First GURPS game

[Aus_Snow]

Thanks, Jurgen. Just scanning through the conversion notes. Neat! Off to read the chatlog. . . now.

Which GURPS books would be necessary/recommended in this case?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Combat requires maybe 3 more calculations then DnD3.5
(Hit, Defence Roll, Damage Roll, Subtract DR, multiply by damage modifier)
After one of two combats, it won't be any more complicated then DnD combat. Then you add things like hit location as you become more comfortable with the system. Which, personally, I love. If I were to ever to play in Faerun again (we're doing a homebrew now), I would do it in GURPs, no question.

True, but the high amount of calculations that 3.5E require is about my threshold for patience.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Actually, characters can be rather tough, especially in GURPS 4E. Even buying HT up to 12 means that the odds of survival even in the face of serious injuries are quite good. Frankly, it's more likely that characters fall unconscious than that they die.

Although dumb combat tactics will kill. And armor is, of course, a life saver.

And combat, at least at the level of complexity shown in GURPS Lite, really isn't all that complex. Start with those, and once you are familiar with these rules you can always add more stuff later on...

I'm glad they changed that in the newer editions, as my experience is based on older versions of the game and also I like the idea that they made combat easier in GURPS Lite. I'm not knocking the GURPS game as a whole, but I simply wasn't a fan of the combat system. I very much enjoyed the many additional books that were published and found the magic system to be pretty good. Did you use the GURPS rulebook, GURPS Fantasy book, and GURPS magic for your conversion?

 

[HelloChristian]

RE: Original Post

I hope you have a great time with your GURPS campaign. It's an excellent system. I sometimes write some GURPS material in my zine. If you ever need a monster, I've worked on a few conversions. I have copies of the back issues available in .pdf.

So far I have converted a....

Giant Rat
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia19.pdf

Treant
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia23.pdf

Animated Tree
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia24.pdf

Stirge
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia31.pdf

Peaceful Goblin
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia38.pdf

Ogre
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia41.pdf

Giant
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia42.pdf

Ratling
http://www.iridiazine.net/pdf/Iridia54.pdf

 

[kolikeos]

OK, I've downloaded 'Caravan to Ein Aris' and that's what I plan to run on our first session. Any advice on how to run this adventure? Or general advice for a new GM?

 

[HelloChristian]

With GURPS, it's important to remember that you get to do ONE thing during a turn. You can draw a weapon, attack, move, stand up, etc. When you do move, it's only a few yards. Some D&D players have a hard time with this, expecting to move 30' across the battle and make an attack.

I also found that combat favors those who are near the front of the party. It takes a while to maneuver in combat, so those players who like to lurk in the rear will be shut out of the action. I've seen many fights resolved by the time the sneaky type moves up to the front to make an attack.

Bows will be very frustrating for weaker characters. It takes a while to fire a shot, range penalties can be prohibitive and damage is not high for weaker ST characters. This is due, in part, because GURPS models bows "realistically." In combat, they were useful when fired en masse, into a larger group from a fair distance away. GURPS bow combat isn't like Legolas inspired bow combat. Crossbows, on the other hand, screw people up.

Bad guys will fall down or get KOd long before they are killed. You don;t have to kill things in GURPS to get xp. Allow foes to run away after getting wounded, foes might stagger about, making feeble attacks long before they fail a HT roll and succumb to their wounds.

Umm....more later.

 

[HelloChristian]

Here's another one...

D&D magic represents its wargaming roots. In effect, D&D magic is artillery. I submit magic missile, lightning bolt and fireball as examples.

GURPS magic has significant penalties for range, so spells will be cast at a much closer distance. Magic is most effective when touch-based, or cast upon the caster directly. If you want to, say, burn up a foe with fire, it's best to cast Create Fire at your feet, then move it toward your foe.

Have you checked out the GURPS forum at SJ Games? The people who post there are braniacs and would be very helpful.

 

[LoneWolf23]

Here's another one...

D&D magic represents its wargaming roots. In effect, D&D magic is artillery. I submit magic missile, lightning bolt and fireball as examples.

GURPS magic has significant penalties for range, so spells will be cast at a much closer distance. Magic is most effective when touch-based, or cast upon the caster directly. If you want to, say, burn up a foe with fire, it's best to cast Create Fire at your feet, then move it toward your foe.

Actually, GURPS has missile spells of it's own, which are effectively thrown projectiles and are affected by range like missile weapons, rather then like regular spells. They require a second skill roll to hit the target, however, so a fireball mage will need a high dex and Innate Attack skill as well.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Thanks, Jurgen. Just scanning through the conversion notes. Neat! Off to read the chatlog. . . now.

Which GURPS books would be necessary/recommended in this case?

Well, you will need the two books of the Basic Set. If you want a lot more spells (though the Basic Set already has a fair number), you might also want to pick up GURPS Magic.

GURPS Fantasy isn't necessary. Don't get me wrong - it is a very good book. But for the most part it consists of system-independent world-building and campaign advice, and while they have a fair number of racial templates, you can easily build them yourself with the Basic Set as long as you have a good idea of what the races in question are capable of.

Another book that isn't necessary, but which I will highly recommend anyway is GURPS Powers. GURPS 4e is an extremely flexible system, and GURPS Powers showcases with lots of examples just how flexible it is. Once you understand the GURPS rules and read the examples, you will know how to create your own subsystem of unique and balanced supernatural powers in half an hour or less. Want a priest of a deity of luck who is able to manipulate probability? Check. A demon-worshipper who gains infernal powers and demonic servitors in exchange for monthly human sacrifices? Check. An elementalist who controls elemental forces with the drawback of intense strain on his body whenever he manipulated them? Check. All these, and many, many more, can be created within the GURPS system as long as you can imagine them and put about 30 minutes of effort into them - and all are instantly suitable for player characters...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

OK, I've downloaded 'Caravan to Ein Aris' and that's what I plan to run on our first session. Any advice on how to run this adventure? Or general advice for a new GM?

General advice:

Don't give enemy "mooks" - those the PCs are supposed to defeat with relative ease - any of the following:

- HT higher than 11.
- Weapon skills higher than 12.
- Massive amounts of armor/damage reduction.

Any of these will slow combat down to a crawl if you use multiple enemies with such stats - they become hard to hit or put down.

It is okay to give mook enemies the following:

- High ST and thus lots of hit points. As long as the fall down quickly once they reach zero hit points, the PCs will feel like they are making progress.
- Weapons (or a high ST) that do lots of damage. As long as they don't hit all that often, their damage potential will keep a fight tense but not overwhelming. Don't overdo it, of course - the PCs should have a fair chance. One of the most memorable GURPS fights I ran was three 200 point PCs against five ogres...

Of course, you can ignore these guidelines for elite enemies. Just be sure to surround them with lots of mooks or terrain with good defensive advantages, for even elite enemies will likely be toast once the PCs are able to surround them and attack them from all sides (unless, of course, they have lots of DR and hit points).