Infinite Worlds Templates

The greatest problem in playing GURPS is the heavy character investment time. The classical solution is character templates. The best 'ready to use' templates are the uniform point instruction sets found at the beginning of each series. They seem especially useful for doing one shot games, or introducing players.

I am a huge fan of infinite worlds. The Setting allows me to do so much, and it really explores what gurps is. That said, the classic ISWAT campaign isn't something that you can put up fast, character-wise... until now.

This system is aimed at being able to create ISWAT style characters rapidly. It does this by having a number of templates (or lenses, if you choose) that can be put together quickly and then filled out.

Here is the index to the system

Alternate Added Traits for RPM

RPM is a very useful and intriguing magic system, because it can do most anything. However, some parts of it scale better than others. One of my favorite quotes is the observation that it takes as much energy to blow up the planet as it does to turn yourself into a ghost for 10 minutes. A few more observations follow:

Sample IQ Qualities Costs

This was created in order to save you doing math. The sets are arranged by their spread (by how many numbers are the same and how far apart they are. Some are given names for convenience.

Quality Example Pricings

The hardest part of the quality system is the pricing. Here are a few examples worked out so you can get a feel for it.

Joe Plumber

As a simple example, lets consider Joe Plumber, a very capable handyman man who doesn't get or like people or book learning. He has:

Splitting up IQ: Qualities

IQ is an extremely wide category -- it covers everything from building a boat to passing yourself off as someone else to solving complex math equations. This was fine when Gurps was a game about combat: it was the 'everything else' category. And in a game thats still overwhelmingly about combat, its still works fine. However, it struggles when it tries to focus on a game that isn't all about combat or other physical activity. The way this shows up tends to be in IQ being too cheap and IQ being too broad. A classical example is the wizard who has to sink lots of points into IQ to cast spells and then causally puts a single point into fast talk and becomes the de facto face man.

One of the first things to do in this situation is to start charging 20 points for IQ rather than 20 points for IQ+will+per, and to encourage talents. This was a solid effect of lowering general IQ, but keeping the specialities of the character intact. This is sufficient for a lot of concepts, particularly concepts useful to PCs. It breaks down after the talent reaches a certain size though: a 15 point talent is rarely competitive even with the expanded 20 point IQ -- though some do exist. This becomes particularly apparent when trying to stat very round characters (like a real life person).

My solution is called Qualities. IQ has been split up into six broad 'qualities' with a seventh that can spawn additional supernatural uses.

Slimy Grubbers

Slimy Grubbers are secretive water loving fae that build expansive networks of gates. They are not usually enemies of those studying the supernatural, but annoying opportunities.

Slimy Grubbers are small fae, most of them reaching no less than 3 feet high. They have slimy, cold, amphibian skin, long spindly fingers, ugly faces that have 'beards' consisting of loose skin, large vertically flattened tails, and beady eyes. They live in the depths of pools, fountains, and other bodies of water where things are frequently lost -- they have a fascination with things that mortals loose. They often snatch such objects up and carry them away to their nests -- where the rightful owner is quite unlikely to ever see them again.