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06-16-2015, 07:42 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Southern NH, USA
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GM Secrecy and Metagaming
One of the big things I noticed upon switching from DnD to GURPS about 7 years ago was the lack of any sort of monster compendium. An interesting byproduct of this is that my players, all of which own the DnD monster manual, no longer knew what sort of being they were facing. They went from a world where they knew the powers, stats, ac, and damage of every monster (or least the general idea from seeing its entry) to having no clue as to what they were facing.
This is mostly fine. The mystery is pretty great and keeps them on their toes. However, the players no longer knowing the monster forces all the math onto the GM. "I hit for 14 impaling, armor divisor 2, 4 burning follow up." The GM, if he didn't reveal the monsters DR, is now stuck mathing that out, nullifying the autocalculation feature of many GURPS aids and sheets (such as the GURPS Calculator, have you checked it out? It's insanely amazing.) What's your policy on keeping the statistics of monsters secret? What are the pros and cons in your opinion? |
06-16-2015, 07:46 AM | #2 |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
Only keep stats secret for boss-type monsters. Anything that can be encountered on a fairly regular basis in the wild should be well known, and the stats can be read in the Beginner's Guide to Adventuring.
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06-16-2015, 08:21 AM | #3 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
I don't use many "monsters", as most of the opposition is people, whose armour and equipment varies wildly. I can usually keep track of the damage calculations in my head without any particular difficulty. I will tell the players if they don't seem to be hurting an opponent.
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06-16-2015, 08:46 AM | #4 | |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
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I do like to give the characters a chance to figure out exactly what they're up against. After the first few shots I'll give a skill range, let them know if they guy is particularly skilled, and so on. Equipment DOES have published stats. I do like to do this dependent on per and IQ based rolls though.
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
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06-16-2015, 09:18 AM | #5 |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
"Monsters" can be "people" too. Both in GURPS (including in GURPS DF), and in recent editions of D&D. It doesn't matter if the players can look up the stats of a basic Ogre in the D&D 3.0 or 3.5 Monster Manual, because this Ogre isn't a basic Ogre, it's an Ogre with 7 levels of Barbarian and 3 levels of Druid on top of that, and so many of its abilities are enhanced far beyond that of a basic Ogre.
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06-16-2015, 09:16 AM | #6 | |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
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I think I'm vaguely aware of a few cases where GURPS expects you to divide two-digit figures by a non-integer figure (granted, 1.5 is the least bad non-integer figure there is to divide by, after 0.5 and 0.33 and 0.25, but still...), which strikes me as quite error-prone in addition to being mental-labour-intensive, but if that started being relevant for me, I'd just use a spreadsheet to create a lookup table for the results. Or if (and that's quite likely to be the case) it's the same 3 or 4 usual suspects that keep rearing their complexicated heads, then I'd just use a pocket calculator the first few times and then be able to remember the results after that. |
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06-16-2015, 10:06 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
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It's not IMPOSSIBLE, but it does take a few more moments than it might otherwise. In my experience, though, you get pretty good at it. You're also the one who determines the monsters and the treasures, so if you don't like this sort of thing, don't include it. Or get some pretty standard set-ups that you're quite familiar with. Also, you don't HAVE to hide the monsters from the players. I prefer it in horror games, but for a game like DF, I wouldn't bother to hide most traits from my players.
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My Blog: Mailanka's Musing. Currently Playing: Psi-Wars, a step-by-step exploration of building your own Space Opera setting, inspired by Star Wars. |
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06-16-2015, 10:17 AM | #8 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
Oh, it can. One of the best GMs I know for story and characterisation has to count on their fingers to add up some combinations of 3d6. They don't run GURPS and don't like to play it, calling it "too number-crunchy". They're happy with a fairly simple standard of D&D, or oWoD.
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06-16-2015, 09:55 PM | #9 | ||
Join Date: Feb 2014
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
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06-17-2015, 07:36 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
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Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming
I put what G&AInc calls a "spreadsheet" on a whiteboard visible to everyone. Each PC has a line, and there's an empty line between every PC. Each row includes Move, Speed, Perception, Observation, preferred defense, and some notes.
(In my game, Perception allows someone to see -- for instance -- the two young men hanging out on the stoop of the building across the street, the young, scantily-clad woman under the street light eyeing them, the bum with the paper bag lying in the mouth of the alley halfway down the block, and the car moving slowly down the block toward the area with the street light. In addition to surveillance, Observation allows them to note that the thugs seem to be armed and guarding the entrance to the building, the two people in the car are looking at the thugs and not at the woman, and that the woman has her hand inside a large, heavy handbag, and the bum seems to be talking into his paper bag while watching the whole situation -- including the actions of the PCs.) Once the encounter starts, I'll note where in the turn-order the opposition acts. Some will be faster, and others slower. I roll dice openly, so the players mostly know, by the end of the first round, the speed and general capabilities of what they face. However, that first round is pretty fraught, because they're never sure what the villains/monsters can or will do. Also, if the thing can do special things on follow-ups (poison, rakes with back claws, that sort of thing), they won't know that until it gets tried -- on them.
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