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.

How often does a character with Lecherousness have to make a pass at a Very Beautiful character in GURPS?

It says VH/VB characters are exempt from the once/day limit, but doesn't say how often you gotta roll for them.

Hello,

I want to open a stuck door. It's not locked, just stuck. All the rules I have found so far are for breaking down doors or destroying the hinges. Are there any rules for just shoving open a door that is stuck? Thanks!

So this was originally going to be a comment to this thread about using a combination of Digital Mind, Possession (Digital), Duplication (Digital), and Extra Life (Copy, Requires Body) in tandem for a high TL AI character: https://www.reddit.com/r/gurps/comments/1d2orzd/new_player_selfreplicating_ai_character_build/ but Reddit decided it wasn't going to post it (I'm guessing because of the length), so I'm making it it's own post instead of wasting all the time I just spent searching it all down.

The main thing is that this character concept is super complicated and you need to also use rules from Transhuman Space: Changing Times that clarify mechanics for characters like these (and their shells).

Another big thing is that no one bothered to mention is that Possession (Digital) has a blurb of text near the end stating that you absolutely can copy yourself as many times as you want; no Duplication needed at all. It then goes on to state that you have no control over those copies, and they think they are you, to whatever good or bad consequences the GM feels like (think the Mauler Twins). Repeatedly clone yourself like a viral AI without spending points for Duplication and you'll quickly see your copies (and your GM) turn against you.

Duplication gets you more controllable yous, as if you were playing multiple characters at the same time with different bodies but identical personalities and skills (that also merge memories when you return to a single being). You get an additional full turn with each duplicate in their respective body, no strings attached other than what Duplication states. You can even use it to pull extra-creative shenanigans, like your main digital mind actually being entire star systems away running a store and living their usual life on their home planet, never having actually met the party in person at all (and actively earning your adventuring dupes income, if bank accounts can be accessed across interstellar distances). As soon as the duplicates come home, all their memories are just as real as if you had gone and done that stuff yourself (because you did). (that said, I highly recommend treating all of the dupes as one character for the purposes of XP gain, since it's already a very strong ability and this build is brimming with things that can easily put strain on your relationship with the GM and the other players if you don't restrain yourself)

On acquiring more Puppets (if you don't plan on permanently living in the "hijacked" shells you Possess that have Digital Minds other than you already inhabiting them); you actually need Possession (Digital, -60%, Chronic, +20%) in order to buy any future shell as a Puppet with Character Points at the time you leave it so that you don't have to make another Quick Contest each time you attempt to Possess that shell (provided you can afford them), which has two very important things to note;
1: a cybershell without an AI in it (other than you) has the Minimal Software [-255] template applied to it (Transhuman Space: Changing Times)
2: Minimal Software shells cannot reasonably resist a digital Possession in the first place at IQ-10, so Chronic (and additional Puppet if you didn't just buy a group of Puppets at the start) are only necessary if the shell already has a non-Ally digital mind when you Possess it. (You still need Computer Hacking to overcome any security measures and access an unauthorized shell, but since you need full control of a system to attempt digital Possession in the first place, security is nonfunctional [or on your side] once you actually Possess them. A creative GM looking to inhibit you might have stolen empty shells require additional Computer Hacking rolls when you come back to them because "their software updated and the way you got in last time got patched" or something along those lines)

This means that there's no reason to spend Character Points on Minimal Software shells as Allies or Puppets after character creation (and also implies that you can't buy Puppets for Possession (Digital) after character creation without Chronic, short of reprogramming the AI inside to enslave it [or removing/deleting it entirely] using skills like Computer Hacking combined with Computer Programming and any complimentary skills like Expert Skill (Computer Security or AI) first).

Because of Minimal Software, other than your main shell that you and your GM agree on, the rest of you Ally/Puppet shells at character creation *without* onboard AI have their Ally cost calculated at -255 points if your GM hasn't already factored it in (and, GM willing, your non-main shells can be up to 255 more points than your main shell, although you still have to abide by the spirit of using your main shell the most and getting GM approval, so in practice this bit should be used widen the range of niche utility and exploration options available at character creation instead of shells you plan on having Duplicates constantly inhabit, too)

In regards to Extra Life for Informorphs, Transhuman Space: Changing Times also acknowledges that since it is a digital version, by every logical right it should be able to be backed up more than once. They recommend having Infomorph characters gain 15 Character Points when a backup is restored (or destroyed) and Extra Life is "lost", and then simply subtracting 15 Character Points whenever they spend the time to make another backup and regain Extra Life. Essentially, Extra Life 1 is all you need as long as your backups themselves aren't in immediate danger, and any additional Extra Life just gives you more backup locations (or the ability to restore more than one dead dupe at a time, so insanely useful for characters with Duplication).

Doesn't Sleep and Doesn't Eat are invalid purchases for an Infomorph character because they are Physical Advantages that don't carry over when you Possess a shell, and because most of your shells will have the Machine meta-trait, you literally do not have Fatigue Points and cannot Fatigue according to page 16 of GURPS Basic 4th Edition (regarding sleep) and will have either Doesn't Eat or some variation of Restricted Diet ([power source]) in your shell template. Even if you reside inside the internet itself, you are at the mercy of the lights staying on in the real world and you would reference whatever physical computer or server connected to the internet that your data is currently physically written to; someone unplugs it and you fall unconscious until it's turned back on or someone transfers your data to another functioning computer. If you uploaded yourself into a bioshell that still needed to eat or drink or sleep (or Possessed a living creature that had a Biopresence Implant), you would be affected by the shell's hunger, thirst, and a need for sleep since you inherit your shell's physical traits and abilities (and you can't purchase Doesn't Sleep to "share" as an Infomorph since it's a Physical Advantage and you literally don't have those).

And finally, just for comprehensiveness, controlling Drones and Swarms is as easy as using Computer Operation with an active communications link and the appropriate Drone software for that type of drone (ie. Flying Decontamination Microbot Swarm software) to order them around since each drone has their own AI distributed throughout the swarm. They aren't very high complexity programs so you can run quite a lot of them at once on any computer that can support an intelligent AI. They also come with their own skill value for whatever job they have but work at a fraction of the speed as a character, so there's no reason to possess them directly (and I'm pretty sure none of them have a centralized brain complex enough to support something like a Mind Emulation).

I need to understand the Lifting capacity entry under Str and how it relates to Basic Lift.

On pg 14 under the description for Str it says Lifting capacity is proportional to the square of ST. Compared to the average human adult (ST 10 – 10x10 = 100), ST 14 is about twice as strong (14x14 = 196), ST 17 is roughly three times as strong (17x17 = 289), and ST 20 is four times as strong (20x20 = 400 = 4x100). Likewise, ST 7 is about half as strong (7x7 = 49), ST 6 is approximately 1/3 as strong (6x6 = 36), and ST 5 is only 1/4 as strong (5x5 = 25 = 100/4).

And on pg 15 under Secondary Characteristics , Basic Lift, it says

Basic Lift is the maximum weight you can lift over your head with one hand in one second. It is equal to (STxST)/5 lbs. If BL is 10 lbs. or more, round to the nearest whole number; e.g., 16.2 lbs. becomes 16 lbs. The average human has ST 10 and a BL of 20 lbs. Doubling the time lets you lift 2xBL overhead in one hand. Quadrupling the time, and using two hands, you can lift 8xBL overhead.

How do these two concepts reconcile each other? Because by my math a 20 Str character has a lifting capacity under the Str entry, of 400lbs but under Basic lift, using two hands that same character can lift 640lbs

Split Personality is a disadvantage you can resist with a self-control roll. How hard it is to succeed determines it's value, so a 12 on the self control number would mean it is worth -15 points.

Ummm, could someone have Split personality 12 [-15] and have the "rest" of the disadvantage on only one side (that is, split personality 6 with an "only by one side of split personality [-40%]" [(-30*0,6)-15])?

I hope that you'll bear with me. Today has been one of those days where "people" just laid the smack down and otherwise lambasted poor 'ole GURPS and for whatever reason today it bothered me more than normal.

Today it was "GURPS is too complex" and "I don't want a game with grid-based combat" while they then went on to describe how they were using D&D. My jaw hit the ground.

Another day it was "GURPS is too complex but not very nuanced compared to D&D because it only has four attributes".

What were the ones that made you do the "Nathan Filion" Castle GIF? (The one where he holds up his hand, closes it, then raises a finger, only to close it, bring it to his lips and then look down with his hand cupping his right cheek with a palpable, "No, I'm just going to keep quiet.")

So treat this is a bit of fun catharsis to get it out of your system. I think that we can all appreciate the need every now and again while also realising that GURPS is not perfect , has its warts and, yet, perhaps gets more "It's a witch!" because of said warts than many other systems.

Have fun and, remember: "YMMV". :)

Edit: Perhaps the most amusing thing about GURPS, and which is being partially proven herein, is that if you create a thread on the system---even if it is meant to be the most positive, gushing thread ever---at some point there are going to be the people that come to complain about the system.

Sure, that can be taken as a bad thing, but if they're open to discussion? Learning opportunity. :)

Question about the duplicate advantage. Would it be possible to use this ability to effectively have two characters with different skills and advantages?

Example I have in mind : A character born with a twin (duplicate) the twins grow up together however go about life differently. Twin A is roguish with combat skills and Twin B is bookish with magic ability

Note :

• I would have it so the twins would not use the merge feature of this advantage

• If I am correct in this working I can see this "breaking" quite nicely using advantages such as mind link and eidetic memory

Hello there, im running a realm management campaign for my players in a TL 3 medevial alternate earth (diffrent geographical layout). My players are very curious about other options for goverment and economy types that arent listed in the book, the main one being a "slave based" economy type. i dont really know how to make a goverment or economy type, nor am i sure im comfortable letting them run a goverment like that. With that being said, i am still curious as to how i would make an economy type in general and howbest to balance it. any and all advice is apreciated, thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day

edit: An idea on how mechaniaclly a "Subsistence" economy would work would also be greatly apreciated.

I'm going to ask a lot here (oops) so feel free to just answer one or link me somewhere where you believe that answer to be sufficient.

1. What are the most common/useful/applicable rules used in most game settings - which ones are best to always have on hand as you will 80% of the time need to reference them. (Solved) combat seems to be the most referenced - also looking outside these comments - I'll just guess success rolls for most others and look at them later.
2. Equipment has always stumped me at the start, I don't know the rules very well so I doubt my players will. What do I give them, what do they generally need to have. (SOLVED) I'll just make sure the players look through the Equipment lists in order they appear in the book until they are satisfied if we forget something important then it will be a learning experience.
3. Range on attacks is confusing me a little. I know how 1/2d works but why is the default range for innate attack so high is it supposed to be 10/100? That range just seems excessive is there something I'm forgetting here that makes this more reasonable? (SOLVED) I had missed that the penalties to range extends beyond 10yards.
4. Am I understanding correctly that powers are just groupings of skills and advantages tied under a "master" skill?
5. Advice for creature creation that is generally balanced - I obviously don't give them stats massively above the players but is there anything else that could cause me to make either an npc that is to strong/weak?
6. Homebrew - there's quite a lot of specification in homebrewing spells, advantages and powers. Is it generally safe to just wing it and guess for points. What is your own personal preference for homebrewing? As an aside to that; Magic items, is it safe to just say "this cloak prevents detection by magical sources it costs 100G" and move on? - (Edit) Not planning any rules changes, just some thematic Creatures, Spells and Advantages.
7. I had one more but I forgot it as I was writing this out lmao.