Grimm RPG Development for GURPS

After my last post in August 2023 my life changed quite a bit. I was able to run a GURPS Star Trek game thru October 2023 but then my professional life required a greater time commitment. Stepping back from gaming became necessary to accommodate new responsibilities.

Now that things a bit more settled in my life, I am expanding on my efforts with the dark urban fantasy settings Grimm. In reviewing the two previous campaigns in that setting, I've noted what was lacking and thus what is needed for the next iteration. (Prior games: Grimm 1889 in the American Dakota Territory, and Grimm 1895 in New Orleans)

This next game takes place in the year 1900 in the up-and-coming village of Libertyville, Illinois. Strange disappearances, monster sightings and odd weather are just the first signs of what may be a prophesied doom for their little burg. The characters are pulled together by chance or fate for what may be their last stand against the forces of darkness.

So, with the story line set, what was needed next? Templates in GURPS Character Sheet!

• Characters may present a normal appearance to the public at large, but they very much operate in the secretive shadow world of Grimm. They can be Wesen seeking to blend in, Grimm charged with keeping the dark things at bay, or magi members of the various orders and societies who seek to understand and manipulate the supernatural world for various reasons.
• To make it easier for first time players, clarify the rules being used, and speed up the character creation process, I've put together templates and examples for the monstrous shape-changers known as Wesen, the various flavor of magi, and the Grimm characters. 
• Want to know about the Wesen and Grimm that inspire this campaign? Check out this fandom website: https://grimm.fandom.com/wiki/Grimm_Wiki
• The campaign lore expands upon much of what is there, and weaves in historical events.

First Up: Magic

In the previous campaigns, I had taken a 'flexible' approach to magic - i.e., magic by fiat - since no characters were magi. Both campaigns had an enchanted item the characters had to interact with eventually, but we did not have to define the entire magical ruleset for the game. I eventually did define some magic system based on a homebrew approach that ultimately proved less intuitive and useful than another approach published for GURPS, and never really made use of it (see earlier blog entries on that system).

This time I really want to expand on the magical elements and allow for characters that hail from one of the many traditions and cultures that embrace the supernatural powers. GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic (TRPM) is a great starting place. TRPM allows us to model the magic shown in the Grimm TV show, expanding with tweaks into a consistent rule set. 

For a more cinematic game, I like 'magic as powers', where we take an Advantage and call it a Spell within a Modular Power group. GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery covers this concept in detail. However I believe that TRPM is the better choice for this setting. For my particular take on the Grimm-verse, all magic users are classified as a  'ritualist' - Incantare in Latin - no matter what culture of origin or traditions they follow. 

Each Lens specifies a type of magic being practiced (forgive any Latin errors): 

• Figmatarum (Illusionist)
• Magi (Wizard)
• Phitonissa (Natural/Druidic/Pagan)
• Malifica (Evil Witch/Warlock)
• Scaenarfex (Artistic Enchanter) 
• Veneficare (Sorcerer) 
• Chymiater (Alchemist)

The Lens for each is just a starting point - feel free to customize according to the folklore or supernatural tradition of your choice.

Each of these is defined by the application of Traits such as Higher Purpose and Ritual Mastery to specify a tradition or ritual specialization. The Magery advantage works differently in TRPM and I've further adjusted that with some new limitations and enhancements:

• One Path (College) Only (Mana Reserve 1x per two levels) -20%
• The One College Only limitation from GURPS Magic is -40% but I've combined it with an Enhancement for game balance and thus decreased the benefit.
• The increased Mana Reserve multiplier every two levels (+20%) grants quicker, and more powerful, spell casting.
• Two Path (College) Only (Mana Reserve 1x per three levels) -10%
• Limited Conditional Spells (Only allow spells equal to Magery level) -20%

Further homebrew rules are explained in the Incantare template and I'll cover those in more detail in my next entry.

For those with an interest in GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic, you can pick up a PDF here: https://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/ritualpathmagic/

In addition, there are some great online thoughts and rules for RPM found here:

https://www.mygurps.com/index.php?n=Main.RitualPathMagicFAQ

The Ravens N' Pennies Blog is an invaluable resource for any GURPS aficionado. Its worth looking at this alternate take on enchantment and magic item creation:

https://www.ravensnpennies.com/designers-notes-metatronic-generators/

GURPS Star Trek - Campaign Development

Stardate...today.....

I am a huge Star Trek fan, and below is my GURPS approach to a Star Trek campaign. 

A good place to start is with GURPS Prime Directive (GPD). That is a conversion of the RPG Prime Directive set in the Task Force Games Star Fleet Universe which began with Star Fleet Battles - a miniatures combat game for starships - in 1979. It diverges heavily from the current canon, adapting the entirety of The Original Series (TOS) and some of the elements of The Animated Series (TAS), before adding a great deal of material and creating its own timeline.

GPD is a useful source book for the rules and weapons in a Star Trek game, yet it does not acknowledge official canon based on post-TOS/TAS movie and television programs.

Captain Joy adapted Prime Directive further with the addition of Star Trek canon elements. Check out the website that presents their adaption: Captain Joy's Star Trek.

Also provided are a comprehensive series of GURPS Character Sheet GCS) templates that support the development of a Starfleet character in GURPS as well as two source books explaining the process. This makes the character creation process a fun mini-game.

My Approach

For new players that are not as familiar with GURPS, or Star Trek, this can seem a bit daunting. After reviewing Captain Joy's work, and GURPS Prime Directive, I opted to compress a lot of this into a single Star Trek GCS template that built on the previous work mentioned above.

The result is shown here. This simplified template allows for faster character generation.

1 - Species Selection

 Each Species has its own combination of traits - advantages and disadvantages. Note that there are corresponding Species Specific Skills that can be taken.

One of the players in the current game asked that I include a species from GURPS 3E Aliens. With the Markann included, I felt it worthwhile to add a few more species from Star Trek lore. All are playable and reflect the traits displayed throughout their various media appearances.

Note that keeping the races comparable in point costs was not feasible - Vulcans have telepathic powers, Klingons are tough as nails, Aurelians can fly. Humans can buy the Talent (Jack of All Trades) as compensation. 

2 - Starfleet Template

Using the Starfleet template is fairly straightforward. 

1 - Officer Standard Traits

• These are the traits all officers have, including a Duty and Sense of Duty, as well as a Patron (Starfleet).

2 - Rank

• Rank in Starfleet is similar to the system used in the United States Navy. In GURPS terms, the first two Rank levels are equivalent to two Starfleet grades.
• Rank 1: Ensign and Lieutenant Junior Grade. No cost.
• Rank 2: Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander. 5 Points.
• Rank 3: Commander. 10 Points.
• Rank 3: Captain. 15 points.
• Rank 4: Commodore. 20 points.
• Rank 5: Admiral (NPC only). 25 points
• Note that each Starfleet grade has skill minimums.

3 - General Starfleet Appropriate Disadvantages

• The Disadvantage limit for the campaign will be reached with just the standard Disadvantages from the species and the Officer Standard Traits. If more are needed, this is a list of those appropriate to a Starfleet officer.

4 - Career Path Traits

• The career paths shown here include advantages and disadvantages for the specific role. Note that these include Talents, where appropriate.

Starfleet Skills

1 - Standard

• Pick a single skill from a small list that serves as a pre-Academy development. 

2 - Required Academy Skills

• These are all the basic plebe skills that you pick up outside your career skills.

3 - Additional Skills

• More skills that hone your capabilities.

4 - Career Path Skills

• Once you select a career/department each skill container provides the list of skills you would need to serve in that particular department. 
• You can take additional Command skills (there aren't many) once a character achieves Department Head status. This is intended to fill in any gaps from the Career Path Skill list.

Further Skill Notes

Rather than using Wildcard skills I opted to use Talents and some adjusted general skills. 

• Engineering, Electronic Operations/Repair and Mechanic skills all default to a new general knowledge skill for those areas - Engineering (Starship), Electronic Operations/Repair (Starship) and Mechanic (Starship). 
• This represents the comprehensive training a Starfleet officers receives in their areas of expertise aboard a ship. Any officer can use a Starship skill as a substitute for any related area skill with no penalty for that particular starship class. 
• On Starfleet ships of a different class (Miranda vs Constitution), a -2 penalty applies but can be overcome with an additional minute of focus per -1. Each 10 hours of use reduces this penalty by 1 for each specific system (Sensors, Force Shields, etc.).
• On other ships designed around similar system principals (Miranda vs Klingon D7 cruiser) a -4 penalty applies. Each 10 hours of use reduces this penalty by 1 for each specific system (Sensors, Force Shields, etc.).
• For truly bizarre and alien vessels whose design principles are obscured, penalties vary and are up to the GM.

There are some additional home brew rules in play here. 

• I like Languages as skills. To support that I added these skills: 
• The Language Talent advantage was modified. For 10 points per level, each Language skill and Linguistics receives a +1 to the skill level. 

Next time I'll cover the use of Phasers and other Trek tech in the Foundry VTT GURPS 4e system module.

 

GURPS Adaptions - Musings and Development

When I read a great book series - science fiction or fantasy, and the variations of those categories - I usually consider ways I can adapt the setting in GURPS.

The most recent focus of such musings is Jim Butcher's Codex Alera fantasy series. I actually read it a few times through and listened to the audio book before realizing I wanted to run a game based on this concept.  

Take The Hero's Journey premise, set on a world dominated by a culture descended from a Roman legion, where elemental powers and weird creatures abound...well, let's just say that it is one of my top three favorite series.

How do you make it an RPG setting, though? If you get the itch to create worlds as well, I suggest a read of this: GURPS 4th Edition Adaptions. If you'd like an idea of what the book covers, check out this wiki review.

SETTING

The concept of a Roman Legion lost in space/time is a bit of a cliché but it works so well in this series, and Butcher's development of the society and culture in conjunction other story elements makes it a fun approach.

As I have an interest in worldbuilding, I would rather develop something similar but different enough to present a wide array of challenges to RPG participants. I will be using an original setting developed for a fantasy game I ran years previous. 

Humans may or may not be native to the world as any knowledge of their origins was lost in a brutal conquest by alien forces. After nearly a millennium of enslavement by the capricious, bloody overlords, they broke free and built a new society. 

The game takes place almost one-thousand years after the revolution where a human culture of rival warlords, scheming guild masters, and fractious religious orders is built atop a hierarchy of power and tradition. The remnants of the old conquerors and corrupted elemental spirits threaten stability, while competing races strive to survive intolerant human militants and regain their ancient realms.

POWERS

GURPS 4e Thaumatology: Chinese Elemental Powers offers a view of elemental powers that hews close to the descriptions found within the Codex Alera. Remove the idea of 'chi' and deeper spiritual matters, and you find a practical, utilitarian power guide. 

I am using GURPS Character Sheet to build templates of Elemental Powers, as well as Fantasy class advantages and skills. I will post those templates once I've made sufficient progress. 

GURPS Character Build - Superman

Updated: June 13th 2023

Click here for the Superman GCS build referenced below.

After watching the latest iteration of Superman on TV - Superman and Lois on the CW - I decided to put together a GURPS Superman build based on this superb rendition. 

GURPS Character Sheet is my character generator of choice here. I like GURPS Character Assistant from Steve Jackson Games, and I've bought it to support my favorite game system. However, GCS is just easier to use. 

Below is the summary of character information that is relevant to most actions in play.

If you are familiar with GURPS, you know that a Strength value of 20 is considered the standard human maximum. With that in mind, if a standard progression were followed for Superman, a truly representative strength value would cost a mind-boggling number of points to achieve. 

This is where the supplement GURPS Supers pg.24 (which builds on GURPS Powers pg. 58) comes into play. Super-Effort rules are applied, so adding 24 levels of Strength allows for spending 1 Fatigue Point (1 FP) to achieve super levels of lifting and punching. GURPS Supers pg. 146 has the Super-Abilities table that provides more info.

Note that GCS presents the Encumbrance, Move & Dodge Max Load values, and the weights under Lifting & Moving Things, based on the Super-Effort results. 

Without the Super Effort rules, Strength 44 would still allow for this:

You can see that he would still be impressively powerful, but not near the levels we expect from Superman as presented in comics, TV and film. This gives you an idea of the range of power the character can apply in a given situation. 

If Superman were being used as a character in a game, keeping both sets of values handy - one with Super-Effort, one without - would be useful.

Superstrength is covered a bit more below.

Skills

Clark Kent's skills are consistent with his intrepid reporter persona. Note that I did include Farming as a skill here to reflect his years growing up on a farm. 

In the games I run languages are skills. Read/Written are separate from Spoken skills, and that is reflected here. 

Traits

Ally and Dependent are interesting Traits in the GURPS system. The former is an Advantage, the latter a Disadvantage. I placed Jordan Kent, the super son in this show, as an Ally worth 50% of Clark's starting points. GURPS does not get more nuanced and it is only a 4 point ally but it gives an 'in game' thematic justification for a sidekick with powers. Jordan is part of the Dependent (Group: Family) Disadvantage here as well, reflecting his dual nature relative to his father. 

As most parents know, teens are blessing and a curse at times.

Due to the nature of his physiology, I included increases to the Attributes as base Advantages. Even without the benefits of yellow sunlight, Kryptonians are naturally more powerful than a run-of-the-mill human. 

Kryptonian Powers

Most of us know how Superman's powers work. His cells absorb yellow solar energy that enhance his already remarkable Kryptonian physiology and provide a host of super powers. 

We also know his vulnerability to Kryptonite. I chose to represent that with different modifiers in this build. The first is the Weakness Disadvantage (shown above) where Clark takes continuing damage with exposure to the radioactive mineral from his home world.

In some stories, that damage stops under red sunlight. I chose not to include that as part of this build.

In GURPS terms, each of his powers have a Super [-10%] modifier that reduces the cost of each power. This means anything that is defined as affecting/disrupting powers in that category would cause him problems, including shutting off some or all of his powers. 

An Accessibility [-15%] modifier is applied as well to represent the effect of Red Sunlight on his abilities.  

A Fatigue Point reserve to help power his Super-Effort (Energy Reserve (Sunlight) 50 provides plenty of power for all of his super feats. It was specifically included here for use with his Super-Effort when doing things well beyond the human norm.

How do you represent a gradual degradation of power with the lack of yellow sunlight? For game purposes I consider it more of a 'macro' effect to be discussed as a plot point between the player and GM. 

The same goes for magic - Superman is affected by magic, but what that means in a GURPS game is up to the GM. 

If magic is treated as manipulating an underlying force that affects reality, and thus physics, then bypassing non-magical defenses makes sense. In that case, I would suggest adding the Bane (Magic) [-5%] to the DR and ITDR in the section on Toughness.

Superman's ranged attack powers are primarily his Heat Vision and his Breath Attacks. These are set up as power pools with alternate abilities. 

The inclusion of Intelligence in the increased Attributes (shown below) that can be shut down by red sunlight is a design choice that I was conflicted about. The fact that he can be confused and disoriented due to the sudden weakness brought on by the exposure to these elements justifies that, I believe. 

Exposure to red sunlight does NOT permanently remove Kryptonian powers, only dampens them for the duration of the exposure. In the Christopher Reeves film Superman II the fortress transformed his physiology, and later Zod and his minions, with red sunlight as a single component of the entire process. 

Superstrength

In the past I've read speculation that Clark possesses some ability to control gravity, which enables his flight on Earth and some of his super strength. I noticed a gravity disruption around him when launching into flight in the film Man of Steel that would grant some cross-media confirmation to this idea. 

When considering the use of lifting strength in films and comics, I wondered about those submarines and cargo ships that fail to break under their own weight when being carried. Control (Gravity) might just explain it. I included it here to represent the reduction in weight to an object Superman is touching. While mass may not change - still requiring a lot of effort to guide a large object to a safe landing - the reduction in gravity's pull makes it easier for him to perform such a feat.

I've mentioned Super-Effort above. To make use of the rule, you need to buy standard Strength up to the racial maximum - here it is 20 as Superman is almost human without his powers. Then you buy the Increased Strength Trait (Advantage) but modify the costs as shown below.

Base Cost is set to 50 and Cost per level is 25, not 10. This gives us the cost shown in the Super-Abilities table on GURPS Supers pg.146. 

Notice the Lifting ST and Striking ST modifiers above? In GCS you note those traits as zero cost Traits at the Supervalue level +20 shown for Total ST in the Super-Abilities table on GURPS Supers pg.146. 

Hearing

With the enhanced hearing shown in numerous movies and comics, the Hearing pool seemed easier to represent as individual and discrete powers. 

Movement

However, if his flight is Gravity based, then how does it work in space? My explanation is that he can generate a warping effect in local space-time, which also explains his faster-than-light propulsion. Such warping effects can explain super-speed as well.

To determine how to apply the super speed effects here for ground, movement, I considered the following:

1) Superman is faster than a speeding bullet. That is 867 yards per second (2600 feet per second). 

2) His Basic Move of 9 yards per second gets increased to 19 yards per second with Increased Basic Move.

3) With an Altered Time Rate of 1 (to represent his faster reflexes and perception) a character can get two actions/moves in a turn. That gives us 38 yards per second. 

4) With Enhanced Move 6 that is 38x32, or 1216 yards per second. The Cosmic (Complete Maneuverability) modifier means he can move from 0 to max speed in a single second. 

Faster than a speeding bullet. Note that he is even faster in the air and space. 

Altered Time rate has been given the Switchable (+10%) modifier. Clark operates at normal human speed most of the time, but can operate at a higher level when necessary.

Toughness

Superman is tough. He is not entirely immune to all damage but for all intents and purposes he is invulnerable.

1) Damage Resistance 100 means there has to be more 100 points of damage done in a single hit to impact him at all. However, Kryptonite can get past that DR.

2) Kryptonite will prevent Regeneration from working.

3) Finally, Kryptonite will bypass the Injury Tolerance (termed as Damage Reduction for Supers) as well. 

    Typically, ITDR will reduce damage that passes standard DR by its

    factor, to a minimum of 1 point. For everyone 5000 points of        damage Superman takes on a single hit, 4900 will get through        his DR 100 but that remainder will be reduced to a single point     of damage. 

    With 44 Hit Points, this means he could take 2,200,000 points of     damage before his body is reduced to -440 points and utterly 

    destroyed. I included Unkillable in this build. He can continue     to function until the point he is reduced to ash if he can stay 

    conscious. 

    Of course, Kryptonite bypasses all of this. 

    As mentioned previously you can choose to add the Bane             (Magic) limitation, like Kryptonite, for the DR and ITDR 

    Advantages.

Vacuum Support means Superman is immune to the bad effects of being in space or a vacuum, like decompression. He still needs air while in space. 

Pressure Support means he can ignore the effects of high pressure, such as underwater.

While I didn't include Doesn't Breathe (Oxygen Storage) for his ability to hold his breathe, that is something you can add if it makes sense for your campaign.

Vision Powers

The vision powers are fairly straightforward in GURPS, and fits neatly into a Power Pool of Alternate Abilities.

I hope this is useful for your future super builds, and please provide any feedback on differences you think would improve on this build.

GURPS Supers Templates for GCS

It's been a slow roll but the GURPS Supers templates for GURPS Character Sheet (GCS) are complete.  See the links on the right. 

There were a few point calculation corrections to be made in some templates, and I split the 'Supermage' group of templates into their respective components of Master Mage, Mystic and Stage Magician with Powers. 

Feel free to review and let me know your thoughts. I'm on Discord as Morcedant#8652.

In other news, the initial Grimm 1889 campaign is winding down to its final epic showdown outside Deadwood, Dakota Territory (not divided into two states yet in this time frame). A pair of Grimm gunslingers, a Mauve Dentes and a Manticore are gathered together to stop the rise of something dark and dangerous in the blood soaked Black Hills while facing railroad barons, corrupt sheriffs, royal assassins, artifact hunters, ancient religious orders, and a host of Wesen intent on making their home amongst the people of the territory. 

Until next time, may your next roll be a critical hit.

Morcedant's Magical Homebrew for GURPS

I had spent some time reviewing magic systems lately for the GURPS Grimm 1889 Campaign I've been running. I considered the GURPS Thaumatology Ritual Magic rulesets as presented but one of the players with a deep knowledge of GURPS reminded me how unwieldy such systems can be in a fast paced game of supernatural monsters and gunslingers. 

It was a fair point, and the impetus for me reviewing alternative methods to the existing GURPS Magic systems. If you are familiar with the Dresden Files novel series authored by Jim Butcher, that leverages a magical ruleset that I find quite suitable to a faster paced group dynamic, if the mage has a few foci and charms prepared ahead of time. So much so that an entire RPG was built around that system. 

I was looking for something to emulate those magical processes and effects within the GURPS rule set while allowing for 'quick and dirty' spell casting. Syntactic Magic from GURPS Thaumatology is flexible and comes close to something workable for a game of gunslingers, monsters and magic. Then again, GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery allows for Advantage based spells. 

Elizabeth McCoy's Chaos and Ritual: A Literary Magic System for GURPS Fourth Edition

is a good read. Advantage Based Magic for GURPS by Kevin J. Chase also offers some great thoughts. 

Finally, I found this work by Murphy Barrett: https://dungeondeep.quora.com/GURPS-Magic-Homebrew, which I referenced in a prior post. I've expanded on Murphy's start with modifications to align the system with my views on magic.

Some of the adaptions:

• Ritual Advantages have been replaced with equivalent Skills,
• Disciplines and Effects have been modified. 
• Alternative Power skills have been added.
• Additional Skill requirements have been added.
• I've added additional verbiage for Defensive Combat Magic.

There is a great deal more. Full details are found in this 30 page PDF, also linked under Rules Adaptions to the right.

GURPS Grimm 1889 Campaign Part I

Updated April 30th, 2022

I had been out of GURPS for a while as a GM, with only occasional forays into playing or running in GURPS Lite, Fate, HERO System, Mutants & Masterminds and a few others. Once I started looking at GURPS 4e as a GM again, I realized that my earlier obsessions with the system - circa 1989 through 2005 - hadn't stuck with me. There were a lot of career miles on the brain, and so I set out to renew my understanding of one of my favorite systems.

I decided to build a game around one of my favorite TV series, Grimm (2005-2011), and set it over a century prior to the events of that show, in the 1889 Dakota Territory just before it became two states.

I was fortunate enough to work with players with a deep knowledge of GURPS 4e to help flesh this idea out. 

Check out the Grimm Wiki for more info about that television show: Grimm Wiki

Note that all of the templates mentioned here for GURPS Character Sheet are zipped up and available here: GCS Grimm Templates.zip

Wesen and Grimm

After a bit of discussion, we ultimately decided on 290 points plus 80 in Disadvantages with 5 in Quirks for the character builds. 

There are three character types -normal humans, Grimm and Wesen. 

• The Grimm are a supernaturally boosted line of warriors who can perceive the Wesen, even when they don't want to be seen. They hunt and kill Wesen as they are often seen as a threat to normal humans. 
• Wesen are those that transform into a monstrous alternate form. They frequently prey on humans, and are the inspiration for legends of werewolves and other scary things. 
• Normal humans are those without supernatural abilities or knowledge of that world.

We decided that a Wesen (human with a beast form) would have three states based on the TV show: A normal base human form, an optional Partial Woge (taking on some of the bestial form abilities), and a Full Woge (fully transformed). Woge forms are built as Alternate Forms.

In GURPS Character Sheet (GCS) the alternate form is built as an Advantage Container called 'Wesen (Alternate Form,  Full) or Wesen(Alternate Form, Partial Woge)'. 

• Full Woge collects all of the Wesen specific Advantages and Disadvantages under the Alternate Form (reducing the costs/benefits), at 90% of the cost difference between the base line human and the Wesen form. 
• Because this is a supernatural/magical setting, I added the Magic [-10%] Modifier to the Alternate Forms.
• To make it even more interesting, a Wesen can choose to reveal themselves or not to a human when Woged. This is Invisibility (Switchable + 10%, Humans cannot see Woge state [-30%]). Note that not all Wesen have or use this ability. 

• Partial Woge allows the character to use one or more of their supernatural abilities temporarily.
• The total cost of the Advantages available cannot exceed 1/4th the total points of the Advantages for the Full Woge.
• A Partial Woge may be visible to everyone as a change in eyes, nose, ears, etc., depending on the power borrowed. Increased Attributes would not be noticeable. 
• Since buying the Invisibility advantage above would likely push the cost past the 1/4th point level, this should only be purchased for highly useful Advantages. 
• There is a base 15 point cost for each Alternate Form (see Shapeshifting, Alternate Form, GURPS 4e Basic Set Characters pp. 83)
• In GURPS Character Sheet, that is represented as a separate Advantage.
• With the Reduced Time +3 (+60%), and the Magic (-10%) Modifier, the cost is 22 points.
• If the optional Partial Woge Alternate Form is included, then the character must take this Advantage a second time, one for each Woge state.

Here's a screen shot of the Wesen Template in GCS. 

1  - Wesen Template

NOTE: I will post some specific Wesen GCS builds at a later date. 

• I added in some of the common beast-like advantages for the Wesen that we use.
• Ultimately we decided not to include the Bestial disadvantage, but rely on the Disadvantages as shown.

• You will notice the 90% value modifier applies to both Advantages and Disadvantages under this Advantage Container. This is because certain Disadvantages only apply to the Alternate Form and offset just those specific Advantage costs.

The Grimm

What about the Grimm? 

• Grimm have a supernatural marker that can only be seen by Wesen in a Woged state - the eyes of a Grimm become black pits when a Wesen is Woged, Partial or Full. 
• This is represented as non-switchable Invisible (Grimm eyes invisible to humans, human form Wesen and Grimm [-75%], Magic[-10%]). 
• The Grimm Reputation -4 (Frightening Decapitare) is tied to this, as they are the boogeymen used to frighten Wesen children.
• Grimm are marked by increased dexterity, health, perceptions, speed and strength.
• Toward that end, the Magic [-10%] modifier would apply to any of those Increased Attribute advantages.
• Grimm are tough customers, and like other supernatural beings in this setting, have a higher Damage Resistance (Ablative, [-80%]).
• In the GCS template, those are placed under the Supernatural Advantages container.
• Grimm can see a Wesen Woged form even if they don't want to be seen.
• We use See Invisible (Partially Exclusive - Wesen only  [-30%] , Magic [-10%]) for a cost of 9 points.
• Grimm can Neutralize some of the powers of a Hexenbiest/Zauerbiest (see below). If one of those Wesen ingest the blood of a Grimm, their Alternate Forms no longer function!
• Those Alternate Forms can be restored by a ritual called Contaminatio Ritualis.

2 - Grimm Template

NOTE: The Slayer template from GURPS Horror pp. 43 is a great starting point. GCS includes that in the available Libraries. 

A Bit about Grimm Magic

I avoided tackling one of the primary antagonists of the TV series while the players and I built up the world, because I was still deciding how to approach magic that respected the show's approach but allowed for greater development.

After running Grimm 1889 for a few sessions, I've finally settled on a few ideas about a magic system that reflects the fictional reality of the original setting. It's a combination of ideas, some taken from GURPS Magic and some from another blog with an interesting approach:

GURPS Magic Homebrew - The Dungeon Deep (quora.com)

From the blog above, the idea of a Mana Pool allows for fueling spells easily with personal energies, falling back on FP or HT in a pinch. I opted for a different refreshment method. 

• Mana Pool (abbreviated MA) is equal to IQ + HT + Magery 
• MA refreshes by taking a concentration maneuver and rolling against Thaumatology in a given turn, with the margin of success as the regained points, up to the maximum MA value.

Each Discipline has a series of Effects bought as IQ/H or IQ/VH skills. 

• These can be combined to achieve an end result by rolling against the appropriate Ritual (Type) skill, adding half that success as a bonus to the Discipline (Effect) skill roll.
•  The Laws of Magic - Contagion, Sympathy and Names - apply here. Elements representing those laws, when used in a Ritual, will add a bonus to the Ritual skill roll per pp. 14-15 of GURPS Thaumatology.

See the blog link above for the costs involved. 

I like the idea of Disciplines (otherwise known as Colleges), but for this idea I switched them up a bit based on a few personal philosophies:

• A necromancer is built on the application of effect, rather than a specific Discipline. Hence a bit of reordering of Disciplines, adding Life and Spirit in place of Necromancy.

• Magic Users require Magery.
• Magery adds to Skills categorized as Magic, and to the Mana Pool (MA). It is normal cost.

• Magic requires a Ritual. It can be as simple as a gesture or a spoken word for some things. There are five Ritual skills available, each at IQ/H with a Default to Thaumatology -6.
• Ceremonial - A particular order of events required to incite the effect.
• Focus - A wand or other component.
• Material Components - See Laws of Magic pp. 14-15 GURPS Thaumatology.
• Somatic (Gestures) - This can be a simple gesture or complex series of movements.
• Verbal - The spoken word, from a single utterance to a series of phrases.

I will post more about that magic system in a follow up blog post.

Hexenbiests (witches), and Zauerbiests (warlocks) 

As a Hexenbiest and Zauerbiest are creatures of frightening supernatural power that appear to be walking corpses when in Full Woge state, they proved a bit more difficult to model in GURPS. 

The following template represents our current approach.

• The Hexenbiest/Zauerbiest (Alternate Form, Full Woge) has the following modifiers:
• Magic [-10%]
• The Alternate Form requires a Control Roll, as they can temporarily manifest their Woge state for Grimm or other Wesen to see if stressed. This counts as a Nuisance Effect [-5%].

• Magery can be bought as a Base Form Advantage and again under the Altered form.
• The modifier Ritual Required [-10%] applies in this setting.
• As with any Wesen, their abilities are heightened through Increased Attributes. 
• Note the Damage Resistance 1 (Ablative, -80%). The Full Woge form is tough and most creatures are at DR 5 or higher. 

Since the Hexenbiests and Zauerbiest have some remarkable telekinetic abilities, I opted to allow the use of TK from GURPS Psionic Powers. 

• Each TK Advantage/Power is categories as Magic so the -10% modifier applies.
• Do not forget to add the Innate Attack (Projectile) skill for the Range Weapons calculations.

3 - HexenBiest/Zauerbiest Advantages & Disadvantages

4 - Hexenbiest/Zauerbiest Skills

Thanks for reading this far. I realize this is complex, and this completely dives into the deep end on the GURPS 4e ruleset.

Let me know any thoughts you on this and offer suggestions on improvements if you wish.

GURPS Tools

You can do a lot with GURPS. As the name implies, it truly is an universal system that can be used in RPG simulations of any genre. The system is fairly simple at its heart: you just roll 3d6 under a target number. 

GURPS can be played light and fast, or detailed and slow. If you like to balance out points and stimulate your imagination as you build characters, then this is the system for you. If you want to create a character quickly that has some metrics backing up their actions, this is the system for you. If you want to pick up a quick one shot - this is the system for you. 

Once you get started, GURPS provides a richly detailed character experience with the kind of mechanical nuances that can be leveraged for a great deal of fun. Plus, there are a lot of community resources to help you. I will list some of those below.

Character Creation

Now the fun part comes with the character customization. As you'll see below, you can create a quick and dirty character ala the free distillation of the system, GURPS Lite - http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite

I'm expanding a bit on a previous post, but will still leave most of the detailed work to the late, great Mook who sadly passed away recently. Check out the Game Geekery website.  His efforts for GURPS are the kind of contribution that help the system adapt and stay relevant for changing audiences interested in narrative approaches to role-playing games.

Taken from Mook's site, he borrowed a bit from the Fate Aspects, a Seven Minute GURPS Character. This is a  more of a conversation between the GM and the player as to what type of character he wants. That's a standard conversation - but in a far shorter time frame. Jump into the game, create your character, start playing. 

Start here: Quick Start Character Creation

As with any RPG, the onus is on the GM to be familiar enough with the rule set to resolve the various tests requiring rolls - including combat - and to have the basics of the world fleshed out, to some degree. I like doing things on the fly at times but some sort of preparation pre-session is better.  

Combat

Combat, when using the full scope of available options in GURPS, can be a slog. A quicker rules resolution is good. A few thoughts:

• At the very least, have a list of common combat modifiers in front of you when playing, either in print or on your screen;
• As a player, figure out how to use your combat skills, enhancements and advantages before the session.
• As a GM, you could dial down the realism a bit, by dropping Hit Location bonuses or restricting characters to the use of Basic Set Advantages that affect combat;
• Going even further, read over Chapter 2: Being Awesome in the GURPS Monster Hunters 2: The Mission. These might not speed up combat, but could make it quite a bit more fun.
• Finally, it's a game. Mooks are designed to challenge but die, quickly, in combat. There are some games where this goes against the design, so the GM needs to determine what constitutes a viable opponent in any encounter.

Suggestions, taken from another source online:

• Mooks die if they receive 1+ injury; they use only the most basic maneuvers; no extra effort.
• Worthies die when they reach 0 HP; they use all the combat maneuvers; they don't use extra effort.
• Bosses fight till they drop under normal GURPS rules, they use all combat maneuvers and make extensive use of extra efforts.
• Use the simplified Range Modifiers as found in Action 2 or Monster Hunters 1.

There are a lot more tips and thoughts regarding GURPS. Feel free to send me a message with questions, but for real GURPS goodness check out the Steve Jackson forums or the r/GURPS reddit, or the GURPS Discord channel. 

Quicker Character Builds in GURPS

Quick Characters? GURPS? 

I found those two ideas to be conceptually far, far apart when I first started looking into various methods of building GURPS characters. Slogging through the character creation process, crunching numbers, tweaking and revising until you arrive at a finished product is part of the fun, right?

No?

For those that prefer to speed along their character creation, might I suggest the guidance of the GURPS guru known as The Mook.

His site is a treasure trove of GURPS goodness. More Powerful Quick-Start Characters

Check out the GURPS Templates approach to character building. You can start with GURPS 4th Edition Basic Set - Characters pg. 258.This provides examples to use as a basis for characters of all types.

For more options in a modern setting, I recommend reviewing the various Action! series booklets that really dig into the essentials of creating a character in the modern world. Here: http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/action/

The Links

As a 30+ year role-playing game aficionado, I love discovering the new and varied systems and tools the community generates every year. However, I am also a fan of some of the original proven systems I played over the years. 

Star Trek

I started playing the FASA's Star Trek RPG with my friends around age 14, right after learning about Dungeons & Dragons. I've included the Far Trek RPG (just too good a fan system to pass up), the Star Trek Blueprints Database and the Memory Alpha website. I will say - in my humble opinion - GURPS Prime Directive is something worth looking at for Star Trek campaigns.

RPG Systems and Content

These are just a few of the many, many systems I own, sometimes use for campaigns, and generally enjoy reading through for ideas. While I am certainly partial to GURPS I am also a fan of HERO System, descendant of the one of the earliest super hero role-playing games - Champions. Lately I've been reviewing minimalist or narrative focused game systems, such as Fate and TinyD6.

RPG Tools

The Factory of Heroes is a great program for creating character images. If you like the Bruce Timm art style for your heroes - think Justice League Unlimited - they've duplicated it pretty well here.

Roll20 is a tabletop simulator for RPG. It has an active community and supports many systems with character sheets and paid support materials. It can be utilized for free but if you want enough space for all of your maps and like to keep a lot of games available at one time, there are some paid tiers. 

The Star Trek Mini Character Creator is great for cartoonish characters. I used that to generate some character portraits for my TinyD6 Trek adaption.

The World Anvil is something I didn't even know about until now. As a game world designer for many years, albeit stuff I didn't share too much of beyond my players, I am looking forward to using this site to organize and publish some of my game world ideas. They might even prove useful to someone, somewhere, someday. 

RPG System Reference Documents (SRD)

Some role-playing game producers have opted to provide their essential rule set as a freely available SRD for the general enjoyment of the community, sans any setting info.