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06-25-2020, 02:30 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: USA
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GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
Hi all, sorry for all this text! So, since the end of December 2019 I’ve been running a GURPS 4E game for six players with 700CP characters loosely inspired by characters from/similar to those found in the game/anime Fate/Grand Order (FGO) (the Type-Moon fandom/wikia page is a dumpster fire compared to the FGO one for the mobile game, imo, but your mileage may vary).
Everything leading up to the game’s first session went well (introduction to the system with Lite manual, character creation with my supervision/feedback/vetting, etc…) but, as is the case with many games, finding a time we could all consistently meet proved to be a challenge. Only three of my original players from December have remained in the game, while the other three-four slots have been in somewhat-constant flux until about a month ago when I managed to find three players that seem willing to stick with their characters and my campaign. And while only a couple players had any knowledge of GURPS to begin with, the group’s managed well enough with the Lite and Basic Manuals, and even though I’m not running a rules-heavy campaign, there have been a lot more moving parts to keep track of compared to what they’re used to, but I digress. For one thing, I know I’m not the only person to post on these fora about GURPS and FGO, and my questions are not about statting characters, but the composition of the 700CP character (Servants, as they’re called) party is from oldest player character to newest: 1. Naval hero Sidero (Yi Sun-sin), player experienced with Pathfinder/D&D 2. Egyptian Cat Goddess Bastet, player has 0 tabletop experience, but listens to a lot of D&D podcasts 3. Slavic folk witch Baba Yaga (and her Chicken Hut, lol), their player is a few years older than me, has lots of tabletop experience, some with GURPS too 4. Achilles, recruited off FGO subreddit, so a gamer first, but has some experience with D&D 5. A Proud Tengu, also from FGO subreddit; lots of tabletop experience and enthusiastic, but 0 GURPS knowledge 6. Francine Descartes, last from FGO subreddit. Totally new to tabletop RPGs. There’s also a Katsushika Hokusai/Oi character I made to help guide the party at some points. Anyhow, the game began with the Servants/Demiservants being sent back (from TL10) to 19th century Crimea to deal with a singularity/Significantly Dangerous problem that occurs during the Crimean war (1854). The group’s traveled around the peninsula, visited a sleeping underwater eldritch city, fought off something like the Dunwich Horror in an abandoned town, and just visited a church where a strange rite had recently happened, and they were ambushed by something like Dagons. As of last session, the party is still at the church, with a dead priest and they’ve discovered scraps of what seem to be parts of the Egyptian Book of Gates. This is also the session where I had to stop halfway and tell them I had no idea what to do because what I’d originally aimed for them to do (get to Sevastopol and figure out what’s causing all the chaos?) was not longer really making much sense after throwing in Lovecraft stuff and now Egyptian mythology. So I clearly need help. I’ve asked them what they want and two players said: “Personally I’m looking for a balanced roleplaying and combat experience with stakes, when out of game I want to feel like the choices I make matter, make me make hard decisions like asking me to choose between what are basically ultimatums, I want be able to interact with NPCs who are their own people and don’t feel like they exist merely for the sake of being a plot device, and I want to play in a world where it feels like it could exist on its own without a player ever touching it, and for fights and dungeons I don’t have too many requests other than asking you don’t make it difficult for the sake of being difficult (like old arcade games that are difficult just to pad play time).” And “I have little experience with tabletop RPGs prior to this, so I came in with no real expectations (and so far, I'm pleasently surprised). Most of the points Overlord cited seem valid to me, though if I have to add my own touch, I would say to balance the campaign so that each character has a least a moment to shine. Like having a fight with a particularly tough ennemy that managed to knock down most of the characters and the team has to rely on the brawler specialists to win what seems to be an battle of endurance, having a time where you need to track down a certain character in a wild environnement that makes use of the hunting characters, having a time where the well-known characters from a land uses their fame to open a few doors for the group (could have done that with Baba Yaga since it's in the right setup), having complicated puzzles that require the inteligent characters of the bunch to wreck their brains on it, etc (though I do realise how difficult it would be to balance that with a team of players can be absent from the game at the last minute).” I am inclined to agree more with the second person's feedback because I wanted to try using some challenges that aren’t just fighting things. Really, 700CP fights on a regular basis kinda get boring and I’m having to hit them with lots of penalties if I want to challenge them at all. Does anyone think this game can be saved? The player with the most experience half-jokingly suggested that I just send the party back to the future to regroup and figure out where/when to go from there, which is just fine if more than a couple people in the group RP’d their characters more. To be fair, I haven’t really introduced many, if any, memorable or dynamic NPCs aside from Oi/Hokusai. I was considering having Florence Nightingale make an appearance, though, but that feels ex machina sort of, doesn’t it? Any input is appreciated because I need help for tomorrow afternoon’s game and don’t want to let them down like I did the last session by cutting it short halfway through the session time. Thanks! |
06-25-2020, 06:34 AM | #2 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
You've got players and you've got a flexible premise, so I suspect the game can be saved.
A few comments:
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06-25-2020, 12:56 PM | #3 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: USA
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Re: GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
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06-25-2020, 06:03 PM | #4 | |
Join Date: Nov 2016
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Re: GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
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I think you should look for the book GURPS - supers. It features ideas that could help you manage the CP budget of your characters. Maybe you should start another story, in the same universe. When my players reach high CP amounts (over 500), their characters become part of the universe’s “historic figures” and we start another game with about 250-350 CP. Sometimes the players find their own past characters as NPCs (as allies, patrons, enemies, etc.), it’s really nice. As I see it, a 700 CP character is a very seasoned character. IMO the problem of playing with high CP budgets carries issues such as overlapping abilities (among the party), the need of micro-managing the characters abilities to create challenge (stuff as imposing the penalties you mentioned) and sometimes needing to think about NPCs that require the same budget of CP as the PCs to present a challenge. Fewer CP means your people has to think about their role in the party. Of course, it is not a guarantee they won’t have overlapping roles… for that matter you need to talk to them and have them talk among them during character creation.
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06-25-2020, 08:13 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: USA
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Re: GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
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One option might be to have them assume the roles of human Masters, who are...well, human and in no way approach the CP of a their servants. But in order to do that, I'd need a good lead-in that I haven't figured out yet, lol. Thanks for the feedback, though! |
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06-25-2020, 10:12 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
Regarding lower CP characters, it was revealed for some time, for FGO, that often the MC Master travels not with a group of fully summoned Servants from the home base, but what are sort of weaker copies called a "shades." Normally they travel with only one full Servant, and the rest are those weaker copies.
You could probably use something like that as an excuse for a lower CP character. Like they're sort of weaker copies being sent out while the originals are staying put back at the home base until the full characters are needed. Last edited by warellis; 06-25-2020 at 10:15 PM. |
06-26-2020, 06:56 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: USA
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Re: GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
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If they could play as Masters and still keep their current Servant characters as Allies, that may work? It would take a little tweaking, and Allies aren't really supposed to work like that are they? I'm going to try continuing the game this afternoon, and still have a few things to figure out I guess... |
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06-28-2020, 09:58 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: USA
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Re: GMing an FGO-Inspired Game?
Had a family emergency and couldn't continue the game, but it turns out half the group couldn't make it anyhow. Funny how those things work, right?
I did make some headway on what I will do though. I think continuing the game as it is, with the 700CP characters is doable, because they're still servants with little utility outside of combat situations. What I was thinking is that instead of making it some ominous force that's trying to destroy humanity, what if it's some-one, trying to seek revenge for the loss of someone they cared about? Their power, for some reason, is only limited, at the moment, to only the Crimean peninsula. The party will need to figure out all this, and also, what if someone in the party was, at some point, and in some way, responsible for the loss of this person this enemy is seeking revenge for? Thanks again for any input! :) |
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advice, game mastering, gurps 4e, help me out here |
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