Basic Facts
GURPS uses a point-buy system for character creation. The Gamemaster assigns a point maximum and a disadvantage maximum (see below). Players may then spend points to buy many things.
Basic Attributes – Strength (ST), Dexterity (DX), Intelligence (IQ) and Health (HT). GURPS assumes that a baseline character of any time starts with “10” in each.
Secondary Characteristics – derive from those attributes but cost less than those attributes. An good example is Willpower (Will). It derives from IQ. So a starting character as a baseline has a 10 IQ. That same character has a starting Will of 10. A player could spend 20 points to increase IQ to 11. The Will would then be 11. A player could opt instead to leave IQ alone but spend 5 in Will to increase just that characteristic to 11. Hit points (HP) and Fatigue Points (FP) also fall into this category. Base HP derives from ST. They may be increased at a cost of 2 points per HP. In a highly mundane campaign where known human norms predominate (like this Campaign), the GM should not allow HP to vary by more than +/- 30% of ST. So if you had a 10 ST, 13 would be the tops for HP.
Traits – A collective term for Advantages and Disadvantages. These span the gamut from a +1 to Vision rolls (2 Points per +1) to Jumper (100 Points, you can jump through time, space and alternate dimensions), both Advantages. Disadvantages which all essentially hamper the character (physically, mentally or supernaturally) and may very well also surrender some agency (a control roll against the desire to Compulsively Gamble, for instance, if the opportunity arises is a good example) in return for gaining more points to spend. Examples again span the gamut from literally being Cold-Blooded (like a reptile, -5 points) to being a Quadriplegic (-80 Points).
Spells – Magic stuff in accordance with specific magic systems not necessarily keyed to any setting. Advantages can also be used to make magic in a Campaign or Setting. GURPS has always tussled a bit with Magic because it is so setting-specific yet GURPS is a system-agnostic toolset.
Skills – GURPS is at its core a skill-based game. It has an exhaustive list. Almost overwhelming. But many if not all may not be used in a given setting or campaign. Esoteric Medicine (aka Holistic/non-technological medicine may not matter in your Modern Campaign, Physician or Surgery may not matter in your Medieval Fantasy Campaign, let alone Mechanic – Diesel Engine). Skills are bought for 1 point. This gives you a target number derived from an Attribute of a characteristic and the determination whether the skill is Easy, Average, Hard or Very Hard. I will not address the skill system here (I ain’t got the time, buy the books!).
Dice – GURPS uses d6’s for everything. Damage is done in one or more d6 sometimes with pluses or minuses (the base damage for a Barretta 9mm is 2d6+2, an M-16 is 5d6). Basic resolution for Skills, Combat, Attribute checks is done by 3d6, roll low. This means the chance for a 9 or lower is 37.5%. For a “10” or lower it is 50%.. For an 11 or lower it is 62.5%. Good basic numbers to keep in mind when playing the game.
Setting-Agnostic Problems
Most games have a rule zero, “The GM may change things, what he says goes.” GURPS has different versions of Rule Zero all over the place, everywhere, with extra optional methods thrown in. Again, because it is not a system, in my opinion. It is a toolset designed to evoke or enable any setting. It is agnostic to your setting. It doesn’t care. Its up to the GM/Players to determine what belongs in a given setting and what doesn’t. Magic in an Old West setting? Is it hardcore historical? No. Is it a weird west setting? Sure. The answer to everything in GURPS is “it depends.” This can be a problem though when it comes to character creation for a particular setting due to the analysis paralysis it may cause many players, not to mention that setting/tone enforcement is up to the GM’s use of the toolset, not to mention niche protection if that is called for in the campaign/setting. The first thing you need to do is have an established point total and Disadvantage limit for Player Characters.
GURPS Fourth Edition defines the potential base point levels for Player Characters in a game as:
Feeble (under 25 points): Small children, mindless thralls, zombies, etc. Unsuitable for PCs in any but the darkest or most humorous of campaigns.
Average (25-50 points): Ordinary folks, such as accountants and cab drivers.
Competent (50-75 points): Athletes, cops, wealthy gentry . . . anyone who would have a clear edge over “average” people on an adventure.
Exceptional (75-100 points): Star athletes, seasoned cops, etc. With a little experience, these individuals
could become full-time adventurers.
Heroic (100-200 points): People at the realistic pinnacle of physical, mental, or social achievement; e.g., Navy SEALs, world-class scientists, and millionaires. Most full-time adventurers start their careers at around 150 points.
Larger-than-Life (200-300 points): Leading roles in kung fu movies, fantasy novels, etc. Typical of the professional adventurer who has already made a name for himself.
Legendary (300-500 points): Protagonists of epic poems and folklore. This is the best power level for “gritty” supers and for mortals who rub shoulders with gods.
Superhuman (500-1,000 points): Those who have transcended humanity (e.g., supers who can take on tanks barehanded) and powerful creatures of fantasy (e.g., dragons who can best entire armies).
Godlike (over 1,000 points): True demigods who can do as they please most of the time. (GURPS Basic Set Campaigns p.487).
So the above have a lot of room for debate, which occurs endlessly amongst many GURPS aficionados. They are good extremely broad guidelines, but all those intended effects really depend upon genre, specific setting and tone. We’ll ignore everything from 200 up for our purposes and focus on what would be appropriate for this specific campaign.
Baseline Point Totals to Enable the Campaign
In previous articles regarding campaign intent overall and discussing the session zero, it was established that the Campaign would have “as its tone a Television series made in the last 10 or 15 years. A drama set in this alternate past. It wouldn’t be “heroic” in tone but gritty. Real people being “heroes” by surviving and even sticking their necks out a little bit. People who were in support roles; called-up reservists. Support troops. Not Elite Troops or Superheroes.” If you look above, you’ll see that it would fall into “Competent” or “Exceptional” at the most in the categories above. Maybe even “Average.”
In practice, because the toolset that is GURPS is agnostic to setting and tone, variability is much greater than portrayed above. Are you in a Modern or Futuristic setting where specialization matters regarding skills (like this one)? You will spend a lot more points on skills. Do Languages and cultures matter (like in this Campaign)? You will use more points on these things. You may use far fewer points in a gauzy Space Fantasy setting where a simple “Mechanic” skill suffices for fixing all mechanical things and the only Gun skills necessary are “Blaster Pistol”, “Blaster Rifle” and “Heavy Blaster.” So as with everything regarding adapting GURPPS to a setting and a campaign, “it depends.”
In my experience, 150 base points is kind of a center point for Player Characters in a modern/sci-fi setting where skill specializations matter, languages and cultures matter, and combat will be “a thing.” They’ll be protagonists, but certainly not exceptional. Though they will be on the road to being exceptional via experience. So for this Campaign I wanted even a bit more room for growth and a shade less than that minimum, so I posed 140 points as the Base Points for the Player Characters. The other thing to consider is Disadvantage maximums. GURPS Basic Characters recommends, “A good rule of thumb is to hold disadvantages to 50% of starting points – for instance, -75 points in a 150-point game” (p.11). This is a good baseline suggestion to prevent making characters who are unbelievably or incredibly (cinematically) troubled as well as preventing the characters’ flaws from driving everything in the game. As well as just making an “unplayable” character. But the Disadvantage limit also practically adds to the overall point total; another source of point “inflation.” Per GURPS Basic’s suggestion, -70 would be great for this campaign. But I took it down to -35 to prevent inflation to ensure the tone we all wanted as well as to let the players focus on a few disadvantages as primary prompts for character motivation and mechanically allowing players to reinforce their character concepts in terms of how they want to roleplay them.
But even with all the above, we still have a really broad range of things that could lead to analysis paralysis, defeat niche protection and thus have players, inadvertently, create characters that defeat/conflict with the tone and setting, or worst of all, not make what they intended to make. So how do you deal with all that? I use two tracks; I use “The Process” and also liberally use Templates and Lenses. We’ll discuss all that in the next article.