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Old 09-26-2010, 09:18 AM   #1
Loethadai the Lurker
 
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Default Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

Greetings all!

I use to play GURPS years ago, and with the advent of GURPS 4th Edtion, I'm certain the collection of books that I have are way out dated. I'm a fan of Gothic Horror set in the 1890's to early 1900's. Currently, I've been running a campaign in this type of setting using the old "Masque of the Red Death" 2nd AD&D rules. I know, very old, and very outdated. Which brings me to the reason for my post.

I'm sure someone else has most likely posted up something similar in the past on these forums, but I'm a first time poster/newbie, so I'm not privy to that information. Be that as it may, I've been researching different game systems trying to bring this genre that I love, up to speed with the current game system editions, etc. I thought of GURPS instantly, however, I have no clue as to which books I should be purchasing that coincide with the Gothic Horror game genre of "Masque of the Red Death".

If you are unfamiliar with "Masque of the Red Death", the setting is earth in the 1890's. The only difference is, classic Gothic Horror Creatures truly exist, brought about by the sinister evil presence of the Red Death. Seeping it's way into our world, and creating it's minions. Magic exists as well, although on a much less prevalent level as say in a Fantasy setting. If you have any suggestions as to which books I should purchase it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time, and consideration! :)

-Loethadai
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Old 09-26-2010, 09:40 AM   #2
Mgellis
 
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Loethadai the Lurker View Post
Greetings all!

I use to play GURPS years ago, and with the advent of GURPS 4th Edtion, I'm certain the collection of books that I have are way out dated. I'm a fan of Gothic Horror set in the 1890's to early 1900's. Currently, I've been running a campaign in this type of setting using the old "Masque of the Red Death" 2nd AD&D rules. I know, very old, and very outdated. Which brings me to the reason for my post.

I'm sure someone else has most likely posted up something similar in the past on these forums, but I'm a first time poster/newbie, so I'm not privy to that information. Be that as it may, I've been researching different game systems trying to bring this genre that I love, up to speed with the current game system editions, etc. I thought of GURPS instantly, however, I have no clue as to which books I should be purchasing that coincide with the Gothic Horror game genre of "Masque of the Red Death".

If you are unfamiliar with "Masque of the Red Death", the setting is earth in the 1890's. The only difference is, classic Gothic Horror Creatures truly exist, brought about by the sinister evil presence of the Red Death. Seeping it's way into our world, and creating it's minions. Magic exists as well, although on a much less prevalent level as say in a Fantasy setting. If you have any suggestions as to which books I should purchase it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time, and consideration! :)

-Loethadai
In other words..."Screampunk." :)

As for the books, the Basic Set, obviously, but beyond that, a lot depends on what you want to do.

Powers expands on advantages, etc...very useful if you plan on having people with psionic abilities, etc.

High-Tech covers gear from the Victorian era, including lots of guns.

Fantasy is a genre book, rather than "crunch," but has lots of interesting ideas; it is mostly oriented towards medieval fantasy, I think, but might still be useful for some aspects of a Victorian era game.

Magic provides the canonical list of skills.

Thaumatology is the tool kit for building specialized magic systems.

Martial Arts covers both Asian and European martial arts in detail, including Victorian singlestick.

Mysteries is a genre book, but very useful if you plan to run stories that are...well...mysteries.

The other books, Ultra-Tech, Space, etc. are all good, but probably less relevant to the campaign you're planning to run right now.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Mark
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Old 09-26-2010, 09:51 AM   #3
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

GURPS Horror 4e won't be out for a while, I think. [Wild Speculation]Maybe summer 2011[/Wild Speculation]

I'd definitely take a look at getting Thaumatology, if only because Path/Book Magic is a much better fit for horror games. It is subtle and ritualistic like magic as it is actually believed to exist.

(For instance: Instead of spending 3 seconds chanting and throwing a fireball, you spend an hour in a dark room casting a spell on a few stolen fingernail clippings, your victim feels a sense of dread and encounters greater and greater misfortune until they meet with a fatal accident.)

If you're into GURPS for the long haul, and you run games where combat is a major theme, you'll want to eventually buy Martial Arts as it greatly expands the combat options and makes fighting much more interesting. But it doesn't sound necessary for this campaign unless one of your players wants to play a bare-knuckled boxer from the London prize fighting circuit.

[EDIT] A lot of people are going to tell you that mysteries is full of excellent advice for GMs running games that involve investigation. All of those people are right.
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Old 09-26-2010, 09:56 AM   #4
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

The 3e GURPS Screampunk is a Gothic Horror supplement. Its only 37 pages but it covers a lot of the themes that you're interested in.

Any edition of GURPS Horror would help. 4th edition GURPS Horror is being worked on right now. 1st and 2nd edition GURPS Horror had a chapter on the Victorian era. Smaller coverage in 3rd ed GURPS Horror. GURPS Steampunk and Steamtech cover the same time period. GURPS Castle Falkenstein and Deadlands are set in the 1870s.

As far as magic goes, you should ignore the standard magic rules from Basic, and pick up GURPS Thaumatology, for the Path/Book system. With an appropriate choice of paths or spells you've got the right mix.
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Old 09-26-2010, 11:11 AM   #5
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

You need the basic set. That's it.

You may want, in order of usefulness:

GURPS Mysteries, if you're planning on doing ANY kind of investigative stuff.

GURPS Thaumatology, if you're going to give the PCs access to magic, as the path/book system is perfect for more ritualistic magic.

GURPS High-Tech, if you plan on gear being important in your games.

GURPS Horror. You may want to hold off the (probably) year it's going to take to get this, or you may want to pick up the third edition book. This is probably at least as useful as mysteries, the only reason it's this low on the priority list is if you don't want to buy the third edition version when the fourth edition version is coming out (relatively) soon.
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Old 09-26-2010, 12:20 PM   #6
Loethadai the Lurker
 
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

Thank you all for your kind responses, and your help. It is much appreciated. I've actually taken the time to peruse what books I do have for GURPS, and it appears that the books that I actually own are the "Basic Set", "Compendium I", "Supporting Cast", and "Fantasy", all 3rd Edition. When I first wrote the above post, I was certain that my books would be out of date, but it appears that I was wrong. Even though 4th Edition is to be released soon, I'm sure it will take some time for a large amount of supporting books to be released, so I think I'll probably stay with 3rd, at least for now.

I've taken the time to try, and find "ScreamPunk", and it's proved a bit elusive. The website I normally go to for OOP games such as this, doesn't have any copies for sale, so it may take me a while to find it. I've got a strong idea of what I would need for basic rule books, and accessory rulebooks, thanks to all of you. Now I need to know what books/accessories would be most useful as "Monstrous Compendiums" etc? I'm looking for books that have classic Gothic Horror creatures in it. I'm not interested in Lovecraftian style monsters, as they tend to be too alien in nature, which is not really oriented to the Masque of the Red Death setting, at least not for my tastes.

Once again, thank you for all of your help!!! :)
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Old 09-26-2010, 12:21 PM   #7
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

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Originally Posted by Loethadai the Lurker View Post
Greetings all!

I If you have any suggestions as to which books I should purchase it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time, and consideration! :)

-Loethadai
Basic of course and after that Thaumtology for magic stuff and then the 3e Steampunk book.

The last one is as close to Gurps Victorian Age as you can get and full of useful details on all sorts of matters.

It probably has more detail than any edition of Gurps Horror and if you already _know_ the sort of Horror game you want to run.....<shrug>.

High Tech is very useful as well but that might be the optional book given your subject matter.
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Old 09-26-2010, 01:14 PM   #8
Loethadai the Lurker
 
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

OK, I'm a bit confused. I was under the impression that 4th Edition had not yet come out, but for some reason I find it for sale here:

https://www.nobleknight.com/ViewProd...2_A_GenreID_E_
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Old 09-26-2010, 01:22 PM   #9
Kalzazz
 
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

I think the confusion was in the discussion of 4e Horror

4e Horror has not come out (and should sometime quasi soon, maybe in 2011)

4e other books have come out
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Old 09-26-2010, 02:11 PM   #10
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Default Re: Masque of the Red Death: GURPS Style!

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Originally Posted by Loethadai the Lurker View Post
OK, I'm a bit confused. I was under the impression that 4th Edition had not yet come out
GURPS Fourth Edition came out in 2004. Many supplements have been released for it, though obviously much of the Third Edition line either will not be or has not yet been converted.

GURPS Horror for Fourth Edition is being edited right now. I can't speak to release dates yet except to say that it won't be released this year. If you need horror advice sooner, I recommend GURPS Horror for Third Edition -- it's 95% compatible, and the remaining 5% is only a matter of converting point costs (and a few traits) in templates.

If you're ever in doubt about what's out or not, just click on the GURPS link in the gold navigation bar at the top of this page, or here:

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/
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