Every player’s fear and a GMs’ nightmare – the death of a player character. Nothing can halt game play like a (unplanned – see below) death. Was it a bad roll? Did the player just make a mistake? Was it intentional? Was it GM error? Regardless of the why, the effects of how it can […]
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Gamemaster’s Guidepost: Unusual Background, Revisited
I’ve covered this before, but I felt it was a worthy topic to return to. This time, focusing on the GM. As a GM when exactly do you use a Unusual Background? Though I personally found the trait rather intuitive, many GMs seem to be mystified enough to just ignore it – which I think […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Starting Point Totals
Want to strike fear into the icy heart of any GURPS GM? Say the following words: Starting. Point. Totals. What I’m about to say is probably going to be viewed heretical by some, but in my experience running GURPS, it seems to be true. Point totals DO NOT MEASURE CAPABILITY/POWER. Trying to use point totals […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Tactical Maps, Anywhere, Anytime
My best friend, C., came up with this crazy awesome way for my gaming group to make full use of even my largest map (a 4ft long monstrosity). Table space is at a premium no matter where you go unless you have a entire room devoted to gaming. What’s more is that even your kitchen […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Character Points, Embodied
XP. Eeps. Exp. Experience points. Character points.Whatever you call them they are the currency that drives the player economy. In GURPS these are simply called “Unspent Character Points” (no abbreviation, however adoptive exists – CP is a GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling term). In games that use GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys or Influencing Success […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: The Soundtrack of Your Game
The following might not be useful for all GMs, because it relies pretty heavily on a gaming style I’ve come to call “Cinematic Chic.” Cinematic Chic is a gaming style that apes the hyperkinetic drama of action movies, fast-paced TV shows, and so on. The game play is fast, and the drama is high. I’ve […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: How Tough Is It?
Because GURPS is a point-buy system, figuring out what constitutes as a “tough” opponent can be difficult. Not only difficult, it can be downright arcane. There are situations where a 500-point character can have barely any impact on a combat (lots of social and mental advantages), and a 100-pointer absolutely dominates it (purely combat-oriented advantages). […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Pacing Your Game Sessions
Pacing game sessions is hard. It’s not something a GM can (usually) do without learning from experience. You need to have ran multiple game sessions before you get in the RPGroove. Some lucky GMs pick it up easily, but let’s face it, for most of us, it’s something we learned. But fear not ye newb […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Frakking Unusual Backgrounds, how do they work?!
No. Seriously. How do they work? There have been numerous threads about the subject, and it came up again recently. So I’m going to give my take on it. Unusual Background is a highly customizable, variable trait. It’s highly customizable because it’s not meant for players, it’s meant for GMs. When a GM designs his […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: My Character Creation Process, Part I
I’d like to talk a bit about my process for character creation in my games. Since I only really run GURPS, this is more or less specific to that game system. When I begin the process of helping one of my players create their character it almost always starts off with the same question: What […]
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