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Old 01-15-2011, 08:32 AM   #11
Comedian
 
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Nowhere, MI
Default Re: Dragged kicking and screaming from the candy-store

What did you do?
I ran a couple of of one-off scenarios in various 19th century-ish genres. Wild West, Victorian Sci Fi etc.
What setting and genre did you use to tempt them across?
A wild west game I ran seems to have done it.
What worked, what didn't work, what would have worked better?
The big thing for most people was the bell curve which, if you come from 1st ed D&D like many of my group did, cures the 5% chance of completely whiffing every strike. Characters are competent right out of the box, rather than 10 levels into the game. Also I think most liked that disadvantages were actually a mechanical part of the character, rather then just something the player could choose to rp or not.
How did it go?
Every game I've run with GURPS has gone reasonably well.
Are they all keen now?
I've run one particular wild west game enough times that I've had to reprint the character sheets a few times because they've gotten so marked up. The last time I ran a game in GURPS over a dozen people turned up to play it (our average group size on any given weekend is between 5 and 7 people). So I can only assume that they enjoy the system.
Are they using GURPS for their own games, or promoting it otherwise?
Aside from me, only one other person in our group has run a game in GURPS. While multiple people in our group want to play a GURPS campaign, they are either too unreliable or too douschy to make me do the leg work to run one.
Clamouring for GURPS, complaining about other games?
My players request it occasionally, and speak highly of the games I've run. As to the second part of that, we complain about every system we play.
How long did it take to win the players over?
One game.
What helped?
The system is relatively easy to explain, and once players realize what skills correspond to a particular action, the turns fly.
What hindered?
Some, particularly less bright players, simply can't stand the fact that GURPS is more literal than abstract. A rather large argument erupted when one player said that being melee should mean being grappled, and simply couldn't come to grips with the fact that his grapple attempt had been parried.
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