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 09-19-2014, 04:18 PM   #1
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Sinbad the Sailor

To mark the release of my latest book tomorrow, I thought that I'd stat up the subject in GURPS terms:

Sinbad the Sailor (288 points)

ST 11 [10]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 15 [50].
Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24*lb; HP 11 [0]; Will 14 [10]; Per 12 [0]; FP 15 [0].
Basic Speed 6.50 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0]; Dodge 9.
5'9"; 155 lbs..

Social Background
TL: 3 [0].
CF: Islamic (Native) [0].
Languages: Arabic (Native) [0].

Advantages
Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Charisma 1 [5]; Extraordinary Luck [30]; Serendipity 2 [30]; Status +3* [5]; Wealth (Multimillionaire 1) [75].
Perks: Deep Sleeper. [1]

Disadvantages
Curious (15) [-2]; Unluckiness [-10]; Weirdness Magnet [-15].
Quirks: Conventionally devout Muslim; Suffers growing wanderlust whenever he's at home. [-2]

Skills
Carousing (E) HT [1]-15; Knot-Tying (E) DX+1 [2]-12; Leatherworking (E) DX+1 [2]-12; Merchant (A) IQ+2 [8]-14; Public Speaking (Storytelling) (E) IQ+1 [1]-13†; Riding (Equines) (A) DX-1 [1]-10; Savoir-Faire (High Society) (E) IQ+2 [4]-14‡; Seamanship/TL3 (E) IQ [1]-12; Stealth (A) DX+1 [4]-12; Survival (Island/Beach) (A) Per+3 [12]-15; Swimming (E) HT [1]-15.

* Includes +2 from 'Wealth'.
† Includes +1 from 'Charisma'.
‡ Conditional +1 from 'Charisma' when making Influence rolls.

Notes

This is Sinbad around the time of his later voyages, but before he finally buys off the quirk that keeps dragging him off to sea to little good purpose. His Wealth level for game purposes is doubtless debatable; by the time he retires, he's clearly very rich indeed, with perhaps enough Independent Income from investments and passive business concerns to keep him in luxury indefinitely (with high Status). While on his voyages, he frequently finds himself stranded in foreign lands without a dirham - but he never seems to find much difficulty in restoring his fortune, often to very high levels locally.

Likewise, his Appearance and Charisma are extrapolations, but he's described as "distinguished" even in later years, and something keeps making him popular with and trusted by local merchants and rulers all over the Indian Ocean. Going by the alternate narrative of his seventh voyage, a point or two in Bow skill might also be appropriate.
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2014, 04:43 PM   #2
Icelander
 
Icelander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Is there a reason he is not qualified to serve as the captain of a ship?

I thought that by the later tales, Sinbad was in charge of the ship and had Navigation, Leadership, Tactics (Naval) and Shiphandling...

I mean, the Caliph trusts him to deliver expensive gifts over the terrible, terrible oceans of this reality.

Why would he trust this to someone who can't even navigate, gather a crew or command a ship? And who only has Seamanship (to default from) at the lowest possible level for a professional sailor?

Also, isn't the character like a legendary teller of tales, who at this point in his life ? Wouldn't it make sense for his Public-Speaking (Storytelling) to be his primary skill, not something he spent 1 point on?

What skills to you use to build a raft?

And I'm sure he needs Scrounging.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!
Icelander is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 03:14 AM   #3
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
Is there a reason he is not qualified to serve as the captain of a ship?
Yes; he never did. Even when it was his own ship (on just one voyage), he hired in those skills.

One of the translations calls him "Es-Sindibad of the Sea" rather than "...the Sailor", and I almost wish I could have done the same.

Quote:
I thought that by the later tales, Sinbad was in charge of the ship and had Navigation, Leadership, Tactics (Naval) and Shiphandling...
Not in any of the translations I found. They're full of professional captains suddenly discovering that the ship has gone astray (and no naval combat at all).

Some time, I may do a character sheet for Hollywood Sinbad, who has Sailor! at 15+. But that's not this guy.

Quote:
Imean, the Caliph trusts him to deliver expensive gifts over the terrible, terrible oceans of this reality.
In the alternate version of the Seventh Voyage, but yes.

Quote:
Why would he trust this to someone who can't even navigate, gather a crew or command a ship? And who only has Seamanship (to default from) at the lowest possible level for a professional sailor?
Savoir-Faire, Charisma, and even more importantly, insane levels of Luck and Serendipity. They're much more important under the relevant assumptions and narrative conventions. Manual and technical work is stuff for the hirelings.

Quote:
Also, isn't the character like a legendary teller of tales, who at this point in his life ?
Habitual, perhaps, and he gets some use from that (very respectable) 13 in the stories, but he only becomes a legend after he tells his stories to Sinbad the Porter and his other guests - at which point, he's got the advantage of amazingly good material.

Quote:
What skills to you use to build a raft?
Survival (Island/Beach), plus Knot-Tying.

Quote:
And I'm sure he needs Scrounging.
I take that as "acquiring stuff for free in human society" - and Sinbad rarely or never does that. (He makes friends and trades stuff.) When he needs to get hold of raw materials, it's always in some kind of wilderness; that's Survival.
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 04:50 AM   #4
NineDaysDead
Banned
 
NineDaysDead's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
ST 11 [10]; DX 11 [20]; IQ 12 [40]; HT 15 [50].
Is there any reason his ST, DX and IQ are at stat normalizer levels but his HT is very impressive indeed?
NineDaysDead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 05:00 AM   #5
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Quote:
Originally Posted by NineDaysDead View Post
Is there any reason his ST, DX and IQ are at stat normalizer levels but his HT is very impressive indeed?
The sheer number of times he's cast away on an island, or left clinging to wreckage when his ship sinks. Usually there are several survivors initially, but they all die of exposure and/or starvation, except for him.
johndallman is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 05:05 AM   #6
Phil Masters
 
Phil Masters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Exactly. Not dying when everybody else does is pretty much his schtick.
__________________
--
Phil Masters
My Home Page.
My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.
Phil Masters is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 05:44 AM   #7
Gold & Appel Inc
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: One Mile Up
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Quote:
Originally Posted by NineDaysDead View Post
Is there any reason his ST, DX and IQ are at stat normalizer levels but his HT is very impressive indeed?
Do you have any specific evidence to suggest that the listed ST, DX, and IQ have been lowered from what is suggested by the canon (taking into account marvelous HT, Luck, and Serendipity), or does the sight of attributes at mere above-average 11s and 12s in a very cinematic genre just bother you a little?
Gold & Appel Inc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 07:35 AM   #8
cbower
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Tuscaloosa, AL
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Extraordinary Luck [30]
I'm being serious: this seems low.
cbower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 07:59 AM   #9
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc View Post
Do you have any specific evidence to suggest that the listed ST, DX, and IQ have been lowered from what is suggested by the canon (taking into account marvelous HT, Luck, and Serendipity), or does the sight of attributes at mere above-average 11s and 12s in a very cinematic genre just bother you a little?
Phil is working from original Arabic sources. Precious little swashbuckling be it
Acrobatics or Swordplay in them. This Sinbad resembles no one named Fairbanks at all.

Actually, he could be a perfectly average guy with a Destiny (Kismet) to survive fantastic adventures and tell the tales. Arabic folklore is very big on inescapable destiny and sometimes appears passive or at least fatalistic to most Western traditions of storytelling.
__________________
Fred Brackin
Fred Brackin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2014, 08:03 AM   #10
Not
 
Not's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Default Re: Sinbad the Sailor

Anybody done Odysseus yet? I was a little disappointed when I figured out that I couldn't use Achilles' Heel to make Achilles.
__________________
Leave this space blank.
Not is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
osprey books, osprey legends, sinbad, sinbad the sailor

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 03:06 AM.


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