Table Of Odius Personal Habits for Low-Tech Low-Lifes

 In Gurps, we have a few traits that can cover an awful lot of ground. One of these is Odious Personal Habit (OPH). This is great when you know what you want, but when you're looking for inspiration, its a little lacking. So, to help with inspiration (and with creating NPC thugs, one of the most common foes in all of gurps), I present a list of OPH for Low-Tech Low-Lifes. 

This list has intentionally left out Habits that are high tech, modern, or not befitting thugs. You won't find "Interupts to Correct minor Grammar mistakes", Not because it isn't an Odious Personal Habit, but because this list is meant for a certain class of NPC.

The habits are listed with numbers, mostly for use with random generation. 

1. Constant Demanding Orders
2. Bad Breath
3. Body Odor
4. Slovenly Dressed
5. Constant Cursing
6. Gives Demeaning Nick-Names 
7. Spits on the Floor
8. Constant Insults
9. No Personal Space
10. Constantly Touching Weapon
11. Constantly Whistling
12. Always Dirty
13. Constant Burps and Farts
14. Pokes and Punches
15. Constant Interrupting
16. Obnoxious and Inappropriate Laughter 
17. Constantly Picks Teeth
18. Puts Dirty Boots on Clean Objects
19. Constant Staring 
20. Has Fleas

 I hope you find this useful in filling out the personalities of the thugs in your games. I look forward to using it in mine. Let me know if you have any ones that you like, or if you have ones that you like better. 

 Happy Gaming! 

 

 

25 Space Cats

Part of Science Fiction is engaging our sense of wonder. What if something familiar was just a little bit different? Alien wildlife is an engaging way to engage our sense of wonder. Making new alien wildlife is difficult and simple at the same time. Changing its skin covering, eye count, mouth structure, and limbs are easy, but when you're on the spot or have done it a few times recently it can be tricky. 

Here, I present a list of Cat aliens. They're numbered for easy reference, as well as for use with random generators. Each space cat is different, and while they might specialize for an ecology or have additional capabilities, they should all be recognizable as "cats". They do tend towards wild versions of the creatures: its conceptually easier to convert a wild animal into a domestic one than vice versa. I should give credit to Mailanka for inspiring this with his post about Space Cats. I hope you find enjoyment and inspiration in this list!

Pile of Dice for Gurps

I've seen it several times: "How do I simplify rolling a big pile of dice?" Often this is an indication that the rules are being pushed past their limits: should you really be rolling an attack roll for every single one of the 50 goblin archers shooting what amounts to suppressing fire at the gate?

On the other hand, sometimes you really just want to roll 50 dice. or 500. And with a computer, its actually not that hard. You just have to have a simple program that will do it for you. And so I wrote one just for gurps: 

Dice:
Number of Rolls:
Target Number:
Roll Under:

No Rolls Yet

0 out of 0 succeeded

Put in the dice as XdY (You know, that good old standard format). The Target number is the number you need to actually show on the dice: If you have a bunch of soldiers with will 12 rolling at -4 to resist a curse but benefiting from a +1 bonus the heroes procured for them, the target is 9, the number the soldiers actually need to roll. 

If you are using 3d6 and roll under, the tool will count criticals for you, as well as successes. 

I hope you find this tool useful!

On Making Immortal Characters Seem Old

I was perusing Mailanka's Musings , trying to find something, and run across an interesting (and old) article. It was specifically about vampires being really old, and how we often just throw out the numbers without really thinking about it. And it got me thinking about how you would make a seriously old character feel real without too much effort. And it occurred to me to use some random NPC generating tools multiple times, and then to stack them all together.

The Basic Example

I'm using Collaborative Gamer's tables for making memorable NPC's. I'm not actually going to roll all of the entries. Each iteration will use a role in society, an interesting fact, and a hope/fear.  Just three items, but we'll see what they suggest.  for the first trial we'll just use four-- and leave his modern situation open.

• Religion- Highly social: knows everyone, - Hope/Fear:The Past
• Underworld - Surprisingly open-minded - Hope/Fear:The Past
• Nobility - Weighs things carefully before deciding -  Hope/Fear:Love
• Travler/Tansit - Richer than they seem - Hope/Fear:Sex

Ok, this is only four lives, but we already have a lot going on.  I originally got 'Knows you by reputation' for the last category, but that seemed to specific to PC's, and so rerolled it. A few more details are really needed here: how does this immortality work? a vampire will color these arcs differently than an elf, a highlander, or a wizard. We also could use a lot of detail about the history of the world, to give us a backdrop, and its good to know about how long each phases should last. For this first test, lets use a vampire who goes through phases every 20 years or so, and use the modern world. We're ending in 2016, so we start in 1936. 

in 1936, our Vampire (lets name him Victor) was a priest or preacher of some sort. He knew everyone around, but even then he worried about his past. We have our first sticky situation: Vampires and religion don't mix. As in the vampires can't stick around it. Does this mean he was turned later in life? Or does it mean he fullfilled some dark religious function for the local supernatural community. Or that he tried to hide himself in plain site in his position and found a work around for the religious issue? All of these work, but I'm going to go with the turned later in life option. He was a prominent preacher in the depression who knew everyone. But he had secrets, and a past. I'm not going to do much with that. Perhaps he had no great desires at this point: starting him off as a fairly satisfied preacher has appeal in light of who he will become.

In 1956, he's somehow turned to a life a crime: presumably he was turned into a vampire during that time. His wife, children, and congregation are behind him. They know something happened to him, and being a former preacher isn't going to get him a lot of respect among his own kind. Perhaps he's even wanted for murder. He's trying to find a new life, skulking in the shadows of St. Louis and other cities, just trying to start a new life. His friends are other vampires and scum of the earth. He is exploring lots of options though, and is willing to try new things ... comes of turning a man of the cloth into a creature of darkness.

When we see Victor in the 70's,  He's nobility -- which is another way of saying he's rich. He was underworld last time we saw him, so he's probably a crime lord of some sort, probably minor. He's a cautious sort, seemingly having learned wisdom. He seems to have entered an existential phase: he's looking for love. He has everything a vampire could get, at least in small scale, but wants more. His wife is old and decrepit, his kids have moved on from what their father was, and in his home town he's just a ghost story now. His street acquaintances are either dead, moved on, or part of his new empire.

In the 96, we find him traveling around sating his lusts. He presumably didn't find the love he sought, indicating a sad story. He's liquefied his wealth, and his old crime buddies don't know where he is, just that he 'retired'. He is a simple creature, but no less dangerous than before.

And then we have the modern day. Victor won't be a traveling menace anymore, just as he wasn't a crime lord in 96. We do have a history for him though. It gives us a simple idea of who he was. It also lets us know what he can and can't do. He has a decent spread of skills, but not an absolutely massive one. He actually hasn't lived that long of a life, as vampires go.

How Big a Gap

This is a very important question when rolling up an immortal: how static are they? How long do they go between phases? An elf that hangs around other immortals could have much longer phases than the result of a curse in a land with few other people. How stable the character is is really a matter of taste and situation. In fact, you don't even have to make them all the same size. You could say that the wizard of the red tower had a phase where he ran the barony for 4 years and afterwards spent 66 years researching mind control.

Of course, when playing with the length remember than everyone else is turning over every 20 years. The red mage may have spent 66 years poring over musty books, but in that time his lands didn't stay static, and his stewards probably changed three or four times, each with a different opinion of their master. walk through the 20 year chunks, even when they're part of a single phase.

Tricks and Troubles

No random table will be perfect for this -- not even the ones I just used. Feel free to tweak the tables, and reroll results that make no sense at all. Don't shy away from rethinking what a given response means. And don't take too long getting things perfect: this is a NPC generation process, after all.

Analysis

I don't think this gives perfect results by any means. But it does give decent results, and for a truly deep NPC, its worth the effort.  I hope you find this useful for your games, and that it inspires you to use an immortal in your game sometime.

Adapting Collaborative Gaming to Monster Hunters

The Collaborative Gaming System is obviously made for fantasy, and skews that direction. But how hard would it be to run it with a different genre? Like say, Monster Hunters. I decided to go ahead and do that, and tell you guys about the modifications I had to make. The modifications are fairly large, but they are also fairly simple.

• Adjust Monster Type Table
• Treasure and Fame become saved lives and monster slaying
• All Adventures start off as investigation, with starting clue
• Solo 6 for What, Where, When, Who, and Why being obvious
• How far is changed to 'how fast is the investigation take place'
• 'Dungeons' are changed to 'Lairs' and 'Crime Scenes' (info areas)
• Connect Clues with Lore Points
• Peril and Monster Hunters Balance

Monster Type Table

One of the big obstacles is that the monster table given isn't appropriate. Of course, Monster Hunters has a fairly standard list of foes. These foes are different for each GM and setting: Fae may or may not be a big foe. You may or may not want aliens in your game. You may or may not want to come up with a mutant animal on the spot when asked to. Psi may dominate your game or not be included at all. You may have a full demi-human cast like Monster Hunters International or none at all. That said, as long as you know what you want, building the table is easy.

This is my own version:

	1	2	3	4	5
	Undead	Spirit	Living	Humans	Aliens
1	Vampires	Rouge Angels	Lycanthrope	Rouge Crusader	Greys
2	Vampires	In Betweener	Lycanthrope	Cultists	Nordics
3	Ghost	Demons	Lycanthrope	Rouge Psi	Alien Monster
4	Mummy	Demons	Mutant Animal	Rouge Witch	Reptoids
5	Zombie (Curse)	Fae	Legendary Creature	Rouge Experiment	Stalkers
6	Zombie (biological)	Fae	Custom Curse	Campaign Emphasis	Campaign Emphasis

On 6: Campaign Emphasis
Lycanthrope: 1-2: wolf, 3: eagle, 4: bear, 5: tiger, 6: random animal
Alien Monster: 1:Insectiods, 2: Phasites, 3: Devourers, 4: Disease, 5: Create New, 6: Campaign emphasis
Legendary Creature: Use chupacabra if you need stats premade. Or get creative and pick yetis, lake monsters, a dragon, or your local legend
Custom Curse: This is a curse on a creature or person.  It should be considered a 'living' creature.
   
The four campaign emphasis options should be picked at the start of the campaign: they show what is emphasized in this campaign. It doesn't have to be a new category, but it doesn't have to be an old category either. An entire category of 'curses' or 'demihumans' could be added. Rouge humans could be another Witch or Psi, but it could be Men in Black or a mad scientist. At this stage also prune what you don't want, and replace it with options you want to emphasize. Perhaps all psi is replaced with magic, or perhaps you don't want cultists.

Further, You should always roll on this table when picking a villain -- but don't roll on the table until you have clues that tell you what the monster is, or what its 'appears' to be. This table may very well come up more than once for a single hunt!

Treasure and Fame: Lives and Slaying

Monster Hunters don't fight for money (ok, some do, but they're exceptions) and they despise fame: it endangers the secret. They want to save people and to kill monsters. So on the rewards table replace 'rates' with 'lives saved' and Social points with 'Monster Killing': instead of Standard Rates with Fame and Glory you have a moderate number of lives at stake with the opportunity to kill an exceptional number of monsters.

Starting Adventures, or should I say Hunts

On finding Adventure, Monster hunters generally have trouble come to them rather than the other way around. The initial clue, the inciting incident, isn't just scene dressing -- its an important part of the investigation.

1:You notice a odd behavior or a monster
2:Someone is dead
3:a monster attacks a player
4:Research yields behavioral clues
5:Someone else notices an odd behavior and tells you
6:Mystical Means

Don't roll up the adventure type until you know what its going to be: the majority of monster hunter adventures start with investigation. You have five things to figure out: What, Where, When, Who, and Why. At the start of an investigation, roll the solo 6 for each, asking 'is this obvious?' This doesn't mean the answer is correct, just that it appears this way. Investigation is required to confirm each, at which point, you roll the solo 6 again to see if the fact was true...

The adventure type table is also a little skewed towards Fantasy activities and away from monster hunting ones. In particular, compete and explore tend to be rolled a lot more than your typical monster hunters would want, and we want more emphasis on investigate. Change compete and explore rolls of 5 or 16 into investigate rolls (about half of compete or explore quests become investigate adventures).

Distance and Time

The distance category is technically measured in 'Units of Time to location', but this can be tweaked to represent how easy the investigation is to follow: and as a consequence how long each step of the investigation can take. Actual distance may be involved as well, but the most important measure is the dominant unit of time.

Its also probably a good idea to increase the sense of urgency at the lowest level: Change "No Particular Rush" to "People die, but at a category one slower than expected, and it won't go away with until dealt with".

Dungeons and Crime Scenes

Monster Hunters don't really do journeys. You have special skills that let you find the danger, you don't encounter it just wandering around. The way they do dungeons is also different, but surprisingly similar. Most Dungeons are a single area: Usually a crime scene or a monster lair. Roll for the entrance if there is a chance of hostiles. Be creative about the word 'guarded': it could be a lock, could be a ward, could a security alarm. Or actual guards. When rolling for opportunities roll on the 'best' category of 'safe', 'info' or 'lair'. When rolling for mishaps, choose the least dangerous option that makes sense -- monster hunters don't do a lot of combat.

Dealing with Clues and Lore Points

Lore points are of especial interest: They are good for a +1 clue that you wouldn't have expected at the scene. Bad guys make mistakes! Roll on the table for what kind of tip was left.

1: What 2: Where 3: When 4: Who 5: Why 6: Player choice or other useful info

If the category has already been solved, treat it as a 6, and choose what kind of a clue you need.

When selecting clues, come up with an 'apparent' adventure. Why clues can be inspired by adventure types. What clues use monster types. Who clues use random pieces of NPC. When Clues use the 'What's the rush Table'. These are mined for little bits and pieces, though players should feel free to use the solo6 to confirm or disprove theories before rolling for completely new data.

Peril and Balance

The peril system isn't quite as applicable for Monster Hunters -- and sometimes you'll get responses like 2N rouge angels -- what do you do then? Well, you do your best. Let peril make things harder or easier without changing the stats

In Summary

I hope you enjoy this. In some ways, its can aid in GMing as well as in solo or collaborative play. I goofed around and quickly generated a couple of fairly interesting monster hunters plots. The system is really good, and as you can see, not really that hard to adapt to monster hunters. Happy hunting!

Collaborative Gamer's Adventure System

Click to expand and view by itself

Collaborative Gamer has been busy making a system for running a game without a GM. Previously, I've been sitting to the side and just taking a piece here and there of his work. I was disappointed at the fantasy and particuarly the dungeon fantasy bent it was taking. Then he started running a solo adventure with his work, the adventures of Tamien Fell.  On week 6, I finally read through an adventure, and realized just how much I'd missed.

The system focuses on information management, and is a jungle gym for both the world builder and the story builder. It gives pieces, suggestions, and twists, and then asks you to tie it all together yourself. Its designed to generate plots left and right, and so far, it doesn't seem too bad.

The hardest part is how to string it all together. How did he know when to roll on a given table. And so I built a diagram that sums it all up.  A few things to remember:

• The four boxes at the top are always appropriate to bring in: they drive the plot and the world forward. 
• Always be on the look out for adventure types! Each "Adventure" is really more or less a single task. You'll find yourself spontaneously generating them yourself. If you don't notice the adventure, you can't roll for plot twists
• Only figure out what the characters know. This is key to making this system work. The system is designed to provide suspense, not fleshed out plots -- at least not until the end. And thats a feature, not a bug.
• Feel free to drop or fill in details. If you know what the type of adventure is, that's fine. If you don't want to worry about dungeons, then don't.
• This is as much a GM game as it is a player game: in some ways, its having your cake and eating it too.

The system is easily tweaked to provide for other kinds of games: Action, Monster Hunters, and space opera may need some tables expanded, but the actual adventures should roll along just fine. I may do one myself as a proof of concept.


I hope you enjoy collaborative gamer's work!

Collaborative Gamer's World Building Generator

The Collaborative Gamer is currently on a project to build a series of tables that let you play without a game master. I'm a fan of tables, and one of his projects caught my eye, and I decided to automate it. Its a fantasy map generator, and I think its a strong idea.

This is totally his idea, so I'm going to suggest that you read his site before playing with this tool. Then come and play with the automated version of the tool after you understand the system. In several cases you'll need to fiddle with the drop-downs to get appropriate behavior.

Have fun building a word!







Central North South Upstream Downstream Polar Alpine Temperate Coastal Humid Arid Oceanic Blank Desert Plains Hills Mountains River Lake Arctic Beach Island Swamp Ocean Forest Jungle

How to use the Mystery Generator

This is a mystery generator. Or more properly, a mystery seed generator. Mysteries are not something that can be approached willy-nilly. They need to be planned out beforehand, with what actually happened, motivations, and alibis. So why did I need this generator? To get started. There are a variety of tricks, complications, crimes, motivations, and so forth that drive a mystery. And humans are terrible at being truly random. Once you have your seed, you can come up with details of the crime and the mystery.

Monster Hunters Foe Generator

Welcome Demons/Fae Advanced Demon/Fae Crusaders Psionists Experiments Mages

Random NPC generator

The Random NPC generator is for creating a distribution of plausible NPC scores for GURPS. Right now only 7 NPC's are created at a time due to spacial concerns. The table can be copy and pasted directly into excel if you take the whole table without the buttons. The generator is here.

I hope you find it as useful as I have. I have grown dependent on this personal (personnel) tool.