[GURPS resources] T Bone's Games Diner updates & announcements

[tbone]

Long-overdue update! Here's what's new on my little gaming blog:

Articles

• Zen and GURPS and the Art of Blowing up Death Stars: A musing on how one famous movie scene might have played out according to GURPS rules. The key idea: I propose a tricky relationship between how semi-mystical skills like Zen Archery (or Zen Gunnery) might interact with technological aids.
  
• Dungeon Fantasy RPG: The Notes (Part VI): Finally, an end to this multi-part review! I wrap up with comments on art, "meta-stuff", the game's future, and miscellaneous little observations.
  
• Unasked-for silliness: A GURPS logo: In response to a thread on these forums, I toss up a little idea for a GURPS logo design, for momentary entertainment value if nothing else. (Updated with a proper "NOT official or in any way associated with GURPS or SJG" message.)
  Spoiler: The design uses a d6 motif. Such creativity!
  
• Dungeon Fantasy RPG Character: Leonidas of Nemea, Cat-Folk Barbarian: A 250-point barbarian, built around a cat-folk variant, a personal mission, and a bad haircut.
  
• Why GURPS defenses use half skill: A half-baked idea: An odd suggestion for an "under-the-hood" explanation of why defenses use half skill. A completely unnecessary mental exercise!
  
• What happens when you read Dungeon Fantasy RPG books just before going to bed: I recount a dream in which gaming makes an appearance. (An unexplained toad is far more central to the happenings. But the hobby of gaming does get a little cameo.)

Article updates

A past article, Tiny GURPS idea: A better Outdoorsman, suggests boosting the Outdoorsman talent by bringing its coverage up to a full 10 skills. I've updated it slightly to also address the talent in DFRPG (and to suggest a few other talents of use to outdoor types). Likewise, I updated the above cat-folk barbarian article to suggest this small improvement to the PC's Outdoorsman talent.

Forum updates

In the forums section, contributor uE5Xg9p2 continues write-ups of fictional properties for GURPS 4e. The following items (all credit to uE5Xg9p2, not me) are new or updated since I last posted here:

• Doctor Who: More denizens, monsters, personages, templates, equipment, and setting information!
  
• Gargoyles: New information on the Pack, Curse of the Weird Sisters, notes on setting gargoyle ST, more.
  
• Robert E. Howard’s Kull: A start at denizens, personages, equipment, and setting notes for Conan predecessor Kull. (Not to be confused with Krull, the "so bad it's... well, just bad" movie.)
  
• Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane: Personages and notes on source material.
  
• SilverHawks: Template and personages.
  
• An Index of Prospective Adaptations: A big list of in-progress or potential GURPS write-up projects (comments & participation welcome!).
  
• Non-Cosmic Rules Exemptions: Thoughts on further refining the catch-all "Cosmic" enhancement.
  
• Overall improvements: Ongoing improvements to presentation (including pretty cool-looking CSS-based mockups of the graphical style found in GURPS books).

Please note that uE5Xg9p2 welcomes input on all of his content. If you enjoy working up fictional properties for gaming, or putting those write-ups to good use at the gaming table, leave some comments and critiques on the above, or make contributions of your own.

In closing

Thanks always for your readership and feedback!

[tbone]

Time again to list updates to my site. Sure hope there's something there . . .

Whew. Found this:

• Small updates to GULLIVER Mini and GLAIVE Mini resources for GURPS: Minor updates to this one-page resource for building odd-sized creatures (PDF) and this one-page resource for designing low-tech melee weapons (PDF).
• 31 reasons why you want to pick up Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (and fast!): The Kickstarters for both the DFRPG boxed set and the new Monsters 2 book are in the past, but you can still get your hands on these products. Click that link to see why you definitely want to do so (whether you know it or not).
• A blogger's dozen (Part V): 13 ideas for RPG articles: A new installment in an old series of ideas meant to spark articles and posts for gaming blogs. (Translation: "Hey, how 'bout you write this stuff so I can read it?")
• Two new talents for GURPS/DFRPG: Graceful and Life of the Party: Two short and simple talents for characters that entertain.
• RPG reality check: Are falls deadly enough in GURPS?: In which we place a doctor's claim about fall mortality up against GURPS rules. Real life or our game: which is harsher when you crit fail that rooftop parkour stunt?
• GURPS has three kinds of rolls (and they're not success, reaction, and damage): In which I muse on how RPGs sure put dice to use for a lot of things. (Shocker, I know.)
• Rules Nugget (GURPS/DFRPG): Better Aim: A tiny tweak to the Aim maneuver that just makes the workings a little tidier, nothing more.
• PDF resource for GURPS takes shape: Robert E. Howard’s “Hyborian Age”: A free PDF download from site contributor uE5Xg9p2, outlining the places, peoples, and dangers of the original Conan source material, with careful attention to how things map to GURPS.

That last item in particular is the sort of fan-made support that we all like to see for GURPS! It's a work in progress, but if you've an interest in Conan or fiction-to-game conversions in general, give it a read and offer the author a suggestion or critique or what have you.

That is all. 'Til next time, thanks as always for the visits and comments!

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by tbone

Time again to list updates to my site. Sure hope there's something there . . .

Always something there...

Small updates to GULLIVER Mini and GLAIVE Mini resources for GURPS: Minor updates to this one-page resource for building odd-sized creatures (PDF) and this one-page resource for designing low-tech melee weapons (PDF).

I like GULLIVER, always wish it had made it into Pyramid to be raked over by Kromm a bit and become semi-official. I'm using it in designing the big and small races in my next campaign.

I personally have no use for GLAIVE, but it too is very nice and would make a great tool for GMs that like to whip out weird weapons.

31 Reasons and 3 Kinds of Rolls are good pages to point new DMs and Players to get them into the game. I'll keep them bookmarked...

2 New Talents was an interesting look at the Reaction and non-need for Alternative Benefit. However, as I allow my Players to make up talents (with GM oversight), lists of new Talents aren't my bag. But... you might want to keep a page of all Talents you create, that would be a decent resource for GM that are more parsimonious than I.

RPG reality check: Are falls deadly enough in GURPS?: In which we place a doctor's claim about fall mortality up against GURPS rules. Real life or our game: which is harsher when you crit fail that rooftop parkour stunt?

The only thing I'd recommend here is a quick note at the top to "Read The Comments Section" as that is as gold as the article itself, and of good use to GMs who, like you did, might be thinking "Hey, falls aren't deadly enough, but maybe T-Bone has some ideas on how to spice them up!" but then never make it to the comment section to see how to do so without simply doubling the damage...

Rules Nugget (GURPS/DFRPG): Better Aim: A tiny tweak to the Aim maneuver that just makes the workings a little tidier, nothing more.

Yoinked. Simple and effective, I have no idea why I never came up with this before, I blame the repeated head trauma I've taken over the years.

PDF resource for GURPS takes shape: Robert E. Howard’s “Hyborian Age”: A free PDF download from site contributor uE5Xg9p2, outlining the places, peoples, and dangers of the original Conan source material, with careful attention to how things map to GURPS.

Oh, very noice! Will you update when he fills in all those Lorem Ipsum paragraphs?

[tbone]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

I personally have no use for GLAIVE, but it too is very nice and would make a great tool for GMs that like to whip out weird weapons.

Thank you for the many kind words.

Funny thing about GLAIVE: More than just about any of the rules hacks and other nonsense on my site, it's the thing I thought lots of gamers out there would enjoy and comment on and make use of. But all along, there's been just about zero reaction to it.

Which isn't to even suggest that people are in any way wrong to lack an interest. It's just a "Huh. Did not expect that" kind of thing. : )

Originally Posted by evileeyore

But... you might want to keep a page of all Talents you create

That's a good idea; will do.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

The only thing I'd recommend here is a quick note at the top to "Read The Comments Section" as that is as gold as the article itself, and of good use to GMs who, like you did, might be thinking "Hey, falls aren't deadly enough, but maybe T-Bone has some ideas on how to spice them up!" but then never make it to the comment section to see how to do so without simply doubling the damage...

To give credit where it's due, it's the comment by Rasputin, backed by good reasoning, that suggests doubling GURPS fall damage to get the effect of the data point I quote.

Earlier this month, I did update the article with a pointer to the comments, and a note that doubling damage may be the most realistic.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Yoinked. Simple and effective, I have no idea why I never came up with this before, I blame the repeated head trauma I've taken over the years.

Ah, head trauma. Better to give than to receive.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Oh, very noice! Will you update when he fills in all those Lorem Ipsum paragraphs?

Certainly. Still lots of blanks to fill in, but he's adding to it. Encouragement by readers, especially Conan fans, would probably speed up the process!

[tbone]

Even for those facing the pandemic with "gaming and chill", here's the least important news you'll see all week. (Sometimes that's a welcome thing.)

A site update, overdue as always:

• The whole site! Finally rebuilt on a more stable (?) platform. WordPress being the wacky thing it is, though, the HOME page shows only blog postings. Go to HOME (ALL CONTENT) for All The Stuff. (Also use the menus, "tag swarm", etc. to find specific things.)
• Hello. A welcome page briefly describing the upgrade, and what has and hasn't been brought over to the new site. Also see About for more background info.
• GURPS/DFRPG resource: New Talents: Collected Talents from elsewhere on my site. I believe it was in this forum thread that someone suggested this would be helpful. So here it is.
• DFRPG resource: Questions and answers!: In which I collect answers received to my DFRPG questions over at the SJG DFRPG forum. Still a lot more to add, but it's a start!
• A blogger’s dozen (Part VI): 13 ideas for RPG articles: What the title says. Pointless but possibly amusing.
• A questionable resource: Names for things in fantasy games: Musings on collective nouns for fantasy things ("a gnest of gnomes" and all that). Rescued from a Twitter post but perhaps should not have been.
• GURPS/DFRPG resource: New perks: Perks from other articles on my site, collected in one spot.
• GURPS/DFRPG resource: New weapons: Brand spanking new! These aren't exciting weapons; they're utterly mundane things, shoehorned in between existing models. (Like a flail that falls between nunchaku and morningstar in size. Yowza.) But if a PC wants to press a 6' pole into combat service, or asks the shopkeeper "Do you have javelins like this, but in a larger size?", here's a new weapon table for you.

And that's what's new. If you'd like more timely updates, follow the Twitter feed (see sig). Or use RSS: choose from everything or GURPS/DFRPG content only.

[pgb]

Your final bulleted link (New Weapons) is broken - I think it can be figured out, given the other links, but you probably want to fix it.

Some great material - keep it up!

Paul.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by pgb

Your final bulleted link (New Weapons) is broken - I think it can be figured out, given the other links, but you probably want to fix it.

That link was indeed a mess. Thanks for the heads-up! Fixed now.

For anyone who was quick to check out those new weapons, please note I've already edited the article with two entries I forgot: a thrown arrow or crossbow bolt. Just for the fun of it.

Here I'm not extrapolating from existing weapons, but more or less making up stats from nothing. And I think I came up with numbers pitiful enough that even the most miserly of PCs will want to spring for a proper bow – namely, thr-2 and thr-3 imp for the arrow and bolt, respectively. (That's really lousy damage, which is perhaps as it should be for thrown "weapons" with the mass of a few coins.)

The point of mentioning it here is this: While I don't recall ever seeing suggested stats for a thrown arrow or bolt, I wouldn't be surprised if stats have popped up somewhere in the vast expanses of GURPSdom. If anyone has seen such, please let me know!

[tbone]

It's been a while since one of these posts! Let's crack open the Games Diner fridge and see what's new on the shelves, or at least not yet buried all the way at the back of the vegetable crisper ("the fungus farm"):

• Game design musing: “Sims” (with a sample sports sim for GURPS): Playing with what I call "sims", those sub-systems or "mini-games" that lie between super-detailed systems (like combat) and "just make a skill roll".
• Books we want: The big list of everything (GURPS/DFRPG): For the fun of it, a truly big list of books I'd like to see. C'mon, SJG – anything on this list is guaranteed to net you at least one sale!
• Three Dungeon Planners: A review: I bought Dungeon Fantasy Dungeon Planner, The Fantasy Trip Labyrinth Planner, and Dungeon Crafter’s Sketch Book, and reviewed them. Then I blathered about what would make for a perfect (read: obsessively over-done) planner.
• A modest proposal: Friendlier character trait blocks in GURPS: I love me the detailed characters and templates of GURPS, but those giant blocks of traits and stats can be off-putting. Could they be made easier to scan?
• Tiny DFRPG idea: A better Green Thumb: Let's beef up this advantage. (That's soy beef, natch.)
• Books we want: Character journal for DFRPG (plus TFT Deluxe Character Journal: A review): Like the above look at dungeon planners, but for character journals. Still fresh and un-moldy!

That's all that's new, but a lot of other things are updated. Off the top of my head, there are plenty of additions to GURPS/DFRPG resource: New weapons and DFRPG resource: Questions and answers!, underworldly additions to GURPS/DFRPG resource: New Talents, an update to GURPS Unified Theory of Hitting Stuff (GUTHS), and probably many more small edits and updates.

[Taneli]

Oh, lordy, YES! to bold ability names and levels, skill names and level and moving to Brawling-12 (E) DX [1] -format!

I think I will change to this format right now in my own notes.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Taneli

Oh, lordy, YES! to bold ability names and levels, skill names and level and moving to Brawling-12 (E) DX [1] -format!

To anyone peeking in, that's a kind reference to the article A modest proposal: Friendlier character trait blocks in GURPS. A most unambitious proposal, it merely suggests the use of bold in book layouts to highlight the names of skills and other traits (and a little extra tweaking of skill listings), to tame GURPS' infamous blocks of stats.

See examples in the article. A tiny thing, but I think it looks good. Anyone else?