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Old 09-06-2017, 08:28 AM   #1
huffmuffin9
 
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Default Statting a GURPS magical house

Hey guys,

I posted on the GURPS reddit about this and I was advised that I should head over here. I'm running a GURPS campaign that mimics a holy grail war feom the Fate franchise. For those unfamiliar with it, the premise is mages summon famous historical figures to fight for them. Last one standing gets any wish they want granted.

One of my players is wanting to do Howl from the Studio Ghibli movie Howl's Castle as their historical figure (it's not perfect, but hey, let's roll with it). This player wants to have the castle. We talked about how to do it, and I think the best way we've decided on is by making the castle an ally and building it with points. That being said, I want to give her a racial twmplate for a house to start off with and let her build the castle from that. I'm thinking tons of Payload, extra STR, Doesn't Eat/Drink/Sleep/Speak, etc to make it more houselike.

Does anyone have a good idea for a house template? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stat this particular house (if you've seen the movie)? We're using 4th edition. The character has 1000 points, so the ally can be anywhere from 100-1500 points (we added a 10% category to allies given the large point valus we're working with).
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Old 09-06-2017, 10:09 AM   #2
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

First off, players don't build their characters' Allies. The GM does that. The player can have input, but the Ally isn't a player character.
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Old 09-06-2017, 10:25 AM   #3
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
First off, players don't build their characters' Allies. The GM does that. The player can have input, but the Ally isn't a player character.
What's the second off?
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Old 09-06-2017, 11:15 AM   #4
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

Instead of an Ally, have you considered looking at it as a Patron? There is one Pyramid article that does this for starships and their captains (Mal Reynolds would have Serenity as a Patron, f'rex), "The Captain's Boat", and I could see it adapted to Der Kestle from Girl Genius and other inanimate but powerful domiciles. (Such domiciles could also be statted up using Spaceships; there's a Pyramid article for that, too, IIRC, but I don't know the article name or issue number offhand.)
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Old 09-06-2017, 12:11 PM   #5
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

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Originally Posted by talonthehand View Post
What's the second off?
It's kind of a waste of effort to build a template in this case. Templates are useful if you're going to create a whole class of characters of a given type. But this seems to be a unique character. You might as well cut to the chase by describing the attributes you want the castle to have, and try to create a unique character sheet for it.

I think I've seen Howl's Moving Castle, but it's been years and years, and my memory is unclear; can you describe the main classes of things it can do? Can it talk? manipulate things? perceive with its own senses? Does it fly?
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Old 09-06-2017, 12:42 PM   #6
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

As Phantasm suggested The Captains Boat from Pyramid 3/71 is an easy way to do it since you could spend cash.
However building it as an NPC I have never heard of the castle so just offering generics.
Payload covers the rooms.
High ST and HP plus Injury Tolerance Homogeneous or Unliving. Dont forget Unaging and various Immunities!
Abilities that only affect the inside cost 1/5 the normal cost (from GURPS Biotech and other sources).
Control Temperature handles AC/Heating.
Accessory perks can handle a lot of odds and ends, but I would roll them up into bulk.
The Control or TK advantage as well as extra limbs (all internal only) can handle a lot of servant type tasks like cleaning.
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Old 09-06-2017, 01:03 PM   #7
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

Yep, captain's boat is much better than building it with points. Its likely to absolutely break the point budget, as it has piles upon piles of ST and DR, without actually being a game breaking element.
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Old 09-06-2017, 04:54 PM   #8
Kelly Pedersen
 
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

I agree that a) this is something the GM should do, rather than the player (since players building Allies can be a little broken, and also because the GM can add interesting surprises and twists to the Ally if they build it, which is a shame to give up the opportunity for), and b) that a formal "racial template" isn't really necessary if this is the only example of its type likely to show up in the campaign (the main benefit of a racial template, treating it as a single trait with one cost, and not worrying about disadvantages applying against the disadvantage limit, doesn't apply for Allies anyway, because there's no need to have them conform to a disadvantage limit in the first place).

I do think it's reasonable to stat this as an Ally rather than a Patron, however. Given that the players are dealing with very high point costs, even a high-stat thing like this will probably be within the point budget as an Ally. Also, the Patron approach seems to me to be more appropriate for something like the Starship Enterprise, or at least a similarly large ship, where its abilities and capacities are actually not that well-defined (so just rolling the Frequency of Appearance to see if it will help is appropriate) and that won't be getting directly involved in the characters' actions all the time (i.e., it stays in orbit when the group goes down to the surface, and its intervention is then confined to a handy beam-up or orbital bombardment). Whereas it sounds like the magic house, here, will probably be involved much more heavily in the character's day-to-day activities, and if the Moving Castle is the model, it's capabilities are actually pretty defined, and not all that expansive.

So, all that said, here's a stab at a character sheet for Howl's Moving Castle that you can hopefully adapt to your player's needs:

Moving Castle

[1463]

Attributes [975]
ST 500 (SM +7, -70%; No Fine Manipulators, -40%) [980]
DX 9 [-20]
IQ 10
HT 12 [20]

HP 500
Will 10
Per 10
FP 0

Basic Lift 50000
Damage 51d/53d

Basic Speed 5 [-5]
Basic Move 5

Ground Move 5/10
Water Move 1

Advantages [611]
Claws (Hooves) [3]
Compartmentalized Mind (1) (Controls, *1/2) [25]
Damage Resistance (5) [25]
Damage Resistance (15) (Top only, -40%) [45]
Enhanced Move (Ground) (1) [20]
Extra Legs (4 Legs) [5]
Cannons 1-3, each Huge Piercing Attack 15d (Inaccurate (-3), -15%; Increased Range (x10), +30%; Increased Range (1/2D Range only) (x5), +10%; Limited Use, 1 shot/day, slow reload (requires 30 seconds per shot), -35%; Rapid Fire (+2), +40%) [156]
Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30]
Injury Tolerance (No Blood; Unliving) [25]

Disadvantages [-123]
Appearance (Ugly) [-8]
Cannot Kick [-5]
Fragile (Flammable) [-10]
Horizontal [-10]
Mute (Mitigator: Can speak internally, -20%) [-20]
No Fine Manipulators [-30]
Restricted Diet (Flammable material, Very Common) [-10]
Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10]
Unhealing (Total) [-30]
Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]

Packages [0]
Machine [25]
Quadruped [-35]

Some notes:
I used this image as a reference to build this. I actually built it with the Spaceships system initially, to give me a sense of how much ST/HP, DR, and HP it should have.

Throughout, I've assumed that Calcifer, the fire spirit that powers the Castle, basically is the Castle for character purposes - hence why it has an IQ score and mental disadvantages.

The Damage Resistance is based on the fact that it has wooden walls over most of it, but iron on the top.

The Cannons there represent the cannons the Moving Castle has on its roof. I don't recall if they were ever fired in the movie - what I've got there represents what I think is a reasonable thing for medieval-looking cannons to be doing. Probably a little low, damage-wise, actually, but they're already tying up a lot of points.

The Appearance is because the Castle isn't exactly an architechtural masterpiece, and indeed looks rather ramshackle.

Mute with the Mitigator limitation is because while the Castle can't "speak" outside itself, someone can still talk to Calcifer. The price is based on the idea there there's the Mute disad, and then a countering "Not Mute" advantage, normally worth 25 points, but in this case, limited to "internal only", which is worth 1/5th normal cost. Mathematically, this is the same as a -20% limitation on Mute.

Wealth (Dead Broke) means that the Castle doesn't come with any gear (separate from the stuff it's paid points for), and the "owner" needs to supply anything they want for that out of their own pocket.
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Old 09-06-2017, 05:00 PM   #9
whswhs
 
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Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen View Post
Cannons 1-3, each Huge Piercing Attack 15d (Inaccurate (-3), -15%; Increased Range (x10), +30%; Increased Range (1/2D Range only) (x5), +10%; Limited Use, 1 shot/day, slow reload (requires 30 seconds per shot), -35%; Rapid Fire (+2), +40%) [156]

The Cannons there represent the cannons the Moving Castle has on its roof. I don't recall if they were ever fired in the movie - what I've got there represents what I think is a reasonable thing for medieval-looking cannons to be doing. Probably a little low, damage-wise, actually, but they're already tying up a lot of points.
Another option would be to buy a bunch of Extra Arms with the Weapon Mount limitation, and treat the cannons as "possession" of the castle (along with its furniture and such) rather than as parts.
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Old 09-06-2017, 05:02 PM   #10
huffmuffin9
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Default Re: Statting a GURPS magical house

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen View Post
I agree that a) this is something the GM should do, rather than the player (since players building Allies can be a little broken, and also because the GM can add interesting surprises and twists to the Ally if they build it, which is a shame to give up the opportunity for), and b) that a formal "racial template" isn't really necessary if this is the only example of its type likely to show up in the campaign (the main benefit of a racial template, treating it as a single trait with one cost, and not worrying about disadvantages applying against the disadvantage limit, doesn't apply for Allies anyway, because there's no need to have them conform to a disadvantage limit in the first place).

I do think it's reasonable to stat this as an Ally rather than a Patron, however. Given that the players are dealing with very high point costs, even a high-stat thing like this will probably be within the point budget as an Ally. Also, the Patron approach seems to me to be more appropriate for something like the Starship Enterprise, or at least a similarly large ship, where its abilities and capacities are actually not that well-defined (so just rolling the Frequency of Appearance to see if it will help is appropriate) and that won't be getting directly involved in the characters' actions all the time (i.e., it stays in orbit when the group goes down to the surface, and its intervention is then confined to a handy beam-up or orbital bombardment). Whereas it sounds like the magic house, here, will probably be involved much more heavily in the character's day-to-day activities, and if the Moving Castle is the model, it's capabilities are actually pretty defined, and not all that expansive.

So, all that said, here's a stab at a character sheet for Howl's Moving Castle that you can hopefully adapt to your player's needs:

Moving Castle

[1463]

Attributes [975]
ST 500 (SM +7, -70%; No Fine Manipulators, -40%) [980]
DX 9 [-20]
IQ 10
HT 12 [20]

HP 500
Will 10
Per 10
FP 0

Basic Lift 50000
Damage 51d/53d

Basic Speed 5 [-5]
Basic Move 5

Ground Move 5/10
Water Move 1

Advantages [611]
Claws (Hooves) [3]
Compartmentalized Mind (1) (Controls, *1/2) [25]
Damage Resistance (5) [25]
Damage Resistance (15) (Top only, -40%) [45]
Enhanced Move (Ground) (1) [20]
Extra Legs (4 Legs) [5]
Cannons 1-3, each Huge Piercing Attack 15d (Inaccurate (-3), -15%; Increased Range (x10), +30%; Increased Range (1/2D Range only) (x5), +10%; Limited Use, 1 shot/day, slow reload (requires 30 seconds per shot), -35%; Rapid Fire (+2), +40%) [156]
Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30]
Injury Tolerance (No Blood; Unliving) [25]

Disadvantages [-123]
Appearance (Ugly) [-8]
Cannot Kick [-5]
Fragile (Flammable) [-10]
Horizontal [-10]
Mute (Mitigator: Can speak internally, -20%) [-20]
No Fine Manipulators [-30]
Restricted Diet (Flammable material, Very Common) [-10]
Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-10]
Unhealing (Total) [-30]
Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]

Packages [0]
Machine [25]
Quadruped [-35]

Some notes:
I used this image as a reference to build this. I actually built it with the Spaceships system initially, to give me a sense of how much ST/HP, DR, and HP it should have.

Throughout, I've assumed that Calcifer, the fire spirit that powers the Castle, basically is the Castle for character purposes - hence why it has an IQ score and mental disadvantages.

The Damage Resistance is based on the fact that it has wooden walls over most of it, but iron on the top.

The Cannons there represent the cannons the Moving Castle has on its roof. I don't recall if they were ever fired in the movie - what I've got there represents what I think is a reasonable thing for medieval-looking cannons to be doing. Probably a little low, damage-wise, actually, but they're already tying up a lot of points.

The Appearance is because the Castle isn't exactly an architechtural masterpiece, and indeed looks rather ramshackle.

Mute with the Mitigator limitation is because while the Castle can't "speak" outside itself, someone can still talk to Calcifer. The price is based on the idea there there's the Mute disad, and then a countering "Not Mute" advantage, normally worth 25 points, but in this case, limited to "internal only", which is worth 1/5th normal cost. Mathematically, this is the same as a -20% limitation on Mute.

Wealth (Dead Broke) means that the Castle doesn't come with any gear (separate from the stuff it's paid points for), and the "owner" needs to supply anything they want for that out of their own pocket.
Oh my this is exactly what I was looking for!! Thanks so much.

Yeah, the player is getting the x4 constantly there modifier, so it is going to be much more involved then I feel a patron might be which is why I was leaning towards ally. This is only my second time every playing GURPS (first fime as a player, now as a GM) so I had no idea that players weren't supposed to make their own allies.... we all did for the first campaign lol.
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