Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

Agreed. Having a single player is limiting in some ways, but allows a depth of play that can often outweigh that achieved with two or more players. I love refereeing with just one player. You're both working on a deeper level, much more at the level of that character's thoughts. Like a novel written in first person.

Graham

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

First of all make sure that the story contains elements she (and her character) is interested in! since she is the only player that's especially important... ;) (really no other players available?)

You can find out by asking her what kind of character she wants to play!
E.g. if she wants to be a fighter she should definitely have the opportunity to use combat as a way to overcome obstacles on the way to her goal (of course not always but often). She's a thief? Let her detect traps, sneak around guards; a scout char wants to move in nature, finding hidden tracks, probably hunting etc. etc.
Then look at her character's appearance and personality:For instance is she an attractive character? Then she wants to use that in the game, let NPCs react to her attractive appearance, otherwise if she's not, find out what makes her different from the crowd and use that... (at times)

Ideally your story hook fits to the her character, e.g. a fighter could be called to rescue somebody who is taken by bandits etc.
And: Choose an easy plot - much better for both of you! ;)

Here you could find inspiration if you need it: http://www.rpglibrary.org/articles/s...ng/36plots.php


For your GURPS Game Mastering: As a rule of thumb, know that a normal, standard adventuring task does not have any modifiers (+0), it's just a normal skill or attribute roll, while a more difficult situation is penalized. A typical modifier for a harder task would be -4, e.g. to spot something that is not obvious in a low light situation. (And of course don't let her roll for trivial things that should work 99% for everyone, but you certainly know that :p)
Smaller difficulties could be that a lock is a bit rusty, so a roll on lockpicking skill could be -2 in that case - something like that, just as a rough guide ;) On the other hand, of course, an easy task should get a good bonus, normally +4, e.g. if you're not having stress and good conditions, like doing something for training.

Finally, as other's have said, rules are not that important, if you're in doubt just improvise (keep the pace) and have fun!

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

Don't take this personally, and don't let it discourage you, but under these circumstances, your first session has a lot working against it.

GURPS isn't the easiest system to play or GM. I'm 31 now, but as a kid and preteen, I DM'ed Dungeons and dragons for years before trying my hand at GURPS (third edition). I taught myself the rules without the aid of the Internet and knew them quite well before my group made the switch. Even with my players and I having a few years experience with table top RPG's it was a rocky process.

Game mastering is a skill; a skill for which you can have exceptional talent, but a skill none the less. As a skill, it gets better the more you use it.

So, what I'm saying is, your first game is likely to be your worst.


The trouble with getting bucked off now is that this is your player's first rodeo as well. Even if you decide to get back in the saddle, your player may be less enthusiastic to do so.


My biggest point of advice it to keep your first session very simple and as short as you can possibly manage. You'll be making a PC as well, and that's going to be at least a little grueling for you both.

My suggestion for a first-session outline:


Here are some tips:

1. The golden rule of role playing: have fun. More specifically, as the GM, it's your primary duty to make sure the players have fun. That's not just the end goal; it should be at the center of nearly every decision you make during the course of planning and game play.
   
2. Don't have a "pet" NPC (non-player character). Normally, this is some Mary Sue of the GM's design. The PC's (player characters) should be in the spotlight, not your NPCs.
   
3. Empower your players. Role playing is about making important, meaningful choices. The PC's aren't just characters in your story; you are refereeing the PC's story. Players shouldn't be railroaded or drug on leashes into making any decision. "Do you want to save the princess or not?" That's not a decision. "Do you want to save the princess or do you want to save the kingdom instead?" Now that is a decision! Make consequences, both good and bad, to the outcomes of real decisions.
   
4. Be descriptive. Your descriptions are what sets the atmosphere and immerses the player into the game. Constantly describe every detail you can. Describe every scene such the rooms in a dungeon or streets in a town. Fully describe every NPC the PC's meet: clothes, visible equipment, height, build, hair color, demeanor from body language, etc.
   
5. Don't be a hard ass. Don't try to be the "great and powerful" GM. Don't be difficult. Be lenient. Be flexible. Be generous. Err on the side of fun. Be a "yes" GM instead of a "No" GM. Players will have worlds more fun under such conditions and you'll be considered a much better GM.

Lastly, I'll make the same offer to you as I do to each new fantasy GM on this board: I'll be happy to run your through a round of quick, basic combat through a voice chat program such as MSN messenger or Yahoo messenger. It takes about two hours. We'll use pre-generated characters and a map I drew and just call it out turn by turn as if we were sitting at the table. This will help you immensely. PM me if interested.


Whatever you do, don't let your first session be your last. They get better as they go.

Good luck!

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

I definitely wouldn't make a big problem of his inexperience, mostly for a simple but very important reason: She, the player, has no experience at all, thus everything is new and interesting, hopefully exciting, too! :)
The expectations on the player side are a very deciding factor, of course if the players are experienced you need much more skill to fulfill their requirements! At least he has played a few sessions already, IMHO that's really sufficient for that situation.
When I think back to the days when I was a first time GM (and very young, too, many years ago), we just started playing a classic fantasy game without any experience with some guys in school. Looking back from the perspective of an experienced GM we obviously made everything "wrong". But guess what? We had a lot of fun! :) And as I had no one to give advise these days, we didn't even notice our mistakes in the beginning. But who cares if everyone has fun? ;) The requirements increase with time and experience...

So, use the help you find here, but don't be worried about doing anything wrong, just make it and have fun! :)

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

I've been doing some searching on blogs for folks running their first session with new GURPS players and folks recounting the tale of their first GM session. Many people seem to believe that it is ideal for new players to run through exercises with the rules before actual play. This is supposed to give new players and GM's a way to familiarize themselves with the rules so when the storytelling starts the rules aren't as much of a distraction. Its also allegedly a great way to weed out folks who will simply not like GURPS mechanics (seriously?)

Do you guys think this would be a good idea? I asked the wife and she is more than on board to run some preliminary tests before we take a shot at our first one-shot simple first session. If so, what would be a good way to go about this?

Thank you very much. I may just take you up on this offer. I could really use the experience. Time is the only factor holding me back right now. I will be in touch!

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

I lean toward a big "no" on this.

I can't stand the way groups will have one planning session for a five session campaign. (Can we just play already...?!)

Rules walkthroughs and do-overs have a place in board game teaching, but for role playing games... I get to play so little... my preference is to work the teaching into the story somehow so that players can learn on the fly. So for the opening sequence... think of a social interaction, some sort of feat, and a combat-ish thing and weave them together to form the opening hook. You may have to explain them as you go... but this is a hook, so no one has to die except some throwaway NPC....

As far as rules go... certainly in the con scene... most people don't care about the rules-- definitely not the way a referee or game junkie would. When presenting the game to a mixed bag of new players, I spend maybe two minutes on rules. ("That's your dodge score... rolling low is good....") A five minute description of setting can mushroom into a fifteen minute dissertation in response to player questions, but that never seems to happen with the rules bit!

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

Hmm... In advance I'd make one or more little tests on my own to see if I can run it without difficulties.
Then maybe one little playtest with her of 20-30 minutes or so would be not bad just to get used to the basic mechanics.

Explain and let her make a few test rolls like using ST to lift something heavy, using DX to avoid falling on slippery ground or jumping over something, use Perception to spot a hidden detail, use some skills like Stealth to sneak around, e.g. Lockpicking to open a locked door, Tracking to find a deer in the woods or Fast Talk to convince that guard to let you pass.
Make a little test fight, to show her how that works, attack, parry/dodge and damage/injury. Actually players only need to know how to make the basic attribute/skill and damage roll and for details they can always ask you (the GM) what to roll... ;)

I certainly wouldn't make more than one little test - could get boring - learning by playing is much more fun! :)

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

Doing some test combats yourself might be a good idea though.

I have been doing some combats based on the first fight I expect a PC to face. (taken on a hunt by his liege lord and a friend of the lord, they ask him to look after the friends kid whilst they go and discuss more important matters. The kid is a pain in the ass, and then, from the forest, a large boar runs at the PC with a gash in his side)

It showed me how fun combat could be. First time, I had the PC and large Boar just run into each other doing a slam. luckily, the PC wound up doing more damage and knocking the boar over! Wasn't too much to finish the boar off after that.

Second time I had the PC stand his ground and try to parry the weapon with a sword. That was a bad idea, the boar weighed so much the PC had to make a breaking roll for his weapon...and his sword broke off at the hilt! This lead to a rather long combat of the PC trying to grapple the boar to choke or wrench its neck and when that failed, trying to kick the ever looking crap out of it. The PC got him down to below zero, but the boar just refused to go unconscious...and unfortunately the PC missed a kick and fell over leading the boar to goring him!

(in both of these examples, the kid had sufficient time to run away, so at least I can accompish my task of seperating the PC from the kid so that he can be kidnapped)

I suppose if the PC does get unlucky the lord and his friend can ride back in on horseback to help the PC by tossing him a weapon or something.

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

Wow, really? Did you count in the speed of the boar? ;) If you did I guess the PC must be really strong or was it just extreme luck with the damage rolls...? (IRL it's almost for sure that a running boar knocks you over when it hits)

Re: [GURPS Lite] First Time, Need Suggestions
 

The PC was strong (180 points, all geared towards combat, 13 strength, 13 dex, with high pain threshold, combat reflexes, very fit and hard to kill with training with a sword and shield with a DB of 3 in fine mail armour)

The boar moved its full movement (8) and the PC moved his full movement (6) making their relative velocity 14.

The boar had a HP of 15 (strength 15)

The PC had a HP of 13 (strength 13)

That means the boar did (15x14/100) 2.1, or 2 dice of damage
The PC did (13x14/100 1.82, or 2 dice of damage.

So essentially they both had an even chance of knocking the other over (the PC did roll rell, getting 11 points of damage and the boar rolling poorly, getting 6) the boar failed his dexterity roll and fell over...unless I am missing any additional rolls, I didn't see anyting for creatures that are horizontal or with four legs or with an additional size modifier getting a bonus with slam attacks. Not sure how you would give bonuses to something with a lower centre of gravity doing a slam attack, but you are right, I would think if a human charged in with a large boar, the human would wind up the worse of it then again I have never seen it in real life!

Although in that example, the PC was charging full blast at the boar wearing mail armour! Perhaps he just gave a mighty kick to the creatures nose as he ran forward or jumped on its head making it lose its footing and fall over!

I was going to have the boar use all out attack strong, but he couldn't get to the PC in time letting the PC get the charge and the slam in, which also probably made a difference! Although in this example, I forgot to have the PC ready his weapons and he just charged in unarmed! (heroic, if it was an actual PC I would give him an extra point!)