Intro + Starting

Hey guys - thanks for joining. I want to take a bit more of a structured approach to the game, as this is something I would like to run for a while.

I prefer a much more narrative style of game with a lesser focus on rules, which is why I'm using GURPS. Creating a character with GURPS can be a fair amount of up-front work/crunch, but is very smooth once playing.



The Premise
Your PC is a person pulled from modern-day Earth and dropped into a fantasy world. All of your memories are intact, along with any sort of relevant knowledge or skills you may have. You wake up on a grassy field with a few other people who look equally as dazed and confused as you are.

It's immediately evident that you are someplace "new." Trees are a bit different, flowers look strange, and there's the faint outline of two moons in the sky. In the distance, there's a small cloud of dust being kicked up by a small group of little green people running towards you.

Here's a bit of out of character knowledge, so none of you get blindsided. This is starting off as a generic fantasy world - no guns, gunpowder or any sort of industrial processes. There is no electricity and very limited running water (think aqueducts and primitive water towers, but only for the wealthy). That said, I will try and subvert tropes - so not all orcs are mindless savages and not all elves are wise.

What your characters know is very powerful and it gives you the chance to change the world (if that's something you want to do). There are going to be a number of different factions that have their own goals and ambitions and they may try to rope you in and pull you to them.

I don't really have an overarching plot, but I will provide various hooks if you're feeling a bit lost. There is no single world-ending plot like a bigwig necromancer threatening the world or some cult trying to summon the Endbringer. Rather, there is a whole lot of factions and groups trying to achieve their goals and ambitions - which will all happen in the background regardless of what the PC's do.

You are also not the only group of "totally normal Earthlings" that have been teleported. You won't know about them unless news gets out and those folk's actions will be played out in the background.

Also, do not be alarmed if you see tropes/ideas from other media. I will shamelessly steal anything I think is cool. :)




Actual Play
Ok. Here is where things can get a little bit weird (and this is also where you get to hold up your fist and yell, "I object!"). I fully admit that I've read far too many "other world" piece of media that feature a level/skills system, so I want to try and implement something similar. This means that outside of character creation, progression is handed out by me based off of character actions.

This is intended to be a collaborative process though. I would like to know what direction your character would like to head towards (ie: super archmage or crazy berserker), and I will do everything in my best efforts to push your character towards that direction. If you have some super weird or super strange idea - let me know, I will try to make your dreams come true. If you object or have issue with what characters get, I can work with you to make things right. Since this is all encompassed within GURPS, I'm going to make sure everything is balanced (ie: everybody has the same point total).



Character creation has two "phases."
The first step is an initial 100 points to flesh out your character before they get transported into this magical world (I can help you if you're new). This represents the poor schmuck you're playing before they get transported - they could be anybody: student, accountant, or soldier. I'd prefer if we keep super high profile people as not an option (ie: no President of the US, for example). Since they're from earth, they have no magical powers, but will remember everything they knew before they were transported - so a doctor would know everything they knew from before, something super useful in a medieval setting.

The second step is another 50 points. You get to allocate this into anything you want - this represents the first level of a class that your PC gets when they enter the world.

For example: "Ding ding ding, yer a wizard Larry."
Larry would then get 50 points to spend on wizard-y stuff, like magic powers, getting smarter, and never being early nor late.



Things to Discuss + Next Steps
I'd like to get people to start talking a little bit and toss around ideas. This game is very much a sandbox, so I'm not looking for a balanced party in any way (though as players, you are free to try and organize to create that).

Can everybody please answer the following questions?
1. What split of combat vs. narrative do you enjoy (ie: 50/50 or 70/30..)?

2. Are you ok with proceeding with a game where very little is explained at the beginning?

3. Are you looking for a more light-hearted or more gritty game?

4. What kind of poor sod from earth do you want to play? Give me a quick background story!

Hey, so here are my answers to your questions:

1. I'd say 30/70, mainly because I tend to make more social characters and like to find a way to avoid combat either by deception, persuasion, intimidation or simply sneak past the danger. Although, occasional combat is needed, so that the cahracters could use full range of their abilities. I will say that as long as combat is not there for the sake of combat and has a purpose I will be fine with its more common occurence.

2. I am fine with it, helps establish goals at the beginning.

3. I'd say 50/50 here. I like me some grittiness mixed with light-heartedness.

4. I am thinking of a con artist. He goes from city to city, performing small cons here and there to make quick buck. Occasionally scorring big but crosssing the wrong people in the progress. Not much of a fighter, he prefers to talk his way out of the most situations and good at sleight of hand.

Can everybody please answer the following questions?
1. What split of combat vs. narrative do you enjoy (ie: 50/50 or 70/30..)?
30/70 with the combat being the 30 and narrative 70.

2. Are you ok with proceeding with a game where very little is explained at the beginning?
Yes, I mean that is part of the mystery/Weirdness of the whole situation.

3. Are you looking for a more light-hearted or more gritty game?
Hmmmm my life seems to be more then gritty enough but some grittyness say 20 Grittynes/ 80 light hearted.

4. What kind of poor sod from earth do you want to play? Give me a quick background story!

A Dreamer, role player, novel reader, movie watcher, gamer, driver, drifts from job to job though enjoys driving jobs the most. Into a bit of martial arts and mock Larp type combat mostly as an adjunct to gaming. Currently driving buses for the handicapped. Social in small groups and when speaking to large groups but mostly enjoys the company of small social circles.

1. What split of combat vs. narrative do you enjoy (ie: 50/50 or 70/30..)?

I would say 70/30, RP/combat split at a minimum especially on PBP. I really like the fact that PBP lets you take the time to really develop a solid character reaction to situations.

2. Are you ok with proceeding with a game where very little is explained at the beginning?

Definitely, I feel like this environment lets us discover our characters as much as create them.

3. Are you looking for a more light-hearted or more gritty game?

I’m perfectly fine with either based on what our characters end up going for. I tend to be more fluid in a light hearted arena but would love the chance to practice writing on the other side as well!

4. What kind of poor sod from earth do you want to play? Give me a quick background story!

I am thinking a high powered executive in their early-mid thirties who climbed the ladder at a "consulting" firm, but can’t ever really explain what they did because in all honesty, the lack of definition helped ensure their job and continued climb at corporate. They’re used to knowing the rules of the game and bending them to their advantage in order to gain success, so garnering power will be an innate drive at least at first. I would imagine they will have lots of initial frustration with losing their stock of power from their career as well as not knowing the rules of this new "game", but will find magic a massive temptation.

Awesome guys, thanks for the replies so far!

I'm really glad that everybody is on the same page so far about 30/70 split between combat and narrative gameplay!

I'm going to address people's individual character ideas - let me know if my idea of your character is roughly correct (or if there's anything wrong/I need to add), and I can whip out a quick character for you as a starting point.

MagnificentFly
It sounds like your character is the classical "rogue," a fast talker and quick with his hands. Would I be incorrect in assuming that your character would be found pulling off common scams like three-card monty with tourists and the like?

If that's the case, I think your character would likely be fairly quick on his feet (high dex), fairly perceptive, and fairly smart (high-ish INT).

In terms of end goal - what would you like your character to turn into (ie: super sneaky thief, best con-man the world has ever seen, or something else?)


Cosmic_Cube
I like the dreamer/rpg player aspect, I think that would make him much more imaginative. Him being fairly socially shy is no problem and I think that could be a very cool character aspect to draw on. There's a lot of potential avenues your character could go down - what do you think is a possible end-goal for him (OOC)? Could he become an amazing wizard, a seer, or something else?


NinjaTeeHart
I like the high-powered executive idea! It sounds similar to MagnificentFly's character idea, but more from a lawyer-aspect I think. I imagine that your character would be highly intelligent.

It sounds like your character would pursue magic - is that something that you want to shoot towards OOC too?

Yeah, pretty much that's how I envision my character. He is one of the guys who will come up with incredible story around an object to sell it even if it is just a piece of garbage. He gambles and cheats, usually at the same time. On a tourist spot he would pull off something like three card monte and the like, or he could offer to show them "unique" spots that tourist guides won't show them and etc. He might as well try his hand at Nigerian Scam. Whatever works.

Stats-wise I think that would be correct, although, I woud add pretty high Charisma (or equivalent) for him to lie and convince people better.

Considering he was a lowlife on Earth and his main goal was to be rich, in the new setting he will get a better chance at getting himself on the top if he plays his cards right. So, I think he would want to take over the criminal world, if there are thieves' guilds he would want to get in charge of them and unite them if they aren't already, unless they don't exist, then he would create them. So, basicaly, his goal is to become a Kingpin.

@MagnificentFly:
Here's a google drive link with your character (first draft, I guess)
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BwCttA8TokehoyuEsj2YZoErCR4jvoYc

Your character is somebody who's extremely good at pulling a con (acting, fast-talk, reading people) and is also excellent at carousing (aka: drinking and having a good time).

I'm consolidating some of the skills, since GURPS just has so many options. It should be fairly straightforward - after all, I'm not really looking get into "knot-tying" skill levels of detail. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!


@everyone else
A quick primer on GURPS. Any skill check (whether it be accounting or perception...) is a 3d6 roll vs. your skill. Success is rolling lower than your skill (and degree of difference can dictate how large the success is... or failure).

The minimum possible roll is 3 (basically a critical success) and the max roll is 18 (you usually fail).
Probability-wise, a skill of 10 means there's about a 50% chance of success/failure. 11 means 62%...

A 14 means you have a >90% chance of success, so that's usually a good target number to hit if you want to be really good at something. 18 would mean you can almost never fail (unless circumstances are not favoring you).

Pretty much, although I think the key difference will lie in the fact that it sounds like MagnificentFly's PC will focus on the art of deception and sweet talking, my PC won't try to hide anything as they are pretty confident (and by that I mean overly confident) that they are playing within the given rules, so no reason to hide, they're just that smart (in their mind). So it's almost like they're challenging the world to prove them wrong.

I could see this then transferring to the fact that with magic they get to "set and rewrite the rules" to some extent, having the confidence that they could work their way to the top within a noble's system if only they have enough time..... and *poof* they just need time, they need all the time, they need immortality. Power over life and death. They're going to dig into necromancy and whatever power awaits them when they live forever.

Down the road I expect they'll learn their lesson, cross a line or two, but hopefully none they can't come back from and shift out of a more neutral alignment to a good alignment, but we can discover that together as we write! I'm not locked into this type of arc but I think it would be fun to explore and see what comes of someone practicing a powerful magic they have to hide, when in the past they had no reason to hide their skills.

Thoughts? I would love to get some feedback on how this would fit in to the game/group from @lkenage and the other PCs!

Yes I can see magic as a pursuit, I am not sure if there are different types of magic in GURPS.
I see him being fascinated and horrified at the same time being in an actual fantasy world.
He will probably have useful knowledge as a role player and gamer as well as sometimes being totally wrong.

Might adapt slightly better then most people though not without the shock of it all.

P.S. Since we are a team GAH I might end up being a pawn with these two as partners.

Haha true, but I feel like half the fun of this type of game is going to bus us discovering what our characters personalities actually end up being in a world that we know nothing about. It’s gonna be ironic when your PC ends up as the defectors leader just because none of know what’s going on and your Pc may have some semblance of grounding.

True this will be really interesting and fun.

I have been looking for a game like this for a while. Hoping for a game system I know but I will be learning GURPS with you all. The GM is helping stream line it for us which is great !

Hey guys, I'm going to try and get your characters sheets to you for those of you who aren't familiar with GURPS, based off of your character concepts.

Just for a show of hands, who here isn't familiar with the system and/or wants me to create a character sheet for them?


Just for reference, here's an example character sheet of somebody who's really obsessed with slingshots, for example:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OtGcs3WCDGqWJTzUcfjGuachcNt5qirX

I basically tried to make this guy but a little less social (the German slingshot guy on Youtube):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVZlxkKqlvVqzRJXhAGq42Q

Update: I've got character sheets to all of you guys now - take a look and let me know what you think.

We can switch things up a little bit once we begin playing (or if you think your character isn't playing like the character you had in mind). I'd like to get the game going within the next two days!

I don't have any experience with Gurps, I got the character you sent and am looking over it now.

Looks good sent you a PM and look forward to things.
I think I will probably go towards magic too when I realize it is real and possible in this new world.

I've looked over the sheet and sent some questions, more just trying to understand the game as I also have never played GURPS. Gonna be fun!

Quick update!

I think I"ve finished up character sheets now (or are in the final stages). Here's the group so far (correct me if I'm wrong):

MagnificentFly: Con Artist
Cosmic_Cube: Dreamer/larper/driver
NinjaTeeHart: High-powered Executive

This turned out to be a really interesting group - I feel bad for CosmicCube's character since he's going to get ping-ponged between two smooth talkers, haha.

I've spoken with many of you already, but I'm kicking off two games simultaneously so I'm juggling lots of people at the moment. If you haven't done so already, can you shoot me a PM with what your OOC goals with the character are (ie: do you want to become a super wizard or necromancer...). Sky's the limit here! Fun fact - both crews will be in the same game world, so you may hear rumors of each other (and potentially other poor earthlings that got transported).

I might bring one more person into the game, depending if there are any more applications. I'm looking to kick the game off within the next day or two. First things first - let's do character introductions!
Name
Appearance (and rough age)
Background (job, motivations, and general personality

Vincent
A Handsome young man in his late teens possible earliest twenties. With long brown wavy hair and a goatee. He has slightly tan skin and bright blue eyes. He stands just under 6 feet tall. Fairly fit and has a bit of driver tan on his left arm.

Primarily a driver, He is easy going and prone to taking strong interests in things though sometimes this comes off as just a phase or passing fancy. More of a dreamer then anything he is motivated by Social gatherings, money for living expenses, good friends.

Name: Collin Stone

Appearance: About 6 feet tall bald man with dark gaotee (I don't know hair colors) and grey eyes. He is in his mid-twenties, fairly fit and has a tattoo on the side of his neck depicting a joker card and a couple of dice at it's base (dice values 5 and 6). He wears casual clothes: dark blue jeans, white or light grey t-shirt, black sneakers and black leather jacket.

Backgound: Collin grew up in one of those neighborhoods people try to avoid. There were thugs, drag dealers, prostitutes with their pimps and the like. So, naturally, he grew up to be of a criminal mind. He was always good at reading people and had to develop some fast talking skills among other things. After trying to be a burglar, thief and a robber, he found that he was better at pulling scams on people.

He honed his skills of deceit and sleight of hand, and started moving from town to town, city to city, cheating people and taking their valuables. Most of his cons were quite harmless, they would normally involve a game where he could cheat. Although, sometimes, when he would encounter a group of tourists or people new to the city he would offer them a unique tour, leading them to some not so legal establishments or places they were not permitted to enter. He would also, on occasion, try to sell some junk for outlandish prices. Recently, he took to the internet and began pulling what is known a Nigerian Scam.

He was pretty good at what he was doing and could've made quite a bit of money. However, he also liked to party and gamble. So, most of his earnings he would spend on booze, whores, casinos and night clubs visits.