One-Shot Adventure with GURPS Action

[Onkl]

Hi guys

I'm planning to run a GURPS Action one-shot and was looking for any hints and tips for such a session. The story should be resolved at the end of the adventure, it isn't an option to continue the setting as a campaign later...

I was thinking of running a heist story, eg. the PCs get hired as specialists in their field of expertise by some Big Shot who wants a specific item or something along these lines.

The PCs would be created by me, the GM, before the session. My players would then choose a PC and the action starts..

I have neither played nor gm'ed GURPS Action so far, so my main question is wether you think GURPS Action is suitable for what I have in mind. I also have never run a one-shot adventure... we usually do campaigns.

Furthermore I would be glad to hear from your experiences running GURPS Action in general and running a one-shot in specific: What are the caveats of running GURPS Action, what are the caveats of running a successful (funny, enganging, exciting) one-shot adventure?

Thanks!

Onkl

[Anaraxes]

The caper flick is one of the inspirations or foundations for GURPS Action, so it should work fine.

(Caveat: I haven't actually run or played in an Action game myself; I bought the PDFs for some of the rules and ideas.)

Keep things moving. Especially if the players are new, you don't want to get bogged down in rules details. Roll and shout.

If the setting is throwaway, then there's no need for lots of narration describing it, or deep investigation of NPC relationships. If you mean to have just one session (say four hours or so), then the game will need to seem to be really simple on paper in order to get through it. Don't let the PCs go shopping.

[ClayDowling]

For a heist, the Tricks of the Trade chapter in Exploits is your friend. Be careful about getting bogged down in the planning phase. Security systems are a special interest of mine, and I let that section get out of hand. We had fun (and I think my friends were a little unnerved at how much I know about it), but if I were to run it again I'd cut the planning short.

[Anders Gabrielsson]

For a one-shot it's usually best to keep things clear, simple and moving. No ambiguities about who's a bad guy or not, no situations that require clever plans, no detective work beyond obvious clues that point to obvious solutions.

[martin_rook]

It might also help to start things in the middle of the plot, if you want to cut out having to go through certain clues and/or story elements. Like, rather than start off with the briefing ("You're being hired to snatch a case from a courier and smuggle it out of the country before midnight tomorrow") and then wait for them to go gun shopping and plan things out, just cut to the chase -- literally or figuratively ("The case you'd been hired to steal and get out of the country has turned out to be a decoy -- it's empty, except for the tracking device which has lead the bad guys right to you. You've been cut off from your getaway vehicle -- except the wheelman, of course, who's now trying to find a way to get to you -- and are in a running gunfight through a crowded shopping mall...").