Templates and Players

[Kromm]

I posted a system I use some time back. Let's see . . . yeah, this (attached). It's a template system, all right, but one that lets you build a PC using four big chunks, with lots of points left for customization. My players actually had a lot of fun with it. It would be fairly straightforward to do something similar for any genre. Indeed, you could develop a "base" template for each broad profession – caster, rogue, warrior, etc. – and a largish set of building blocks for customizing it, and then let people pull blocks cross-profession if they want.

[Tinman]

As GM I let players do what they want for char creation. If I've noticed they are skill deficint, I'll recomend that they look at the templates.

There is one player that caused me to rule that everyone must put at least 1pt into the following 3 skills: Area knowlge (Home Area), Current Affairs (Home Area), Geography (Home Area).

My advise, for those who don't want (&/or need) the templates don't force them, but have them available for those who do want them.

[tg_ambro]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I posted a system I use some time back. Let's see . . . yeah, this (attached). It's a template system, all right, but one that lets you build a PC using four big chunks, with lots of points left for customization. My players actually had a lot of fun with it. It would be fairly straightforward to do something similar for any genre. Indeed, you could develop a "base" template for each broad profession – caster, rogue, warrior, etc. – and a largish set of building blocks for customizing it, and then let people pull blocks cross-profession if they want.

It's late, so I haven't been able to look through all of this so far, but from what I've seen, I like it. Hopefully I'll be able to crib some useful ideas and improve my character building guidelines . . . which are nowhere near this impressive looking!

[jacobmuller]

Originally Posted by theshadow99

What do other GM's do in this sort of situation?...

Let them freeform a character - you still have to approve it and you've given them the templates as guidance.

RE-Templates & GURPS Psis - I hadn't bothered to download it before now. Serious mistake. IMHO it's Really good stuff, especially for modern campaigns.