New here and new to GURPS

[Jeminai]

I began star wars in the West End Games System but have played Star Wars in the GURPS system since 1996. I have never looked back.

The system can do just about anything!

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Hey.

Yeah, it can be a good idea to prepare a setting "cheat sheet" for newer players, listing only the options that will be available in a specific game, rather than throwing the entire book at them and scaring the crap out of them. Good luck!

There is a web tool where you can tick box the traits available in the campaign.

It provides a printable page

I am sure someone else will remember the link quicker than I will.

[Moebius]

http://www.sjgames.com/gameaids/gurps/sorter/

GURPS Fourth Edition Sorter

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

- Build characters starting with a concept, not by treating the rules as a shopping list.

Be warned though that some newbies when presented with huge lists of traits will _want_ to peruse _all_ of them.

They're frequently boggled that they can just pick up something because they want and/or that a specific trait is _available for simple purchase without jumping through hoops. Some will even be surprised that the game system tracks some particular thing.

The simple "choose your concept first and then pick out the things that fit it" really may not work with some people. It could well be like telling someone to compose a speech in a foreign language they've never heard of (Fnordish) by deciding what they want to say and then picking the right words out of an English/Fnordish dictionary.

What I actually recommend fior newbies is a heavily guided character creation process with the GM and all the players together deciding what sort of characters they all want and the GM acting as the English/Fnordish translator even to the point of filling out the sheets himself. The amount of time you save handling the finer points yourself as compared to (probably not entrely successfuly) explaining the finer points could be large.

Alternatively, don't be afraid of pre-gens.

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The simple "choose your concept first and then pick out the things that fit it" really may not work with some people. It could well be like telling someone to compose a speech in a foreign language they've never heard of (Fnordish) by deciding what they want to say and then picking the right words out of an English/Fnordish dictionary.

What I actually recommend fior newbies is a heavily guided character creation process with the GM and all the players together deciding what sort of characters they all want and the GM acting as the English/Fnordish translator even to the point of filling out the sheets himself. The amount of time you save handling the finer points yourself as compared to (probably not entrely successfuly) explaining the finer points could be large.

Alternatively, don't be afraid of pre-gens.

Agreed with all of this. I actually still only come up with a very rough concept and then page through books looking for things that look interesting. Once I have a big pile of traits, I winnow them down based on what is really core to the concept and how much each costs.

I still think the best way to introduce D&D players to GURPS is an Action game. Use templates to make characters, so there's some choice but not too much, and it's a different genre so they're not dealing with clashing assumptions too much from their D&D experience. And even with templates I'd still run a one-shot with pregens so they get a feel for how everything works before they start picking traits.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

And even with templates I'd still run a one-shot with pregens so they get a feel for how everything works before they start picking traits.

Yes templates.


Nothing simplifies like templates.


And to be honest except in 'kitchen sink' campaigns (where you wouldn't use them) they really don't limit PC choice.

[mook]

Originally Posted by Threshold

Hello, I am new to GURPS and new to the forum...I am halfway done with the Advantages chapter and really like how flexible the system is -- granted, it could be very confusing to some of my newer players.

Welcome to GURPS, and to the forums Threshold! These boards are a fantastic resource for any questions you might have - it is the ultimate GURPS hivemind, please take advantage.

One thing I like to mention to newcomers is a small collection of Combat Examples I maintain - check 'em out when you start learning the combat system, they might help.

I hope your switch brings you a ton of fun games in the near future! :)

[Kuroshima]

Welcome to GURPS and to the forums!

First, I second the recommendation of picking Lite, and giving it a read. You'll grasp many things better once you have the foundations in place. You can skip the trait lists in Lite if you want, but the actual rules, you'd better read them.

Second, if you come from WotC-land, I recommend that you start with templates to simplify character creation. There are three sublines that offer templates: Dungeon Fantasy (abbreviated DF in the forums, geared towards hack and slash fantasy in 10' by 10' corridors, with a dose of slapstick), Action (Geared towards modern action movies such as Ocean's Eleven) and Monster Hunters (Abbreviated MH on the forums, geared towards things like Hellboy, Supernatural, etc etc). The first volume of each series provides with templates (packages of traits pre-selected for the players, though offering a lot of variability), and lists of suitable traits for each genre. In my experience, people, when faces with the thick volumes of the basic set, experience "Decision Paralysis", so templates help here contrainiong the choices to what makes sense (in the series writer's opinion) for each concept, and making sure that they don't miss any important skill or trait. The second book on the series digests the rules, indicating what rules to use, what rules to ignore, and how to handle some genre specific situations.

Also, as a man wiser than I once said, "GURPS is like a cow, you don't try to eat it all at once"

[sgtcallistan]

Beyond the sea of character options, you will run into the next WotC inspired stumbling block: adventures.

Designing and adventur can be a aunting task... if you expect to replicate DnD.

What is the adventure concept?
-select 'reality rules' that fit.

What, When, Who, Where, Why?

Make a list of names, items, places, events that will happen anyway, and you have an adventure that the players will create for you.
-enjoy ;)

[OldSam]

Originally Posted by Threshold

...but as I have said, I am still on the Character book's Advantages area -- so I have a lot of reading to do!

To understand and play the game you don't have to read all existing (Dis-) Advantages but having an overview of them is very good. Though I'd recommend reading all headlines and make sure to understand what a (Dis)-Advantage is about, so you know where to look if you're searching something like that later. But of course having read the whole chapters is good background knowledge, so if you got the time and have fun with it, keep going! ;)

For the actual character generation you have to look up the specific (Dis-)Advantages again, so you and the player know the details. You should definitely help your players with the choice because the many options can be overwhelming in the beginning. Give them a few recommendations which fit their character concept.
For instance: "Ok, you want to play a fighter... If you want to be fast with good dodge, you should get 'Combat Reflexes' or if you prefer being a really tough guy, at first get 'High Pain Treshold' and 2 levels of 'Hard to Kill' would be good, too..." Like that ;)

If you want to make your life easier it's a very good idea to get 'Dungeon Fantasy 1' and/or 'Action 1' - depending on your campaign, classic fantasy or modern. Here you will find ready-to-go templates for the usual character types in the genre (Knight, Barbarian, Thief, Wizard or Shooter, Cleaner, Hacker, Driver, etc.), which include these options and you don't have to make it up yourself. Also more advice for running campaigns of that style etc. - really good stuff, especially for beginners :) (and the lines offer more crunch in the other volumes, if you like it)