Newbie(ish) GM would like some help with alternative #3/44

[Jaware]

Alright my friends, I have decoded to consult the hive mind.I can't find the amswers to the questions that I am looking for. So here's a bit of history about what I understand and what I'm looking for.

(Forgive me if this is already been asked somewhere, I'm new to forms and this is the first I've ever posted)

Alright, I'm kind of new to gurps. I've been loeveryone in my group to play it for a year or more now, but I couldn't ever find anyone who even knew what it was ( a shame really) so after a year of trial and error, research, etc i finally decoded i knew almost enough to start a campaign. So I made a quick and dirty intro to gurps "drop in drop out" style dungeon crawl to get everyone used to how gurps plays (everyone was used to D&D). This taking place over the last 5 or 6 months. I have since started a campaign and played for about a 3 months or so and everything is going well. For those who are curious, It's based in a deadspace like world and focused more on the roleplaying than the combat. But there is plenty of both.

now onward to my question.

the other day I was reading some alternative gurps that I dug up somewhere and I started reading

now I have looked over #3/44 and I like the way action points seem to use. But I have some questions about them that I couldn't find on Google and the forms here.


What I'm wondering is how exactly does AP work? Besides the whole spending and replenishing parts?

my main question is can one spend as much AP on their turn as they want? Or already they still limited to the "1 maneuver per turn" still in effect?

because the undead armies and machines makes it seem like they can use as many as they want in their turn. It has me confused... Amy help or insite, or direction would be appreciated.

Thanks, Jake

[DouglasCole]

The normal GURPS rules for doing stuff still hold. Think of Action Points as a limiter on how many actions you can take sequentially before you have to catch your breath (pause to regain AP) or else run out and spend FP in order to get some more AP.

The deal with zombies and machines is that they can keep acting like . . . normal GURPS characters. They can attack and defend every turn, forever, without getting tired. They will not stop, ever, until you are dead . . .etc

Normal people, even adventurers, may need to recover for a few seconds periodically.

Does that help your mental model? Let me know if you have more questions.

[ArchonShiva]

APs are mostly a restriction, not an enabler. Characters now do less stuff before resting, but everyone does less, so it's a resource that can be managed to the PCs' advantage.

[Jaware]

Alright, thanks guys, that was the answers I was looking for.

I was hoping for something like that.

what I am looking for is something to make the PCs stop every once in a while. They don't seem to appreciate what FP does, rather than just blatantly ignoring it, making decisions before thinking about the consequences etc.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Jaware

Alright, thanks guys, that was the answers I was looking for.

I was hoping for something like that.

what I am looking for is something to make the PCs stop every once in a while. They don't seem to appreciate what FP does, rather than just blatantly ignoring it, making decisions before thinking about the consequences etc.

that's what I wrote TLG to do, so you're barking up the right tree.

Suggest getting physical tokens for APs and even FPs, to make it intuitive and fast to keep track of AP reserves and fatigue-induced penalties.

[Jaware]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

that's what I wrote TLG to do, so you're barking up the right tree.

Suggest getting physical tokens for APs and even FPs, to make it intuitive and fast to keep track of AP reserves and fatigue-induced penalties.

That's what i was actually doing. I was looking for some sort of fancy tokens to use. Poker chips would be useable, but i think that might be frowned upon at the college, where someone would think that money was exchanging hands etc.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Jaware

That's what i was actually doing. I was looking for some sort of fancy tokens to use. Poker chips would be useable, but i think that might be frowned upon at the college, where someone would think that money was exchanging hands etc.

Colored stones would work. Poker chips are good as well.

[ArchonShiva]

It's got nowhere as much playtesting and expert input as TLG, but I have my own set of short-term fatigue rules; inspired partly by TLG, but meant to be simpler and more movement-friendly.

http://archonshiva.com/blog/spire/?p=218#more-218

[Jaware]

Interesting

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Jaware

That's what i was actually doing. I was looking for some sort of fancy tokens to use. Poker chips would be useable, but i think that might be frowned upon at the college, where someone would think that money was exchanging hands etc.

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Colored stones would work. Poker chips are good as well.

I recommend going to your local bulk food stores and getting jelly beans, jelly babies, M&Ms, or some other small candy that your group likes, and comes in different colours so you can differentiate AP from FP. If your group is watching their sugar, there are sugar free options (or you can go with nuts, cheese squares, or bits of fruit and veg depending on other diet restrictions).

Whether it's the Player or the GM who gets to eat them when spent is an interesting dynamic. I used jelly babies for emergency minis one game for a horde of monsters, and my players had really mixed emotions when they realized they were rewarding me with a candy every time they killed one. :D