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.

Hello everyone! Darryll from Steve Jackson Games here. We just wanted to share some of the new GURPS titles we've been working on. Please head over to the campaign page to learn more about GURPS Ring of Fire and GURPS Basic Set, 4th Edition Revised.

Thank you!

This all started this morning when I took a look at the Combat Cards and notice that Feint says:

This maneuver is not an attack, though, and does not make your weapon unready.

Active Defense: Any. However, if you Feint and then parry with an unbalanced weapon, you cannot attack on your next turn. This makes the Feint pointless.

And I thought to myself 'Wait, I thought unbalanced just meant you couldn't booth attack and parry in the same turn? If this isn't an attack, and doesn't make your weapon unready, why wouldn't I be able to parry with the weapon and do my attack next turn?'

And that's when I went down the rules rabbit hole. Because GURPS seems to have a lot of rules for if/when/how weapons are unbalanced, and of course they can't all be in the same place. Or in the index. (Seriously, the word unbalanced doesn't appear even once in the Index!!!)

So the first thing I find is a rules box on p383 Titled "When is a Weapon Ready?" saying in part:

Unbalanced Weapons: A few large and unwieldy weapons are carried out of line by their momentum when you attack. Unless your ST is at least 1.5 times that required to wield the weapon, they become unready after you attack with them; to use them again, take a Ready maneuver.

Oh shoot, was I wrong? Do weapons become unready after attacking, requiring you to spend an entire turn readying them after each attack (like in 3rd edition)?
But then I look at the skill descriptions on p208, where it says

Impact Weapons An impact weapon is any rigid, unbalanced weapon with most of its mass concentrated in the head. Such a weapon cannot parry if you have already attacked with it on your turn.

with similar text for flails. While this doesn't explicitly state that these unbalanced weapons don't become unready after an attack, they seem to imply it, by pointing out that you just cannot attack and parry with them in a single turn. This idea is further supported by the sill description for polearms which say

Polearm: Any very long (at least 2 yards), unbalanced pole weapon with a heavy striking head, including the glaive, halberd, poleaxe, and countless others. Polearms become unready after an attack, but not after a parry

where it explicitly says that the weapon becomes unready after an attack, but not after a parry.

But wait, there's more. In the pages before the weapons table, there's the part where they describe the Weapon Statistics and under Parry on p269,

“U” means the weapon is unbalanced: you cannot use it to parry if you have already used it to attack this turn (or vice versa).

Okay, that also supports my original memory of the rules. But then on the Weapons Table, The Bastard Sword, on p271, has the U listed under parry. Which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't just come from the skills descriptions where they said:

All swords are balanced, and can attack and parry without becoming unready. p208

Sigh. Okay. But maybe I'm conflating two terms here, Unbalanced and Unready. Which I can kinda understand, since they're using them both in a lot of places. Like in that first textbox on p383, where they call out unbalanced weapons, and say they become unready after an attack.

But then I look up Ready Weapons where it tells me (on p369)

A one-handed weapon is ready if it’s being held in your hand. A two-handed weapon is ready if you are gripping it with both hands. Some unwieldy weapons (e.g., the great axe) become unready after each attack unless you are extremely strong; see the Melee Weapon Table to learn which weapons are unwieldy, and their ST requirements (always marked ‡)

So then I go back to the Weapons Table (p271 to 273), where some weapons are indeed marked with the double cross. Under the ST column. So now I can go and find out what that means, on p270 where it says

“‡” means the weapon requires two hands and becomes unready after you attack with it, unless you have at least 1.5 times the listed ST (round up). To use it in one hand without it becoming unready, you need at least three times the listed ST.

So now, after flipping through a half dozen entries scattered over hundreds of pages, between two books, I think I have a handle on this.

Unbalanced means you can't both attack an parry with that weapon in the same turn.

Some unbalanced weapons become unready if they are used to attack (but not parry) At least some of the time (The halberd, for example has the ‡ listed next to the sw cut, and sw imp attacks, but only a † on the thr imp attack) (Note all weapons (at least in the basic set) that have ‡ are unbalanced)

Having high amounts of strength can negate the becoming unready after the attack, but there is nothing I saw that would let you both attack and parry with an unbalanced weapon if you had enough strength.

But I'm still left with my original question:

Why does the Combat Card say that parrying with an unbalanced weapon make it unready?

Always wanted to give this a shot, but I've found it weirdly difficult to track it down. Does anyone have it or know where I can get a PDF of it?

Hey everyone! Help me design an enemy for my campaign. I've been hyping up a character who's a master of rapier fencing. They say he's the best in the world. Rumors and all that jazz about him. Players have fought his friends in various situations, from tournaments to deathmatches. And now I'm going to have to introduce him. The idea behind the character is that he doesn't have incredible stats or advantages. He's just REALLY, REALLY, REALLY skilled. He's like Oleksandr Usyk in boxing right now—head and shoulders above even world-class fighters.

So, I need help with the character's design, and more specifically, his combat pattern.

We're using the Marshal Arts book, and I wanted him to not just have over-the-top skills, but also use various waits, feints, reposts, counterattacks, weapon manipulation, retreat toward the enemy rather than awayf from him, and use tic-tac-toes, jabs, and extended combinations. Are there any specific things that could help me sell him as a true master of weapons? He'll be armed with a rapier, maybe a cloak or dagger, and a main gauche in his off-hand. Players have 270+ points and weapon skills around 18, plus some feint techniques at 20.

hey folks.

I had some players interested in GURPS 3e after seeing my books in a box. I haven't played GURPS 3e in like 20+ years, so I decided to re-learn the game by playing it solo. Now before you say anything, I don't have the 4e books nor do I want to buy them, especially with 4e revised coming out, which I am considering getting. Anyhow, I am going to put it up on my YouTube channel as I go through this journey. So any 3e peeps who hang around, wouldn't mind stopping by and giving me their thoughts. I'd appreciate it. Even if it's a thumbs up like, that's appreciated. I'll list the links here, you can click on them if you'd like. Thanks for your time!

- Going through the books I have: https://youtu.be/0hjmpGOBZ8s?si=iajW3XUMRnQcD1Zs

- the Campaign set up: https://youtu.be/q_arSG7GO7Y?si=Msq6euuF7dJ3axy_

- Talking about making NPCs and Monsters https://youtu.be/ZnvxhyuEFpc?si=-cTOZhKKyF2mhrAA

Has anyone taken the time to convert a DnD 5e campaign to GURPS? I’m considering converting Scarlet Citadel to run for my table after my current campaign and was wondering if anyone had any pointers or good rules of thumb for converting between the two

queria saber como voces lidam com rastreio de alimento, bebida e a temperatura pra situações com muito calor, pois nas regras é dito que deve ser feito a cada meia hora uma rolagem de HT quando a temperatura ta terrivel. como voces lidam com isso?

I am making a bunch of stuff for GURPS in Elder Scrolls using my own custom stuff and a lot of the additions in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. One thing I am working on is making GURPS Magic feel more war-mage friendly using some of the option rules from GURPS Thaumatology. My version of Elder Scrolls is High Mana and magic is very common, so common that people use it for farming and you can reasonably expect a normal person to know a spell or two by age 30 or so. Now, they are not "wizards" but they know some useful spells that make day to day life easier. Shrines grant real blessings, scrolls are cheap enough that a farmer can afforded them, potion are the same. I am setting this is up so everyone reading gets the point that this is not a setting where magic is rare, "mystical", or poorly understood; rather, magic is normalized. Now, that being said, I am wondering if my changes lead to as situation where the height of wizards are so powerful that they can't be defeated by the height of archers/melee warriors.

I don't think so, but I am worried about the spells that can just end of fight losing the downsides of range; like Stun or Flesh to Stone. There are plently of scrolls and items to counter magic, so I might just be paranoid, but I would love input. Here are my ideas for changes:

Spell Range & Accuracy

By the unmodified rules, combat magic is short-ranged. A Regular or Area spell suffers a skill penalty equal to its distance in yards from the target (−1 per yard), and most Missile spells have low maximum ranges — a fireball reaches only fifty yards, where a common archer outshoots it. To bring spellcasting into line with the war-magic of this setting, where a skilled battlemage is a genuine battlefield threat and a master is terrifying, these rules extend the reach of all four kinds of magical attack, with every extension scaling off the caster's Magery. Range becomes another expression of magical talent: the gifted reach farther, the master farther still, and the untrained Magery 0 caster operates at the unmodified baseline.

Rule 1 — Magery Grants Penalty-Free Distance for Regular & Area Spells

Each level of Magery adds one full hex (yard) of penalty-free distance before range penalties begin to apply to a Regular or Area spell. In practice, subtract the caster's Magery in yards from the distance to the target before computing the penalty. A Magery 3 caster suffers no penalty out to three yards, then the normal progression resumes from there.

In ordinary battlefield casting this shifts the −1-per-yard curve outward by the caster's Magery: a Magery 3 mage striking a target eight yards away figures the distance as five yards (−5) rather than eight. The benefit also applies to ceremonial casting (Rule 2), shifting that reckoning outward in the same way. Because of how range penalties scale, the penalty-free distance matters greatly at close range and very little at long range — it sweetens the near work without inflating the far.

In ceremonial casting, the lead caster — the one who makes the skill roll — determines the penalty-free distance from their own Magery. The Magery of assistants and spectators does not contribute to range.

Rule 2 — Ceremonial Regular & Area Spells Use the Speed/Range Table

When a Regular or Area spell is cast as ceremonial magic, it no longer suffers the brutal −1-per-yard distance penalty. Instead, it reckons range using the Size and Speed/Range Table (the same table used for ranged attacks): roughly −2 at five yards, −4 at ten, −7 at twenty, −11 at fifty, −13 at one hundred yards — further reduced by the caster's penalty-free distance from Rule 1. A ceremonial caster who can see the target may therefore illuminate, heal, read, or harm anything within sight at a manageable penalty — but every such casting takes at least ten seconds, often minutes, requires assistants, and remains subject to the ordinary perils of ceremonial work (a roll of 16 always fails). This is prepared, ritual war-magic: siege-breaking, mass blessing, battlefield-spanning effect, paid for in time and exposure rather than in steep penalties.

This rule applies only to spells that would otherwise use the default −1-per-yard penalty. Spells that already use a different range system are unaffected: Information spells keep their native Long-Distance Modifiers, and any spell with its own special range scheme (such as the Gate spells' distance bands) keeps that scheme. The ceremonial upgrade replaces the bare per-yard penalty and nothing else.

Rule 3 — Missile Spell Range Scales with Magery

A Missile spell's ranges increase with the caster's Magery level: +5 yards to 1/2D range and +10 yards to Maximum range per level of Magery. A Magery 0 caster throws at the spell's printed ranges; the scaling begins at Magery 1.

Worked Ranges & Notes:
Fireball (printed 1/2D 25, Max 50): at Magery 1, 1/2D 30 / Max 60; at Magery 3, 1/2D 40 / Max 80; at Magery 5, 1/2D 50 / Max 100.

Lightning (printed 1/2D 50, Max 100): at Magery 3, 1/2D 65 / Max 130; at Magery 5, 1/2D 75 / Max 150.

The slower growth of 1/2D relative to Max means a high-Magery caster can reach far but shoots accurately only at moderate range — extreme-range shots still suffer the 1/2D damage falloff.

Rule 4 — Missile Spell Accuracy Scales with Magery

A Missile spell's Accuracy rises with the caster's Magery, by +1 per two levels, rounding up. As with any Accuracy bonus, it applies only when the caster Aims — a snap-cast Missile spell gains none of it.

At Magery 5–6 the bonus brings a Fireball to Acc 4 — better than a common longbow — so the master who Aims can land the long shots Rule 3's extended ranges unlock.

The Four Lanes of Magical Reach

Taken together, these rules sort magical attacks into four distinct roles, each keyed to Magery and each with its own battlefield character.

Missile spells are cast in hand and resolved with an attack roll against the Speed/Range Table, their ranges and Accuracy both rising with Magery (Rules 3 and 4). A talented thrower becomes competitive with archers at medium range; a master out-reaches and out-aims them. This is the mage as direct ranged combatant.

Battlefield Regular and Area spells use the −1-per-yard penalty, shifted outward by the Magery penalty-free distance (Rule 1). They are close-range, talent-gated, and fall off steeply past the penalty-free bubble — fast and personal, but exposing the caster to the foe who closes the gap. This is the mage striking at arm's reach in the press of melee.

Ceremonial Regular and Area spells use the Speed/Range Table (Rule 2), again shifted by Magery (Rule 1), reaching across a whole battlefield — but slowly, with assistants, and chancily. This is prepared war-magic: the ritual circle that breaks a siege or blankets a field, the channel-three working writ large, dependent on time and protection the way a screened formation depends on its counter-magic cover.

Information spells are untouched by these rules, keeping their native Long-Distance Modifiers and their reach of many miles for a competent specialist. This is the mage as scout, spy, and strategist — the role the unmodified rules already grant, and the one in which even a cautious caster who avoids the front line remains formidable.

The result is a battlefield on which the lone battlemage is a close-to-medium threat whose reach measures their talent, while the prepared ritual group is what projects magic across distance. The folk-caster, the trained battlemage, and the ceremonial circle each hold a distinct and lore-consistent place — and because every lever runs through Magery, the whole forms one system rather than a handful of separate exceptions.