The Blog Index

At the request of a reader, I have made an index for most of the pages on this blog. Hopefully it will help people find things better. It also can be a useful way to see what is actually on this blog, and all the resources that have been created over the 12 years the blog has been made. I hope you find this useful! 

The Index

360 Vision should cost [10] in Gurps

360 degree vision is the first item in the advantages chapter of the GURPS Basic Set. Despite this, I have never ever seen a player take it. Some of this is because it's a fairly rare ability in fiction, but more than that, it's completely overpriced, and players tend to stay away from overpriced abilities. 

360 degree vision has two main effects: it makes a specific stealth tactic harder, and it allows defense when attacked from behind. Both of these are fairly niche. GURPS' stealth rules are hand-wavy enough that sneaking up behind rather than using cover is pretty rare, and while attacking from behind can be important, in practice it rarely happens. And even then, it's usually got a caveat that allows a defense of some sort anyways.

But don't just trust me. Twelve years ago on the Steve Jackson Games forums we discussed the advantage, and no one was willing to defend its cost. Everyone suggested its value was somewhere in the [10]-[15] range.

It's all his fault. Him and his brothers and uncles
and the rest of his species 

So why am I bringing this up again? First off, I think that having a specific blog page proposing a house rule is more useful to a lot of people than a forum thread suggesting a quarter-dozen different pricing options. 

Second? Because I'm getting ready for a campaign where there are only three non-human races and one of them requires 360 degree vision. So I've got to deal with the pricing somehow. 

So why am I going for [10] rather than [15], as some suggested back in the forum thread?  Because defending against attacks from behind and gaining an advantage on some stealth checks is just not worth [15]. That's still a huge number of points, and in my gut it feels like too much to me. Additionally, I'd hate to go ahead and make this change and then find out that I tweaked it too little: a slight overcorrection is better than a slight undercorrection. If you're going to make a change to a rule so people will use it, it's best if they actually use it. I also have a hard time imagining it being too cheap. The worst that can happen is that the dedicated "Eye Guy" is impossible to sneak up on. Which is probably just fine.

I hope you find this useful. Let me know if that's enough to get any of your players to take it: it's a pretty niche ability even at [10]. Happy Gaming!

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! 

 

 

Wedding of the Sea King

This is an adventure intended for GURPS. Its not strictly for dungeon fantasy, as there is quite a bit of role-play and social elements, but its meant for that sort of game, and that sort of point values. A secondary element is its meant to be told as a fairy tale: a King looking for a bride, a castle under the sea, and a treaty taken deadly seriously. The story is meant to be set in the town of Gazim, a sea-side desert fortress built on the edge of an evil empire and reasonably hostile to it, but it could be set anywhere with the ocean, even in Yrth (I was actually surprised just how well it fit in Yrth). 

Guildfleet Yeemo, A Psiwars City

Guildfleet Yeemo is another location for Psi-wars. It is a mobile city of Traders built into former warships. I love the Traders, and I built this fleet to explore what such a city would be like. If you don't know what psi-wars is, the best place to start is probably The Psi Wars Primer. The project is great, and if you haven't read enough of it to get its basics, you should, because it's really cool!

Guildfleet Yeemo is a collection of enormous ships transformed into the permanent home of the Yeemo Clan. They eke out a living traveling from planet to planet, peddling their wares and services as they go. 

Yeemo travels back and forth between the trader belt in the core and the nearer portions of the Umbral rim.  It tends not to vary from this route too much, and can occasionally feel a little paternalistic about the worlds it visits routinely.

This article mostly focuses on the locations to visit in Guildfleet Yeemo. This includes small shops, great industries, and places of interest a party might be led to or seek out.

Vulnerability x1.5

This is another one of those house rules that have lived in my mind forever, but I always forget to write down:

you can take Vulnerability x1.5 for half the cost of Vulnerability x2. I most often use this for crushing damage on things like birds and skeletal undead. Double damage from crushing is usually too much, but crushing at x1.5 is threatening without getting the target crippled anytime a blow lands and matches cutting damage

I don't remember if I came up with this number myself, but its useful, and it stuck.

Related side note: I also like to treat vulnerability x4 damage as actually being x5, mostly to make the progression follow the size/range table.

I hope people find this useful, I've been trying to actually write down the house rules I use. Happy Gaming!

Imozu, Ancient Backwater

Imozu is another worked planet for Psi-wars. Its probably a lot more integrated with psi-wars than Highlun was. Its home to both Ranathim and Mogwai, as well as other races and dusty ruins. I wanted to explore what a completely Mogwai society would be like, as well as what an alien rebellion in the core might look like.

If you don't know what psi-wars is, the best place to start is probably The Psi Wars Primer. The project is great, and if you haven't read enough of it to get its basics, you should, because its really cool!

Overview

Nestled in the Trader Band, Imozu has seen empire after empire conqueror it, and promptly forget it exists. But Imozu has accumulated lasting marks from all of these empires, accumulating ancient ruins and stubbornly resilient cultures. Once conquered, the old cultures are usually left to themselves as long as there's no signs of an uprising. Imozu is too poor and too stubborn to be worth the effort.

 Imozu has a fairly typical climate and an abundance of terrain to settle, and most empires that have conquered it have left communities on its surface. These communities are diverse but insular rather than cosmopolitan. Over the Centuries they have each grown in their own directions, distinct from both their neighbors and their mother cultures.