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.

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.

For a while I've been going backwards and forwards on an interpretation of the Shadowrun setting (and its pre-industrial fantasy version, Earthdawn). Most of it is pretty obvious on what to do, even if it can be a bit of a grind if you try and do it all up front. (Solution: Don't do it all up front.)

Hacking/decking/whatever of the Interwebz/Net/Matrix/whatever is something that I haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory answer to.

Now, this is no critique against GURPS. To be fair, I don't think that any of the games have gotten a decent handle on it so that it doesn't feel like a clunky mess (this said from a non-hacker and barely competent computer user). Shadowrun's hacking system is often traditionally fixed by just removing hackers as PC options, while Cyberpunk 2020 felt like a dungeon crawl. Fixes like We're in Computer Hacking abstract to basically a game of Battleship and... so on.

I guess I've always got Pyramid 3/21, which seems to evoke Shadowrun, but I wanted to see what other solutions are out there that thread the needle of something that has enough depth and substance to it to give hacker PCs something to chew, but also doesn't become a 12 course meal while the other PCs are sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

At a push, I might go back to an old idea and just make the Shadowrun-esque decker-as-superhacker as a magic-user in tailored RPM system. That has always appealed since it would offer mechanical support for hacker collectives, allow for certain amounts of superhacking ala the lone hacker, and, of course, physical infiltration by allow hackers or their agents to have all manner of charms/etc. to help them on their *cough* quest. (Buggered if I know what AIs in this are. Perhaps just spirits or gods. <shrugs>)

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TL;DR - Am I missing something. Is there some cool hacking system out there to draw inspiration from and to wow me enough that I want to spend the time with it?

Stories of how Pyramid 3/21 just nails the darned thing on the head and I should just use it?

Or just go with RPM-powered computer wizardry and hell to it?

I’m thinking of a perk-level version of 3d spacial sense for a character. In this campaign aerobatics, freefall, and space/hyperspace navigation don’t exist as a practical matter (20th century real world realistic to borderline realism; character doesn’t have wings and won’t ever go to space); Piloting exists but the party has a pilot so the character is “unofficially” prohibited from putting points in it. Which effectively wipes out the skill bonuses.

In terms of what it does do, the 3d-part bonuses is simply “always knows which way is up.” This actually does have an effect; perhaps not well known but in reality balancing in complete darkness or blindfolded should have a penalty of -8 to -10 in reality; presumably this perk would eliminate or greatly reduce that? (Which one, how much if it reduces?) In terms of the benefits carried over from Absolute Direction (retracing paths, can’t get lost) that’s not included.

Also thinking I’d be ‘nice’ to also allow memorizing the position, pattern and timing of a bunch of moving traps/obstacles in complete darkness with high accuracy - but only if you spend a couple seconds first with a light source in front of them looking right at them and observing them, then immediately make a run for them, without doing anything else in between. And after a few tens of seconds you’d lose that. I suppose this could remove penalties related to remembering exactly where they are under those specific circumstances, or greatly reduce them (to what?)

Thoughts? Reduced penalties, no penalties?

Per the title; what skills should this character have?

This character was their defender - a warrior monarch who led from the field.

The culture did not have access to horses - but the species which made up the culture was faster and stronger than horses anyways, and they still had slower, bulky animals who could carry large amounts of supplies.

Notably; while they had a monarch, the culture was tribal in nature - only united formally, and truly united when defending from an outside threat. When there wasn't an outside threat, they warred within each other.

Final note: This character is the same character I posted about a day or two ago, who has PTSD. It's why I spoke in past tense about the culture - it doesn't exist anymore, a victim of full-scale genocide by a much larger enemy.

Hello! Fairly new to GURPS but a long time GM, I'm working on a One-Shot and one of the character options I'm thinking of using would have a magic sword. I see the rules for making magic items and it seems pretty straight forward but I can't see if there are any point costs to getting them.

Am I missing something? I feel like getting a magic sword that can hit more accurately than a normal one should cost something in creation. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to GURPS and my group and I are planning on running a campaign where the players are Intelligence Officers, such as members of the CIA or MI6. I am going to be running this game, and I am currently weighing up disadvantages given to them at the start of the game because of this profession. So far, they would be:

-Code of Honour (Intelligence Officer) (10 Points)

-Enemies (Regime) (80 Points- 40 from it being a regime, which I deemed fit under the 40 points "Government" section, multiplied by 2 for them appearing Quite Often)

-Sense of Duty (Intelligence Agency) (10 Points)

I am wondering if this gives the characters too many points to start with as this totals 100 back to them, and I had planned for them to start around 125 Points. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hello, this is just a question of Forth edition rules. In fourth Edition, you simply build vehicles as characters, yes? So how does that affect a number of rules for things you’d want to do with a brick? (I am a newbie at using vehicles so my apologies if these are well known.)

- Where are the rules for getting in or out of a vehicle? (Besides a mecha using the battlesuit skill)

- If I equip a vehicle with guns but no manipulators or arms, do I just assume it’s attached to the vehicle’s body?

- Do weapons deal different damage at different Size modifiers? Cause I want to also give infantry (albeit supersoldiers in battlesuits) heavy weaponry as well.

- Am I also allowed to equip more than two weapons and have them active at a time on a vehicle?

- Do vehicles just use the same armor as infantry? So I could make a vehicle in a battlesuit?

- There are skills where you shoot something out of your hand, if I equip a vehicle with handless arms (like a mecha) with that, do they still get to use those skills?

- Do I always get to punch things? If I built a normal tank, could I still do a punch by saying I swing the cannon at an enemy?

Theres probably more rules I’d like to ask, but I can’t think of any right now, but feel free to answer potential future questions you’d think necessary in the replies.