G3d6 Generic Generic Game System, d6

Vivit Elric

November 11, 2018

Preface

In the beginning, there was GURPS. Well, no. In the beginning there was Dungeons & Dragons, and after that, its many imitators. After those, there was The Fantasy Trip, and then there was GURPS. But, as far as we’re concerned, GURPS is where we start. GURPS is a roleplaying game system by (God bless them, every one) designed to facilitate as wide a variety of settings and genres as possible. Designed as such, not merely intended–it is, in my opinion, a masterwork of accomplishing everything it sets out to do. At the time of the release of the game’s first edition in 1986, the notion of a set of roleplaying rules for multiple settings and genres was a novelty. GURPS carved a cosy niche for itself, and there it sat. But time passed (as it’s been known to do), and the world of gaming shifted. Many of GURPS’ design decisions fell out of fashion, and while other games, like TSR’s ’s Dungeons & Dragons and White Wolf’s Onyx Path’s World of Darkness adapted, Steve Jackson’s GURPS has re- mained relatively unchanged across its four editions–changed enough to war- rant multiple editions, but not too much to still be considered the same system1. As the world of gaming changed, other systems began to intrude upon GURPS’ niche as a generic system for many genres and settings. As early as 1989, the superhero-themed game of Champions, from which the GURPS system itself takes much inspiration, had its system generalized and released as a setting- and genre-agnostic roleplaying toolkit called the ,

1Contrast this with D&D, which has fundamentally reinvented itself as a game with every major edition by Wizards of the Coast.

i ii almost certainly in response to GURPS’ success. However, the greatest blow to GURPS’ status came in the year 2000 in the form of the , which Wizards of the Coast developed for its new edition of D&D after ac- quiring TSR, Inc. For this system, Wizards of the Coast developed the License, a permissive copyright license for game rules, modeled after open-source software licenses such as the GNU GPL and the MIT License. The license granted independent publishing companies near total freedom to use certain content in any set of rules licensed thereunder. By releasing the d20 system under the ; Wizards of the Coast, not entirely on purpose, enabled anyone to write, publish, and sell content for and supplements using the system.

The d20 System took the world by storm. Its quirks, intricacies, and design principles cemented themselves in the collective consciousness of the gaming community. The system was adapted for a broad variety of settings and genres by many different publishers, taking advantage of people’s familiarity with its idioms and conventions from D&D. Wizards of the Coast them- selves released a present-day-fantasy-themed game called –which worked about as well as you would expect the transplantation of the D&D rules into a modern setting to work. Even Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu got an official d20 conversion, and that was even worse. For almost a decade, the d20 system had a near monopoly on roleplaying game design, and to this writing still has a monopoly on the campaigns of many gaming groups. Gamers and publishers alike used the system’s perceived flexibility to adapt the system for countless settings. d20 quickly became the square peg for every round hole in tabletop gaming.

In the midst of this, the GURPS system began to seem outdated and out- moded. GURPS is not like d20. Its mechanics seemed confusing and coun- terintuitive to a public accustomed to the omnipresence of D&D-isms. It seemed unnecessary to learn a new system rather than converting and refla- voring an already-familiar one. Although the d20 system’s stranglehold on the market has long gone slack, to this writing, the perception of GURPS as strange, difficult, and superfluous system remains.

Exacerbating this problem are a number of things that make the GURPS system generally less accessible than d20. The closest thing GURPS has to a core rulebook, GURPS Basic Set, has far more information than is needed for any single campaign of GURPS; while the decision to include all this information in the core makes sense based on the design assumptions made by the system, a reader cannot be expected to know these. The organiza- tion of Basic Set has no excuse; it works better as an encyclopedia than a quick reference or an introductory rulebook. Most significant, however, is the fact GURPS has failed to adopt what is perhaps the greatest innovation of modern gaming: the Systems Resource Document. In writing G3d6, I intend to at once rememdy all three problems with GURPS: G3d6 is to provide an accessible, well-organized, comprehensive, and freely-available rules reference for GURPS-style games. I also intend to annotate the text heavily to offer insights into the design assumptions of the game, clear up misconceptions, offer advice, and suggest house rules. My hope is that this work will ease the adoption of GURPS into the system library of many roleplaying groups. GURPS is a wonderful system, and it is a tragedy that, through no fault of its own, it goes untried and unconsidered for many groups that, if given guidance, would enjoy it very much. Thank you for taking the time to read these rules, and if you enjoy them, then I urge you to consider supporting Steve Jackson Games by purchasing GURPS material. This text covers only a tiny fraction of content available in GURPS, most of it from Basic Set, with bits from Powers, Magic, and Martial Arts. While I may or may not write further material for G3d6 in the future, in that material I intend to take more liberties from the source material than in this text. I am not sure how influential this text will be, but my hopes are high. Again, thank you very much for reading G3d6 ! Valedictions, Vivit Elric

Chapter 1

Overview of the G3 Character

The mechanical information comprising a G3d6 character is as follows: • The character’s Point Total, the sum of all Character Points both spent and unspent • Basic Attributes, which include the following: – Strength, abbreviated ST – Dexterity, abbreviated DX – Intelligence, abbreviated IQ – Health, abbreviated HT • Secondary Attributes, which include the following: – Hit Points, abbreviated HP, based on ST – Fatigue Points, abbreviated FP, based on HT – Perception, abbreviated Per, based on IQ – Will, also based on IQ – Basic Lift, abbreviated BL, based on ST – Basic Speed, abbreviated BS, based on DX and HT – Basic Move, abbreviated BM , based on BS • Two Lists of Traits: – a list of Advantages

1 2 CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW OF THE G3 CHARACTER

– a list of Disadvantages

• A list of Skills

• Combat statistics, which include

– Swing and Thrust damage, based on ST and on certain advantages

– Damage Reduction, abbreviated DR, based on armor and on certain ad- vantages

– Dodge, based on BM

– Parry, based on certain skills and advantages

– Block, based on certain skills and advantages

• Miscellaneous other information

– Languages known

– Cultural Familiarities

– Reaction Modifiers

We are very sorry for the unfortunate linguistic coincidences in the initialisms of “BM”, “BS”, and, within the jargon of certain fandoms, “BL”.

This information may be categorized into three types: numerical information (“stats”), including attributes, skills, and certain other miscellaneous data; categorical informa- tion (“traits”), further divided into advantages, disadvantages, and features; and descriptive information (“details”), including in-universe information without significant mechanical effect, like name, physical appearance, date of birth, etc., which are not listed above; but also other details may be more directly important, like the terms of oaths or codes of honor. These mechanically-relevant details are typically appended to certain advantages and disadvantages, and will be described in full in the descriptions of those traits. Any information on the character with negligible mechanical effect, especially flavor details, we will call “embellishments”.

1.1 Character Points and Point Buy

A special, very important stat exists called character points, usually abbreviated as “CP” or simply shortened to “points”. Points are spent to raise stats and confer beneficial properties, and may be refunded by lowering stats and accepting detrimental properties. The mechanic of exchanging points for benefits is called point buy. 1.2. ATTRIBUTES 3

Note that in G3d6, the word “buy” is used both for spending points on benefits and being granted points for detriments! Spending points to increase a stat is called “buying up”; lowering a stat in exchange for additional points is called “buying down”. Any exchange of points for traits is simply called “buying”. Synonymous with the latter sense of “to buy” is “to take”, especially in the context of disadvantages, but for the sake of consistency, only the word “buy” will be used in this text.

1.1.1 Point Cost

The point cost of a stat or property is denoted with a number inside [square brackets]. Positive numbers denote points that must be spent, while negative numbers denote points granted. For convenience, a trait’s cost will often be written after its name; for example, Danger Sense [15]. For brevity, instead of always spelling out “n point(s)”, this text will wherever possible abbreviate quantities of points using the bracket notation. “[1]” is to be read as “one point”.

1.1.2 Point Total

The total points available for a character to buy stats and properties with is called the character’s point total. Any points left over from , or earned through play and not yet spent, are simply called unspent points. No buy ever changes the character’s total; a proportional adjustment is made to the character’s unspent points instead. A character’s point total, sans unspent points, may be used as a rough approximation of the character’s general power level, but do note that it is impossible to ensure that this relation is totally proportional. G3d6 ’s character generation is complex and detailed, and with this inevitably comes the fact that some characters’ point distributions will be more efficient than others. This unavoidable degree of imbalance is, however, well-mitigated by the nature of G3d6 as a generic roleplaying systems: it would not make sense to allow Magical Aptitude 3 in a realistic, history-conscious campaign about mid-20th-century military operations. The reader would do well to remember that no content, rules, or mechanics are ever used, featured, included, or permitted in any campaign ever except at the GM’s explicit option. GMs, beware of minmaxers, and minmaxers beware!

1.2 Attributes

The simplest type of stat on the is the attribute. An attribute may be raised by one point from its base value by spending its point cost in CP, or lowered by 4 CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW OF THE G3 CHARACTER one point in exchange for a number of points equal to its point cost.

1.2.1 Basic Attributes

A character has exactly four basic attributes: ST, DX, IQ, and HT. The base value of these attributes is always 10, and the only variable affecting a character’s basic attributes is the number of points spent on it, positive or negative.

Simplifying the Rules: Basic Attributes Only If you want to keep the attribute rules simple, you can stop right here! Spending points on secondary attributes is for fine- tuning characters, and is very much an optional rule. In many roleplaying games, some stats are used to represent odd combinations of faculties–like wisdom being used both for literal wisdom and for the ability to notice hidden things, causing the venerable elderly, who have accumulated much wisdom from many years’ experience, to have sharper senses than spry young folk in the prime of their youth! G3d6 avoids this problem by allowing different aptitudes to be adjusted seperately. While the strong of mind might also often be strong of will, it’s entirely possible and indeed likely for a dim-witted but warm-hearted and valiant warrior to be of far stronger of moral fiber than a brilliant but sheltered and cowardly scholar. However, the G3d6 character creation process is a complicated beast, so if you have, as a GM for new or less mechanically-inclined players, have not unwisely decided to trim the fat, custom secondary attributes could easily be among the first things to go, and should be among the first of the measures you consider. You will still need to calculate figures such as basic speed and basic move, but you certainly need not burden your players with unnecessary complexity. Recall that no content, rules, or mechanics are ever used, featured, included, or permitted in any campaign ever except at the GM’s explicit option.

1.2.2 Secondary Attributes

All attributes other than the basic atributes are called secondary attributes, and each is based either on either one or more basic attributes or in some cases–which might infor- mally be called “tertiary attributes”–another secondary attribute. Instead of adding or subtracting from 10, secondary attributes are adjusted relative to the attributes on which they are based. The simplest secondary attributes are Per and Will, both based on IQ. They are both equal to IQ, plus or minus a value equal to the the number of points spent divided by the point cost of the attribute. HP and FP are the same but for the fact that because 1.3. SKILLS 5 they are depletable: CP are spent on adjusting the maxima of HP and FP from their repsective base values of ST and HT, but HP and FP may be lost to injury or exertion, respectively. They regenerate over time, up to their maxima.

BS, BM, and BL are more complicated, and will be explained in full in the chapter on attributes.

1.3 Skills

In contrast to general physical and mental faculties stand skills, which represent specific, acquired proficiencies. Each skill is linked to a single attribute, usually DX or IQ. Unlike with secondary attributes, however, the value of this attribute is not used as the default value of a skill with no points spent on it! To have a score in a skill at all, at least [1] must be put into that skill.

1.3.1 Skill difficulties

Skills also do not have point costs the same way that ability scores do. Rather, they have difficulties, which determine the base value of the skill when a single point is put into it. Putting [1] into an easy IQskill would yield a skill level equal to the value of IQ. For an average skill this would be IQ-1, for a hard skill IQ-2, and for a very hard skill IQ-3.

1.3.2 Buying skills

Regardless of difficulty, the first level of a skill costs [1], the second costs another [1] (bringing the total cost to [2]), the third costs another [2] (bringing the total cost [4]), and each further level costs an additional [4].

Unlike attributes, skills may not in any event be bought down below [0] to grant additional points.

1.3.3 Skill defaults

The default value of a skill on which no points are spent varies from skill to skill; some- times it is a different skill at a penalty, sometimes it is the skill’s base attribute at a penalty, and sometimes it is nothing at all. Skill defaults are a relatively complicated topic and will be discussed in detail in the skills chapter. 6 CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW OF THE G3 CHARACTER

1.3.4 Specialization

Some skills actually represent a category of closely related skills connected by a common thread. Such variant skills are called specialties. Some skills must be specialized, as they are too broad to be considered a single field, while for others, specialties are optional foci of some broader discipline. A specialized skill may not be used in place of other specialties of the same skill unless it explictly defaults to those specialties, which is not always, but often the case. Each specialty should be considered a skill unto itself, related to but not interchangeable with other specialties of its super-skill. Specialties are expressed in (parentheses) after the skill name, as in Fencing (Saber).

1.4 Traits

Traits are divided into advantages, which are beneficial and have a positive point cost; disadvantages, which are detrimental and have a negative point cost; and features, which are neutral and have no point cost–these may, but do not necessarily, qualify as embellishments.

1.4.1 Perks and Quirks

Perks and quirks are very minor advantages and disadvantages with point costs of [1] and [-1], respectively. Perks exist as minor niceties for players to enjoy at their option, while quirks primarily exist to give more flavor to a character. The negative effects of quirks are usually little more than very minor roleplaying restrictions.

1.4.2 Modifications

Iff desired, modifications may be applied to traits to enhance them or limit them and alter their cost. Instead of point costs, modifications have percentile point cost modifiers, expressed as a positive or negative percent in hangled bracketsi. The modifications them- selves are listed along with their cost modifiers after the skill in curly braces, as in Flight {No Hover h−15%i , Newtonian Spaceflight h+25%i }.

1.5 Combat statistics

These are a bit complicated, and will be discussed in the combat chapter. 1.6. TODO MISC 7 1.6 TODO MISC