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 09-18-2013, 12:27 AM   #51
PTTG
 
PTTG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

Hard to pick one. I like to go over the list of one-offs we've done... there's so many.

There was the 1920's MIB adventures. The party crossed the Atlantic, dealt with the ambassador to China (Bruce Lee), found the author of Wreck of the Titan, the book that presaged the Titanic sinking, and dealt with his house that was more-or-less fumigated with a powerful hallucinogenic that was the source of his future-detecting powers. The group was a lizard-man, a white anachronistic pimp, a literal talking ape, a medieval thief, and one other I can't recall...

There was the recent cyberpunk-vice adventures. They were a party of street toughs and corporate security agents, including an eight-foot walking tank and her (IRL) fiancee, who played a psychologist with no combat capacity. We also had a giant black combat medic, and a psychopathic street-rat with corporate untouchability (like diplomatic immunity, except provided by corporations). There was a cyber-ninja with an implanted AI. Oh yes, and a pop star named MC PCP. They started in Japan, crossed to Osaka, then followed a trail of tainted drugs to Columbia, then north to LA, which lead them to a nuclear waste site in Finland. Finally it all takes them to an asteroid in orbit (the construction site of a space elevator, under the auspices of their corporation.). They beat the evil alien AI responsible for it all, then the psychologist steals the Nanite weapon it had built as his means to contaminate Earth to drive mankind to space.

There was Barbarian House, a one-shot that I have attempted to have scrubbed from existence. I forget most of it by intention, but the basic concept was that I told them to minmax for pure combat ability. They were 150 points but able to handle unwholesome amounts of raw combat, mainly because they were mostly unable to breath without pictographic instructions. Then I gave them the scenario: Their fraternity, Barbarian House, is under academic probation! Time to do this list of things to satisfy the Dean! They eat that list of things, so the Dean tells them that if they can introduce his niece to the campus, he'll consider repealing the probation (the Dean is that kind of clinically insane found only in school administrators in some kinds of movies.) Ended with them attacking Wizard House and something about finding a unicorn. One PC was cthlonically ugly, illiterate, and extremely weak, but had very strong DR and an innate attack of screeching like a dying buzzard and vomiting a spear at baaarely subsonic velocity. We decided that he had a boil on his forehead which had it's own, independent, pulse.

There was the Paranoialike adventure. We had a large Space Campaign setting we'd built up over months of design. As an aside from the main campaign, I ran an adventure where the players played pirates and scavengers that started out allied, but with conflicting goals. The final survivor wasn't the incredibly tough pirate captain, the biologist with the deep-seated interest in the hulk-out formula in the cargo, not the skilled pilot, not even the assassin who just wanted everyone else dead... it was the pacifist space miner who survived a knock-down drag-out zero-g fight with the assassin, one that involved several grenades, the Spikes advantage, and a race to consciousness after they both were knocked out by the concussion from the bombs.

There was the Stuper Heroes campaign. I actually played in this campaign, and while I won't go into details of the story, it had some of our very first, and very most fun characters- a talking bear, a horrifyingly ugly and seductive moleman named Blind Dwarf Jackson, a telekinetic part-astronaut who was slowly turning into a spaceship for aliens... and those were the heroes! My personal favorite characters were my own, an immortal hobo named Walker, and my friend's Ukranium, a man who could turn into solid uranium. Both of these had a lot of shape-shifter's baggage. The villians were wonderful, the most memorable perhaps being the
Willy Wonka knockoff Gadgeteer (with the limitation: made of candy only) who we pummeled, irradiated, and threw into chocolate. We haven't seen him since, but we sincerely hope one day to hear the whir of candy cybernetics and discover that he is more confection now than man.

There was... the ad-hoc adventure...

Hooo boy.

Basically, I let them make really simple characters and then threw together an adventure off of that as we went. I even wandered around the coffee shop while they made characters and got story ideas from helpless bystanders. They made circus freaks, including a 6-foot dwarf (that is, someone with more than normal height but the proportions of someone with dwarfism) and a blood mage who used chickens as mobile blood sources. And then there was the kung-fu guy with Terminally Ill and HT 20. I ruled that his liver was massive and growing constantly, and would one day rupture him. Until then, though, it was basically impossible for him to suffer HT problems...

Anyway, they fought some skeletons, they accidentally crushed all their chickens, and they eventually found some cultists in a castle. They killed some, scared others, and the giant dwarf (who, I should add, wore a kilt, a pompadour, and sunglasses, and nothing else,) grabbed some frozen meat, strings, and a stick.

Long story short, next thing I know, he's run into the dark temple of the castle, lifted his kilt, started swinging the meat flail he's just constructed, and is bellowing "I AM GROGNOR, BOW BEFORE ME!"

I decided that at this point, the scene froze, went to sepia and a bunch of names started scrolling up from the bottom while upbeat music played in the background.

That's probably the single most memorable thing so far.

Dang I love GURPS.

Last edited by PTTG; 09-18-2013 at 10:58 AM.
PTTG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2013, 11:36 AM   #52
Otaku
 
Otaku's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: South Dakota, USA
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by cybermancer2k1 View Post
Nereidalbel is correct. I don't set out to harm my PCs, but I don't shield them from the consequences of their decisions, either. And it was memorable; the players laughed about that one for weeks.
So you're saying you left out the most important part of your story, then? ;-)

It is probably hard to do as you do know all the facts, but try reading your initial post as I did; I don't know if "Human Missile" is just his name for attacking in that manner or a specific rule from a book I haven't read, I just know it wasn't in your post and I didn't know it. Re-reading the post with that knowledge that makes it pretty hilarious, since now the humor is someone using an attack named "Missile" against something he knows has Reverse Missile protecting it. If you want it to be the punch line for the story... that could work really well e.g. "The name for this attack was 'the Human Missile'!"

Still would like to know a bit more if you would. I don't know if Human Missile is a RAW technique/maneuver/whatever-you-call-it or just what the player decided to call making a slam attack, while flying via jetpack. Plenty of things have names that shouldn't be applicable to spells (unless the setting calls for magic to be humorous/finicky): Hellfire Missiles don't actually use Hellfire (well, in realistic settings) and at least in 3e the Flying Jump Kick Maneuver didn't actually utilize a form of "Flight", just the cinematic rules (not even Chambara).
__________________
My GURPS Fourth Edition library consists of Basic Set: Characters, Basic Set: Campaigns, Martial Arts, Powers, Powers: Enhanced Senses, Power-Ups 1: Imbuements, Power-Ups 2: Perks, Power-Ups 3: Talents, Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, Power-Ups 6: Quirks, Power-Ups 8: Limitations, Powers, Social Engineering, Supers, Template Toolkit 1: Characters, Template Toolkit 2: Races, one issue of Pyramid (3/83) a.k.a. Alternate GURPS IV, GURPS Classic Rogues, and GURPS Classic Warriors. Most of which was provided through the generosity of others. Thanks! :)
Otaku is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2013, 11:40 AM   #53
Nereidalbel
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Otaku View Post
I don't know if Human Missile is a RAW technique/maneuver/whatever-you-call-it or just what the player decided to call making a slam attack, while flying via jetpack.
See Supers pg38. It's a RAW technique.
Nereidalbel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2013, 09:33 AM   #54
Otaku
 
Otaku's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: South Dakota, USA
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
See Supers pg38. It's a RAW technique.
Thanks!

So yeah, not that I can read that but with the additional information, the story is much more entertaining. I know my posts on this thread are probably too long to bother reading but what can I say; it seems problematic when the "memorable" comes from campaign specific details. Here are two memorable moments that don't heavily rely on campaign context:

From the same campaign I've mentioned before (Third Edition, TL3-4, pseudo-medieval mercenaries game with non-humans but no magic), my completely uninjured character took a single crossbow bolt to the torso (generic torso hit, mind you) and was so badly injured he failed a death check. This was pretty depressing, but of all places while attending a church service the next day, singing a hymn, suddenly the blow-through rules popped into my mind! I called my GM after I got home and he ruled retroactively that I had just passed out, the group rescued me (they began attacking right away) and I just had to make the usual healing rolls (as my 11 HT/HP meant that any damage over 11 was lost as the bolt went right through me... and thus couldn't have damaged me for 22+ points).

In the end, he decided to retroactively allow my character to have just passed out from the first shot, and the party automatically got me to the nearest doctor and I was just required to make the usual HT rolls to heal up.

Even shorter; in a different 3e campaign with the same group, flying home on a space ship at the conclusion of a big adventure. The GM required "encounter rolls" and one of the players rolled badly - we got his knock-off version of the Borg after us. I/my character suggested trying an emergency stop, ripping us out of FTL travel and the pilot rolled a natural 3 or 4. Our pursuers rolled a natural 18 - the GM was so floored he even raised his screen to show it to us. Then we laughed at having recreated a scene from Space Balls.
__________________
My GURPS Fourth Edition library consists of Basic Set: Characters, Basic Set: Campaigns, Martial Arts, Powers, Powers: Enhanced Senses, Power-Ups 1: Imbuements, Power-Ups 2: Perks, Power-Ups 3: Talents, Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, Power-Ups 6: Quirks, Power-Ups 8: Limitations, Powers, Social Engineering, Supers, Template Toolkit 1: Characters, Template Toolkit 2: Races, one issue of Pyramid (3/83) a.k.a. Alternate GURPS IV, GURPS Classic Rogues, and GURPS Classic Warriors. Most of which was provided through the generosity of others. Thanks! :)

Last edited by Otaku; 09-20-2013 at 09:40 AM.
Otaku is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2013, 03:17 PM   #55
kdtipa
 
kdtipa's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Southern New Hampshire
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

I was running a near future psionics campaign where the main characters were trying to track down a local crime boss named Leo who they thought was responsible for stealing something important to try to get it back. They managed to figure out where he lives, and decided to just go there. But he was gone. They figured out that he was travelling looking to sell his ill gotten goods... but not where he went.

They spent time in the luxury apartment trying to figure out where Leo went. Actually... it was just one character trying to figure it out. This was an electrokinetic/cyberpsi character who was searching through Leo's computer which was taking hours even with his advantages in computer use (still takes a while to read files even if not encrypted). This was Ed. A slightly socially backward computer expert.

There was also Jimmy, the college age teleporter that liked swords; There was Lucy the split personality illusion wielding telepath; And there was the Serbian medical doctor Dmitri who was also telepathic, but who focused on other telepathic skills. None of them felt like that had anything to do while in the apartment... so they took advantage of the luxury apartment.

Jimmy and Dmitri played Gran Turismo 73 on the Playstation 64 on the big television in the living room. Lucy decided to take a bath in the big hot tub, and relax.

Ed got upset. Reasoning to himself that they didn't want the owner to know they'd been there, he left the computer and went to lodge his complaints with his teammates' activity. He tried claiming that playing the game and using the hot tub would tip off the owner, but the others disagreed and continued their activity. Ed, going against his own reasoning, used his electrokinesis to surge the electronics in the game system and TV, and to short out the hot tub motor.

Still not sure why he did that, but it happened. And the others got upset. Dmitri, played by one of my friends who spoke in character with the Serbian accent and affectations, basically yelled at Ed in character and asked how they were supposed to pass time now.

Ed suggested he play solitaire on his smart phone. It would even have fancy graphics like on the big system... you know... when you win... it has the bouncing cards at the end.

At this point I'm already laughing. Never GM'd anything like it before. But Dmitri's player was fantastic and went off in his Serbian accent about the "bouncing f**king cards?!".

That same session saw them burn out Leo's apartment by forgetting a roast they purchased from a near by butcher shop in Leo's oven. So they destroyed Leo's apartment, didn't find any clues about where to go next, and the bouncing cards came up again at least once per session in every session after it. I still smile thinking about it.
kdtipa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2013, 03:25 PM   #56
BrockNicholson
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Huntington, West Virginia
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

Our very first campaign ever. I am having some difficulty with one of the players being too silly. Not a bad guy, he just hasn't settled into the idea of actually playing a role and staying in character during in game interactions.

The characters, a totally generic fantasy party, are approaching the castle of the Vampire King. Numerous NPCs have warned them he is a stern King and not to be trifled with. The PCs have also been made aware that the king is reasonable and willing to negotiate.

As they approach the gates the guard stops the party. The player who has been too silly says to the guard, "Get out of my way before I come over there and f*** start your head." I interrupt him about a half second after he drops the f bomb by deadpanning, "The guard fires an arrow at you." He fails his dodge and the arrow goes in his mouth and out the back of his head decapitating him.

Another player uses an artifact I had given them earlier in the game to rewind time (it's almost like I expected stupidity to get them killed :). When they next approach the gate Captain Theriot, the formerly silly one, gives a nice formally polite speech about how he wishes to speak with the king.
BrockNicholson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2013, 03:27 PM   #57
kdtipa
 
kdtipa's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Southern New Hampshire
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

There are some really good stories in here. Love this stuff.
kdtipa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2013, 02:38 AM   #58
The Benj
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Platform Zero, Sydney, Australia
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrockNicholson View Post
I was playing in a supers game. My character was a warrior monk with a Sense of Duty to every living thing on the planet. After much discussion with my GM we had decided that my character would operate on strictly Utilitarian ethics. He could kill people, even lots of people, if it would lead to the greatest good for the greatest people.

The team he was on had been time displaced to a dystopian future, and they were fighting their way to the top of the bad guys tower to try and defeat him. The bad guy was mind controlling the whole world to keep everyone docile and harmless. After climbing an elevator shaft, my character was first through the door to meet this evil mastermind.

It's worth noting my character had duplication abilities and a hive mind with the dupes. The team was using my character as a communication system as they were split up across the levels of the building.

After a conversation with the evil mastermind, my character discovered that in the last 20 years we had been missing only 2000 people had died of anything other than age related disease. There was no more starvation, no war, no crime. And people weren't being mind controlled. They were in a simulation.

So I had one dupe throw himself down the elevator shaft while holding to the rest of the team. Killed the team member who was planting a bomb on the buildings structural supports and talked two other teammates into killing each other.
That's a really cool story, apart from that not being even slightly how Sense of Duty works.
Ignoring that detail, I love it.
The Benj is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2013, 06:31 AM   #59
DangerousThing
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Benj View Post
That's a really cool story, apart from that not being even slightly how Sense of Duty works.
Ignoring that detail, I love it.
How so?

I feel that it represents the Sense of Duty perfectly

Quote:
Originally Posted by Basic p. 153
You feel a strong sense of commitment
toward a particular class of people.
You will never betray them, abandon
them when they’re in trouble, or
let them suffer or go hungry if you can
help. This is different from a Duty
(p. 133), which is imposed upon you.
A Sense of Duty always comes from
within.
__________________
A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Warning: Invertebrate Punnster - Spinelessly Unable to Resist a Pun
Dangerous Thoughts, my blog about GURPS and life.
DangerousThing is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2013, 06:35 AM   #60
The Benj
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Platform Zero, Sydney, Australia
Default Re: Your most rememborable GURPS related moment?

"You will never betray them, abandon them when they’re in trouble, or
let them suffer or go hungry if you can help."
Your allies count. Sense of Duty doesn't make allowances for "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" or anything like that. It's -30 points because it's a huge burden.
The Benj is offline   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 11:36 AM.


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