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Old 09-25-2022, 07:24 AM   #1
Territan
 
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Default Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

(FYI, this campaign sprung from the Seeking "An Argument For" thread here on the forums.)

How It Started:
"First Take Studios wants to contract private investigators, industry insiders, legal professionals, and film buffs to review materials from our vaults. The specific enquiries are sensitive and confidential in nature, and may involve future legal action and criminal charges against whatever guilty parties are identified. An initial briefing will be held at the First Take Studios, Studio #1, on September 12th at 11:00 AM for parties interested in pursuing this extended temporary salaried position. Refreshments will be served after."

A company called Melpomene Movie Productions built a studio and attempted to become the next Hammer House of Horror, but something went horribly wrong; after a few decent horror films, what few things managed to reach the public were little more than pretentious art-house drivel. And when the company shut down completely, the bank couldn't do anything with it until the owner and CEO (who had disappeared without a trace) could be declared legally dead.

It's now $current_year, and both owner and ownership have legally passed. A company called First Take Productions quickly snapped up all of Melpomene's assets, lock, stock, and barrel, thinking they'd have a turnkey studio operation. The lots and buildings were in mostly good shape, the sensitive equipment was put away and warehoused, and the company's film library would have who knows what treasures housed within.

For the most part, they were right. Business files and production equipment had to be dragged into the digital age, and much of that is going well. Buildings needed little repairs because they were receiving upkeep. The superficials and public-facing parts were easily patched, and the studio is already making back those expenses with business and commercial contracts. Things are looking up!

But that film library is another matter—it turns out First Take is literally sitting on something between an active crime scene and an active volcano. It was a proper movie company at first, but then the filming didn't just devove, it went feral. Many experimental reels of film with robed cult-like figures conducting nonsensical rituals. And a few on-screen murders. And more than a few overt hints that they were trying to summon someone or something.

And that's why the current Chief Operator of First Take Studios sent out a call for legal, law enforcement, and film buffs: To clean house, and use that film library to track down every piece of dirt that previous studio left behind. The new manager of the film vault has only begun to scan and digitize the footage, looking to separate the usable from the actionable. And it turns out that the film library isn't the only place to find uncomfortable (possibly lethal) truths.

Where It Is Now:
I gave them the "Courier New" portion above as a prompt. Then using light feedback from the players, I made characters in GCS and set them up for easy import into Foundry as changes are made.

Of my four players (none of whom are familiar with GURPS), two have jumped in with both feet and have everything set up, all the way down to quirks.

The other two had a "preview" night getting accustomed to the way things work, in GURPS, in Foundry, and in my fevered little imagination. I intended that night to finish up their characters, but they still don't have quirks. And one player doesn't think he needs "quirks," choosing to take his roleplaying cues solely from his Disadvantages (Unattractive, Bad Smell, OPH "Well Actually...", and Overconfidence). I foresee trouble there.

(I started writing something out to him explaining the utility of quirks to RP, but as soon as the word "nuance" popped into my head, I realized exactly why the thing I was writing would be kicked aside like a wet floor sign in front of an all-you-can-eat buffet. So I didn't bother. AITA?)

Regarding the use of Foundry, I am in kind of an uncomfortable position. I've gotten used to doing pixel-precise mapping, having done so on so many square grids. But hex grids are weird and my mapping feels like it's hitting a moving target. You wouldn't think the construction of a basic motel map could be so hamstrung by the square root of three, but here I am.

Where I Hope to Steer This Thing:
If all goes well, I will leave them hanging and wanting.

As per the goals of the "Argument For" thread (link above), I want to introduce them to as many possibilities of GURPS as I can, and this contemporary weirdness is just the first step.

I'm going to run this campaign a few sessions, up to where they get their first clear hints of just what kind of unnatural awfulness they're up against, find a breakpoint, and hit pause. Someone else can run something while I gin up the GURPS fantasy campaign (which is two millennia post-apocalypse, but that's a story for another time.)

So, How Screwed Am I?
There. Heart. Sleeve. Take a good look, everybody.

Now, feedback? Suggestions? Questions? Any ideas in here you like? Any you don't? I seriously doubt any of my players will make it to this forum, but just the same I'm going to remain incredibly spoiler-averse until the players get to see them.

Last edited by Territan; 09-25-2022 at 07:26 AM. Reason: One unpaired right-parenthesis
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Old 09-25-2022, 07:45 AM   #2
bocephus
 
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

This isn't my usual genre, that said I would probably be willing to try it because it sounds interesting and while the hook is pretty clear, I like your possibilities.

Its a Holly-weird analog so there is all kinds of interesting characters that can just 'happen' without needing to add anything more, and it seems like you can easily go in a few different directions from your start point.

This seems like an idea that could really have fun RP moments in it. Im also going to avoid to much predictory posting so I don't give away any potential surprises for your players.

Last edited by bocephus; 09-25-2022 at 07:52 AM.
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Old 09-25-2022, 07:51 AM   #3
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

Quote:
Originally Posted by Territan View Post
And one player doesn't think he needs "quirks," choosing to take his roleplaying cues solely from his Disadvantages (Unattractive, Bad Smell, OPH "Well Actually...", and Overconfidence). I foresee trouble there.
Quirks are just very cheap Disadvantages. Sell them that way.

Also that sounds like a horrible character. I don't know if you intended them that way (this sounds like a Horror campaign, so maybe you're drawing from a horror movie char who's a "designated jerkass"), but maybe replace some or all of those Disads.
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Old 09-25-2022, 08:26 AM   #4
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

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Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw View Post
Quirks are just very cheap Disadvantages. Sell them that way.
Believe me, I tried telling him they're very cheap Disadvantages. I also tried telling him they reward you for adding RP flavor to your character, but he didn't see the point. It's like he doesn't want his character to be playable, or he wants to see how far it'll bend before something breaks.

Quote:
Also that sounds like a horrible character. I don't know if you intended them that way (this sounds like a Horror campaign, so maybe you're drawing from a horror movie char who's a "designated jerkass"), but maybe replace some or all of those Disads.
It is a horrible character. At first, I'd only put Overconfidence in his Disads. The Unattractive, Bad Smell, and OPH were his ideas, pulled from GURPS Lite. He's using the Simpsons' "Comic Book Guy" as his character pic. As it stands, he has a -4 Reaction Modifier from "experienced people who have sense of smell." (A -5 for the aforementioned, +1 from Charisma. He does most of his interactions online.)

He did something else, too: He has a Talent called "I saw that in a movie once!" that adds +1 to IQ-based skills. And he wants to use it on all IQ-based skills to offset the default penalty. (The description on "Talent: Large" does say "13 or more related skills.") I'm going to try to negotiate him down, hopefully before he tries to get the second level of that Talent.

He strikes me too much like someone else I know who, when he plays a game, seems to work toward victory by defeating anything and everything in his way: the NPCs, the other PCs, the other players, the setting, the system... Considering he was reluctant to pick up GURPS because he prefers his parade of 48-page trade paperbacks, I think I could be forgiven for thinking this is a "revenge" character, designed to break the game. But for now, I'm still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But man, that is wearing thin...
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Old 09-25-2022, 08:38 AM   #5
johndallman
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

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Originally Posted by Territan View Post
And a few on-screen murders.
My first question as a character when I learned that would be "Have you called in the police?" Or, if there was anything else that seemed dubious, not asking that question, going "home in the evening" with some copied evidence and taking it to the police.

This need not be an actual problem with the campaign: all you need is a police NPC helping with the trawl.

Edit: And an anthropologist from UCLA, now I've looked up "Melpomene." The police can also worry about the possibility of this being a trick on the part of Melpomene Movie Productions to evade debts and resume operations as a "clean" company.

Last edited by johndallman; 09-25-2022 at 08:44 AM.
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Old 09-25-2022, 09:19 AM   #6
Witchking
 
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

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Originally Posted by Territan View Post
He did something else, too: He has a Talent called "I saw that in a movie once!" that adds +1 to IQ-based skills. And he wants to use it on all IQ-based skills to offset the default penalty. (The description on "Talent: Large" does say "13 or more related skills.") I'm going to try to negotiate him down, hopefully before he tries to get the second level of that Talent.
So if I were his GM I would charge him the cost of IQ less will + perception.

If it applies to all skills and defaults that's really what is it...not a talent.

IMHO he can call it what he wants but I am gonna charge him for what it does.
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Old 09-25-2022, 09:53 AM   #7
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

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Originally Posted by Territan View Post
He strikes me too much like someone else I know who, when he plays a game, seems to work toward victory by defeating anything and everything in his way: the NPCs, the other PCs, the other players, the setting, the system... Considering he was reluctant to pick up GURPS because he prefers his parade of 48-page trade paperbacks, I think I could be forgiven for thinking this is a "revenge" character, designed to break the game. But for now, I'm still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But man, that is wearing thin...
If he's the one making it a problem, he may not be a good fit for your group. That's all I think I can add at this point.
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Old 09-25-2022, 10:03 AM   #8
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

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Originally Posted by Territan View Post
He did something else, too: He has a Talent called "I saw that in a movie once!" that adds +1 to IQ-based skills. And he wants to use it on all IQ-based skills to offset the default penalty. (The description on "Talent: Large" does say "13 or more related skills.") I'm going to try to negotiate him down, hopefully before he tries to get the second level of that Talent.
If this is something that only applies to default use (you mention his intent to use it to offset the penalty for doing things at default), there's a canonical Jack of All Trades Talent (originally from DF11, and also in GURPS Power Ups 3: Talents) that costs [10]/level, can be purchased up to 3 times (rather than the normal 4), gives no Reaction Bonus (or Alternative Benefit - an alternative to the reaction bonus introduced in PU3), and results in no reduction in time to learn a trait. It applies to all skills that default from an attribute, but only those where the character is untrained. With that in mind, restricting that to only apply to such skills when they are IQ-based might justify making the trait only cost [5].

EDIT: An alternative option to consider is Dabbler, from PU2: Perks. Each [1] in Dabbler (it's technically a Perk, but you could just treat it like any other trait) gives you +1 relative to the default in 8 skills; you can opt to trade in the +1 to 2 skills to get one skill at +2, or even +1 to 4 skills to get one skill at +3. [15] worth of Dabbler would be enough for +1 to 120 skills, +2 to 60 skills, +3 to 30 skills, or some mixture. Food for thought, at least. Of course, if the player is wanting the bonus to also apply to trained skills, he needs to just increase the character's IQ.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Territan View Post
Considering he was reluctant to pick up GURPS because he prefers his parade of 48-page trade paperbacks, I think I could be forgiven for thinking this is a "revenge" character, designed to break the game. But for now, I'm still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But man, that is wearing thin...
On the bright side, he's created a character who is basically a perfect karmic victim for a horror movie, so killing said character off if the player becomes problematic is very much in-genre.
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Old 09-25-2022, 10:18 AM   #9
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

Quote:
Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw View Post
Quirks are just very cheap Disadvantages. Sell them that way.

Also that sounds like a horrible character. I don't know if you intended them that way (this sounds like a Horror campaign, so maybe you're drawing from a horror movie char who's a "designated jerkass"), but maybe replace some or all of those Disads.
Maybe the Player doesn't understand the true nature of the Bad Smell full disad. Bad Smell as something that's going to put a lot of work on the GM, to make it worth that -10pts. A Quirk level bad breath is RP enough, but the full Disad borders on supernatural the way its written.

Bad Smell alone makes a compelling argument for why NO ONE would want to be around you EVER. You are permanently and forever the Dog that keeps farting at the party, you smell so bad that its just below actually triggering a gag reflex, it's a cloud around you that oozes from your pores.



To the bigger issue, it took me some thought to realize why I was so against the combination this player came up with, then it hit me. Everything he chose forces the other characters/NPCs to act differently towards them. The ugly smelly guy actually has "No RP responsibilities here". The actually value in the Disads are a foregone conclusion and really for everyone else (the GM and the other players) to deal with implementing.

Disads like: Chummy, Can't Speak, Discipline's of Faith, Gluttony, Magic Susceptibility, Poor, Slow, Weak effects the character that takes them, there are follow on effects that may impact your group as a result, but the Disad hurts you more than everyone else. These penalize the owner of the Disad more than the people around them.

Bad Smell/OPH/Unattractive they all make everyone around them take on the responsibility of actually RPing your disad. You have to work a little to do the 'Well Actually...' in game play, but even this is just you pointing out a disad that is automatically factored into game play. RP isn't the trigger that makes a disad work, its extra. How is a Player going to RP that he smells bad? or that he's unattractive?

This player has no delusions that he doesn't know he smells bad or is unattractive, how is that going to become an RP factor?

Maybe that's the solution, instead of Smells Bad give the character the Delusion that he smells bad (as per the full Disad). And Quirk level Halitosis. That's an RP opportunity for him that lets everyone else play off his lead and his bad breath (that he doesn't think is a a thing) will occasionally reinforce his Delusion.

If he wants to shower multiple times a day to control his odor, that's not a compulsive behavior it's packaged into the Delusion. If he always tries to stand at arms length, stay out from in front of fans, doesn't ever do the 'let the dog smell you" kinda thing... none of these would be add on Disads it would all be part of a -10pt Delusion


--
If you want to encourage RP, you have to take some pains to make sure that there are reasons the PCs would not naturally be opposed to working together. (unless this is going to be some sort of "last man standing" kind of Horror thing).

The problem with the current combination of disads is; unless the PCs start with a supremely compelling reason to work with this character, they would be fully in their rights to ostracize the character. Which will lead to bad feelings at the table assuredly. The other PC's may not like having to justify why they don't ditch ugly, smelly, annoying guy.

The player is sabotaging himself and/or the game from the get go, or counting on the GM/PCs to be lazy and not really penalize the character for the disads. You don't have to allow it, you're the GM.
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Old 09-25-2022, 11:33 AM   #10
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Default Re: Campaign: "B-Roll Befuddlement"

I didnt feel like going back and modifying my earlier post so I'll just reply again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Territan View Post
It is a horrible character. At first, I'd only put Overconfidence in his Disads. The Unattractive, Bad Smell, and OPH were his ideas, pulled from GURPS Lite. He's using the Simpsons' "Comic Book Guy" as his character pic. As it stands, he has a -4 Reaction Modifier from "experienced people who have sense of smell." (A -5 for the aforementioned, +1 from Charisma. He does most of his interactions online.)


He did something else, too: He has a Talent called "I saw that in a movie once!" that adds +1 to IQ-based skills. And he wants to use it on all IQ-based skills to offset the default penalty. (The description on "Talent: Large" does say "13 or more related skills.") I'm going to try to negotiate him down, hopefully before he tries to get the second level of that Talent.


He strikes me too much like someone else I know who, when he plays a game, seems to work toward victory by defeating anything and everything in his way: the NPCs, the other PCs, the other players, the setting, the system... Considering he was reluctant to pick up GURPS because he prefers his parade of 48-page trade paperbacks, I think I could be forgiven for thinking this is a "revenge" character, designed to break the game. But for now, I'm still trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. But man, that is wearing thin...
Ok that's a lot to unpack. First I don't think this person actually wants to have fun, it sounds like they are dead set of ruining everyone else fun under the guise of "I'm just RPing my character".

Since this plot scenario is going to require his character to interact with other characters ... why would they? Why would he get a job as part of this, I mean how would he navigate the interview. Just based on this I would tell the player his concept is to far off the game baseline and tell him its "figure out a different character to play or maybe I will be able to work you into the next game"

-------------

That "Talent" I would treat more like a delusion. Talent is recognized by others that have similar skill sets, who does he think that will play out to? What can you learn from a Movie that has real world application as anything but use as a Default? Especially since it seems this character is supposed to be an Internet troll, what real world applications does he think would apply?


I came up with something if you wanna give it to him below.

But realistically all this is a some form of luck. Anyone might observe that 40pts of "IQ Aspected (movie)" Ridiculous Luck would be FAR more effective and always useful. Which is silly to think that movies even always get it right. IRL I work on Mainframes for a living, do you have any idea how hard my eyes roll EVERY TIME the perky little programmer "Hacks a backdoor" he left in the mainframe (and from a windows CMD console no less).... and you think watching a movie should actually apply in a positive way to a skill check?!?!?!? /rant off



If he's dead set on the Talent! idea. I have a mechanic for ya, that I would allow.

1) No reaction adjustment to anyone.
2) He could take this Talent up to 4 levels (at 5pts per level) BUT
3) It can never apply to ANY skill he actually learns AND
4) Every time he wants to use the talent he rolls 1d vs a {6-levels in Talent}, to see what the default margin is (He's learning it from "movies" they get stuff very wrong all the time). 4 levels of talent mean he rolls against a 2, If he gets a 1 its an effective -5 Default for this check (movies got this really wrong), a 2= -4 effectively normal default, a 3 = -3, a 4 = -2, a 5 = -1, and a 6 gets it at no default penalty. 3 levels of Talent means a he could end up with a -6 and at best could get to a -1.
5) This roll happens every time he wants to try something with a base, not once per scene and not for anything that is more than a "pull which lever" kind of choice. You can't use this to "Hack a Mainframe".

Not sure why he would take the offer but I could see clear to doing that, any deviation is just, No.
This would be a hoot for me as a GM to watch someone try and use.
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