Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-18-2018, 12:14 AM   #1
kirbwarrior
 
kirbwarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
Default Equal race point totals

A fellow gm started doing this with his settings and I highly enjoyed it, and other systems tend to try to do it; Making all (PC) races equal point totals*. However, my most recent setting I'm working on one of the races is far and away going to be expensive (SM+6 demands high ST). Even with my house rules, that's still 300pts before other advantages.

What are your experiences with this kind of thing? Have you tried or played with races being equal value? Have you had large difference in race prices? What do you think of a setting where all PC races would be (say) 400pts?

*This would follow Power's rule of "close to 50 pts" kind of thing. I wouldn't try to force every race to an exact 237pts, for instance.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmicfish View Post
While I do not think that GURPS is perfect I do think that it is more balanced than what I am likely to create by GM fiat.
kirbwarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 12:43 AM   #2
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Equal race point totals

In my current fantasy campaign, Tapestry, the range is from -70 points for worker dwarves (who are sterile) up to 64 points for elves and 60 points for trollwives (male and female dwarves and male trolls aren't so extreme). Much of the difference comes from ST scores.

I've never tried to give all races a uniform point value. I do prefer, though, to have player characters built on enough points so the most expensive race still has enough points for decent skills and a social background. For example, in Tapestry, all the PCs were built on 200 points at the start.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 12:54 AM   #3
mr beer
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: Equal race point totals

I don't think there is any imperative to make all races equal points, but I guess it may be aesthetically pleasing. Not something I have tried myself.
mr beer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 01:29 AM   #4
Refplace
 
Refplace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
Default Re: Equal race point totals

I have run several campaigns with differing point values.
In my experience players care about how each race fits tier concept. If a high point race provides things towards that concept there more likely to take it. Especially if it includes traits they may not otherwise be able to purchase.
But often they will prefer a race that allows them flexibility by not tying up the bulk of their points.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more!
My GURPS fan contribution and blog:
REFPLace GURPS Landing Page
My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items)
My GURPS Wiki entries
Refplace is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 01:48 AM   #5
smurf
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Bristol
Default Re: Equal race point totals

Not done it. I have similar points for various races but some other races are more and humans definitively less.
smurf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 02:17 AM   #6
kirbwarrior
 
kirbwarrior's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Dreamland
Default Re: Equal race point totals

Quote:
Originally Posted by smurf View Post
Not done it. I have similar points for various races but some other races are more and humans definitively less.
One thing he did was create all the races, figure out which stood out as the most expensive, and pushed the rest up there. For instance, he ended up at 40pts, and most races were about 30. However, humans are normally 0, so for thematic reasons, humans all start with Will 18 to get to 40pts.

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I do prefer, though, to have player characters built on enough points so the most expensive race still has enough points for decent skills and a social background. For example, in Tapestry, all the PCs were built on 200 points at the start.
I do this myself. My rule of thumb is to not have races available that are worth more than half the starting value, but I'll usually step up further; If I want the PCs to be "150"pt characters and the most expensive race is 100, I'll make them 250 and call it the same.

I get the "aesthetic" thing, but having the numbers line up also makes it easier to not worry about it. For instance, Alternate Form won't have an extra cost with Magic as Powers (something I was happy about with Affliction), and players can just pick a race without worrying about how many points it costs.

I don't usually try to do it, I was just debating whether I wanted to when I know one race will have an extreme value. It'll have large setting effects, considering it will be a "World of Skill"*. The most extreme difference in prices I had with races was -150 to 230ish. I think that was from converting from a premade setting that didn't use gurps rules.

*The other name I think isn't allowed on this site, it's technically a swear.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmicfish View Post
While I do not think that GURPS is perfect I do think that it is more balanced than what I am likely to create by GM fiat.
kirbwarrior is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 04:28 AM   #7
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Equal race point totals

If you make all the races the same value, then it's easy to sweep the cost under the rug as a campaign advantage. All PCs have a race, so you can gift them the points separately.

But, if the races are expensive, they will dominate the PC abilities. 400-point races in an otherwise 100-point game means that characters of the same race are going to have similar abilities, with a bit of color customization on top. It's the racial abilities that will dictate what they can accomplish in the game. And the races will be chosen to fit the character concept, so effective characters will all be stereotypes. (Elves get 400 points worth of DX and bow bonuses, so all archers must be elves; dwarves are 400 points strong and tough, so all fighters must be dwarves, etc.) So, expensive races will tend to push up the overall power level even more than their base cost suggests.
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 04:46 AM   #8
Bengt
 
Bengt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Ronneby, Sweden
Default Re: Equal race point totals

In general I don't see any need for races to be equal if you pay for them. In systems without points, e.g. DnD, it's a good idea though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kirbwarrior View Post
humans all start with Will 18 to get to 40pts.
Being forced to spend 40 pts (or use your disad allowance to get rid of it) in Will feels like a pretty severe penalty unless the game is high points.

Having more points to do what you want with after picking a cheap race is one of the beauties of points buy systems IMO.
Bengt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 05:17 AM   #9
scc
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: Equal race point totals

Giving humans however many points in luck based and other similar advantages might work, I've been wanting to re-tool DF along these lines for base-line player races.
scc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2018, 05:18 AM   #10
ericthered
Hero of Democracy
 
ericthered's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
Default Re: Equal race point totals

When building strong races in science fiction I usually call it an unusual background and charge 5 to 10 points for it, along with natural weapons and light armor.

I also don't play terribly combat heavy games though.
__________________
Be helpful, not pedantic

Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog

Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!
ericthered is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:14 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.