GURPSDay Feed

Date:Demmasday, 23rd of Ligarios, 2993 AEWeather:Cool, windyPlayer Characters:Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)Thrainor "Thronebreaker" Ironvein, Dwarven martial artist (Archon Shiva)Significant NPCs:Klisko, badly injured mageOne skeletonThree mushroom-smoking fire mephitsFour feral catsTwo selenite guardiansSeveral walking mushroomsSeveral giant lizardsUvash had church and Michael was gone on another hunting trip, so the group felt a bit shorthanded this… Read more

“Although motorcycle riding is romantic, motorcycle maintenance is purely classic.” Need a home base for criminal bad guys? Perhaps for a climatic firefight or tense infiltration sequence? Here it is. The Highway Fire MC is your typical outlaw biker gang, defined by their rowdy black collar lifestyle and vicious illegal enterprise. Whatever villainy is afootContinue reading "The Fortress of Highway Fire MC"… Read more

This is another one of those house rules that have lived in my mind forever, but I always forget to write down:you can take Vulnerability x1.5 for half the cost of Vulnerability x2. I most often use this for crushing damage on things like birds and skeletal undead. Double damage from crushing is usually too much, but crushing at x1.5 is threatening without getting the… Read more

Wizardry: Complete Mage Spells IIIAll right, that's the final post with spells from this book. As you can see, there are only three posts compared to nine for Complete Arcane. I threw out plenty of spells indeed.Rebirth of Iron is a very limited spell that removes HT and DR penalties caused by rust and corrosion. Can be very useful if you lack bronze gear when delving into… Read more

Date:Demmasday, 16th of Ligarios, 2993 AEWeather:Warm, overcastPlayer Characters:Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Michael J. Dundee, Thorcin barbarian (Adam)Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Based Cosmo)Significant NPCs:Sakeon, horse whispererFael, half-elven food merchantUnnamed large muleKronos Kettle-Belly, innkeeperEstelle, innkeeperMany large albino baboonsFour-armed intelligent giant baboonGiant ratsA swarm of bees8 ghouls3 ghastsThe Left for Loot or Rich for… Read more

When you skip a month, it looks like you added a lot to the wiki! Of course, I added a lot to the wiki anyway, so we have a lot to go through. Here are the highlights. Not on the wiki (yet) but for Backers: The Astral Lords Poll Results dropped, including a 15 page … Continue reading "Catching up on Wiki Updates: April and May"… Read more

Replacing Resistance with Active DefenseIf you're reading this, you probably know by know that I love writing up abilities using the advantage/modifier framework of GURPS. However, it isn't perfect, and some abilities are either very difficult or impossible to stat up properly in GURPS. One of such cases is Affliction without a resistance roll. People who do not read the rules tend to parrot… Read more

Wizardry: Complete Mage Spells IIWe're nowhere near done with Complete Mage.Endless Slumber is a permanent version of Sleep. I kept the value of Sleep at +150% because the fact that the subject doesn't need to eat or drink is counterbalanced by injury waking the subject up. Somewhat.Finger of Agony is an expensive, but debilitating spell.Flaying Tendrils gives you four tentacles of… Read more

GURPS is more granular than TimeWatch (GUMSHOE) in the categorization of abilities, so I whipped up this list to help me use TimeWatch adventures in GURPS. For instance, when you see a clue in a TimeWatch (or GUMSHOE) adventure listed for a particular ability, these are the skills or other traits it might translate toContinue reading "TimeWatch to GURPS (T2G) Conversion Crosswalk"… Read more

Wizardry: Complete Mage Spells ILet's switch gears and instead of adapting difficult and important concepts make some filler content. Yet again, I determined a D&D book randomly from which to convert spells and got Complete Mage. This is a late 3.5 book that suffers from some late 3.5-isms, but its selection of spells is rather large. I expect to throw many of them out. Let's… Read more

Last session, my players found the Sign of the Broken Head, a fortified inn located just ouside the crumbling northern wall of the ruins of Arden Vul.  And one of them asked if it counted as Town.  And my answer was "sometimes, sometimes not."  I should elaborate.In most fantasy RPGs, Town is where PCs get to exchange money for goods and services, and otherwise interact… Read more

A few more notes on the "Air Gate" the PCs are exploring. – there is a beautiful wilderness below them, but no sign of organized, intelligent life. No signs of destruction, either. – the clouds meander around, and it seems likey each are on their own wind. Or on different tracks of wind, perhaps. Whatever it is, the winds change a lot and you can… Read more

Date:Demmasday, 2nd of Ligarios and Demmasday, 9th of Legarios, 2993 AEPWeather:Cool, cloudyPlayer Characters:Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Michael J. Dundee, Thorcin barbarian (Adam)Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Based Cosmo)Merenuithiel "Lacrymosa" Armaris, Elven mercenary archer (Archon Shiva)Significant NPCs:Muirasso, wight, former cleric of ThothMany zombiesPiercerGog, varumaniRoskelly and several halfling toll collectorsEggbert, Thorcin guardKronos Kettle-Belly, Thorcin innkeeper,… Read more

Treasure Type in GURPSThere is one major thing left to do to enable BrOSR-style games in GURPS, and that is treasure assignment/generation. This post on the Axioms of the Addled Antillectual blog worked out the $-to-CP progression based on the ACKS II assumptions. While it does indeed allow us to simply use treasure tables from ACKS, I'm not completely satisfied with this approach, and I… Read more

Here are some additional notes for Session 208. – I've noticed that my players sometimes get stuck in a dead end, right next to a way out, like a character with poor pathfinding in an old video game. Part of it must be my descriptions, which aren't eliciting in their heads the things I see in mine. Equally, people do get fixated on what they… Read more

This is the big list of pre-written adventures that I think will work in a GURPS Infinity Patrol or other Time Patrol-style setting, usually with minimal modification. I’ll discuss what I was trying to do with this list next, but feel free to skip all that text and just scroll down for the actual list.Continue reading "23 ready-Made Time Travel RPG Adventures"… Read more

Game Date: 3/30/2025 Weather: Wet, warm. Characters Chop, human cleric (362 points) Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points) Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points) Persistance Montgomery (322 point knight) Thor Halfskepna, human knight (358 points) Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (318 points) We started off in town, with the PCs gathering rumors despite a desperate desire to not get sidetracked. They did not – they… Read more

I have been quite delighted to read the TimeWatch RPG over the last few days — I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to it. What a great book! I’m particularly interested in the time travel system, which promotes A LOT of cheap time travel, if I understand it. JustContinue reading "Comparing TimeWatch and GURPS Time Travel"… Read more

Digging out the space map that I created back in February, I’ve decided to spin up a character and play solo. For inspiration, I’ve decided to use the image of the power-suited figure on the second cover of GURPS Third Edition. I’ve decided to use the same rules and stick, initially, to seeing what I […]… Read more

Remember when I used GURPS Space to knock up a sector of science-fiction worlds and got myself excited about playing around there? This was about a month before I began the recent journey back to 1989, setting up games using Old-School GURPS. It was opening GURPS Space (First Edition) that triggered the recognition that I […]… Read more

In my recent attempts to find a great pre-written adventure to attract new GURPS players I bought a used copy of GURPS Horror first edition in paperback. I did this because it contains the adventure “The Haunting of Langley Manor” which receives praise on the rare forum posts where I see it mentioned. I ranContinue reading "The Haunting of Langley Manor REVIEW: It’s the Perfect… Read more

Date:Demmasday, 2nd of Ligarios, 2993 AEPWeather:Cool, rainyPlayer Characters:Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Based Cosmo)Michael J. Dundee, Thorcin barbarian (Adam)Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)Significant NPCs:Lyssandra and Palteon, wizards of the Arcane Practitioners' ClubLady Alexia Basileon, ruler of GosterwickFreydis, steward to Lady AlexiaSir Lucia, Knight Commander of the Order of the Azure ShieldSir Basil… Read more

If you run an RPG only when all your players are available, and some of your players have lives outside your game and will have to sometimes miss a session, then eventually your campaign will die due to non-attendance.  (You play week 1, but then you skip week 2 because Alice has work, and you skip week 3 because Bob is sick, and you skip… Read more

GURPS BrOSR Progress UpdateYou may know that my current project is to make GURPS compatible with the BrOSR playstyle. It may seem like a fool’s errand to some, but it isn’t to me. I haven’t posted anything in a relatively long while, mostly due to life getting busy, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve been idling on this front. I’d like to tell you about… Read more

Someone asked about abuses of the Create Servant spell in Here a few things people used Create Servant for that I did allow: – touching basically anything that a PC might touch that wasn't immediately, obviously dangerous (no touching living things, say) – as scouts. They're terrible scouts, but you can make them act as lookouts and hope for the best with their low Per… Read more

Download This month, Mike and Roger talk about the gaming possibilities of police stories…. Read more

[Of the parallels between the railways and the church] “Both had their heyday in the mid-nineteenth century; both own a great deal of Gothic-style architecture which is expensive to maintain; both are regularly assailed by critics; and both are firmly convinced that they are the best means of getting man to his ultimate destination.” InContinue reading "Signal Passed at Danger"… Read more

Abstract Fast Combat System for GURPSAs was outlined several posts ago, GURPS lacks an abstract fast combat system that can be used to resolve engagements, especially ones that have a scale between individual combat and mass combat. I thought about it, and I believe that the best option would be to combine parts of GURPS Mass Combat with the mass combat from ACKS II RR… Read more

I recently posted a set of guidelines for non-tactical, mapless combat for Felltower. I wanted to get down in one place all of the rules I'd made to supplement the rules in GURPS Basic Set: Characters for my own play. I also wanted to mention the Retreat ruling and the range bands. All of this, except for the Retreat rules, has been seen in play… Read more

Yesterday was the first session of a new dark fantasy campaign set around the village of Falcon Ridge. As I was putting the finishing touches to the first scenario, I recognised that I was drawing on a few ideas that first emerged in my play back in 2016. As I typed the title sheet for […]… Read more

Date:Demmasday, 25th of Lucrios, 2993 AEPWeather:Cool, light rainPlayer Characters:Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Based Cosmo)Michael J. Dundee, Thorcin barbarian (Adam)Ethereum "Coinbase" Thuringwador, Elf Illusionist (Mercenary) (Archon Shiva)Significant NPCs:Mountain Lion6 StirgesPig-Headed BeastmanSeveral Large Albino BaboonsAssassin VineShambling MoundIoannes spent some time reading the Book of Priors the group had found in their last delve.  It… Read more

Wizardry: Lightning Spells III got a request to create some lightning spells because the College of Lightning is very small. I looked through some D&D spells (I try to see if there are any existing spells that can be adapted before I plug holes with GURPS or original spells).Lightning Bug is a lightning version of Magic Missile.Lightning Curtain creates a wall of lightning.Lightning… Read more

Sea Voyage ProcedureACKS II Judges Journal has three exploration procedures to make gameplay smoother and/or serve as checklists to the referees (you know, I find myself use "referee" instead of "GM" more and more often nowadays). Since I've already adapted wilderness and dungeon exploration procedures, let's adapt the one for sea voyages – something that, I believe, never came up in my games… Read more

Blood Magic: Fiendish Codex II SpellsAs promised, here are the fiendish spells from the previous post adapted to the blood magic framework. Devil’s EgoKeywords: Buff.Full Cost: 19 points.Casting Roll: Will.Cost: 1 HP.Casting Time: 4 seconds.Range: Self.Duration: 30 minutes. You run your fingers across your face. As they pass, your features soften, becoming attractive and appealing. You… Read more

Imozu is another worked planet for Psi-wars. Its probably a lot more integrated with psi-wars than Highlun was. Its home to both Ranathim and Mogwai, as well as other races and dusty ruins. I wanted to explore what a completely Mogwai society would be like, as well as what an alien rebellion in the core might look like.If you don't know what psi-wars is, the… Read more

Date:Demmasday, 18th of Lucrios, 2993 AEPWeather:Warm, sunnyPlayer Characters:Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Based Cosmo)Ashe "Goat" Maykum, Goblin Druid (Mercenary) (Archon Shiva)Significant NPCs:Camilla, created goatOther created goatsCreated bat swarms Created rat swarmsAngry scary ghostRoskelly Winterleaf, halfling underground toll collector lieutenantSeveral halfling toll collectors3 chasm cephalopodsJacobus, former Prior of Thoth, current friendly ghost6 ghoulsWightIn Gosterwick,… Read more

It turns out that my sweet-spot roleplaying system is bundled up in the original classic GURPS system. While I never got into GURPS back in the 1980s or 1990s, I’ve made a journey back to the roots of the system and found gold. Digging out my copies of the classic “generic universal role-playing system” has […]… Read more

Derrick has been running playtests on the Discord, random fights and events where he wrestles with the rules to better understand them, similar to the playtests I used to write out, but more persistent, exhaustive and narrative. A lot of useful information comes out, and sometimes we tussle over it. I tend to give a … Continue reading "The Derrick White Armor Rebalance"… Read more

      It's been a while since I last updated the blog. I have been gaming, just not posting. Here is a brief note to hopefully get me back into the swing of things.Soaring Phoenix: The weekly online DFRPG/GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game via Discord and MapTool has been continuing (with a few interruptions) mostly every week. There have been 9 sessions since I last posted, and… Read more

I'm trying to do more mapless combat in my DF Felltower game, especially because it's hard to get a combat map of every place in Felltower up for the PCs to fight in. In order to make mapless combat work quickly, but also to avoid player demands to used mapped to not lose out on perceived advantages of their characters, I am thinking of the… Read more

Inspired by the same post for Arden Vul, here is what we run DF Felltower with. Host: Forge Pricing is quite reasonable – for a year, they charge less than I can make net in a couple hours of work, and hosting would take more than those hours. Win/win. Core VTT software: Foundry VTT version 12 Latest stable version; I upgrade as they come along…. Read more

Lacking Heroic Charge and Feverish Dodge for having bionic legs would really give me pause before taking them — Derrick White Derrick has been running numerous Psi-Wars playtests, particularly combat against the Flesh Monstrosities and he’s come out of it extremely opinionated about Extra Effort, especially in Psi-Wars, for good reasons, and going over his … Continue reading "Robots, Cyborgs, the Gaunt, Extra-Effort and Fatigue"… Read more

Date:Demmasday, 11th of Lucrios, 2993 AEPWeather:Cool, overcast, rainyPlayer Characters:Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Based Cosmo)Sister Valya "Basilisk" Hushbreaker, halfling monk (Mercenary) (Archon Shiva)Significant NPCs:Lyssandra Astorion, principal of the Arcane Practitioners' ClubFreydis, steward to Lady Alexia BasilionLady Alexia Basileon, ruler of the town of GosterwickRoskelly Winterleaf, halfling underground toll… Read more

There is more to come. There’s always more to come. In particular, I need to tackle the torso and the head and then, I think, we’ll be done… except, of course, for Traders, Karkadann, Mogwai, Wyrmwerks, Necrotech, Bio-Tech, etc and so on. I’ll be at this awhile. Parallel to each “common-tier” Cybernetics set, I’ve also … Continue reading "Cybernetics Part 2 — Finale"… Read more

Christopher Rice has been very kind to me and knows of my interest in his Meta-Tech rules, so managed to get me into the playtest. It was a disaster though: I was unprepared for the sheer speed of the playtest, and the format/design of it (I never got the mailing group working correctly, and there … Continue reading "Let’s Build Meta-Tech: Bloodshot Armor"… Read more

I think DR costs too much. I certainly think this is true in GURPS RAW, but even with the reduced cost of DR in Psi-Wars, I still find it costs too much. I struggle to justify the cost of, for example, 20 DR on a cybernetic arm. You quickly get to super-hero levels of cost … Continue reading "Cyber-Armor"… Read more

About a month into DFRPG Arden Vul, here is what we're using in Foundry VTT.Core VTT software:Foundry VTT version 12.This is the latest stable version.  I try to avoid updating Foundry in the middle of a campaign, because even though Foundry core tends to be stable, it takes a while for modules to support the new version, so if 13 or 14 or 15 comes… Read more

Abstract Combat Statistics: Heroes on the Mass Scale and ACKSNot long ago, I was thinking about the necessity of abstracted combat resolution and remembered that GURPS Mass Combat exists, and that it probably can be applied to small-scale combat with some minor adjustments. However, one of the questions remains – how do you derive abstract combat statistics from the non-abstract combat… Read more

Grand Federal didn’t change much in this new iteration, though I’ve integrated the “fragility” of Grand Federal Cybernetics, and adjusted the spine slightly, to make it thematically the opposite of Startrodder. For Modules, I’ve included a variation of the House Kain spine customization as a spine module. That’s because I thought some non-Kainians might like … Continue reading "Grand Federal Cybernetics 2 — Modules"… Read more

Startrodder is the cybernetic set most changed in this second iteration. In addition to changes for the modules, Startrodder cybernetics can now be detached by tools, and in keeping with the rough and practical themes of Startrodder, that means one can swap out a hand for tools or a clasper of a cannon. I’ve also … Continue reading "Startrodder Cybernetics 2 — Modules"… Read more