Sigh. Ok. The following blog post is going to sound equal parts preachy, derisive, and ranty (the last is my favorite dwarf from Snow White – he looks like Lewis Black and is just as pissy). For that, I’m sorry. I’m pretty sure I’m going to manage to offend someone out there who believes that […]
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GURPS101: All-Seeing Eyes
The Clairsentience advantage is one of the most underused and overrated of the “information-gathering” traits GURPS has to offer. This is most likely due to it’s high cost (50 points) and low range (starting range is a mere 10 yards). Clairsentience as Pieces Parts”So what does Clairsentience do and how does it do it? Requires you Concentrate for one […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Optional Rules for Terminally Ill
In GURPS there’s a disadvantage for seemingly everything. Are you nuts? Take a Delusion! Do you take damage when exposed to green rocks from space? Take Weakness! And so on and so on, GURPS is modular enough that you can represent just about any sort of negative (or positive!) trait with a little ingenuity, even inevitable death. […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Super-ST Options
One thing that has come up in my Aeon campaign is Super-ST and how it does what it does. One of my (few) house rules is that Costs Fatigue is worth more – I just use PK’s version because it works better. But the discussion of why Super-ST should be discounted more because of that houserule […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: The Adversary
One of the things that shocked me the most when I was talking perspective players for Aeon was the completely lack of knowledge regarding using the rules for having a Adversary (see p. B493). Mind you, it’s only a couple of paragraphs, but when I first read GURPS 4th edition this was a eye-opening passage. The thought that […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Making Every Action Count
So +Douglas Cole talked about “time dilation” and importance of actions on your turn in this blog post. And he brings up a point that I think every GM should be aware of: never, ever, ever make your players feel superfluous or useless. IF YOU DO YOU WILL REGRET IT. Just don’t. Seriously. Now some of you […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: A Novel Approach to GMing, Part IV: A Matter of Character
Guest Post by Scott “Rocketman” Rochat “Be sure not to discuss your hero’s state of mind. Make it clear from his actions.” –Anton Chekhov I’m going to start with something basic, but true. Your players can’t see your characters. I’ll give you a moment to recover from the shock. It’s a problem every author has. […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: The Three Ring Circus – The Malefactors
+Peter V. Dell’Orto talks about rules-lawyering here and +Mark Langsdorf talks about it here so I guess I’m going to talk a little bit about it myself. First, let me talk about how I run RPGs. I assume (as does anything I write on my blog or when handing out advice to other games on other platforms) that the […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Randomly Generated Traps
Sometimes it’s a trap and you don’t know that you know. Sometimes it’s a trap and you knowthat you know. Sometimes it’s a trap and you don’t know that you know. Basically, sometimesyou need a trap to spring on your players and you don’t want to take the time to roll it up.Here’s twelve traps […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: A Novel Approach to GMing, Part III: Here’s the Plan
Guest Post by Scott “Rocketman” Rochat It’s the heart of a hundred novels and screenplays: the team of experts, moving like a well-oiled machine. With wit and muscle, they work their way past every obstacle, thanks to their intricate and well-rehearsed plan. But there’s a reason audiences don’t watch a rehearsal. Put it at the […]
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