Dungeon Fantasy, box or pdfs. Also, need to convert D&D characters

[Hrafnagudh]

Hello everyone.
I found out a store that has a copy of the boxed Dungeon Fantasy.
Looking on the pdf WH13 store, I see there are like 4 "main" books and some other supplements.
How do these pdf differ from the boxed one? I mean, in the boxed one there is a character creation book, a spell book, a monster book (all very nice, also I like there are maps and tokens).
In the pdfs I peeked there are a lot of racial and class templates (a LOT), enough to help in a transition from D&D to GURPS.
Should I take the box, the pdfs, both? (like, whenever I will be able to)

And this relates to the second part of the thread: I want to introduce some D&D friends to GURPS, and they istantly cried loud that they want to keep their characters. Fair enough, I now wonder if Dungeon Fantasy should help, or if I better go just making templates for both their races (half ork, human, gnome) and classes (barbarian, wizard, bard).
My other problem with this convertion is how to translate some of their powers. Some are an easy answers, Powers book, like the barbarian rage, the bard inspire etc. But the wizard, have you any suggestion on how to kinda "keep" the power level she has achieved?

Thanks everybody, sorry for the double question post, I hope it's not a hassle

[GnomesofZurich]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

Hello everyone.
I found out a store that has a copy of the boxed Dungeon Fantasy.
Looking on the pdf WH13 store, I see there are like 4 "main" books and some other supplements.
How do these pdf differ from the boxed one? I mean, in the boxed one there is a character creation book, a spell book, a monster book (all very nice, also I like there are maps and tokens).
In the pdfs I peeked there are a lot of racial and class templates (a LOT), enough to help in a transition from D&D to GURPS.
Should I take the box, the pdfs, both? (like, whenever I will be able to)

And this relates to the second part of the thread: I want to introduce some D&D friends to GURPS, and they istantly cried loud that they want to keep their characters. Fair enough, I now wonder if Dungeon Fantasy should help, or if I better go just making templates for both their races (half ork, human, gnome) and classes (barbarian, wizard, bard).
My other problem with this convertion is how to translate some of their powers. Some are an easy answers, Powers book, like the barbarian rage, the bard inspire etc. But the wizard, have you any suggestion on how to kinda "keep" the power level she has achieved?

Thanks everybody, sorry for the double question post, I hope it's not a hassle

The box set should give you everything you need. The thing you need to be careful with on Warehouse 23 is the difference between GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game - they are very similar, but the former came first and requires the Basic Set and Magic, whereas the latter is a more streamlined Powered By GURPS that strips out everything you don't need and adapts some rules for playability in that genre.

Whether pdf or box set (or both) is better, is up to you. I have both (as well as most of the GURPS DF line). The occupation templates should help you convert most D&D characters (although I can't speak to D&D 4th or 5th edition very well), and there's a reasonable selection of races (or a lot more in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level).

Hope that's some help!

[Mr_Sandman]

As to the question of PDF vs. hard copy books, I think if you are introducing new players to the game, it's very helpful to have physical books that can be lent out and passed around the table. I personally prefer having PDFs for my own use, because I do all my campaign and session planning on my laptop, and find I can look things up faster on a searchable PDF than thumbing through a book, but have physical books too for using at the table... and because Kickstarter campaigns and all.

Converting all of the very specific abilities of D&D characters, and keeping all of the characters at the same point value could be a challenge. You should discuss with your players what they see as the core concept of their characters, and work from there. A lot of the exact mechanical effects combat abilities, feats, etc. don't convert exactly because the system's basic assumptions, level of detail, etc. for combat are very different. But if you have a firm concept of what the a character excels at, you can recreate the feeling.

You can always come back to the forum for advice on converting characters, when you have specific questions. I've found that the folks here are always willing to jump in with helpful suggestions.

Spells are also a place where exact abilities will be hard to precisely duplicate. Again, I think it's better to get the idea of the character and what makes them special, then create it from the ground up in GURPS, rather than trying to pick exactly the spells that mimic the D&D character's spellbook.

[woefulhc]

I have both the pdfs and the boxed set. They have the same content (except second printing includes Fantastic Dungeon Grappling and the pdfs do not, iirc). Like Mr_Sandman, I find the pdfs more useful for prep and the books better for at table play. (I dislike electronics at the table as they too often are a distraction rather than a help.)

As far as conversion goes, the boxed set has half-orc, gnome and human and barbarian, bard and wizard so that should be sufficient. I have heard from multiple people who have played both 5e and DFRPG that the 250 point level is roughly equivalent to something in the 6th-10th level range in 5e. The variability there comes down to two different builds of the same point value can have vastly different combat prowess and survivability. What level are your PCs?

Generally speaking I find direct mechanical conversions work poorly. It works much better to re-imagine or reinvent the character in the new system. You may find some of the Nordlond stuff from Gaming Ballistic useful. (Mini setting with a bunch of adventures and adventure seeds.) Something I have found super useful is Delvers to Grow. I'm using the latter to run a pick up game of DFRPG in one of my FLGS. That game started in May with 2 that had never played an RPG, one that had only played D&D and one that had been in a couple games of mine previously. I'll be starting a second game in a different store on Wednesday.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by GnomesofZurich

Whether pdf or box set (or both) is better, is up to you. I have both (as well as most of the GURPS DF line). The occupation templates should help you convert most D&D characters (although I can't speak to D&D 4th or 5th edition very well), and there's a reasonable selection of races (or a lot more in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level).

In D&D terms the Box and DF line are akin to the box and AD&D lines - existing concurrently but with key differences between the two. The GURPSwiki page Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game goes over the more obvious differences between DFRPG and "regular" GURPS which carries over to the DF lines.

As for conversion take a look at D&D to GURPS as it goes for a general conversion. The piece effectively ignores D&D 4e as the cost-benefit of having anything beyond the barest guidelines just isn't worth it.

The philosophy for that that conversion is to see what the least number of points needed to keep the flavor of the class while retaining GURPS' flexibility. For example, here is fighter (Assumes stats of 10):

Skills [14]: Armoury/TL (A) (IQ-1) — 9 [1], Bow (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1], Brawling (E) (DX±0) — 10 [1], Crossbow (E) (DX±0) — 10 [1], Melee Weapons (Axe/Mace (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1], Flail (H) (DX-2) — 8 [1], Knife (E) (DX±0) — 10 [1], Polearm (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1], Spear (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1], Shortsword (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1], Two handed Axe/Mace (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1], and Two-handed sword (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1], Shield (E) (DX±0) — 10 [1], Throwing (A) (DX-1) — 9 [1]

Optional advantages: Enhanced Defenses; Trained By A Master; Weapon Master; Military Talents;

Optional Wildcard Skills: Blade!, Knight!, Stick!, Sword!, Whip!

The Barbarian, Ranger, and Paladin are lenses of the fighter.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

Should I take the box, the pdfs, both? (like, whenever I will be able to)

They contents are identical, just with one in physical form while the other is electronic. In general, I find that PDFs are more convenient for me (zero shelf space, searchable, etc.), but physical books are better at the table. This is particularly true of the DFRPG books, which are divided into small chunks so that they can be scattered across the table. One player can be checking spell effects while another can be looking up the precise mechanics of one of their advantages and you take note of some monster stats. That's very useful, particularly for new players, so that's where I'd recommend starting.

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

they istantly cried loud that they want to keep their characters.

That may be tricky. You can pretty easily work up a barbarian, a thief, a wizard, and so on. However, GURPS/DFRPG and D&D are fundamentally different games which handle similar issues in very different ways. There are abilities in one which don't make any sense in the other. For example, draining levels in D&D is straightforward, but GURPS doesn't have levels so you have to come up with what that might mean in ways which will satisfy your players. If your players are particularly eager to preserved the fine details of how their characters work rather than broad outlines, there could be trouble.

That said, there's a certain amount of assembled wisdom here, so can at least get suggestions.

[Hrafnagudh]

Thank you all for the help, now is everything clearer.
So, in a nutshell, these products
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/dungeonfantasy/

are the complete, as in "with all that has been made for fantasy until now" version of this
http://www.sjgames.com/dungeonfantasy/

that, as itself, is kinda of a standalone game. Did I got that right?
As a matter of fact, my pdf vs box question was specifically about these two pages.

I will for sure ask for help when I will be converting. First I will discuss with them what they want of their characters

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

Thank you all for the help, now is everything clearer.
So, in a nutshell, these products
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/dungeonfantasy/

are the complete, as in "with all that has been made for fantasy until now" version of this
http://www.sjgames.com/dungeonfantasy/

that, as itself, is kinda of a standalone game. Did I got that right?
As a matter of fact, my pdf vs box question was specifically about these two pages.

I will for sure ask for help when I will be converting. First I will discuss with them what they want of their characters

The first link is to the "Dungeon Fantasy" series of Gurps supplements as they have accumulated over the years. It probably does have all of them. These are supplements though and are no use without the Gurps corebooks.

The second link is to a complete game by itself called The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game that came out a number of years after the first Dungeon Fantasy supplement came out. It is not just a compilation of the separate pdfs from the page in the first link. It contains a DFRPG specific version of Gurps and does not need the corebooks to my understanding. It has a number of small differences from the pdfs as well.

[JulianLW]

Searching through the Generic Universal Eggplant blog might lead you to answers about how to translate particular D&D feats and classes, etc.

Here are a couple of links, so you can get an idea of what's on that blog (there's a lot of material he's converted).

"How To: Wizard Abilities": https://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com...abilities.html

"Occupational Template: Wizard": https://enragedeggplant.blogspot.com...te-wizard.html

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The second link is to a complete game by itself called The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game that came out a number of years after the first Dungeon Fantasy supplement came out. It is not just a compilation of the separate pdfs from the page in the first link. It contains a DFRPG specific version of Gurps and does not need the corebooks to my understanding. It has a number of small differences from the pdfs as well.

Note that the aforementioned "Delvers to Grow" set of quick-start supplements is designed for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG boxed set.