Sitting around a table with your friends after a good game is some of the best times to breed ideas. Hell, they replicate like rabbits in such a situation. While gaming recently I had several ideas “fall” into my lap, but the most radical of them came from a conversation about a old World of […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Plot Points, Expanded
One of the often overlooked things in GURPS Powers (and there are many) is a small box on p. 192 at the top right of the page titled “GM Bribery.” In it, it describes a new way to reward players called a “plot point,” which are basically like character points but can be used to […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Mage-Blade Duelling
Inspired by +Peter V. Dell’Orto and +Douglas Cole posts (here, here, and here) on “Longsword Sport” I wonder if the style is portable to less modern settings…and what’s more, what if it were more than just a sport? But a way of two mages to settle a point of contention without spells? The Style I’m totally riffing off of […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Benchmarking Modifiers
Figuring out exactly what a given modifier should cost that’s not in the rules can be extremely trying for any GM – much less a new GM. Here’s a couple of tricks I’ve learned over the years as both a GM, a game designer, and a writer. ……. Picking Over the Bones When it comes […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Player Psychology
I like to think of myself as a student of human behavior. What makes people tick. Why they do what they do. That sort of thing. I learned early on to detect minute changes in the moods of others and its stuck with me my entire life. Besides being useful in a fight or when […]
Continue readingGURPS101: More Cyber Claws for Ultra-Tech
Since GURPS Ultra-Tech got a update today and GURPS Ultra-Tech Tables was updated I thought I’d do something in honor of that. So here you go, more Cyber Claw implants (inspired by this thread). Enhanced Cyber Claws (varies)Like Cyber Claws (see GURPS Ultra-Tech, p. 211), but enhanced with one of the following: Superfine Claws: The […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Designing Realistic Characters
So how do you design a “realistic” character? Well, let’s start off by defining what realistic means. Realistic characters are more than just a pile of stats or skills. They’re a living, breathing personas that a player can easily don for the gaming session. Getting there can be tricky because each player is going to […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Variant Judo Throw II
Oddly enough, my Tuesday post about Judo Throw got a lot of hits and quite a few comments (both here and on the forums). One of the comments sparked my imagination was by Peter Dell’Orto: “By the way, tossing someone into a table is a clear case of “Kiss the Wall” and it’s that […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Variant Judo Throw I
I’ve made a living pushing people around – no, I’m not a bully, but I used to be a bouncer. Nowadays I use my powers for (mostly) good, but once upon a time I could grab a grown man off his feet and hurl him backwards and onto his backside. I’m not much of […]
Continue readingThe Hurt Locker: How to Build a Hand of Glory
Note: In this post I’ll be reiterating a post I made on the Steve Jackson Games Forums (I’m putting it out there for my subscribers and a wider audience in general). It makes use of the rules for Metatronic Generators. The Hand of Glory is a powerful occult artifact. Made from a dismembered human hand […]
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