It’s a small level-up. A GURPS-style level-up: a handful of character points, not a feats-and-hit-points dump. In short: My one-page melee weapon-building system for GURPS/DFRPG, reverse-engineered from the games’ weapon tables, improves its list of weapon mods. The list is now organized by type, not alphabetically, which I think makes quickly picking out the right mods much easier. It also gains color coding that instantly shows which mods are mutually incompatible. A bigger change is on the webpage. An Appendix now offers a small but growing armory of sample builds, notes on builds that don’t want to conform to published stats, a peek at potential new mods, and other commentary.…
-
-
Update to new damage for ST
The old article “Rules Bit: New Damage for ST” was a fairly well-visited piece on this site, exploring the topic of a ST-based damage that scales linearly with ST – like “1d per 10 ST”. It’s a change that no one needs but that a lot of rues tinkerers like. I’ve revised the article considerably to cover additional considerations, remove unimportant cruft, and offer a spiffier Damage Table. I’ve also renamed the article, as it’s much more an exercise in system hacking than a mere rules tweak. I invite you to give the renewed version a look:
-
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.
-
Update to rules for grazes
Rules Bit (GURPS): Grazes is an old house rule that stretches back to the 3e days. It details the effects of a graze: the bullet that only scores a character’s shoulder as it whizzes past, the punch that almost gets dodged but still clips the target, all the scrapes and scratches that heroes accumulate in fiction while escaping serious harm. I’ve given the work a good-sized overhaul. I made the conditions for a graze cleaner and easier, reflecting my experiments and experiences. I simplified the effects of a graze to just two basics (or even one), with other effects made clearly optional. I clarified how the rule’s intent and effects…
-
Caged: A year of GURPS and DFRPG tweets
From February 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023, I made daily entries to the @gamesdiner Twitter account, using the hashtags #TRPG, #GURPS, and #DailyHouserule. The concept: Make tweets out of a bunch of minor GURPS houserule items, GM/player advice tidbits, and other tips & tricks, to have fun engaging with other gamers and get the #GURPS tag out there more. (See the initial announcement here.) How many tweets in all? 365 entries, one or several posts per entry… I don’t know, but probably over a thousand tweets. Released into the wild over the course of a year, they’ve now been rounded up and caged at the Games Diner, a page for each month. Birds of a feather they are…
-
Games Diner site updates
I often update old material with additions and corrections. Notifications appear on this page, your one-stop destination to see what’s new (i.e., how little has changed. : / ) You’ll find a link to this page under the “Diner Stuff” menu at top. Navigation Edits by date (going back to 2017 or so) 2024-10-13: GURPS Range Ruler launched on Warehouse 23!: Added tips and tricks on going hex-free with the Range Ruler. 2024-10-13: Books we want: An updated GURPS LITE: A light refresh, mainly to add short thoughts at the end on what LITE even means for a game-building toolbox. 2024-10-12: STROLL: ST rolls that work in GURPS: Added a…
-
Updated: GLAIVE Mini weapon builder system hits v2.0!
It’s out: v2.0 of GLAIVE Mini, my super-short, home-made system for building weapons in GURPS. (That’s “GLAIVE” as in “GURPS Light Arms Invention Expansion”.) GLAIVE Mini remains what it’s always been: A one-page system for generating GURPS damage and required ST for most any melee weapon. (There’s a bonus second page, too, with an option for semibalanced weapons falling between GURPS’ balanced and unbalanced weapons, along with system customization notes and a couple of odds and ends.) What’s new in GLAIVE Mini v2.0: Notes addressing new weapon stats and options in GURPS Low-Tech. (Spoiler: GLAIVE Mini works even better with Low-Tech’s revised stats!) A new mod: Poor Stabber, good for…
-
Minor update to GLAIVE Mini
Hear ye, hear ye. I’ve made a minor update to my GLAIVE Mini super-easy melee weapon design system for GURPS 4e, taking it from v1.0 to v1.1. The changes consist of minor clean-ups, plus a change to skill use for semibalanced weapons. The old rule specified the use of unbalanced weapon skills, or balanced skills at a -2 default. The new rule suggests either balanced or unbalanced skill as the natural skill (designer choice), with the other at a -2 default, depending on which is more natural for the weapon. Thus, a semibalanced weapon could be specified as using Axe/Mace or Broadsword skill normally, and the other at the -2…
-
Updated DECIDE defense tweak
I’ve made an update to DECIDE, the suggestion that combatants make defense decisions without unnatural prior knowledge of whether attacks will succeed or not. It’s a GURPS article, but could be applied to any game handling defenses in a similar manner. On the topic of whether to use DECIDE with melee as well as ranged attacks, I’ve changed the article’s options from 1, 2a, and 2b, to 1, 2, and 3. For Option 3, I’ve made a change first discussed in DECIDE implementation notes: a change from -1 to 0 for “last-second defense” penalty vs melee weapons, and a blanket +1 to all “immediate defense” rolls that don’t wait to check…
