Genre preferences

[sparcipx]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

I'm sort of new to GURPS so I'm sticking my big toe in <snip> After this fantasy campaign though I think I will diverge in some strange direction. It's the strength of GURPS so why not lean into it.

As someone who is both relatively new to GURPS and prone to leaning in (very) strange directions, I'd warn you not to make the same mistake as I did: trying to cram too much cool (read multi-genre) stuff into one campaign with little regard for narrative or suitability. GURPS will handle it, but damn, what a mess to GM.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

I knew I'd be inspired reading all of your posts. I'm sort of new to GURPS so I'm sticking my big toe in and playing fantasy but definitely using GURPS to make it unique. I don't find the system that hard conceptually. It's just ironing out the details.

After this fantasy campaign though I think I will diverge in some strange direction. It's the strength of GURPS so why not lean into it.

Good!

Originally Posted by sparcipx

As someone who is both relatively new to GURPS and prone to leaning in (very) strange directions, I'd warn you not to make the same mistake as I did: trying to cram too much cool (read multi-genre) stuff into one campaign with little regard for narrative or suitability. GURPS will handle it, but damn, what a mess to GM.

But also this. Don't use too many supplements if you can and don't use too many house rules. Use the system "as is" as much as possible till you know it and then start bending/breaking the rules.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Don't use too many supplements if you can and don't use too many house rules. Use the system "as is" as much as possible till you know it and then start bending/breaking the rules.

Very much this!

The biggest tip I can give to both players and GMs is "know the genre". GURPS will handle nearly any genre, but you'll need to know which tools in the toolbox to use and which to toss. Knowing the genre will help toss various traits by the wayside.

[transmetahuman]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

Things I come back to include (in roughly the order of frequency):
1. Pseudo-medieval fantasy - with a range from mostly straight-forward dungeon crawls to a Leverage inspired campaign in a setting loosely based on Thieves’ World.
2. Supers - usually not four-color, comics-based, more people with powers, or some kind of deconstruction of comics tropes.
3. Urban fantasy - GURPS Mage the Ascension a couple of times and a Dresden-verse game.
4. Sci-fi - it’s been a while since I ran or or played in a relatively straight science fiction game. More recently it’s had psionics, or been science fantasy that includes magic or the force, or retro sci-fi, Tales of the Solar Patrol.
5. ‘Weirded’ historical settings - pulp 1930s with supernatural monsters, ritual magic, and gadgeteering; or swashbuckling in the same world’s Elizabethan England.

Except for (1), you and I seem to be on the same page. I love games with supernatural/paranormal elements, generally Industrial Age-ish/Victorian or later, whether the weirdness is public or secret. Supers, preferably worlds where they don't automatically become heroes or villains, and where vigilantism is recognized as the horrible idea it is (as an often-reviled minority, I can too-vividly imagine how *that* would go); psis, ritual magicians, Age of Gold, Technomancer, Cabal, Monster Hunters, Urban Fantasy, and mix-ups. I'm an avid reader of hard science fiction, but for some reason never play that style. I think I would enjoy an Infinite Worlds campaign that had a heaping dose of that stuff - I loved reading about that Infinite Cabal campaign.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Don't use too many supplements if you can and don't use too many house rules. Use the system "as is" as much as possible till you know it and then start bending/breaking the rules.

There's a handy thing I heard long ago; "It's easier to break rules you know than makes ones you don't."

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Good!

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

But also this. Don't use too many supplements if you can and don't use too many house rules. Use the system "as is" as much as possible till you know it and then start bending/breaking the rules.

While I am somewhat inexperienced with GURPS, I've been world building from the eighties. I've also GM'd a lot of campaigns so I'm familiar with how to write adventures, create settings, etc... It's just adapting that stuff to GURPS is the challenge. I'm excited about it if you can't tell.

So a lot of the supplements I'm using are just additive or improvements to techniques I've already had along the way. So I've dove deep on things like Boardrooms and Curia, City Stats, etc.. to help me standardize my new campaign setting in a GURPS way. I eat that sort of stuff up.

One of my reasons for coming to GURPS was the flexibility. So I am using some variations on magic systems etc.. as part of the variances across my world. I am not though inventing the wheel. I'm just picking and choosing with very minor tweaks the stuff in Thaumatology and Magic. I will have a cinematic campaign so I'll also pull in that sort of stuff but that is just standard rules.

Thanks for the great advice and caring enough to give it.

I know I need to pickup the Low-Tech 1 and Low-Tech 2 for sure. May do that very soon. I own the main Low-Tech book.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

There's a handy thing I heard long ago; "It's easier to break rules you know than makes ones you don't."

Indeed. And my grandfather's two corollaries to rules breaking in general, "Son, if ya ain't cheating, ya ain't hard enough" and "If you don't like the rules change the game, if you don't like the game change the rules."

Originally Posted by Emerikol

While I am somewhat inexperienced with GURPS, I've been world building from the eighties. I've also GM'd a lot of campaigns so I'm familiar with how to write adventures, create settings, etc... It's just adapting that stuff to GURPS is the challenge. I'm excited about it if you can't tell.

So a lot of the supplements I'm using are just additive or improvements to techniques I've already had along the way. So I've dove deep on things like Boardrooms and Curia, City Stats, etc.. to help me standardize my new campaign setting in a GURPS way. I eat that sort of stuff up.

One of my reasons for coming to GURPS was the flexibility. So I am using some variations on magic systems etc.. as part of the variances across my world. I am not though inventing the wheel. I'm just picking and choosing with very minor tweaks the stuff in Thaumatology and Magic. I will have a cinematic campaign so I'll also pull in that sort of stuff but that is just standard rules.

Nice.

Originally Posted by Emerikol

Thanks for the great advice and caring enough to give it.

No worries. I try to help as many people as I possibly can as best I can.

[Black Leviathan]

I've gotten to the point where I have a tough time not mixing genres to some degree. GURPS has made it too easy to make game worlds that I find myself constantly reaching for something that combines the best flavors together.

Urban Fantasy
Western Fantasy
Imperialist Alternate Worlds
Post Apocalypse Fairytale
Space Swashbuckler
Space Cyberpunk
Fantasy Space

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by whswhs

As it happens, I was born in 1949.

Yeah, but at this point, you're well into ""curmudgeonly" and rapidly approaching the status of, "old guy." :)

Also, I just noticed your new sig.
That's hilarious! 8)

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by whswhs

As it happens, I was born in 1949.

You've got me beat Bill but I bet I've got a majority of the others beat.

You are an example of someone who got into roleplaying after his early youth which is rarer. Might be an interesting story to tell some day.