GURPS as a convention game

[starslayer]

When it comes to demoing gurps I find it's good to focus on what gurps does different. Combat is actually really high on my list for that.

Do not underestimate how much you need to outclass your players against their opposition for an effective game.

I have run a gurps one shot at a convention where the players were part of 'task force mosaic' (combination swat, detective, and special powers individuals operating in a rare hidden magic modern setting).

Players would go up against otherwise mundane cultists who have taken hostage, they have high end great, lots of time to plan. Gurps will show some of the coolness if the system add long range head shots mean something, taking away people's weapons works, and any damage sucks badly.

The short list of powers provided to the PCs allows the system to show off his variable things can be. And hopefully in the end the day is saved and the cultists lost.

[PK]

I've run dozens of GURPS games at cons over the years -- everything from supers to Deadlands (when we had the license!) to an Action/Infinite Worlds hybrid -- with very positive results.

The key, in my experience, is to make a second "cheat sheet" with a quick character bio, a quick intro to the adventure you'll be running, and then a list that highlights and explains of all of the unique, awesome stuff that this particular PC can do. Like:

Gunslinger: You're amazing with your pistols. If you're running, doing acrobatics, wrestling, etc., you shoot at no penalty! And if you aren't doing anything that crazy, you treat all of your shots as aimed (+3 to hit, from your pistols' Acc).

Daredevil: Screw safety. If you do something unnecessarily dangerous (like charging the enemy instead of staying behind cover), you get +1 to all your rolls -- skills, defenses, damage, everything! -- and can reroll a critical failure.

Hidden Lore (Demons): You're the only one with this skill. Use it to know what's actually true when it comes to finding and stopping demons.

Divine Favor: You can pray for 1d6 combat turns to ask for help from Krishna. You can pray silently or pray loudly and succeed at a Religious Ritual roll for better odds of Him hearing you (6 or less vs. 7 or less). If He notices you, the GM will roll to see whether he helps. (All of these rolls are made in secret by the GM!) If you ever act against your moral code (see bio above), this and all learned prayers stop working for the rest of the adventure!

Learned Prayers: As part of your Divine Favor, you've been trusted with these "miracles on demand" and may use them with no chance of failure and only one combat turn of prayer. But you may only use one at a time, and cannot pray for further help while a learned prayer is active.

[insert list of learned prayers here]

And so on.

[mook]

I find GURPS perfect for convention games (though, I generally find GURPS perfect for everything)... it's easy to explain, translates simply from plain english to gamer speak, and can be quickly scaled up or down based on the group's familiarity/expectations. In my experience, players love it once they actually sit at a table and play instead of reading about it.

In addition to the material GM Joe linked, these four downloads are more-or-less complete packages of ready to go notes and pre-gens from the eclectic last four con games, might be some ideas in there (the pre-gens are similar to the kind of thing PK mentioned, as well).

Originally Posted by GM Joe

GURPS works great for conventions, if planned well.

The best written description of planning for running GURPS at a convention that I know of comes from our own Mook, who has written quite a bit on it (and done quite a bit of it):
http://www.themook.net/gamegeekery/c...y/conventions/

I highly recommend reading his "Beware the Boogeyman" posts, which detail his most recent efforts toward creating and running a GURPS convention game. It starts here:
http://www.themook.net/gamegeekery/c...-boogeyman-01/

[lachimba]

At the last minute I've found out about a nearby convention.

I've volunteered either GURPS or NBA.
Too early for DFRPG but maybe I could cobble something Discworld or DF.

Given there is D&D, traveller and CoC there I'd rather do something completely different OR prove that GURPS does each of those genres better!

[JMason]

I've had good experience with a modern day games. Simple pre-gens that have a solid skill set that works with the adventure and with the character's job/role.

Somewhere out on the web is a document called One Page GURPS that serves as a great primer on how the game works. I printed out several copies of these and paired them with the pregens.

I've run Flight 13, and a custom modern/horror game, and both were well received. F13 runs a bit long, so that had to be shortened up near the end.

[Joseph Paul]

In showing off combat in GURPS has any one done any sort of endless arena?

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by JMason

I've had good experience with a modern day games. Simple pre-gens that have a solid skill set that works with the adventure and with the character's job/role.
.

Part of it is what I want to run, people want to play and what's possible.

Looking at the convention program it seems to be D&D and CoC.

I'd love to challenge that horror is just sanity blasting cosmic horror or just medieval light is fantasy.

A horror Discworld investigation would work just fine.

That said ticking around in the back of my mind has been an ATE game inspired by Mad Max Fury Rd.

Probably with a set piece finale built around a semi trailer truck battle.

[Gef]

This has been my most successful con scenario. It highlights the flexibility of GURPS.

Setup: You're all gladiators in the Mutant League in Imperial Rome, from the gladiator school of Hardius Knocksus. Your archrivals are from the school of Dirtius Tricksae, and there's a new school on the scene, Equus Darkus. (If this were a campaign and not a pick-up game, I'd use serious names, but the silliness helps people pick it up.) One of your team-members has been kidnapped, and the next big event in the Colosseum is only 2 days away! (Start with pregens for every player, plus 1 - the kidnap victim is the one that nobody picks.)

Scene 1: Roll Carousing in a bar to get info that points to Equus Darkus. Every carousing roll is a round of drinks.

Scene 2: Get ambushed while stumbling home. These are scrubs; what makes it interesting is that the superheroes are drunk. (Also, these would be 100pt regular guys without 200pt of superpowers, and the powers are scaled to be a little better than what you can normally get at TL2, frex 3d on the high end for Innate Attack powers.) This is the first chance for players to test their abilities in a fight. The mooks run, if there are any left, as soon as the players grok the basics of the combat system.

Scene 3: Get up before dawn and head up the Tiber to infiltrate the compound of Equus Darkus. Use stealth if possible, otherwise fight mutants of that school, hopefully 1 at a time and not the whole club. Use powers like Discriminatory Smell to figure out where the kidnappee was taken.

Scene 4: Swim into the river and find the flying saucer hidden below. Fight aliens who have ray-guns; these guys were collecting biosamples from lots of planets when they crash-landed here twenty-odd years ago, dispersing their cargo into the atmosphere, which is why Rome has mutants, and they're using Equus Darkus as a front to continue their research until rescued (a long wait). The characters won't put it together, but their players will.

Scene 5 (if you have time): With their buddy rescued from an anal probe, head to the arena for a team match against Dirtius Tricksae.

And that's it. Short and sweet with a surprise twist. A little social, a little mystery, a fair amount of combat, and a mix'n'match setting that stands out from the standard fare. The key is carefully crafted pre-gens. So I'd say, take this as a template: 4 scenes plus a stretch goal, with different skills needed for each scene, one scene with a super-easy fight as a warm-up, and be sure to do something that other games don't do. Good luck!

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

Could also run Cthulhu punk game. Not sure it any major changes would be needed for 4e. Bellboy also an option.

Prob better to provide premade character templates to save time.

I don't know if you could do CP as they no longer have that license. Or Hellboy for that matter. But I'm not a lawyer; just a concerned citizen.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by lachimba

A horror Discworld investigation would work just fine.

If it helps, PM me and I'll see how coherent my notes for any of my demo Discworld scenarios look. I think that one or two of them might qualify as horror investigations.