GURPS GMing: Building encounters?

[jimmifett]

100 points is the default starting point for adventurers. The average person on a plane is most likely not a 100 point character.

The typical average person is 25 points or so.

Obviously the players, being the heroes/survivors count as adventurers.

That being said, I've found while building the templates that for reasonable approximations of real people, 50-75 points works for a well rounded non-descript NPC. At least in a modern setting. I suppose in fantasy with a much more limited skillset, sure, 25pts is probably enough for "normal".

 

[Argyle King]

OK, so i've going building some templates and doing some early world building for my game.

It's a Modern game. I've taken the Walking Dead thread's original plot premise (scant details as there are) and felt the begining had a good start to it, being on a plane while Z-day unfolds below you.

I've got some backstory of why Z-Day happened in my game and tied it to recent world events.

I opted for 100pt PCs, regular ppl you'd find on a plane.

I've been building 33 different templates for players to select from that represent the various kinds of jobs I'd want PCs to select from. I basically took the dnd4e skill tree, tossed a couple skills, added a couple relevant to modern day, and made 3 templates for each of the 11 dnd-ish skills. Some more focused in that skill, others more cross discipline, but still functional for that skill. All based on careers. 70pt templates, allowing for plenty of customization by the player.

While building these templates, I noticed a few things.
For "Average Human Joe Schmoe", a negative modifier to any skill is brutal! Having a normal occupational skill level of say, 12, and being hit with a -2 penalty takes your chance of success from near 75% to 50%.
If your skill level is 10 (you use this skill frequently enough in life, but it doesn't pay your bill), that same -2 takes you to 26% chance of succeeding. Ouch! I'm used to d20 penalties knocking 5-10% off ability to succeed. I'm definately going to have to look carefully at difficulty modifiers as I build encounters and scenes. I'd think this would have been stressed more in the Campaigns book.

Remember that GURPS also has a bell curve due to using multiple dice (3d6) rather than one die (1d20.)

Also, there are ways to get bonuses. One thing I had a tough time teaching to my players was the importance of taking an Aim action with a ranged weapon. If you're coming from a D&D background, a +1 or +2 doesn't seem to matter very much, but it does (much like your comment on penalties.)