Character Advancement

[fridayparson]

I'm thinking of coming back to the game after a 25 year hiatus, and trying to sell a new GURPS campaign to my group. The stumbling block is that while the character creation is amazing, the reason our group stopped playing GURPS was the character advancement, or the lack thereof.

The issue was/is that, with the exception of skills, once one creates a character there is no real advancement to look forward to. Unlike games such as D&D, GURPS characters can play an entire campaign and maybe get to increase a few skills and buy some marginally better equipment. That's not very rewarding for 20 sessions of gaming.

The problem lies in that most of the coolest stuff are things like Advantages, most of which one can't get after creation and stat increases are prohibitively expensive. By contrast in games like D&D, all the coolest stuff is to be earned during play and leveling. In other words after 20 sessions a GURPS character is basically the same. 20 sessions of D&D and one has earned many more abilities, HP, and is exponentially more badass.

While I'm sure some reading this may want to snap off a "git guud scrub" or a "if you don't like GURPS gtfo", I was hoping someone may have a homebrew solution, or any other advice I can use to get my group excited about GURPS again?

[johndallman]

Stat increases are no longer prohibitively expensive. In GURPS fourth edition, which appeared in 2004 while you were away, buying up stats in play costs the same as at character generation. Quite a few people dropped the "double cost in play" rule in 3e days, and it was abandoned at 4e.

Skill costs also changed at 4e. It's cheaper to buy DX-based skills up to high levels, although IQ-based skills got somewhat more expensive.

The rules for acquiring advantages in play were also overhauled. The changes defy brief summary, but you can do more. Many GMs also allow characters to acquire "non-learnable" advantages under some circumstances. For example, in one campaign I play, that whole party was exposed to an enormously powerful magical field for an hour or so, and several of them developed new magic-based advantages.

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by fridayparson

The problem lies in that most of the coolest stuff are things like Advantages, most of which one can't get after creation and stat increases are prohibitively expensive.

To buy any trait you just need the points and a reasonable explanation of how you got it. And as mentioned there's no longer a 2x cost modifier to buy up stats.

[Donny Brook]

In addition tl the incremental buying as you go advancement of a few points per session, it's common in my gaming group for the GM to award a bigger block of points or specific Advantages at the end of a story arc.

[finn]

Give you players more points, and be liberal in allowing them to increase attributes and advantages. I give out 5 points per session in my Dungeon Fantasy games (DFRPG to be precise), and the characters have purchased advantages such as Extra Attack, which increases theirs combat strength by a lot.

[Ulzgoroth]

In the modern edition there are no rules against gaining anything you want in play, although many advantages (the kind that usually are only found as species traits) might need some rather unusual explanation. And there are no point cost differentials regardless of when you get things.

You still may not be able to buy much in 20 sessions (certainly compared to the D&D growth curve) if you follow the Basic Set recommendation of averaging 2-3 points per session, but you're expressly allowed to disregard that. You might want to deal out 10 or more points per session!

[Hide]

I think you should talk with your friends and learn about character expectations.

Also, you could offer them a starting budget of 125, and plan things in such a way everybody has the chance of acquiring another 125 CP in 20 sessions; then they will have ~250 CP characters, which IMO builds the basic “DFRPG heroic characters”.

Up to ~30 points every 5 sessions, sounds about right to fulfill the objective and also buy-off some disadvantages.

[Ezra]

Originally Posted by fridayparson

The issue was/is that, with the exception of skills, once one creates a character there is no real advancement to look forward to.

You might point out to your friends that those "advancements" they look forward to accumulate quickly enough to make the game almost unplayable beyond 8th or 9th level. A GURPS campaign will not suffer the power creep or rulebook calculus that builds in level-based systems.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by fridayparson

The issue was/is that, with the exception of skills, once one creates a character there is no real advancement to look forward to. Unlike games such as D&D, GURPS characters can play an entire campaign and maybe get to increase a few skills and buy some marginally better equipment. That's not very rewarding for 20 sessions of gaming.

The problem lies in that most of the coolest stuff are things like Advantages, most of which one can't get after creation and stat increases are prohibitively expensive. By contrast in games like D&D, all the coolest stuff is to be earned during play and leveling. In other words after 20 sessions a GURPS character is basically the same. 20 sessions of D&D and one has earned many more abilities, HP, and is exponentially more badass.

It's perfectly acceptable, if you want the effect it gives, to start characters with fairly low point values, say 50-100 for classic D&D-like fantasy game. Then hand out generous numbers of points per session (5-10 or even more), and allow players to buy stuff that in a strictly 'mundane' game might not be allowed as in-play purchases.

If you want a really D&D-like experience, put together 25-point packages and allow players to add one to their characters every 3-4 sessions (like levelling up in D&D).

If you want the whole D&D thing, with dungeons and all, I recommend buying either the Dungeon Fantasy series of supplements (the first couple, plus any others that cover something you're interesting in), or the complete in itself Dungeon Fantasy Role-Playing Game, which is GURPS 4e cut down for dungeon fantasy without all the bits that you don't need for that.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Ezra

You might point out to your friends that those "advancements" they look forward to accumulate quickly enough to make the game almost unplayable beyond 8th or 9th level. A GURPS campaign will not suffer the power creep or rulebook calculus that builds in level-based systems.

That depends on how long it runs...

I've been handing out points on a diminishing scale for some years now (3/session under 400 points, 2/session <800, 1/session at 800+), and have a couple of 1200-point PCs. Even disallowing explicitly cinematic advantages, they are monsters in their way.