Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-01-2018, 07:18 PM   #1
tanksoldier
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Default So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

Not sure what the copyright laws are so I'll hedge by saying I'm trying to model special steel weapons from a popular fantasy book series & TV adaptation. In the series it mentions that they are rare, hideously expensive, cut thru regular steel armor easily, are lighter than normal weapons of their type and never need sharpening.

So, my plan was to use "superfine" which is fine and very fine combined from low tech (I know they're normally mutually exclusive), plus the "expensive" trait which increases cost further, lowers weight and would for this purpose grant a 2 armor divisor.

This makes knives, short swords and such achievable for rich characters, but bastard swords and the like will be costly.

A superfine, balanced, expensive long knife is $4860 and weighs 1lb. A similar bastard sword is $26,325 and weighs 3.33lbs.

Thoughts?

Last edited by tanksoldier; 02-01-2018 at 07:28 PM.
tanksoldier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 07:24 PM   #2
Sindri
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
Not sure what the copyright laws are
Well they're not like that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
I'm trying to model special steel weapons from a popular fantasy book series & TV adaptation. In the series it mentions that they are rare, hideously expensive, cut thru regular steel armor easily, are lighter than normal weapons of their type and never need sharpening.
That could be... dozens of things.

In case you're talking about Valyrian steel, you might check out this thread
Sindri is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 07:40 PM   #3
(E)
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

If it is Valyrian steel your talking about. I went with +1 damage, +1 skill, -1 on targets DR, and "graceful weapon" plus act of plot required to break. Plus the weapons are fine or better to start with. But different games/players/GMs have different expectations.
__________________
Waiting for inspiration to strike......
And spending too much time thinking about farming for RPGs
Contributor to Citadel at Nordvörn
(E) is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 08:27 PM   #4
Sindri
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

Just to make sure, Superfine is already a weapon option from Ultra-tech. If you want particularly sweet swords.
Sindri is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 10:15 PM   #5
tanksoldier
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

Ok, I wasn't sure how SJ handled properties that they don't have right to.

As for the earlier thread, much more is known about Valerian steel weapons now than in 2009.

Their price and rarity I think would make them more than just "very fine". Only about 200 are known in Westeros and most noble families don't even have one. Very few have two or more.

In various places in books and series they are described as lighter than other weapons of that type, that sharpening one would result in needing a new whetstone and perhaps a new hand, cleaving thru steel armor like a knife thru bread, notching quality steel weapons during a fight to the point of uselessness, that even impoverished houses would sell a daughter before selling a Valyrian weapon... They're worth fortunes.

A mere very fine weapon isn't that valuable.

They are also once of only two known ways of killing a white walker.... Probably are " of slaying" vs "the other" but that's rare enough to just be a plot point.

My campaign will be set prior to Aerys II Targaryen's madness.... current enough that source material is useful, far enough back that players aren't restricted much by canon. Characters will be members of a minor noble house and may have secondary characters for some parts.... a non-combat character player may also play one of the knight character's squires, that sort of thing, so everybody can take part in everything.

Last edited by tanksoldier; 02-01-2018 at 10:41 PM.
tanksoldier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 10:37 PM   #6
Flyndaran
Untagged
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

They sound too powerful and rare to be anything but plot points or MacGuffins.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.
Flyndaran is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 10:53 PM   #7
Sindri
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
Ok, I wasn't sure how SJ handled properties that they don't have right to.
It's not an SJ games thing, it's just not how copyright works.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
As for the earlier thread, much more is known about Valerian steel weapons now than in 2009.
I'm not sure how true that is, though this is also a thread worth checking.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
Their price and rarity I think would make them more than just "very fine". Only about 200 are known in Westeros and most noble families don't even have one. Very few have two or more.

In various places in books and series they are described as lighter than other weapons of that type, that sharpening one would result in needing a new whetstone and perhaps a new hand, cleaving thru steel armor like a knife thru bread, notching quality steel weapons during a fight to the point of uselessness, that even impoverished hours would sell a daughter before selling a Valyrian weapon... They're worth fortunes.

A mere very fine weapon isn't that valuable.

They are also once of only two known ways of killing a white walker.... Probably are " of killing" vs the other but that's rare enough to just be a plot point.
Valyrian steel doesn't really meaningfully have a price. Could you theoretically purchase one? Sure, but that would either take a ton of money and a seller in a bad situation or it would actually be a political gift with a token large payment to acknowledge the unpayable debt. So ignore price. Charge cash as per usual for very fine or superfine or whatever and also a 1-10 CP Unusual Background for the privilege of buying it.

... Except when that's not true at all. There's precedent for random ass unnamed valyrian daggers showing up that aren't such treasured possessions that they can be thrown away on an assassination mission and won't jeopardize it as soon as some one checks the list of all known extant valyrian weapons. If that's the level of valyrian weapons lying around, and there are some good reasons to keep it from being so rare that its hard to make it appear in most enemy hands, then it should merely be very expensive.

As for stats, you could go with superfine's Armour Divisor 2, or you could go with Very Fine's bonuses since they're pretty generous anyway. Add on the titanium modifier from High-Tech on top of that to reduce the weight.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
They sound too powerful and rare to be anything but plot points or MacGuffins.
Even though the nobility doesn't have valyrian steel weapons as a matter of course, enough of them have ancestral valyrian steel swords that you'll need rules for them unless the context of the campaign precludes noble PCs.
Sindri is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 10:53 PM   #8
(E)
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

Here one of my players write ups of a "cursed" valyrian blade that cropped up in a game of thrones campaign I ran in the same time period that you are suggesting.

I also threw in a couple of other valyrian steel items, shield rim as well as some armour. These never made it into the PCs hands so they where never given stats.
__________________
Waiting for inspiration to strike......
And spending too much time thinking about farming for RPGs
Contributor to Citadel at Nordvörn

Last edited by (E); 02-01-2018 at 11:00 PM.
(E) is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 10:54 PM   #9
tanksoldier
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
They sound too powerful and rare to be anything but plot points or MacGuffins.
In the books they aren't THAT rare... Longclaw, Oathkeeper, Widow's Wail (and Ice before them), Littlefinger's dagger (and mentions of "Valyrian steel daggers" being on a ship's cargo manifest, Little Sister and Blackfyre (both whereabouts unknown)... there are about 20-25 specific named weapons in the books, one suit of armor, an ax and some other things.

I don't want them to be impossible to acquire. Since characters are all members of a House they can pool points to buy a castle, retainers, heirlooms, etc. If the characters want to pool their points they could buy a Valyrian steel weapon for their house... but it will probably mean a smaller stronghold.

In any case, I think I'm comfortable with how I'm doing things so I'll just drive on. Thanks to all who responded.
tanksoldier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-01-2018, 11:13 PM   #10
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: So... how to model certain weapons from a popular TV show

I think that Valyrian weapons are Fine (Balanced) and Very Fine (Materials) with a special property that allows them to ignore Injury Tolerance.
AlexanderHowl is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:39 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.