Character Creation: How To?

[matt_s]

60 points using the GURPS LITE rules. Soft max of 30 points of disadvantages (if you are barely over by a handful of points, let me know and I will probably allow it). Your character must make sense in a Old West setting taking place post-Civil War. Everyone is a mundane human (no mystical abilities, no non-humans) and weapons max out at revolvers and crude lever-action rifles. Similarly, it does not fit well in the fiction to be running out the West in full plate harness, so that is "out" as well. Please use your judgment on those accounts and let me know if you have questions and we can discuss and come to amiable agreement.

Finances: You get an decent but not great riding horse with tack and saddle and $200 dollars to spend as you wish. I am not aiming to nickel and dime you but you may have to or want to buy things like dynamite or mining tools later on depending how things stand.

This is updated from previously. Please see the private post under setting information with the new prices reproduced from GURPS 3e Old West. If you do not have access let me know.

Backstory: A handful of paragraphs, nothing too fancy, to give a sense of why you are in Arcadia, what your goals are, what your character is like, etc.

[RedMax]

7 hours ago, matt_s said:

60 points using the GURPS LITE rules. Soft max of 30 points of disadvantages (if you are barely over by a handful of points, let me know and I will probably allow it). Your character must make sense in a Old West setting. Everyone is a mundane human (no mystical abilities, no non-humans) and weapons max out at revolvers and crude lever-action rifles. Similarly, it does not fit well in the fiction to be running out the West in full plate harness, so that is "out" as well. Please use your judgment on those accounts and let me know if you have questions and we can discuss and come to amiable agreement.

Finances: You get an decent but not great riding horse with tack and saddle and $500 dollars to spend as you wish. I am not aiming to nickel and dime you but you may have to or want to buy things like dynamite or mining tools later on depending how things stand.

 

I'm looking at the GURPS LITE rules and it looks like a revolver costs $500 (pg. 21). I started with a Large knife ($40) and then went looking for a gun. I am new to GURPS LITE. Am I looking in the wrong place?

[matt_s]

I'll look over it in details but rest assured you will be able to own a revolver and other basics with whatever the actual starting wealth will be.

[RedMax]

7 minutes ago, matt_s said:

I'll look over it in details but rest assured you will be able to own a revolver and other basics with whatever the actual starting wealth will be.

Cool. I'll keep it basic and see what the total looks like. :)

[matt_s]

fyi, don't request to join the game. I will send invites to accepted players when the time comes.

[Primeval Stasis]

GURPS Lite has almost no equipment listed. What should we do if we want something else?

[Casual Viking]

I'm thinking....a young Chinese man. Came over as a small child with the railway workers. For reasons you will not be privy to, not welcome in the large Chinese community in San Fransisco. And, seeing a lifetime of hard labor and racism, aware that he will need some kind of big score or great deed to get any kind of tolerable life (but not damaged enough to turn bandit).

Also, I want to use crane style...no. Just kidding.

 

[matt_s]

15 minutes ago, Casual Viking said:

And, seeing a lifetime of hard labor and racism, aware that he will need some kind of big score or great deed to get any kind of tolerable life (but not damaged enough to turn bandit).

fyi - you can have this in your backstory but NPCs in the main story will not be racist or prejudiced against PCs. They might mention your background but not disparage you for it. Same goes for the African-American PC and the Indigenous PC people are considering.

[matt_s]

13 hours ago, Primeval Stasis said:

GURPS Lite has almost no equipment listed. What should we do if we want something else?

Let me know how much detail people are interested in for equipment. I will do some research and get a more sophisticated list together that would be available to purchase at the General Store. But I won't be nickel-and-diming you on rations and the like. It might be relevant how much you can carry but less so how much you can buy.

Between the horse, a couple of firearms, and some personal effects and tools of the trade, you should have plenty left over.

[Cloudy Summers]

"Personal effects and tools of the trade" sounds reasonable to me. I'd like the option to have tools that make specific skills easier, like doctor's kits or lockpicks and such, but that's about it.

 

2 hours ago, matt_s said:

fyi - you can have this in your backstory but NPCs in the main story will not be racist or prejudiced against PCs. They might mention your background but not disparage you for it. Same goes for the African-American PC and the Indigenous PC people are considering.

Glad to hear it, honestly.

[Laird_Thorne]

4 hours ago, matt_s said:

Let me know how much detail people are interested in for equipment. I will do some research and get a more sophisticated list together that would be available to purchase at the General Store. But I won't be nickel-and-diming you on rations and the like. It might be relevant how much you can carry but less so how much you can buy.

Between the horse, a couple of firearms, and some personal effects and tools of the trade, you should have plenty left over.

Could always take a look at GURPS Old West. It’s third edition, but probably still useful :)

[matt_s]

good call, I won't ask anyone to buy it but I'll probably pick it up over the weekend and reproduce a few of the tables from it.

[Primeval Stasis]

The review and discussion say it's mislabeled and actually for 2nd edition for some reason.

[Bobcloclimar]

SJ Games labels individual splatbooks with editions of that specific title (not the system), so that's the second version of GURPS Old West, written for GURPS Third Edition. Simple, I know :D.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Bobcloclimar (see edit history)

[matt_s]

I picked up GURPS Old West for 3e. I'll probably make a private post for everyone who makes an app thread and post images of the tables there so its not on unlimited distribution. Basically, anything you could reasonably and unreasonably want is likely in that supplement.