Narrativism in GURPS

nanoboy · 07-15-2010, 03:23 PM

As an update to my trying the Fate system (and its narrative rules framework) through Spirit of the Century, I wanted to mention how the game went: very, very well. They made their characters, and I ran them through a pretty simple pulp adventure. The players, despite being generally old-school role-players, had a blast.

The most fun unique part of the experience was during character creation. For those who don't know, in Spirit of the Century, characters have ten "Aspects," phrases or words that describe some part of their character. During the game, these can be compelled by a GM (similar to failing a control roll in GURPS), and the player can opt to do something disadvantageous and receive a Fate point or opt to resist it and give up a Fate point. The Aspects can also be used by the player to give a bonus to a situation in which it is relevant by spending a Fate point. For example, a character who is "Quick to Anger" may be compelled to have a fit at an inopportune time or invoke the Aspect for a bonus when being angry could help. Anyway, when making a character, the players choose the first six Aspects and then (to the great surprise of my players) they pass their characters around to two other players who each the character two Aspects. That turned out to be very, very fun.

In Spirit of the Century, these aspects are added in five steps. First, what the character did during their childhood; second, what the character did during the Great War; third, what the character did in the first pulp novel about them; fourth, what they did guest-starring in another character's novel; and fifth, what they did in yet another character's novel. Granted, some of this is setting specific (1920s pulp goodness), but it can be adjusted to other settings, and I was wondering what people thought could be done in GURPS to have a similar effect. Could players pick up to, say, -15 points in disadvantages for another player's character? A couple of quirks? Some advantages? How would you make rules for it in a GURPS game?

As I mentioned in the original post, my wife was pregnant. Well, I ran that game during the day on Saturday, and that evening, my wife went into labor. On Sunday, our daughter Eleanor entered the world. It's relatively unimportant right now, but I am glad that I had a great game that day, since it will likely be a few months before I get a chance to role-play again.

07-15-2010, 03:23 PM	#19
nanoboy Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Edmond, OK	Re: Narrativism in GURPS As an update to my trying the Fate system (and its narrative rules framework) through Spirit of the Century, I wanted to mention how the game went: very, very well. They made their characters, and I ran them through a pretty simple pulp adventure. The players, despite being generally old-school role-players, had a blast. The most fun unique part of the experience was during character creation. For those who don't know, in Spirit of the Century, characters have ten "Aspects," phrases or words that describe some part of their character. During the game, these can be compelled by a GM (similar to failing a control roll in GURPS), and the player can opt to do something disadvantageous and receive a Fate point or opt to resist it and give up a Fate point. The Aspects can also be used by the player to give a bonus to a situation in which it is relevant by spending a Fate point. For example, a character who is "Quick to Anger" may be compelled to have a fit at an inopportune time or invoke the Aspect for a bonus when being angry could help. Anyway, when making a character, the players choose the first six Aspects and then (to the great surprise of my players) they pass their characters around to two other players who each the character two Aspects. That turned out to be very, very fun. In Spirit of the Century, these aspects are added in five steps. First, what the character did during their childhood; second, what the character did during the Great War; third, what the character did in the first pulp novel about them; fourth, what they did guest-starring in another character's novel; and fifth, what they did in yet another character's novel. Granted, some of this is setting specific (1920s pulp goodness), but it can be adjusted to other settings, and I was wondering what people thought could be done in GURPS to have a similar effect. Could players pick up to, say, -15 points in disadvantages for another player's character? A couple of quirks? Some advantages? How would you make rules for it in a GURPS game? As I mentioned in the original post, my wife was pregnant. Well, I ran that game during the day on Saturday, and that evening, my wife went into labor. On Sunday, our daughter Eleanor entered the world. It's relatively unimportant right now, but I am glad that I had a great game that day, since it will likely be a few months before I get a chance to role-play again.