Trying to Learn Gurps...

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

It reputedly gets some stuff wrong, gives bad advice for optimization,

It does give some really bad advice, like to take Weirdness Magnet and not expect any consequences or take a Do Nothing in combat (as opposed to AoD or something else useful).

and generally comes off like it was banged out by some hack who read the GURPS books as research for the project but has never played.

Not according to the author credits, IIRC.

Oh yeah, and it's for 3e.

No, it's definitely for 4th edition.

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Ferdia

Hey guys I am new to PnP i have a basic understanding of most of it and have been trying to learn GURPS unfortunately no one i can find near me plays and im more of an experiential learner... I have thought about online play but that wont help with the Char creation which is the most difficult part for a PC it seems... I guess im looking for any advice or maybe someone who lives near the Kansas City area? Thanks!

For character creation, try a template. Pages B259-260 of Characters. Make two Soldiers of Fortune, picking different traits for each. Then check out Caravan to Ein Arris, a free adventure, and try to find a friend to run through parts of it with you. That should push you through character creation and get you to actually trying to play pretty quickly, plus give you a decent idea of what play looks like. Expect it to go slow at first, so see if you can find a buddy that's okay with wasting an afternoon to try something different.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

It does give some really bad advice, like to take Weirdness Magnet and not expect any consequences

Huge pet peeve, especially in groups where the GM(s) actually let(s) it work. My BFF's group has this specific problem, so she's basically 15 points behind everybody else for no reason, which is IMHO totally %$#&ed.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

No, it's definitely for 4th edition.

Shows what I know...

[vicky_molokh]

With no other players/GMs around, looking up ways to play online becomes really recommended. Not because online play is superior (IME it isn't, it's just different), but because you'll want any experience you can get.

There are enough friendlies on the forum to help you out with creating a character (either for practice, or for one of the online campaigns). But the first thing you have to figure out for a practice character creation (or for your own campaign, should you ever decide to GM), is, what kind of world and campaign are you expecting? Depending on the answer, various character concept will or will not be appropriate. Also, see FAQ 0.

[sjard]

Having read through GURPS for dummies, and some of the Dungeon Fantasy pdfs, I'd hazard to say that using the advice from the former in the second is a very good way to model the way a lot of people play D&D style games.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

IDHTB, but there have been about nine threads here on the subject of why GURPS For Dummies is a horrible learning tool. It reputedly gets some stuff wrong, gives bad advice for optimization, and generally comes off like it was banged out by some hack who read the GURPS books as research for the project but has never played. Oh yeah, and it's for 3e.

More like the authors had a couple of houserules they forgot were houserules. Could it have been better? Yes. Will it ruin your ability to play GURPS? No.

[ClayDowling]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

take Weirdness Magnet and not expect any consequences

A really bad idea in my games. A good weirdness thrown at a magnet will totally freak the players out. One character was acquired by a small white dog that she was never convinced anybody else could see.

[Aigol]

As a fairly new Gurps GM I am actually looking to start an online game soon and have no issue with talking out character creation. If you would be interested send me a PM

[Ferdia]

woah I only got one email I didn't think this thread got any responses sorry for the delay... I have a BASIC character concept of a priest/healer/protector. I d/l'ed lite a while ago but when I read it it didn't really seem to lay out how to actually go about stuff... it discusses concepts but not practicals. I would like to do online however I am very VERY crammed for time. My girlfriend wants to play with me but shes newer to all this than I am lol I have GCS but would rather learn how to make a char before I just have some program do it for me. I will try reading through it all again to attempt at making a character, however I don't even remember it talking about skills and abilities and what not. I will also download that campaign THANKS at least we will have something to play after we kill each other over how to make a single character HAHA "I WANT TO BE A SHAPESHIFTER!!!" she says... "I just want to be SOMEONE" I reply lol

Ok so i made a basic character how would this work? 75 points

ST 9 DX 9 IQ 14 HT 10 [HP 9 WILL 14 PER 14 FP 10]

Advantages
danger sense -15; Empathy -15; Animal empathy -5

Disadvantages
Code of honor +10; Honesty +10; Cannot harm innocents +10; Vow give 1/2 income to church (or something like that) +15

Traits
Charisma +2

Skills
First Aid -10; Physician -7; Theology(?) -8

Any advice on what could be better?

[cccwebs]

Originally Posted by Ferdia

Any advice on what could be better?

It's really hard to give advice on how to make a character better unless we have some very specific information about the setting the character will be played in. What is the limit for Character Points? Is there a limit on Disadvantages? What Advantages/Disadvantages are not allowed? What type of campaign is it? What type of special abilities are in the campaign setting?

So far, what I see in the character is a generic priest with some minimal Dr's training (maybe flunked out of pre-med, unless you're representing character points spent instead of skill level). He has none of the usual "preistly" skills (in the way of communication skills), so I doubt that he's a very good priest.

Making a character in GURPS is much easier than most people think, as long as you have a clear idea of what you want the character to be able to do (skills and abilities) instead of what you think the character should be (character class). Don't think along the lines of "character classes". Think along the lines of specific tasks the character could accomplish.