Torg -> GURPS Conversion

[Jasonft]

Except that their level on the Social Axiom prevents them from doing that unless it is clearly for the Greater Good (tm). Given the presence of the Virus this suddenly becomes an interesting dilemma.


As to the other matter I brought up a couple posts back - How about Unusual Background (Possibility Rated)? Starting out at something like only 5 points for a person with a low Reality score in TORG, it lets you buy at least some cinematic skills but gives you no bonus on your roll to resist Reality Shifts... other than the fact that it gives you one in the first place!

For a simple game mechanic how about you make a hard limit of (points in Possibility Rated background) x 5 [10 for Nile Empire folk] for how many points you can invest in Cinematic skills appropriate to your Realm. Points in the (P-Rating background) divided by five on the other hand gives you your bonus to resist Shifts. And probably to detect Reality based phenomena (like zone borders and such) come to think of it.

The flip side of having a lot of points in the P-Rating background is that your bonus to resist Shifts is added to the bonus of an opposing P-Rated person to detect *your* unusual aura!


I suppose you could fiddle with the numbers and come up with something more appropriate for your campaign style, but I think it might be workable.

Opinions anyone?


Side note btw: Almost everything in the game would have to have a notation as to what Reality it came from. Even the spell formulae. You had to be extremely careful about the fine print sometimes in that game to avoid Contradictions.

[longhorn]

Looks good to me.

-Grant

[diamondb]

Jasonft

This looks good. I was just thinking about a "Stormer" advantage, but I think that Unusual Background (Stormer) works even better - I don't like adding things when something in system will do the job for me. The mechanic looks pretty sweet too - and I particularly like that you singled out the Nile (my favorite Cosm) for thier cinematic strength.

As for the Drama Deck, I'm going to use it - I like the suggestions made for its integration. I haven't decided which version of the deck I'll use (I actually have all three versions, Torg, Shatterzone and MasterDeck) because I'm really fond of the "Uh-oh" (**** hitting the fan illustration) card from Shatterzone, and the MasterDeck has the wild cards (originally from the Shatterzone deck) in a more generalized format. There are only a couple of world specific cards in the Torg deck (Glory being the only one I can think of) and I'm not sure they can be integrated smoothly, particularly if I'm just making a judgement call when it comes to the situation that would tie direct to the Glory card. I suppose, however, that the party could play the Glory card as a GM card (similar to Subplot, Campaign, etc) to indicate that they are trying to sow the necessary seeds for instilling possibilty energy back into the area.

Thoughts?

I'll write some things up and post them here and see what feedback I can get.

[Jasonft]

I like to think of the first deck from TORG as a good first try. I actually liked the Masterdeck better - it just felt more balanced somehow.

Glory deeds and their effects on the Warzones were a necessary mechanic, and worked okay in the books, but in play I don't know if I ever saw one used. Maybe there was a better way to make it work and maybe there wasn't. It just nagged at my mind how... arbitrary and random Glory deeds seemed.

In a GURPS format it would have to be a critical hit or critical failure in some dramatic moment. How about only when a critical is scored (or recovered from) against another P-Rating native to the Realm in question?

If Luck cannot get you a Glory chance and the primary opponent for the 'battle' in question (it might not be a fight) has to have an equivalent or higher P-Rating than the highest PC Rating then I suspect Glory deeds would be about as rare as necessary.

I would give the opponents a chance to detect gathering Glory. It should definitely be noticeable if the situation allows. Come to think of it, who says only the good guys get Glory...


Side note: Best use of a 'Glory Card' in a story that comes to mind at the moment is out of David Drake's Belisarius series. One of that general's bodyguards was arguably one of the dozen best swordsmen in the world - and found himself in a one on one duel with an equal who happened to be one of the opposing generals.

Both armies just kind of stood there and watched for *hours* as the fight played out. The bodyguard lost in the end, but the Destiny shift of that fight echoed all the way to the end of the series.

Second best: Luke Skywalker getting *two* in the movies. Once making the shot to kill the Death Star, and then to save Anakin from the Dark Side.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

I like to think of the first deck from TORG as a good first try. I actually liked the Masterdeck better - it just felt more balanced somehow.

Glory deeds and their effects on the Warzones were a necessary mechanic, and worked okay in the books, but in play I don't know if I ever saw one used. Maybe there was a better way to make it work and maybe there wasn't. It just nagged at my mind how... arbitrary and random Glory deeds seemed.

Yeah, the Glory mechanic never worked for me either. Me, I just used the various Torg realities as elements of an Infinite Worlds schema that had a lot more sides than the default.