Call for Playtesters: GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire

[Kromm]

Calling all monster hunters! We are seeking playtesters for GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by Christopher R. Rice and J. Edward Tremlett. This 32+ page "sandbox" is designed so that GMs can use it as the basis for a single scenario, several scenarios, or an entire campaign. It involves a secret brotherhood, forbidden knowledge, murder, Bad Places, and of course monsters . . . more than that would spoil it for future players.

Candidates should be familiar with the GURPS Monster Hunters series. GURPS Monster Hunters 1: Champions and GURPS Monster Hunters 2: The Mission are especially important, but GURPS Monster Hunters 3: The Enemy, GURPS Monster Hunters 4: Sidekicks, and GURPS Monster Hunters 5: Applied Xenology are also relevant. The main goal of the playtest is to get GMs to run the adventure, tell us how well it survives contact with actual gamers, and report any plot holes or logic traps found. We would also welcome commentary on whether the presented material is interesting, internally consistent, and in keeping with the mood and power level of the series.

The playtest is currently scheduled to run for one month starting on May 17, 2024. We are posting this call for playtesters far in advance because we know it takes time to arrange a date with a gaming group. We really want to see this played, not merely read!

Please apply only if you have the required supplements. Preferential playtest slots will be given to those who have spent at least $50 on PDFs from Warehouse 23 in the past calendar year, though this is not a requirement. Those who can promise actual play will be chosen before those who cannot. For more, see the general playtest information page.

Prospective playtesters should email Christopher at empererofthemoon@gmail.com with [TFOF PLAYTEST] in the subject. Include your preferred email address for the closed playtest mailing list, your name as you wish it to appear in the published supplement, your Warehouse 23 email if it's different from the address for the list, and a few words on why we should pick you: qualifications, experience, current gaming group(s), etc. Please use this format:

hjanvier@my.playtests.name
Henry January
henjan@cuernavaca.com
I'm a huge fan of hunters and slayers, and I've run a GURPS Monster Hunters campaign since the series kicked off in 2011. Obviously, I have the whole series and all the Pyramid issues that support it. I checked with my four players (we meet weekly) and it looks like a go to give this adventure a shot.

We look forward to hearing from you!

[Michael Thayne]

Do the authors have any guidance on number of players, minimum number of sessions, pregen creation, etc.?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Do the authors have any guidance on number of players, minimum number of sessions, pregen creation, etc.?

Starting MH characters should be able to tough things out if they're smart. We didn't have pregens. Sessions really depends on the GM and the players. There is lots that can be done...but you can also go straight to the heart of it if you want.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Do the authors have any guidance on number of players, minimum number of sessions, pregen creation, etc.?

I am not one of the authors, but I've read the manuscript. It is a true sandbox. You could make it work for anything from one high-powered investigator to a multi-PC-per-player campaign with several distinct squads. It could be a blip along the way to the real mission or the basis for an entire campaign, depending on how deeply you want to dig. Thus, it's impossible to pregenerate characters for it . . . it isn't that kind of adventure. it's an integrated set of encounter, adventure, and campaign seeds.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I am not one of the authors, but I've read the manuscript. It is a true sandbox. You could make it work for anything from one high-powered investigator to a multi-PC-per-player campaign with several distinct squads. It could be a blip along the way to the real mission or the basis for an entire campaign, depending on how deeply you want to dig. Thus, it's impossible to pregenerate characters for it . . . it isn't that kind of adventure. it's an integrated set of encounter, adventure, and campaign seeds.

Given that, I will see if I can schedule 3 sessions, but not feel too bad if I only get in 1. However, I don't understand what you mean by "impossible to pregenerate characters for", unless we're using different definitions of "pregenerate". By "pregen" I generally mean the thing Delvers to Go does for DFRPG, and I don't know what it would mean for something to be "impossible to pregenerate characters for" unless it is introducing an entire alternate character creation system.

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

However, I don't understand what you mean by "impossible to pregenerate characters for", unless we're using different definitions of "pregenerate". By "pregen" I generally mean the thing Delvers to Go does for DFRPG, and I don't know what it would mean for something to be "impossible to pregenerate characters for" unless it is introducing an entire alternate character creation system.

I'll take a stab in the dark - my reading of it is that as a sandbox, the variations and alternatives are so great that the number of possible character options is so vast that it's not practical to pre-generate some and include them in the book, and it's probably not desirable because it "leads" the game rather than remaining an open sandbox. It would also take up a lot of pages.

So they're not saying that you can't pre-generate characters to run a game, just that for this book they're not in a position to provide some in it or for the playtest.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Farmer

So they're not saying that you can't pre-generate characters to run a game, just that for this book they're not in a position to provide some in it or for the playtest.

Ah, I that would explain it.

[J. Edward Tremlett]

Originally Posted by Farmer

I'll take a stab in the dark - my reading of it is that as a sandbox, the variations and alternatives are so great that the number of possible character options is so vast that it's not practical to pre-generate some and include them in the book, and it's probably not desirable because it "leads" the game rather than remaining an open sandbox. It would also take up a lot of pages.

You got it on the nose. Thanks!

[Kallatari]

How, for lack of a better word, "portable" is the adventure to variant Monster Hunters settings.

Monster Hunters, despite not having a setting per se, is set in a modern TL8 world in which magic and monsters are hidden and unknown to the general population.

I know that any adventure can be adapted to any setting if the GM is willing to put the effort into it. I'm just curious as to how much effort would it require.

Can you easily change the TL? Will it work just as well in a 1920-1940 "pulp" Monster Hunters, or a 2050+ "cyberpunk" Monster Huntera? Without revealing spoilers, is there certain tech that's required for the scenario (computers, nuclear bombs, space shuttle) that would require lots of work on the GM to get around if adapted to a different TL.

Can it work in an open-magic world. For example, if you wanted to play it as a Technomancers-style Monster Hunter? Would the easy availability/accessibility of magic, or just people's knowledge and awareness of magic, play an important factor in the adventure that would also potentially require a lot of GM prep to work around?

And, finally, and probably more importantly, would the feedback with any such "alternate setting" still be useful to you.. especially if any significant changes were required.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

How, for lack of a better word, "portable" is the adventure to variant Monster Hunters settings.

Monster Hunters, despite not having a setting per se, is set in a modern TL8 world in which magic and monsters are hidden and unknown to the general population.

I know that any adventure can be adapted to any setting if the GM is willing to put the effort into it. I'm just curious as to how much effort would it require.

Can you easily change the TL? Will it work just as well in a 1920-1940 "pulp" Monster Hunters, or a 2050+ "cyberpunk" Monster Huntera? Without revealing spoilers, is there certain tech that's required for the scenario (computers, nuclear bombs, space shuttle) that would require lots of work on the GM to get around if adapted to a different TL.

Can it work in an open-magic world. For example, if you wanted to play it as a Technomancers-style Monster Hunter? Would the easy availability/accessibility of magic, or just people's knowledge and awareness of magic, play an important factor in the adventure that would also potentially require a lot of GM prep to work around?

And, finally, and probably more importantly, would the feedback with any such "alternate setting" still be useful to you.. especially if any significant changes were required.

It probably wouldn't require too much work to adapt it to other styles of setting. But at the same time, it DOES follow the assumptions of the MH line - just like if it were a DF adventure it would follow those assumptions. So radically changing things might have unforeseen issues.