A New GURPS Player

[HudsonDoidim]

Hello there!

Recently my friends and I had the idea to start playing RPG,so I suggested GURPS,since I alredy had played it once or twice with my older brother friends (And i loved it).

We want to play at a medieval campaign (So TL3 or 4) and I have alredy finished reading both basic sets 4th edition

Now I am looking for older players suggestions about ... everything!
What are the next books i should read next,tips for a first time GM,how many players,advantage/disadvantages I should avoid/encourage,how to make the game exciting,mistakes i should not make and anything you think is important!

Also,feel free to share your tales of how you started playing!

Thank you in advance
(And sorry for my bad english,I'm from Brasil)

[SCAR]

Dungeon Fantasy 1 & 2. Even if you're not intending to party that sort of fantasy game, it's art least a reasonable approximation to Tech and character yours for medical-ish.
DF1 provides templates, which give you an idea of how to build characters, what sort of Advantages, Disadvantage and Skills to chose, and balance of point expenditure.
DF2, gives gm advice, and loads of rules advice on what skills and advantage can be used for various tasks.

[vicky_molokh]

Things you should have answers to:
Just how historically accurate you want to GM.
DF is for cinematic dungeon crawls with magic and monsters;
Low-Tech is for serious, historical games.

[aesir23]

I'd recommend that you don't read any more books just yet.

Play some more first. Basic has everything you need to have adventures, build (and defeat) dastardly villains and terrifying monsters, etc.... Theoretically you could have a lot of fun forever without ever picking up another book (although eventually you'll want to).

Then when you're very comfortable with the rules and have figured out what you like and don't like in terms of options (level of detail, gritty realism vs cinematic, etc...)

Then, if you decide you're interested in continuing to play Medieval Fantasy, you should get the following:

Low-Tech (for more realistic weapons and armor and lots of other gear.)

Martial Arts (for combat rules that add a lot of options)

ONE of Magic (for an extension of the Magic system from basic or Thaumatology (for alternative magic systems and guidance for creating your own.)

ONE of Dungeon Fantasy (for Hack and Slash action centered fantasy old school games and CRPGs) or Fantasy (for designing your own Fantasy world based on fantasy literature.)

But Basic is really enough for now.

[aesir23]

Originally Posted by HudsonDoidim

how many players,advantage/disadvantages I should avoid/encourage,how to make the game exciting,mistakes i should not make and anything you think is important!

These answers will vary greatly, for most you will have to learn what works for you.

Two mistakes to avoid are
1: trying to use everything in the books--Limit your options to what's appropriate to your game.

2: Letting players have free-rain over character creation--make characters with your players (after making several yourself to get used to the process) Many advantages and skills are inappropriate for a Medieval campaign, or a realistic campaign, etc... so make sure to say "no" when a character wants something that doesn't make sense to your idea of the game.

As for the rest, I can tell you what works for me:

I've enjoyed my games with 2 or 3 players the most. More than 6 has never worked for me, but 1 player 1 GM has worked fine, but only with a good friend.

Avoid some of the super-powery advantages for now, players will be drawn to Altered Time-Rate, Innate Attack, etc...but it doesn't sound like this is the right campaign for it.

I tend to encourage Advantages and Disadvantages which help make the world richer: Allies, Contacts, Dependents, and Enemies all help create a rich world filled with people who matter, and can help provide plots and sub-plots to keep the game interesting.

Combat Reflexes and High Pain Threshold are both pretty much must-haves for characters who are going to be involved in combat.

As for how to make the game exciting...difficult to answer. I'd say it's about creating dramatic tension: make sure that you're telling a story with your players, and that most of the conflicts/challenges fit into that narrative. This will help make it feel like outcomes matter which is when the game gets really interesting.


Most of all, just have fun with it. It's a game, play with people you like ruthlessly discard any rule or piece of advice that interferes with your fun.

To this end, avoid looking up rules in the middle of the action. Just make something up and keep on playing. (When in doubt, apply a penalty to a skill or attribute and just have them try to roll under.)

[cltchrn]

Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering was very helpful to me as a first time GM (available here on e23). GURPS for Dummies has some good suggestions to the GM as well (available on Amazon).

[Woodman]

I'll second Robins Laws. Ruleswise the basic set is probably more then enough to get going with some gaming, the next step is getting a firm grip on what you actually want to play.

What is the setting like?
Does the setting have magic? If it has what kind of magic?
What creatures inhabit the setting, sentient and non sentient?
What is the social and political situation?
What kind of characters will the players impersonate?
What kind of story do you envision for these characters?

When you have some kind of mental image of what you want to accomplish, then you can start to select which rules, skills, advantages and disadvantages fit and support this image. Without a good selection of the options any GURPS game runs the risk of bringing utterly incompatible stuff onto the same gaming table, and without a firm grasp of the setting you lake the information to make that selection.

[Michael Cule]

I would do two things if I were you.

First of all, I'd start writing down what sort of game world you and your friends are looking at playing in. I'd ask myself questions about the sorts of characters you're going to focus on (a game where you're all knights is one thing, a game where most of the players are wizards another, a game where you are the usual mixed band of misfits trying to get by is yet a third), about the degree of realism or historical accuracy you want, about the level of power that your characters start out at and the level of power you expect them to acheive.

The reason being GURPS is a toolbox for building worlds and adventures in them rather than a pre-generated world of its own. It can be used to run worlds you've already got and enjoyed (with a little adaptation) as well as newly created ones.

The second thing I'd do is download the free adventure CARAVAN TO EIN ARRIS from e23 and run that over an evening or two with your friends. It's a low level historical fantasy setting with no magic or other exotic stuff and it can be used to give you and the players a chance to try out the new system and see how it runs.

[General Lee]

Originally Posted by HudsonDoidim

Hello there!

Recently my friends and I had the idea to start playing RPG,so I suggested GURPS,since I alredy had played it once or twice with my older brother friends (And i loved it).

We want to play at a medieval campaign (So TL3 or 4) and I have alredy finished reading both basic sets 4th edition

Now I am looking for older players suggestions about ... everything!
What are the next books i should read next,tips for a first time GM,how many players,advantage/disadvantages I should avoid/encourage,how to make the game exciting,mistakes i should not make and anything you think is important!

Also,feel free to share your tales of how you started playing!

Thank you in advance
(And sorry for my bad english,I'm from Brasil)

Welcome to GURPS!

As for next books, it depends. What you want? Play medieval games. Fantasy is a must. You want a world book? Banestorm ( which is the world of the "old" fantasy in Brazil - Ytrth). You want new rules for high fantasy, like Lord of Rings? Magic. You want fast and kit-like rules? Dungeon Fantasy series is a good source.
Want to play modern settings with guns and explosives? High Tech.
If you mean what I meant, this is GURPS. Is system to acomodate what you want, with rules that you could use or not.

I'm also from Brazil, you are welcome to ask questions.

[Mr_Sandman]

I would echo the advice of not buying any new books right away. The GURPS Basic set has a lot to offer and a lot to explore. You can go a long time before you need to add more.

CARAVAN TO EIN ARRIS is a nice introductory adventure. If you don't care for that setting or story, but you still want inspiration, there are plenty of free adventure seeds and short "dungeons" you can find by searching the web. Some are system neutral, and others are simple enough to just take the map and idea and fill it with your own antagonists and creatures.

My main advice to you is to just have fun. Make something up that reminds you of the kind of fiction you really love. Then let player characters explore it, and see how it plays out. Don't worry about getting everything perfect -- as long as things keep moving, your players won't care.

I started roleplaying in the late 70s, in junior high, with the old D&D blue box, roping my older brother into playing with me. Then AD&D with guys I met in school. We just figured it out as we went along. If we could do it, so can you.