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Old 03-25-2023, 07:45 AM   #11
SilvercatMoonpaw
 
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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Thats the thing though. if you want a comics accurate campaign you need to use comic genre tropes, like pulled punches.
Or you need to divorce penetrating power from "total destruction" power; you could use lots of armor and armor divisors instead of health and damage.
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Encourage players to buy Luck and Hard to Kill too.
Or just play with non-lethal genre conventions.
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Old 03-25-2023, 09:09 AM   #12
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

Gurps for Supers isn't impossible but it is problematic.

Strength v. Innate Attack is problematic and the "solutions" you usually see are excessively compilcated patches over the problem..

Deadliness is a problem.

Tech v. Powers is a problem. 20 pts for High tL and 50 pts for Filthy Rich (or maybe Patron) and perhaps some Military Rank so you can ignore the Legality ratings in UT can look _very_ attractive compared to an equal amount of cp spent on Powers.

These are just some of the problems and you might encounter others others but they boil down to you not being able to say "Here's 1000pts. Go build a superhero".

I'm sure Christopher Rice can run a Gurps Supers game and so can I but it takes too much GM'ing to be really attractive.
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Old 03-25-2023, 09:33 AM   #13
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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These are just some of the problems and you might encounter others others but they boil down to you not being able to say "Here's 1000pts. Go build a superhero".
But you also can't just say "Here's 150 points. Go build a cowboy." Is it a Western? How cinematic is it? Where does it take place? When does it take place? Is it the Weird West? What is the goal of the campaign? Will making my cowbow a Multimillionaire short-circuit the campaign?

Every kind of GURPS game requires curating. Some require more work than others, but there's a reason there's an extensive Campaign Planning Form in the back of the Campaigns book. That is simply the nature of a generic system, and it is no different if you declare the genre to be supers.
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Old 03-25-2023, 09:57 AM   #14
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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But you also can't just say "Here's 150 points. Go build a cowboy..
You can come a lot closer. Your questions were pretty good questions. Good enough that they might cover most possible issues.

Setting up a Supers campaign would require a lot more work. Quite possibly to the point where I needed to do all the characters myself and some people don't want to give up that much control.
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Old 03-25-2023, 10:40 AM   #15
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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I'm sure Christopher Rice can run a Gurps Supers game and so can I but it takes too much GM'ing to be really attractive.
I could myself, at (say) the 300-pt or so range 1940s masked super-normal level.

But tossing out "It just takes curating," with the subtext of "... if you're not too lazy or clueless to bother," is all very well and good. Thing is, there are plenty of folks out there who don't want to do that much heavy lifting, and there are a number of supers systems out there than don't compel them to do so.
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Old 03-25-2023, 11:10 AM   #16
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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I'm sure Christopher Rice can run a Gurps Supers game and so can I but it takes too much GM'ing to be really attractive.
Anyone can. You don't need my level of system mastery. You just need to carefully go through the book and make decisions.

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These are just some of the problems and you might encounter others others but they boil down to you not being able to say "Here's 1000pts. Go build a superhero".
I'm calling this one out specifically because quite honestly if you are not sitting with your players while they make their characters you're going to have problems. You can't just through pasta at the wall and see if it'll stick in GURPS. The GM needs to be involved in character creation for anything even remotely complicated at character creation and that doesn't mean points (but it can).
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Old 03-25-2023, 11:11 AM   #17
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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I could myself, at (say) the 300-pt or so range 1940s masked super-normal level.

But tossing out "It just takes curating," with the subtext of "... if you're not too lazy or clueless to bother," is all very well and good. Thing is, there are plenty of folks out there who don't want to do that much heavy lifting, and there are a number of supers systems out there than don't compel them to do so.
This I'll agree with. Like Christopher I strongly object to "GURPS does not do Superheroes well", I play in one and ran a Third Edition Supers Four Color campaign for about 2 years.
It would be easier and more balanced in Fourth Edition. However Champions is less work, though I feel less reward too. Many character types, mostly super normals wouldn't work as well as say blasters. Gadgeteers specifically would be easier to keep in line using Champions.
But a lot of verisimilitude would be lost and GURPS is much better for the out of combat stuff.
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Old 03-25-2023, 11:12 AM   #18
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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Thing is, there are plenty of folks out there who don't want to do that much heavy lifting, and there are a number of supers systems out there than don't compel them to do so.
This is true. There are some systems where the heavy lifting happens in game play v. happening at character creation. And while that seems easier...it's not. Not for the GM. Supers is one place where the front-loaded aspect of GURPS character creation works in your favor because once your done it is EASY to run the game itself.
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Old 03-25-2023, 11:25 AM   #19
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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This is true. There are some systems where the heavy lifting happens in game play v. happening at character creation.
There are plenty where there isn't as much heavy lifting in either.

You can make GURPS work for supers, but you need to really bring out your tools to force it into shape, because by default it doesn't want to. A system like Champions or Mutants and Masterminds has similar flexibility to GURPS but has default scaling that works for supers (as a consequence, they don't work for other genres as well).
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Old 03-25-2023, 11:26 AM   #20
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Default Re: Why is GURPS not considered a good fit for the Supers genre?

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Thing is, there are plenty of folks out there who don't want to do that much heavy lifting, and there are a number of supers systems out there than don't compel them to do so.
A quick search came up with a lot of different systems (20+), each with a different focus within the Supers genre. And most have different approaches to the basic game mechanics as well, but all were looking at providing an experience geared towards super powered stories and gameplay.

And a lot of them come with a built in setting already, so it's much quicker for a GM to set up a campaign.

Yes, you can do it all using GURPS as well, but it takes more work from the GM. The GM needs to select which optional rules are used, curate (or help build) player powers, flesh out organizations (both friendly and hostile) and figure out stats and abilities of super NPCs. Some GMs like doing that work, others want to spend that time fleshing out the various plots of campaign.
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