Pyramid #3/83: Alternate GURPS IV

[Kromm]

The rules are just fine
Well, except for this one thing
Time to change the rules

— Every gamer ever

GURPS is truly a rules-hacker's rules set. Much of it boils down to either "buy stuff with character points" or "roll some six-siders, apply modifiers, and compare." A huge amount of variation can be hammered into that framework – and thanks to the way GURPS builds on realism, there's a clear starting place for adjustments to the framework itself. Ultimately, anything that makes sense in reality or in the context of the core mechanics can be made to fit.

Pyramid #3/83: Alternate GURPS IV is a celebration of that truth. This month's Pyramid looks at various bits and pieces of the game and offers different ways of making them work better – sometimes in situations that arise in play, sometimes more on the meta-game level.

• In the vein of Kromm's Pointless Slaying and Looting (Pyramid #3/72: Alternate Dungeons), Christopher Rice has turned GURPS Monster Hunters character creation on its ear with Pointless Monster Hunting. Ignore character points completely as you build your champion a piece at a time – just choose your archetype, Aptitudes, Foibles, Virtues, and Wildcards, and you're ready to save the world!
  
  
• Ask GURPS-heads to describe the game and "four basic attributes" will come up. Yet Strength is nothing like its three friends, if only because it must span such a huge range of values. Kromm's Knowing Your Own Strength offers optional rules that make ST more manageable by rethinking melee damage, Basic Lift, and Hit Points, with special attention to natural beings (including humans), tiny creatures, machines, and the transition from realism to supers and the unnatural.
  
  
• Since we've already put one attribute under the microscope, why not double down? In this month's Eidetic Memory, David Pulver is Playing With Health, finding new ways to make it more exciting and less passive. What if Perception were based on HT instead of IQ? What if skills could be based directly on Basic Speed? Learn what changes and (more surprisingly!) what can stay the same with these variant rules.
  
  
• For some campaigns, the first session is dominated by laying out what gear everyone has – what's in each backpack, each pouch, each pocket. But even in genres where equipment matters, most players just want to play. That's when you invoke Schrödinger's Backpack. Douglas Cole's abstract gear-tracking system reduces everything to weight, cost, and a simple roll to determine whether what you need is in the pack.
  
  
• The Possession advantage takes one second, requires one roll, and either works perfectly or can never be used on that target again. Fictional possession is usually messier and fuzzier, as a dark force gradually increases its control unless the victim (or a helpful exorcist) manages to fight back. Possessions Under Control models this approach by adapting the rules from GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling into a psychic battle for dominance.
  
  
• The one rule that never changes is the ubiquity of our usual features, including a Random Thought Table that looks at "nontransitive dice" and an Odds and Ends that gives the GM practical advice for using them.

— PK & Kromm

[Tyneras]

A meaty issue that's going to require some reflection to properly digest, but I just wanted to say, that's a very pretty cover art print!

[Raekai]

As always, an Alternate GURPS issue of Pyramid is an easy sell to me. Thank the logarithmic gods (or Kromm, whichever) for these revised strength rules! They look great, and I can't wait to give them a shot! Logarithms are pretty much magic from my point of view, so I have no choice but to trust that it all makes perfect sense. At a first glance, the new damage progression already looks better.

Of course, I like the other articles too! I swear! A big thank you (as always) to all of the beautiful minds that came together to produce such a masterpiece. And to all of the cons that managed to swindle me out of another $8!

[Fossilized Rappy]

The new possession rules seem like something I'll probably immediately incorporate into some of the stuff I use. I'm especially liking the Transformative enhancement for Possession and Rebuke limitation for True Faith: they both immediately bring to mind familiar folklore and fantasy elements.

[Bruno]

Oooh. Even just the words "Transformative enhancement for Possession" means I need this issue.

[Rindis]

The revised ST rules are tempting because of what it does to damage scaling, but I have a bad feeling I'd sprain my brain somewhere down the road if I use it, so I'm on the fence there.

Pulver's Perception change is very interesting. I think if I start up something, I'm using some form of these suggestions.

Haven't gotten to the possession article yet, but I remember having a very similar idea at some point, so I'm eager to look it over.

[ErhnamDJ]

The new ST-based damage table seems fine for normal humans, at least for thrusting, as long as you no longer have weapons give their bonus to damage. A normal man can certainly thrust for the average of 1d-2 or even 1d if he's thrusting as hard as he can. The problem comes in when you hand him a naginata or a thrusting bastard sword and he jumps up to 1d+3 damage and becomes the bane of armored men everywhere.

If a man who is four times as strong should deal double the damage, then the way GURPS treats weapons, and other bonuses, such as that from All-Out Attack (Strong), is clearly problematic.

[Peaches]

The additional/elaborating rules for ST seems nice. Up to this point I've been using rules that I've pulled together from discussions on this forum as well as my own... I think this will be worth taking a look at.

I very much like the idea of an abstract gear tracking system for fast and loose action or hack and slash. Maybe for DF, but that's all about fiddly equipment tracking.

EDIT: The cover art is very, very pretty by the way. More please!

[mlangsdorf]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

The new ST-based damage table seems fine for normal humans, at least for thrusting, as long as you no longer have weapons give their bonus to damage. A normal man can certainly thrust for the average of 1d-2 or even 1d if he's thrusting as hard as he can. The problem comes in when you hand him a naginata or a thrusting bastard sword and he jumps up to 1d+3 damage and becomes the bane of armored men everywhere.

A ST 11 normal man has always been able to do 1d+4 im with an All-Out (Strong) attack. If that's the bane of armored men everywhere, that's been the bane since naginatas were introduced into the rule set. So since GURPS 2nd edition at the latest.

I'm actually pleased that a ST13 or 14 knight with a broadsword is incentivized to stab people, especially if you're using the optional Edge Protection rules from Low-Tech. 7.5 im versus 8 cu favors impaling for DR6 or lower.

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

If that's the bane of armored men everywhere, that's been the bane since naginatas were introduced into the rule set. So since GURPS 2nd edition at the latest.

Yes, exactly. And I'm not picking out the naginata in particular. It's the way the actual damage people do is usually much higher than what you see on the table. So 1d-2 becomes 1d or 1d+1 or 1d+1.