Tuesday, March 8, 2016

GURPS Random Character Creation Draft

Its going to take a lot of work to reference and fill this up. I want the Traits to be something that would be easy to Write on an Index Card. The Trait can be summed up very well in hand written in 160 characters. 

My Default Setting will be the 11C 1st Crusade Period. Which is one of the Starting Challenge in Crusader Kings 2 called the Komnenian Restoration and the Campaign I wish to continue in the next life (lolz), which is also the era of William the Conqueror, The Reconquista, The Rise of Robert Guiscard, and Various other important Campaigns in Crusader Kings. 

You will notice the Following:
  • Random Stats. ST, DX, HT, and IQ, Per, and Will. Not just the 4 stats. 
  • a d36 roll for Background. I went and tried to work out categories that would be instresting and broad enough to allow the players to work. 
    • Example is the Underclass - the Pornai - Prostitutes, Sin Eaters, and various unsavory but necessary professions. 
  • 1-6 Traits (Disadvantages AND advantages), which is rolled in a d36 table. (you will notice its Physical, Mental, and Social Traits). 
    • The broad 12 element categories allow for subtables. I'll simplify these when I migrate the system in my Open RPG system. 
  • Finally some Psychology of the Character. The basic GURPS Character is kinda an unusual  creature that needs some humanizing. Just because you didnt get disad points for such it doesn't mean the character exists in a vacuum (I hate that part of GURPS; played with too many munckins in my day). 

Can you Believe this sparse document took about 15 hours, and I've gone through 3-6 different versions of this (depending how far back you measure the versions)? I feel like an idiot when ever I do stuff like this because it looks so simple but I have design princples I need to adhere too, while allowing for the Complexity of my own Historically bend tastes.

Design Goals

  • Random Characters that would be believable (does not exist in a vacuum). 
    • I can guess the personality or what would be the personality because of his grounded circumstance. 
  • Easy Carrying and Remembering the Details. Stats, 1d6 traits, the background, Psychology and the Profession (next part), and Equipment (and templates).  
    • There will be only a few broad categories of professions. Influenced from Traveller. Migrants/Wanders, Service (Agents and Servants), Trade (Specialists, Business owners, Masters etc...), Clergy (Caregivers, Missionaries, and Clerics), Literati (Doctors-Sages, Herlads, and Administrators), and Warriors (of course, divided by Auxiliaries, Main forces, and Specialists). Only Nobles can be Knights, and they are broken into domains of (Champion, Commander, and Courtier).
    • These Professions will be similar in the Traveller Life Path system. It will be FUN and part of the GAME play. I will reduce the complexity and entry barrier.  
  • It should take about 10-15 minutes in complexity to make a character... unlike the 1-2 hours of GURPS characters lolz. If you need to have had hundreds of hours of GURPS under your belt to make a character in 30 minutes tops thats Not a good system. it should be from a COLD try (guessing 30 mins from a complete newb! and half the time on the second or so tries)
  • It will have Equipment Packages.
How much work there is left to Go? 
  • 30 hours Hopefully. 
    • I've narrowed the scope and hope the new revived GURPS community can give me some constructive help in polishing this. 
      • Ideally someone makes it simpler and elegant. 
    • One big problem I have is the sub-tables while judging how hard it is for a GM to accommodate a set of Traits. 
    • Dry Runs of testing the tools and Timing them. I will need to print them out and have a few dry runs. 
    • Making the Layout Easier to read, experimenting with Font Sizes and if this can be put in a Digest Size (Statement or A5 size). 
    • Costing and Logistics of finding out how to 

I'm just thinking if I had these tools in 2006. Ran with much smaller scopes and managed expectations lolz. I would have had more games and more people who would not be intimidated by the 500pages of RPG book I hulked around lolz.

Now to add descriptions to these 36 entries.


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