Welcome to GURPS
Preface
Hey guys, I'm running a new campaign! I'm sure most of you already knew this, but I'm very excited to finally be able to run again. This has been in the works for some months now and I'm happy to be sharing it with you guys. I'm going to be using the Generic Universal Role Playing System (GURPS) to run this game. I'm creating this little article so that you guys can have an easy resource to go through at your own pace for stuff. I'm almost definitely going to add more to it as stuff comes up, but I'll let you guys know when that happens. You definitely don't have to read through all of this. In fact, I encourage you not to, especially not in one sitting.or do it I don't give a shit.
Why GURPS?
I like the way you can make characters and the ways you can interact with the world in the context of the ruleset intrigued me. Also, I wanted to try something besides D&D out. That does mean learning a whole new ruleset though, which I know can be a pain in the ass to say the least. Which is why this page exists!
Additions to This Page
I don't want to rewrite the pdfs onto this webpage, so I'm going to leave a lot of stuff out. If you want anything added, talk to me and I can totally make that happen. Hell, maybe I'll even add an FAQs section in the future.What Do You Need to Play?
GURPS is an exclusively D6 based system (I'm just going to say "D" instead of D6 from now on since there's no other dice). I'm going to include the PDFs of the basic game rules (it's a lot) and character sheets below for you guys to access whenever you may want to.
The basic game rules are split into two books: character rules and campaign rules. The character rules are more useful to you guys at this stage than the campaign rules, but I'm going to include both just in case you guys want to know more about how the system works and what you can do in it. And again, you definitely don't need to read through the entirety of both of them. I already suffered enough for all of us. I have over 102 pages of notes
Basic Set Rules and Character Sheet PDFs
Character Rules: https://mega.nz/file/SUIAUDzb#VjXWuauvqq9ZjnPi4XQp1DzyjSk3vzGz8vteSdQ3R70
Campaign Rules: https://mega.nz/file/qFYSybLZ#_Kra-TK4jfcLKKpU_V4dFFa_jjEEc670Pm7ol9390ig
Sheet: https://www.themook.net/gamegeekery/wp-content/uploads/delightful-downloads/2014/08/CharacterSheet-Fillable.pdf
(Be sure to save the character sheet after you fill it in!)
How to Make a Character
This is a fuckin' doozey and a half, but I'll try my best to briefly explain the basics. If you want a lot more detail, read the first chapter of the Character Rules PDF, it covers everything I'm going to say in understandable detail and then some.
Points, Not Levels
There are no levels in GURPS, just the amount of character points you have. You spend points to "buy" the attributes, skills, and abilities for your characters. You can also take various disadvantages to get points back during character creation (alcholic, manic depressive, ugly, etc.). The GM determines how many points you start off with and how many extra points you can get from taking disadvantages.
The stats of a normal person are 10s all around. It doesn't cost any points to be average.
You earn points as you fight, roleplay, and train. There's some rules about training to earn points in the PDFs, but I'm gonna quote the basic rules, "At the end of each play session, the GM should award bonus character points for good play. 'Good play' is anything that advances the heroes’ mission or shows good roleplaying – preferably both. But roleplaying trumps mission success! If a player did something totally outside their character’s personality (for instance, if a total coward performed a brave act), this should not be worth any points, even if it saved the day for the rest of the group!" (pg.163 of the campaign pdf). If you have any specific questions ask me and we'll figure it out together. Honestly, that goes for this entire thing.
Basic Attributes
On the character sheet, you'll find ST (Strength), DX (Dexterity), IQ (Intelligence), and HT (Health). These are your basic attributes and they provide the vast majority of the calculations for your character.
You get these numbers by buying them with points during character creation.
Strength
Strength determines your physical power and bulk. It not only determines how hard you can hit something and how much you can lift, but also how much HP you have.
Don't underestimate lifting capacity because encumbrance plays a huge role in skill checks. However, there aren't many skills that are governed by ST.
Dexterity
One of the most important skills in the game. It represents agility, coordination, and fine motor ability. It determines your ability to hit an enemy, dodge, vehicle operation, and some craft skills, as well as your Basic Speed.
If you want to be a generalist, putting a bunch of points into DX is one of the ways to do it.
Intelligence
Another one of the most important attributes in the game. It broadly measures brainpower, including creativity, intuition, memory, perception, reason, sanity, and willpower. It governs all the "mental" skills -- sciences, social interaction, magic, etc.
Health
Pretty darn important attribute. Represents stamina, resistance (to poison, disease, radiation, etc.) and basic "grit". A high HT is good for everyone, but essential for warriors. HT determines Fatigue Points and helps determine Basic Speed and Basic Move.
How to Pick your Basic Attributes
You could pop over to the math section of this article at the bottom so that you know what the numbers translate to in terms of probability, but I'll give you some idea about what the numbers mean in roleplay terms.
6 or less
Crippling. An attribute this bad severely constrains your lifestyle.
7
Poor. Your limitations are immediately obvious to anyone who meets you. This is the lowest score you can have and still pass for "able-bodied".
8 or 9
Below average. Such scores are limiting, but within the human norm.
10
Average. Most humans get by with a score of 10!
11 or 12
Above Average. These scores are superior, but within the human norm.
13 or 14
Exceptional. Such an attribute is immediately apparent -- as bulging muscles, feline grace, witty dialog, or glowing health -- to those who meet you.
15 or more
Amazing. An attribute this high draws constant comment and probably guides your career choices.
Secondary Characteristics
Next to your Basic Attributes, you'll see HP (Hit Points), Will, Per (Perception), and FP (Fatigue Points). Below them, you'll also see Basic Lift, Damage, Basic Speed, Basic Move, and Encumbrance. Most Secondary Characteristics can be increased separately of their governing Basic Attribute, I will note the exceptions.
Hit Points
You will lose your HP quickly in this system, so having some extra is really nice. Some abilities even require you to "burn" some HP in order to use them. You have HP equal to your ST by default (Not HT!).
Will
Ability to withstand psychological stress (brainwashing, fear, hypnotism, interrogation, seduction, torture, etc.) and your resistance to supernatural attacks. It is equal to your IQ by default.
Perception
You general alertness. The GM will roll against your perception to see if you notice something. It is equal to your IQ by default.
Fatigue Points
Represents your body's "energy supply". It gets worn down by special abilities, some critical failures, and is used for magic. By default, you have FP equal to your HT.
Basic Lift
Basic Lift is the maximum weight you can lift over your head with one hand in one second. It is equal to (ST x ST)/5 lbs.
Damage
ST determines how much damage you do in unarmed combat or with a melee weapon. There is Thrusting damage (thr), which is your basic damage with a punch, kick, bite, or an attack with a thrusting weapon like a spear or a rapier. There is also Swinging damage (sw) which is your basic damage with swung weapon like an axe, club, or sword (anything that acts as a lever). This can't be raised separately from its governing attribute. There's a chart that tells you what your damage is depending on your ST on the character PDF (pg. 17)
Basic Speed
A measure of your reflexes and general physical quickness. It helps to determine your running speed, your chance of dodging an attack, and the order in which you act in combat. Basic Speed is calculated with the equation (HT + DX)/4. Keep any fractions.
Basic Move
Basic Move is your ground speed in yards per second. This is how fast your can run -- or roll, slither, etc. -- without encumbrance. Basic Move starts out equal to Basic speed, but drop the fractions.
Encumbrance
Encumbrance is a measure of the total weight you are carrying, relative to your ST. There are 5 "encumbrance levels". There's a handy dandy chart on the 18th page of the PDF (it says page 17 in the corner, but I'm just giving you the number to type that'll let you skip right to it). You can't increase this separately.
How Do You Play?
The main way you play GURPS is this: you roll 3d and if the total is equal to or below your target number, you succeed. The target number is derived your own skills. It's that easy, but there are more complicated aspects which I'm going to define below.
Basic vs. Effective Skill
Basic skill would be your number on your character sheet for a skill (e.g. Shortsword-17). Your effective skill would be your base skill plus or minus any modifiers (e.g. Shortsword-17 + 2; the basic skill is 17 and the effective skill is 19)
Success Rolls
These are the vast majority of the rolls you're going to be doing. It's simple: determine what skill or ability you're testing, look up what your score in the ability/skill is, see if there's any bonuses or penalties (determined by the GM), take 3D and roll them. Unlike D&D, you want to roll equal to or below whatever skill or ability is being tested.
For example: I want to roll a heavy boulder down a cliff. That would be a ST success roll. I look up my ST (13), the GM gives a modifier of -2 because of how heavy the boulder is, I roll 3d and hope I get an 11 or lower.
Critical Successes and Failures
Within reasonable circumstances, any roll of 3 or 4 is always a critical success. However, your critical success chance goes up the higher your effective skill is. If your effective skill is 15, a roll 5 is now also a critical success. If your effective skill is 16+, a roll of 6 is now a critical success as well.
A roll of 18 is always a critical failure. If your effective skill is 15 or less, a roll of 17 is also a failure. Any roll that is 10 greater than your effective skill is a critical failure (If your effective skill with Shortsword is reduced to 6, a roll of 16 is a crit fail, etc.).
Assumption of Pressure
Most, if not all, the rolls are made under the assumption of the stresses of adventuring, "in other words, in a stressful situation where the consequences of failure are significant. Some examples:
- Battles and chase scenes.
- Races against the clock.
- Situations where your health, freedom, finances, or equipment is at risk."
Optional: Influencing Success Rolls
You can spend bonus character points to influence game-world outcomes instead of spending them to upgrade your character. This incentivizes short-term success over long-term development of the characters. It also means that there would be far lower stakes since you'd have a guaranteed success or even critical success. Idk, we'll see if I use this one.
Combat
The Character Rules PDF has a pretty good cover over what you can do. Go to the "Combat Lite" section (pg. 325)
I can give you guys an idea of the "feel" of the combat though. Tactics matter much more than in D&D. For example, a 25 point archer with just Bow skill and Night Vision can easily kill a half dozen 250 point Conan the Barbarian types if the archer is on the top of a tree at night.
Contests
This is another one where I'm just gonna refer you to the PDF (pg. 13 of the campaign one) This is good to know, but it's far better to read it rather than me trying to explain it.
Reaction Rolls
Reaction rolls are very different from D&D and very important. NPCs that don't have a predetermined reaction to you, the GM can make a "reaction roll" for. This is influenced by how they were treated by you and your appearance (I'm sure there's other stuff too, but I don't know them). It's left to chance if they react favorably or disastrously towards you which is very fun.
I include this here so that you're not surprised when this happens since it's something I'm gonna try out for a bit.
Influence Rolls
Different from reaction rolls in that your character is deliberately attempting to ensure a positive reaction from an NPC. A PC with an appropriate "Influence skill" can always elect to substitute an Influence roll for a regular reaction roll in suitable circumstances. You roll a Quick Contest: your influence skill vs. the subject's Will. If you win, you get a "Good" reaction from the NPC. On a fail, you get a "Bad" reaction.
Influence skills: Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Intimidation, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, or Streetwise. The GM can also allow other skills to work as Influence skills in certain situations (e.g., Law skill when dealing with a judge).
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is a special skill in that you make your influence roll and the GM makes a reaction roll. After both rolls, you take the better of the reactions. Diplomacy is relatively safe since it's a calm appeal to reason and compromise.
Fast-Talk
This is favorite of swindlers. You're just trying to get someone to quickly decide in your favor.
Intimidation
Another special skill. If you fail an intimidation attempt you get a "Very Bad" reaction from an NPC. Skill is used for bullying and threatening.
Savoir-Faire
For exploiting a particular subculture's code of conduct. Like exploiting a knight's sense of duty and honor for your own gain.
Sex Appeal
A special skill. If you succeed with this, you get a "Very Good" reaction from an NPC. This is most commonly used for seduction.
Streetwise
This skill is for dealing with criminals and other rough crowds.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- What Do You Need to Play?
- How To Make a Character
- How Do You Play?
- The Math of the Game
The Math of the Game
Just like D&D, it's nice to know how the math works out so that you have a better idea of what you're doing when building a character.
Unlike the D20 which has a 5% chance of landing on any side, 3D6 gives a bell curve. As the image shows, you're far more likely to roll in the middle than high or low. Here are the probabilities.
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Class Ideas If You're Stumped
There aren't any strict classes in GURPS. You make a "class" by choosing a selection of abilities that synergize together to create the type of character you want. However, that much choice can be daunting, so I've assembled this little selection for some classic inspirations.
Obviously, we've got the D&D classes to draw from: Artificer, Bard, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard.
There's also this handy dandy class triangle graphic.
You not only have permission, but I encourage you to get really fuckin' weird with it. Like any crazy idea you might have, I can try to make happen. You just still have to fit within the world (I can't let you make a super human like flash or wolverine, but I could help you make a plague doctor who specializes in throwing bombs that make people uncontrollably itch, for example).
