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Old 04-18-2019, 07:08 AM   #1
Onkl
 
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Salodurum, Confoederatio Helvetica
Default GURPS the Shlooter

Hi guys

Loot shooter (Shlooter) are a very popular genre in the computer- and video games sector. It's most famous exponents are "The Division 2", "Destiny 2", "Anthem" and the like…
Since I love to tinker with GURPS, I tried to do a conversion and here's what I came up with so far. I would very much like your input on all points and maybe get some new ideas from you as well.

One thing must be very clear before I begin to describe the game I've gm'ed for three session now: This is only marginally a roleplaying game and actually more of a tactical tabletop you play vs a "gamemaster". This was also the intention of the game. A future challenge might be to create a setting to make what I describe "plausible". But that is not currently what I am after - there are still lots of technicalities to get done beforehand. So, here goes:

I chose TL8 and "The Division" to model my game after when I first started this project. My first attempt was to create classes of equal firearms including progression. This quickly lead to the realization (well, tbh I already knew this…) that the realistic approach to firearms GURPS follows is of no use in the game I envision - a game where an SMG can be as useful as an AR. Why would anybody ever choose an SMG over an Assault Carbine if both weapons were freely available to them? (See TS:61).

So I had to choose a different approach (Which has its shortcomings as well, but bear with me).

Instead of rewarding the player with a new weapon after a successful mission (You got a H&K MP5A3 (Fine, Accurate) with a Three-Point-Sling), the players get "loot boxes" which may contain an upgrade with which to improve their weapon… this necessitates to throw over-board any realism left concerning firearms. Also, certain classes of firearms are very hard to model, I'll get back to this later…

So, how does this work in the game?

First, all the players get two so called "Basic Firearm" when they start the game. These firearms have the following stats:

Code:
Acc:    1
Damage: 1d pi
RoF:    2
Shots:  6 (3i)
Rcl:    4
Bulk:   -1 per d of Dmg
After a successful mission, the players get "loot boxes", containing upgrades which are choosen by luck. This is a sample of the Firearms section of the whole loottable:

Code:
Roll d100

01-30  Weapon +Shots            1d6; 1-4 = 1; 5 = 2; 6 =3 (To remove the i, spend 1 shot)
31-55  Weapon +Dmg              1d6; 1-4 = 1; 5 = 2; 6 =3
56-75  Weapon +RoF              1d6; 1-4 = 1; 5 = 2; 6 =3
76-85  Weapon +Acc              1d6; 1-4 = 1; 5 = 2; 6 =3
86-95  Weapon -Rcl (Min. 2)     1d6; 1-4 = 1; 5 = 2; 6 =3
96-99  Weapon +Skill            1d6; 1-4 = 1; 5 = 2; 6 =3
100    Weapon +High Cyclic RoF  See HT83, you'll get a Burst of 2 or 3 shots with # and Rcl1
How does this work

Roll a d100 and see which upgrade the lootbox contains. Then roll 1d to determine the strength of the upgrade: 1-4 gives +1, 5 gives +2, 6 gives +3. Exceptions to the rule are the following. When upgrading Shots, you may spend "1 Shot Upgrade" to remove the i from the shots Statistic.

Example: I roll a 23 on a d100 - I got additional shots for my basic firearm. I then proceed to roll 1d6 and get a 6. Great! That's a "+3 Shots" upgrade. When I apply that to my basic firearm, the Shots statistic changes from 6 (3i) to 8 (3) -> The first Shot I spend to remove the i from the statistic, which leaves me +2 shots, thus 8 (3). Alternatively you could allow the weapon to become 9 (3i).

In the games we played I awarded the players at least 10 lootboxes after every fight. The players may gift or trade loot as they see fit. You may sell any upgrade you receive to the "bank" for $500. You may spend $1000 to roll on the whole loottable again.

Once an upgrade is added to the firearm of the player, the upgrade cannot be remove and thus not be gifted or traded.

If you want, you can let the players explain what exactly happened after they are finished upgrading the weapons. The easiest way is to say: "I found a new weapon, look at those stats!" or you can try to explain how you upgraded your weapon to now fit the new stats you have. Or you can just overlook it and just play and aquire new lootboxes.

Armor and DR is handled very much the same way. Every player gets a "Basic Armor" which can be upgraded.

This makes for a fun, unrealistic but never the less tactical boardgame. We've played three sessions so far and it was quite enjoyable. The missions took place on tiny maps (8x8 yards) and were quite simple:

Prevent the oppFor from pushing this button.
Survive the onslaught for 10 rounds.
Get this crate from this hex to this hex in X rounds.

Every player uses the same charactersheet with the exact same stats. The players differentiate only by their equipment. They are their equipment.

Caveats and improvements

It is clear that this whole shindig can become quite unbalanced really fast. In my group this is mitigated by the fact, that the players (not quite unlike in DF) are looking after each other and trading and gifting upgrades freely so that everybody stays on the same powerlevel. Their reasoning being that if we as a group get stronger, we'll all get more loot and in turn get stronger again.

Yet there are several problem with this implementation. Some classes of weapons that are desirable, are not possible: Shotguns is the very first thing that comes to mind. The same goes for grenade launchers, rocket launchers and any firearm where the type of ammunition plays a heavy role. How would you add these firearms to a game like this?

How can you make melee weapons keep the pace? As all realism is out the window… what would you do? Allow them to be upgraded to Armor Divisor 10? Give more StrST?

The encumbrance rules are not activated either. There I envisioned something along the lines of: When your total DR surpasses X, you'll be on light enc. When you reach Y, you'll be on medium enc… and so on.

And of course you could add DR for specific damage types (pi or cut). And. So. Forth…

If you have any tips, suggestions, ideas, criticism… please let me know. This is very far away from standard GURPS but as we like to "fight on the board" this is a welcome distraction from our usual weekly low-fantasy campaign.

Hope you like it.

Weaponcharactersheet:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn18a6jldr...sheet.pdf?dl=0

Shlooter Tables:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/txt297f34i...20v05.pdf?dl=0

Generic Weaponwielder Charactersheet:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xus6e32wey...20v03.pdf?dl=0

Cheers

Onkl
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