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 05-08-2014, 09:52 AM   #11
Captain Joy
 
Captain Joy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Heartland, U.S.A.
Default Re: Monster design

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
(Kromm, if you're listening, this would probably make a good supplement. And if you do not listen, then TO HELL WITH YOU!)
I'm not sure how wise it is to invoke Kromm, even in jest.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
What are the principles of monster design in GURPS?
The closest thing to that, to my knowledge, can be found in Monster Hunter 2: The Mission, p29 — Choosing a Monster. To grossly summarize and simplify: make sure their DR doesn't make them uninjuryable, make sure the number of attacks is balanced, make sure their defenses don't make them unhitable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
How do I make them lethal enough to challenge the PCs, yet not so lethal that they overwhelm the PCs?
Make sure the damage they do isn't so high that they'll drop a PC in one blow.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
How do I make them durable, yet not so durable that the fights become boring?
Go easy on their HT. Don't bump it above 10 unless you want them to pass consciousness rolls. Also, don't assume all monsters fight to the death; have them flee/retreat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
What interesting traits are suited for monsters?
I usually used published material for inspiration.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders View Post
Edited to remove the TVTropes reference.
Not necessary. I wasn't going to read it anyway. :)

Last edited by Captain Joy; 05-08-2014 at 11:23 PM. Reason: added link
Captain Joy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-09-2014, 08:51 AM   #12
Figleaf23
Banned
 
Figleaf23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Default Re: Monster design

Quote:
Originally Posted by GodBeastX View Post
Balance to GMs tends to mean "Difficult" and when people have an ability, the first thought is to counter it! If abilities end up countered though, what was the point of putting character points into it?

Players actually have more fun with cannon fodder they can FLEX their abilities with. Then they pat themselves on the back for points well spent "Wow, thank goodness I took THAT ability! It made this fight a breeze!"
Golden words!
Figleaf23 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-09-2014, 09:51 AM   #13
Figleaf23
Banned
 
Figleaf23's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Default Re: Monster design

While balancing toe to toe encounters can be doable with mathematic methods and comparisons, the thing is toe to toe encounters are only one type.

The problem of monster design really lies in the challenge of encounter design.

In this regard, I agree with those who have remarked that it is important to know your party. This ranges from a technical appreciation of how squishy or tough they are in game terms, to questions of play style and competence.

Equally important however is that the GM should really understand his or her dramatic (and narrative*) objectives with the encounter, and the implications of those objectives for how the encounter needs to be balanced. For example, dramatic objectives might include: seemingly trivial threats turn out big, oppressively desperate situations to test resolve punctuated by a fight, battles of attrition, predicting/avoiding enemies with sudden-death capability, and of course more.

An encounter ends up seeming 'unbalanced' when the dramatic intention is thwarted by unwelcome outcomes, and when there are different concepts of what a welcome outcome might mean. Be aware of your dramatic objectives so that you can know how to balance the encounter in game terms and with the expectations of your players.

How you build and describe the encounter are equally critical. The best built drama will fail if players see through or don't get it. Where they see through it by skillful play or clever insight or wise attribute choice, be prepared to go with it -- that's called fun. But if they see though it through meta knowledge or over-simplification the fun has been depleted. On the other hand, where they don't get it and fail it's troublesome if that happens because of missing elements in the encounter description.

Use your dramatic objective as the core of questions you ask yourself as you think it through and make sure that all of the answers you give yourself get conveyed through your description.

Remember that no plan survives first contact. It's good to have some narrative ploy up your sleeve to get ahold of a campaign if an encounter goes awry.
Figleaf23 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
campaign rules, monster

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 12:10 PM.


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