12-13-2016, 09:11 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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[MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
I may be running a Monster Hunters game soon and I was considering replacing the wildcard skills in the templates with either a set of regular skills for the same number of points or more restrictive wildcard skills. I don't dislike wildcard skills per say, but some of them in MH, like Lore! and Blade!, are too broad for my taste. I know they are supposed to be really powerful for the nature of the game, but I like things a little more specialized.
Has anyone had any experience doing this, either replacing the wildcards with more restrictive ones or replacing them altogether with regular skills? Also, for anyone who has run the MH templates "as is", did you find that Lore! made most of the other player's monster related knowledge skills (including things that Tactics for outsmarting a monster) redundant? This one in particular seems to almost completely overlap with Detective!, but also replaces Tactics, social manipulation, and tracking skills as they relate to monsters, as well as magical knowledge (but not casting ability). Thanks! |
12-13-2016, 10:01 AM | #2 |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
The overlap between detective and lore is fairly small.
Lore! helps you know what you are hunting, and possibly who. It also lets you know what you need to fight the monster. Detective! helps you know where, when, who, and why. Its not as good with what, and doesn't let you prepare near as well as lore. Lore! can be very annoying though, because monster hunters makes sure everyone has "know thy enemy skills", and Lore completely makes everyone else's redundant. It reduces everyone else to using detective type skills, and the while the templates ensure everyone has lore replacements, detective replacements are less common than lore. Detectives tend to less stomping for the same reason. Blade! isn't broken at all. You spend most of your time with one weapon, and if just put half of that pile of points into broadsword, you'd do better most the time with weapon skills to spare. Yes, uber-competence is nice, but with weapons depth usually trumps depth. Guns! is worse (Easy skills that all default generously to each other). Dropping them results in more power, not less. I'd keep Inventor! It stays in its own little corner and people struggle with techies as it is.
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12-13-2016, 10:23 AM | #3 | |||
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
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Otherwise I agree, it does seem to make everyone else's "Know they Enemy" skills redundant. I guess it is supposed to replace a Giles type character from Buffy who really does not ever have anyone inform him about a point of lore (except in the first episode of Buffy when she tells him something he does not know about vampires are created, but that never happens again and was probably only there as explanation for the audience), though he has to do research or talk to contacts sometimes. Still, I guess the Lore! roll will fail at least sometimes, then someone else's roll would be useful as a backup. Quote:
Thanks for the input! |
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12-13-2016, 10:26 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Seattle
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
I'm running a MH game in 3 stages. The first stage starts with 100 point characters learning the Truth. The second will add ~200 points to each character, and the 3d ~150 points. As a result, I have declared that there will be no Bang! skills at all. I don't think this will cause any problems as characters will grow semi-organically. However, as much as I'm not a fan of Bang! skills, I think dropping them from a starting 400 point character would be a problem, at least for the Inventor! skill even if I dropped all of the others, as there are dozens of potential engineering / mechanic / electronics / scientific skills that could conceivably come into play on a given invention.
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12-13-2016, 12:19 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York City
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
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While it is true that you will get a higher base skill level in broadsword or Guns (Rifle) there is so much more that the wildcard skills have to offer. 1) If you mess up your parry & take heavy damage, you can use a Blade! point to bring it down to 1 point. 2) You can use deceptive attack to bring your skill down to 10 & give the other guy almost no chance at defending. If you miss your attack at 10, spend a Blade! point to hit anyway. There are other uses too, but you get the idea. The wildcard points all refill at the start of each game session so there's no reason not to use them. When my group was playing our MH campaign (it lasted 2 years) the players loved the wildcard points. The Which hated that he did not have any. |
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12-13-2016, 01:37 PM | #6 | |||
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
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for 48 points you can get 4 wild card points a session and a 16 in all blades. Compare to destiny 3 [15], broadsword 20 [24], and various quick draw and armory skills. In most situations I'd prefer the guy who can attack twice at higher skill (weapon master lets him attack twice at 17). Sword skill in the 20's is a crazy thing to watch in gurps, particularly when someone knows what they are doing. Its the point at which you can start targeting limbs at will, multi-attacking, and not really worrying about getting hit. Quote:
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! |
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12-14-2016, 07:50 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
For the record, if you want to replace Blade! in the warrior template (the only one for which it's mandatory), I recommend applying the Focused Warrior lens (MH5: Applied Xenology, pp. 11-12); I created it with the goal of not letting the loss of a wildcard skill nerf the warrior.
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Reverend Pee Kitty of the Order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Twitter) (LJ) MyGURPS: My house rules and GURPS resources.
#SJGamesLive: I answered questions about GURPS After the End and more! {Watch Video} - {Read Transcript} |
12-14-2016, 09:11 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Dec 2012
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
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Just to let you know, I really like the MH line, great job! My prospective players all really like it too, so far it is the common denominator in the campaign proposals I sent them... |
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12-14-2016, 09:19 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Heartland, U.S.A.
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
Just in case you didn't know, GURPS stuff is 40% off till the 15th of December.
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12-14-2016, 01:01 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
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Re: [MH] Thoughts on replacing Wildcard Skills in Monster Hunters Templates
What the captain said. If you need to wait, then wait, of course -- but if you do grab it today or tomorrow it's just $5.99 instead of $9.99.
http://www.warehouse23.com/products/...plied-xenology
__________________
Reverend Pee Kitty of the Order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Twitter) (LJ) MyGURPS: My house rules and GURPS resources.
#SJGamesLive: I answered questions about GURPS After the End and more! {Watch Video} - {Read Transcript} |
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monster hunters, templates, wildcard skills |
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