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Old 12-14-2015, 01:10 PM   #101
evileeyore
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Default Re: TV series with ideas for GURPS

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Originally Posted by tshiggins View Post
What makes The Walking Dead work is that the main characters are all pretty compelling (well, except for Carl, who is pretty boring...)...
I disagree with you there. I found very few of the characters compelling.
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Z-Nation is just silly, and not in a good way.
Again we disagree. It's not serious, which is different than silly.

The reason I enjoy Z Nation and dislike Walking Dead is based on that manner in which Walking Dead demands it be taken seriously (it presents as serious, as if everything matters all the time) and thenfails to have the characters act intelligently, purely for the sake of drama and plot.

Z Nation conversely is not all serious (it has moments), often takes shots at the genre and it's own production company, and thus if a character acts stupidly for the sake of plot/drama (which happens far less often than on WD ironically) it's easier to overlook.


The reason I mention Z Nation as mineable as it has several Action! switches inherent in the setting that I feel would make for a fast paced 'back to the dungeon' style game. Like I said, It's DFed with a bunch of "not as important as in DF" switches (ammo count, rations, fuel, working vehicle, etc all serve the episodic adventure, as well as the overarching theme of 'survival').

Last edited by evileeyore; 12-14-2015 at 01:52 PM. Reason: So many spelling errors
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Old 12-14-2015, 01:56 PM   #102
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Default Re: TV series with ideas for GURPS

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Its a lot like the GURPS spend points for successes strategy in Impulse Buy with the regenerating pool of points option switch. It allows the Scoobies to shine sometimes when the spend the points but the points go away and refresh more slowly.

I'm not totally against it though I still think you could come up with balanced power characters if you chose.
Just in the Buffy series we had: A cyberwarrior, a robot, a really powerful witch, a trained watcher who was also a wizard, a character that dressed up as soldier at the "wrong/right" time and got full Movie Action soldier capabilities combined with the senses of a Hyena, two friendly vampires for various reasons, a gadgeteer. Then a newly opened slayer potential waking for everyone.
While that could be a good game, I would really much prefer to play Xander. He almost dies all the time, yet frequently plays a key part in the success of the mission.

It's perfectly okay with me to let other members of the party fight off the Big Bad and his minions, if I get to chuck a rock at its head to distract it at the right moment, or pour holy water in the Black Cauldron, or scrape away part of the magic circle, or rescue the (hopefully young and beautiful) sacrifice -- and then run like a bunny, spending drama points like crazy and describing exactly how the heck I didn't die this time.

That would be fun!
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Old 12-14-2015, 02:48 PM   #103
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As for superhero shows,I enjoy Gotham.
No accounting for taste. I suffered through Gotham until Supergirl started and after 1 episode of that I dropped Gotham like a bad habit.

It might mostly be because villains bore me. I kept watching mostly to see those few scarce instances where you could see Batman incubating inside Bruce Wayne's eggshell. Well, that and scenes where Penguin suffered pain and humiliation but that would e a gag reel and not a TV series.

These things touch on why the show is probably poor RPG fodder. Who would your PCs be?
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Old 12-14-2015, 03:19 PM   #104
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the BtVS RPG... has a clever way (akin to fate points or drama points, or something) to balance the vastly disparate power levels between the Slayer, the sorcerors and magical beings and the monsters they face, and the regular "Scoobie" types.
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Its a lot like the GURPS spend points for successes strategy in Impulse Buy
At character creation, there's a tradeoff between (in GURPS terms) the number of CP you have to build your character, and the number of impulse buy points you're going to have. More powerful characters get few drama points; Scoobies get lots. Overall, then, you might consider all the characters equally powerful in some sense, some via in-setting abilities and others via more meta influence.

It's also somewhat like FATE, where character builds start with N "refresh" points which are like CP; cool powers cost build points; and any leftover build points become the number of FATE points you have at the start of scenes. Characters with more powers have fewer FATE points; more ordinary characters have more.
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Old 12-14-2015, 03:42 PM   #105
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Default Re: TV series with ideas for GURPS

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Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
<SNIP>

and dislike Walking Dead is based on that manner in which Walking Dead demands it be taken seriously (it presents as serious, as if everything matters all the time) and thenfails to have the characters act intelligently, purely for the sake of drama and plot.

<SNIP>
This, especially the bolded.

My addition would be Harsh Realm by Chris Carter. I always thought that both worlds were just loaded with things that should be in a RPG.
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Old 12-14-2015, 07:11 PM   #106
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Default Re: TV series with ideas for GURPS

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The original post didn't say anything about "new" ideas, just about ideas ... and everything is new to somebody. I don't see this is an issue.
I would have thought some degree of originality was implicit, but I'll edit 'new' in for you if you like.


I actually thought of some things you can get from the super hero shows.

The set pieces are usually pretty good both in DD and JJ. so you could steal them. The other shows occasionally have ok ones but not so much.

Also, and I (and many others before me probably) was already thinking about a similar villain, Kilgrave makes a pretty good example of a street level villain for a low powered Madness Dossier game. That's useful to have realized on TV.

Don Draper from Madmen is probably good to go as character in that street level campaign too.
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Old 12-15-2015, 03:47 AM   #107
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Default Re: TV series with ideas for GURPS

The new Jekyll and Hyde has a lot of re-imagined monsters. The Edwardian (?) setting brings cliff hangers to mind. Any one into monster hunters in a historical era might find M.i.0 an interesting patron organization.

One aspect of the show that really brings GURPS to mind is the fighting style used by the protagonist when his alter ego is in charge. All exuberant all out attacks, some of which are massively telegraphed. While this is not necessarily the most effective way to fight it matches the character perfectly.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:18 PM   #108
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Default Re: TV series with ideas for GURPS

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While that could be a good game, I would really much prefer to play Xander. He almost dies all the time, yet frequently plays a key part in the success of the mission.
...
Hands down, he was the only true hero of the show. He fought insurmountable evil not because of destiny, super powers, indoctrination, etc. He fought evil because it was the right thing to do.
(Too often he had as little story purpose as Heart in Captain Planet, despite having arguably the most powerful ring.)

Being the only pure mundane human could easily have interesting usefulness in games.
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Old 12-17-2015, 10:46 PM   #109
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Jessica Jones is a street level Madness Dossier game.

Mad Men is the 'office level' equivalent.
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Old 12-18-2015, 11:25 AM   #110
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Default Re: TV series with ideas for GURPS

Any detective or police drama can be adapted to Traveller: Starports. I was thinking of Magnum PI but any can be really.

Robin Masters Estate fits the aristocratic nature of the series. Masters can be an eccentric Noble, while Higgins is his Seneschal. The sleazy-glamourous night clubs full of sailors are just like a Startown. And all the other favorite elements of Magnum can be fitted in to Starports.
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