Mini-Adventure: Sleepless Easthaven

Mini-Adventure: Sleepless Easthaven

Some people asked me to try my hand at writing either full adventures or small, encounter-like mini-adventures that can be plugged into any game. Since I GM predominantly fantasy games, I will settle for D&D-style adventures. This is my first attempt - a short, straightforward scenario about dwarves and drugs.

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Monster/Racial Template: Tibbit

Monster/Racial Template: Tibbit

Shapeshifting is second only to Insubstantiality in complexity in GURPS. Let's convert a shapeshifting
race from D&D - tibbits, also known as catweres.

How to: Wu Jen Spellcasting

How to: Wu Jen Spellcasting

Wu jen is an arcane spellcaster class in D&D 3.5 that was introduced in Complete Arcane. Basically, it is a wizard with an oriental flavour. They typically are hermits, have certain taboos, have spellbooks, and specialize on spells of earth, fire, metal, water, and wood.

Occupational Template: Warlock

Occupational Template: Warlock

Warlock was a very popular class in D&D, but I was never a fan of how it failed to represent its flavor in its mechanics. I've already described how I would make a warlock in GURPS in another post, but let's also make an occupational template for him.

Sorcery: Infravision Spells

Sorcery: Infravision Spells

Infravision is common among the Underdark-dwellers and supernatural creatures in general (at least according to D&D). So, let's make spells that interact with it.

Monster: Cloud Ray

Monster: Cloud Ray

This is a gigantic manta ray that levitates and camouflages as a cloud, preying on rocs and other aerial wildlife. Cool, but I do not know how I'd use this monster in a game.

Monster: Dread Guard

Monster: Dread Guard

Dread guards are animated suits of armor. Basically, downgraded helmed horrors.

How to learn GURPS?

How to learn GURPS?

I've seen a lot of people asking "how does one learn GURPS?". I've also seen claims that GURPS is practically impossible to learn by yourself, you need to be taught by somebody who already knows the system. That's completely false.

A lot of people recommend disregarding the GURPS Basic Set and starting out with GURPS Lite when learning or teaching the system, and using templates for characters. In my opinion, this is simply wrong. By using GURPS Lite and/or templates, you're missing the thing that makes GURPS special - the infinite  potential for customization, for all genres, for all kinds of characters. If I started out with GURPS Lite and templates, I don't think I'd get interested in the system at all. How did I learn the system? I just read the book. And if you're new and want to know how to learn the system - I'm sorry, but I can only tell you to read the darn GURPS Basic Set. If you feel that something is not relevant to the game you want to play - just skip it. Easy as that. There is nothing difficult in learning the system.

Monsters: Raggamoffyns

Monsters: Raggamoffyns

Raggamoffyns are weird constructs - swarms of clothes, garbage, and oter debris animated by ambient
magic. They are sentient and can wrap themselves around their victims to possess them.

Monster: Durzagon

Monster: Durzagon

Durzagons are specialized duergar half-fiends.

Paper Men and Investment

Paper Men and Investment

Mailanka's post "On Paper Men and Disposable Characters" really made me think about my games, where they stand on the paperman-snowflake scale, and all other things regarding investment into the characters and game world. Since I'm not good at writing such posts, I will analyze some of my past games in a "stream of consciousness" way. I'm not going to describe all my game, but only those that I remember clearly at this moment.

Powers: External Parasitic Possession

Powers: External Parasitic Possession

The Possession advantage is very complex, but I think it does not cover some forms of possession properly. What I was trying to do is to make the possessing creature engulf the victim and gain control of it. Parasitic possession does not really accomplish that. I've considered some options, and ended up inventing a new limitation.

External Parasitic: You physically wrap yourself around the host. You must grapple the host and achieve a pin – and your victim must not have a higher Size Modifier than you. After pinnng the host's body, you may attempt to possess him. He resists with the higher of HT or Will. You do not release the pin if you lose, but he is “immune” to you, so you need to find another host soon. While you are on someone else’s body, he (if he is still uncontrolled) or his friends might be able to possibly remove you physically. Your HP acts as extra DR for the purpose of attacks on the host. The host nourishes you, and may have to eat extra food as a result. You can choose to release the host at any time. -70%.

Monster/Racial Template: Loxo

Monster/Racial Template: Loxo

An elephantman with not one, but two prehensile trunks!

Monster: Chain Golem

Monster: Chain Golem

Chain golems are golem created by kytons. Their chain barrier ability is quite cool.

Monster: Catoblepas

Monster: Catoblepas

This is a weird swamp monster with a death ray attack.

Monster: Faun

Monster: Faun

Fauns basically are downgraded satyrs. Cheap enough to serve as a racial template for PCs.

Monsters: Guardinals

Monsters: Guardinals

Monster Manual II has two new guardinals - the goatlike cervidal and the wolflike lupinal.

Monsters: Clockwork Horrors

Monsters: Clockwork Horrors

Clockwork horrors are infamous monsters from the Monster Manual II, notably for the adamantine horror having at/will disintegrate and Mordenkainen's disjunction while being a CR 9 monster. Dragon Magazine #350 adds a new variety - copper clockwork horrors, and also mentions silver ones that fill the same role and have the same stats as electrum horrors. Why even mention them? I'll make them distinct, something between copper and electrum.

Monsters: Monster Manual II - B

Monsters: Monster Manual II - B

Let's work on Monster Manual II a bit. In this post, I will convert monsters that start with the letter B that haven't been converted yet.