Drawing Maps, Part I

For quite a long time, I've been looking for a map drawing tool for my various campaigns. I tried a few programs, but didn't quite like any of them.

Yesterday I read a suggestion from a slashdot.org user recommending using a regular vector-based drawing program instead of a map drawing program. It was in an Ask Slashdot article asking for suggestions on such programs.

I decided to try Inkscape, since I've heard of it before and it's available in Ubuntu's repositories.

I'm satisfied with the results so far. My first map is somewhat crude, but it's better than nothing and it's enough to play with. By the way, it's for my campaign setting wiki, Islands of War. Check it out if you haven't already. It's growing every day and getting more detailed with each edit.

Power Stones or Pwnage Stones?

I've got to say it: Power Stones bug me. I can't even figure out why they're in the GURPS books.

I've only ever seen them abused by players. I've seen them terribly abused, actually. I just can't fathom any reason that they're in the books.

They let players trade money for a major advantage, something that I've seen the books suggest is a bad idea elsewhere.

In my opinion, Power Stones (Pwnage Stones, anyone?) should be purchased with points using the rules for gadgets on p. B116-117.

So why do they exist? Does anyone know? If you do, please comment, I'd like to hear a good explanation.

GCS

GCS is a program I quite like. It's for building GURPS characters and works much like an electronic character sheet.

So far, it's saved me a huge amount of time building characters for my campaign setting wiki and I've built several racial templates and a few other odds and ends for it. It cut my character creation time down to about a quarter what it was.

Oh yeah, and it's even open source. It's written in Java, so it can run on Linux, Windows or a Mac.

Enjoy!

Fireball as a utility spell?

I once had a player that for some reason thought that Fireball (AD&D 2nd edition) was a utility spell.

Don't get me wrong, this guy loved blowing up the bad guys with it, but he also used it for everything else. If he had a chance to cast Fireball, he would.

At one point, the PCs were lost in a snowy wilderness, freezing to death. He cast a fireball overhead and warmed everyone for a bit. This lasted all of a few seconds and they were feeling cold again, so he cast it on the trees around them, starting a forest fire and giving everyone a new problem to deal with. At least they weren't freezing to death anymore.

He also used it to collapse tunnels and do other things like that, most of them fairly nuts. He once used it to dry a wet floor (Wet with acid, I believe). Yes, you read that correctly. Like I said, nuts.

I liked having that guy in the group. He was just so crazy and the other players were constantly yelling, "No!!!!" at him. It was way too funny.

At one point he intentionally cast a Lightning Bolt in close quarters with himself and a huge monster, so it would bounce back and forth enough times to kill the monster. Since he was being creative, I gave him a fair chance to get out of the way after the first few bounces. He got very banged up in the process. The monster got worse.

Let's just say he had an interesting approach to using his spells. Crazy, but interesting.

Consistency!

I had a long running group of players at one point. We played RPGs every week for several years.

Anyway, they had this running gag they'd use whenever they came to a fork in a dungeon or a road, etc.

They'd immediately stop, look at each other and someone would call out, "Consistency!"

Then two others would call out contradictory directions, usually left and right at the same time. Apparently, the first time this happened was totally an accident. After that, they just thought it was funny and kept doing it.

For some reason, this just kept getting funnier the longer they did it. In a few cases, we'd laugh for a minute or so and then I'd finally ask again, "So which way are you going?" Every once in a while they'd immediately do it again.

Ah, good old times. I miss gaming with them, but we're all busy in different ways these days.

The old "diametrically opposed schedules" thing. Ah, we should put our schedules in an arena and make em' fight to the death or something.

Cancer Lasers

Don't ask. Just don't ask. It's one of the more silly ideas I've had.

Affliction (Disadvantage, Terminally Ill, Up to two years, +50%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%) [30]

By default, Affliction is a ranged attack with characteristics like most hand-held weapons. In other words, it's like a laser!

Now, for the cost of just 30 character points, you too can cause cancer. Now I need to make a useless super hero named Captain Cancer, with this as his only power and lots of Disadvantages related to guilt over causing bad men to develop cancer.

No, you may not play a Jedi!

Every once in a while, I get asked by a new player, "Can I play a Jedi?"

I usually say no. Sometimes I explain why, but sometimes not, because I've been asked this so very many times. I prefer that my players use their own ideas for characters. Something all their own.

If I said yes, I'd have to shoe-horn someone else's universe into the one my players and I are building together. I'd have to say, "Yes, this is the same universe that the Jedi are from." That forces me to be consistent with it. No thank you. Too much work. That's why I make my own stuff.

I don't mind my players emulating characters from other sources. That's okay. I had a few players that loved this movie called The Shadow. They made psionic characters that were a bit of a mixture of The Shadow and their own ideas. I don't mind that at all. Eventually I even saw the movie. Very good, I might add.

Sometimes this Jedi question isn't asked directly. Sometimes the player tries to get clever about it. This is the way it gets on my nerves:

Player: Can I play a psionicist?
GM: Sure. (If it fits the campaign, anyway)
Player: Can I have telepathic powers.
GM: Yep.
Player: Can I take the ability to make psionically enhanced suggestions?
GM: Okay.
Player: Can I be really good with a sword?
GM: Whatever. (Not quite paying full attention, since I'm helping others make their characters, too)
Player: Can I have a magic sword?
GM: Yeah. That can be your starting magic item. (Something I often do in fantasy campaigns)
Player: Can I make my sword glow with mind powers?
GM: I guess. (Starting to get suspicious, preparing for the next question that I know is coming.
Player: Can I make it really hot with my mind, so I can melt through stuff with it?
GM: No, you may not play a Jedi!

There's a few variations on the above, but they all end with that one statement. *Sigh* Why does everyone and their dog want to play a Jedi?

These days, this is one of the stories I tell my players while we're in the midst of the first character creation session. I usually get a few smiles or a chuckle. It also subtly gets the idea in their head right off the bat that I prefer that they play something original.

Introductions

Hey folks,

I'm a GM, or Game Master for all you that aren't into tabletop RPGs. In other words, I run role playing game groups when given the chance.

My game of choice is GURPS, arguably the most awesome RPG ever.

I do like to play on occasion, but I prefer to tell a story rather than take part in one. Just a preference. When I do play, I tend to play very strange characters, such as a sentient golem in a fantasy setting or a guy with multiple personalities and the ability to turn into many different super heros and super villans. I love playing the seemingly-dumb fighter who turns out to be quite clever.

Anyway, you're probably wondering why this blog is called Islands of War. It's the name of a campaign setting I'm working on. You can find it here. There's some interesting stuff there. This is just the blog to accompany the wiki.

The main purpose of this blog is to give me a place to write down the often-random ideas I have so they don't get lost. It'll also give me a place to write about the strange things that frustrate me about being a GM and how I deal with them.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my ramblings. I know I usually do.