X-Files level characters

[Flyndaran]

No amount of evidence no matter how "in her freaking face incontrovertible" could convince her that anything she did not already believe was true. It got tiresome for me after a year or two. It was Mr. Magoo level blindness.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by doctorevilbrain

What was Scully's delusion?

Probably "the paranormal doesn't exist". However, I'd argue that game-mechanically, she doesn't have a Delusion, or at least not a major one. Mulder and Scully are a classic example of the fact that Delusions don't need to be false, just against the standard belief of people in the setting. Mulder has a Delusion, "The paranormal exists", because that contrasts with the majority viewpoint, and voicing it gets him negative reactions, despite, in the X-Files setting, that being the absolute truth. Scully, on the other hand, despite being quite persistent, and in fact, quite stubbornly so, in her belief that the paranormal doesn't exist, doesn't have a Delusion, because her beliefs match the majority, and thus don't cause her social issues.

Now, mind you, I think it's arguable that Scully has some kind of disadvantage to cause her to always assume that a given thing isn't paranormal, despite quite a bit of evidence to the contrary. That is a limitation on the character, just not the social one that a Delusion suggests. I'd probably peg it at -5. Maybe call it Compulsive Skepticism?

[sir_pudding]

Scully has Believes "nothing exists outside of nature, only outside our understanding" [-1].

[Kesendeja]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

That seems backwards. Most of your points should be in professional templates, and background skills are usually a small percentage of that. 30 points in attributes, the modern pistol style, legal enforcement powers, and police skills and 200 points in Sports (Football) or Hobby (Video Games) doesn't make much sense.

All of the characters have very detailed backgrounds. We have one ex-special forces (who really set the points) and of the two other's one has been involved in strange stuff since day one, he was an occult investigator during college, and we're still working on the third one, but so far she's got a lot of points set aside in wealth and status.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Scully has Believes "nothing exists outside of nature, only outside our understanding" [-1].

She usually refused to believe what was right in front of her face scrambling for pretty absurd rationalizations.
It's like pretending that a unicorn stabbing you must be a fairy illusion. It got silly, for me at least. I loved the stand alone episodes though.
And you'd be hard pressed to find a more terrifying episode than the one lacking all supernatural features. Title: "Home"

[JoelSammallahti]

I'd go considerably lower on the budget. Mulder and Scully don't strike me as action heroes on par with John McClane or Snake Plisskin: they're just competent people. I'd make regular FBI special agents on 75 points or so, and 150 should be plenty for X-Files heroes. They get outmaneuvered, tricked, and beaten up, after all, and don't manage to catch their guy (or monster) every time.

Remember that skill 12 is a typical professional, and 14 is really quite impressive, so that's the range in which the PCs' main skills should predominantly be found. For example, if a PC modeled on Scully has IQ 12 [40], Diagnosis 14 [12], and ~10 points in other medical skills, that's perfectly sufficient for handling all the medical clue-hunting business. And if she gets into a shootout, DX 11 [20] and Guns (Pistol) 13 [4] gives her a huge advantage against some random street thugs with DX 10 and 1 point at best in Guns (Pistol) - most realistic criminals blast away at a DX-4 default.

Don't go overboard with the opposition or the penalties, and the PCs won't need to be Batman to overcome them. (Monster Hunters is kind of a bad reference point here: it suffers from a case of enemy inflation in order to challenge the larger-than-life heroes, so even ordinary human bad guys are pretty terrifying. Monster Hunters PCs are supposed to regularly mow down critters that X-Files would treat as practically unbeatable horrors.)

[Maz]

Noone going to stat them up? Start of series, end of series perhaps? I would if I felt like I knew the characters well enough, but I haven't watched an episode this millennium. And I never saw the entire series. Mostly the first couple of seasons.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by JoelSammallahti

I'd go considerably lower on the budget. Mulder and Scully don't strike me as action heroes on par with John McClane or Snake Plisskin: they're just competent people. I'd make regular FBI special agents on 75 points or so, and 150 should be plenty for X-Files heroes. They get outmaneuvered, tricked, and beaten up, after all, and don't manage to catch their guy (or monster) every time.

Remember that skill 12 is a typical professional, and 14 is really quite impressive, so that's the range in which the PCs' main skills should predominantly be found. For example, if a PC modeled on Scully has IQ 12 [40], Diagnosis 14 [12], and ~10 points in other medical skills, that's perfectly sufficient for handling all the medical clue-hunting business. And if she gets into a shootout, DX 11 [20] and Guns (Pistol) 13 [4] gives her a huge advantage against some random street thugs with DX 10 and 1 point at best in Guns (Pistol) - most realistic criminals blast away at a DX-4 default.

Don't go overboard with the opposition or the penalties, and the PCs won't need to be Batman to overcome them. (Monster Hunters is kind of a bad reference point here: it suffers from a case of enemy inflation in order to challenge the larger-than-life heroes, so even ordinary human bad guys are pretty terrifying. Monster Hunters PCs are supposed to regularly mow down critters that X-Files would treat as practically unbeatable horrors.)

I fully do agree. David Duchovny once said that Fox Mulder was the worst FBI agent he ever saw: years of investigations and never the least tangible proof. Of course, it was a joke. But JoelSammallahti is still right: Mulder and Scully are just competent characters. When they face dangerous foe, they do what real FBI agents do: they call for help.

[Kesendeja]

I'm just starting them out as the FBI, eventually, they will be in the thick or global conspiracies, and nightmarish creatures.

Besides, you can't do ex-special forces and the FBI template for 75 pts.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Kesendeja

I'm just starting them out as the FBI, eventually, they will be in the thick or global conspiracies, and nightmarish creatures.

Besides, you can't do ex-special forces and the FBI template for 75 pts.

Right. Actually, it all depends on the precise kind of game you want to play. My purpose was just to speak about Mulder and Skully which are far from being as powerful as a lot of other movie FBI agents. But it's up to you to determine if your player characters will be realistic people (like in classical horror movies - and X-Files belongs to that genre, as well as Delta Green) or more powerfull heroes facing alone more dangerous adversaries - like in GURPS Monster Hunters series.

GURPS allows you to play exactly the way you want. So there is no good answer. There is only the answer that best fit to what you really want.