GURPS Does It The Hard Way!

[ClayDowling]

I'm really having trouble seeing the original argument.

i came to this game via Transhuman Space. There is an incredible depth of supplements, a good collection of adventures (which look like mini-campaigns), and campaign ideas from the Personnel Files series.

3rd Edition Horror might not use 4th edition rules, but it has three good campaign sketches and good descriptions for some classic monsters that anybody competent to run an adventure could come up with an excellent game if horror was their thing.

Fantasy? The Roma Arcana setting, while I haven't played it, offers a very unique take on the fantasy setting, and frankly looks pretty cool.

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by The_Nightwatch

@Nymdok: Exactly. On the other hand, I hope my post didn't come across as totally negative. Coming up with scenarios that will work for darned near anything would be pretty cool!!

No its not negative at all! It really is a challenge! Its what started me thinking that instead of a traditional stat-block, we might be best served by base skills and stats, and relative statblocks for tweaking.

For example....

Lets say there is an evil Cleric with an Affliction that Paralyzes. The standard rule for affliction is HT -0 per level of affliction, but what if all my charachters have HT 14? How do I scale that?

The answer is to give the base stats for the affliction and how it works, and then allow it to be scalable by level.

In this case, 4 levels of the Affliction should balance it versus the party.

If ONE member of the party has 14 HT and the others have 10, then leave it as is, this is HIS time to shine :)

Nymdok

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Brett

(This week's cogent explanation of why there aren't many GURPS adventures.)

I swear, one of these days I'm going to summarize the points that always come up during these discussions and set them to music. There may be a little dance to go with it.

Come to think of it, is this issue addressed a FAQ somewhere? It approaches the platonic ideal of a frequently asked question.

[capnq]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

Sourcebooks don't sell all that well by the way, though GURPS does have a few. Don't particularly like most of them myself, but they are there.

Which is one of the reasons sourcebooks don't sell well. GURPS provides width of coverage, and leaves it up to individual GMs how much depth they want. The more focused a sourcebook is, the smaller a piece of the spectrum of possible GURPS campaigns it applies to, and the smaller the number of GMs who have a use for it. The Dungeon Fantasy series might have the widest beam of applicability, but still I doubt it hits more than a plurality of the GURPS campaigns that people run.

[capnq]

Originally Posted by PrinceYyrkoon

Now, to say that there is a complete setting in the Campaign book is stretching it a little, dont you think? Its basically just an outline.

An outline that was expanded into another full-size hardcover.

No setting is ever "complete"; people are too imaginative for that. IMO, when people complain about GURPS' supposed lack of settings, they're actually saying that none of the settings published so far are quite what they want.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by capnq

No setting is ever "complete"; people are too imaginative for that. IMO, when people complain about GURPS' supposed lack of settings, they're actually saying that none of the settings published so far are quite what they want.

Some are, I suppose. On the other hand, GURPS is definitely sparse on adventures, and those who want published adventures are not being well served.

That said, given the generally poor sales of those adventures which have been published, it would seem clear that people who want published adventures for GURPS are very much a minority.

[b-dog]

GURPS has no setting or adventures for DF.

GURPS also doesn't have conversion books for D&D, Diablo or WoW settings, monsters, magic items and adventures so you can use them with GURPS rules.

So basically you are on your own with GURPS.

[mib2932]

Originally Posted by b-dog

GURPS has no setting or adventures for DF.

Banestorm would work very well for DF.

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by b-dog

GURPS has no setting or adventures for DF.

DF is a rules style. You can use any fantasy setting with it. GURPS provides a number of fantasy settings: Banestorm, Roma Arcana, etc. This is not counting all the many 3e setting books you could use. Also classic DF is often settingless. Just go into a dungeon and kill things. And back in the day D&D, there were rules to create that dungeon completely randomly with dice.

Originally Posted by b-dog

GURPS also doesn't have conversion books for D&D, Diablo or WoW settings, monsters, magic items and adventures so you can use them with GURPS rules.

There would be copyright violation problems with doing this. If you got permission you'd have to pay a lot of money, and why spend the money to do that when they can direct you to Banestorm, or if you want to create your own setting the Fantasy book?

Originally Posted by b-dog

So basically you are on your own with GURPS.

That's not true.

There are numerous settings with NPCs and maps, etc. And also a number of adventures. Heck after my first homebrew game that I ran, I GMd an espionage game that used the Operation Midnight 4 adventure campaign. Pyramid has had adventures, too.

There is a free Fantasy adventure you can download, Caravan to Ein Arris. You could download GURPS Lite and Caravan to Ein Arris and play GURPS for no money.

[RedMattis]

Originally Posted by ClayDowling

Fantasy? The Roma Arcana setting, while I haven't played it, offers a very unique take on the fantasy setting, and frankly looks pretty cool.

I'm sceptic to "very unique takes" of settings being what the average GM/Player is interested in. Personally I think I prefer a more generic, but deep and interesting setting. For buying anyways. But maybe that's just me.