[MH] 1920's Monster Hunter Game

[Thunderjoe]

I recently started college and I am going to be running my first GURPS game as a GM with an entirely new group of people who have never played it before. I was hoping that I could get some help with running the game and introducing new players to GURPS. Details are below.

We pitched some ideas around and decided to run a 200 pt Monster Hunter game. The game is planned to be fairly serious and realistic but I'm fine with adding some cinematic traits such as gunslinger. We're going to be using Monster Hunters 1 and High Tech in addition to the base set.

The game will be set in a city 20 miles outside of Washington DC and will include a decent amount of travel to nearby areas. The players have said that they want a game with equal combat and Roleplaying. The game will probably play out with the PCs tracking down various leads as they find them and in general simply monster hunting.

In order to keep the players from needing to do too much to fast I simply asked them for their character ideas and concepts and for the most part made their character for them. I will probably ease them into the point system as they play and gain them.

At the moment the party is:

1) Isador Demetriev: A Russian WWI vet who has had the bad luck to be attacked by a vampire. Because of his skill he was able to overcome and kill him, however this gave him a reputation with the vampire's allies and they began hunting him(Enemy, 9, opponent of equal strength). Isador fled to America in an attempt to escape, however his reputation has preceded him and his has found himself pulled into a life of hunting. He is stated as a DX based rifle user who is also good with a knife. He is the only one in the party with leadership and one of two with tactics. Also only character with English as a second language at less than native(he has accented) speak/write. Need to find a disadvantage hooking them to being a hunter at the moment.

2) Unnamed Detective: Unfortunately I wasn't able to get much from the player on how she wanted this character to turn out. All she ended up saying was that she wanted him/her to have a skill set similar Indiana Jones but flavored as a 1920's private eye detective. Right now all of the story we have is that she had first contact with monsters and since has taken it to build a team to hunt these monsters down. I have stated her out as more of a mix of a stealth/hunter rogue and social character. Passable skill with a pistol and his/her police club. Only character with stealth skills in the party.

3) Viril Muskul: A Polish-American South Eastern Orthodox Priest. He somehow ended up taking wrestling as a hobby and has reached the point where he went out looking for bears to wrestle for fun. One day he was told that there was some strange creature locked in the church. To his surprise he was confronted by a chupacabra and since has went out to find out about these monsters and stop them if they are going to hurt people(Sense of Duty, Humanity). His combat stats and style are inspired by modern WWE wrestlers and his personality is based on Braum from League of Legends(read: extremely cheerful). Also has a shotgun and a large mace-like cross.

4) Unnamed Catholic Inquisitor: A French inquisitor sent to America to hunt down and destroy and report these monsters. He is the least approachable of the group, being fully comfortable with speaking his mind and not exactly accepting of others. He has almost every hidden lore, contacts and the church as a patron as well as knowing 10 different languages. As such he is the resident knowledge bank. He fights because it is his job(Duty, 12, Extremely Hazardous). He has passable skill with pistols, knifes, and odd throwing objects(such as holy water).

5) Oriana: A German-American Techie Vacuum Saleswoman. Originally brought to me as a melee fighter using a vacuum as a kind of flail, I pitched the player the idea of being a techie gadgeteer that now uses her vacuums as a way to disguise her weapons. She is eccentric and actually hunts because of an altercation where she tried to sale a vacuum to a werewolf trying to convince him that her vacuums would be able to get all of that dog hair out of his carpet. Now, she is dedicated to hunting them(Fanaticism: The Mission). She has a large number of armory, electronics repair/operation, mechanic, etc. skills and gadgeteer to help her make contraptions for the team to help them on their mission. She has passage skill with rifles, shotguns, and flamethrowers(you can probably guess what her first 3 vacuum-weapons will be).

6) Unnamed Boxer: A retired American boxer who has taken it upon himself to hunt down the hunt down the creatures that killed his wife and all their kin(Obsession: Rid the World of Monsters). He is prone to anger and is a alcoholic. He is stated in combat as a tanky character with 20 hp, regeneration(slow), Very Rapid Healing, and DR 2. His highest combat skills are boxing, brawling, and wrestling. He is the only character that doesn't have a gun.

Any ideas on how to build the characters well? Key skills and attributes as well as flavor ideas? I can provide the characters in their current state if needed.

I am planning on keeping the combat very simple, using combat cards and limiting their actions to only attack, AoA, AoD, move and attack, and aim. Much of it will be abstracted to help ward off number crunching. Any tips for how to do this?

Any tips for running this game for someone who is new to GMing GURPS? Especially for helping the party get along without a wizard or a doctor and on how to make 2 unarmed fighters useful.

Ideas for how to run the setting?

Thanks.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

We pitched some ideas around and decided to run a 200 pt Monster Hunter game. The game is planned to be fairly serious and realistic but I'm fine with adding some cinematic traits such as gunslinger. We're going to be using Monster Hunters 1 and High Tech in addition to the base set.

You may get some good mileage out of High Tech: Pulp Guns 1 & 2, which greatly expand the list of civilian and military firearms (respectively) that were available in the period between the World Wars. Then again, Monster Hunters is generally more abstract, giving generic stats for archetypal guns instead of fiddling with specific models. Up to you how you want to handle this in your game.

Also, Monster Hunters 4: Sidekicks may be helpful in statting your PCs. There are about a dozen 200cp templates which, though intended as companions, would make fine lower-powered hunters in their own right.

[Walrus]

You might find Pyramid 31 - Monster Hunters useful. It has explicit article about Pulp Hunters. There's Fist! skill for your boxer as well.

You certainly need some of your hunters to have Teamster, at least one - some form of Driving, and others - any of that or Riding.

And a little Russian knowledge. There's no such name as "Isador". The closest one is "Isidor", but Russian version is just "Sidor".

WWI veteran is likely to know Spear to use his rifle with an attached bayonet. And Russian one in immigration is likely to be a former noble officer who had to leave Russia because of Revolution. He might think that the very Revolution was organised by some Monsters. Or this may be truth in that universe (or in ours - who knows?).

[Thunderjoe]

I'm working with people who don't I now a lot about guns so I'm trying to stick to guns that are iconic, something I can say "this is the gun from the terminator" or similar. I'll have to check if there is anything really good like that in the pulp guns series.

The templates might help, I'll see if I can get a look at them.

Originally Posted by Walrus

You might find Pyramid 31 - Monster Hunters useful. It has explicit article about Pulp Hunters. There's Fist! skill for your boxer as well.

The stuff in there is great. Especially the guns with references to movies. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I am hesitant to use the Fist! skill because of how many points it will cost at this point level compared to how much the player will actually be getting from it.

Originally Posted by Walrus

You certainly need some of your hunters to have Teamster, at least one - some form of Driving, and others - any of that or Riding.

I gave all of them driving(automobile) out of lazyness but you're right. I should probably diversify those.

And a little Russian knowledge. There's no such name as "Isador". The closest one is "Isidor", but Russian version is just "Sidor".

WWI veteran is likely to know Spear to use his rifle with an attached bayonet. And Russian one in immigration is likely to be a former noble officer who had to leave Russia because of Revolution. He might think that the very Revolution was organised by some Monsters. Or this may be truth in that universe (or in ours - who knows?).[/QUOTE]

I'll be sure to bring this all up to him. I'm almost sure he'll like it all.

Thanks for the input guys.
Also I forgot to ask, any ideas on stating the vacuums? I was thinking of basing their weight and bulk on the flamethrowers in high tech and saying they're back pack models. Then basing their stats on the gun they're emulating.

[Icelander]

I think Regeneration (Slow) makes Very Rapid Healing redundant, as it is simply the supernatural version of it. At the very least, Very Rapid Healing is not worth the points if you have access to superpower/magical/divinely blessed/pseudo-science biotech abilities like Regeneration.

I'd also think about giving thought to where PCs with powers fit in the setting. Are they regarded as monsters themselves? Do their superhuman gifts come from deities, super-science-using organisations or other Patrons that support their war against monsters?

Stealth skill, at least at a modest level, is really less a specialised role and more a necessary skill for any military or para-military character. Indeed, it is vital for any hunter (of animals or monsters) who ever rolls to get closer to his prey before striking.

You'll probably want to find Kromm's treatment of Everyman Skills, in fact, before you go further. Use Search on this forum.

There may also be useful stuff in the new book on How to be a GURPS GM.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

I recently started college and I am going to be running my first GURPS game as a GM with an entirely new group of people who have never played it before. I was hoping that I could get some help with running the game and introducing new players to GURPS. Details are below.

You came to the right place. :-)

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

We pitched some ideas around and decided to run a 200 pt Monster Hunter game. The game is planned to be fairly serious and realistic but I'm fine with adding some cinematic traits such as gunslinger. We're going to be using Monster Hunters 1 and High Tech in addition to the base set.

This is kind of my wheelhouse. I rotate my campaigns and over half of them are urban fantasy/monster hunter-y type games. I'd highly suggest that you pick up a couple books before you get started with this. I know it kind of sucks to hear that (especially for yon broke college student who often contact "brokeitis"), but a lot of the work has been done for you. Grab a copy of GURPS Monster Hunters 4: Sidekicks because it has 200 point templates for Monster Hunters already made up for you. Grab a copy of Pyramid #3/31: Monster Hunters because I've already done most of the work for pulp-era campaigns using the Monster Hunter lines (hint: I'm a fan of the era and genre). You don't really need other books, but if you have "gun bunnies" in your group, you're going to want at least one of GURPS High-Tech: Pulp Guns, Volume 1 or GURPS High-Tech: Pulp Guns, Volume 2. GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters inspired the Monster Hunter line and predates it, thus it's different, but it has TL6 loadouts (which are perfect for "pulp" era hunters) of gear which you can't go wrong with. It does require High-Tech to use, however. I don't know if you have Monster Hunters 2: The Mission, but you kind of need that to run a MH game - though if you like to improv stuff, it might not be essential. If you aren't going to make up your own enemies you're going to need a copy of Monster Hunters 3: The Enemy too. I've assembled a pretty healthy list of random critters for MH encounters on my blog here, which you might find useful. They are however made for standard 400-pt hunters so you might want to tone them down or use the stats from "Any campaign setting."

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

The game will be set in a city 20 miles outside of Washington DC and will include a decent amount of travel to nearby areas. The players have said that they want a game with equal combat and Roleplaying. The game will probably play out with the PCs tracking down various leads as they find them and in general simply monster hunting.

You *really* need the Deduction rules for this from MH2 if you don't already have it I highly suggest you get it. The rules are that indispensible for such activities. I use them for damn near every genre I run. Hell, I repurposed them for supers for "villainous plans" and they work like a charm. Keep lots of notes or if you are a improv GM - lots of good mnemonic triggers.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

In order to keep the players from needing to do too much to fast I simply asked them for their character ideas and concepts and for the most part made their character for them. I will probably ease them into the point system as they play and gain them.

Good idea there. :-)

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

1) Isador Demetriev: A Russian WWI vet who has had the bad luck to be attacked by a vampire. Because of his skill he was able to overcome and kill him, however this gave him a reputation with the vampire's allies and they began hunting him(Enemy, 9, opponent of equal strength). Isador fled to America in an attempt to escape, however his reputation has preceded him and his has found himself pulled into a life of hunting. He is stated as a DX based rifle user who is also good with a knife. He is the only one in the party with leadership and one of two with tactics. Also only character with English as a second language at less than native(he has accented) speak/write. Need to find a disadvantage hooking them to being a hunter at the moment.

Nothing says "I hate the spawn of darkness" like a Fanaticism, Obsession, or Odious Personal Habit disadvantage. I'd start with the gunman template from MH4 (p. 10) for this guy.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

2) Unnamed Detective: Unfortunately I wasn't able to get much from the player on how she wanted this character to turn out. All she ended up saying was that she wanted him/her to have a skill set similar Indiana Jones but flavored as a 1920's private eye detective. Right now all of the story we have is that she had first contact with monsters and since has taken it to build a team to hunt these monsters down. I have stated her out as more of a mix of a stealth/hunter rogue and social character. Passable skill with a pistol and his/her police club. Only character with stealth skills in the party.

I'd start with the fixer template from MH4 (p. 6) with this character and choose investigation heavy skills, maybe some Favors. Give her a trait to tie her to hunting down monsters. Maybe a Higher Purpose or even Fanaticism or Obsession.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

3) Viril Muskul: A Polish-American South Eastern Orthodox Priest. He somehow ended up taking wrestling as a hobby and has reached the point where he went out looking for bears to wrestle for fun. One day he was told that there was some strange creature locked in the church. To his surprise he was confronted by a chupacabra and since has went out to find out about these monsters and stop them if they are going to hurt people(Sense of Duty, Humanity). His combat stats and style are inspired by modern WWE wrestlers and his personality is based on Braum from League of Legends(read: extremely cheerful). Also has a shotgun and a large mace-like cross.

If you have Martial Arts consider giving him Sambo, Combat Wrestling, or Professional Wrestling as a style. Maybe True Faith or Mysticism.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

4) Unnamed Catholic Inquisitor: A French inquisitor sent to America to hunt down and destroy and report these monsters. He is the least approachable of the group, being fully comfortable with speaking his mind and not exactly accepting of others. He has almost every hidden lore, contacts and the church as a patron as well as knowing 10 different languages. As such he is the resident knowledge bank. He fights because it is his job(Duty, 12, Extremely Hazardous). He has passable skill with pistols, knifes, and odd throwing objects(such as holy water).

Cool! Maybe consider letting him have "Hidden Lore (Church Secrets)" for knowing about the Vault or obscure texts/relics the church has. Maybe give him Rank or Patron so he can "borrow" said obscure texts or relics every once and a while.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

5) Oriana: A German-American Techie Vacuum Saleswoman. Originally brought to me as a melee fighter using a vacuum as a kind of flail, I pitched the player the idea of being a techie gadgeteer that now uses her vacuums as a way to disguise her weapons. She is eccentric and actually hunts because of an altercation where she tried to sale a vacuum to a werewolf trying to convince him that her vacuums would be able to get all of that dog hair out of his carpet. Now, she is dedicated to hunting them(Fanaticism: The Mission). She has a large number of armory, electronics repair/operation, mechanic, etc. skills and gadgeteer to help her make contraptions for the team to help them on their mission. She has passage skill with rifles, shotguns, and flamethrowers(you can probably guess what her first 3 vacuum-weapons will be).

I. Love. This. Let her have at least one gizmo for her "vacu-tech" because that's just too awesome. Maybe a quirk "My patented Vacu-(whatever) can solve anything!" I have nothing else to add here.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

6) Unnamed Boxer: A retired American boxer who has taken it upon himself to hunt down the hunt down the creatures that killed his wife and all their kin(Obsession: Rid the World of Monsters). He is prone to anger and is a alcoholic. He is stated in combat as a tanky character with 20 hp, regeneration(slow), Very Rapid Healing, and DR 2. His highest combat skills are boxing, brawling, and wrestling. He is the only character that doesn't have a gun.

As others have said, consider Fist! Fighting barehanded against supernatural creatures is a risky proposition at the best of times. Such a character is not going to last long for most of the monsters that MH is aimed for. Let him have more HP if you are comfortable otherwise he's going to get slaughtered in combat. 25 of so ought to do it for most "low level" critters. Let him take a perk "Special Exercises (HP can exceed ST by 100%) if you need a game mechanical reason to do so. Let him have a Rules Exemption (Cannot hurt self) perk so punching a vampire doesn't break his hand if it has DR.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

I am planning on keeping the combat very simple, using combat cards and limiting their actions to only attack, AoA, AoD, move and attack, and aim. Much of it will be abstracted to help ward off number crunching. Any tips for how to do this?

That's a very good idea. Combat isn't going to stall from number crunching though. It's going to stall from options - so keep those to the minimum. The Combat Cards should help you there.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

Any tips for running this game for someone who is new to GMing GURPS? Especially for helping the party get along without a wizard or a doctor and on how to make 2 unarmed fighters useful.

Sigh. I hate to keep throwing store links at you. While I am a freelancer for the company I don't get any money for doing so. They recently released a book by Warren "Mook" Wilson called How to Be a GURPS GM that is a must for all new GMs to GURPS. It's the DnD equivalent to the DMG and I highly recommend it.

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

Ideas for how to run the setting?

Whew...that is going to be involved. I assume you playing this semi-cinematic? First, ignore most of the "harsh realism" rules like Bleeding and Accumulated Wounds. Next, don't worry too much about the rules. If you forget one, it's cool. Remember it next time. This is all about two-fisted pulp action! Damn the rules and full speed ahead. Let the players take the center stage, but don't neglect one for the other. Try to give as much equal time as you can. Don't force encounters - if the player can outsmart them then let them. It'll maker actual combat that more anticipated and awesome. Try to come up with some sort of organizational chart for your campaign material and like I said before - keep notes. If you don't have EverNote I suggest you grab a copy. It's free and invaluable to a GM. Read the source material as much as you can - both GURPS and fiction. Watch lots of movies about the supernatural to get ideas for your game. Even if you repurpose a idea straight from a movie most players won't notice because they're caught up in the game itself. I talk about a lot of problems GMs might face in my "Gamemaster's Guidepost" series and because I'm typically a horror GM I got lots of noodley notes for that sort of thing in there. MH2 will help a lot with this as well. Hope that helps you some.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Thunderjoe

Also I forgot to ask, any ideas on stating the vacuums? I was thinking of basing their weight and bulk on the flamethrowers in high tech and saying they're back pack models. Then basing their stats on the gun they're emulating.

Treat them as "Whatever" plus the Disguised modifier (p. 54 of GURPS Monster Hunters 1) and maybe add a cost and weight increase equal to 50%of what a vacuum costs and weighes if it can function as a actual vacuum.

Edit: From GURPS High-Tech (p. 32) it lists a TL6 Vacuum Cleaner as $200 and 20 lbs. So adding +$100 and +10 lbs. plus the Disguised modifier means that not only can her flamethrower be used as such...it also functions as a vacuum cleaner even on close inspection she should be able to take the damn thing just about anywhere.

[fschiff]

Pyramid #08, June 2009, had an article Pulp Action!

Pyramid #31, May 2011, had an article Pulp Hunters!

are articles adapting the Action! and Monster Hunters series to earlier tech levels (& times)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Icelander

You'll probably want to find Kromm's treatment of Everyman Skills, in fact, before you go further. Use Search on this forum.

Here's the link to that.