Guest Post by Scott “Rocketman” Rochat “You’re a GM, not an author. Don’t railroad!” Sound familiar? Sooner or later, it seems every guide to gamemastering includes that little gem, a reminder that this is a collaborative hobby, where everyone’s imagination counts. Don’t lock the players into a restrictive plot, we’re told, don’t predetermine your ending, […]
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GURPS101: Lens for Bard – The Warsinger
When I was starting to run Dungeon Fantasy for the first time I decided that I’d make a bunch of options that I knew my players would like or use. I did this both to fill out my handout a little more and to be able to use the content later on in a publication […]
Continue readingGURPS101: Tactfully Tactical – More Uses For Tactics
So +Douglas Cole talks about a few more uses for the Tactics skill in a recent blog post. I’ve already covered Evaluate as a skill. But the idea of Tactics doing is certainly a great springboard. So what would I do? Well, like always, I have a few ideas at hand. More Tactical EffectsBesides its Basic Set uses, […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Money On My Magic and Magic On My Money
So Matt Riggsby’s “GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures: Glittering Prizes” came out recently (I was one of the playtesters) and it’s useful for worldbuilders in general, not just those who play Dungeon Fantasy. (See here for Matt’s Designer’s Notes.) One of the things he included there was a cool little throwaway line: “For example, if mystical techniques […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Inaugural Post
Since I talk about magic a lot on my blog, I figured that it might deserve its own post.header, so today I’m launching “Boil and Bubble.” So what will this series cover? Just about everything to do with magic (except actual magic gear or enchanted items – the Hurt Locker covers that!), alchemy, magical systems, […]
Continue readingGURPS101: Alternate HP and Healing
So +Peter V. Dell’Orto threw down this interesting post about an alternative approach to how HP can affect your healing. Normally, at HP 20 you multiply all sources of healing by two, at HP 30 you multiply them by three, and so on. Now, that works well enough – if you have monstrous HP then you get […]
Continue readingDesigner’s Notes: Pointless Monster Hunting
As a poster pointed out in this thread, Pointless Monster Hunting was a huge piece with a large word count (though I admit – I just submit and let the editor decide what he wants to do). It was easily as large as Alternative Ritual Path Magic and as information dense. Luckily, I got to work off […]
Continue readingGURPS101: More Bioenhancement Abilities for Monster Hunter Experiments I
The Experiment template is one of the cooler ones in GURPS Monster Hunters in my opinion. They’ve got a wide-range of capabilities and have an “otherness” quality that can make them more fun to play than the inhuman if done right. But what is an experiment other than a collection of neat powers? So maybe […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Reordering Initiative I
I like noodling with alternate rules sometimes or just plain tinkering with how combat works. As I’ve noted before – Speed Kills. The faster you are the quicker you can attacker and the more damage you can inflict. The way GURPS combat functions combatants go in order of decreasing Basic Speed (e.g., Basic Speed 9.25 goes […]
Continue readingTriple Threat: Marrowsucker
Marrowsucker Marrowsuckers are large, salamander-like creatures that resemble komado dragons with hooked, needle-like teeth. Their long, whip-like tails end with a bony protrusion that the creatures habitually rake across hard surfaces (mostly rock) to sharpen. This protrusion is attached to a series of ligaments and biomechanical “gears” that allows for it to be […]
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