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View Full Version : So, I'm Going to GM GURPS For my first time



Greengiant
2009-10-07, 01:43 PM
Any tips? I'm going to use a fantasy world, mostly of my own creation, and I have limited experience as a DM for D&D 3.5, so how should I convert stuff?

jmbrown
2009-10-07, 02:06 PM
Any tips? I'm going to use a fantasy world, mostly of my own creation, and I have limited experience as a DM for D&D 3.5, so how should I convert stuff?

Convert what? D&D aspects to GURPS rules? Pretty much everything is covered in the 2 core books like creating racial and job templates. Magic is the only thing you'd have trouble converting because magic is learned permanently. The GURPS Magic rule book has advanced rules for various spell systems.

valadil
2009-10-07, 02:46 PM
I've never GMed it myself, but I can comment based on mistakes I've seen other GMs make. Enemy combatants should not be built with the same point totals as PCs. Enemies rarely have fleshed out skills, so its way too easy to pump their combat stats and skills while ignoring basic survival. These leads to enemies that are much too powerful even though the point totals indicate that they're the same power level as the PCs. You can fully flesh out your enemies, but it's probably not worth the trouble.

Greengiant
2009-10-08, 01:17 PM
I've never GMed it myself, but I can comment based on mistakes I've seen other GMs make. Enemy combatants should not be built with the same point totals as PCs. Enemies rarely have fleshed out skills, so its way too easy to pump their combat stats and skills while ignoring basic survival. These leads to enemies that are much too powerful even though the point totals indicate that they're the same power level as the PCs. You can fully flesh out your enemies, but it's probably not worth the trouble.

Thanks that's actually great advice. I was in the middle of making an enemy when I read this, and I realized I was putting his skills in what I wanted him to do, and ignoring other things that would be essential in his situation. I was focusing on combat only. Thanks

JellyPooga
2009-10-08, 01:31 PM
Keep a tight reign on what Advantages/Disadvantages your players take...it's all too easy to min/max in GURPS and the last thing you want is for your players to run all over your campaign.

Depending on what sort of game you're running, ensure the players have skills outside of their specialities too...again it goes back to the min/max thing. Don't let them go all out on their combat skills or their magic...force them to put at least a couple of points into stuff like professional, social and "hobby" skills.

Don't let your players ignore their disadvantages...if they don't roleplay them or ignore any mechanical penalties then hit them with some more penalties and make sure their abided by.

Don't bother statting up every NPC...it takes too long and isn't neccesary. Just give them sufficient stats that they fill their purpose in your world. You don't need to know that the shopkeeper has 12 HP, nor that he's a veritable master on the basketball court...all you'll need is maybe an IQ and some haggling skills.

Kaldrin
2009-10-08, 01:38 PM
Thanks that's actually great advice. I was in the middle of making an enemy when I read this, and I realized I was putting his skills in what I wanted him to do, and ignoring other things that would be essential in his situation. I was focusing on combat only. Thanks

Don't even make them. Just write the combat relevant stats on a line or two in your notes and go from there. Edit: that is if the encounter is primarily combat based. For non-combat encounters or NPCs you don't even need to do that much. Just have an idea of what their skills are.

For instance, the current enemy of my players is written thusly:

SM -1, 6 w/ Axe-13 (2d cut), 6 w/ Mace-12 (2d+1 cr), 3 w/ X-bow-12 (1d+3 imp). Move 5 Dodge 8. HT-12, hp-12. DR 2.

Often enough I just make them up on the fly. Once you're familiar with the system and advantages you won't even have to write it down. And never, ever total the points on any builds for NPCs. They do what you need them to do.

You should gauge them based on the skill levels and numbers you're PCs are facing, not point costs.

Kaldrin
2009-10-08, 01:43 PM
Keep a tight reign on what Advantages/Disadvantages your players take...it's all too easy to min/max in GURPS and the last thing you want is for your players to run all over your campaign.

This is pretty important. A lot of GMs will even write down what traits are taboo and what are allowed. I just generally tend to tell people what is taboo.

One thing you should do is have a character creation session as the first campaign session. It lets you get everyone together and discuss the characters they want to play and lets you, the GM, say yes or no to everything at once rather than having to say it five times.



Don't let your players ignore their disadvantages...if they don't roleplay them or ignore any mechanical penalties then hit them with some more penalties and make sure their abided by.

Yup. Awards are based off how well they role-play. So it's up to you to enforce it with game situations and rewards afterward. Most importantly tell people why they got a lot and tell the players who are slacking what they can do to improve.

fusilier
2009-10-08, 02:01 PM
I have run GURPS games and there is not too much for me to add.

If you're running 3rd (probably applies to 4th too), you don't need to use all the rules ;-), that will get overwhelming. I usually think about what the campaign or session will involve, and review the relevant rules.

It may take you a while until you feel comfortable assigning difficulties for skill checks (it took me a few games). Remember mundane stuff is hard to botch, so often times as long as they don't critically fail at some skill check, they've succeeded (how well they've succeeded is another story).

As for NPCs -- I just make up stats that sound about right. I don't even point them out as others suggested. This can be tricky, things can usually get ugly in GURPS pretty quickly. You might want to have some backup plans just in case (e.g., if the PC's are getting the snot beat out of them, the city guard can show up to help them out).

PCs -- This is really important. Your game world will (most likely) impose some reasonable limitations on what kind of PCs can exist. Work with the players so they understand this. Otherwise they may build some characters that just don't work in your setting. The openness of GURPS pretty much entails a lot of work on the GM's part to keep everything running well. This probably won't be a problem, unless you're like me and attract the occasional min/maxer who wants to prove that GURPS is "broken".

fusilier
2009-10-08, 02:09 PM
Forgot to mention, since you are doing a fantasy world-

Magic: I don't have much experience with GURPS magic. I've seen others give up on it, but the little I've played with it, it doesn't seem too bad. It's really detailed. You can't simply learn the fireball spell. You must first learn ignite fire, then create fire, then shape fire, etc. A bunch of mundane spells are required before you can learn offensive ones. Some people coming from D&D are frustrated by this.

Finally, when designing characters, pay attention to the relationship between skills and attributes. If a character is spending a lot of points on a bunch of DX based skills, it may be more efficient to raise his/her DX.

Jlerpy
2009-10-08, 08:55 PM
Finally, when designing characters, pay attention to the relationship between skills and attributes. If a character is spending a lot of points on a bunch of DX based skills, it may be more efficient to raise his/her DX.

But it's also advising players about the possibility of you calling for Skill rolls based on a different attribute. If you call for an Intelligence-based Guns/Pistol roll for Jimmy the Gunslinger to quickly clear a jam, Jimmy will be in a very different situation if he has DX 14 and Guns/Pistol at +0 to if he has DX 10 and Guns/Pistol at +4.

JellyPooga
2009-10-09, 02:28 AM
But it's also advising players about the possibility of you calling for Skill rolls based on a different attribute. If you call for an Intelligence-based Guns/Pistol roll for Jimmy the Gunslinger to quickly clear a jam, Jimmy will be in a very different situation if he has DX 14 and Guns/Pistol at +0 to if he has DX 10 and Guns/Pistol at +4.

This is true...have the players create characters suitable to what their characters abilities are, not what's "more efficient", points wise.

One can be fairly clumsy (low DX) and still have very good hand-eye co-ordination and be a fair marksman, for example.

A fairly good judge of a balanced and well-rounded character (in my experience) is to split your points approximately 30/30/40 between Attributes/Advantages/Skills respectively. I've found that spending too much on Advantages or Attributes and not enough on skills gets you really odd characters with a lot of potential but little actual playability...to me, characters like that seem unfinished.

Cyrion
2009-10-09, 10:44 AM
I've got, in part, the opposite advice regarding statting enemies. For run-of-the-mill mooks that I expect the party to kill quickly I agree- don't stat them. I usually give them 10 hp and a relevant weapon skill of 10 if I want them to fail badly, 12 if I want them to hold their own briefly and 14 if I want them to challenge the party.

However, any villain that I expect to be a recurring character I fully stat. I usually start them with higher point values than the party because this gives them the versatility to escape when the party foils their plans or to actually beat the party when they first meet. For every PC they encounter in a given session I give them 1 xp. Since they aren't appearing every session, PCs outstrip them, though their still scaling to some extent. When the party finally catches up enough to beat the BBEG they're quite pleased with themselves. I was also in a game where we were quite scared that the brute BBEG was putting his xp into strength and was told by the GM, "Hey, Josef only needs one more xp to raise his strength...cool!"

Greengiant
2009-10-09, 12:55 PM
Thanks guys, this all helps tremendously.

Tyrmatt
2009-10-09, 02:18 PM
Something I noticed in my first session was that I had no idea how to gauge the power of a PC relative to the bad guys I had formulated.

The book recommends between 100-200 points for an adventurer and I didn't want the players who were new to be put off instantly by dying from stumbling over a rock or something. So a set of 150 point characters with standard limits on disadvantages produced some tougher than average players. But because I was in a modern setting, it meant they had access to guns. One player had a character capable of using a large machine gun. On it's first test fire against an enemy, it left nothing but bloody chunks. This guy was supposed to be an intro to combat. Instead they made ragu from him. erk :(

So I decided I will use a set of archetype mooks who have particular skills and basically act like the D&D 4th Edition minions. If they take a hit, they drop but they're still combat competent as was suggested. Particular enemies I fully stat as if they were players (one major villain has equivalent points to the PCs and should be able to give them a good run for their money with his backup forces). The big test comes from the first large scale fight they'll have. I've got a statted out, drug-crazed armoured soldier for them to fight and I'll be curious to see how they fare against him as they potentially have the option to go up against him in melee if they so choose (one of the players is playing a very large strong character) which they've never done before. He's got some good tricks though, including a personal rocket launcher that I doubt they'll be expecting. >:)

This is the best advice I can offer really as I only started recently too, but I highly recommend this approach. It allows for fights to feel frenetic and tense, while allowing the PCs to win through superior tactics and occasionally firepower.

Kaldrin
2009-10-09, 11:11 PM
However, any villain that I expect to be a recurring character I fully stat. I usually start them with higher point values than the party because this gives them the versatility to escape when the party foils their plans or to actually beat the party when they first meet.

See, for me I just have their attributes and what they do, some skills that would apply, etc. Just not worth the effort to make a full blown write-up, especially if the PCs will never see a background skill come into play. I might know it's there in the back of my head, but it's not important to stat up. I'd rather focus on the hijinks and making his evil plans.

Now, NPCs and followers of the PCs I do full write-ups of. They're a kind of second line of defense for what the PCs might be lacking. "Hey, Gorf the footman actually does have area knowledge of this place..."

Cyrion
2009-10-10, 08:32 PM
See, for me I just have their attributes and what they do, some skills that would apply, etc. Just not worth the effort to make a full blown write-up, especially if the PCs will never see a background skill come into play. I might know it's there in the back of my head, but it's not important to stat up. I'd rather focus on the hijinks and making his evil plans.

Now, NPCs and followers of the PCs I do full write-ups of. They're a kind of second line of defense for what the PCs might be lacking. "Hey, Gorf the footman actually does have area knowledge of this place..."

I usually manage to bring those background skills to bear at some point. I try to set up some sort of encounter where that will be important or will help me structure the plans of the BBEG so that it has the right flavor.