Review: GURPS Underground Adventures

Review: GURPS Underground Adventures

In the previous review, I mentioned that GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3 has two pages on excavation and mining, but it was pointed out to me that I forgot about GURPS Underground Adventures. And that’s right, I did forget about that book. I often do, despite using certain rules from it relatively often. Still, this book often just escapes my mind, just like such books as GURPS Future Histories. So, let’s have a short review of GURPS Underground Adventures to give it some spotlight!

Karilan: New Aventus

Karilan: New Aventus

Several months ago, I contemplated developing my setting not in breadth, but in depth, i.e. focus on one nation and try describing it in more detail. The main goal was more of a challenge to myself - can I do this? Do I have it in me? After all, to write good, you have to learn how to write bad first, there's no way to do it without practice. So, I decide to focus on the nation of New Aventus - one of the major human nations of Karilan. What's difficult about it is that it's purposefully generic - this is just your good old mostly benevolent human kingdom with nobles, peasants, knights, and all your traditional faux-medieval stuff. And it's big, which means that there are many provinces, cities, etc. that require at least brief descriptions. If I chose something more interesting and small, I'd probably achieve better results, because writing lots of generic stuff is pretty difficult. However, as I was in the process of writing it, I sprinkled in some fun stuff here and there, and the final result is much less generic than it initially was. Also, Aventians ended up being jerks to many other human nations, but I don't mind that. Of course, as always, this is not the final version, and it will be updated. You can always find the most recent publically available setting material in the Karilan Setting Documents post.

New Aventus document link.

Review: The Quintessential Dwarf

Review: The Quintessential Dwarf

Many times before, I said that I love GURPS because any RPG book is a GURPS book. Back in the D&D 3.0 days, when the OGL was reigning supreme, and many third-party publishers were churning out tons of books of dubious quality, I haven’t really found any use for these books in my D&D games. Sure, some of the stuff there looked nice, but it was awful from the game balance perspective. Today, I’d like to talk about The Quintessential Dwarf, part of the Quintessential series by Mongoose Publishing. Mongoose Publishing is no small player in the RPG scene, and they produced tons of D&D content. The Quintessential series is quite large, with each book detailing a particular class or race, with some classes or races even getting two books.

GURPS Monstrous Compendium

GURPS Monstrous Compendium

I rarely do that, because I feel very dirty after I shill my own stuff. On my Boosty, I decided to make some exlusive stuff for my supporters - a GURPS Monstrous Compendium based on the format you can see in the post below this one. The idea is to rework the standard GURPS statblock to make it more useful for the GM. With this format, the GM will have to flip through the books much less, and even when he has to do it, he will have page references to know exactly where to look. For now, the monsters are D&D conversions, but as always, they are not 100% identical to their original versions, as I always rework certain abilities and remove others. Systems are different, game assumptions are different, and some abilities make no sense in GURPS. However, we have to keep in mind that monster lore between different books and editions is different, and sometimes significantly so. Very often, you may encounter contraditions or retcons. For these monsters, I'm trying to do due diligence and combine all lore into a single monster entry. Of course, since contradictions are impossible to avoid, I have to choose what version I like more and sometimes even expand the information with stuff of my own making. So, don't use this manual as "100% D&D canon material," this is just my version.

At this point, there are only 5 monsters in this document:

- Ankheg

- Beholder

- Bralani

- Ghaele

- Stone Drake

Of course, this is a work-in-progress! You will notice some placeholder information that is subject to change in the future, and I definitely will expand it with new monsters in the future. I'm also contemplating creating a Discord server for discussion, suggestions, and perhaps even contributions to this effort. Thank you all for your support, and I hope you like this stuff!

New Monster Statblock - First Attempt (Ankheg)

New Monster Statblock - First Attempt (Ankheg)

Not that long ago, I posted a rant about monster statblocks, and how much I find the GURPS statblock underwhelming. In short, I found it lacking information that would be useful for me as a GM both in combat and out of combat. It made me realize that I want something closer to a proper Monster Manual entry that a "bare" statblock with all the information that the GM can use to incorporate the monster into the world and quickly use it in the game. I decided to try it on the good ol' ankheg. I can say that I'm satisfied with the result, but I may be missing something. I would love to receive some feedback on this to help me refine it.

Here's the result in a PDF format - link.

EDIT: Added a section with useful rules and the trample attack.

EDIT #2: Added information about the activity cycle, organization, and edibility.

EDIT #3: Added numbers to the hex layout and tied Reach to them.

Life's Price Tag in GURPS

Life's Price Tag in GURPS

In my pursuit of a perfect monster statblock, I found something that isn’t covered that much detail in GURPS – the price of a creature. The animal section of GURPS Basic Set has prices for some of the more common domestic animals and guidelines for adjusting them for training and exceptional stats. The same book later has rough guidelines for pricing slaves. However, this is not enough for me, as I’d like to delve into the minute details. I just want to find a way to calculate a price for a captured monster.

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells II

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells II

More spells from Complete Adventurer. Cacophonic Shield creates a sound barrier that prevents hearing and damages those who cross it. Cloak of the Sea lets the subject traverse underwater environments with more ease. Distort Speech makes the victim's speech incomprehensible. Swift Expeditious Retreat and Swift Fly are variants of existing spells. Unlike the proper buffs, these spells can be cast as a free action on your turn and have an indefinite duration that quickly drains your FP.

Index: Video Content

Index: Video Content

You may or may not know that I have a Youtube channel called Dungeons and GURPS (I tried to sync it on Rumble, but Youtube disabled the sync feature a few days ago) where I talk about GURPS and other tabletop RPGs. My video editing skills are rudimentary, so they are basically narrated slide shows. And the narration itself could've been clearer, but I'm doing my best. Youtube isn't the easiest platform to navigate even with the playlists, so I will also post a categorized list of videos here for ease of access. Some of these videos (those I deemed good) have transcripts on this blog for convenience - you can find them by the "script" tag. I planned to post all the transcripts, but I accidentally deleted the files from my PC like a complete dumbass.

I'll mark the videos that I liked the most with an asterisk (*)

What would a perfect monster statblock look like?

What would a perfect monster statblock look like?

I’ve done a lot of work writing up monsters for GURPS, be they D&D conversions or something else. Because of that, I got to see many types of monster descriptions and statblocks from different systems and editions. Many times, I could not find some piece of information either on the statblock or in the description, and I had to consult other sources. This made me think – “What would be the perfect monster statblock?”

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells I

Wizardry: Adventurer Spells I

I didn't forget about wizardry. Let's convert some spells from Complete Adventurer. Absorb Weapon lets you absorb a weapon into your body. Balancing Lorecall is a dual spell that enhances your sense of balance. Bladeweave is a peculiar illusion spell that lets you entrance an enemy with the movement of your weapon. Branch to Branch is a brachiator self-buff. Exacting Shot makes a ranged weapon more accurate.

Monster: Dullahan

Monster: Dullahan

This conversion is something one of the readers requested. I was surprised that the dullahan appeared in D&D only in the 5th edition (if you do not count the headless horseman from Imagine Magazine #23). The dullahan also appears in Bestiary 2 for Pathfinder 1e. Both of the monsters are similar, so I decided to combine them into a single entry. Since there are some summoning abilities in play, I also had to convert some "support" monsters.

I vaguely remember that some media treat dullahans as fey, not as undead. In that case, you can remove the undead traits, such as Injury Tolerance (Unliving) and add Vulnerability (Cold Iron, x2) [-10] or something like that.

Monsters: Aquatic Ooze

Monsters: Aquatic Ooze

Fiend Folio introduced aquatic ooze (even though many, if not all oozes before that could live in aquatic environments). I have nothing against the concept, but the monsters themselves seem a bit boring. Perhaps, that is the reason why they've gotten an off-hand mention in one of the Forgotten Realms books and then never brought up again in more modern editions. Despite this, this monster entry is solidified in my mind. I remember opening up Fiend Folio for the first time and seeing this bloodbloater illustration, thinking "Man, this actually looks horrifying!"

Monsters: Aoa

Monsters: Aoa

The aoa are weird. Unless I am missing something, they were introduced in the 3e Fiend Folio and haven't appeared anywhere else, and I can see why. Even though the concept is pretty cool - reflective mercurial orbs that reflect all magic and dispel magic with a touch, there's not much you can do with it. They can just annoy spellcasters and bump into those who have lots of spells or magic items. You cannot communicate or otherwise interact with them.

Monsters: Fiend Folio Monsters I

Monsters: Fiend Folio Monsters I

I guess I should start another big undertaking and chip away at another D&D monster book. Fiend Folio for D&D 3.5 is one of my favorites, so let's do this one. Abrians are Abyss-dwelling ostrich people. Abyssal ghouls are fiendish undead servants of Kiaransalee or the Ghoul King. I decided to remove most of their resistances. Ahuizotl is an aquatic beast that drowns prey with its tail-hand.

Review: SpaceMaster Armored Assault

Review: SpaceMaster Armored Assault

This is something of a digression from my usual topics, where I talk about GURPS or D&D. I want to talk about a book that fascinates me but the one that I haven’t even tried in a game yet. Aside from tabletop RPGs, I’ve always been interested in tabletop wargaming. Of course, the most popular thing is Warhammer 40k, but I’m not a big fan of it. I played it with friends through VASSAL and Tabletop Simulator, and it just… doesn’t play that well; it feels that the game is decided not on the table, but on army roster creation. I do find the concept of collecting, building, and painting miniatures, but without this aspect, the game feels absolutely hollow to me. A few years ago, I decided to search for a generic and reasonably crunchy sci-fi wargame. I scoured an incredibly long list of games on BoardGamesGeek, but most of the games were either too specialized or too light on the rules. There was a couple of exceptions, however, and one of them was Spacemaster Armored Assault.

Wizardry: Binding

Wizardry: Binding

Finally, there's the Binding spell that is actually a group of similar spells. For the purpose of converting to GURPS, I will makes them separate spells. And now I'm done with Player's Handbook for real.

Wizardry: Power Words

Wizardry: Power Words

Apparently, I missed some spells for the normal wizards. First up, let's convert all the "power word" spells, not only from the Player's Handbook, but also from other sources.

Clerical Spells: Alignment Spells III

Clerical Spells: Alignment Spells III

Consecrate was adapted from GURPS Powers: Divine Favor. Holy Smite/Order's Wrath/Unholy Blight deal irresistible damage in an area around the caster. There's no chaotic version of this spell; I guess the niche is taken by Chaos Hammer. Entropic Shield is a chaotic spell that deflects ranged attacks. Guidance only shares its name with the D&D spell; this version is an adaptation of the Divine Guidance ability from GURPS Powers: Divine Favor. I think it makes perfect sense as a generic divine spell. Undetectable Alignment hides the subject's alignment aura. And I think this is it for the generic divine spells.

Clerical Spells: Alignment Spells II

Clerical Spells: Alignment Spells II

More generic clerical spells. Blasphemy/Dictum/Holy Word/Word of Chaos cause Fright Checks. Dispel (Alignment) banishes outsiders. Magic Circle against (Alignment) creates a mobile barrier. Protection from (Alignment) gives a resistance bonus against moral spells.

Clerical Spells: Alignment Spells I

Clerical Spells: Alignment Spells I

Divine spellcasters in D&D have access to some generic divine spells that do not really belong to any magic school when converted to GURPS. This is why I separate them into an "Alignment College".

Clerical Spells: Healing Spells II

Clerical Spells: Healing Spells II

And here we have the final healing spells. Now, onto the alignment/moral spells!

Clerical Spells: Healing Spells I

Clerical Spells: Healing Spells I

Phew, now that druids are done, let's think about the clerics. While gods have diverse portfolios, for now I'm only going to convert the cleric-exlusive spells, i.e. healing and generic alignment/moral spells. For the purpose of all these builds, I will assume that the Pact component of the Divine power modifier is worth -10%. All these spells will have the divine focus component - the need for a holy symbol, and they will haave power skills, just like wizardry spells.

Druidic Spells: Weather Spells

Druidic Spells: Weather Spells

The college of Weather has significant overlaps with the colleges of Air and Water. D&D's Player's Handbook doesn't really have that many weather spells in it, so eventually I will have to take a look at other books (D&D or GURPS) to expand the list. So, here we have the two final druidic spells. Control Weather is an expensive generic weather control spell. I decided to skip Storm of Vengeance, as it would be way too expensive and I just find it to be a strange spell, so let's have a normal Storm spell from GURPS Magic.

Differences Between DFRPG and GURPS

Differences Between DFRPG and GURPS

            In this post, I will go over Dungeon Fantasy RPG: Adventurers and Dungeon Fantasy RPG: Exploits and compare them with GURPS Basic Set. I will ignore DF-specific new rules and focus on differences between the books. I will also ignore templates and focus on the rules only. Some of these changes can be easily backported to GURPS and used as errata.

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells IV

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells IV

The final four plant spells! Tree Shape lets you assume the form of a normal tree. I had to create a new "tree" template by combining the Body of Wood meta-trait, tree stats from GURPS Magic: Plant Spells, and awakened tree statblock from Garden of Evil. Tree Stride is the first time I've used Meld 2, +200% on Permeation. Wall of Thorns creates a spiked barrier. Wood Shape lets you shape wood in whatever shape you want (technically speaking, it includes the effects of Warp Wood, so I didn't convert the latter).

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells III

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells III

Snare creates a binding trap from a vine. Speak with Plants allows verbal communication with flora. Spike Growth makes surface-covering vegetation spiky. Transmute Metal to Wood is self-explanatory. Transport via Plants allows you to teleport between plants of the same species.

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells II

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells II

Diminish Plants reduces the level of vegetation density. Entangle creates an area where vegetation tries to grapple everyone. Both of these spells interact with the vegetation density rules from GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions. Ironwood makes wood as hard as metal. Liveoak animates an oak tree into a treant. I decided to split Plant Growth into two spells. Overgrowth increases the level of vegetation density, while Enrichment makes plants more healthy and productive. Repel Wood repels wooden objects and creatures.

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells I

Druidic Spells: Plant Spells I

Let's do the plant spells now. Animate Plants and Changestaff are "summoning" spells. Antiplant Shell is a plant-only Antilife Shell. Barkskin is quite similar to Stoneskin. Blight weakens inanimate plants. Command Plants charms a plant creature, and Control Plants controls it directly.

Druidic Spells: Animal Spells III

Druidic Spells: Animal Spells III

Let's finish the Animal college. Hide from Animals makes the subject invisible to animals. Hold Animal temporarily paralyzes an animal. Reduce Animal shrinks an animal. Repel Vermin scares away all the creepy crawlies.

Druidic Spells: Animal Spells II

Druidic Spells: Animal Spells II

Many of these spells are limited variants of other spells. Calm Animal is an area spell that calms down multiple animals. Charm Animal is an animal-specific variant of Charm. Detect Animals lets you detect and analyze animals. Dominate Animal is an animal-specific variant of Dominate. Giant Vermin is a vermin-specific variant of Animal Growth.

Druidic Spells: Animal Spells I

Druidic Spells: Animal Spells I

Animal spells are not available to wizards (aside from a couple exceptions that also belong to other colleges), so let's convert them with the Nature, -20% power modifier and without the power skills. Animal Growth is an animal-specific variant of Enlarge. Animal Messenger compels an animal to deliver an item. Animal Shapes is an animal-specific Polymorph. Animal Trance is an animal-specific variant of Enthrall with some minor other changes. Awaken is a spell that imbues an animal with sapience. Baleful Polymorph is one of the aforementioned exceptions that appeared in the Body Control college.

Druidic Spells: Elemental Spells

Druidic Spells: Elemental Spells

Arcane magic is different from divine and nature magic. To make it easier to make druid characters, I decided to compile the elemental (for now, only Air, Earth, and Water spells, even though some Fire spells are appropriate for druids) spells that I converted before into a single post. All costs and mechanics were adjusted - replacing the Magical, -10% power modifier with Nature, -20%, and removing power skills. There are no new spells here, but the follow-up posts will tackle the Animal, Plant, and Weather colleges.

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells VIII

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells VIII

Mind Fog creates a cloud of will-sapping gas. Modify Memory removes memories or adds new ones. Nightmare sends a nightmare to the subject over a long distance. The final arcane spells from Player's Handbook! This does not mark the end of Wizardry, but it is a great milestone, as I've done the bulk of the work. After this, I'll take on the divine and druidic spells from the same book, but those should not take too long.

Wizardry: Illusion and Creation Spells I

Wizardry: Illusion and Creation Spells I

Now, let's do the leftovers of the Illusion and Creation college. Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound was a difficult spell to build. It conjures a phantom hound that guards that area. Both barks and bites. Phantasmal Killer is an illusory version of Cause Fear that is resisted with IQ instead of Will. Shadow Magic (Spell) is not a single spell, but a category of spells that create quasi-real effects.

Wizardry: Communication and Empathy Spells III

Wizardry: Communication and Empathy Spells III

Here we have the last few Communication and Empathy spells. Rary's Telepathic Bond is a quite powerful spell that establishes a telepathic network. Sending simply sends a message across a long distance. I decided to remove the ability to reply to make it more different from Message. Status lets you track the position and condition of your comrade. Tongues is a spell that destroys language barriers. Zone of Truth prevents lying in an area around the caster.

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells VII

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells VII

Rage in D&D is a buff, but here it is a Resisted spell that you really shouldn't cast on your allies. Scare is an area version of Cause Fear. The former is cheaper than the latter, but the latter is a Resisted spell, while Scare simply forces a Fright Check. Sympathy creates a zone that attracts specific creatures. Touch of Idiocy is an IQ debuff.

Wizardry: Creation Spells I

Wizardry: Creation Spells I

Evard's Black Tentacles is an expensive area grapple spell. Leomund's Secure Shelter required me to use Jumper (Pocket Dimension) without an actual pocket dimension. Minor Creation creates objects of nonliving plant matter, while Major Creation expands the repertoire with mineral objects. Summon Instrument doesn't actually summon an instrument, but creates one.

Wizardry: Gate Spells V

Wizardry: Gate Spells V

Let's finish the Gate college. Gate creates an interplanar portal with an option to make it permanent by spending character points. Leomund's Secret Chest hides a chest on the Ethereal Plane. Maze looks like a difficult spell to build on paper, but in practice, I just decided to simply come up with a new modifier for Affliction. Sometimes, this is the best option. Phase Door was a difficult spell, but I think I got it sort of right.

Wizardry: Communication and Empathy Spells II

Wizardry: Communication and Empathy Spells II

Let's have some C&E spells. Dream sends a message to a sleeping person. Glibness makes you much more persuasive. Magic Mouth leaves a delayed message with a triggering condition. Message establishes a two-way communication with another creature. Mind Blank protects against mind-affecting effects.

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells VI

Wizardry: Mind Control Spells VI

Mind Control is another huge college with many unconverted spells. Fear is a cone attack that causes Fright Checks. The underlying mechanics are a total mess, but I think I got the statline right. Lesser Gear implants an obsession, and Geas/Quest expands the obsession repertoire with tasks that the subject cannot feasibly accomplish. Heroism is a small buff with a drawback. Insanity turns the subject permanently insane.