New to GURPs; not sure where to start

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

Is it reasonable to let a character use the Gizmo advantage to pull out a force sword battery? I know that as GM it's my call, but I'm new to the system, so I'm not entirely sure if that's a reasonable item to pull out.

Gizmos are for something small enough that would fit in a coat pocket. Force Sword Battery fits that...additionally, it must be one of three things:

1. An item the PC owns but did not say they were carrying.
2. An item you probably own, fits in the character concept, but is minor enough to leave unspecified.
3. An inexpensive device widely available at your tech level.

So...in order to answer your question, I'd have to know a couple things. Does the character with the Gizmo already own some batteries? Then yes.
Is the item in the character concept and minor? Well that depends. If it is the Ninja who has the Gizmo advantage, I'd probably say yet. If it is a different character? Maybe not.

Is it an inexpensive device widely available at your tech level? Well...that's up to you. In a regular techno game world, I'd probably say yet. In Star Wars, I'd say no. In your game? I don't know...if it is some sort of post apocalyptic thing...maybe not...maybe with the break down of civilization nothing is really widely available anymore.

So it depends, but in a post apocalyptic game? My gut feeling is...if the character with the Gizmo advantage is the ninja, yes. If not...maybe not. Sort of depends on the character concept of the character with the Gizmo advantage and how long the Gadgeteer and the Ninja have known each other, how close their relationship is...etc.

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

As far as I can tell, burn damage doesn't multiply damage. Does burn damage carry any extra effects with it?

I'd think of a Force Sword as a tight beam burning attack. Tight beam burning attacks do x2 damage to eyes and vitals (B399)...and they are much less likely to set things on fire. So...go with that.

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

My laptop is still dead...working on getting it fixed... if I purchase the character building program and download it to my desktop, can I later go back with my laptop and download it again without paying for it a second time?

Why don't you pick up GURPS Character Sheet instead? It is free and multiplatform.

http://gcs.trollworks.com/Welcome.html

[Johnny Angel]

Originally Posted by Gizensha

^ means superscience, as in it's outside of a realistic tech level system as we understand science (which doesn't neccessarially mean it can't happen, just that it requires our current understanding of science to be incomplete or wrong for it to happen) - So, a setting that's TL9^ has realistic TL9 technology and some superscience based technology to go along with it. This is covered on pages 513-514 of Basic.



Stuff damaged by burning damage can catch fire (Basic 433 and 434 has details), but aside from that I don't think so. (And, no, 'setting things on fire' doesn't really fit my conception of how force-swords should work)

ok...

I was basing my understanding of a force sword on a lightsaber...I think that's what it's suppose to be anyway...

At TL9 I am seeing it as being similar to a light saber, but the "blade" is partially laser, and partially electricity and magnetism. The best way I can explain it is a weaponized version of a Jacob's Ladder. (I think that's what the things are called with which you can watch the electricity move between the two metal rods.) That also seems to explain how a force sword can be used to parry another force sword as well; the magnetic/electrical charges from one blade would resist the charges from another blade. I don't see them being able to set things on fire either.

[Johnny Angel]

Originally Posted by trooper6

Why don't you pick up GURPS Character Sheet instead? It is free and multiplatform.

http://gcs.trollworks.com/Welcome.html

What are the pros and cons of that program versus the pros and cons of the Character Assistant?

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

What are the pros and cons of that program versus the pros and cons of the Character Assistant?

I don't have a PC, so I can't use GCA...so I can't tell you much of anything about that program, I can tell you that I've been using GCS for years and it is a great program. And since it is free, why don't you download it and check it out? It may fill all your needs and save you some money.

Another plus of GCS, all your players, if they get really excited can download the program for free as well.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by trooper6

I'd think of a Force Sword as a tight beam burning attack. Tight beam burning attacks do x2 damage to eyes and vitals (B399)...and they are much less likely to set things on fire.

Me Too, on a thrusting attack. On the damage multipliers, however: X2 to Vitals, yes, but only X1 to eyes and the normal X4 that everything except Toxic gets if it penetrates to the brain (same page ref).

[Gizensha]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

What are the pros and cons of that program versus the pros and cons of the Character Assistant?

Haven't really had much experience with Character Assistant, but as near as I can tell, if you can figure out GURPS Character Sheet, it's got the superior feature list, but Character Sheet has a better look-and-feel and a far lesser learning curve (This is why I haven't had much experience of Character Assistant, incidentally)

Obviously on price Character Sheet has the advantage. :p

[balzacq]

Originally Posted by Gizensha

Haven't really had much experience with Character Assistant, but as near as I can tell, if you can figure out GURPS Character Sheet, it's got the superior feature list, but Character Sheet has a better look-and-feel and a far lesser learning curve (This is why I haven't had much experience of Character Assistant, incidentally)

Obviously on price Character Sheet has the advantage. :p

The free GURPS Character Sheet has problems with templates -- it's not immediately obvious how to set up choices like "select 15 points from blah, blah, blah or blah", and you have to set the character point value in a preferences screen instead of directly on the character sheet.

Other than that, I have no problems with it at all. It's easy to noodle around with character concepts, or create a standard NPC sheet and add twenty different weapons skills to it to simulate all the possible weapons they might have without regard to character points.

It's also extensible. I was able to easily convert the High-Tech Weapons data into a GCS equipment library, remove anything not available before 1880, and distribute it to my players. Everything is stored as xml files, so you can crack into them with a text editor and tweak values, prerequisites, etc. as much as you like.

[Johnny Angel]

A handful of unrelated questions:

I'm somewhat confused about armor. Is it possible to wear more than one suit of armor?

Specifically, can I wear a mail coif under a leather helm? This is an issue which came up while making a character. I've already found an alternative way to try to do what I was doing armor-wise, so at this point I'm not changing it back. I just want to know if it's possible, because I don't fully understand some of the armors yet.
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What information is relevant for an NPC? Specifically, in the game I'm going to run for a few of my friends, the ninja guy is on the run from the Yakuza. I rolled to see if they would show up during the intro part of the campaign, and, yes, they will. I rolled randomly, and 17 Yakuza at 50% of the PC's power will show up.

On a side note: I'm interested to see how it will play out because one of the other PCs also has an enemy which will show up at the same time. The one guy is playing a female character on the run from the US Gov't; from what I can tell the character is similar to the main character from Mirror's Edge. So there will be the Yakuza, whatever I had originally planned, and the US Gov't.

Right now the party consists of: Mirror's Edge-esque Femme Fatale; force sword wielding ninja; Tony Stark/Iron Man inspired character.

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I have a pretty good grasp on creating templates. I'm unsure how to mimic some of the traits of races inspired by other games I play. An example would be the trait which Dwarves have in D&D; they always move the same speed regardless of how weighted down they are.

To give myself some practice, I've been trying to convert some of the stuff I'm familiar with in D&D. Dragonborn seem fairly easy; the breath weapon would be an innate attack I think. Elves are fairly straight forward.

I was trying to figure out how the 'shifty' trait which D&D's Kobolds have would work, but that's one which stumped me too. I was thinking perhaps it would be some sort of special option which allows them to spend a FP to take a step or perhaps some sort of special option which allows them to take a step in a situation where it's not normally allowed. For those who aren't familiar with what 'shifty' is, in D&D 4E you have three types of actions: standard, move, minor. Standards are usually used for attacking, casting spells, etc. Moves are for...well, moving. Minors are similar in scope of time to a GURPS Ready. One of the move options is to take a single step; this -in D&D- prevents you from provoking an opportunity attack. Kobolds are able to take a step with a minor action instead of needing to use a move action.

...now that I've generated some interest with my friends, I wanted to show them what some of the D&D creatures would look like as GURPS creatures. I thought perhaps this would also be a good way to introduce some of the new terminology to the group. They already understand what the creatures can do; seeing the new terminology being used to explain concepts they are already familiar with will -I hope and think- give them a stepping stone into learning more of the system.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

I'm somewhat confused about armor. Is it possible to wear more than one suit of armor?

See "Combining and Layering Armor," p. B286

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

What information is relevant for an NPC?

Depends on what the NPC is likely to do. You'll want basic attributes for most NPCs If they're just going to fight, you'll need fighting skills, and advantages/disads relevant to combat (DR, Combat Reflexes, etc., rather than, say, Patron, Reduced Consumption, and so on). If they're just going to talk, you'll want to know their social traits but probably ignore combat-related ones.

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

An example would be the trait which Dwarves have in D&D; they always move the same speed regardless of how weighted down they are.

Give them a few points of extra ST with a limitation: only for encumbrance. I don't know if there's a published modifier for that. If there isn't, I'd give it something fairly hefty; say, -75%.

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

For those who aren't familiar with what 'shifty' is, in D&D 4E you have three types of actions: standard, move, minor. Standards are usually used for attacking, casting spells, etc. Moves are for...well, moving. Minors are similar in scope of time to a GURPS Ready. One of the move options is to take a single step; this -in D&D- prevents you from provoking an opportunity attack. Kobolds are able to take a step with a minor action instead of needing to use a move action.

Hmmm...this is something which seems pretty strongly tied to the specific mechanics of D&D and so doesn't translate well into GURPS. Despite the names, it doesn't sound like it would translate as enhanced ability to Step in combat. I'd lean towards giving them enhanced Speed, which generically helps in attempts to evade attacks and close with or avoid enemies.

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angel

A handful of unrelated questions:

I'm somewhat confused about armor. Is it possible to wear more than one suit of armor?

Specifically, can I wear a mail coif under a leather helm? This is an issue which came up while making a character. I've already found an alternative way to try to do what I was doing armor-wise, so at this point I'm not changing it back. I just want to know if it's possible, because I don't fully understand some of the armors yet.

TBC already pointed you to the rules on B286. But I'll also answer directly.
Can you wear a mail coif under a leather helm? No. The inner layer of armor must be flexible and concealable. A mail coif is flexible (it has the * by its DR listing), but it isn't concealable (it doesn't have the [1] note).

Note also if you layer armor you are at -1 to DX and DX-based skills.