Equipment 101

[FF_Ninja]

I've been pouring over the GURPS basic set for a few months now. The unique nature of it initially threw me off, but I've managed to get a pretty solid grasp of, well, most of it.

I have a few questions regarding equipment. Maybe I'm reading it right and it's not registering in this thick noggin, maybe not. Some clarifications would be very helpful!

• Generally speaking, how does armor work to deflect, absorb, or negate damage?
• If I wanted to generate custom equipment (example: a magic item, a special piece of gun tech, or an intelligent weapon), are there guidelines for that, or do I just make it up as I go?
• Is there anything particular that significantly differentiates equipment in GURPS from equipment in other games?

I appreciate any thoughts or info. :)

[Nereidalbel]

You subtract armor's DR value from the damage rolled. If your answer is 0 or less, no injury is suffered (unless said armor is Flexible DR).

To create custom, magical items, the best method is to use Metatronic Generators.

In GURPS, equipment loss and replacement is fairly common. Encumbrance due to armor is also considerably less lenient than, say, D&D.

[Bruno]

While most games assign a value and a weight to equipment, and damage bonuses/dice to weapons, there's a philosophical divide between assigning "balanced" cost and weight, and "actual" cost and weight. GURPS defaults to "actual". GURPS makes no attempt to make it "fair" to bring a katana to a gun fight, and is willing to note that more advanced weapons are generally better all around, and often cheaper too. Being an bronze-age spear and shield mounted warrior and facing a medieval or early renaissance knight on horseback generally just sucks, and all other things being equal, GURPS doesn't bail you out.

GURPS has two numerical stats for equipment that I don't see too often in other games: Legality Class and Tech Level. These are as much social factors as game-mechanical ones (although they intersect with game mechanics too). A GM can of course put whatever they want in their game and make it freely available to anyone they feel like; if you feel like having orcs with TEC-9s running around in a "standard" fantasy scenario, all right. But if a GM has a better idea about the culture or society than they do about inventory, LC and TL give you good quick judgement calls on whether any given item is available.
Given the wide variety of genre and equipment in GURPS and the often unique campaigns GURPS GMs come up with, it's an elegant solution.

[dfinlay]

Originally Posted by FF_Ninja

Generally speaking, how does armor work to deflect, absorb, or negate damage?

Generally speaking, armour gives you a DR, which is subtracted from all damage taken before multipliers. Thus, if you do 3 impaling damage (x2 damage) to someone with 2 DR, (s)he takes (3-2)x2=2 damage.

There are some complicating factors such as armour that has different DR against different types of attacks and flexible armour (see B379), but that's the core of it.

Unlike in a lot of games, there is no enumberance penalty for armour. Instead, armour has a weight and that contributes to your total carried weight, which can make you encumbered. The exception poorly fitted armour or multiple layers of armour, both of which can give a DX penalty.

Originally Posted by FF_Ninja

If I wanted to generate custom equipment (example: a magic item, a special piece of gun tech, or an intelligent weapon), are there guidelines for that, or do I just make it up as I go?

This is a tricky one, as you have quite a few options. The simplest is always the "make-it-up-as-you-go" option, which is fairly often a good one. Take a look at something in the RAW that is similar to what you want (and there is almost always something, though it may be in a book you don't have) and tweak a few stats as needed.

If the item is really a character ability in disguise (it's a powerful thing that no one else (or very few others) can/will get access to and is a defining thing that will stick with a given character (see Iron Man's suit or King Arthur's Excalibur), this should often be bought as an advantage with a Gadget limitation (B116).

Metatronic Generators, mentioned above, is a way of getting dollar values for items based on GURPS advantages. It's decent but better for when you have a PC gadgeteer who wants an in-depth system they can play with to make fun toys than just for "I need a magic sword I cna give my BBEG.

Finally, most things you want, if they are either realistic things or common adventure tropes, probably exist already in some GURPS book. The books that are good for this are the *Tech books (especially Low-Tech and High-Tech for realistic gear, which are really good books).

Originally Posted by FF_Ninja

Is there anything particular that significantly differentiates equipment in GURPS from equipment in other games?

As mentioned by Bruno, the default assumptions for GURPS equipment is that you want it at-least somewhat realistic (there are all sorts of tweaks to fix this in the books, but this is the default). While there are a lot of tweaks done for playability over realism, for the most part, the GURPS designers (especially for the Low-Tech and High-Tech books) tried to create accurate depictions of real equipment (apperently, they determined weapon weights by bringing in weapons and weighing them).

Other than that, nothing pops to mind as generally true for all equipment.

[FF_Ninja]

Thanks! You guys pretty accurately answered my questions and pointed me in the right direction.

[whswhs]

Do you want to make up novel equipment that exists in some imaginary setting and can be bought there? Or do you want to make things comparable to Lenses, power rings, Legion flight rings, or elven swords that glow where orcs are near?

For the former, you pretty much just have to use your imagination. But for the latter, you can build them as Gadgets: define the Advantages they confer, and then apply suitable Gadget modifiers from the end of the Advantages chapter.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

To create custom, magical items, the best method is to use Metatronic Generators.

Are we sure that that's the best method, for someone new to GURPS, and who finds core parts of GURPS to be "unique"?

I have only glanced at the Metatronic stuff, but I'd say that using the Gadget Limitation is a lot simpler. Or cribbing the weapon/item Enchantments from GURPS Magic (although generally I try to avoid that book entirely, as it has severe cooties).

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Are we sure that that's the best method, for someone new to GURPS, and who finds core parts of GURPS to be "unique"?

I have only glanced at the Metatronic stuff, but I'd say that using the Gadget Limitation is a lot simpler. Or cribbing the weapon/item Enchantments from GURPS Magic (although generally I try to avoid that book entirely, as it has severe cooties).

If it's a unique item, go Gadget. If you want many of them to exist, Metatronic. Which is still basically a Gadget, but, with a cash value.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

If it's a unique item, go Gadget. If you want many of them to exist, Metatronic. Which is still basically a Gadget, but, with a cash value.

Really, nothing in Gadget requires it to be unique. Unique is a separate, extra Gadget modifier. If the gadget isn't Unique, there can be as many of them as you want.

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Really, nothing in Gadget requires it to be unique. Unique is a separate, extra Gadget modifier. If the gadget isn't Unique, there can be as many of them as you want.

It does, however, cost character points. Now, when's the last time you went to the local blacksmith and said you'll give him 12 of your character points for a magical sword? Metatronic helps you put a cash value on things with a consistent methodology.