Steve Jackson Games' GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Baldo

"Being an actual engineer, skilled in system design, is somewhat cinematic but standard in the source material!"

What source material, exactly?

Almost all Golden Age skiffy (e.g, the Lensman series) – and TV and film sources inspired by it, notably Star Trek (every incarnation) – are fond of letting the ship's engineer make system modifications on the fly. In GURPS, that requires Engineer skill, not Mechanic.

Originally Posted by Baldo

And why/for what a "ship’s mechanic and maintenance person" needs Engineer skills (and the never-used-in-our-games Mathematics (Applied) skill tax)?

Well, we're talking about 2 points in a couple of non-primary skills here, not a major investment. Those points were spent to cover the above possibility. Also, the Spaceships series specifies a number of useful tasks that require the skill . . . probably because of that possibility.

Mathematics is just a GURPS thing – we're not going to change it here – and probably not terribly useful.

If your campaigns are 100% realistic, you can probably cut those skills from the template. But "100% realistic" and "starship" don't belong in the same sentence.

Originally Posted by Baldo

This is the only template coming with Professional Skills (secondary and background only), but what about a primary "Professional Skill (Steward)"?

I strongly dislike broad Professional Skills. I think the right way to create a broad-based professional is to assign all the standard skills that cover whatever the job entails.

Here, the steward is defined as quartermaster and purser, responsible for acquiring and stowing supplies and cargoes, which is 100% covered by Accounting, Administration, Freight Handling, Merchant, and Scrounging in GURPS – all of which are mandatory here. Looking after crew and passengers is Diplomacy, Housekeeping, and Savoir-Faire (Servant), all required. And being the "morale officer" is why Carousing, Connoisseur, Psychology, Sex Appeal, etc. are offered. You can even opt to be the cook, bartender, hairdresser, and so on; that's a valid use of Professional Skills, because those are narrow jobs not covered by more general skills. The ". . . in spaaace" angle is why this (and all) templates have the Spacer skill.

—

In short, since I'm the line developer, it's my job to deliver the "official" picture of how the game works. And "officially," engineers need Engineer to use the rules as written in many cases; Engineer requires Mathematics; Professional Skills are meant to be narrow postscripts for non-adventuring use, not broad catchalls; and adventurers are supposed to learn a range of broad adventuring skills, with Professional Skills mostly as background color, not primary skills.

[Exxar]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Apologies to anyone who was hoping for a conventional fantasy world. I should have made this clearer.

Well, the way you described your focus on the portal fantasy aspect, it might be that I'm the wrong audience for it. I expected something that could be used for pulpy adventures, and for that I feel I'd have to come up with more detail than what's already there. If an expanded treatment including something like that were on the cards, I'd definitively be interested.

Originally Posted by safisher

Hey, glad you liked it. No, nothing was cut. I came in a little over on the word count, in fact, so it was as brief as could be given the plan.

Oh, ok. My confusion stems from the fact that individual players contribute by using any skill at all as a complementary roll, but then there is a bit explaining how many cinematic rules such as bulletproof nudity would be a great fit for playing out those scenes. I'm not sure how stuff like that fits in if you just need to pass a single unopposed roll around which the scene is narrated.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Exxar

My confusion stems from the fact that individual players contribute by using any skill at all as a complementary roll, but then there is a bit explaining how many cinematic rules such as bulletproof nudity would be a great fit for playing out those scenes. I'm not sure how stuff like that fits in if you just need to pass a single unopposed roll around which the scene is narrated.

Ah, that's not the idea. As I understand it, the PC plays a solo scene, probably combat, but possibly not: wiring a bridge is an example, and stealing a McGuffin would be reasonable. If they succeed, the Tactics roll for the BATTLE gets a +1 for their side, or a +2 if they have a stunning success.

I've encountered this general kind of mechanic for large engagements in other game systems, including Bushido and Pendragon.

[Tyneras]

DF 21: Megadungeons deserves it's own thread, but it's the first one I've read. It hit me with the nostalgia hard, so I'll definitely add one to a DF campaign in the future.

The problem with the Create Food spell (p.8) had never occurred to me. I had always assumed you needed to be able to turn the ENTIRE object into food in one casting, you couldn't turn parts of it into food. Most serious dungeon obstacles tend to be too massive for that, even with ceremonial casting.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Ah, that's not the idea. As I understand it, the PC plays a solo scene, probably combat, but possibly not: wiring a bridge is an example, and stealing a McGuffin would be reasonable. If they succeed, the Tactics roll for the BATTLE gets a +1 for their side, or a +2 if they have a stunning success.

It's exactly like that, yes. The idea is that the player owns the spotlight for a bit, and is encouraged to ham it up as much as possible, exploiting the heck out of cinematic rules where applicable. If it's sufficiently 💥AWESOME!!!💥, it grants +2; if it merely works, it gives +1.

[Exxar]

Aaaah, ok, that makes much more sense. Thanks for the clarification! In that case Mercs go a couple steps up my ladder of supplements within the challenge which are the least hampered by the tight wordcount :D

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Kromm

First, it's obviously not a Supporting Cast supplement! That series is for collections of named, fully built NPCs that come with backstory, setting info, adventure seeds, and important gear . . . like Age of Sail Pirate Crew.

So, hypothetically, some of the Supporting Cast wishlist items could be replaced by template collections of wider scope?

[safisher]

Originally Posted by Kromm

It's exactly like that, yes. The idea is that the player owns the spotlight for a bit, and is encouraged to ham it up as much as possible, exploiting the heck out of cinematic rules where applicable. If it's sufficiently 💥AWESOME!!!💥, it grants +2; if it merely works, it gives +1.

Yep, and for the record, if the PCs wanted to do a buddy scene, that's fine. In a Hero and sidekick setup, where an NPC is rolling the Tactics to win the battle, the Hero and sidekick may always be in scene together, but they each roll some skill to contirbute. The point is the PCs get some limelight and they contribute to the final Tactics roll.

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Almost all Golden Age skiffy (e.g, the Lensman series) – and TV and film sources inspired by it, notably Star Trek (every incarnation) – are fond of letting the ship's engineer make system modifications on the fly. In GURPS, that requires Engineer skill, not Mechanic.

About a third of the degrees from the Navy Academy are engineering degrees. Air Force about a fourth. From Data USA website.

[begel]

I just received the additional PDF files I purchased from Backerkit. Very nice!