08-08-2011, 09:12 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Canada
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Steampunk Character concept
I'm working on a cinematic Victorian Sci-Fi/Steampunk game for the fall. As the members of my game group have little or no experience with GURPS, I was planning on pre-making a set of characters, but am having trouble with one of the general concepts.
The game will be using Rev Pee Kitty's house rules (notably Per and Will split from IQ), and some of the rules introduced in Monster Hunters (Hypercompetency for Wildcard skills and Destiny). Tentatively looking at 200 point characters with -50 point disadvantage limit. The game is set in the 1890s, at TL(5+1), and the characters are all British or colonials in the service of Queen and Country. The main opposition is a nation set up in Antarctica by a scientist who was sentenced to transportation (before that practice was stopped) for 'immoral experimentation'. The general character concepts include: Butler - stereotypical British butler, who serves one of the gentry (which is the character concept I'm trying to figure out). Key traits: Unfazeable [15]; Schtick (Sartorial Integrity) [1]; and Servant! (GURPS Supers) Jack of All Trades - well traveled sailor, explorer and former military member. Key traits: Cultural Adaptability [10]; Language Talent [10]; Serendipity (Aspected, Social, -20%) [12]; Wild Talent (Retention, +25%; Retention Only, ?%) [?]. Fake - Fraudulent medium and trickster. Key traits: Charisma [5]; Honest Face [1]; Social Chameleon [5]; Voice [10] and Fake! (GURPS Supers) Inventor - gadgeteer; wields a stun-sword. Key traits: Gadgeteer [25]; Gizmos 3 [15]; Versatile [5] and Inventor! (GURPS Monster Hunters) Medium - a real medium, who has encountered and exposed the fake (above) before. Wields a defensible brolly (GURPS Steam-tech, p. 9). Key traits: Autotrance [1]; Channelling [10]; Medium (Universal, +50%) [15]; Spirit Empathy (Specialized, Ghosts, -50%) [5]; Phantom Voices or Split Personality (involuntary Channelling). Sword-stick Swashbuckler - secret agent who dual wields a swordcane and scabbard (treat as a baton or short staff). Key traits: Weapon Master (sword-stick and scabbard) [25]; Off-Hand Weapon training (Smallsword) [1]; Smallsword and Dual-Weapon Attack (Smallsword). I would like to include one of the Gentry with appropriate Status and Wealth, and Delusion ("I can beat any lower-class foe") from Martial Arts, but am trying to figure out a concept to make it an enjoyable character. Any advice? A gentleman scientist (with Science!)?
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Secret: Not a Gnome. (Actually a Dwarf with Dwarfism). |
08-08-2011, 09:45 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
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That being said, if you want a feel like what the current Sherlock Holmes does in his bouts, you could give the Gent the Visualization power at the Reduced Time 7 level. |
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08-09-2011, 12:54 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: USA, Arizona, Mesa
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
If you're trying to model "I can spend character points on a skill at any time" I think Reawakened is a better advantage to base it on. Just change the flavour text so instead of past lives it's his long and varied experience in this life.
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08-09-2011, 02:23 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Århus, Denmark
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
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By jove those books and TV episodes are good!
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Playing GURPS since '90, is now fluent in 4th ed as well. |
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08-09-2011, 04:38 AM | #5 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
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Helping his aunt is not a job, but it's a Duty which comes up on a 6-, or maybe 9-. |
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08-09-2011, 04:59 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: MI
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
Wouldn't that be a Patron?
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"My Dirty Girls on Bikes Calendar ends in December: it doesn't mean the world is going to end, it means it's time to order a new calendar!" ~Burt Chance |
08-09-2011, 06:30 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Canada
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
The intent of the Wild Talent is for the JoAT to be able to, in a pinch, come up with a useful skill that no one else has. I somewhat dislike the idea though that the person gets one skill roll, and then when a similar situation arises in the future the person can't remember that skill (which is why I was trying to cobble together the Retention, Retention Only modifiers). Reawakened may be a better fit, possibly with a Pact (Niche protection).
I'm not actually familiar with Wooster and Jeeves, but that does sound like the kind of relationship I'm envisioning. 'Wooster' may have Status 3 and Very Wealthy (40 points in total), plus Savoir-Faire, Connoisseur and one or more additional Languages, while Jeeves has Unfazeable, possibly Indomitable, and the Sense of Duty or Code of Honor (perhaps even Fanatacism (Provide service to my master), and gets him out of binds. The issue is that 'Wooster' has to have some specific competence, because I don't believe any of my players would enjoy playing a bumbling baffoon. I had considered making him a baffoon in public with Secret (Spy), but then points will start getting tight when one or more of Rank, Legal Immunity and/or Security Clearance getting added.
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Secret: Not a Gnome. (Actually a Dwarf with Dwarfism). Last edited by GnomesofZurich; 08-09-2011 at 07:13 AM. |
08-09-2011, 07:09 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: One Mile Up
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
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That said, I played a pretty close homage to Wooster in our last parlor mystery game, and had a lot of fun with it. I had all the social skills and could casually speak to high-Status people who would've had some of the others flogged for the attempt, so my plot-moving contributions were significant even though my PC was essentially a rich, drunken, idiot man-child. |
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08-09-2011, 07:22 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Canada
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
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Secret: Not a Gnome. (Actually a Dwarf with Dwarfism). |
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08-09-2011, 10:28 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Re: Steampunk Character concept
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