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Old 12-30-2009, 09:35 AM   #21
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

I stat out major characters pretty thoroughly but i can really pop them out pretty fast. Once I understand the character writing it down is almost a formality. The result is over the 2 decades plus of play I have an incredibly detailed universe which seems extremely real to the players. It did happen slowly over time however and many characters get major revisions after meeting the players to match how they actually ended up in play. Again though my campaigns are extremely long term.
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Old 12-30-2009, 09:59 AM   #22
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

Proposition: create a tag, e.g. 'nowing', which would identify if the person asking the question doesn't want to hear 'just wing it' as the answer to her question. That way we can separate newbies who just don't know how to use GURPS from people who asking because they want detailed stats/writeups.
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Old 12-30-2009, 10:01 AM   #23
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

For years, I played Gurps 3e but eventually went on to other systems just to see what was out there. I've been pretty heavily into Savage Worlds over the past few years in both official and fan capacity. In SW, even the game's creators tell you: Don't stat up NPCs/monsters like you would a PC. Just give them what they need and run with it.

The idea is to give GMs more time to create great stories instead of getting bogged down with the details of statting up every character/thing in the world.

Having recently returned to Gurps, I find myself sticking to that mentality. It's fun to stat up characters and experiment with new builds- if I have the time. Generally, I don't have that free time available to me. Given the choice, I will always go with setting, plot and personality over exact point totals.

The players won't know if the spy they just snuffed was someone with an equal or greater CP total than theirs or if he had a couple of skills at high level. That's not what is important to my group. What's important is that everyone has fun.

Now, recurring bad guys... those I'll usually stat up so I can make sure things don't fluctuate from game to game. But for the most part, making it up as I go works just fine.
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Old 12-30-2009, 10:38 AM   #24
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celjabba View Post

I have strong opinionated memories of ICE Lord of Middle Earth books, when you learned that the God of earth could move 87654 cubic feet of earth/hour, expanding 32 mana for each 1 lbs moved ... Knowing that he have 12345 mana and 11 spells list to level 50, 13 spells list to lvl 30 and 17 spells list to lvl 10.
(yes, i am using fictional number here. but the exact number were in the book, meticulously calculated).
Those information were, and still are, useless for a gaming purpose.
We should ALWAYS remember that both the Wendigo and the Golem are dead broke, as per the Gurps: Fantasy write-ups. An even more crucial information is the social stigma affecting Tiamat!
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Old 12-30-2009, 10:46 AM   #25
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

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Originally Posted by jeff_wilson View Post
"There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC" - I'm seeing this opinion (with which I do not agree) expressed more frequently than previous here, and I would like to see if users can post informed reasons for having it when there are several rules like the long-established Allies and Enemies that require the opposite behavior.
Allies are part of a PC's writeup and therefore not covered by that dictum which is more accurately described as "Silly rabbit, points are for players". It is necessary to provide relevant stats for anything the players are going to interact with, and that means a quite extensive writeup of someone who interacts with the PCs in many different ways. It is not necessary to work out their point values unless they are actually part of a PC's writeup.
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Old 12-30-2009, 10:48 AM   #26
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

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Originally Posted by Nymdok View Post
Points are meaningless to NPCs. A 50 point NPC (no ads/dissads etc) with all 50 points in Sword is more than a match for almost any PC of twice or even 5 times that point value.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLIOtBLqoU&NR=1
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Old 12-30-2009, 10:53 AM   #27
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

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Originally Posted by jeff_wilson View Post
This is, mind you, an accurate illustration of his principle.

While 50 points of pure fighting skill will tend to overmatch 500 points in a variety of things, 10 points of High TL and a point or two of Pistol can certainly take care of a whole lot of points in ST, DX and weapon skills.

The broader principle is that points are highly context sensitive and eyeballing relative power in a given situation is usually more, not less, accurate.
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Old 12-30-2009, 10:57 AM   #28
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

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Originally Posted by jeff_wilson View Post
If he hadn't had some psychological disadvantage that kept him from just closing and stabbing, Indy would have been dead.
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Old 12-30-2009, 11:13 AM   #29
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

Informed? Don't know if this what you mean; usage rules in the games my group/s play.

Rules, processes, stats not used in the past do not get time spent on them in creating future games.

I don't stat anything other than player characters fully anymore, and almost never have.

Most things in games are defined by their utility to the story in my experience, so I find that having names, effects and hidden/obvious details to be more important than the DR of doors.

In vehicle combats, I use a relative measure eyeballed to create an interesting chase or combat, in that it is the differences between the opposing starship's weapons, speed and manouvreability that matters, not armour-by-location, MR, and reloads available.

Hope this is useful.
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Old 12-30-2009, 11:22 AM   #30
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Default Re: Resolved,There is no point to statting up anything that is not a PC

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff_wilson View Post
I assumed some parity in my previous example, but the concept still holds. There can be any adjustment to an appropriate skill(s) (Thrown Weapon Knife comes to mind) that could cause this situation to turn out very differently.

The gist of the idea is that it matters no one bit what that mook's status, rank, wealth, cultural familiarity or sewing skill was.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
The broader principle is that points are highly context sensitive and eyeballing relative power in a given situation is usually more, not less, accurate.
THIS! Relative Power (In the Indy case, the bullet vs the dodge) is the relative ability to affect probability. If the mook had mucho Dodge, and only a default in sword, this could have easily ended differently.


How mucho is mucho? It depends on Indy's Pistol Skill.
How likely is it to end differently? It would depend on Indy's Dodge, and Unarmed Combat skills and maybe the other equipment he might have been carrying.

This is the relative nature that we're talking about.

Although I like to think that Im a little more mathematically rigorous than eyeballing, even I accept that the probabilities that I come up with can NEVER account for all the things that a group of PCs might or might not do!

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
If he hadn't had some psychological disadvantage that kept him from just closing and stabbing, Indy would have been dead.
Again, if Indy has Unarmed Combat skill high relative to the Mooks Dodge and a strength that allows Damage High Relative to the Mooks DR then the situation resolves the same, it just takes longer :)

The point is that power is, as Icelander put it, relative.

Nymdok

Last edited by Nymdok; 12-30-2009 at 11:36 AM.
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