Ravens N' Pennies - GURPS Content Posts

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

As for World Building, every gaming blog and website in the world has touched on World Building or so it seems, so its not a hot ticket for me.

This was one of my original concerns when I thought about doing it. Though I think my process is rather unique (as all worldbuilders do).

[Kage2020]

For what it is worth, while I am generally interested in the world's that are created, what is of more interest to me is why something is done as it follows from the GURPS mantra. That is, start small and K.I.S.S. Which options did you use in Basic, and why? Why did you break out that book, or that rule, or why did you feel the need to modify that rule or that other rule?

It is like when you take a math/science quiz in school and they always tell you to include how you worked it out and not just the result. That process is often if not more insightful than the answer.

Obviously there are going to be some limitations. You might gloss over something that you have already shown somewhere else. After all, once you have seen differentiation from first principles and done it a few times, you really do not need to see it again.

Just a quick thought.

[Christopher R. Rice]

That is actually a good idea.

[Kage2020]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

That is actually a good idea.

It is not mine, to be fair. It just seems to be the answer to all the critiques of GURPS recommendations on RPG.net's TRO board--how to see through the supposed crunch to the modularity and efficacy of GURPS.

Either that or I just want to see it and I'm making up excuses. :D

[Christopher R. Rice]

Gamemaster's Guidepost: Starting Point Totals

Starting a new campaign? Have mixed feelings about your player character's point value? Want a little guidance on what you should do? Well here ya go, I made something for you.

[johndallman]

Interesting post, but it's really not the way I work. I don't try to emulate fiction in other media as more than a general genre, and that's pretty general - RPGs are a medium in their own right, and provide their own examples.

Also, when I start a campaign, I will do so fairly gently. I want to get some idea of the party's actual capabilities, as a combination of character capabilities and players' minds, and the only way to do that is to see how they respond to a few challenges that I can be fairly sure won't kill them all.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Interesting post, but it's really not the way I work. I don't try to emulate fiction in other media as more than a general genre, and that's pretty general - RPGs are a medium in their own right, and provide their own examples.

We'll have to disagree. I've found more threads than I can count with titles like "How do I run a Dune-like campaign" or "I want to run Lord of the Rings-like epic fantasy." The main problem I've seen in this threads is this: GMs want the feel of the source material - but they don't want to use the points required to achieve it. So you end up with a miserable Amber-Shadow of a campaign and no one is happy because expectations were not met or were dashed.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Also, when I start a campaign, I will do so fairly gently. I want to get some idea of the party's actual capabilities, as a combination of character capabilities and players' minds, and the only way to do that is to see how they respond to a few challenges that I can be fairly sure won't kill them all.

Neat.

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

We'll have to disagree. I've found more threads than I can count with titles like "How do I run a Dune-like campaign" or "I want to run Lord of the Rings-like epic fantasy."

I don't think he meant that RPGs were the only valid source material, I think he meant that he's found what's been supplied by RPGs to be adequate. Personally I almost always cherry pick inspirational tidbits. I'm running a TL 3+5 game based on a conversation I had about how to create Modern Fantasy. Computers are "Spirits" from the "Halls of Knowledge" that are assisted by 'lesser program spirits' which sometimes get infected by viruses. The viruses hope to gain power on lesser program spirits so they can materialize as demons.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Dwarf99

I don't think he meant that RPGs were the only valid source material, I think he meant that he's found what's been supplied by RPGs to be adequate. Personally I almost always cherry pick inspirational tidbits. I'm running a TL 3+5 game based on a conversation I had about how to create Modern Fantasy. Computers are "Spirits" from the "Halls of Knowledge" that are assisted by 'lesser program spirits' which sometimes get infected by viruses. The viruses hope to gain power on lesser program spirits so they can materialize as demons.

Ahhh. I'd have to agree, but I've just seen why to many "I want to run Supers with 250 points and have Batman-like characters." That just doesn't work.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Ahhh. I'd have to agree, but I've just seen why too many "I want to run Supers with 250 points and have Batman-like characters." That just doesn't work.

I tend to regard this as something that people will keep trying, once or twice each, in the process of learning better.

And yes, any sort of fiction can be inspiration for RPGs, but trying to reproduce them exactly doesn't work, as everyone with experience knows. Discworld gets closest of anything I've seen, in part because the original material is heavily influenced by RPGs, but even in that, if one character in a party got to hold the spotlight the way the central character of a Discworld story usually does, the other players would get fed up.