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zprime2020
February 5th, 2016, 19:03
Hey all,

I'm new around here, having just bought FG at the beginning of the new year. I'm getting back into RP after 20+ years of hard work and no fun. I'm really loving the concept of FG over Roll20 as a platform, but I'm seriously bummed by the lack of GURPS participation. Granted much of that is probably due to SJG's own bewildering IP stance, but whatever...

This post was spurred on by this little conversation on the G+ GURPS community with the legendary Douglas Cole. If you're interested, here's the direct link: Douglas Cole's Post about GURPS representation in Geek and Sundry (https://plus.google.com/106658611924718886008/posts/2DZm5MdarUv)

I personally think GURPS is one of the greatest inventions of mankind (lol, over the top much?), but no one seems to want to try it out.

So my proposal: What do you think about getting some of the more prominent GM's from the GURPS community (or even some folks around these parts) to participate in an open session of GURPS tutorials or sample play sessions. Nothing too crazy, but perhaps a slow introduction to basic GURPS concepts. These sessions could be live-streamed over Twitch or YouTube Gaming, with live questions from the chat room for non-participants. The key of course, is getting FG and SJG buy-in to promulgate/advertise the session and hype it up a little. In theory, you'd want a group of seasoned gamers as the play-group to ensure the GM/Instructor is able to focus on teaching vs actual GM'ing, but that's just a suggestion.

Sessions could include a weekly or monthly GURPS tutorial day set-up with topics like:
1) Basic Character Creation
2) Basic Combat
3) Advanced Combat
4) GURPS Magic
5) etc.

Follow on sessions could include more advanced or topic-related subjects, like:
1) Martial Arts
2) Grappling
3) Gun-Fu
4) Thaumatology
5) Spaceship combat....
6) etc.

We'd want to make sure we follow a syllabus of sorts, with the scenario and common newb questions asked throughout the play session, in case the chat room is empty or no one is asking questions (very likely).

I think this sort of "sponsored" tutorial session would be a great way to get FG and SJG to engage and may entice SJG to come out of the self-imposed cloister a little bit. (Yeah, I know...wishful thinking right?). Also, I think it would be a great way to showcase the GURPS/FG interoperability in the current GURPS ruleset.

Thoughts? Am I being a bit naive here?

Edit: Also, these play sessions would be available on YouTube and Twitch afterwards.

ZP

damned
February 6th, 2016, 01:13
Welcome zprime2020 and good luck with your endeavour.
We would love to see some more GURPS played at FG Con in April.

Gigermann
February 6th, 2016, 05:26
Easier to get someone to run it than to get players, I think. Not really anything to do with SJG policy as it is GURPS just isn't as popular as D&D—undeservedly, perhaps. Which isn't to say you're all wet here—should definitely give it a shot.

I'd say the actual adventure/campaign being run is really important, here—it needs to be interesting on its own, and showcase the best qualities of the GURPS system.

damned
February 6th, 2016, 05:49
Easier to get someone to run it than to get players, I think. Not really anything to do with SJG policy as it is GURPS just isn't as popular as D&D—undeservedly, perhaps. Which isn't to say you're all wet here—should definitely give it a shot.

I'd say the actual adventure/campaign being run is really important, here—it needs to be interesting on its own, and showcase the best qualities of the GURPS system.

I totally agree. If struggling to attract players to your GURPS table - stop selling it as GURPS. Sell the Story, the Adventure, the Campfire Boasts etc. The rulesystem comes second to the story you and your players weave :)

seycyrus
February 6th, 2016, 15:59
Hey all,...

Greetings! I think we all wish there was more GURPS action going on around here, (and in the gaming world in general). And I think it is fair to say that we all wish SJG would show a bit more enthusiasm towards the system and relaxed some of the restrictions a bit. This is especially true when one of the popular criticisms of GURPS (valid or not) is that it is crunch-heavy. FG could take over most, if not all, of the in-game number crunching if allowed to do so.

Your proposal is very well structured and is a first step in the right direction. What would be the next step? Get volunteers to commit to the items listed? That is probably the hard part. Some sponsorship would make this step easier.

It would be EXTREMELY nice to have a relationship between FG and SJG. But how does FG entice SJG to take notice? Which side is the first to offer a bit of pie?

Another point, and this is very much a problem of its own creation, is that the lack of norms regarding how things are done. Saithan has done a huge amount of work on the ruleset, and the character export sheet with GCA4 (and he has a speaking voice which is pleasant to listen to btw), but even with these tools, I don't think members of the FG GURPS community really know how others use FG.

**Note: I believe we are waiting on a revised ruleset.**

It would be nice to figure out how folks do things. For instance, does the GM use a modifier to alter damage roll to take into account armor worn? Or does the DM just mentally take into account the DR, and then reduce HPs accordingly? Either way is fine, of course and they both have their pros and cons, but everyone might not be aware of the first option. Is there a 3rd or a 4th way to do it? And then you have the various multipliers related to weapon type and body part ...

Setting up video sessions would be great, but I don't believe we've even had these types of discussions in the forum in a regular format .

As a starting point of discussion, let's take a look at the beginning of your list.

1) Basic Character Creation.

This one seems to be the most straightforward. At present, there seems to be only two ways to do it. A) Manually entering the data. b) Using GCA4 and then exporting the character with Saithan's filter. If you want a reasonably detailed character sheet, option B is the only real option. (To, my possibly very limited, knowledge of course).

2) Basic Combat

Would this be defined as the material in the Gurps Basic set, or what is contained in Gurps lite?


I'll end this post before i go too far into a tangent.

seycyrus
February 6th, 2016, 16:08
Hey all,
...
ZP

Awesome post on Geek and Sundry btw!

ddavison
February 6th, 2016, 17:10
We have reached out to SJG in the past, but received a "not interested, but thanks" response.

I think Damned's suggestion about advertising the game without spelling out which system you are using is a great first start. Maybe start with some pre-gens that people can pick from and then you can introduce them to the game system as they play. Many people have a fear of trying a system they've never used before, but a good GM can make this pretty painless and can quickly demonstrate the strengths of any system.

At the same time that you are advertising the game without calling it GURPS, you could simultaneously advertise it as a GURPS game on forums where you expect people already know how to play GURPS.

zprime2020
February 6th, 2016, 19:23
Thanks for the suggestions! I think my original intent was to dispel the concept of "GURPS is too complicated," as given by Douglas Cole's response to that Geek & Sundry article (linked above)...not necessarily drum up support in the short term for a campaign of my choosing. I'm just a newb, old...but still a newb! ha!

With that, having an event or series to demonstrate the *basics* of GURPS, like using GURPS-lite for example, or quick one-shots to demonstrate various subjects like low-tech combat, high-tech combat, etc., is kind of where I was going. For example, if people or interested or want to learn more, then we move on to more advanced concepts given in Martial Arts, or Tactical Shooting, or whatever.


2) Basic Combat

Would this be defined as the material in the Gurps Basic set, or what is contained in Gurps lite?

I was originally thinking Basic set, but since GURPS lite is free, I don't see why we couldn't start there to outline all the concepts within. I think the first thing is to see if anyone is even *remotely* interested in teaching though. I'll poke around a bit.

Honken
February 7th, 2016, 08:26
Hello there fellow GURPSians!

Ok, maybe I am not that much of a GURPSian, but it is my favourite game i never play (among with Traveller and Ars Magica). When i look thorugh the LFG forum, i look for any interesting game that is not D&D or Pathfinder. But my work have me on a very tight window of time when i can play each night, and most games start when i need to go to bed. Besides, I have to "local" game groups going so i guess quite a bit of my game need is satisfied there.

As for SJG, I agree on most of what you are saying. But then again, the role-playing games market is a very small market, and they produce way more revenue from the Munchkin brand. It seem to be the focus of their releases, which is fairly sound. Sell more of the stuff that brings in the dough.

As for ruleset I don't need much. I think all it needs is a good thought out characters sheet, and the skill/attribute roll automation it has presently. The only thing I think is lacking in the present GURPS is the item handling, and the wonkyness of the NPC attack. But I hope that will be worked out with the new GURPS ruleset.

/H

YAKO SOMEDAKY
February 7th, 2016, 14:38
I would like to play, to participate in such an event.
And I have a simple question:
How is the progress of the development of GURPS using the Core RPG?

GunbunnyFuFu
February 23rd, 2016, 00:11
I will be running a GURPS game for FG Con 8 in April. It's my first time running GURPS using FG, and it's sort of a test-case to see if I can handle GMing GURPS via FG, and to test the waters player-wise. It's a post-modern/techno-thriller game, though I also am planning on running a Post-Apocalypse campaign at some point in time.

EDIT: Sadly my availability has changed the weekend of FG Con, and I won't be able to run now. Hope to run at a FG Con/FG Day in the near future, however.

GunbunnyFuFu/Chris

demonsbane
March 2nd, 2016, 22:12
I totally agree. If struggling to attract players to your GURPS table - stop selling it as GURPS. Sell the Story, the Adventure, the Campfire Boasts etc. The rulesystem comes second to the story you and your players weave :)

Indeed. Also people promoting powered by Apocalypse system games are recommending the same approach.