Background

Here's some general info and house rules for the Victorian-era gameworld we play in.

There are some items on this page that are unclear and require clarification-by-consensus. We're working on it.

Gameworld

As per the themes described earlier, we tend to begin adventures in the more reality-based themes (Literary, High-Seas), and as the adventure evolves we often enter into some of the more fantastical themes (Steampunk, Fantasy, Scientific Romance, etc.). This means that it's entirely possible to end up in Captain Nemo's submarine, or to go to Wonderland with Alice, but we dont start out in any of those places.

Where our characters live: London, England. (Yep, we're a buncha' Anglophiles.)

As far as the specific date, our characters started in the year 1867. (Otherwise, Jared's Canadaman character doesn't make sense.) We're not really super-finicky about the date though. If your character wants to buy a gun that was made in 1881, go ahead and buy it; we won't tell anyone.

Regarding Tech Level, we play in a late TL 5 setting, but when we delve into Steampunk / Fantasy adventures, there is a possibility of picking up higher-tech or magic items. Thus, it could be more rightly said that we play in a "TL 5 Plus" setting.

Character Creation Rules

The way we do character creation is a little different than the by-the-book rules.

Sense Attribute

We play with a fifth "sense" attribute. As described in the rules, the IQ attribute is a composite of mental acumen, problem-solving ability, natural aptitude, willpower, and sensory perceptions. We have divorced sensory perceptions from IQ and give everyone an addition 10 points to start with that can be used to raise the sense attribute with accute vision, alertnes, etc. should they so desire.

If we were playing at a higher tech-level where the IQ attribute is even more important, we would probable divorce "will" from the composite and play with a seperate "will" attribute (for a total of six attributes) and 120 point characters. Is there a wrong way to play GURPS?

Unusual Background

We do delve into some non-realistic, somewhat fantastical adventures (i.e. the Steampunk, Weird Science, and Fantasy themes). Therefore, we do allow some of the skills labeled as "esoteric", "occult / paranormal", and "cinematic", but if you take a bunch of them (three or more) you are required to purchase the Unusual Background advantage (clear it with the GM/rest of players to be sure).

You can happily make characters that have Psionic or Magic abilities, but you must purchase the Unusual Background advantage (10 points) for them. Same goes for starting with most esoteric skills that wouldn't normally be found in 19th century London. If you have a Psi power or Magic ability and want to learn new Psi skills / spells, you can just say that "a spell book" is part of your Unusual Background. (Hey, you're paying for it, it should give you something.) If you want to learn a Psi power or spell that you don't know and don't have access to a trainer / spellbook, that probably requires an adventure where you have to find someone who could teach you. Question: If you were to buy the 'Patron' advantage and explain that your patron was a master magician, couldn't you just learn new spells from him?

If you have a Psi power but no skills (i.e. you are a latent and are unaware of your abilities) that doesn't require an Unusual Background. This is essentially how the Danger Sense, Intuition, and Empathy advantages work (level 5 ESP using default power abilities). The same should probably go for magical aptitude but no skills.

Given that we play with regular and cinematic skills, that means there are sometimes two forms of the same skill. So which form do we play with? Answer: both. As Yogi Berra once said: "When you come to a fork in the road of life, take the fork." Wise counsel. Example: We play with both forms of the Meditation skill as described in the Compendium I. These are simply referred to as the 'greater form' and 'lesser form'. If you want to get the 'greater form', it probably requires an Unusual Background.

We make a specific exception to the Unusual Background rule under the following conditions: If you are only taking one or two esoteric / cinematic / paranormal skills or advantages (and no more than one or two) and they fit within the concept of the character, go ahead and just take 'em. I.e. if you're making a "scientist" character who has normal, mundane skills, but you've included in his list "Weird Science", just go ahead and take it.

We've also been considering a variable-cost Unusual Background advantage to cover more extreme cases, i.e. the standard 10-point version to cover Magic and Psionics, and less extreme cases , i.e. maybe a 5-point version to cover occult / paranormal advantages. We haven't really got a consensus on that yet.

If you want to take any of the advanced fighting skills that require Trained by a Master, Weapon Master, or Sharpshooter, we figure you've ponied up enough points already for those pre-requisites and you can just go ahead and take Blind Fighting, Drunken Fighting, etc.

If you're wondering what kind of dark and mysterious history a Victorian-era character would have, there are a variety of 19th century unusual backgrounds to pick from. If a character is an explorer or ex-military, they could have spent some time in Africa learning Voodoo magic, or in India learning Hindu mysticism, or in China learning Aincient Chinese Secrets(tm). Maybe the character has worked for Mr. Dark's Traveling Pandemonium and learned some rare freak-show / stage magician tricks. Maybe the character is a Gypsy and can cast a hex on people. You could feasibly have a Psi character that was part of the Society for Psychical Research (started in 1882). Maybe you have an Alice-type character who has already visited Wonderland many times in her life and learned many strange and interesting things while there. Maybe you stepped inside H. G. Well's Time Machine and visited the people of the future, where you gained some incredible scientific knowledge. The possibilities are endless. If you're looking for more ideas, have a look at the themes page.

Post-Generation Advantages

We've written up a page entitled Aquiring Advantages After Character Generation which spells out which advantages we think a character should be able to buy with earned character points. We are also tentatively allowing characters to purchase one level of Alertness, one level of Strong Will, and one level of Charisma, Literacy, and Fit after character generation. A character can also buy Very Fit if he got Fit at generation.

Campaign Style

We do not play this as a "cinematic" campaign; characters start with 110 points and PCs use the same combat rules as NPCs. We do use some "extra effort" rules to allow PCs to squeeze just a little bit more out of an attribute or skill (typically with an accompanying fatigue penalty).

We tend to use the basic combat rules and pepper combat with some of the advanced combat rules and the manuvers found in the Compedium I. We don't get too munchkin-ish about combat. (At least, not yet. :-)

Having said all that, if the situation calls for it and we're feeling light-hearted, we don't have any problem with using some of the "swashbuckling" rules, or even some of the "silly" rules (like 'Bulletproof Nudity').

Rotating GM

Lotsa folks play with just a single person assigned to play the GM while everyone else plays PCs. We play a little differently in that we have a "rotating GM" policy: anyone can play the GM if they want to but it typically requires that you A) know the rules pretty well, B) have an adventure written up, and C) Find someone to babysit your kids (if you have them). (We look forward to the day when our kids are old enough to join us in gaming sessions.)