Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 8790750" data-attributes="member: 6787650">I've fallen in love recently with DFRPG and can supply some specifics. GURPS is a system for designing games, and Dungeon Fantasy RPG is a game created using GURPS. It is more specific.There are a few differences in actual gametime rules--slam/shield rush damage is simplified, for example. And the spell lists available to players are trimmed to omit dungeon- and economy-breaking spells like Teleport and Create Zombie.The primary difference though between Dungeon Fantasy RPG and GURPS is at character generation time. GURPS chargen is pretty freeform and GM-driven: you take your point budget and spend it on anything the GM will let you spend it on. DFRPG chargen is more upfront: you pick a profession (i.e. class), such as Martial Artist (monk), which has mandatory features and optional features like Extra Attack and Power Blow, and as long as you do that, your character is legal. Furthermore, certain abilities are reserved only for certain professions: only barbarians can buy Tough Skin; only swashbucklers can buy Rapier Wit. (Certain races have Tough Skin too, but it stacks with barbarian Tough Skin.)The upshot is min-maxing is less of a temptation in DFRPG: in GURPS it would be painful to avoid obvious "optimal" choices for your wizard such as spending a couple of points on healing spells and buying Rapier Wit (highly cost-effective free action that synergizes well with your high IQ) while leaving your DX at default and buying up Move and Magery instead. In DFRPG all those things are illegal. Whereas for me, trying to play GURPS Dungeon Fantasy back in the day resulted in either hyperspecialized uber-wizards (or warriors) way more cost-effective than they should be, or frustration because there was nothing but player restraint preventing hyper-specialization, and it was never clear where to draw the line. In DFRPG you can still create a highly effective warrior or wizard, but anyone who eventually has Broadsword-30 will also be strong and tough, and any wizard with Phantom-25 will also be a master of dozens of other spells, because the DFRPG chargen rules make conforming to archetype also the most cost effective way to build a character.So anyway, DFRPG fixes almost all the things about GURPS that drove me back into D&D's arms in 2014, while keeping the good stuff like a good spellcaster/warrior balance[1], tactically interesting combat, an expansive list of skills that make talking and exploring interesting even if you don't have magic, and giving everybody enough vulnerabilities that even high-level/experienced dungeon delvers cannot afford to snooze even against mooks. (I.e. it's never boring to GM even when PCs are winning; there's always a chance they'll make a mistake that you can exploit.)The monsters are fun too. In particular, crushrooms and Demogorgons[2] are worth stealing even for games you run in other systems, although the mechanics fit most naturally into DFRPG/GURPS. (The usual monsters like dragons and trolls are also well-done, and werewolves are more exciting than they are in D&D 5E.)[1] Both are so much fun to play that it's hard to choose between them; it's even hard to choose among the dozen or so viable ways to play a warrior, whether a half-ogre martial artist who can kill a giant at thirty paces in one shot with a boomerang to the head, or a heavily armored knight who can protect by parrying attacks directed at others (sometimes lopping off the attacking limbs if monsters are not using weapons), or the martial artist who shoves enemies off ledges (falling damage is powerful in DFRPG) or stuns them with his warcries (Kiai), or the nimble knife-fighter who loves it when monsters rush into close combat where any other weapon-user would be at a disadvantage. Or the barbarian with Berserk and a humongous club or atlatl.[2] Okay, technically it's called a "Ramex" (from DF Monsters 2), but since it behaves like a Stranger Things Demogorgon taking maximal tactical advantage of dimension-hopping, I'm just going to pretend the only reason it's called a Ramex in the books is to avoid legal issues.</blockquote>

Verification