|
|
Post by Escher on Jun 6, 2023 16:07:54 GMT
GURPS is a game with excellent well-researched sourcebooks, and can be very useful for DWAITAS, especially concerning historical characters.
DOWNLOAD: Temporarily Offline
The conversion worked out pretty well. Interestingly, we can see that Aristotle's level of Ingenuity + Philosophy is a whopping 15, no doubt the Doctor would enjoy a conversation on philosophy with him !
|
|
|
|
Post by lupercal on Jun 6, 2023 22:23:35 GMT
Oooh. Me likes a lot. I have a ton of GURPS pdfs, so this will definitely come in handy. Thank you very much!
Friendly greetings,
Horus Lupercal.
|
|
|
|
Post by Escher on Jun 7, 2023 8:25:15 GMT
You're welcome Lupercal !
|
|
|
|
Post by grinch on Jun 7, 2023 10:11:27 GMT
Wow! As crunchy a rule system as GURPS had/has, it has a great deal of material worth plundering from. I especially remember being fond of the Warehouse 23 and the Cthulhupunk system.
|
|
|
|
Post by Escher on Jun 7, 2023 14:20:16 GMT
Wow! As crunchy a rule system as GURPS had/has, it has a great deal of material worth plundering from. I especially remember being fond of the Warehouse 23 and the Cthulhupunk system.
Absolutely. The Low-Tech and High-Tech books are also a goldmine of Tech Level info for historical adventures and the Who's Who books have the best-researched historical characters I've seen in an RPG. I've never run GURPS (yet) but I have a ton of their books and it's always been a great resource to harvest.
|
|
|
|
Post by soultaker666212 on Jun 7, 2023 14:34:41 GMT
Would be interesting to see if you could convert GURPS adventure modules for the Doctor Who RPG as well though, Big Lizzie sounds like one that could be adapted to include Silurians into it just based on reading little bits about it!
|
|
|
|
Post by Stormcrow on Jun 7, 2023 17:56:30 GMT
Given that 10 is average for a GURPS attribute, 8–9 is considered below average, and 11–12 is considered above average, I think you probably want 9–11 to equal a Doctor Who attribute of 3. Human maximum is 20, but the only humans who reach 20 (in the fourth edition) are mythic figures. Realistically, only the best of the best ever reach 18, and that doesn't mean your average Navy SEAL but the smartest and strongest people ever. The most amazing person you'll ever actually meet would have no more than 16. The Doctor Who scale is far less restrictive within its allowed human range. I'd probably make Doctor Who range 1–6 equal GURPS range 1–16, and explain any legendary or mythic figures with additional traits.
GURPS (fourth edition) also includes Perception and Will as secondary characteristics on the same scale as the basic attributes, both derived from Intelligence but separately modifiable. Doctor Who Awareness should be based on GURPS Perception, and Doctor Who Resolve should be based on GURPS Will. Doctor Who Presence should be based on the GURPS character's reaction modifiers, with +0 equal to Presence 3. Hard to say how to scale that; maybe increase or decrease Presence for every ±2 in reaction modifiers.
The problem with skills is that the Doctor Who game assumes you have any kind of ability in a single "skill" that it makes sense for you to have. If your character background is "orthodontist," then your Medicine score of 3 (Orthodontic) will let you operate on someone's teeth, even perform first aid and make simple diagnoses, but it won't let you treat cancer or diagnose rare diseases — or if you can, those activities will be at hefty penalties. In GURPS, an orthodontist probably has a GURPS skill of Surgery with an optional specialty of Orthodontics, but they will also know some First Aid, Physician, Physiology, and Professional Skill (Orthodontist) to handle the administrative work. They might have Electronics Operation (Medical). You're not going to be able to derive these from the Doctor Who character — you have to consider the character's background and just find the right skills on the skill list. Converting from GURPS to Doctor Who is a bit easier, but it will still require considering the character's background and handwaving the differences between various GURPS skills and the broad Doctor Who skills. GURPS is far more granular than Doctor Who.
What you don't want to do is try to convert GURPS skills into lots of areas of expertise in the Doctor Who character. That way madness lies, as DW characters aren't really supposed to be overloaded with those. Your conversion of Aristotle has far too many of them. Might as well just increase the base skill.
Honestly, it would be much easier to get get the basic gist of the character from the GURPS stats and then build the character anew in Doctor Who as if all you had was the character concept.
|
|
|
|
Post by Stormcrow on Jun 7, 2023 17:59:00 GMT
Would be interesting to see if you could convert GURPS adventure modules for the Doctor Who RPG as well though, Big Lizzie sounds like one that could be adapted to include Silurians into it just based on reading little bits about it! Here's the thing about GURPS: it's mostly just designed in plain language, specifically so that you can run it in other systems. You don't really need a conversion to do it. As long as you understand the scaling of GURPS attributes and skills, you can mentally convert GURPS into any other system (as easily as any other system relates to the real world, anyway). |
|
Catsmate
13th Incarnation
It's complicated....
Posts: 3,753 
Favourite Doctors: Thirteen, Six, Five, Two, Eight, Eleven, Twelve, One, Nine...
Traits: Eccentric, Insatiable Curiousity.
|
Post by Catsmate on Jun 7, 2023 20:25:49 GMT
Interesting stuff, especially given GURPS is the default RPG system I 'think' in when designing.
As has been said there are a lot of GURPS scenarios that could be plundered, most of the published SJG games ones were i the now defunct Pyramid but the classic That Old Stone Fort and Zombietown USA, while designed for the horror genre, are eminently adaptable. But then pretty much anything is adaptable to Who....
I'm rather fond of JC Connors' One Shot Adventures (link) a collection of freebie scenarios for GURPS, and other systems, in variou genres.
|
|
|
|
Post by Stormcrow on Jun 7, 2023 22:37:42 GMT
The first adventure in GURPS Time Travel Adventures, "Titanic!," would make a good Doctor Who scenario. You'd have to find an alternative reason for sticking around on the ship, as "Save these people and let these people die in order to make our reality more possible" isn't a very Doctor Who motivation. Maybe something like "The Meddling Monk is here on the Titanic, trying to change who lives and who dies for mysterious reasons."
|
|
|
|
Post by soultaker666212 on Jun 8, 2023 2:47:34 GMT
I think the GUPRS Timeline book may offer a lot of time travel adventure seeds and even provides a timeline on important historical moments that can also be researched to generated new adventure ideas.
|
|
|
|
Post by lupercal on Jun 8, 2023 8:13:05 GMT
The two Alternate Earth books could be a fun way to add weird timelines.
Friendly greetings,
Horus Lupercal.
|
|
|
|
Post by Escher on Jun 8, 2023 8:23:07 GMT
Given that 10 is average for a GURPS attribute, 8–9 is considered below average
Honestly, it would be much easier to get get the basic gist of the character from the GURPS stats and then build the character anew in Doctor Who as if all you had was the character concept.
Getting the gist of the character is exactly what I had in mind when I created this guide !  The numbers play a part up to a point, but I think it gives good conversions for my taste, also these are Third Edition conversions from Who's Who volumes 1 and 2, so there's a little bit of juggling.
But this is exactly what I want to do ! It's not overloading -that's just your preference (other opinions are valid  ) Rejoice in huge skills !
That's the thing with geniuses - these characters are historically phenomenal examples of humanity, and their skills and specialisations are larger than life -that's what makes them remarkable.  Wait until you see my other conversions, they'll make your eyes bulge - but try not to worry too much about plenty of description and detail - I think it makes for more accurate and robust characters.
Combined with my Trait Books, there are no limits to character modelling and creation. No one should feel shy about using Areas of Expertise and the Expert Trait to their full potential to really create something special.
|
|
Rassilon
Administrator
Grand Administrator
Posts: 751
|
Post by Rassilon on Jun 8, 2023 12:42:47 GMT
Stickied.
|
|
|
|
Post by Marnal on Jun 28, 2023 0:40:02 GMT
Is this going to be put back online at some point?
|
|
|
|
Post by Escher on Jun 30, 2023 18:56:01 GMT
Is this going to be put back online at some point? I'm convalescing and need to revise it, so in the future, yes.
|
|
The numbers play a part up to a point, but I think it gives good conversions for my taste, also these are Third Edition conversions from Who's Who volumes 1 and 2, so there's a little bit of juggling. 
) Rejoice in huge skills ! 
Wait until you see my other conversions, they'll make your eyes bulge - but try not to worry too much about plenty of description and detail - I think it makes for more accurate and robust characters. 
