GURPS resources for low-tech assassination campaign?

[fmultimedia]

Hello guys.

Me and my group began playing gurps in a "medieval"/fantasy setting a while ago, at first having a very "general" themed few adventures - in order to get the feel and the hang of the system. So far, so good, we're all loving it.

The ultimate goal, though, it getting to a point where the group (three people) become a sort of "assassination elite squad" (something like the guys from the movie "wanted"). Though a bit of magic, supernatural beings and stuff are still present, the focus will be on martial arts and infiltration.

The whole group is very keen on the idea of trying out a GURPS play-style that becomes almost board-game-like at some points: scouting, planning strategically ahead, counting each movement point, every single action, etc. The idea is to use hex-maps drawn by me =p to their full extent.

My question is whether there is any kind of resource that touches the theme in one way or another - assassination plots and twists, mechanic resources, premade fantasy indoor hex-maps.... anything will help.

Also, I welcome any and all tips you might have =)

PS: as a side note question, is it alright if I post (in a new thread) the ideas for martial art styles my group is developping and ask for help giving them the final touches?

[whswhs]

There was some discussion of premodern assassination in the 3/e supplement GURPS Covert Ops. For 4/e, your best bet is GURPS Martial Arts, possibly helped out by GURPS Social Engineering: Pulling Rank. There may be useful hints in GURPS Action, but you'll have to adapt it to lower tech levels.

Bill Stoddard

[Polydamas]

I wish I could help, but historical assassinations tended to be less "Assassin's Creed" or James Bourne film and more "disgruntled courtier with a knife" or "gang of thugs waiting in the woods." On the bright side, the kind of unlikely plan and panicked improvization which often emerge at the gaming table is very realistic!

[fmultimedia]

Thanks for the book tips, I'll have a look. And this game is NOT supposed to be realistic. =)

[jason taylor]

Isn't there a legend that the Borgias kept a recipe book of poisons?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by fmultimedia

Though a bit of magic, supernatural beings and stuff are still present, the focus will be on martial arts and infiltration.

You want lots of Stealth, plus Climbing, Lockpicking, Acting and Disguise, plus some more Stealth. Invisibility and inaudibility magic help a great deal. Some way of starting fires on a large scale is also good. Martial arts aren't that important if you can stay concealed, but being good with a Long Knife is useful.

(I just got back home from a session that involved sneaking on board an Italian destroyer in harbour during WWII, cleaning out the captain's safe, and then setting fire to the magazines to sink the ship to conceal the robbery.)

[Glimmerman]

Here's a character with background story from an old campaign Queen&Country:
Juvenile players are picked on by one to be trained as Queen's praetors: assassins, bodyguards and spies, you name it. They all have their own reasons to join, for example one wants to revenge to the Thieve's Guild for killing her master. Players are carefully trained and tested to finally solve some problems which threat the peaceful kingdom of Burgundy. A great example of thoroughgoing character development. (Middle Ages I/Espionage)

Here's another with magic from other campaign.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by fmultimedia

Thanks for the book tips, I'll have a look. And this game is NOT supposed to be realistic. =)

See GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 14: Ninja and Power-Ups for Assassins, Pyramid #3/50: Dungeon Fantasy II.

[fmultimedia]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

See GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 14: Ninja and Power-Ups for Assassins, Pyramid #3/50: Dungeon Fantasy II.

Thanks a lot! One of my friends agreed to purchase Action: Exploits, and I'm finding it incredibly useful/inspiring. Tons of adventure seeds popping out of my head as I read it =)

Two more questions:
1) This one I had already mentioned, but since no one said anything, I'm hoping it just got lost in my many different requests for help: is there any kind of pre-made (hex) map cache available for public use (I would pay for that easily)? While the idea of extensively using tactical maps for detailed missions appeals a lot to the group, the prospect of having to draw one by one myself doesn't...

2) Glimmerman's characters, above, are 200 cp and 450 cp each. I'm wondering if I'm being to stingy/lenient with points in my campaign, considering it's supposed to be cinematic. So, the way we did it: the three players started out with a 125 cp character each.

These characters have their own background and history COMPLETELY unrelated to the ninja/assassination background:

Spoiler:  

one is basically a hunter (nothing fancy, he skins animals and sells pelts for a living); another one is a dwarven aritocrat who was deceived, incriminated and exiled to the surface, where now he lives as a common tradesman; and the last one is an elf urchin who, upon finding out he was a spirit channeler (about the closest we have to magic), fled from the church to the wilds in order not to be 'colared' and now trains under a 'gipsy' troupe his channeling talents.

The idea was to ease everyone into the setting and the rule system (GURPS) and it's working well, they are enjoying the first 'generic' adventures we are having (no martial arts rules, no strategic map so far, etc.) This subcampaign should end with them being recruited by this esoteric assassination agency, which will lead to a gap of years till the next adventure, time in which they will be taught, trained and doutrined into the arts of assassination and martial arts (which comes both as an assassination tool and a enlightenment tool). I'm considering giving them 200 cp in this part of the campaign to represent such training, to be spent in predetermined slots not unlike a template:
* 10 cp in self-growth skills such as philosophy and meditation;
* 40 cp to spend on attributes, advantages and/or buying off disadvantages that go along that personal growth;
* 20 cp in skills and techniques related to a martial style;
* 50 cp for combat advantages (weapon master, combabat reflexes, enhanced defenses, etc. - Trained by a Master is free);
* 20 cp to spend on infiltration skills;
* 30 cp for exotic advantages such as Discriminatory Hearing/Smell, Sensitive Touch, Luck, Serendipity, Danger Sense, etc.
* 30 cp to spend freely in developing their original character concept (outdoor skills, wealth, etc.)

Does that sound too little? Too much? Too badly distributed? Please help a newbie GURPS GM :)

And please don't foget question 1) :D

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by fmultimedia

is there any kind of pre-made (hex) map cache available for public use (I would pay for that easily)? While the idea of extensively using tactical maps for detailed missions appeals a lot to the group, the prospect of having to draw one by one myself doesn't...

Since you're in a fairly low-tech campaign, Dan Howard's Compact Castles is likely to be very useful. It's a PDF of floor-plans of small castles. complete with notes on how to break into them. They aren't hex-gridded since the book is generic and other games use squares, but printing them onto hex paper, or lifting them into a graphics program, will fix that.

Does that sound too little? Too much? Too badly distributed?

Too prescriptive. You have a lot of small "buckets" there, small enough that the granularity of GURPS points costs will cause the characters to spend odd points in skill they don't actually need to avoid wasting them.

Since you have only three characters and they're getting years of fairly personalised training, it makes sense to discuss with the players the things that all the characters need to be able to do, and the things that can be one specialist's job, and then collaboratively design the upgraded characters. This posting from Dr Kromm on skills every adventurer should have is a good guideline for a trained team like this.