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Old 03-30-2016, 10:43 AM   #11
Bruno
 
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Default Re: Narrative Descriptors - how to do them in GURPS

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Originally Posted by AnSR View Post
Example Character using Descriptor
Barachus the Intergalactic Bounty Hunter
IQ: 13 DX: 10 ST: 15 HT: 14
Descriptors
  • +2 I can smell any low-down fool half-way across the galaxy
  • +3 My guns are as good as your money
  • +2 I was trained by Greggor McGee, greatest bounty-hunter in the 9 realms
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Originally Posted by AnSR View Post
Frag almighty
I see what you did there. *thumbs up* Good example of a character who's driven heavily by narrative rather than firm mechanics, even for a super hero/protagonist/something.

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I do like the concept of compels to get points. that is one of the things we really liked about Fate. It was almost like rewarding a disadvantage.

What we did not like in Fate (not to make this a Fate v GURPS thread) was the fact that the core parts of your character cost a token to use.

I got Impulse Buys yesterday and am reading it now, so I am glad to see you all mention it so much (it justifies my purchase a bit). I do kind of wish it had more ways to get points like the article linked above... and compels.
I'm going get on the band wagon to play the sousaphone! Impulse Buys is absolutely awesome, and if you're interested in making GURPS more player-guided and narrative driven, I think it's definitely your primary "rules tool".

The article you linked came out with Impulse Buys (pretty deliberately timed), and they're meant to go together. The GM is allowed to give out points whenever they feel like it, naturally, but I understand frustration at lack of guidelines.

I haven't GM'd a game making serious use of Impulse Buys or impulse points, but every game I've GM'd that uses some kind of "hero point" or "bennie" or whatever system, I hand them out whenever someone is roleplaying well, and whenever someone does something that's the kind of thing I want to encourage the other players to do. I also hand them out for particularly appropriate jokes (only when its appropriate to be joking!) or shrewd/dramatic commentary that adds to things.

Or when a player gives me a totally wicked GMing idea, deliberately gives me a big ol' hook into a situation, or otherwise makes my life as GM more awesome.

I'd be very tempted in GURPS to hand them out when players point out something NPC enemies are missing, even when its to the PCs detriment.
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Old 03-30-2016, 12:37 PM   #12
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Default Re: Narrative Descriptors - how to do them in GURPS

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From your posts here, I think you'll really dig it -- Impulse Buys is one of my absolute favorite GURPS PDFs (I call it "the GURPS: Fate book" a lot, which obviously isn't exactly true, but close enough for me).
Yeah, it is a pretty good read so far. Impulse Points are a neat feature. I like the Character points a little better, but we'll play with it this weekend and see.


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I can't really think of (m)any ways of earning points not already covered by the linked Illuminator and pp. 17-18 of Impulse Buys. If you need even more, you'll probably need your own houserules (which you'll hopefully share back here for the rest of us to enjoy :) )
I think that Illuminator is really the way we are going to go. Challenges are in-line with making a token fly across the table at dramatic moments in the story, I feel.

What About Talents?
So, about the other aspect of rules-lite RPGs of late: the incredibly dramatically descriptive trait that can be used for anything the player can imagine and the GM can use against them. Would Talents be something worth looking into? What about Modular Abilities?

Part of the goal is to let the players come up with things so that they don't have to go shopping in a list and encourage their personal creativity. I don't know if either of those would, work, though.

What About GURPS Ultra-Lite?
How in the world do the GURPS Ultra-Lite levels calculate out? I know it is meant as a really paired-down version of the game, but the math behind the levels it mentions intrigues me.

I appreciate all the responses. You all are awesome. (And Yes, Bruno, you figured me out. Kudos.)
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Old 03-30-2016, 05:05 PM   #13
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Default Re: Narrative Descriptors - how to do them in GURPS

I think Talents would help for some kinds of descriptors.

Aspected Serendipity might fit others.
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Old 03-30-2016, 05:24 PM   #14
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Default Re: Narrative Descriptors - how to do them in GURPS

Wildcard skills are also useful, more complicated is getting into Defaulting Abilities from Powers.
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Old 03-31-2016, 12:23 AM   #15
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Default Re: Narrative Descriptors - how to do them in GURPS

Just use Impulse Buys and You Have A Point There, with the added restriction that you can't earn or spend Impulse Points unless you can point to an appropriate Descriptor. If you want to get more detailed than that, then for each Descriptor, list a few examples of how you might use it to justify an Impulse Buy and a few examples of how you might earn more points.

EDIT: note that the Illuminator article is essentially a mini-supplement for Impulse Buys, and it incorporates Fate's notion of Compels.
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