Need help converting DtD to GURPS

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by samd6

Dungeons the Dragoning can be found here

A basically brand new game in it's 7th edition? This guy needs to chill out a little, I think. The link's not working for me, so I can't really look at it.

What is fair pricing for "X times a scene"? Or would it be better to go with recharge, and if so, what should the recharge be?

GURPS doesn't have formal "scenes" or "encounters" and I'm not sure it's a great idea to add them either. GURPS plays nicest with real-world metrics, so instead I'd do X times per minute or 10 minutes or whatever.

For ER, what bonus should "not tied to a power source" be?

Isn't that just FP? Do you want FP that can be spent but not drained? That's probably a +0% enhancement.

[Ejidoth]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

A basically brand new game in it's 7th edition? This guy needs to chill out a little, I think. The link's not working for me, so I can't really look at it.

Just from a glance at the title ('Dungeons: The Dragoning: 40,000: 7th Edition') I think the edition number is just part of the general parody.

As for timing 'per scene', the game time enhancement in Powers at least suggests 'uses per day' is roughly similar to 'uses per real-life hour'. You can use that to tune 'uses per scene', based on how long you think a scene should be on average.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Ejidoth

Just from a glance at the title ('Dungeons: The Dragoning: 40,000: 7th Edition') I think the edition number is just part of the general parody.

Yeah, I couldn't tell if it was part of the joke or not. By "chill out" I meant either about laying on the joke too thick, or releasing small revisions as "new editions". Whichever. The blog says it is "the best release yet" which implies some number of earlier versions. It definitely makes me even less interested in it than I was already.

As for timing 'per scene', the game time enhancement in Powers at least suggests 'uses per day' is roughly similar to 'uses per real-life hour'. You can use that to tune 'uses per scene', based on how long you think a scene should be on average.

I'm extremely wary of converting indie mechanics directly to GURPS, presumably you are converting in the first place because you like GURPS better than the indie system. Having formal "scenes" is most likely a result of the overall design philosophy that you are trying to get away from, so why convert it?

[samd6]

The reason why I wanted a good baseline for conversion of X times a scene is that many powers in this game (Dark Burst, Fire Breath, Warp Step to name a few) have this limitation. This keeps the players from being able to spam their abilities. Upon further consideration, I think that 15 second recharge might work, but I want to know what the hivemind thinks the discount for Recharge: ~5 minutes should be.

The ER that I'm trying to work with is for the Kobolds. I'm trying to set it up so they have a pool of extra FP, but need to pay HP to gain access. ER sounds like it would work the best.

Yes, the 7th edition is part of the joke (though I maintain that the real joke is that this is a decent and playable game) He's actually on revision 1.5 for the core book, last time anyone heard from him.

One of the main reasons I'm converting to GURPS is so that I won't need to spend a ton of time converting stuff to DtD. Also because the ship-building and wealth/signature gear is pretty screwed up.

If you guy's want, I can post what little conversion I have right now.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by samd6

The reason why I wanted a good baseline for conversion of X times a scene is that many powers in this game (Dark Burst, Fire Breath, Warp Step to name a few) have this limitation.

GURPS doesn't have formal "scenes" and generally avoids meta-time (except for Luck which uses realtime and various traits that operate per-session or adventure). You'd have to import the definition of "scene" for scene based mechanics to make sense and I just don't see the necessity. Note that the 3e WoD conversions didn't do this, even though the source material has formal scenes.

Upon further consideration, I think that 15 second recharge might work, but I want to know what the hivemind thinks the discount for Recharge: ~5 minutes should be.

-25% works well for recharge times between 15 seconds and an hour.

The ER that I'm trying to work with is for the Kobolds. I'm trying to set it up so they have a pool of extra FP, but need to pay HP to gain access. ER sounds like it would work the best.

Can you explain how you want it to work in more detail? 1 HP:1 FP? Or something else?

[the_matrix_walker]

This board is fantastic for getting help with just this sort of project. There are a good many dedicated geeks ready to flex their gaming muscles and help you work out what you need.

The trick is, asking the right questions! The details are immensely important for this.

As for a 5 minute recharge, (p. B115) "15 seconds (or 5 times the time required to use
the ability, if longer) is -20%, and one hour (or 10 times the time required to
use the ability, if longer) is -30%." So -25% seems fair enough.

[Kuroshima]

First, I have those download sites where you must wait for a countdown to end, then fill a capcha and finally find the link in the bloated page, before you can get the file. For large files, I understand it, but for small files like these? I use Dropbox to host them, and it works much better.

Another thing, don't convert mechanics, convert the idea behind the abilities, Takes Recharge, 15s is once per fight, 99.99% of the time. Only if it's a trick fight, where the characters must do something while infinite minions pour in, or one side is deliberately stalling, will an ability with a 15s recharge time get more than one use. Out of combat, it's still a pretty usable ability.

If you want help with conversions, I've found that the best is that you describe the abilities to convert in plain English, removing as many rules artifacts as possible. Once what an ability does, and what a role it plays is known, converting is usually simply.

[Bruno]

D&D 4e uses the word "Encounter" but when hard pressed, the game defines it as "and/or 5 game minutes, whichever". Which our group promptly converted over to using as the actual meaning of "Encounter", just like a Turn is a fancy word for 6 seconds (or whatever it is these days in D&D).

I'm pretty sure Vampire and co. had a rough guideline for a "scene" lurking in the rules somewhere on the order of 5-10 minutes. There might be one in DtD somewhere, if not, I'd treat it as either 5 or 10 minutes as that seems in the right ballpark.

[the_matrix_walker]

I just searched the main rule book and cycled through searching for "scene" They use the term ALLOT, but never define it. so I guess it could be anywhere from seconds to hours...

I think it's very entertaining that the first problem to overcome when converting another system to GURPS, is the need to define the original system's terms so they can be converted.

[samd6]

Yeah, thanks for the help. With that taken care of, converting the races (apart from the Dryad, but that's a weird case) is pretty easy, although some move in a direction I was not expecting. I'll post the conversions so far, and hopefully make proper use of tags

I've decided to do Magic-As powers, so spell sonversions should be fairly easy.
After that, I'll tackle the Exaltations.

Spoiler:  

Aasimar: [77]
HT +3 [30], Will +3 [15], Per+3 [15], SM+1
Unfazeable [15]
Gun!@DX-1 [12]
Vitality Reserve 10 [20]

Dark Eldarain: [85]
+1 IQ [20], +1 DX[20]
Obscure Vision 10 (Ranged+50%,Area 4 yards +50%, Recharge ~1 min -25%) [35]
Charisma 2 [10]

Dragonborn [82]
+1 SM, +3 ST [27], +1 Per [5]
DR 3 [15] Dark Vision [25]
Innate Attack 3d Burn (Jet+0, 1/2D and Max at 20 +15% Recharge 15 sec-20%) [15]
Berserk (15) [-5]

Eldarain: [160]
IQ +2 [40]
Warp (10 yards, -50% Magic, -10%, Special movement: walk and be unrestrained-10%, Recharge 1min -25% Cosmic: No roll +100%) [105] Magery 1 [15]

Elf: [112]
+2 DX, +3 Per, +3 Will
Ridiculous Luck (aspected: Ranged Combat -30% ) [42]

Gnome [80]
-1 SM, +1 IQ
Artificer [10] Gizmo 2 [10] Quick Gadgeteer (nuisance effect: explosions -5%, Unnatural features 5 : maniacal expression -5%)[40]

Halfling [~42]
-1 SM, -5 HP
Theify talent 1[?] Enhanced dodge 3
Reputation (Thieving Scum,-1 from non halflings, always) -3

Human
/Included for sake of completeness/
/Humans, and humans only, can take the Mixed Heritage Unusual background/
/Humans also cost nothing to play, so there’s a major draw/