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Old 03-22-2013, 11:00 AM   #1
Kromm
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Default Pyramid #3/53: Action

I've loaded my guns
Sharpened my knives, gassed the car
I'm gonna git you!
— Some hack
Explosions? Hell, yeah! New from e23 Studios and the team that brought you GURPS Action 1: Heroes, GURPS Action 2: Exploits, and GURPS Action 3: Furious Fists comes Pyramid #3/53: Action! Here are some gratuitous spoilers of all the best action scenes:
  • Action assumes a team of heroes because it adapts cinematic action flicks to roleplaying, and most gaming groups have more than one or two players. However, if your group is small – perhaps just one player plus a GM – you're in a perfect spot to emulate buddy movies and lone-hero stories! Check out Buddies and Loners for details.

  • While the Action series assumes a modern-day setting, many of its cinematic tropes and character concepts are just as appropriate for the past or the future. Phil Masters' Extended Action! provides several new contexts – from Old West to sci-fi – supported by three new background lenses, a new template, and horse-chase rules. Now you can keep things high-octane, even in settings where no one knows what "octane" is!

  • Is your wheel man looking for something armed, armored, and dangerous? Something suitable for the military and SWAT, but theoretically available to civilians? Maybe even something that can swim? When you want Hell on Wheels, you want the Cadillac Gage Commando, one of the most versatile armored cars ever. Hans Christian-Vortisch provides details and stats for the V-100 and V-150 models, along with three of their most common weapons.

  • The Action chase rules are great on the ground, but when it's time for some Dogfight Action!, you'll want this month's Eidetic Memory. David Pulver expands the rules (and the Range Band Table) to cover vehicles for which 1,000 yards is less "Extreme" and more "I'll be there in a few seconds." All that – plus stats for four aircraft and four vehicular weapons – should stand you in good stead the next time your PCs hijack a jet fighter.

  • Even the best con men and thieves sometimes find themselves Dealing With the Law. When that happens, there's a right way and a wrong way to handle yourself. Not only does this article walk you through the right way from a real-world perspective, it includes the GURPS skills that every Action hero needs in such a situation.

  • Time for a caper? Great! Let's plan . . . and plan . . . and plan. If that's happened to you, you'll love I've Got a Great Idea. Roger Burton West introduces fast-preparation rules that abstract "the plan" into a simple series of rolls to gain "Angles." After that, the PCs can charge into the mission, spending their Angles as needed for bonuses, rerolls, or lucky coincidences that represent all the planning they did. Less talk, more action – always a good thing, right?

  • In a violence-oriented genre like Action, there's no way you could run a fun all-medic game, right? Wait, why are you handing me this Jack of Hearts? Whoa, you're with The Red Swords – the independent medical team famous for illegally crossing borders into dangerous warzones to help the locals (usually with scalpels, but with guns when necessary). When "Shoot the healer!" is Plan A, these guys are more than able to give as good as they take.

  • Some action heroes seem to have an inhuman degree of foresight (or at least enough luck to fake it). No matter what plot twist or obstacle they encounter, they smile and say, Fortunately, I Saw This Coming. Jason "PK" Levine expands GURPS to cover retroactive actions, allowing normal players to take on the role of genius masterminds. With a new advantage and multiple options in the vein of GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys, there are several ways for you to always have a trick up your sleeve.

  • And the action remains nonstop throughout the usual features, including a Random Thought Table that looks at the motivating role of money, Odds and Ends to complicate your adventures, and a Murphy's Rule that may keep your mechanic from making any plans this week.
PK & Kromm
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Old 03-22-2013, 11:40 AM   #2
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

Overall this was a pretty fantastic article. But I loved PK's Fortunately, I Saw This Coming. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Simple and easy to use. loved it.

Did I mention I really liked that article? ;-)
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Old 03-22-2013, 05:22 PM   #3
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghostdancer View Post

Did I mention I really liked that article? ;-)

You may just have, once or twice ;)
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Old 03-22-2013, 11:32 PM   #4
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

Hmmm... on close inspection, I have a small complaint: the Action Demigod lens for the Ultimate Action Hero seems almost guaranteed to produce an un-optimized build. Basically, for your second advantage option, you only have two choices since Buddy Bond is useless to a loner: Jack of All Trades 3 [30] OR Jack of All Trades 1 [10] and Wild Talent 1 [20]. I like the first option a lot more, and once you've done that you can eliminate all those skills you only have 1 point in, start lowering your other skills by 1 level until you've saved 50 points, and then buy DX +1 [20]; IQ +1 [20]; HT +1 [10]. You get higher defaults, higher levels of the few skills you didn't lower/eliminate, better Will, Per, and HT rolls, all at virtually no cost.

Another option: instead of adding three more skill packages, have the lens eliminate those ten points in secondary skills, and then add DX +1 [20] and IQ +1 [20] to the lens.
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Old 03-23-2013, 01:28 AM   #5
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

I'm happy with my Pyramid subscription when I can find something in an article that is useful, not necessarily as intended.
An issue that has 4 articles I can use and 4 that can be twisted to my evil purposes? And there's more? I need a sixth star for my Rating.

I particularly like: Buddies&Loners, I've Got a Great Idea and Fortunately, I Saw This Coming.

Thank you.
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Old 03-23-2013, 03:23 AM   #6
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

Looking forward to implementing Dogfights and Foresight eventually. Also probably going to look over dealing with the law.
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Old 03-28-2013, 11:00 AM   #7
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
Phil Masters' Extended Action! provides several new contexts – from Old West to sci-fi – supported by three new background lenses, a new template, and horse-chase rules. Now you can keep things high-octane, even in settings where no one knows what "octane" is!
Not having seen it, I'm not completely sure, but this sounds like useful for fantasy as well.
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Old 03-29-2013, 01:11 PM   #8
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

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Originally Posted by demonsbane View Post
Not having seen it, I'm not completely sure, but this sounds like useful for fantasy as well.
In a sense, it absolutely is -- specifically, if you want to run an Action game in a fantasy setting, I'd strongly recommend reading Phil's article, just for the general advice on bringing Action into the past. But he didn't focus on fantasy much, because "fantasy action" is covered so well by Dungeon Fantasy.
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Old 03-29-2013, 02:33 PM   #9
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

Thanks for your answer.

In any case my wondering was just about "horse rider chases" :) If in this Pyramid issue they are covered in some particular way, I imagine they also will work for Fantasy —for instance, the Peter Jackson's LOTR Arwen vs. Ringwraiths riders scene of the linked video.
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Old 03-29-2013, 03:25 PM   #10
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Default Re: Pyramid #3/53: Action

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Originally Posted by demonsbane View Post
Thanks for your answer.

In any case my wondering was just about "horse rider chases" :) If in this Pyramid issue they are covered in some particular way, I imagine they also will work for Fantasy —for instance, the Peter Jackson's LOTR Arwen vs. Ringwraiths riders scene of the linked video.
Yes, actually -- in fact, the horse-chase rules obtained by adding Exploits + Extended Action! would be great for any fantasy game, even one that didn't use any of the other features from the Action series!
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