Converting material from other systems

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

I was thinking less "convert D&D to GURPS" and more "convert Tomb of Horrors to GURPS".

I'm considering raiding D&D adventure modules for a Dungeon Fantasy game, but it's more hassle than it's worth I'll just stick to doing it from scratch.

Start a thread for it and, if time permits, Ill help you convert. I think I still have a copy some where :)

Im sure there are other people who play GURPS who'd like a nice translation of it.

There was some success in a converstion of White Plume Mountain (hold for the link). I think there are even fewer monsters in ToH, so it may even go quicker. :)

Nymdok

[CousinX]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

Start a thread for it and, if time permits, Ill help you convert. I think I still have a copy some where :)

Im sure there are other people who play GURPS who'd like a nice translation of it.

There was some success in a converstion of White Plume Mountain (hold for the link). I think there are even fewer monsters in ToH, so it may even go quicker. :)

Nymdok

That's a really good idea ... I'm in. It seems like there are a lot of traps and puzzles in Tomb of Horrors, and that's a place where I need some ideas.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

I know one of the great benefits that people tout about GURPS is how easy it is to convert material from other systems into it. At least that's the theory. In practice how easy is it really?

Dead easy. Never had slightest problem with it. Of course I don`t calculate point values for NPCs who aren`t Allies and Dependants, so it would certainly be possible to make it hard.

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

I know one of the great benefits that people tout about GURPS is how easy it is to convert material from other systems into it. At least that's the theory. In practice how easy is it really?

I've found it difficult enough that it's easier to use another system's published adventure as inspiration rather than convert it outright. With settings I've found it easier to make the setting fit GURPS than vice versa, even if that means breaking some long-standing assumptions the other system provided. (Not always for the worse, though, but not always for the better, either.)

I have started using what I half-seriously call a "strip mining" approach to conversion. What I want to be able to do is look at a character in d20 or World of Darkness or whatever and have a GURPS version fairly quickly. I've worked up some basic "formulas" that indeed let me do this very quickly.

Now, the downside is that these are only rough translations--I think they succeed in capturing the spirit of whatever character I've stole--I mean, liberated, but I don't pretend they'll function exactly as they did in the original system. But that's okay. If I wanted to run a game and have it work exactly the way things work in d20...I'd run it in d20.

For example, looking at a sample vampire from a WoD book, the GURPS version is...

ST 10 DX 10 HT 10 IQ 12 Will 14
Charisma +2
Delusion (Everything is part of a conspiracy) [-10]
Vampire Package [50, more or less]

Power Investiture (Curse of Cain) 2
Ritual Magic (Cainite)-16
Path of Auspex-16
Path of Dementation-14
Path of Obfuscate-14

Acting-14; Economics-12; Expert (Conspiracy Theory)-14;Guns (Pistols)-10; Hidden Lore (Sabbat)-14; Law (Mexican Criminal)-12; Leadership-11; Occultism-11; Performance-12; Politics-14; Research-12; Stealth-10; Streetwise-12; Teaching-12

Zap. I'm done. Less than 10 minutes. Now, it might make me a little more time to flesh out the remaining specifics, like how certain discipline powers work as magic rituals, but I've basically got the character ready to go.

He's an interesting character. He's not a combat monster. He's a trickster and a manipulator. And even if he fails to manipulate you, he'll know you're coming before you show up, and fade away and make his escape before you even know he's gone.

There's also the potential problem that some random piece of World of Darkness or d20 or whatever might be totally unbalanced compared to the rest of the spells, powers, etc. in the game. But I haven't seen anything that looks too bad. And none of my players are munchkins. They like having badass characters, but they don't go looking for every campaign-wrecking loophole they can find. And, honestly, if someone started acting that way, it's important to remember the Rule of Stats: If it has stats, it can be killed. It works both ways, you know. And player characters always have stats. :)

Mark

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by CousinX

That's a really good idea ... I'm in. It seems like there are a lot of traps and puzzles in Tomb of Horrors, and that's a place where I need some ideas.

I also recomend Gorgolands Gauntlet. It has three or four that are not only pretty easy, but require NO translation whatsoever.

Nymdok

p.s. Gorgolands Gauntlet used to be a free download, but Ive heard that D&D got all weird about PDFs so it may not still be available.

[CousinX]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Dead easy. Never had slightest problem with it. Of course I don`t calculate point values for NPCs who aren`t Allies and Dependants, so it would certainly be possible to make it hard.

If you're using something like GCA or GCS that keeps a tally of point as you throw together a character, even that part isn't hard.

Originally Posted by Nymdok

I also recomend Gorgolands Gauntlet. It has three or four that are not only pretty easy, but require NO translation whatsoever.

Nymdok

p.s. Gorgolands Gauntlet used to be a free download, but Ive heard that D&D got all weird about PDFs so it may not still be available.

I'll look for it, maybe it's worth a conversion thread of its own. There are a few other modules that I wouldn't mind converting, so maybe someday I'll start up a thread and see who wants to pitch in. (Of course, several of my players haunt these forums, so I can't divulge any secrets here....)

[Humabout]

It's pretty easy if you just strip it down to fluff, and structure yoru GURPS campaign to capture the feel of the original with the fluff in tact. I've personally, don't try to port mechanics, even if I use them for inspiration on occassion.

[Alacrity Fitzhugh]

I've been doing an on-again, off-again conversion of Earthdawn to GURPS, and have struggled on many things.

The one general rule I try to stick to is to avoid importing as many "foreign" mechanics as I can when converting. For example, Earthdawn has Karma Points that can boost odds for success, GURPS doesn't. How do I handle that? GURPS does have an option for spending Character Points to affect a die roll result, but that's not quite the same. Do I import the Earthdawn mechanic? How?

Earthdawn has a lot of game mechanics that are tied to the setting, like Spell Matrices (Modular Ability-style spell-casting in GURPS), Circles (character levels), and Disciplines (character classes - templates?). Each of these is a head-scratcher. Sure, I could toss all that out and just run GURPS Fantasy in the Earthdawn setting, but I lose some of the "flavor" that way.

So, in short, it can be challenging, depending on what you want to convert, and how "generic" the setting is.

[Rocket Man]

I've found it pretty easy to borrow from Champions for a GURPS Supers game. (Yeah, I know, it's a little like marrying second cousins.) I mostly borrow supervillains, but there's a few published adventures I have handy that I may throw in when I get a chance.

If I'm borrowing an adventure, it's the plot I mostly want it for anyway. Any of the mechanic-related details (NPCs, traps, etc.), I'll read closely to make sure I understand how it's meant to work, and then write up a GURPS version that seems to make sense rather than do a point-by-point conversion.

[Kage2020]

Originally Posted by Alacrity Fitzhugh

I've been doing an on-again, off-again conversion of Earthdawn to GURPS, and have struggled on many things.

Strangely I was thinking about this when I typed since it ultimately relates to some of my goals when dealing with a post-apocalyptic version of Shadowrun. Of course, that's another "powered by" situation since I personally don't feel so bound to direct conversion of the system

Completely incidentally and off topic... No, I'm going to leave that for a PM that you can select to ignore or not, as you see fit. :D