GURPS YouTube Content

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

That's the price of being "Generic" with at least some attention paid to real-world systems.

With all respect, this is exactly the sort of statement about GURPS that I think is untrue. GURPS is not inherently any more complicated than some genre-specific games.

[Cpt_Clyde]

Originally Posted by PCK_Clark

Hi everyone,
I'm looking forward to collaborating with the people in this forum and becoming a part of this small but fantastic community!

Welcome! Always good to have more GURPS content on youtube!
On my little gurps channel the combat examples seem to be the most popular so you can never do enough of those I guess. Especially since GURPS does have a lot of depth available in that area.
I would be up for collaboration videos if you had use for me but sadly my time commitment to videos is pretty low (as you can tell from the low video production levels) so I may not be much help.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Shostak

GURPS is not inherently any more complicated than some genre-specific games.

GURPS isn't especially complicated. It's just got long lists of stuff to potentially put on character sheets.

[PCK_Clark]

Originally Posted by khorboth

What does a 13 in a skill mean?

Why 3d6 and not 1d20?

How do I make my game more realistic or more cinematic?

Which books do I buy?

Thanks mate, some very good points - I think "Why 3d6" could potentially be it's own 5-10 minute video.

Originally Posted by Rolando

I also think a key feature is that you don't need all the 500+ pages of GURPS, just the basic 3 types of rolls and the will to have some awesome time. Success Rolls, Damage Rolls, Reaction rolls. Everything else is optional. Even Reaction Rolls is kind of optional to me.

Also that all those 500+ pages are there to help and not hinder your attempts to have an awesome time.

Absolutely - I try to spend a few minutes in the first video reinforcing the idea that GURPS is a toolkit, and at it's heart it is simple. I'll be sure to reflect on the script/how its shot to ensure it translates well in the video.

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Before you get bogged down in the minutiae of rules, you should emphasize that, for players, GURPS is only as complex as players and the GM agree it should be. GURPS is a toolkit, and people only need to use the tools appropriate to the job, at hand.

Now then, I do think it would help to acknowledge, forthrightly, that GURPS exists primarily for GMs who want to build their own campaign settings, from scratch. The reason it has so many optional dials and switches is that it's supposed to help people build worlds.

Wholeheartedly agree - the only mechanic I cover in the first video are success rolls, that GURPS is a skill based system, and from there (briefly) explaining how attributes, advantages, disadvantages and skills work. In regard to your feedback about GM's - this is an important take away and I'll have a think on whether it deserves it's own video. That being said, I am considering doing a series on things first-time GURPS GM's should consider.

Originally Posted by Refplace

I support this approach highly.
Give examples and some simple rolls with explanations to show the mechanics.
For example, "Your driving across town with a skill of 12 and get +4 for routine task modifier. Normally you might not even roll but lets see if you get in an accident or a traffic stop today"
My blog on the GURPS Landing Page has some FAQs and other things I think useful, feel free to borrow any of that material for ideas or references.

Cheers mate - that's something that will definitely be covered in the video. Appreciate your offer regarding content, I'll check your blog out and will be sure to credit you if I use any in a video.

Originally Posted by Shostak

THANK YOU! What a great idea!

GURPS has an unfair reputation for being complicated, rules-heavy, and lacking flavor. So, it could be really helpful to emphasize how simple it can be by flipping switches at the beginning, and how, by having rules fade into the background somewhat, the flavor comes from the unfolding interactive story instead of being imposed by rules.

Thanks Shostak - let's hope it turns out alright haha. I agree with you - the GURPS system is a fantastic enabler for story-telling. It does require a bit of legwork at the beginning, but the trade off is the ability to tell a story in just about every setting. My goal is to make GURPS more accessible for new/curious gamers.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Rolando

@khorboth: I wouldn't say 3d6 vs 1d20, i would recommend saying "why 3d6" and that's it (talk about the advantages of a bell curve), otherwise you will get confrontational with the D20 folks. Samall things like that are always positive.

I also think a key feature is that you don't need all the 500+ pages of GURPS, just the basic 3 types of rolls and the will to have some awesome time. Success Rolls, Damage Rolls, Reaction rolls. Everything else is optional. Even Reaction Rolls is kind of optional to me.

Also that all those 500+ pages are there to help and not hinder your attempts to have an awesome time.

Regarding 3d6 even the Hypertext d20 SDR for D&D 3.5 talked about it: Bell Curve Rolls:

"Players used to the thrill of rolling high and the agony of a natural 1 will get that feeling less often—but it may be more meaningful when it does happen. Good die rolls are a fundamental reward of the game, and it changes the character of the game when the rewards are somewhat stronger but less frequent. Game balance shifts subtly when you use the bell curve variant. Rolling 3d6 gives you a lot more average rolls, which favors the stronger side in combat. And in the d20 game, that’s almost always the PCs. "

Of course the main difference between D&D and GURPS 3d6 is that GURPS has a sliding scale allowing the GM to adjust the "grittiness" of the game.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Shostak

With all respect, this is exactly the sort of statement about GURPS that I think is untrue. GURPS is not inherently any more complicated than some genre-specific games.

Agreed. I played D&D back in the AD&D era and even with the base rules there as a lot complicated stuff DMs flat out ignored: weapon specific AC modifiers and the grappling rules. No one I played with ever used those things. Hireling and Henchman rules are not as bad...until you realized for them to work as presented in AD&D1 1 in 10 people was level 1 or higher in some class.

Then things like the AD&D versions of Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures came out and balance went bye bye. Near the end of the TSR era tere was even a way to build your own class - something that had appeared in Dragon Magazine from the get go. It got to the point we use to joke about the "Magic-user that wears pointed shoes and speak in rhyme" class.

[jfowler]

The GURPS YouTube content that I would love to see expand would be one-shots in a variety of obvious and not-so-obvious genres, with a relatively experienced GM and enthusiastic players. Eg Action, Dungeon Fantasy, Space, Infinite Worlds, Girl Genius. Maybe one or two newbie-ish players in the group, and streamlined rulesets for the genres, illustrating how flexible (yet straightforward) the system can be. There are a few of these out now, but I think that more wouldn’t hurt. And maybe a Forum thread that assembles them into an easy-to-find list? If there already is such a thread, please point!?

[thalcos]

While I don't go into GURPS rules specifics, I started a 1shotadventures YouTube channel to give overviews of some of my more popular one-shot adventures. I find that easy-to-run adventures do more to intrigue players than rules explanations, but obviously the community needs both.

The videos HAVE inspired some groups to run the adventures live on Twitch, though most of them are porting them to other systems :-/

But it's a start! I might expand into explaining how to set them up for GURPS in Foundry, or run pieces of them with rules. Subscribe if you get a chance.

[jfowler]

Originally Posted by thalcos

While I don't go into GURPS rules specifics, I started a 1shotadventures YouTube channel to give overviews of some of my more popular one-shot adventures. I find that easy-to-run adventures do more to intrigue players than rules explanations, but obviously the community needs both.
[…]
I might expand into explaining how to set them up for GURPS in Foundry, or run pieces of them with rules. Subscribe if you get a chance.

Awesome, thanks for this pointer - your website is amazing, so many cool adventures, with GURPSian variety! Will be watching your channel -

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by PCK_Clark

My question to the forum is: What topics do you think would be helpful for new players, and are there any experiences you've had as a new player or GM that would be good to address in this series.

The use of default skills and the way extra time factors in. One of the things that I learned here when I first showed up is in the real world most people probably are using default skill but compensating with better tools and extra time as modifiers.

It was very useful to me to realize I didn't need to put a point into "everything" I thought this character might be able to do, just things that they were better than most at doing.