GURPSDay Feed

Sorry about the gap in my posting. I was pretty much either tied up or burnt out. To make it up to you a little, here’s something to sink your teeth into. Interviewer: Have you read the book by Comus, I think the title was “What We Give to Hate?” It got a lot ofContinue reading "Going Down The Dark Path"… Read more

I've never implemented this rule, but I keep thinking about running a game that would use it: One Heroes Get to Resist I have a few more thoughts on it, nine years on. – I think it should totally affect allied NPCs, too, with an exception made for any characters 125+ points, who'd get treated as worthy and get a roll. – In a DF-style… Read more

Review: GURPS Underground Adventures In the previous review, I mentioned that GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3 has two pages on excavation and mining, but it was pointed out to me that I forgot about GURPS Underground Adventures. And that’s right, I did forget about that book. I often do, despite using certain rules from it relatively often. Still, this book often just escapes my mind, just… Read more

Karilan: New AventusSeveral months ago, I contemplated developing my setting not in breadth, but in depth, i.e. focus on one nation and try describing it in more detail. The main goal was more of a challenge to myself – can I do this? Do I have it in me? After all, to write good, you have to learn how to write bad first, there's no… Read more

In Felltower, we use a little rule buried in the back of Basic Set: Characters (p. B326) that makes critical hits just bypass defenses, no table roll, and a "3" is max damage. One way I thought of speeding combat – thanks to additional lethality – is to make all critical hits maximum damage. Roll a 3-4, or a 5 or a 6 with sufficient… Read more

    Here is a summary from the player of Merrill for the session last week. Merrill's player was absent from the game on 9th April, and there is no summary of that session from anyone else. As always, I am giving out an Impulse Point to any player who writes a summary for the blog.Session Date:    Tuesday 16 April 2024Party roster:Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 176 points (PC)Doran Longbeard, dwarf warrior… Read more

Review: The Quintessential DwarfMany times before, I said that I love GURPS because any RPG book is a GURPS book. Back in the D&D 3.0 days, when the OGL was reigning supreme, and many third-party publishers were churning out tons of books of dubious quality, I haven’t really found any use for these books in my D&D games. Sure, some of the stuff there looked… Read more

In the powers book is the Control Advantage. And I'm glad we have the control advantage, but I have a few complaints with it: quantity and finesse of control scale togetherIt gives massive arbitrary bonusesIts priced fairly for someone who uses those massive bonuses for every single thing they doI was building a powers based magic system and had the thought that I didn't want… Read more

It’s been a long Wiki Week! As noted before, the winner for Patreon was Sorcery. The winner for SubscriberStar was House Tan-Shai. I’ve been discussing Sorcery all week, but let me drop the major wiki week updates here and then discuss the design notes after the jump. House Tan-Shai House Tan-Shai got its start as … Continue reading "Wiki Week Update: Relic Sorcery and House Tan-Shai"… Read more

This post is thanks to Faodladh, who made a comment on my last post on this subject. In GURPS, it's very common to target specific hit locations. For skilled fighters run by skilled players, they often target a very small handful of optimal locations. You get eye shot guy, neck slicer guy, I only shoot the vitals guy. It's not always that realistic – the… Read more

GURPS Monstrous CompendiumI rarely do that, because I feel very dirty after I shill my own stuff. On my Boosty, I decided to make some exlusive stuff for my supporters – a GURPS Monstrous Compendium based on the format you can see in the post below this one. The idea is to rework the standard GURPS statblock to make it more useful for the GM…. Read more

I had a stray idea for a rough, gritty rule for cascading defenses. Instead of resetting the penalty for multiple defenses on your turn, do not reset it unless: – you spend a full second without using any defenses or, optionally – you spend a turn doing Evaluate This is a simple, but very nasty rule. Being outnumbered and unable to take a breather -… Read more

Sorcery isn’t a system of magic, it’s a framework of magic. It’s up to you as the GM to provide the details of the structure and details that turn it into a true magic mystem. Enraged Eggplant Previously, I introduced the basic essentials of Sorcery and its rules, but rules are just the basis for … Continue reading "The Themes Of Psychic Sorcery"… Read more

For wiki week, we have a pretty clear winner, though the Lithian Language came in close second, at least on the Patreon poll. Given the extent and difficulty of sorcery, though, I suspect putting it on the wiki will take up the whole week. This may surprise you, dear reader, if you’re not a backer, … Continue reading "Introducing: Psychic Sorcery"… Read more

Date: April 14th, 2024 Weather: Sunny, warm. Characters Chop, human cleric (308 points) Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (297 points) Thor Halfskepna, human knight (310 points) Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (255 points)      Darkspire the Inscrutable, human apprentice (125 points)      Harold, human guard (~80 points) The PCs gathered in town, gathered rumors, and headed out to Felltower itself. The goal was simple – gain the… Read more

Personae dramatisTonfa Guy, doesn't speak or have a name but has a tonfaFelcanis, elven clericGrignok, handsome orc druidAugustus, human clericDénnos, human sage (NPC)Quid occurritTonfa Guy steals a torch and they get out of Bóllā. Honsou sticks around to do something to the cows. Nobody asks what.They set forth for the spider lair. The day is mostly uneventful, albeit oddly slow-going for such a pleasant day…. Read more

I have this notion that a year-long campaign can be considered a success. We play once a month (since adult responsibilities have long since eliminated the days of 18 hour games every single weekend) so that works out to 12 sessions, nominally. Thus, after six sessions, we’re halfway there, making this a good time to […]… Read more

There is a Bundle of Holding for the GURPS-based Discworld RPG: It's $14.95 and nets you the Discworld RPG – normally $30 alone – plus Low-Tech and Fantasy Tech 1. I'm not sure why those two, except that they kinda fit. Whatever the reason, it's a good price for either DW or the two accompanying books, so if you're missing DW or missing those two… Read more

  Authorial Highlights I have settled on what form of fiction I want to write. Outlining is mostly done. I keep going back to it and revising it though. “GURPS Meta-Tech” aka GURPS Whatchamacallit  is in the hands of Sean Punch aka Dr. Kromm. I turned it in on the 25th of March. Just over […] The post Carpe Blogiem: Author, Patreon, and Blog Highlights… Read more

Here are how things went for me in 2023: The Good (What I did well or that went well) My Patreon continues to grow and remains most of my monthly (steady) income. I’m sitting at 102 patrons right now and 12 followers (free members – something Patreon changed that I actually liked). I ended up back […] The post Carpe Blogiem: 2023 – A Year In… Read more

A visit to Great-Aunt Mothra and some unexpected advice. Heightening tensions on Sirocco. A pleasant interlude, with lessons. “‘Infamous’ is like ‘famous’, but better!” Playing the Baron. A trip to the deep desert, lessons on the ecology of the gheap, and a reunion. Surprise appearances. Fly by night. Who’s Who What Happened When we left […]… Read more

    There was no game this week due to most of the team being unwell. So this summary from the player of Merrill brings us to date for the party. As always, I am giving out an Impulse Point to any player who writes a summary for the blog.Session Date:    Tuesday 26 March 2024Party roster:Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 176 points (PC)Doran Longbeard, dwarf warrior (knight), 202 points (PC)Eleanor Bayley, human… Read more

This post is almost entirely in the context of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. It's influenced by my current game's actual play, but also in light of the way my original game – AD&D – treated acquisition of magic items. In standard DF and DFRPG, PCs cannot make magic items. That's exclusively something NPCs do. They can buy magic items in… Read more

I had backed Douglas Cole’s KS a while back (I have backed many of Gaming Ballistic‘s Kickstarters -as the only 3rd party licensee for GURPS DFRPG I am always down for the GURPS projects and some of the OSE ones.) … Continue reading →… Read more

    Here is another take on session 70, this one from the player of Merrill. The PC had been unconscious during session 69 due to his injuries, which coincided with the player also being absent for work reasons. This picks up from the point of Merrill being awoken to discover the fight wasn't quite over, however the tide was turning…Session Date:    Tuesday 19 March 2024Party roster:Ben,… Read more

     There was no game yesterday due to most of the team being unwell. Hopefully everyone will be back to normal next Tuesday. In the meantime I shall post another of the backlog of summaries. Session 70 was the last stage of the unexpectedly long, four-session fight for liberation from their captors.Session Date:    Tuesday 19 March 2024Party roster:Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 176 points (PC)Doran Longbeard, dwarf… Read more

New Monster Statblock – First Attempt (Ankheg)Not that long ago, I posted a rant about monster statblocks, and how much I find the GURPS statblock underwhelming. In short, I found it lacking information that would be useful for me as a GM both in combat and out of combat. It made me realize that I want something closer to a proper Monster Manual entry that… Read more

       Here is a recap of sessions 67 and 68 from the player of Merrill. We played two sessions in the same week, to see if we could resolve the party's fight for freedom. Once again, things didn't exactly go according to plan…Session Dates:    Tuesday 5 March and Thursday 7 March 2024Party roster:Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 176 points (PC)Doran Longbeard, dwarf warrior (knight), 202 points (PC)Eleanor… Read more

 We had our first session, which was an introduction. We talked over some things and dealt with some questions. A few rules questions, the players all have an older version of GURPS Ultra-Tech than I which has a few errata and other differences. Notably TL11 for Rainbow Lasers and the setting is TL10.Some questions about the laws and legal systems among various worlds. Who knew… Read more

Here are a couple of new magic items for Felltower! Al-Jaffee's Book of Quips and Comebacks This convenient pocket-sized book is made with a soft cover, and weighs only 0.5 lbs. Using it requires holding it open with one hand (a Ready maneuver.) Using the Book allows for multiple uses of Rapier Wit on the same foe as long as the user succeeds. If the… Read more

Download This month, Roger and Mike consider system choice and system mastery, and look at Mike's new Blades in the Dark campaign…. Read more

Life's Price Tag in GURPSIn my pursuit of a perfect monster statblock, I found something that isn’t covered that much detail in GURPS – the price of a creature. The animal section of GURPS Basic Set has prices for some of the more common domestic animals and guidelines for adjusting them for training and exceptional stats. The same book later has rough guidelines for pricing… Read more

 Three players, a Decker, Diplomat, and Pilot in the campaign starting this Sunday. The Decker has been a pain, due to wanting lots of Allies and some odd choices. I had hoped to have listed a good amount of programs to help everyone do their jobs, and the ships crew fully fleshed out.However, the work on Allies should be useful for the rest of the… Read more

      Several sessions have passed since I last posted any update. The fight for freedom from their captors took several sessions. We will start with a recap of session 66, from the player of Merrill.Session Date:    Tuesday 27 February 2024Party roster:Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 176 points (PC)Doran Longbeard, dwarf warrior (knight), 202 points (PC)Eleanor Bayley, human thief, 233 points (PC)- Dagne Timar, human priestess of Metallys (cleric), 147… Read more

I toured around Pompeii on my trip to Italy. Naturally, noted a lot of things from a mapping perspective. – rooms are pretty small. A lot of the rooms in buildings – and solo residences – were not much bigger than 10 x 10 or 15 x 20-ish. Not a lot of the giant rooms I like to stick in dungeons. – lots of doorways… Read more

I want to complain. I’m winding up Chivare and the last college, Primal Sorcery, which integrates certain aspects of herbalism/alchemy for our Lithian Witches and, pleased with the result, I began to work cautiously on some Wilwatiktan material (an unfortunate computer crash wiped out some of it, alas), and I began to work on poisons … Continue reading "The Problem with Poison"… Read more

Purely for amusement’s sake, here are the GURPS Spaceships writeups for four spacecraft in the Human Destiny setting. I’ve been finding it useful to draw up these ships using the GURPS rules, because they’re a pretty clean (and appropriately generic) system for spaceship design. Naturally, I’ll be adapting these to more system-agnostic terms as I write them up for the Human Destiny sourcebook. You’ll notice… Read more

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells IIMore spells from Complete Adventurer. Cacophonic Shield creates a sound barrier that prevents hearing and damages those who cross it. Cloak of the Sea lets the subject traverse underwater environments with more ease. Distort Speech makes the victim's speech incomprehensible. Swift Expeditious Retreat and Swift Fly are variants of… Read more

Index: Video ContentYou may or may not know that I have a Youtube channel called Dungeons and GURPS (I tried to sync it on Rumble, but Youtube disabled the sync feature a few days ago) where I talk about GURPS and other tabletop RPGs. My video editing skills are rudimentary, so they are basically narrated slide shows. And the narration itself could've been clearer, but… Read more

 The Magic Vegas campaign I was playing in is on a break and the group discussed options and we went with one of my older campaign settings.  It needs some update and revisions but is bascially a TL10 Space Opera setting.This group is playing a Decker, Pilot, and Diplomat as insurance investigators.InspirationGhost Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller for the Pilots and revisions to… Read more

What would a perfect monster statblock look like? I’ve done a lot of work writing up monsters for GURPS, be they D&D conversions or something else. Because of that, I got to see many types of monster descriptions and statblocks from different systems and editions. Many times, I could not find some piece of information either on the statblock or in the description, and I… Read more

One real frustration I have with Pathfinder: Kingmaker is when descriptions and effects don't really match. Many, many debuffs have very specific counters. You can get stats drained, paralyzed, petrified, frightened, stunned, level drained, blinded, sickened, exhausted . . . all good. But then how do you fix it? It depends. You have spells like Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Greater Restoration, Remove Curse, Inspiring Recovery, Heal… Read more

I should get better about posting to the blog when I update the wiki. We’ve had two wiki weeks since the last update. I’ll just bundle up all the updates here in one spot: Sidekicks Sidekicks won two months running on Patreon, so there are four more sidekicks for your very low-power Psi-Wars games, or … Continue reading "Wiki Week: February and March"… Read more

The Grand Cluster has many world shrouded in mystery and laden with power. One of the most pivotal to the power structure of the cluster is Crimson, which provides unique psionic drugs to the powerful Pinnacle EmpireCrimson is covered with an insidious thick red fog that gives the planet its name. It rises two miles above the planet's surface, sends most life into a helpless… Read more

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells II didn't forget about wizardry. Let's convert some spells from Complete Adventurer. Absorb Weapon lets you absorb a weapon into your body. Balancing Lorecall is a dual spell that enhances your sense of balance. Bladeweave is a peculiar illusion spell that lets you entrance an enemy with the movement of your weapon. Branch to Branch is a brachiator… Read more

 A special "GURPS but not a session report" post!My friend Douglas Cole over at Gaming Ballistic puts out amazing third-party products for my favorite game… GURPS.Saethor's Bane: A Dungeon Fantasy RPG Solo AdventureHis newest project is ending tomorrow. It funded in the first couple of hours on Backerkit Crowdfunding and has reached its one and only stretch goal… turning all the art and maps from… Read more

Here is what I picked up on sale – well, two thing at 10% off and one at full price. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 2: The Room Dungeon Fantasy: The Devil's Workshop GURPS Locations: Hellsgate I think those should give me some value I can turn into Felltower goodness, don't you?… Read more

  Authorial Highlights I have settled on what form of fiction I want to write, but I need to consider it some and do some preliminary outlining. “GURPS Meta-Tech” aka GURPS Whatchamacallit  is out of playtest and now in revision. There were about 1300 emails total for the book which is looking to be about […] The post Carpe Blogiem: Author, Patreon, and Blog Highlights… Read more

  Authorial Highlights I have settled on what form of fiction I want to write, but I need to consider it some and do some preliminary outlining. “GURPS Meta-Tech” aka GURPS Whatchamacallit  is out of playtest and now in revision. There were about 1300 emails total for the book which is looking to be about […] The post Carpe Blogiem: Author, Patreon, and Blog Highlights… Read more

  Authorial Highlights I have settled on what form of fiction I want to write, but I need to consider it some and do some preliminary outlining. “GURPS Meta-Tech” aka GURPS Whatchamacallit  is still in playtest and there has been a LOT of emails back and forth: 1,203 emails so far. That is a LOT […] The post Carpe Blogiem: Author, Patreon, and Blog Highlights… Read more