06-25-2018, 07:55 PM | #21 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: New category for GURPS
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Later on . . . and how much "later" is "later on" depends on the edition, this bogs down in amazing complexity (I found that true of Pathfinder, which is why I'm very reluctant to write for it, and I write for GURPS). But right out of the gate, it's not bad.
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06-25-2018, 08:41 PM | #22 | |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: New category for GURPS
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I've found it's remarkably easy to get newbs into GURPS if you don't ask them to read the book. Instead you say "So of these templates what do you want to play" and then read the template names. Nothing more. If they have questions, like "What's the difference between 'Fallen Angel' and 'Vampire'?" then you answer as briefly and tropely as possible. "Well, a Fallen Angel is super tough, stronger and better at melee and hand-to-hand than a human, has wings, and can get powers to make evil run away or heal people, but tends to be poor at using modern technology. Vampires are tough, strong, fast and tend to have mind-control powers, they can sometimes turn into animals, but this is hiding or running away ability." Don't get bogged down into specific stats, etc. Once they've chosen a template you hand them their character (you did premake all the templates as simple character sheets yeah?) and then let them know how many extra points they can have and the list of things they can buy with them (all from the template). You then hand them their equipment sheet (also premade) with a few things for them to chose from (Load-Out style) and they are ready to go. Of course if in a few sessions they gained some system mastery and want to make some changes, that's cool. I never have problems with that as long as they stay close to the character's abilities, or are making a new character. |
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06-25-2018, 10:14 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: New category for GURPS
True, BUT by that point the player has a better understanding of the game.
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06-25-2018, 11:14 PM | #24 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: France
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Re: New category for GURPS
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And there is another huge difference between D&D3 and GURPS. Once you have read D&D3 rules, you can pick up an adventure, play it, then pick up another adventure, play it, and do that untill you are confindent enough to write your own adventures ... or just go on playing ready to play published adventures and campaigns in a world that you discover step by step. You just have to read, like you were reading a novel. Brief, it is very easy for the GM. While, with GURPS, you can try an adventure (usually a short one). If you are lucky, there is a second one. And then, you must do all the rest by yourself. It is much harder to learn the job. How many of us learned to be GM with GURPS? Very few, I suppose. And the problem is that first loves are often the most intense. Once someone has played D&D, he often remains faithful to D&D. I really think adventures could change that. GURPS could also become a game which immediately make think to great game worlds like Forgotten Realms, Golarion, and campaigns like Masks of Niarlathotep ... For the moment, when you think GURPS, you only think rules and ... rules. |
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06-26-2018, 12:09 AM | #25 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Re: New category for GURPS
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As for the OP (especially since Refplace was referring to one of my posts :) ): Isn't that what SJG is kind-of doing already, with DF's Artefacts/Treasure Tables/Monsters/Caverntown/etc., along with other things like Creatures of the Night, the Location, Hot-Spots, and Loadout series, etc.? You can actually imagine a 3-tier pyramid of adventure resources, where "Tier 1" is meta-material (like GURPS Fantasy or GURPS Horror, which tell you how to make fantasy/horror worlds and adventures generally speaking), "Tier 2" are those "building blocks", and "Tier 3" are "ready to go adventures". SJG/GURPS excels at Tiers 1 and 2, and basically leaves Tier 3 to other publishers/systems. As I mentioned in the other thread, until a few years ago, it seemed like GURPS was mostly about Tier 1 material. Most of the Tier 2 material seems to me like a fairly recent trend, which makes me happy since it closes the gap nicely with other games. It sadly doesn't help me that much since I don't run a lot of med-fan stuff, but I'm eagerly awaiting that trend to start spilling out into other genres. Last edited by lordabdul; 06-26-2018 at 12:13 AM. |
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06-26-2018, 02:03 AM | #26 | ||
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: New category for GURPS
/raises hand...
I mean, I played D&D for uears. I even ran a single module in it (I was 12, it didn't go very well in my opinion). Then in high school I found GURPS and started running campaigns for my friends... just dove in, no experience even playing GURPS. None of us had even played GURPS, we just all shared a distaste for D&D. Quote:
I. Hate. Orc. &. Pie. "Back to the dungeon" my ... grrrr... Quote:
The only systems where my first thought is 'something about the rules' are systems where the rules go 'clunk' for me. D&D with it's strict level and class structure, Rolemaster and it's weird charts, Storyteller and the exploding tens, AEG and their dice shenanigans, etc. |
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06-26-2018, 02:55 AM | #27 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: France
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Re: New category for GURPS
You are probably a rare one. But I may be wrong on that point.
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But I was not speaking for you and me (or any other who knows GURPS well and can go over that first impression). I was speaking about people who don't know GURPS and who just heard about it. Most often often, when you talk about GURPS, their first impression is precisely that it is a game for simulationists who love detailed rules for every situation, and that it is too complex for them. One french roleplayer even told me: "GURPS? Oh, no. Never. You should better use the BRP system." Why did he say that? Maybe because the BRP rules are simpler ... but, actually, some of the BRP games are quite crunchy too. So, in my humble opinion, he said that because the BRP system make immediately think to amazing gameworlds full of adventures: Call of Cthulhu, Runequest, Stormbringer ... While GURPS don't. Last edited by Gollum; 06-26-2018 at 04:07 AM. |
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06-26-2018, 03:29 AM | #28 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: New category for GURPS
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For example how many people know about Compact Castles?
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06-26-2018, 04:30 AM | #29 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: France
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Re: New category for GURPS
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In my humble opinion, adventures and campaigns are a mandatory to attract newcomers because "I want to play that kind of adventures" comes before "I want to play with those rules" (as long as there is no distaste for the rules - I do agree wit Evileeyore, here). But books of ready to play NPCs, items or maps are very useful too. Even in a well written scenario, you sometimes need to improvise someone or something. Being able to do so without unintentionally showing your players that that person or thing was not in the adventure and, so, is not really important for the plot, is just great. I would also buy books with NPC and maps, as long as that is really ready to play stuff (not just templates, or things with half stats, which enforce you to search through other books or chapters to get what you need - like the animals description in the Basic Set, for instance*). * I do understand that it was made to save place. And it is fine for the Basic Set. But not having the damage inflicted by the animal (among other things) prevent to use those pages on the flaw during an adventure. Unless knowing almost everything by heart, of course. |
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06-26-2018, 05:09 AM | #30 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: New category for GURPS
I don't think it's harder to convince people to play GURPS than BRP or SW. I constantly see people who have no connection to me flirting with the idea of GURPS, but only rarely BRP or SW. I think your argument proceeds from a false premise.
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