Monster Hunters: New information, leaks, and sample characters!

[PK]

Oh, but not all at once, mind you . . . that wouldn't be any fun. :)

I've just put up a new subsection at MyGURPS dedicated to the upcoming GURPS Monster Hunters series. Currently, this section has two articles: One explaining how to use my house rules with the various templates from MH1 and MH4, and one containing a sample monster-hunting team, with full character sheets, loadouts, and even the GCA files for the computer literate . . .

<waits while everyone heads over there, then returns, grumbling>

Okay, I only told half the truth. The sample team page is currently a bit sparse. But that's because I'd hate to reveal too much at once! Instead, I'll be putting up a new sample hunter every few days, and posting the announcement here. That way, anyone interested can subscribe to the thread, and anyone with questions can ask them here.

(In the meantime, there's still plenty of interesting tidbits to dissect and explore. Check it out . . .)

[PK]

And for those of you who haven't heard of this series until just now:

<UNABASHED SHILLING>

GURPS Monster Hunters will be a worked genre example, in the same vein as Dungeon Fantasy and Action, containing everything you need to pit powerful hunters against incredibly dangerous vampires, werewolves, demons, chupacabras, rogue witches, and more! If you've ever wanted to run a game in the style of Buffy/Angel, Supernatural, Blade, Vampire$, Night Watch, Resident Evil, Hellboy, Constantine, Evil Dead, or Underworld -- but had a hard time balancing PCs and their enemies, keeping the game from turning into neverending combats, or just figuring out where to start -- GURPS Monster Hunters is what you've been waiting for.

</UNABASHED SHILLING>

[Christopher R. Rice]

Pure awesomeness! ^_^

Don't suppose you want any of the characters I used for testing out MH3 as samples do you? >_>

Also...Evil Dead would be remarkably possible with the MH framework...must convince players to play in that as a one-shot...

Ghostdancer

[Kalzazz]

Ooh! I'd totally love to see how to build a Selene from Underworld type character that actually worked!

I've tried in both GURPS and White Wolf and been rather unsuccessful in both (basically, pistols suck)

((Oddly, Celes from Hellsing works quite well in White Wolf, thanks to the convenient inclusion of 75mm antitank guns in the gear section, but not Selene from Underworld))

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Ooh! I'd totally love to see how to build a Selene from Underworld type character that actually worked!

In general, cinematic characters who use weapons that in reality aren't very effective with great effect are using Innate Attack with the Gadget limitation.

[PK]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Ooh! I'd totally love to see how to build a Selene from Underworld type character that actually worked!

I've tried in both GURPS and White Wolf and been rather unsuccessful in both (basically, pistols suck)

The trick in Monster Hunters will be to pick smart combinations of gun and ammo. For example, Selene technically uses Beretta 9mm pistols, but concept-wise, all that really matters for most people is "dual pistols."

So let's start by giving her a .40 auto pistol (p. 62): 2d+2 pi+, Acc 2, Range 160/1800, RoF 3, Shots 13+1(3), Bulk -2, Rcl 2

The fact that it does pi+ is important, because many supernatural foes have Injury Tolerance that makes piercing damage a joke. Acc is useful, too, since she's arguably a Gunslinger. (Note that in Monster Hunters, niche protection places Gunslinger in a different template than "vampire" -- but that's intentional, since movies tend to focus on a single, uber-competent hero, while RPGs are designed more for teams. In particular, Selene is far more powerful than a starting champion -- I'd build her as a full commando, then add the vampire template on top of that.)

Now pick some ammo loads. Let's assume she's hunting vampires, because werewolves are too easy (silver bullets, anyone?) to choose ammo for. We'll start both pistols with one magazine of extra-powerful (+1 CF) holy-water (+2 CF) rounds. Then the left-hand pistol will get several mags of extra-powerful (+1 CF) thermate (+3 CF) rounds, while the right-hand pistol gets hand-matched (+9 CF) wooden (+2 CF) rounds.

Combat starts. She peppers the various vamps with holy-water rounds that do 2d+3 pi+ (reduced by Injury Tolerance) plus a linked 1d of direct injury that isn't reduced. When those are out, she switches to the new ammo. With her left hand, she's doing 2d+3 pi+ (again, reduced) per shot plus a 1d burn follow-up -- and while the bullet damage isn't doing much, it is penetrating their DR, which means they take the full burn for each bullet, doubled to 2d from the vampire's Vulnerability! Meanwhile, she uses her right pistol to fire 1d+1 pi+ wooden bullets directly at each vamp's heart; her Gunslinger means that the -5 to hit the heart is only -2 (Acc 3 with the hand-matched ammo), and the combination of holy water damage, burning damage, wooden/stake damage, and (minimal) bullet damage is enough to destroy most lesser vamps on the spot. (If not, they're likely paralyzed from the wood.)

[zoncxs]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Pure awesomeness! ^_^

Don't suppose you want any of the characters I used for testing out MH3 as samples do you? >_>

Also...Evil Dead would be remarkably possible with the MH framework...must convince players to play in that as a one-shot...

Ghostdancer

if you playing it online i am in. so in. DEAD BY DAWN DEAD BY DAWN....... <,<

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by zoncxs

if you playing it online i am in. so in. DEAD BY DAWN DEAD BY DAWN....... <,<

I wish I could do online games and not have them crumble...but I can't, expierence tells me this will happen pretty much everytime. :/

Luckily I got a big pool of gamers nearby who are as serious about the hobby as I am. Might be something to run at a con though (once MH is out that is).

That could be a really great draw for getting folks into GURPS "Hey look, you ever seen John Carpenters Vampires? What about Blade? You want to see how to recreate the feel *easily*...follow me over to this table"

Ghostdancer

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

The trick in Monster Hunters will be to pick smart combinations of gun and ammo. For example, Selene technically uses Beretta 9mm pistols, but concept-wise, all that really matters for most people is "dual pistols."

So let's start by giving her a .40 auto pistol (p. 62): 2d+2 pi+, Acc 2, Range 160/1800, RoF 3, Shots 13+1(3), Bulk -2, Rcl 2

The fact that it does pi+ is important, because many supernatural foes have Injury Tolerance that makes piercing damage a joke. Acc is useful, too, since she's arguably a Gunslinger. (Note that in Monster Hunters, niche protection places Gunslinger in a different template than "vampire" -- but that's intentional, since movies tend to focus on a single, uber-competent hero, while RPGs are designed more for teams. In particular, Selene is far more powerful than a starting champion -- I'd build her as a full commando, then add the vampire template on top of that.)

Now pick some ammo loads. Let's assume she's hunting vampires, because werewolves are too easy (silver bullets, anyone?) to choose ammo for. We'll start both pistols with one magazine of extra-powerful (+1 CF) holy-water (+2 CF) rounds. Then the left-hand pistol will get several mags of extra-powerful (+1 CF) thermate (+3 CF) rounds, while the right-hand pistol gets hand-matched (+9 CF) wooden (+2 CF) rounds.

No UV rounds for her modified Beretta 92FS pistols? Silly science, but they're pretty. Besides, cinematic games are about being cool and check reality at the door!

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

The trick in Monster Hunters will be to pick smart combinations of gun and ammo. For example, Selene technically uses Beretta 9mm pistols, but concept-wise, all that really matters for most people is "dual pistols."

So let's start by giving her a .40 auto pistol (p. 62): 2d+2 pi+, Acc 2, Range 160/1800, RoF 3, Shots 13+1(3), Bulk -2, Rcl 2
[...]
Now pick some ammo loads. Let's assume she's hunting vampires, because werewolves are too easy (silver bullets, anyone?) to choose ammo for. We'll start both pistols with one magazine of extra-powerful (+1 CF) holy-water (+2 CF) rounds. Then the left-hand pistol will get several mags of extra-powerful (+1 CF) thermate (+3 CF) rounds, while the right-hand pistol gets hand-matched (+9 CF) wooden (+2 CF) rounds.

How about her other pistol tricks, like cookie-cuttering the floor?