Greywulf's Lair

I wasn’t going to post today, but this is too timely to ignore. Ducks: Guide to the Durulz is out now from RPG Now. Perfect for my 4e Duck characters!

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25 point characters, perfect for low level gaming, from the same GURPS forums:

Joe the Warrior
Setting: Fantasy

 ST: 11 [10]; DX: 13 [30]; IQ: 10 [0]; HT: 11 [10]

 Attributes: 50
 Advantages: 0
 Disadvantages: -40
 Skills: 15
 TOTAL: 25

 Advantages: None

 Disadvantages: Bloodlust [-10]; Chummy [-5]; Code of Honor [-10];
 Impulsiveness [-10]; Post Combat Shakes [-5]

 Skills: Armoury (Hand Weapons)-9 [1]; Axe/Mace-12 [1]; Crossbow-13 [1];
 First Aid-10 [1]; Gambling-9 [1]; Knife-13 [1]; Leadership-9 [1];
 Shield-14 [2]; Shortsword-14 [4]; Survival (Woodlands)-9 [1];
 Swimming-13 [1]

 Gear: cheap shortsword (1d-1 imp, 1d+1 cut), small shield (PD 2),
 crossbow (1d+3 imp, SS 12, Acc 4, 1/2 220), quiver w/20 bolts,
 two hatchets (1d+1 cut), large knife (1d-1 imp/cut),
 chainmail armor (PD/DR 3/4),
 personal basics -- medium encumbrance (-2 Move)

 Notes: This NPC is a combatant of reasonably competant breadth and
 depth of  skill.

Jane the Adventuing Mage
Setting: Fantasy

 ST: 10 [0]; DX: 9 [-10]; IQ: 13 [30]; HT: 10 [0]

 Attributes: 20
 Advantages: 23
 Disadvantages: -40
 Skills: 11
 Spells: 11
 TOTAL: 25

 Advantages: Literacy [10]; Magery 2 (Moon Aspected) [13]

 Disadvantages: Albinism [-10]; Code of Honor (Pirate's) [-5];
 Greed [-15]; Low Pain Threshhold [-10]

 Skills: Alchemy-10 [1]; Archaeology-11 [1]; Breath Control-10 [1];
 History-11 [1]; Knife-9 [1]; Literature-11 [1]; Research-12 [1];
 Spell Throwing (Fireball)-11 [4]

 Spells: (1 point @ 13): Sense Life; Sense Foes; Seek Earth;
 Shape Earth; Earth Vision; Ignite Fire; Create Fire; Shape Fire;
 Fireball; Detect Magic; Light

 Gear: Robe, light boots, small knife (1d-3 cut/imp),
 2-point powerstone, 1-point powerstone

 Notes: Spell selection has been oriented toward "dungeon crawling."

Joe the Adventuring Priest
Setting: Fantasy

 ST: 10 [0]; DX: 10 [0]; IQ: 13 [30]; HT: 9 [-10]

 Attributes: 20
 Advantages: 20
 Disadvantages: -40
 Skills: 25
 TOTAL: 25

 Advantages: Clerical Investment [5];
 Patron (Church, 6 or less) [10]; Ritual Aptitude 5 [5]

 Disadvantages: Duty (to church, 12 or less) [-10];
 Low Pain Threshold [-10]; Pacifism (Won't Harm Innocents) [-10];
 Voices [-5]; Vows [-5]

 Skills: Bard-12 [1]; Occultism-12 [1]; Performance/Ritual-12 [1];
 Ritual Magic (Religion)-12 [4]; Spirit Lore-12 [1];
 Staff-9 [2]; Teaching-12 [1]; Theology (Religion)-12 [2]

 Paths and Rituals:
 Path of Knowledge-12 [4]; Aura Reading-12; History-8; Locate-7;
 Read Memories-5; Read Thoughts-5; Scry-6; Veil-9;
 Vision of Luck-9

 Path of Health-12 [4]; Dose-12; Soothe-12; Fertility-10;
 Slumber-9; Vitality-9; Sterility-8; Succor-8; Lust-7;
 Hasten Mount-7; Malaise-7; Warrior's Blessing-6; Evil Eye-5

 Path of Spirit-12 [4]; Banish-8; Bind-9; Exorcise-10; Fetish-7;
 Ghost Sword-8; Lay to Rest-12; Spirit Slave-6; Spirit Trap-8;
 Summon-12

 Gear: Robe, sandals, staff (1d+2 cr swung or 1d cr thrust, parry 6),
 religious symbol (+0 as a spiritual symbol).

 Notes: Ritual Magic and Theology require specializations based on the
 religions available in the campaign. Likewise, the Vow should
 be appropriate to the chosen religion.

Jane the Rogue
Setting: Fantasy

 ST: 10 [0]; DX: 12 [20]; IQ: 12 [20]; HT: 10 [0]

 Attributes: 40
 Advantages: 5
 Disadvantages: -40
 Skills: 20
 TOTAL: 25

 Advantages: Alertness +1 [5]

 Disadvantages: Cowardice [-10]; Glory Hound [-15]; Selfish [-5]

 Skills: Acrobatics-11 [2]; Acting-12 [2]; Boating-11 [1];
 Climbing-12 [2];  Cloak-12 [2]; Fast-Talk-12 [2]; Knife-12 [1];
 Knife Throwing-12 [1]; Lockpicking-12 [2]; Traps-12 [2];
 Stealth-12 [2]; Streetwise-11 [1]

 Gear: large knife (1d-2 cut/imp),
 4 small knives (1d-3 cut/imp, 1/2 dam 5), lockpick kit,
 small cloak (PD 1), light leather armor (PD/DR 1/1),
 normal clothes, small sack

 Notes: This NPC thief is trained in the social and physical
 aspects of the job.

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I’ve finally got hold of GURPS 4th Edition Characters, the first half of the updated version of GURPS. First impressions are……well, let’s just say they’re mixed and I’ll explain later.

The best way to get into GURPS is to go Lite. GURPS Lite is a 32 page PDF that’s freely downloadable. It’s a micro distillation of all you need to get started with GURPS in one handy package, and excited me mightily to much I just had to grab the full version.

With 3rd Edition, the core GURPS rules came in one softbound book of tightly packed, poorly laid out text – but it was pretty much all there provided you didn’t want to run a superhero game. With this 4th edition a decision was made to expand the content and split them into two 300-page books entitled Characters and Campaigns. It’s a good choice, as it means that the Character book can go into a lot of depth and cover more than the previous edition. The layout is, quite simply, beautiful; it’s clear, open, and the use of colour is very good throughout.

That said, the Characters book isn’t without it’s faults. As it’s Book One of a two-book set, it doesn’t provide very much at all beyond charactere generation. The basic combat rules are duplicated from the 32-page GURPS Lite, and skill use and reaction rolls are sketched over only briefly. It’s just enough to be able to actually run a game though, so it is a worthwhile inclusion, though I would have liked just a little more depth.

More serious though is the lack of character and racial templates. Considering that this book is supposed to be the resource for GURPS character generation, I’d have expected a whole gamut of templates covering everything from the core fantasy races and characters through to aliens and asteroid belters. Instead we get dragon, felines, vampires and a detective – and that’s about it. That’s quite a big blooper. Surely the more obscure skills (bicycling?) could have been sidelined to make this book more usable across any genre straight away. Both existing worldbooks (with a little number crunching) and future supplements will fix this, but it’s a bad omission.

One other thing that niggles is the half-way method that superheroics have been handled. Superpowers have been classified as Advantages whereas really I’d like them to be treated separately. As a result what powers are in the book (and there aren’t many – Flight but no Force Field or Energy Blast “Advantages”) are just mixed in with “Social Status” and “One arm stronger than the other”. Jeez. Powers should have a chapter and heading all to themselves like Magic and Psionics. It would sure make the GM’s job easier when it comes to telling the player what’s allowed and what isn’t.

Another problem is that the whole perceived power level of the game has increased. The baseline for GURPS 3rd Edition was 100 points, plus 40 points of disadvantages, though it was stressed throughout that the GM could set the level anywhere from 25 points to several hundreds. In 4th Edition the power level is left very vague and no baseline is drawn at all. Given that this is probably the first (and maybe only) book players are going to get, a starting group of gamers really need some guidelines in this book. What they do get however is an example character created with 250 points + disadvantages, and the (excellent) iconic characters range in power from 250 points all the way to 1,600!!! There should be examples all the way from 25 points up to show the flexibility of the system, and a line needs to be drawn around the 100 point mark so the players (and GMs without Book 2) know where to start.

That said, the rules are much better than what’s gone before. This is merely a rules evolution however – exerienced GURPSets won’t see all that much to change – rather than a revolution. The cleanup has generated a few inconsisencies (shield skill for example) but nothing earth shattering. It’s definitely playable, and more attractive (to me) than previous editions.

In short – it’s better, the layout is modern and clear, but it’s neither as Generic nor Universal out of the box as it promises to be. I just can’t really understand why GURPS needs to spend 600+ pages to do what HERO Systems got right 15 years ago with their 4th Edition in just 230.

rpg gurps

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It’s a while since I’ve blogged about role-playing, mainly because I’ve had my head in the books for weeks. I’ve been hopping between Rolemaster, d20, and HARP. There’s a new kid on the block though that’s gotten my attention: GURPS 4th Edition.

This is only new in as far as I’ve just found out about it. The 4th edition of this veritable Generic Universal Role-Playing System came out back in August of last year, though that completely passed me by. I’ll disclaim now: I didn’t like GURPS 3e very much at all. The layout was terrible, the feel of the basic rules was too “low-fantasy” and not generic at all, and HERO system just did everything so much better.

That was then, this is now.

I’m working from GURPS Lite, the free pdf that’s available for download. If this is the mark of quality for the core books, then they’ll be mine very, very soon. The reviews I’ve read of the core books are extremely favourable.

GURPS Lite is 32 pages of the core rules and concepts for GRUPS 4e distilled into the barest minimum needed to play. There’s not a lot missing either, so this really is a complete, free game system that’s both flexible and easy to use. What you don’t get are the big world-deciding stuff. There’s no magic, no superpowers (apart from the odd inclusion of “Jumping” – being able to teleport between alternate realities), psionics and no racial templates. As most of this can be culled or adapted from your existing games or grabbed from the ‘net anyway, that’s no biggie.

What is does let you do is create a “normal” of any power lavel from 0 points value up to….well, whatever you want. I’d have liked some guideline as to a decent baseline for certain campaign levels. I’ve settled for 100 points plus 40 points of disadvantages for a typical fantasy setting. This should create a character very roughly equivalent to 2nd level in D&D. The Lite rules suggest disads equal to no more than half the base points; I’d go for fewer than that if you want a more optimistic tone to the setting.

Using just the Lite rules it’s possible to create and play anything from low fantasy (where magic is a plot construct for GM’s use only), to 1940s pulp fiction, to modern horror and beyond into space. For my first test character I decided to try creating a low fantasy character in an effort to exorcise one of my bugbears about GURPS 3e. One thing that I just didn’t like at all is that every character in GURPS basically came out the same; a thin, mimble streewise thief who used light weapons and a pretty high IQ. Didn’t matter the era or genre, it was always the same. Of course, it was possible to create anything at all, but to do so just felt….wrong. GURPS 3e was the system for streetwise thieves, and that was all.

My first attempt at creating a character using GURPS Lite was a dismal failure because I came to it with too many preconceptions; I set the stats way too high because I’m used to D20 stats, and so ran out of points far too quickly. ST 15 in GURPS is most befinitely not the same as STR 15 in D&D!!! Once I reaslised that each point over 10 in GURPS is equal to a +1 stat bonus in D&D, all was well though. This means that IQ 14 is roughly equal to a +4 INT stat bonus – an INT of 18 in D&D! Getting that into my head took some time.

I wanted to create a character that came close to my cursed streetwise thief without being one at all; was GURPS Lite powerful and flexible to handle that level of distinction? The answer is an emphatic yes.

Here’s the end result, built on 100 points + 40 points disadvantages:

 Sevronus
 Failed legionnaire officer now sword for hire

 ST: 10  DX: 11  IQ: 13  HT: 11
 HP: 10  WILL: 13  PER: 13  FP: 10
 Basic Speed: 5.5   Basic Move: 5
 Reaction: +2 (attractive + charisma)

 Ads: Attrractive, Charisma, Combat Reflexes
 Disads: Poor, Code of Honour:Officer's, Curious,
   Secret: Failed Officer, Sense of Duty:Friends
 Quirks: Hates the rain, likes bright clothes,
   nose for trouble, panics when hands bound,
   dislikes taking orders

 Ledership-14, Public Speaking-13,Influence:Dioplomacy-12,
 Influence:Savoir-Faire-14, Influence:Streetwise-14

 Area Knowldge:Local-13, Carousing-12, Merchant-13
 Shadowing-13, Stealth-12, Riding:Horse-10, Tactics-11

 Brawling-12, Knife-12, Shortsword-11, Shield-12

 DR: 1 - cloth armour
 Dodge: 9 (+1 w/ small shield)
 Parry: 9 (+1 w/ small shield) with Short Sword or Knife
 Block: 11 with Small Shield

 Short Sword: 1d sw cut or 1d-2 thr imp, 11-
 Knife: 1d-2 sw cut or 1d-2 thr imp, 12-

In short, not a streetwise thief at all, and even more importantly the character ‘feels’ right. The system was flexible enough to allow me to create someone with a past and represent that in the skill choices, advantages and disadvantages. I could create someone who’s clearly got military history yet had fallen on hard times and has had to take less than noble jobs to stay alive.

In short, GURPS Lite hits all the sweet spots when it comes to character generation. Combat as represented in Lite looks clear, fast and efficient. I just hope that the ‘full’ version of GURPS doesn’t muddy the waters too much with a dizzying array of options, “enhancements” and tweaks.

When I find out, I’ll let you know.

GURPS Lite: 4.5/5 stars – loses half-a-star because a minimal look at magic/psoinics/ultratech would have been worth an extra page or two.

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