A very particular set of (sub-) skills This article offers a rather unnecessary thing: a number of skill techniques bought to their maximum level and given new names as quick-pick advantages. These came about when I concocted a technique-based bunch of parkour- and thievery-related power-ups during the playtest for Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves. They didn’t appear in the book, so in the spirit of waste not, want not, I leave you with those power-ups here, along with more that I created later. Such technique-based advantages – I’ll call them “TBAs” – aren’t a new thing. Dungeon Fantasy 11: Power-Ups (p. 7) gives them a thumbs-up for simplicity, and offers examples…
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Update to alternate cost progression for ST
Rules Bit (GURPS): A Better Cost for ST and HP is an old but relatively popular piece that places ST on an ever-decreasing logarithmic cost progression (the brainchild of D. Weber). A replacement for existing schemes to reduce the cost of high ST, it drastically reduces the cost to build a mountain-cracking jotun or bus-hurling super – and can even make designing such beings easier. I’ve heard nice things over the years from GMs who have put his to use. Give the newly polished old article a read, grab its prettier new Tables, and see whether its cost progression works better for the supes in your games.
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DFRPG resource: Wizardly Spell List
In Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG), what spells can a cleric or druid access with a given level of Power Investiture? We’ve got handy lists for that! And what spells can a wizard learn with a given level of Magery? We’ve got… well, not a handy list. Because it’s a little complex for the wizards. Learning a given spell requires a given level of Magery and, often, one or more prerequisites (which aren’t always even spells). So a list of spells by Magery level still wouldn’t let wizards just pick out spells like clerics and druids do. On top of that, such a list would be long, as wizards blow…
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GURPS resource: New techniques
Getting technique-al The skill sub-sets called techniques (pp. B229-233) are a fun part of GURPS. This page lists new techniques of my own invention. I’m no guru at technique design. My new techniques here are all simple creations, built without complication as a bonus to some existing use of a prerequisite skill, or a reduction of some existing penalty. Easy stuff. The only parts calling for a little thought are setting the maximum number of levels, and deciding whether the technique is Average or Hard. I’m still winging it, so feel free to modify my ideas, especially my arbitrary maximum levels. And please comment if you see flaws in my…
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Tiny DFRPG idea: A better Green Thumb
Following up on Tiny GURPS/DFRPG idea: A better Outdoorsman, let’s take a brief peek at the somewhat wan Green Thumb advantage in the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG). in GURPS, this 5-point Talent boosts a nice five skills: Biology, Farming, Gardening, Herb Lore, and Naturalist. In DFRPG, a shortened skill list means means fewer boosted skills: just the trio of Herb Lore, Naturalist, and Pharmacy (the skill of making mundane herbal medicines). These are good skills, but the DFRPG advantage has a wilted feel. Let’s give it some water and sun. Cultivating Green Thumb I’d like to see a more verdant Green Thumb that rakes in two more skills to…
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GURPS/DFRPG resource: New Talents
Talents in GURPS are advantages that boost skills and typically offer some additional benefit. Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG) has Talents too (even if that game just calls them “advantages”). This page will hold any Talents that I’ve created or revised. In addition to the expected information, I note where the Talents have been introduced earlier on other pages. Reading those may offer additional background on the thinking behind the Talents. This page may be updated with new offerings at any time, so check back now and then. The Talent show Assassin’s Gift 5 points/level (GURPS, DFRPG) Killing comes unnaturally easy to you – just not the straight-up, face-to-face kind…
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Three new Talents for GURPS/DFRPG: Graceful, Lithe, and Life of the Party
For your character-building pleasure, and apropos of nothing in particular, here are three new Talents for GURPS and Dungeon Fantasy Releplaying Game. Two Talents are variants on a single physical concept and the other Talent social, but they’re all good for PCs who like to entertain or just stir up fun. (They’re also pretty simple and obvious ideas; maybe you’ve already come up with similar Talents for your own games?) Edit 2019-07-15: This article originally had two Talents, Graceful and Life of the Party. Now there are three, as one was a poor buy in DFRPG (containing several skills not found in the game). With that split into two versions, here are three Talents for…
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Dungeon Fantasy RPG character: Leonidas of Nemea, Cat-Folk barbarian
Hey, look! It’s a fully-fledged character for Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game – or GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, with maybe a small tweak or two. Yes, you’re looking at a cat-folk – a lion-folk, that is! – with He-Man’s goofy pageboy haircut instead of a noble mane. There’s a reason for that… Leonidas of Nemea 250-Point Cat-Folk Barbarian The dry plains of far-away Nemea are home to cat-folk – fierce, strapping lion-folk, in fact. And at six and a half feet in height and 250 pounds, the lion-boy Leonidas stands tall even among… Wait a second. Isn’t “Leonidas” just too twee a name for a warrior lion? Yes, it would seem so…
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The talented thief: Stealing the spotlight in GURPS and DFRPG
You know how it goes. You think “Hey, I’ll toss out some quick new Talents for thief characters”… and the next thing you know, it’s an essay on where weaknesses lie in the fantasy thief template, why you would want to nab more Talents, what’s already available, how new ones should be designed, how much your thief should spend on them, what else can boost the profession… Yeesh, it’s already looking like some unsolicited (and low-rent) first draft of Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves down there. Well, this article may not be the shortest thing you read today, but it’ll slip you a swag bag of valuable (?) new Talents for characters (even…
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As good as done: New Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) perks for GURPS
GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks introduced a new perk that I loved immediately: Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). This one-point beauty lets you specify some task or action that your character performs as a matter of course, even off-screen – reloading weapons (good for action heroes), sitting with your back to a wall (good for paranoid heroes), and many more – without your having to say that the PC performs the action. “Cool”, I thought. “It’s automation for characters.” There aren’t a lot of SOPs offered in Perks, but they’re easy and fun to think up. Here’s a giant handful of SOPs to keep your PC busy, on and off screen. But first,…
