Tonight I had a blast – one of the best gaming sessions in a very long time! It seems only fair that I wrap up this sequence of play with a quick after-action report.
But I’m not sure I’ll be sticking with GURPS long-term.
What happened?
Tonight, with three new players and one existing player, I ran a fantasy game using GURPS. I was a lot of fun. I think we have three new converts to the hobby.
Using four of the heroes I created in the last post, the guys grabbed their sheets and started play. I set the scene. They told me what they wanted to do. I narrated the outcome. We rolled dice when things were uncertain. Just what you’d expect, really, with a sneaky attack on a Goblin lair turning into an aggressive raid by blood-thirsty heroes intent on rescuing a kidnapped child.
The game system didn’t get in the way – it played fine. They learned to make Skill Rolls. Then they learned about attacking and defending, rolling for damage, and just how much of a mess Ragnar’s axe makes of Goblin necks.
But neither is it true to say that the game session was great because of GURPS. It was no more or less easy to play than when I ran the same adventure (a short dungeon) with D&D5e or Mythras Classic Fantasy. In truth, new players don’t really worry about the rules apart from knowing what to roll and roughly what that means.
Actually, the game was great because we got into it quickly and the guys enjoyed tromping around fighting Goblins in their quest to rescue a snatched child. The game was one of the best ever because they got into the spirit of things:
- One lad, playing Ragnar, recognised the “impatient barbarian” stereotype and played it to the hilt;
- The chap with the thief wanted to sneak around being sneaky, and got off some cool moves using surprise;
- The girl playing the two-weapon fighter got into the swing of having two blades, and using her stealth to outflank enemies
- The guy with the Knight played him as a very polite and formal fellow, almost amused by the antics of the others.
- I got into full flow playing sneaky, annoying Goblins… and generally capering around the table.
It all worked wonderfully. They want to keep playing. So do I.
What did I learn?
Two things: a) GURPS runs fine; b) I can still pull off a fun game.
On GURPS…
So, GURPS fans who’ve been SOOOOOO supportive in the past week or two – thanks! You’ve finally got me playing the game… at least, until we finish this adventure.
That being said, I can’t honestly say I’d rush to get new teenage players to make characters using this game. You’d kinda have to do it for them (I think) and that doesn’t sit well with me. It’s not because it’s too complex; it’s because it’s a lot of faff to pick out the bits you need and it’d take too long.
Yes, I know, templates. Maybe. But, in the end, there are easier games to make characters with.
On Fun Gaming…
What made that session fun was that the players all just jumped in, came up with a plan, and rolled with it. They followed two pieces of advice:
- “Don’t worry about the rules. Just tell me what you want your hero to do, and I’ll help you make that happen in the game.”
- “Remember: it’s not me against you, or you against each other. We’re here so that you can all make your heroes look cool. Do cool stuff and help each other look cool doing it.”
For me, that’s what it’s about.
I just worry that I won’t be able to do that again.
Game on!
Sweet, sounds like you had a great time. 🙂
I can offer a couple of resources for greatly reducing character creation time (http://www.themook.net/gamegeekery/series/quick-start/, http://www.themook.net/gamegeekery/?ddownload=828), but at the end of the day… maybe GURPS just isn’t your jam, and That’s Okay.
Enjoying the write-ups!
Allow me to make a few comments if I could.
The greatest strength about the GURPS character creation system is the player can tailor his character to what he needs. I submit that perhaps the reason all the players got into their characters so well, was because they were detailed characters.
Respectfully, I believe by making your pregens, you are missing one of the greatest strengths of the GURPS system. Which is the character creation process, which granted a bit rule crunchy, but the strength and advantage of it, is the input the players have to individualize their player character.
Thus, regarding your concern about getting new teenage players to make characters using this game being complex, fact is, making the characters is a lot of the fun and one of the draws for the game.
It remind me of the old,”Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”
It works that way with GURPS and the character creation system. Give new players a choice of several GURPS pregen characters, and let them play these pregen character to learn the system in an adventure or two, and you have a one shot player that may well enjoy themselves. However, that is a completely different experience than playing a character you designed.
It just is a whole different experience playing a GURPS character you personally designed and created and gave personality to be the character you truly wanted to play.
After these player finish the adventure you have for them, I challenge you to end with a wrap up session and ask them if they want to play again with the option of making their own character.
If you invest the time to help these players make their own first GURPS characters, then you have probably have made some lifetime GURPS converts.
To be fair, character creation in any game takes a while to get up to speed when it is a completely new rules system for the player, and it takes longer to master.
I started playing OD&D in 1976, switched over to GURPS in 1986 and moved 6 months later, and I immediately started GMing a new group of players that had never heard of GURPS.
A couple of months ago, at a local hobby store, I ran into a guy that grew up in my home state, about 60 miles from where I did. It was nice to hear someone speaking with a home accent. He had just started a weekly campaign at the hobby store, so I just started playing in a 5e D&D weekly campaign. I bought a Players handbook and a GM Guide. It took me several days to make the characters for my girlfriend and myself, because the last time I had played D&D was AD&D 1e back in 1885. To say a lot had changed is to put it mildly, and honestly, I still do not know or understand all the game mechanics for 5e, but I have a 3rd level half elf Eldritch Knight, so I am learning the fighting and spell casting.
Never underestimate a player’s dedication to learn how to make a character for a game they like. I forgot how limiting it was to make a character in a character class system like in D&D. But I am a role player, so eventually I figured it all out, at least to the point I needed to be able to make a character to play.
While teaching the GURPS system, like GMing it for the first time or three seems quite daunting, it all really falls into place.
Are their first GURPS characters going to be the very best GURPS characters ever made? Probably not, like any other skill it takes time to get into everything.
And guess what? When designing and making your character, if as a newbie GURPS player you forget, or just did not know or understand or realize a skill or advantage you wanted or needed, you can us use Character Points gained to buy it. So the player decides how to make their character better.
One option is you just have them pick from the Dungeon Fantasy Templates, they can just look up whatever is on the template or you can teach them during play.
Another option you might consider is starting them out building their character by directing them, or giving them a copy the free GURPS lite booklet, and tell them start to start making their character with it. Once they understand it, and they make their first GURPS Character(s) with it, then you can have them expand into the Dungeon Fantasy Character Templates with more character creations options, and/or have them go to the GURPS Basic Character Book and let them have all the options available in the campaign, and they will be able to make a version of any character they can imagine.
So character making really is key. Let them make and play their own characters, by letting them make the characters the way they want, within the campaign point level, the players are already invested in the game and their characters before the first campaign session even begins.
Then I believe you will find that once they play an adventure with their own characters, they will want more. That has been my experience.
Now, there are some players that like and prefer the templates as it makes it quicker to make a character. Some people, are happy playing their orginal pregen character.
A Good GURPS GM keeps a selection of pregens ready to play, and if a player wants to keep your pregen, just print up a replacement (same stats, with a different name and appearance) and you are ready for the next new player to come along.
How this gives you some things to consider, and perhaps a different perspective. Welcome to the GURPS GMing Tribe.
Onward!
Absolutely agree with almost everything you posted, James… for the *second* game. 🙂 In my case, there’s always a first game — one-shot or short campaign — where I provide pre-gens (with some extra points for customization) or make the characters based on what the players describe (unless of course this isn’t their first time GURPSin’).
I’ve seen too many first-timers get turned off by character creation. If we spend a full game session together creating PCs, “it takes too long.” If they’re given guidelines but more freedom, “it’s too hard.” In either case, they may find the character doesn’t *really* fit what it is they wanted to play, “the rules don’t work.”
Personally, I’ve found that first game, providing characters and letting players just jump right into the story, *that’s* what ignites the excitement, creates that enthusiasm where they discover that character creation is a blast in its own right. They have a chance to put things through their paces, see how it all fits and works in action, then they can’t wait to create new PCs putting that knowledge to use (“That game was fun, but ST 14 was too weak for me, let’s try at least a 16. And having to use First Aid at default didn’t work very well, I’ll put some points into that. Mook, I got smacked around way more than I wanted to… are there any ways to improve my defenses?”)
Naturally, YMMV. I do love GURPS character creation… it’s like its own little mini-game!
Thanks to you both for throwing in your 10c on this… and I hear you.
Actually, having slept on it, I think the big question will be (after this first adventure): “Do you want to play some more?”
If yes, the natural follow-on will be: “Do you want to keep using the hero I made, or do you want to make a hero of your own?”
My feeling is that the guys will want to keep playing, and might even be enjoying their pre-gens. Templates are a fine next step, but we might take that out of the regular play time into 1-to-1 build sessions.
My worry is that it’ll feel too time-consuming and/or complicated. I think focusing on asking questions to direct a player through a template is possibly optimal: e.g. “Do you want to fight with an axe or a sword? Ok, let’s take Sword.”
But I want to see how this pans out. Am considering introducing dungeon tiles and minis to help visualise combat next session… maybe.
One great thing I learned from FATE was that a collaborative character generation is a great thing to have. Both from a player and a GM perspective.
Get together, order pizza and build the characters as a group, as a player its much easier to integrate your character into a group when you can just tie your backstory to the other characters while building them, and as a GM you can not only help them out with the rules, but you can see the group dynamics at work and gather hints on what this particular group will want to play.
Quick update: today, two of the three players (the lads) asked how to get the rules. They have downloaded GURPS Lite to read at home. Very excited about potentially playing more out of school, organising their own games. That was a surprise!
Nice! That’s a good sign. 🙂
Yesterday, they were looking for pre-gens. I showed them http//:themook.net and today I’ll drop a print off of Dungeon Fantasy 1. Impatient to learn, they are. 😉
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