GURPS: Adventures. Where can I get one?

[@danielarruda3453]

This is the best GURPS video i ve ever seen. Every gurps player should watch this!

[@KeldNeedsCoffee]

To any Fate or Savage Worlds player like me who has a group open to GURPS, it can be a very crowd pleasing system. Also, the number of buttons and knobs can be as much a boon as a chore. The possibilities are endless and it's really a beautiful system.

[@c3rwin]

I just got into GURPS and I've been slowing reading through the basic set. I feel like this game is everything I've always wanted from an RPG! Thank you for this series!

[@chrisnormand]

Fantastic, and good luck! Don't forget to join the GURPS Discord: discord.com/invite/hWHbuvF If you have any questions about GURPS, this is the quickest place to get answers. Or the Steve Jackson Forums: forums.sjgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13, if you don't mind waiting a day or two.

[@darthbrooks4933]

It’s a great system, I love the fact that it’s setting neutral as well. I’m creating a greyhawk world that uses GURPS in Foundry.

[@jacobsulka7254]

Easily the best GURPS video I have ever seen. I watch this video every day when I wake up and before I go to bed

[@chrisnormand]

You are so full of crap, but thank you for the kind comment. (To everyone else, don’t worry, he’s my neighbor, and I’ve known him for almost 20 years ☺️).

[@TomMaletzke]

Chris, you are getting better at this. This is a fun one.

[@chrisnormand]

Thank you! I wish I was as charismatic as Matt Colville (I think it is his magic hair), but I AM having fun... and if can help others play GURPS (a game I love), then all the better!

[@magicoctopus8710]

@@chrisnormand YOU are charismatic, because you have your own style, with confidence. Colville is popular, but a lot of that is due to timing, luck and running D&D.

[@chrisnormand]

@@magicoctopus8710 thank you! Of course, I’m still envious of the hair :-)

[@Shishnut]

Great content as always! I've always found that being able to "steal" adventure material from anywhere is by far one of GURPS' strongest sellings points, but also one of its most daunting ones. First it requires the GM to think in terms of "feel" and "effect" instead of in "conversion" terms. It's very tempting to try to find out how much ST to give a monster that has this much STR in D&D through some sort of formula. It's very liberating to be able to just think in terms of effect and "what does this monster do", because since GURPS deals with realistic descriptions, you can always find out what to choose. But it's also very daunting because we feel that responsability weighing on us, "it it going to feel similar?", "Is it too strong?", "Not strong enough?", "it it going to mow down the entire party?", etc. So I guess that, at least in my experience, the first step is letting go of the conversion paranoia and focusing on more measurable things and effects. Using the standard rules is enough for that. Later, as you test more and more through actual play, it will become second nature to make those small adjustments. I think it's a very worthwhile process, because in the end you will feel comfortable with a system that will always give you what you need, the way you want it. The problem is that many people want something that's already "chewed up for them", as we say in my country, haha. Then of course this whole process might seem a bit too much. I personally think it's great. I'm working on using Numenera's Ninth World with GURPS rules for my next campaign, and I'm already excited with how much more flexibility GURPS will give me compared to Cypher System's stiff rules.

[@chrisnormand]

Yeah, originally I tried to do a "conversion"... and just got lost in the mechanics. And then it hit me.. the story is the most important part... and the NPCs are just there to provide actors for the story.

[@Shishnut]

@@chrisnormand Exactly! That's why I really like your video about how to use the Mook Generator. It's actually very easy and fast to make some skills and things on the fly without bothering to actually have a GCS file handy everytime!

[@Shishnut]

Oh, BTW, I know this is not really the place for this, but you know I'm Brazilian and we use some special symbols here and there in writing like á,à,ê,ç,õ,ã, etc. I started to import GCS files directly, but all these letters get garbled completely, even activating that UTF-8 (or whatever) option you guys have included... Any clues?

[@Shishnut]

I actually went back to using the old import system because at least the text is kept...

[@chrisnormand]

@@Shishnut I do know that you are Brazilian, bom dis! And no, I did not know about that issue with the GCS import. I will look at at when I get back home this evening.

[@Boss-xt8nh]

Come on Chris. We need more Normand content. You should record a gurps campaign in action.

[@chrisnormand]

Ha, well that might be a bit much… but alas, I am currently vacationing in Hawaii and won’t be back at my computer for a while.

[@axelwulf6220]

My method was, basically, just copying the plot synopses from a movie I like, changing it up a bit to fit the tone and setting of the campaign, and let my players try to figure out what they're doing

[@chrisnormand]

Exactly!!! I love to steal from old movies, books, etc. I'm a programmer... not a writer!

[@axelwulf6220]

@@chrisnormand DAMMIT, JIM! I'M A WRITER, NOT A PROGRAMMER!!

[@villekauppila9807]

Your videos are really well done, informative and you're pleasant to listen. Keep up the good work!

[@chrisnormand]

Thank you... the summer has been busy, so I haven't been able to keep up with everything (like comments), but I did make a post, about the subject of future videos, and "How to start" was highest on the list... so I made 2, "GM Roadmap" and "Gameplay Hints". Hopefully they are at the same quality!

[@stevenfoster5217]

I'm so glad I came across your videos. It helped clear up a couple of confusing points in combat. (At least for me it was confusing.) Have you done one on ranged combat? Especially for fire arms.

[@chrisnormand]

Not yet, and that isn't my area of expertise... but let me see what I can drum up. And thank you for watching!

[@Ar0474]

I seriously love this, thank you so much! GURPS has been my most looked into system because I love its combat system and the character building aspects, but I also absolutely love D&Ds world and adventure modules! The playlist has been so helpful!

[@chrisnormand]

You are very welcome! And good luck! Don’t forget to join the GURPS discord, if you have any questions.

[@pedrobalduino3872]

you're fucking amazing, i love your content as much as i love friday nights

[@MrAndrewGil]

Thanks for this video! It really helped me out. I can't wait to watch your next video ✌️

[@chrisnormand]

You are very welcome! Sorry it is taking so long for the next video... my free time is severely limited in the summer (so many social obligations!)

[@Duncan55Watson]

So I am watching this video and got the part about players attachment to their characters. Given I have a dnd sorcerer with hundreds of hours into him, carefully going over every detail, down to the exact way he carries his gear, a leather bound journal with all of my notes, drawings and thoughts, I may relate.

[@chrisnormand]

Right?!? I've "loved" all of my characters through the years. But for many of my D&D characters, it was because of the deeds we did, not so much the character class we started with. Once I started creating characters in GURPS, I could imbue them with memorable characteristics from the start... interesting quicks, etc. Which just made them easier to love ;-)

[@thekaxmax]

I have a con module series I've run several times, to general approval, where the wizard has /zero/ combat spells. It's got utility spells that include some mind and body spells, though. Usually used effectively by players, too.

[@chrisnormand]

My dream is that someday, it will be worthwhile for more people to publish adventures for GURPS. But it will take a miracle, a long shot, and a cosmic event for that to happen..... "but your saying there's a chance!"... yes, I am!

[@azTarks]

Hey Chris, thanks for this. I love the concept of GURPS, have read if not all then the vast majority of both basic set books and a bunch of the additionals, I've created characters and done small combat encounters and tried to create a little campaign several times. I usually get hung up on trying to make encounters / new "powers" reasonably balanced, whatever balanced means. I know I can fudge stuff but I'd prefer to start from something semi reasonable. It would be a lot of effort on your part but I'd love to volunteer myself for a "Plan a little campaign with a GURPS noob DM" if you have any interest in that. I know I'd really appreciate watching someone be taught how to do stuff like making a few custom powers/items, picking which rules to include in the world etc, think it could be fun !

[@chrisnormand]

That is a great idea for a video. You are the second person that has asked for a "new GM" video. I guess I will have to start on that soon!

[@MADMACHlNE]

RE: weakening encounters for suboptimal fighters (5:04) I don't know; I think it's quite possible to keep the dangers posed by encounters relatively constant between the parties that face them as long as the possibility space for solutions, combat or non-combat, is large and varied enough. If the PCs aren't great fighters, but their go-to solution to solving problem is "fight it", then maybe that's their problem-may they should play more to their character's strengths. If they want to play (or you want to run) a combat game, but their builds won't allow that, you could help them build effective fighters, or you could give them more points to work with. There are tons of ways to solve the issue while remaining faithful to the adventure.

[@chrisnormand]

As always, it is a collaboration between the GM and the players. Each group tells their own story.

[@andrewkolb6289]

A lot of the L Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter Conan pastiches started off as R.E. Howard's Boxing and old west stories so any story can be fantasy if you look at it from the right angle.

[@chrisnormand]

So true. I love watching shows, and trying to see if I could adapt their storyline into a fantasy world (I just love fantasy). That hard part is making up the story in the first place... and since I am not a writer... i just steal it from other sources ;-)

[@daltonwither5246]

great videos, useful for kick-starting a 0 experience party. (video tip, a tiny bit of music for long talking video goes a vary long way)

[@chrisnormand]

Thanks, I will look into it. A lot of the KZbin channels I watch do not have background music, so I went the easy route.

[@hansbrackhaus8017]

By the way, how did you end up becoming the (co) author of a game aid in an actual tabletop setting? After all, that comes along with 'rules', which tools like GCS don't really get into. Are you part of SJG? Cause otherwise, they seem rather protective of this kind of thing. If you aren't, did it take a long time to get on their good side, or something? Cause maptool, an open source virtual tabletop application, would probably be a nice boost for GURPS interest if SJG is open for that kind of thing... And if you aren't allowed to disclose that, then that's fine too, but, I'm curious, hence me asking.

[@chrisnormand]

I am the co-developer (author) of the "game aid" software (which SJG allows) for the GURPS RPG. Originally, SJG blocked our software (with a DMCA) until they were able to see that we were NOT re-implementing their game, but instead providing a way to play their game on a virtual table top. I have no affiliation with SJG.

[@hansbrackhaus8017]

@@chrisnormand I see, thanks for elaborating~. Tough stuff. Hehe.

[@mr.cauliflower3536]

I personally don't like the idea of straight up weakening the enemies to serve the party. Your example of a wizard is actually perfect for my counterargument: let the wizard learn of the brigand's weakness, or a way to talk or buy them out of fighting the party (non necessarily with money, eg. with favours). The challenge is not easier because the party is weaker, as this would punish players for building for combat, as they still have the same challenge, but have to contend with other things at a higher difficulty, instead you can let the players overcome the challenge with whatever strenghts they have, be it learning of the brigand's family member's sickness and treating it for the brigand letting them through, or even joining them until he repays his debt, paying him off with the money they made with their crafting skills, finding a way around him, or the regular approach of smashing his skull in. However if the party is just poorly optimised and are mostly bad at everything, then you should, of course make the challenge easier.

[@chrisnormand]

I think we both have the same goal in mind... make the game challenging for the party, however they need to solve it!

[@UlissesSampaio]

What about overpowered PCs? For instace, an archer that spent all their points in bow skill ajd can one-shot everything (even the boss 500 points dragon) by targeting the eye? How to handle that?

[@chrisnormand]

If a player has focused on one area, in the adventure, I would focus on other areas. Require more stealth, puzzles, social interactions. It will force the players to round out their characters over time. My 500 pt dragon would have 12 DR everywhere. You could describe a hit to the eye as “you see a flash of a metallic inner eyelid… and your arrow bounces off of that”. You could also apply a “turbulence” modifier… “the dragon sees you aiming, it flaps it wings into a frenzy, take a -6 to hit due to air turbulence.” There are always ways to make a monster tougher than a PC. The issue becomes, can you make one tough enough to be challenging and fun. You can also track arrows, and encumbrance. Your archer can only carry so many arrows. It is all a balancing game, and you are allowed to think outside the box.

[@BlueSpirit422]

Omg, of course the monsters will ransom the bodies! 😮

[@chrisnormand]

Right?!? I never of thought of that... in all the years I played, it was always kill or be killed. But Matt opened my eyes as to the complex behavior that your NPCs could display.

[@Leverquin]

YES YEY

[@bvim75]

Anyone using GURPS for solo rpg? How hard is comparable to other systems?

[@chrisnormand]

I honestly don't know. I've only ever seen: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqPMh4CGnqeae6s

[@bvim75]

@@chrisnormand thanks!

[@dane3038]

5cps

[@chrisnormand]

Perfect! Now I can afford to buy off my "shyness" disadvantage!

[@1ShotJC]

While I am trying my best to make up for all the lack of official GURPS adventures at 1shotadventures.com - I convert adventures all the time! Am in the middle of a conversion of the WFRP Enemy Within campaign, and am about to run a group through the Conan adventure Waves Stained Crimson. Chris is right - other than porting some NPCs, it is very straightforward!

[@c3rwin]

That's so cool! I've never played Enemy Within but I've always heard about it and it was one of my first ideas for trying out in GURPS. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your site!

[@chrisnormand]

Yes, I love your site, and can't wait for you to create more!

[@jamesharland3727]

+1 These adventures are really great, and come with VTT assets. A great way to find your way around various GURPS genres quickly