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Old 12-13-2018, 11:43 PM   #1
Blue Ghost
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Spinward Marches
Default Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

I ask this question because for all the CW sessions I had, not one I ever played with wanted to do Autoduel as an RP venue. And yet I used to see all of the AADA travel guides on the racks at the old game store. And I guess people bought them, but I never once encountered anyone who wanted to have an RP session with them, much less an RP session at all with GURPS Autoduel.

Any thoughts?
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Old 12-14-2018, 06:57 AM   #2
swordtart
 
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

I use it a lot (but you would probably guess that). I use both 1st and 2nd edition GURPS Autoduel for different reasons (1st edition is easier to tie into the tabletop version for example). Even as a scene setter for the new players it proved it's worth. I like GURPS because I can also use Traveller Far Trader for the economics, High and Ultra tech to add new toys, Cyberpunk for plots and the more sophisticated computer interaction etc.

I mostly play CW RP games as I no longer have any interest in any other type. After 2 hours RP we have usually advanced the story by a decent amount but after 2 hours of straight CW we will have moved 100 yards if we are lucky.

I don't actually use full GURPS, just a simplistic mechanic that is vaguely based on the 2 dice and pray system but used appropriately scaled modifiers from GURPS (I use 2-4th edition GURPS rules for a variety of reasons) and skills trees that fall out from the blocky CW skill system.

I didn't want to invest too much effort into it but by just pulling out rules as needed, I don't have to. By using GURPS Autoduel the majority of skills are pre-modified to fit the tabletop game.

I was planning a whole conversion of the tabletop characters to full GURPS versions, but in the end it didn't prove necessary. The stats were there to help drive the story, but we already have decent storytellers in the group.

In the end it was the somewhat digital way CW handles combat that killed the group rather than anything plot driven. To be fair though, I don't think we would have had the patience to learn the full GURPS combat mechanic and the vehicles rules would move us too far from CW. I have a way back, but I suspect that the campaign has run it's course.

Maybe I should write a book ;)

Last edited by swordtart; 12-14-2018 at 07:02 AM.
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Old 12-14-2018, 10:29 AM   #3
Chris Goodwin
 
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

I played in a short campaign of it back in the day. Maybe 2-3 sessions. We used phased movement and the GURPS-ified turning key, and the vehicle combat portions felt exactly like Car Wars.
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Old 12-14-2018, 11:17 PM   #4
Tom H.
 
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
Maybe I should write a book ;)
Do you mean a fiction book inspired by your campaigns, a book of RPG rules, or something else?
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Old 12-15-2018, 01:42 PM   #5
swordtart
 
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom H. View Post
Do you mean a fiction book inspired by your campaigns, a book of RPG rules, or something else?
The first. The other two options are already over-populated ;)
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Old 12-17-2018, 09:03 PM   #6
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by swordtart View Post
The first. The other two options are already over-populated ;)
Please consider writing this book. I, for one, will buy and read it.

Drew
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Old 12-17-2018, 11:57 PM   #7
Tom H.
 
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by wolf90 View Post
Please consider writing this book. I, for one, will buy and read it.

Drew
Yes, we have plenty of rules. I miss the more narrative tangents that can be incorporated into SJ Game products. There's a whole category of expressing what the rules allow you to create that gets marginalized.
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Old 01-01-2019, 02:39 AM   #8
swordtart
 
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

Quote:
Originally Posted by wolf90 View Post
Please consider writing this book. I, for one, will buy and read it.

Drew
:)

Thanks for the vote of confidence, if I do write it, you personally will not have to buy it ;)
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Old 12-14-2018, 02:41 PM   #9
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

Not when I was more active -- _GURPS_ was sufficiently different from _CW_ that there was no crossover between the "factions" (for lack of a better word). If RP elements were required for a _CW_ game, most of the people I knew of used some glorified version of "roll 2d6 and pray".

(Side Note: I've never seen _The Fantasy Trip_ before, much less played it; but from some of the stuff I've seen on the KS, I'm wondering if it might be usable for _CW_ RPGing.)
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Old 12-14-2018, 04:12 PM   #10
Blue Ghost
 
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Default Re: Was GURPS Autoduel a big thing?

Thanks for the replies. I bring this up because often I've found myself getting inspired to write material for Traveller, but even though I love Car Wars just as much, I don't get the hankering' to write RP material for it … at least not in the last twenty five years or so.

I think part of it is that, from my perspective, games like SFB and Traveller have a huge expanse and "blank sheet of paper" for which you can add stuff for your PCs and starship crews to face. But the AADA travel guides seemed to steal a lot thunder in that regard.

I don't know. I love CW, but just never got into GURPS Autoduel for whatever reason. I was wondering if it was a trend or if my groups were just strange in that we never dabbled with it.
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