This is a monthly r/GURPS thread for anything and everything related to your own campaigns. Tell us how you and your friends are making out. Update us on the progress of your game. Tell us about any issues you've run into and maybe we can help. Make suggestions for other players and GMs.

Game: GURPS

World: Homebrew

Genre: High Fantasy

So my problem is that I have the cultures of my world fairly locked in and I want to create gods and explore the cultures more through the lense they put on their shared gods.

But before creating the shadows of the gods as it were I still need to create the gods that cast those shadows (the gods are real)

So I need a template/seed for a believable pantheon or at least something like these are the core domains you need to hit for it to be believable.

I looked on youtube for videos on this, thinking there should be a great wealth of knowledge but I keep finding things that:

Call out dnd gods as stupid

Call out anthropomorphic gods as stupid

Are ok is general presentations on monotheism/politheism but not helpful to write your own

Call out general tropes that I know to avoid in the first place

Are uber specific showcases of the author making gods that don't teach you how to make your own

I haven't been able to find a sort of Hello World base to adopt for my own needs.

So, I'm trying to replicate the Wild Magic shown in The Obsidian Trilogy, by Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory. It works a lot like Divine Favor does, except that every act of magic comes with a task that you must do afterwards. The more vague you are in your request the better.

A few examples from the first book (Spoilers beware but I'll try to be vague)

- A wildmage wanted to escape somewhere. The granting of this was done by transforming them into a bird. The task? The bird was endangered and they helped add to the population. This task took about a year to complete, but it was a MAJOR ask.

- Someone was injured, poison, only bee venom but still. The burden of the healing was shared between the mage and the target. The task of the mage was to inform an old woman that the target was to aid her in her daily chores for a year and a day.

The limits of what one can and can't do is left up to what an individual wishes to risk. Theoretically one could lift mountains but will be tasked with moving mountains in exchange. And that assumes the physical energy cost doesn't outright kill you.

I was tempted to treat this simply as divine favor, but the energy cost, sharing the burden, and reliability seemed to warrant a community ask.

Thanks in advance ^^

I managed to nab a stack of second hand third edition gurps books from a local game group for 8 pounds (so about ten bucks). I got the basic set, technomancer, undead and spec ops. The game is on fourth edition (so I've heard), how good is compatibility between editions? I'm not fussed about playing an older edition of the game to try it out then switch to the newer one if I think it would be worth it, but if I don't even have to bother it would save me money! Either way I'll definitely try out third edition as I have these nice books now.

Playing in another game, and one of the players bought up to TL 12 and stupid high wealth. They pulled this stuff called Assembler Goo.

Assembler Goo: These nanomachines can transform anything they’re in contact with – carbon, people, etc., though they prefer nanopaste – into a desired target object of equal or lesser weight. This requires hours equal to the higher of the target object’s weight (in lbs.) or 1% of its cost (in $), divided by the weight of the assemblers used (also in lbs.) To break down tough objects, add hours equal to DR. The process inflicts 1d corrosion damage on the matter being transformed per HP of the item to be assembled. Assemblers contain the equivalent of a radio microcomm so that they can be easily programmed. They cost $10,000/lb.

Their argument is they can have this make more Assembler Goo and then use it to make any scale project once they make enough assemblers. I feel like this can't be right, but they are insistent that the only thing they need is dirt and time

2.8.2 is mostly about play at the table. The GM Board and every open sheet update live now. A player changes HP or FP, or the GM edits an enemy or moves the turn, and the other screens show it right away. This is a stepping stone to some of the other milestones I have on my list, such as seamless tracking between combatants with targeting, auto DR/position math, and more. Check out the landing page at gurpscalculator.com for the full list of milestones and help us get there!

Campaign Rolls has chat now. You can post to everyone or whisper to a select group of people you pick. I also fixed a bug where the GM could read whispers between players. My bad. Only the sender and the people it’s sent to see them now.

On the character sheet: Posture and Shock are more prominent, with Stunned, Unconscious, Bleeding and Burning stacked as chips under them. By request, Spell attacks have an Energy box, so putting three energy into a Fireball scales the damage dice and the roll card says “Fireball, 3 energy, 3d+3”.

If something breaks or confuses you, the Report Bug button on the site goes straight to me. Use it!

https://www.gurpscalculator.com

What’s the one thing you wish a GM Board did that none of them do?

New boss, new edition? What do you think?

A monthly post to share your maps, tokens, and other image files with the GURPS community.

Hello everyone,

I just made a new blog post about modular character creation and how I adapted it for my space opera campaign. Please take a look and tell me what you think:

https://thewabatuckian.wordpress.com/2026/11/03/gurps-modular-character-creation/

Thanks!

Is an all-wildcard skill list feasible?

A Bit More Background:

Help! The GURPS bug has infected me! Now I want to convert all my games to run in GURPS! Is this normal?

I've been GMing weekly since my current group formed during the pandemic lockdown of '20. We've played through some longform campaigns with 5e, Pathfinder 2e (finished two 1-11/12 adventure paths), and played shorter campaigns or oneshots all throughout as "palate cleansers".

We started on Dungeon Fantasy RPG a month or so ago and I like it so much, I'm planning on also doing other GURPS games. I'm currently flipping through 4e Revised and I really love what I'm seeing. To learn the system even more, I'm also trying to see if I can prep for a game set in the Star Frontiers setting (TSR's science fiction rpg from way back and also the first RPG I owned back in the late '80s).

Where I Am Now:

So here's where I am right now. I've basically set up 15-16 wildcard skills which I think cover most of what would be expected in a Star Frontiers game. I guess the goal for this is to also ease the players in, as well as ease of prep for me.

Here are the wildcard skills:

• Gun! (DX): covers Beam Weapons, Gyrojets, Needlers, Projectiles, Grenade Rifles, Mortars, Heavy Vehicle Gunnery. Other activities: Fast-Draw, and Clearing Stoppages under fire
• Blade! (DX): covers Vibroknives, Monoswords, Force Axes, Swords, Knives, Spears, Polearms, Stun Sticks, Whips. Other activities: Feints, Disarming, Counter-Strikes
• Fist! (DX): covers Brawling, Judo Throws, Arm Locks, Hold-Breaks, Choke Holds, Nerve Strikes, Breakfalls. Other activities: Tumbling, Vaulting
• Driver! (DX): covers Driving (Groundcars, 4WD Explorers, Crawlers, Walkers, Hovercraft), Boating, Submarines. Other activities: Off-Road Racing, High-Speed Control Rolls
• Pilot! (DX): covers Piloting (Contragrav Skycars, Jetcopters, Aerofliers), Shuttles, Starships, Fighters. Other activities: Dogfighting, High-G Re-Entry Maneuvers
• Ten-Hut! (DX): covers Soldier, Small-Unit Tactics, Strategy, Leadership, Camouflage, Demolitions/EOD, Battlesuits. Other activities: Ambush Setup, Forward Observer Targets
• Tech! (IQ): Mechanic (Starships, Vehicles), Electronics Repair, Machinist, Engineer, Robotics. Other activities: Hardware Field Fixes, Scrap Salvaging under fire
• Computer! (IQ): Computer Operation, Programming, Network Intrusion/Hacking, Cryptography, Hacking. Other activities: "Hot-Plug" Hacking, Code Audits
• Astrogator! (IQ): Navigation (Space, Hyperspace), Astronomy, Cartography, Deep Space Sensor Arrays. Other activities: Constellation Orientation, Long-Range Scans
• Medicine! (IQ): First Aid, Field Trauma Surgery, Diagnosis, Pharmacology, Biocort/Staydose, Stasis Fields. Other activities: Emergency Field Surgery, Shrapnel Removal
• Xeno! (IQ): Xenobiology, Xenology, Alien Anatomy, Exobiochemistry, Alien Psychology, Bio-Hazards. Other activities: Field Bio-Specimen Tracking & Analysis
• Survival! (Per): Wilderness Survival, Tracking, Planetology, Geology, Weather Prediction, Foraging, Shelters. Other activities: Climbing, Swimming
• Talker! (IQ): Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Interrogation, Acting, Merchant/Trading, Psychology, Lie Detection. Other activities: Carousing, Non-Verbal Alien Talks
• Spacer! (DX): Free Fall, Vacc Suit Operations, Freight Handling, Airlock Cycling, Pressure Doors, EVA Repair. Other activities: Zero-G Athletics/Acrobatics
• Rogue! (DX): Stealth, Lockpicking (Mechanical & Digital), Security Bypass, Shadowing, Smuggling. Other activities: Ledge Balancing, Scaling, Urban Parkour
• Psionics! (IQ): This is an optional wildcard that is only available after purchasing some form of Unusual Background but the main idea is it covers use of psionic powers used by Frontier mentalists.

For people who have more experience, would the above be a feasible list of wildcard skills? Am I missing something? Or is this all futile and I should just stop trying? Thanks in advance for all your help.