Narrativism in GURPS

[nanoboy]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

Mind, I've nursed a kid during a game (draped a cloth to keep the kid from being too distracted to nurse; my Big Shirt would've shown nothing of interest anyway), and I've even dealt with a "pay attention to me!" toddler when GMing, once, at a con.

You are my hero.

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

Oh, right, you had a different question... Narrativism in GURPS. Hm. Personally, from my experience tossing characters back and forth doing solo-roleplay with the spouse (not that kind of roleplay! for one thing, having a kid zonked out on one's chest (who will wake if one attempts to move it) crimps the style...), it's pretty easy to... just use the characterization stuff as a guideline. Maybe roll if you can't decide what would be most interesting. Maybe make a little chart for yourself -- something like

"If skill is 1-6, um, no, fail unless really dramatic and/or the dice love ya.

If skill is 7-11, player can choose whether success or failure will be cooler, and roll if GM disagrees with player's choice.

If skill is 12-15, assume success under most circumstances; player may choose to fail, GM should ask for a roll if the situation is kind of tricky or if the GM needs time to think.

With skill of 16+, failure is rare, will tend to be spectacular ("perhaps you shouldn't've cross-circuited to B with so much power in that jefferies tube, eh?"), and/or driven by narrative necessity. Roll if there is a really tricky situation.

In all cases, PC vs PC should be worked out gently between the players, with the above guidelines, but any case of the players sounding crabby should have the GM pounce in and say, "Let's roll dice for this one."

If the GM goes entertainingly purple on the prose, hopefully the players will get into the spirit of things and you can go, "He wounds you severely on the arm" and they'll clutch the arm and moan, "Augh! I've dropped my weapon, and can think of naught to do but fall to the floor, hoping to avoid getting the return swing in my throat! I shall grope for my fallen weapon, hoping it isn't kicked away in the scuffle!" (And the GM can go, "What's better?" in an undertone, and the player can go, "Ooo, kick it away! Kick it away!" Or maybe the other players will have a vote...)

These are good ideas.

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Just because those ideas are 'in vogue" in the Indie game world that doesn't mean they are actually good ideas or would work with GURPS.

Stuff from The 'Forge'/ Indie games or the IPR world likely doesn't work that well with GURPS.

GURPS is a traditional roleplaying game.

Now if what you really want is to streamline things so its easier for you to GM a GURPS game session or two - thats already very doable with GURPS as it is.

One player could makle up some aspects of the game world ahead of time and e-mail it to you and the rest of the group, another player could coordinate making the characters and character sheets with the GCA - things like that. You would still be the one in control as the GM, you just had some of the lkegwork and research done ahead of time.

I agree that ideas being in vogue don't necessarily mean that they're good. Just look at 1970s fashion. That said, I think that a lot of the ideas being pursued by the indie publishers are good ideas. I think that a lot of them will stick and probably get absorbed into more mainstream games eventually.

The thing is that I am so familiar with GURPS, and I so love the simulationism of it, that in the long run, I don't want to abandon it when I decide to run other more narrativist systems. It seems like GURPS could accommodate narrative mechanics, and that's the purpose of the original post.