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 […]
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Gamemaster’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 […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Fun, World-Building, and Sandtrap Players
The other night, my best friend, C.G. and I were discussing how using the new Ritual Path Magic system in my Otherworld setting would impact it (check this post out to see what I eventually came up with).This particular campaign has been around for almost six years now and I’ve put a lot of thought and […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: On Rule-Breaking, Magic Systems, and Consistency
Last night and early into this morning I tackled a gaming issue than can make Gamemaster’s go mad: How magic fits in his or her game world. Sometimes the easiest thing to say is “THERE IS NO MAGIC!” but that means less design options for your players and overall…well it’s just not as much fun. […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: The Campaign Wheel
Man, I hate it when this happens to me. I used to change game settings and characters like a hypochondriac changed doctors. This was to say the least not very popular with my players and I even lost a few people over it. These were the times where I learned a few valuable lessons in […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: FLASH…ahhhhh…backs?
I am by far no expert on Game-Mastering a RPG, but I’ve been doing it for about 18 years having running my first game in Forgotten Realms with my best friend and (future) girlfriend when I was only 11. It was terrible, and that’s being fairly nice to myself. Since then I’ve learned a thing […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Using psionic powers with GURPS Action
Even though the guidelines on p. 44 of Action 2 specifically state that ‘action gaming’ is set in the ‘real’ world, many popular TV shows, books, etc. feature a world where such abilities are thought to be nonexistent and suddenly become real. A favorite example of mine is The 4400, Four thousand and Four hundred […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Heroes with Many Hats
GURPS is in my opinion one of the most flexible, perfect role-playing game systems ever to come into existence. And despite my fanboyish attitude towards the system it does really hold up well to just about any genre a GM could want to run it with. Due to both my gaming group’s preferences and my […]
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