Tag: gurps

GURPS Martial Art: Megapolisomancy Kung Fu.

Megapolisomancy Kung Fu (24 pt)

This is a discipline that’s literally of the streets: nobody knows who teaches it and nobody knows how it got started in the first place.  It’s only seen in urban areas, and large urban areas at that.  On the other hand, a Megapolisomancy Kung Fu (MFU) adept from Bombay will use the exact same techniques as one from Nairobi, so there’s clearly some kind of communication network going on.

MFU is a style of ambush, sudden attacks, and quick retreats. Its adepts fight silently, and with a full awareness of their surroundings – not to mention a fine appreciation of psychological terror.  MFU practitioners seem invariably to have sprung from the homeless population of the area; interestingly, they are also invariably far too healthy for their surroundings, remarkably clean, and untroubled by either psychological conditions or addictions. They don’t particularly seem prone to go looking for trouble, but they definitely seem happy to confront it when trouble comes up. Continue reading GURPS Martial Art: Megapolisomancy Kung Fu.

New Martial Arts Style: Korusetto. [GURPS 4e]

Blame this.

Korusetto

One of the more specialized schools of the High Steam Age, this style is quite popular among suffragettes, bluestockings, and the more genteel sort of demimonde. It’s one of the few styles out there that attempts to work with upper-class Victorian female fashions; for that matter, it’s one of the few martial arts in a Steampunk milieu that actually uses body armor. Korusetto uses kicks for attacks, and defends by evasion, or by redirecting hand attacks to the torso, where hopefully the blows will be repelled by the (typically-reinforced) corset worn underneath. Failing that, weapons can be caught and trapped in the martial artist’s voluminous cloak, sleeves, or skirts. ‘Traditional’ weapons of this style are the umbrella and fan, both of which are used to apply leverage and disarming techniques. Continue reading New Martial Arts Style: Korusetto. [GURPS 4e]

So, I had to make an Electronics Repair/TL8 (Computers) roll. (GURPS 4E Real Life)

-2 for lack of schematics[*]; normally it’d be -5 for improvised equipment, but the Universal GM took pity on me and ruled that the job mostly just required a screwdriver, which I had. Normally Electronics Repair defaults to IQ-5, which would have meant that I had to roll 9 or better on 3d6 to pop the power button back up;  but Electronics Repair (Computers) defaults at -5 to Computer Operations/TL8, and I have that at IQ+1 (15-)**, which meant that my effective skill roll was 10-.

Didn’t see the dice roll, of course, but the damned thing popped back up, so I must have made it on the nose.  I even made a tricky Will check to keep from snapping at my kids when they started yelling in my ear. So, really, not in fact all that bad a bad morning.

Moe Lane

PS: It’s a GURPS thing: it’s not that you wouldn’t understand. It’s more like: you either understand, or you don’t.

[*Let me add: which was offset by the fact that it was a reasonably easy (+2) task to accomplish.]

**That may be the most obscure brag you see all day.

This is my third copy of GURPS Witch World, and the first that I’ve ever seen.

It’s the weirdest thing.

witch-world

GURPS Witch World has been something of a Holy Grail for me; it was one of the few books that I didn’t have from the Third Edition*.  Needless to say, Amazon makes collecting this stuff easy, right? Continue reading This is my third copy of GURPS Witch World, and the first that I’ve ever seen.

Not being an initiate of Gygax does have its advantages.

Heh.  Something like this happened to me: to wit, like Tycho of Penny Arcade, in my house, growing up, AD&D was specifically banned.

… my mom gave me an incredible gift here that almost certainly informed my life.  I think a lot of people go right to D&D, and that’s it.  You can play Dungeons & Dragons your whole life, I’m not gonna tell you that would be bad.  It is at least as good and probably better than a lot of the shit you get up to.  But she didn’t let me start with it, and the reason doesn’t matter now.  I was made to cast a wide net, and I hauled up treasure.

But, like Tycho… my mom just banned AD&D.  MERP/Rolemaster?  No problem.  Car Wars?  OK. GURPS? Sure, no worries.  …Paranoia?  Fine, although Orcbusters pushed my mom’s buttons.  I suspect that a lot of gamers have that history; and the members of the gaming industry that aren’t working for Wizards of the Coast should be, frankly, properly grateful about it.

Moe Lane

Speaking of OGRE…

…I’m finding it surprisingly hard to find a source for Mark III and V minis.  I mean, yes, they’re out of stock. So I’m not going to find find them hither and yon and at stock price. But I ain’t seeing them, period.

Weird.

Moe Lane

PS: I’ll have what I need for the game, mind you. Got a basic command post/defenders setup for one side and will have an Ogrethulhu for the other, if nothing else. Actually, I’ll end up with two of those. But the lead, man. The lead calls to you…

A great imbalance in my gaming shelf is redressed.

…Gaming shelf. Heh.  Try gaming bookcases: between my gaming books and my wife’s, the living room is a homage to the 20′ by 20′ room with an orc and a chest.

Anyway, just got my copy of GURPS Low-Tech, thus bringing me fully up to date on the actual print runs of 4th ed.  Really, at some point I should run a game in this system (the problem is that I can think in 3rd ed, but not quite in 4th ed)…

Book of the Week: The Difference Engine.

The Difference Engine was one of the first alt-history/steampunk books that I ever read; and it pretty much gave me a permanent taste for both.  I suspect that the maps help: I love alternate history maps.

And so adieu, GURPS Basic Set: Characters, Fourth Edition.  I have not forgotten why I was thinking about you, never fear.