Fantasy Setting for GURPS

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by DreadDomain

For the record, Banestorm doesn't do it for me. It is a good attempt at classic fantasy but for the love of me I just cannot stand the "historical-people-displaced-with-their-real-world-religion" stuff.

I, on the other hand, get tired of the same old elves-dwarves-priests-of-So-and-so-oh-and-we-have-a-twist settings. Most of them either try to inject "mythical verisimilitude," or turn into Something-Punk.

One of the great thing about settings that draw on real-world people and situations is that these things are defined in great detail, and do not rely on hackneyed clichés and sweeping generalizations.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by trooper6

There is already a template for making GURPS adventures, you can find it on the e23 "Writing for us" page. Though, the template puts me off and it is the reason why I haven't submitted any adventures to e23. Though, once I get some more free time, I'll probably start submitting to Pyramid again, precisely because they don't have the template requirement.

I'm looking, but I'm not sure which off-putting template you're talking about. Linky-linky?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

I'm looking, but I'm not sure which off-putting template you're talking about. Linky-linky?

That would be this.

[ClayDowling]

Off-putting? That template looks ideal. An adventure designed with that template will be an extremely valuable resource for a GM. It isn't a location-based adventure style, where you work through the dungeon and steal the loot. But that's okay, there are other game systems which supply that in spades, and you can always use their material for that style adventure.

That template happens to match perfectly the style of adventures that I prefer to run and prefer to play in.

Quick! To the writing desk!

[moldymaltquaffer]

<looks at template>
<fails SAN check>
<gibbers>

Of course, I don't do that type of thing, anyway. <shrug> Worldbuilding takes planning, but if you did a good job and have decent players, adventures take care of themselves.

[trooper6]

I think the general adventure creation advice in the template is very good. But it is quite inflexible. There is no room for variance. That is the thing that is off-putting to me.

Maybe for an exercise I'll try writing up an adventure in this model...but of course SJGames has never published an adventure using this model yet...so there is no finished example of what exactly they want this template to look like fleshed out. I just wish whoever wrote the template, would write an adventure using it so I can see really how their form is supposed to work...how generic this is supposed to be, etc.

[Vaevictis Asmadi]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I'm afraid that shows that you have completely not read it. In fact, neither of those sides is a big factor in Roman Arcana. Christianity is left carefully offstage, with several different ways for the GM to present this; and the Roman pantheon have withdrawn their favor from the empire, in anger at not being given their due. Instead, there are mystery cults (writeups for Bacchus, Isis, and Mithras), sorcerors, and philosophers.

I've never claimed to have read Roma Arcana, or Banestorm. I didn't even claim to know when R.A. takes place!

I don't own those books and can only comment on what I've seen about them on the forums and website, and in the Basic Set. I don't see any problem with responding to the statements and claims of other, more knowledgeable forumites.

Originally Posted by Pomphis

A GM can also outsource lots of worldbuilding to players. "You are a centaur ? Very good. How about telling us something about where the centaurs live, their neighbors and your culture ?" And this doesn´t have to happen at start, the centur may simply tell bits during the course of the game.

That is a good idea.

Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2

*snip*
Looking over this list, I can't imagine anyone being starved for a fantasy rpg milieu in GURPS. I think something could be found for everyone.

It makes me wonder if there could be (or already is?) a list of the settings published for GURPS (probably not including what are probably a lot of Pyramid settings) with a paragraph summary of each one. It might make it easier for GMs looking for a published setting they will like to know what settings are published, how much detail is published, and what to buy to get them. Then again, it might be useless for the "Need a setting ready off the shelf" GMs and redundant for the "Looking for setting outlines" GMs.

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi

It makes me wonder if there could be (or already is?) a list of the settings published for GURPS (probably not including what are probably a lot of Pyramid settings) with a paragraph summary of each one. It might make it easier for GMs looking for a published setting they will like to know what settings are published, how much detail is published, and what to buy to get them. Then again, it might be useless for the "Need a setting ready off the shelf" GMs and redundant for the "Looking for setting outlines" GMs.

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/

This a list of all GURPS books, also organized by genre. You can click on any title and be taken to its page, which gives a paragraph describing it, and often a sample page.

[Vaevictis Asmadi]

Originally Posted by trooper6

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/

This a list of all GURPS books, also organized by genre. You can click on any title and be taken to its page, which gives a paragraph describing it, and often a sample page.

I was thinking something more detailed, and "rating" each setting on how much detail is published, whether it has ready-made adventures, etc. Also covering settings that only had a chapter instead of a whole book. I mean, since people are complaining they can't find what they want with the resources that exist. I don't feel any particular desire for such a list, myself.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi

I was thinking something more detailed, and "rating" each setting on how much detail is published, whether it has ready-made adventures, etc. Also covering settings that only had a chapter instead of a whole book.

Sounds like a lot of work for not much gain to me… but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to drop it in the suggestion box. Maybe TPTB would see it differently *shrug*