Random GURPS Weather Generator

Random GURPS Weather Generator

Remember my post in random weather generation? Now it's automated. You can download it here.

Changelog:

 v1.1 - I messed up badly and all the temperatures were wrong due to mixing up "less or equal" and "equal or higher". It's fixed now.

Wizardry: Magic of Eberron Spells

Wizardry: Magic of Eberron Spells

The next book to inspect for spells for my games is Magic of Eberron (yes, I'm determining them randomly). To my surprise, the spells section of this book is relatively short when compared to, for example, Magic of Faerun. Most of the spells are highly setting-specific, so I will only borrow several more generic ones.

Control Elemental allows you to command an elemental creature of a specific type.

Hidden Ward conceals magic auras on an object.

Leap into Animal lets you physically and mentally possess a willing animal.

Leech Undeath lets you drain HP from an undead creature, but the healing is temporary.

Legion's Magic Weapon is a mass version of Magic Weapon.

Mindburn is a mental attack that deals damage and possibly lowers IQ.

Orb of Dancing Death is an interesting spell that creates a mobile orb that enervates living creatures around it.

Reinforce Construct is a simple buff that makes a construct tougher.

Scry Trap is a protective spell that injures and blinds whoever tries to scry the subject.

Speaking Stones creates a single-use phone.

Wizardry: Miscellaneous Spells II

Wizardry: Miscellaneous Spells II

While I do have plans for converting spells from other D&D books, I'd like to add some miscellaneous spells to my collection, including some Making and Breaking spells from GURPS Magic.

Create Implausible Material creates things like solid lightning, frozen flame, etc.

Dye is a more powerful version of Color. This one is limited by area as for gases and energy and not by mass because... just because, okay? It's already expensive enough.

Lichcraft is a spell that is used to become a lich.

Mana Burn attacks the subject's ER (Magic) and also deals damage if it does burn some ER.

Mana Leak causes the subject's spells to become more expensive.

Soilproof prevents the subject from getting dirty.

Waterproof prevers the subject from getting wet.

Market Class and Equipment Availability

Market Class and Equipment Availability

One concept from ACKS II that I really likes is the Market Class – each settlement is classified as one of six market classes, depending on the population. Market class defines how many goods of different price categories can be bought or sold at this market, among some other things. This is something like the GP Limit for settlements from D&D 3.0, but expanded and perfected. In GURPS, there are some rules for equipment availability in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Caverntown (you wouldn’t think to look for them there, would you?), but they are quite barebones and not generic. Surprisingly, GURPS City Stats has nothing about it. Thus, it is time to adapt the ACKS rules. To be honest, there’s barely any adaptation needed, and I really hope I’m not stretching the limits of fair use.

Dungeon Delving Procedure

Dungeon Delving Procedure

I've already adapted the wilderness exploration procedure from ACKS II to GURPS (although I still have to adjust it a bit). Now, one of the other important procedures is the dungeon delving one. It shouldn't be difficult now that I've got Dungeon Exploration Turns down. Yet again, this is more of a checklist than a procedure you should strictly adhere to at all times.

Wilderness Random Encounter Distance

Wilderness Random Encounter Distance

When a random encounter happens, be it in a dungeon or wilderness, how far apart are the party and the monsters? GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures is the only book that has something on this topic – the ambush rules. However, they are limited to, well, ambushes and the maximum encounter distance is only 15 yards. This is not generic at all. Let’s expand the surprise rules from DFRPG Exploits with the concept of encounter distance from ACKS II and Terrain Rating from GURPS Mass Combat. I think these rules work, but I may adjust them in the future if I find something off.

Review: How to Be a GURPS GM: Improvising

Review: How to Be a GURPS GM: Improvising

Since I haven’t been following the GURPS news and upcoming releases in quite a while, the new book caught me by surprise. Yesterday, How to be a GURPS GM: Improvising got released, written by Sean Punch a.k.a. Dr. Kromm. The How to be a GURPS GM series of books is a mixed bag with some good ones and some not so good ones, so I decided to check this one out. After all, improvisation is indeed a skill and I wondered how one could even explain in text how to improvise better. These days, when many players seem to try their hardest to avoid reading the rulebooks and GMs learn how to GM from questionable actual plays and numerous even more questionable YouTube videos, there is a shortage of good written material to learn the art of being a GM from. And then people complain about the GM shortage!