05-14-2012, 06:56 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Salodurum, Confoederatio Helvetica
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Re: Novice GM running GURP fantasy odyssey
To get started with GURPS there's only one piece of advice that I can give you: Don't overdo it! :)
When I first started with GURPS I was blinded by all the shiny knobs and levers you could turn and pull and wanted to have everything in my game right from the start. Although you can use every rule in existence from the get go, I advise against that. In my case it bogged down play, made for confused players and simply didn't add to the atmosphere. You will have enough trouble to remember all the rules for all the advantages and disadvantages, skills, combat and then you will struggle with the Magic Book if used RAW... If I were begining to play GURPS all over again, I would be glad if someone told me to make a nice test campagin... something simple with a few rules: A 50 CP PC campaign in todays world in your hometown after a zombie apocalypse. Everybody can relate to that. Like that you only have a few monsters to create, you will probably know the charactersheets of the players by heart and will not be overwhelmed. If you are a really experienced GM, have very interested players who all read all the books, know all the rules by heart, I would start with a Dungeon Fantasy campaign. Only then would I create my own game. Just my 2 cents! Onkl Last edited by Onkl; 05-14-2012 at 12:46 PM. Reason: Grammar |
05-14-2012, 08:09 AM | #12 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Germany
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Re: Novice GM running GURP fantasy odyssey
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and fit the power of the PCs to the Campaign and setting, a 150 Point PC don´t fit a Conan Campaign for example
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Last edited by Sword-dancer; 05-14-2012 at 10:06 AM. |
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05-14-2012, 09:58 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Novice GM running GURP fantasy odyssey
Just a quick note to say that it sounds like a great campaign!
Also, I second (or rather, third) the advice about starting off simple, rather than trying to deploy a whole range of optional rules right off the bat. Roll and shout, baby! My experience is that it's better just to try to get a good story running, with everyone's input being affirmed and welcomed into the game world by a really positive GM, than to get bogged down trying to be rigorous about rules you're just learning. Particularly with first-time GURPS players coming from D&D. Go easy on the rules, and hard on the imagination! That's my perspective, anyway. Again, campaign sounds like great fun. |
05-14-2012, 12:32 PM | #14 |
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Re: What I’m looking for...
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05-14-2012, 12:47 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Seattle
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Re: Novice GM running GURP fantasy odyssey
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As for anything else -- there are a dazzling array of cool supplements that might help your campaign. I'd try playing a bit and decide where you want to go. Start small, as they've said elsewhere. I'd amend: start small, build outward from there. That goes for optional rules as much as for campaign details, especially if you're looking for a long-term campaign. Eventually you'll want to play with the options that appeal to you, be they social intrigue (Social Engineering), big battles (Mass Combat and/or Martial Arts, depending), or magical variations (Thaumatology, Urban Magics, and Magical Styles). Fantasy is helpful for game world design, but more so at the outset than for an existing campaign (though it still helps). I'm a big fan of the DF line, which I plunder from shamelessly for my campaign (but with caution, since it's explicitly "non-serious"). All that can wait and be retconned into a game world.
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Seven Kingdoms, MH (as yet unnamed), and my "pick-up" DF game war stories, characters, and other ruminations can be found here. |
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05-14-2012, 01:01 PM | #16 | |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Salodurum, Confoederatio Helvetica
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Re: Novice GM running GURP fantasy odyssey
I hope I didn't sound too harsh in my post above, I love to see a new GM come to the game that I love so much. My experience was that I nearly gave up on it after the first few games because it seemed so overwhelming. This might not be the case with you or your group.
There's something I have to add though: Quote:
This seems awfully harsh if the characters don't have easy and cheap access to means to mend these wounds. Critical hits will occur and a PC must be quite powerful (With access to corresponding equipment) to regrow an eye or a hand with the standart Magic ruleset. Of course, you can always fudge the crits you roll... so it also depends heavily on your groups gaming style. Cheers Onkl |
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05-14-2012, 03:14 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Re: Novice GM running GURP fantasy odyssey
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Don't worry everyone. That's my plan of attack entirely. Story is my focus, hence the system choice. I hope to guide (but not railroad) my party from lowly fisherman and the like to heroes and adventurers. You all can stop reminding me to use only what I can handle of the rules. Only one of the 3 combat chapters in the core book will be used in its entirety. The other two will be lucky if I use 3 rules from it. What I'm curious about is pit falls all of you found when trying out fantasy, or starting GURPS in general? I'll tell you one of mine... (next post) |
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05-14-2012, 03:29 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Apr 2011
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My game gone wrong
To show off the GURPS amazing "anything goes" ability, I asked players what they would like to play. The game ended up being a modern day setting, one of my own make. It was Men-in-Black meet World of Darkness meet Law and Order. Government knows about these creatures and regulate them with their own layer of laws, very similar to our own. These special agents deal with everything from Lycanthrope domestic disputes to Vampire terrorisms. Field agents have powers and sleepers were placed in positions where the secret might leak out (Hospitals, news stations, police department, etc.).
Only 2/7 players made characters that matched my setting. They had skills and appropriate disadvantages required to be a detective/special agent. Three of the other 7 I had were...
Aside from the players the setting was well received and I realized that it couldn't be played with more than 3 players (modern day mysteries as it was). So I tried to stop only to have the player with the anarchist pick up the setting and run it as a private firm. He really hates big brother. Anyway, it was terrible. I won't let my players or my need for options take me for a ride. I know that limits are necessary. :) |
05-14-2012, 04:18 PM | #19 |
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Re: Novice GM running GURP fantasy odyssey
DwarvenHeart (Love the name) in the RAW, when a character gains a Disadvantage in play they do not get points back. You, as GM, may modify this but I think it is best to avoid the complication if you can. Especially for newcomers to the game system I think it best to keep the acquired Disadvantages to a minimum. Fewer hurt feelings that way and hurt feelings get in the way of enjoying the game until the experience level (of the players) is considerably higher.
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05-14-2012, 04:31 PM | #20 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: My game gone wrong
I just want you to know that this campaign premise sounds truly awesome. I may have to steal it to use sometime in the future.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
Tags |
fantasy, gritty, gurps, novice gm, odyseey |
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