01-16-2013, 06:56 AM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2011
Location: high desert plains
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FURPS... FreeformGURPS?
Free-Gurps? FfURPS?
Anyhow... Having gained some more experience in internet gaming, mostly Play-by-Post, it occurs to me that it is a form of game-communication which does not lend itself well to dice-heavy or rules-laden gaming. Freeform, especially in social situations, seems a perfect fit, but I do believe that a system of some kind is indispensable, especially for handling the stickier bits. And I like GURPS as the system because it can provide an answer for almost any darn thing. Freeform also makes it easier to run a wider variety of game settings -- especially tech-heavy bits like Star Trek or Star Wars -- without a ton of supplemental rules and conversions. So I thought about gene-splicing the strengths of both approaches. What if I could run a PbP game with a Freeform style but still have the GURPS crunchy bits under the hood for when they're needed? The players would still have a fully developed GURPS character sheet that would provide them with a definition of capacities (and incapacities), but the exact numbers would only be referenced when things are at their trickiest. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with that sort of thing, or a better idea even. Thanks! |
01-16-2013, 08:22 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Neverland
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Re: FURPS... FreeformGURPS?
Well, I bet that everyone use Gurps as a free-form game, baring the system to only the rules that appeal to them and ignoring the rest. In my campaing, depending on the case, background and flow of the game in the day, we get down to the crushing bits (You want to convince the land lord that you need the horses? Roll against Savoir Faire [Nobility] to see if you know how to behave yourself in front of him, against Fast Talk to pass through his "secretary" and, finally, against Diplomacy to actually talk to him, or, sometimes, we don't let dice get in the way (you really want to bride the cop by throwing a hundred bucks on his table, and your Streetwise and Fast-Talk are both at 16? Yes, he get the money while looking suspicious, but quickly allow you to pass by.
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01-16-2013, 11:47 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Virginia, US
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Re: FURPS... FreeformGURPS?
As someone that uses GURPS for online play, and because of the influence that Amber DRPG had on me back in the day, my personal preference is to drape FUDGE's adjective ladder over GURPS. This has a number of advantages, at least in my mind if no-one else:
One the character generation/characterisation front, I've also found it interesting to describe the overall character with FATE-like Aspects that are ultimately translated back into advantages/disadvantages. Again, though, YMMV--what works for me might not work for you. |
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freeform, pbp |
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