During a recent character creation session, two of the three players choose a name based on a Latin word or phrase. One ended up discarding his choice later and the other mixed his up so it was a bit more different. But this made me think, “Why is Latin the first thing that pops up […]
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Boil and Bubble: Spell Kits for Casters – Cryomancer
Fire tends to be the “go-to” element for spellwork that damages the target. But what of ice? Cold can kill just as easily as heat can. It’s the extremes of temperature that kills…so why don’t we see more “cryomancers” in fiction or RPGs? They can make the ground slippery, preserve a corpse, silence an alarm […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Bringing Newbies to GURPS
JMD (who, by the way, is one of my absolute favorite people I’ve met on the forums – he’s the mad genius doing the GURPS Calculator) started this thread asking about why people don’t like GURPS. If you can read through some of the bullshit, check out the Reddit thread. I rather like this little […]
Continue readingGURPS101: Hordes, Hives, and Human Minds
I like to poke my head outside of my own bubble and work on topics that I might not otherwise pick. I think that if you’re going to keep your mind flexible the best way is to solve a problem someone else gives you rather than one you decide needs solving. Over in this thread, […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Mini-Location – Fantasy Smithy
Sometimes you just need to drop a location into your game that’s already ready to go. It doesn’t mean a GM is ill-prepared, but he can’t predict every player character action. So what’s he to do? Well, GURPS has quite a few supplements out there that can detail specific locations, but what about smaller areas? […]
Continue readingTriple threat: Nemean Lion
This huge lion was the scourge of Nemea until Hercules killed it. Unable to be harmed by mortal weapons, it took Hercules great strength to snap the creature’s neck. Afterward, he’d skinned the beast with one of its own claws and wore it on the rest of his labors. In GURPS, “invincibility” is not something […]
Continue readingTriple Threat: Aurumvorax
“A is for aurumvorax and that’s good enough for me!” Aurumvorax (plural aurumvorai? aurumvoraxes? aurumvorae? aurumvorax?) are nasty critters that snack on metal like a junkie on smack. Isn’t that fun? Hell yes it is. Originally appearing in the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and has since been reprinted any number of times. When I […]
Continue readingTriple Threat: The Whispermen
Today’s Triple Threat is something from the Nightmare File (the place where I note all the scary critters I dream about) combined with a thought I had while people-watching (a favorite pastime). “Why do crowds suddenly become silent?” It was just an idle thought at the time, but I had a dream that night that […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Speed Kills
Like most things in life, rapidity is often advantageous. In combat, speed is almost all that matters. Put bluntly: Speed kills. In GURPS, if you are fast enough, skilled enough, or coordinated enough you can pull off some amazing things. The Basic Set combat system gives you several “standard” methods of attacking (All-Out Attack, Attack, and Move and […]
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Boil and Bubble: I Put a Spell on You
Note: I commented on a forum thread about the Cursed disadvantage a while back and though I’m loathe to do a lot of cross-posting, I think this is one of the times I just swallow that bitter pill and do it. I’ve added a bit to my thoughts from there. “Soooo… you’re that brave bastard […]
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