GURPS After the End 1: Wastelanders

[Anders]

Some part of me wants Steve Jackson digging through the liver of a bull and then announcing to the world "RELEASE THE SUPPLEMENTS!!!"

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by Anders

Some part of me wants Steve Jackson digging through the liver of a bull and then announcing to the world "RELEASE THE SUPPLEMENTS!!!"

Hey well I didn't say what the background mechanisms where, sometimes you have to wait for the right bull to be properly sanctified, and the stars are only right every 2nd Thursday.

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

I've always treated campaign frameworks as two things. First, they are something that allows you to get a campaign up and running right away. Second, they are something you can strip mine for your own campaigns.

Right. I see Wastelanders as a toolkit to raid. I may not want mutations in my Mad Max knockoff, but if I do, I have useful advice.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Purchased, but I'm going to reserve judgement until the second comes out, because for each campaign framework I read, I always find the second the most riveting and important. It provides the context for me to really grasp the intent of the first one.

It's more mixed for me. Yes, the 2nd volume (Action 2, DF2, MH2) provides a huge amount of meatiness in the form of GMing procedures for how to resolve situations likely to come up and making sure that purchased abilities see use, but the 1st volume is the one that indicates the types of characters that are meant to be created, and whether the focus is on simulation or not. MH makes use of Bang! skills, for instance, a concept I dislike.

Generally the first volume establishes what's kosher and what's not, in terms of character abilities, and also in terms of character concepts.

For instance, Action vol. 1 suggests that you can have a player character who's job description is "investigator". Yes, he has to have a point or two in Guns (Pistol) and in Karate, but it's not presented as an oddball choice, as an optional template that you have to ask for the GM's permission to choose, but rather as a core element of the play experience, thus indicating that GURPS Action is meant for a fairly cerebral play style, rather than for 99% fighty fighty (e.g. as in "The Expendables" movie franchise). The Bard class in DF1 does some of the same, although less clearly (a lot of the Bard is, unsurprisingly given the D&D inspiration of DF, about magic, with only some being about social skills and advantages).

Sometimes it's misleading, though, as with DF1 not offering any support for non-Human player characters. That can be taken in many different wrong ways, including the absolutely ridiculous assumption that the DF series is quite compatible with historical fantasy.

Non-Human species templates did show up in the first actual DF supplement, though, volume 3 (and are actually quite good - none of them stereotypes the species towards one particular profession in a 1:1 sense), and it's likely that they were left out of DF1 simply because of page count concerns.

So I do think that a lot can be gleaned just from the first volume of any such GURPS "distillation" product.

[Greg 1]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Generally the first volume establishes what's kosher and what's not, in terms of character abilities, and also in terms of character concepts.

That's not how I read them. I read them as books of advice and worked examples. Like you, I don't care much for Bang! skills. But those are easily removed. Like you, if I was running a combat heavy campaign, I'd find the investigator not quite tough enough. So I would not use it, or I'd tweak it until it is tough enough.

The Bard class in DF1 does some of the same, although less clearly (a lot of the Bard is, unsurprisingly given the D&D inspiration of DF, about magic, with only some being about social skills and advantages).

I don't like the interpretation of psionicists so much. But nobody is making me use them. I'm glad I bought the supplement about psionicists because it is full of good ideas that can be raided.

I see these books as being like GURPS Characters. Just because an ability appears in that book doesn't mean that it is campaign-appropriate. It is just an option.

[mehrkat]

I will definitely be incorporating Long Term Fatigue and a few tweaks to simulate quick recovery.

I love easy solutions for complicated problems.

Working on a tweak for those who bounce back quickly based on the suggested above.

[ULFGARD]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

I've always treated campaign frameworks as two things. First, they are something that allows you to get a campaign up and running right away. Second, they are something you can strip mine for your own campaigns.

I have briefly run straight DF games. Other than that, it's always a strip mine. The DF line, especially Henchmen, are absurdly useful. No, I don't use the templates "as is" 100%, but as a good starting point for a 75 or 150 point character for use as an NPC. And they make handy quick references for semi-important NPCs when I want them to be constrained rather than fiat.

Action? It's exactly as you say. I've used Specialists a LOT since it came out, but in a space campaign. I also used them for a MH game. I don't like Bang! skills, but they're easily removed from MH templates.

However, my MH game isn't strictly run by the numbers -- currently they're in phase 1, in which they start as 100 point characters. Phase II will have them bumping up to 300 points+ earned XP (via a training montage), and phase III bumps them up to 500 points. The templates are extremely useful, though, as they help to guide the development of these characters.

I expect AtE to be similarly useful. Pick what helps my campaigns, and possibly inspire another campaign along these lines. In short, these worked examples and frameworks have been invaluable to my campaigns.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Anders

How come you didn't release 1 & 2 at the same time?

We still await the signal from our Secret Masters. When it is time for The New World, they shall send a dove to land on our window, shed a single red feather (previously unseen), and then fly away.

. . . or it might be that we never do that because this way you have a chance to read and internalize the first book before we throw its follow-up at you. That way people can also space out their purchases without feeling overwhelmed or "behind" because they can't keep up.

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Yes, the 2nd volume (Action 2, DF2, MH2) provides a huge amount of meatiness in the form of GMing procedures for how to resolve situations likely to come up and making sure that purchased abilities see use, but the 1st volume is the one that indicates the types of characters that are meant to be created

I agree with this 100%. The first volume of a series says just as much about the series as the second or later volumes. Wastelanders sets the tone of the game by suggesting what niches are valuable in this setting, what their approximate power level should be, and what sort of traits they have access to. From reading it, you know how After the End handles /TL skills, that most cinematic traits aren't assumed to be available by default, how gear and trading will be treated, and what types of heroes the game assumes you'll be playing. And all that is just as much a part of the worldbuilding as anything you'll find in the upcoming volume.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Purchased, but I'm going to reserve judgement until the second comes out, because for each campaign framework I read, I always find the second the most riveting and important. It provides the context for me to really grasp the intent of the first one.

Agreed, the 'crunch' rules books in the series have always been more useful to me as a GM (indeed it was DF 16 that convinced me a DF game wold be fun to run).

Originally Posted by PK

We still await the signal from our Secret Masters. When it is time for The New World, they shall send a dove to land on our window, shed a single red feather (previously unseen), and then fly away.

Damn my Infernal Celestial Aligner not working properly!

Must need more muscalid juice... or maybe the leftmost widdershin anti-spiral gyroscope needs aligning.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Agreed, the 'crunch' rules books in the series have always been more useful to me as a GM (indeed it was DF 16 that convinced me a DF game wold be fun to run).

DF2 and Action 2 are super useful supplements for all GURPS GMs, giving plenty of examples of how to make Skills and in some cases Advantages relevant during various adventuring sub-escapades.

The same is most likely true for MH2, except I haven't read that one closely, so I can't actually say it for sure.