Converting GURPS critters to TFT?

[BrokenWynde]

Searched for a thread on this to no avail. Are there any serious notions by SJ Games to convert the GURPS beasties to a TFT beastiary? If not, what are the rules of thumb for TFT GMasters to make on the fly conversions?

[mark hill]

Id suggest trying thier ST, DX and IQ as is .. with IQ maybe compare average mammal/reptile/bug IQ in TFT

for each extra hex in size (over 1 hex), add +5 ST compared to GURPS

for MA, find something similar in TFT and use that MA

for armour, maybe 1 or 2 hits for fur, and maybe size in hexes (x2) for heavily armoured animals (like turtles, rhino, dinosaurs etc)

for damage, Id look at the BH table for PCS, and add maybe their size in hexes as a bonus to damage

animals with horns, or other natural weapons, or multi-hex carnivores, add one extra die damage

round up adds of +4 to a whole die instead

and that will probably be close enuf for TFT purposes :)

[JLV]

Originally Posted by mark hill

Id suggest trying thier ST, DX and IQ as is .. with IQ maybe compare average mammal/reptile/bug IQ in TFT

for each extra hex in size (over 1 hex), add +5 ST compared to GURPS

for MA, find something similar in TFT and use that MA

for armour, maybe 1 or 2 hits for fur, and maybe size in hexes (x2) for heavily armoured animals (like turtles, rhino, dinosaurs etc)

for damage, Id look at the BH table for PCS, and add maybe their size in hexes as a bonus to damage

animals with horns, or other natural weapons, or multi-hex carnivores, add one extra die damage

round up adds of +4 to a whole die instead

and that will probably be close enuf for TFT purposes :)

What I've been doing is averaging their HT and ST (HT+ST/2, round fractions up) and taking their DX and IQ as is. That seems to work pretty well for both animals and people. Armor is fairly straightforward, I think, but natural weapons are a bit tougher -- so I generally look for some analogous beastie and try to figure out what seems fair given their relative strengths, sizes, etc.

Spell and Talent choice is a little trickier for the peeps among 'em, but if you actively apply KISS, you can figure out a "close enough" version fairly quickly. Advantages and Disadvantages I treat more as role-playing guidance than as anything germane to the stats system.

Oh, and MA is simply whatever it ought to be for TFT -- since TFT has "standard" MAs instead of calculating them based on attributes, that's usually pretty easy to pick too.

But all that is just me... ;-)

[JohnPaulB]

Originally Posted by JLV

What I've been doing is averaging their HT and ST (HT+ST/2, round fractions up) and taking their DX and IQ as is. That seems to work pretty well for both animals and people. Armor is fairly straightforward, I think, but natural weapons are a bit tougher -- so I generally look for some analogous beastie and try to figure out what seems fair given their relative strengths, sizes, etc.

I could agree with all that.

You could still list some of the advantages/disadvantages as "these types tend to have this ____ (whether you buy it or not)." So the player can know what the GM feels should be role-played or the general expectation of that thing.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by JohnPaulB

I could agree with all that.

You could still list some of the advantages/disadvantages as "these types tend to have this ____ (whether you buy it or not)." So the player can know what the GM feels should be role-played or the general expectation of that thing.

And, of course, in the Companion, they have that old Space Gamer article on Disadvantages (which, I think, may have been the first ever such article) plus a follow-on, which would help you if you wanted to do something similar with TFT...

[Skarg]

GURPS Speed/Move for humans is about half what it is in TFT, so you could multiply GURPS beast speed/move by 2 to get TFT MA.

But GURPS doesn't tend to nerf animal speeds the way TFT does (i.e. a human can outrun a bear in TFT, but not in GURPS).

When converting damages, you should consider that GURPS damage type matters. Impaling does 2x damage after damage resistance, cutting does 1.5x, crushing 1x.

I'd say that GURPS damages tend to be higher than TFT damages, however, as GURPS characters don't start dying until they have full negative hitpoints, not just -1.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Skarg

GURPS Speed/Move for humans is about half what it is in TFT, so you could multiply GURPS beast speed/move by 2 to get TFT MA.

But GURPS doesn't tend to nerf animal speeds the way TFT does (i.e. a human can outrun a bear in TFT, but not in GURPS).

When converting damages, you should consider that GURPS damage type matters. Impaling does 2x damage after damage resistance, cutting does 1.5x, crushing 1x.

I'd say that GURPS damages tend to be higher than TFT damages, however, as GURPS characters don't start dying until they have full negative hitpoints, not just -1.

That would work for MA. As far as weapons damages go, I still think it could be handled using a revised weapons table with damages for cutting/impaling weapons being higher but more variable (e.g.; 3D-4 versus 2D) and the existing damage numbers working well for crushing damage... No fancy rules exceptions or additions, just a few revisions to the weapons table.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by JLV

That would work for MA. As far as weapons damages go, I still think it could be handled using a revised weapons table with damages for cutting/impaling weapons being higher but more variable (e.g.; 3D-4 versus 2D) and the existing damage numbers working well for crushing damage... No fancy rules exceptions or additions, just a few revisions to the weapons table.

I agree. I mentioned the damage types because knowing about them and taking them into account when converting seems important to me.

[JLV]

Originally Posted by Skarg

I agree. I mentioned the damage types because knowing about them and taking them into account when converting seems important to me.

I agree. I just wish TFT had handled this in a more elegant way in the Legacy Edition (which does, after all, have the benefit of 35 years of gaming advancement, including the way GURPS looks at weapons damage). Ah well, maybe in TFT21 (TM), the 21st Century Edition of The Fantasy Trip!

[HeatDeath]

We have TFT21 (TM). It's called DFRPG.