a quest to find the "Secret Tibetan Temple", where they are possessed by benevolent spirits which grant them their new Chi powers. It will need some polish, but I would outline it as: - Start the group as a friendly group of martial art tournament competitors who are going out to dinner after an international competition hosted in Katmandu or other semi-exotic city near Tibet or the location of your planned temple - On the way to dinner, have the group get lost and run across a group of thugs beating up on some old guy in an alley (make sure to load the Pregens with disadvantages/quirks like "Dislikes Bullies", "Defend the Weak/Defenseless", etc.) - If necessary, have one of the thugs insult the PC ("Slink back to your hotel you foreign dogs with weak Kung Fu") to pick a fight. Have the thugs be a mook fight for the PCs were they can reasonably shine and rescue the old guy. - Have the old guy thank them for their assistance, roll or fake a excellent reaction roll, and have him pass on the location of the temple - Have the bad guy and minions show up, and the minions give the players a worthy fight (minions as good as the PCs). If the PCs are on the verge of winning, have the Big Bad yell "Enough!" (Kiai attack) and do a Chi wave attack to stun and or blow back all the PC at once. All PCs should be temporarily disabled. He and the minions then grab the old guy from the PCs and take off. Obscuring fog or invisibility art to help their departure as needed. - Have the old guys' very beautiful 21 year old great great grand daughter come by and help healup the PCs and tell them that they must get to the secret temple before the big bad yadda yadda - Do the Indiana Jones red pen on map montage as the PCs travel by plane/bus/yak wagon/foot to the temple - When the PCs reach the temple they can face the guardian monks for a prove your worth fight/challenge or not depending on time - Have the PC enter the secret chamber of the temple and each be drawn to a separate idol/icon; and once they touch it, they have friendly spirit grant them TBaM and an assortment of Chi powers. - Then it is time for the Bad Guy's minions to showup at the temple and have another fight with the PCs, this time the minions shredded like mooks due to the PCs new powers/abilities. You will probably need to do a bit of individual training for the players, and how they use the PC's new abilities. - Then, once again depending on time left, you can have a fight with the big bad and his summoned demons right away (a Boss fight), or have where the PCs have to track them down ... to his secret layer - probably to rescue the grandfather and now kidnapped great-great-grand daughter. Have fun. -Dan |
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09-04-2017, 10:52 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Los Angeles
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Re: Question for a one-shot demo GURPS Martial Arts game
Sounds fun!
If I were doing this, I think I'd plan for three different character sheets snapshotting each PC years apart for each scene. That is, here are the pre-gens, go on the initial adventure when they are "just" really crazy-good but realistic fighters. Then the story picks up five (whatever) years later, the PCs have been training in whatever secret, esoteric martial art fits the bills, for this adventure they are superhuman but not completely over the top. Finally, the story picks up 10+ years later, the PCs have spent nearly two decades mastering their chi powers and pulling off "Big Trouble in Little China" level craziness. Maybe 150 pts / 250 pts / 400 pts?
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09-06-2017, 08:45 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Idaho Falls, Idaho
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Re: Question for a one-shot demo GURPS Martial Arts game
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Mook, how long would you allocate for Players to learn the characters each time? Something like: 1) 150 pt level - 20 minutes for intro, basic rules, and learning sheet, then 40 minutes for a basic role playing encounter and first combat 2) 250 pt level - 10-15 minutes for new abilities, then 45-50 minutes for more extensive combat, maybe a physical skill challenge 3) 400 pt level - 10 minutes for new abilities, then 50 minutes for high powered boss fight ...? I guess one point to consider is the number of players you run this for: 1-2, 2-4, 3-6, 4-8, ...? |
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09-06-2017, 09:31 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
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Re: Question for a one-shot demo GURPS Martial Arts game
Dumb question:
Are you limited to ONE session, or can you call for two? Why not have session one where the players use their character sheets - and NONE are eliminated due to adventuring. Perhaps session one is that they're normal martial artists and reasonably good at what they do. Midway through the tournament, a master arrives who requests ever so politely, that they assist him in a matter of life or death, and lets them know that without their help, he stands a good chance of failing. Session one is going from a "non-lethal" tournament, to a lethal one in which an old nemesis is about to open a gate to a realm man was not meant to know. The martial artists are good, and generally speaking, good enough for the first and second line of defense for the bad guy. What their role is, is to keep the eyes of the main villain from seeing the incoming master. Session two takes those who survived the first session, and years later, after trained by master and personal training from masters (plural, not singular), have the group with their updated and upgraded characters begin combat anew, only this time, with the fancy stuff. That's if you can get two game sessions for your adventure. Otherwise, as mentioned, it is going to be difficult to show the "mundane" martial arts versus the "trained by master" martial arts. |
09-06-2017, 10:21 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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Re: Question for a one-shot demo GURPS Martial Arts game
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09-07-2017, 12:07 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Los Angeles
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Re: Question for a one-shot demo GURPS Martial Arts game
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Learning the new sheets shouldn't be too bad if you highlight the new stuff, like "In the past five years, your DX has gone up by 2 (as have all of your skills), and your Super Monkey Death Punch now does 3d damage instead of 2d. You've also learned how to Levitate for up to three minutes at a time," something like that.
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How to Be a GURPS GM, author Game Geekery, Blog (GURPS combat examples, fillable PDF sheets, rules summaries, campaigns and one-shots, beginners' intro) GURPS Discord, unofficial hangout and real-time chat |
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Tags |
convention, demo, gurps, martial arts |
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