10-17-2011, 07:17 AM | #21 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Oldenburg, Germany
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
Creating characters is important, but so is NPCs and monsters for the PCs to oppose.
First of all, character points are an accounting device for PCs only. Thus, it is totally pointless to worry about character point totals unless it's for a PC or an NPC that falls under their "Ally", "Enemy", or similar advantages and disadvantages. Remembering this will save you huge amounts of work. Just note down whatever traits you think are appropriate, and leave it at that. As for combat enemies, I always suggest the following guidelines for generic "nameless" enemies that the PCs are expected to defeat (these are most appropriate for fantasy and other low-tech settings - guns change the dynamics significantly): - Don't give them high Active Defense values, as it will frustrate the PCs if the enemies always get out of the way. Anything above 12 is excessive, and in many cases 10 will do just fine. - Don't give them high DR, as it may take the PCs a long time to take such foes down - and they might even repeatedly do no damage at all, which can also be frustrating. - Don't give them high HT, as this will only drag out the fight because the enemy just won't go down even after being severely wounded. If you want to increase the danger such foes represent, either increase their number - which will force the PC to position themselves carefully to avoid getting surrounded - or increase their damage dealing potential while keeping their attack skill values low. This way they won't hit often... but the PCs will still be careful around them because when they do hit it will hurt a lot. You can build foes that violate all of these, of course, but this is better reserved for "boss monsters", leaders, and other unique foes. As an example, in last week's GURPS Dark Sun session, the PCs faced a mul bandit leader, who was an experienced fighter, a half-giant with a big club who didn't hit often but was very strong and tough, and a dozen bandits which didn't pose much of a threat individually and generally went down after a single hit...
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10-17-2011, 12:35 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
Quote:
Bill Stoddard |
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10-17-2011, 01:03 PM | #23 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Caxias do Sul, Brazil
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
Quote:
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10-17-2011, 01:12 PM | #24 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
You might want to look at the section about things one should consider when beginning to use GURPS. Or even revive the discussion, since the impressions of new-to-GURPS people should play a role in how we/I write such starter-explanations.
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10-17-2011, 03:01 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
Quote:
Bill Stoddard |
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10-17-2011, 05:04 PM | #26 |
Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
Add but that not disagreeing with what we are saying, a Major NPC has potential to become an Ally or an Enemy. it's the minor NPCs who you don't need all that information that don't to be fully built which were are advising against So that the GM don't get over burned in their work load.
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10-17-2011, 05:54 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
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I generally just go with Amateur = 10, Professional = 12, Elite = 14 and they get +1 for Easy skills, -1 for Hard skills. |
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10-17-2011, 06:10 PM | #28 | |
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Athens of America
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
Quote:
Basically about a 3"x5" Index Card worth...have about 40-50 Pregened minor NPCs in the box...if I start GMing again I will be adding to the box again... Organized Roughly By Type (Sailor, Soldier, Tinker, Spy, etc) and Point Total (25pts to 80 pts or so)...anything much more than 100 pts or so I will tend to do a fuller writeup... Of course if it is totally on the fly...I might wing it entirely and make some notes as I go...if the party seems likely to come back around to the NPC again...I might flesh out a write up. I like to have a good bit in the can...because I know I will be winging a fair bit. On the note of Setting for the OP...I tend to do some creation...but more often I am busy filing the serial numbers off everything I can think of... Old (1e) DnD modules...(my original B2 Keep on the Borderlands I have used in Gurps at least 3 different times/ways I can remember), Iron Crown Middle Earth Supplements...(I once ran a party through a mission as scouts working for a Dwarven Expitition working to "recover" a lost dwarven cavern/city...pretty sure I never said Mines of Moria once...), Old Runequest stuff...Gamma world Modules with science out and magic in... I did some 100% "original" content...but even then often it was a reflection of a movie, or a book, or a mostly dark historical event... Good Luck but I would advise getting a good "world/continent" map and then loot and plunder adventure kernels with a vengence!!!
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My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.-Foch America is not perfect, but I will hold her hand until she gets well.-unk Tuskegee Airman |
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10-17-2011, 06:46 PM | #29 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
I throw together some NPCs and fully writeup others, same with monsters.
And some NPCs intended to be one shots later got a full writeup and much more use. |
10-17-2011, 07:45 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: New here and new to GURPS
If you don't want to buy GURPS Character Assistant yet or don't run Windows grab GURPS Character Sheet, not quite as nice as the official one but runs on Macs and Linux as well as Windows and is free. Makes generating characters a lot faster. And you can ask your players to use it without it costing them anything.
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