Roleplayer #19, April 1990
How to Help Players Make the Break
By Rich Ostorero
In any gaming group, one or two games dominate the agenda. This is natural
-- players want to get their money's worth from their gaming materials.
But an unwanted side effect is a reluctance to try new game systems. Tact
is essential when selling a new roleplaying system to a mature gaming group.
This article is the story of such a conversion from FASA's systems to the
GURPS
system.
One of the selling points of GURPS is its adaptability
to different adventure genres. The group I game with was dedicated to FASA
Corporation's BattleTech boardgame and the roleplaying
rules, MechWarrior. The group played the FASA
games for two years; then one player noticed that the "characters"
had become one-dimensional -- the only important character abilities were
'Mech Piloting and Gunnery -- 'Mech skills. Our characters
had become little more than numbers. All of us liked the BattleTech
universe and realized the endless adventure potential it held for fully-developed
characters.
Fortunately, an experienced GURPS gamemaster,
Hal Coppeck, proposed a new campaign called "GURPStech":
GURPS characters in the dangerous BattleTech
universe, making a living as mercenary Mech-Warriors. Hal was the logical
choice to GM this campaign -- he is a superlative gamemaster and an expert
in both GURPS and BattleTech.
The reaction of the group was mixed. The few who had played GURPS
loved the idea; the rest resisted because they didn't know GURPS.
Some players took a "wait and see" attitude. Hal convinced ten
players to create characters for the game on the strength of the GURPS
system; he convinced the rest to join when he said, "I have a few optional
rules I want to try out."
Reconciling Two Systems
The most important question was: "How is Hal going to run BattleMech
combat?" The solution was not a rigorous conversion of BattleTech
to GURPS terms; that would have alienated the
players who were unfamiliar with GURPS. The solution
was to run 'Mech combats in the BattleTech manner,
using the boardgame's regular distance and time factors. However, when a
BattleTech skill roll is required to hit in combat,
to stay standing after a difficult move, or for initiative in battle, a
3d roll against a GURPS skill or attribute replaced
the BattleTech 2d rolls. The roll was modified
per BattleTech for range, cover, and movement
by DOUBLE the normal BattleTech amount. For example,
an average GURPS mechwarrior with Gunner/9('Mech
Beam Weapons) at 18 firing a particle projection cannon at a Medium range
target (-2 BattleTech), after the firer's 'Mech
ran (-2) and the target moved 4 (-1) hexes into a hex covered with light
woods (-1) would have a net modifier of 2 x (-2-2-1-1) or -12 to skill,
or 6 or less. This translates to about 9%. The same average BattleTech
gunner (gunnery 4) would need to roll 4+2+2+1+1 = 10 or more; or 11.1%.
Piloting rolls are handled the same way; use BattleTech,
double the customary modifiers, roll 3d against skill.
Hal made other changes to the BattleTech system.
The turn sequence and critical damage/critical failures rules from BattleTech
were not satisfying. The Initiative roll -- used to sequence movement and
combat declarations in FASA games -- was replaced by a quick Contest of
Skill on each Warrior's Tactics ('Mech Combat) skill. Those who crit fail
the roll move first, then those who missed move; then all non-crit successes
move in order of the number by which the roll was made; then Critical Successes
move. This gives good PC tacticians an advantage in battle.
To accommodate the GURPS Critical Success / Critical
Failure concepts, the damage system required a small modification. BattleTech
allows critical hits under only two conditions: whenever armor is penetrated,
but only on a "check for crits" die roll of 8 or more on 2d; and
whenever 2 on 2d is rolled for hit location, a crit to a torso is resolved.
In GURPStech, any critical success on a Gunnery
roll is a crit to the location where the hit lands, regardless of the armor
in that location. These crits are in addition to crits for internal damage
and special torso hits. The joy of a crit hit is often offset by the agony
of a crit failure. On such a roll, the player rolls 3d and the GM tells
the player what the 'Mech's "control panel" tells the pilot: "OK,
Larson, your #2 medium laser is giving you a red idiot light after that
abysmal miss on that Warhannner . . . " "OK, immediate
action drill to fix the laser." "Make an Armoury ('Mech weapons)
roll." "Made it by two." " . . . The laser had a wire
knocked loose. Your immediate action drill got it back into place. The idiot
light is out. It will work next turn."
The final change concerned "consciousness rolls" for warriors
who suffer damage. We use a GURPS Health roll.
Make the roll by 2 or more, and the pilot is undamaged. If the roll is missed,
the pilot can take as much as 5 dice damage.
The Human Factor
We used a 150-point starting level. This seemed justified because 'MechWarriors
are the killer elite of their universe and they train for years
before they are entrusted with a 'Mech in combat. Most players want deft,
smart Warriors with good DX and IQ. ST is not important for most characters,
but HT is essential; one Warrior (mine!) died when a hit by 'Mechfire forced
seven Death Rolls against a 10 HT. Most characters have ST 9, DX 17, IQ
12, HT 12. The high IQ helps the Gunnery and Pilot (BattleMech) skills (Hal
allows Pilot ('Mech) the same bonuses for
IQ 11 + as Gunnery skills). Basic skills for mercenaries include:
The balance of the skill points -- from 20 to an incredible 65 -- went into
"specialist" skills. Most adventuring teams in movies and TV --
the Magnificent Seven and the A-Team, for example, -- use this approach
to divide the workload and the dramatic spotlight. Every character gets
a chance to be the center of attention. The PC merc company has many specialists:
a super tech/engineer/computer hacker, a doctor, a "former intelligence
operative," a classic FRPG "thief," a "reaction roll
monster" for important social situations, a Linguist, and a out-of-'Mech
combat monster who can use virtually any ranged weapon from Tech Levels
5 to 9. For those who enjoy the anonymity of a place in the ranks, a role
as "Super Warrior" -- crack pilot and gunner, but little else
-- is also possible.
Common advantages among the warriors in our group include the "combat"
advantages such as High Pain Threshold, Combat Reflexes, and Toughness.
The Out-of-'Mech gang -- those who shine most when not at the controls of
a 'Mech -- likes Eidetic Memory, Charisma, and Voice. Why the latter two
advantages? One member of the unit (mine!) is a diplomat with excellent
social skills. He is the Reaction Roll Monster. With Voice and +3 Charisma,
he is +5 to almost any reaction roll. Luck is very common because a warrior
needs every edge he can get in the BattleTech
universe.
Disadvantages include the usual mix of Mental and Social disads plus a holdover
from FASA's MechWarrior RPG. A new character rolls
2d for his initial BattleMech in MechWarrior.
We allow a warrior to take as a disadvantage a -1 to the 2d roll for -5
points. This is a disadvantage because a low 2d roll results in the warrior
piloting a light (less capable) 'Mech, and every -1 makes a low roll more
likely. Many players opted for these points as they were not counted against
the -40 point disad limit. This rule resulted in a unit of lighter 'Mechs.
For -40 points, a warrior may start Dispossessed -- a common situation in
the BattleTech universe. Such characters would
get a 'Mech only if the unit had any spares to loan to a Dispossessed warrior.
A Dispossessed character could earn a 'Mech from the unit after surviving
many campaigns -- this greatly inhibits the freedom of a Dispossessed Warrior
to go somewhere else if conditions in the unit deteriorate.
The Nose of The Camel is Under The Tent...
This has become the most successful BattleTech
campaign our group has played. The roleplayers are happy with their fully-realized
characters and the armor-bashers are happy with the action. Many of the
players who resisted the change to GURPS now embrace
it as the best RPG system available. All it took to overcome the resistance
was a good GM, an appealing background, and some creative rules design.
Other GMs have taken the cue and run other games with GURPS
such as Twilight: 2000. A GURPS
Autoduel game is being planned for 1990.
Most gamers can be convinced to convert to GURPS
as long as these four guidelines are used:
1. The flavor of the original game must be retained. The slight modification
to the combat systems of BattleTech was essential
to selling "GURPStech" to the group.
This eased the fears of some players that the new campaign would not resemble
BattleTech.
2. The True Believers must get heavily involved with assisting new players
in character design. This also reduced the apprehension of the newcomers
to GURPS.
3. The advantages of GURPS over other systems
must be stressed relentlessly. The main advantage of GURPS
for us was the full realization of characters' personalities. The four of
us who are GURPS-literate pointed this out to
the new players constantly. Soon they agreed with us.
4. The group must have a good GM. Hal was the right man in the right place
at the right time. Ruthless consistency, complete knowledge of both games,
and alarming creativity are the hallmarks of our GM.
The next time you hear the complaint: "I can't get my players to switch
to GURPS" from a convention-goer, help him
out with this example of a GURPS campaign conversion.
Our thanks to FASA for granting their permission to publish this article.
BattleTech and its supplements are copyrighted by FASA
Incorporated, and BattleTech is a registered trademark
of FASA Incorporated.
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