Reading "Mike Mignola's Hellboy: Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game" (GURPS)

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PrivateEye

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I mean, the title doesn't trip off the tongue!

Interestingly the back cover says "Powered by GURPS", as does the interior "splash" page - this also says "based on the GURPS rules..."

The book was published in 2002, so a lot of the Hellboy saga was yet to be written - the back cover says that it contains "new background approved by Mike Mignola" as well as a new short story by Christopher Golden (who wrote three Hellboy novels (The Lost Army, The Bones of Giants and The Dragon Pool)) and an original short comic story.

The book weighs in at 207 pages, as opposed to the 242 pages of the 5e version. It was published in two formats - a soft back graphic novel sized version, and a limited run of 1000 hardbacks with a foil stamped leather cover (I have one of these!). The cover has new art by Mike Mignola, and is reproduced inside the hardback version so everyone who bought the special edition also gets a copy of it.

You can see the two covers here.

I'm guessing that most people know about GURPS, but just for completeness here's a link to the wikipedia entry

This version of GURPS is the 2nd ed, not the current version, so there are a few differences - given that all the rules are contained in this one book, this need not concern us too much...

Unlike many GURPS products of the era, the interior is in full colour - hooray! The paper is good quality to (as is the binding on my copy).

I'm going to start with the comic story, which appears on p82. The story is attributed to Mike Mignola, Jai Nitz and Phillip Reed. Art is by Zach Howard, who does a reasonable pastiche of Mignola's work.

Titled "The Kabandha" the tales starts in Delhi in 1990 where Hellboy and "Orson Gaines, former SAS. Newest BPRD Agent" are investigating two dead, a dozen cows killed and "it scared the crap out of a shepherd".

I'm worried for Orsen, as I don't recall him showing up again in the saga!

Hellboy comments that "killing a cow here is worse than cooking a bald eagle back in the States" and the pair wander off to look for a yogi Hellboy knows. We discover in flashback that Trevor Bruttenholm consulted Ghandi about Hellboy in 1947, with Ghandi reassuring Bruttenholm "he'll be fine".

Hellboy is accosted by a street vendor who addresses him as Nandi (in Vedic mythology Shiva the Destroyer rode a bull named Nandi, so that's what Hindus call Hellboy). He buys from the vendor a charm "made from the tusk of Ganesha" (actually a piece of elephant tusk dipped in aloe and mint oil). Hellboy pays a hundred bucks for it and tells Gaines it is three hundred years old.

Meeting the yogi, he is introduced as Bankimchandra, who helped Hellboy with "The Naga of Bhubaneswar in '82". Discussing the threat, Hellboy ventures an opinion that it's "probably teenage punks" while Gaines has his wallet snatched by a street kid...

Gaines races in pursuit while Hellboy laconically remarks "new guy".

Pursuing the kid up a dark alley Gaines grabs the kid by the collar.

And the kid's head falls off...

The "kid' metamorphoses into a heavily muscled, grey-skinned giant, with no head, but a huge be-fanged face in its belly.

"Oh dear"

"Brilliant"

says Gaines as he fumble for his pistols. He unleashes multiple shots at the thing before tossing a grenade into its mouth. The creature spits it out as Gaines mutters "crap".

The blast hurls Gaines from the alley and the buildings collapse on the creature, killing it.

Hellboy, who has only just drawn his own pistol, comments: "That's how it's done", while Gaines (surprisingly alive) clutches his head and mutters: "Definitely not teenage punks".

There are no words adequate to explain how much I like the early Hellboy.


I'll tackle the Christopher Golden story next time.
 
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TristramEvans said:
Just as a point of pedanticism, Hellboy is based upon GURPs 3rd edition (1988-2004) rather than 2nd (1987).
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quite right - my mistake. The changes between 3 and 4 are (if I recall) much greater than between 2 and 3
 
Dakini by Christopher Golden

This is the included short story. It's 10 pages long (with illustrations) and starts with Hellboy and Abe watching DVDs together - specifically "The Iron Giant". Hellboy gets a visit from Kate Corrigan (currently director of field operations for BPRD) because "flying, lion-headed naked women" are killing and eating people in Boston.

HB sets off to investigate. Approaching by helicopter, they overfly the chaos being caused by the replacement of the elevated highway with an underground one. Kate comments "what a disaster, eh?" The pilot responds by commenting to Hellboy: "call it what you want but this is usually the way it looks when I pick you up, not when I drop you off". HB is not impressed....

On arrival, sure enough things are as described. The Dakini (read about them here) are on the roof of an apartment block and the police have quarantined the area. Snipers are standing by, but getting a safe shot is difficult.

HB with his usual subtlety, just wades straight in, entering the building and heading up the stairs. not everyone on the building seems aware of what is going on, and HB scares a kid witless, and is embarrassed hearing a couple having sex in their apartment.

A ferocious battle ensues in typical HB fashion, with his big pistol and The Right Hand of Doom heavily involved. Oh, and of course a fall from a great height.

Ultimately HB takes a couple of the Dakini down, but following information received from researchers at BPRD, figures out that the Dakini have been inadvertently summoned by the Tantric sex he overheard in the apartment block. Extremely embarrassed, he banishes the remaining Dakini by telling the couple to "cut it out".


I quite like Christopher Golden's work, without being a massive fan - the story is pretty good in catching the "feel" of the comics, and it's clearly (together with the short comic story) quite an acheivement for SJ Games to have got them into the book - good job!


Introduction next time
 
Introduction

This is no short section!

We start with a brief bit about Hellboy himself, including where to start if you are new to rpgs, or experienced with them. Then we get the obligatory "what is a roleplaying game?" section.

There is a lengthy section about Steve Jackson Games, principally mentioning Pyramid and GURPS. We're told which other GURPS books might be referenced in the text, and mentions the "under the hood" section towards the end of this book, which shows how some of the advantages in this game were "built", and differences between Hellboy magic and ordinary GURPS magic. Hmmm. More on this later I think.

We get a few paragraphs about Hellboy's World, sketching out the tone of the published material (at the time of course, as it gets bleaker).

Then we have a brief bio of Mike Mignola, and the two authors (Phil Masters and Jonathan Woodward) - quite nice to see this.

A brief timeline of Hellboy's world follows. Obviously less material to cover than in the 5e version, but quite detailed. It starts in 1916 with the attempted assassination of Rasputin, gives details of events in the 1930s (Lobster Johnson at Hunte Castle), WW2 (Project Vampire Sturm & Ragnarok, arrival of Hellboy), 1940s and 50s (quite a few of the classic early Hellboy tales), 60s & 70s (more classic stories, the finding of Abe Sapien), 80s (Kate Corrigan), 90s (death of Prof Bruttenholm, Rasputin at Cavendish Hall, revival of Ragna Rock team, resurrection of Giurescu, finding of Roger), and recent events, for when the book was written (Hellboy and Roger at Hunte Castle, final defeat of Von Klempt, Johann Kraus joins BPRD, rescue of Liz from Hyperborean beings at the Earth's core. Hellboy quits BPRD).

I think this section probably covers all the bases you might expect in an Introduction. The timeline is excellent (as far as it goes) - you could argue it should be in a section on its own, but it sits here very well. The only thing I would say is that it might intimidate newcomers to GURPS by reference to other books that the casual player might not own. We are reassured that the game is powered by GURPS Lite, but even so....

Creating Characters is next. I'll look at this in a bit of detail, as I did for the 5e version, and try to compare them.
 
I liked the tone section of the intro in this version quite a bit. And, I liked the Hellboy comics from the point this game was published and earlier the best too.

Hellboy got really dark, as you point out, and I didn’t like those as much.
 
gruagach said:
I liked the tone section of the intro in this version quite a bit. And, I liked the Hellboy comics from the point this game was published and earlier the best too.

Hellboy got really dark, as you point out, and I didn’t like those as much.
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Yeah, me too. Being a big fan of Mignola's art I also didn't like it when he passed the art duties - all of the other artists were good, but I didn't like them as much as the original.
 
Chapter One - Creating Characters

OK.... here we go.

Now this is GURPS, so let's not expect anything too simple....

Character Design
This describes two options - first, design your character "just as though he was a character in a story". Afterwards, bring them to life with a "character story". Second method - do the character story first, then work out their stats. Obviously you don't have to have a character story, but it's recommended.

There's nothing startling here, but of course this was written over 20 years ago

Character Points
All GURPS characters are built from a pool of points - usually 100. However, it's pointed out that BPRD members who also have extraordinary abilities or training may well have higher point totals. We are pointed to p101 and suggested point values for BPRD campaigns - maybe that should have been here, but let's take a quick look:

OK, so here are the point recommendations
  • Low-powered agents: 100 points (this is the minimum that should be spent for a BPRD agent)
  • Average agents: 150 points (usually a human, sometimes with a low level special power (examples include Prof Bruttenholm, Prof Corrigan and Sidney Leach)
  • Enhanced agents: 300 points. These guys are formidable - maybe ex-special forces soldiers, "top of the line" agents, multi-talented genius scientists with good physical skills as well. They may have special powers as well (examples: Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, Johann Kraus, Orson Gaines)
  • Powerful agents: 550 points (!). These folk are "strange and unique", either extremely powerful non-humans or paragons of humanity. Roger is given as the example
A bit of guidance is given about groups of characters with mixed point levels - in essence don't let the more powerful characters overshine the weaker, by making sure the latter have a unique strength, and are given the opportunity to use it.

Attributes
Four of these in GURPS - Strength (ST), Dexterity (DX), Intelligence (IQ), Health (HT) (which also determines Hit Points in this edition). These are bought with points, on a sliding scale. Slightly annoyingly the cost chart is two pages further on from the Attributes section.

There is a boxed section giving a glossary of game terms which fills a page and is reasonably useful at this point.

After Attributes we go on to...

Image and Looks
These are the Advantages and Disadvantages relating to this aspect of your character - as we might expect Advanatges cost points, and Disadvantages give you point bonuses.

This game doesn't contain all the possible advantages and disadvantages, but even so there are quite a lot here. I'm not going to list them all, but will give a few by way of example:
  • Appearance - this is variable and can either cost points if you're good looking, or grant points if you're ugly... it can affect how people react to you.
  • Charisma - this independently affects how people react to you, regardless of appearance
  • Handedness and Height and Weight cost no points although you can get Dwarfism (!), Fat (!) or Skinny, which have in-game effects...
  • Odious Personal Habit (of varying obnoxiousness)
  • A Disturbing or Pleasant Voice - which also affects reaction
  • Unnatural Features - this would include HB's demonic appearance and Abe's odd looks. They are inconvenient and get you noticed, and may trigger superstitious people, but doesn't automatically make you hideous (hence Appearance)

Social Standing
You can buy things like Clerical Investment, Duty (a disadvantage), Legal Enforcement Powers, Military Rank, Reputation (can be good or bad), Social Stigma, Status and Wealth


Friends and Foes
Dependents, Allies, Patrons and Enemies (a disadvantage - this is limited, otherwise it can unbalance the game)


Mundane Advantages
Like the previous categories, these are innate abilities which (relatively) normal human beings can possess. This definition is stretched a bit, and some are very much in the purview of the Hellboy Universe. I've put in italics ones I'm going to explore further that seem very relevant - please note I haven't listed everything available - just most of them!

Absolute Direction, Acute Senses, Autotrance, Combat Reflexes, Extra Hit Points, Gizmo (you can pull an unspecified small, useful piece of "work" equipment out of you pocket, rucksack etc - each level allows one use per session), Invention, Magic and Psychic Resistance, Psychic Powers, Ritual Adept, Spring-Loaded Fist
  • Autotrance - you can easily enter a trance with an IQ roll (you have to roll to leave, though!) and get a +2 to ritual magic rolls, and the skills associated with the Ectoplasmic Projection Psychic Power
  • Invention - a variable cost, with benefit varying from a novel application of contemporary science/technology, through a genuinely new device/process up to a truly radical, world-shaking breakthrough (this costs 50 points!). You have to have a relevant Natural Science or Engineer skill at a high level as a prerequisite, and (of course) GM permission...
  • Psychic Powers - this is a whole subcategory, and we will get to it later...
  • Ritual Adept - you are a "natural" user of ritual magic and can ignore some or all ritual elements (time, sacred space, material component) depending on the level of advantage you buy.
  • Spring-Loaded Fist - you have a crude cybernetic arm with a spring-loaded fist you can launch at foes on a cable or chain (Unmensch had one of these)

Supernatural Advantages next time
 
The handful of times I played this, we ran enhanced agents. All the characters felt/played very much like those featured as main characters in the comic.
 
gruagach said:
The handful of times I played this, we ran enhanced agents. All the characters felt/played very much like those featured as main characters in the comic.
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Same! One guy could breath fire, one had wings and could fly and the third was super-tough
 
Cortex Prime could do a great version. As could Hero System (at least the editions with which I'm familiar), and MnM 3E too, and Destined. I'm sure there are other systems that could do the Hellboy setting far, far better than D&D 5e.
 
TristramEvans said:
Hmm, I recall having a thread here when the KS was first announced where... let's just say I now owe a few people some "I Told You So"s
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Well, deliver them, then...:thumbsup:
 
giphy.gif
 
AsenRG said:
Doesn't count unless you tag them publicly:devil:!
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lol, I'm not going to call anyone out because it was an extremely hollow victory: "yay, I was right, they released a shit Hellboy game...uh, whooo I guess".
I backed the Kickstarter despite that. For the swag, and the glimmer of hope that I was wrong. I got a cool Hellboy Satchel with the BPRD logo and a nice Hellboy-themed dice set.
 
TristramEvans said:
lol, I'm not going to call anyone out because it was an extremely hollow victory: "yay, I was right, they released a shit Hellboy game...uh, whooo I guess".
I backed the Kickstarter despite that. For the swag, and the glimmer of hope that I was wrong. I got a cool Hellboy Satchel with the BPRD logo and a nice Hellboy-themed dice set.
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One of my closest friends from high school is a Hellboy fan. If I believed for a second it might not suck, I'd have backed the KS as well...:shade:
 
AsenRG said:
So, a dragon's abilities were split in three:grin:?
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well one was of Japanese descent and somehow dragon-blooded, one was a light-boned guy with wings, one was a failed Nazi super-soldier project
 
gruagach said:
Cortex Prime could do a great version. As could Hero System (at least the editions with which I'm familiar), and MnM 3E too, and Destined. I'm sure there are other systems that could do the Hellboy setting far, far better than D&D 5e.
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I enjoyed a game using the Vampire Hunter$ system which uses a d6 pool
 
Supernatural Advantages
In this game, these are innate abilities limited to supernatural beings - demons, vampires, ghosts etc. The GM might allow humans to have some of these providing they have purchased an appropriate Unusual Background.

OK, my mistake - I should have mentioned Unusual Background as part of the Mundane Advantages section, above. I'll rectify that:

Unusual Background is a "catch-all" advantage with a variable cost. Essentially purchasing it gives you permission to buy other advantages, skills etc that would otherwise not be available to you. Now, it's up to the GM what type of campaign to run, so the point total for the game, whether you can buy unusual background to allow humans to have weird powers, and how much to charge for this advantage, are a decision to make in designing the campaign. The cost might be anything from 5 to 50 points.... Personally I like the weird powers campaign so I'd probably charge the standard 10 points

OK, back to Supernatural Advantages:

Some of these are fairly standard GURPS fare: Enhanced Move (increases your maximum speed in one movement mode), Damage Resistance (tough skin, natural armour etc that reduces incoming damage), even things like Regeneration (of lost hit points - it incorporates the Rapid Healing mundane advantage) and so on.

Others are much more BPRD/Hellboy oriented, and some are pretty odd, and/or designed specifically for this game. Let's take a look:
  • Aquatic/Amphibious (cost varies) - for no cost you can be aquatic - you can only breath water, so you're not much good as a field agent (unless you have some kind of breathing aid I guess, like in the first Hellboy movie (not released when this game came out)). For 10 points you can breath air and water but have to purchase the Swimming skill, and get penalties for working underwater. For 20 points you're fully amphibious and move and work with ease underwater. Abe of course has this
  • Breathe Fire - like it says, a flame attack jetting from your mouth. With GM permission it could be something like lightning instead
  • Conjoined Twins (!) - is a 60 point advantage (WTF??).... it assumes the twins are joined below the shoulders but above the legs. If one dies, both die and they are effectively "one" character. It's an advantage because they are telepathically and psychically linked, get benefits it a grapple because of their extra limbs, can continue to move at half speed if one leg is lost, can look in two directions at once, aim two weapons at once, and it's hard to creep up on them from behind. Hmmm. Comments below
  • Extra Limbs - speaks for itself I think
  • Flight - again self explanatory - the costs vary depending on whether you need wings, can only glide, can't hover etc. The character Charlie Parker in my game had large wings (and hollow bones, so was more fragile than ordinary humans)
  • Homunculus - (131 point advantage). This is Roger option of course, and grants all sorts of abilities
    • steal power by touching a psychic, electrical generator etc and steal fatigue (or a psychic's abilities, or read a spirit's mind!)
    • if your ST drops to zero you become dormant, but gain Telepathy power 5 and the Telesend and Telereceive at IQ (Psychic Powers come later)
    • As ST, HT etc vary these have to be bought separately.
  • Independently Focusable Eyes - self explanatory and allows you to do things like aim two weapons at once.
  • Invulnerability (variable cost) - to a specific damage type: any kinetic damage (costs 300 points!), down to something pretty rare, like mud, insects or fruit (!) (50 points)
  • Magery (35 points) - you're a natural spellcaster. You have to have this if you want to cast spells - it also allows you to roll to identify some thing as magical
  • Modified Arm ST (varies) - you get higher (or lower) ST in some part of your arm(s) than the rest of your body. It's like buying ST in general, but at a variable discount depending on whether it's one arm or both, only for striking, punching and throwing etc
  • Regrowth - of lost limbs and organs! Still takes time though
  • Shapeshifter (varies) - complicated, as you have two character sheets, and you work out the cost of this advantage from the difference between the two, with a percentage discount for the negative point total of the shape-changed form. I have to say I would quail at doing this...
  • Spirit Form (100) - the is detailed later - a bit irritating
  • Strikers (varies) - includes things like claws, talons and combat hand (which is what HB has for The Right Hand of Doom)

So a few comments. We're seeing some of the good and bad of GURPS here, and they're almost the same thing! Characters in this game are very customisable, but therefore quite complicated to get right. There is some maths to do - working out the percentage discount for some abilities for example (eg shapeshifting). GURPS prides itself (I think) on its realistic approach, but the conjoined twins advantage is nothing like reality. Haveing said that, this is essentially a pulp game, and Hellboy and his friends are hardly realistic. Some of the language feels a bit date in parts (dwarfism, fat, skinny...).

I'm also not sure grouping some of the Advantages as "Supernatural" is quite right - things like extra limbs, strikers, modified arm ST, independently focusable eyes etc could easily be due to cybernetics/weird science as well - but it's easy to fix, as it's essentially just terminology

Overall though, the lack of constraints in character building really appeals to me, and the language in the technical section is generally a model of clarity (especially compared to the 5e game)

Disadvantages next time
 
PrivateEye said:
So a few comments. We're seeing some of the good and bad of GURPS here, and they're almost the same thing! Characters in this game are very customisable, but therefore quite complicated to get right. There is some maths to do - working out the percentage discount for some abilities for example (eg shapeshifting). GURPS prides itself (I think) on its realistic approach, but the conjoined twins advantage is nothing like reality. Haveing said that, this is essentially a pulp game, and Hellboy and his friends are hardly realistic. Some of the language feels a bit date in parts (dwarfism, fat, skinny...).
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Shapeshifting remains a right pain in 4e. How it's done make sense conceptually, but the implementation is fiddly, and there are devils in the details. There are a couple of other advantages that are also just plain annoying to use. As Insubstantiality is one (possibly called something different in 3e) and it's a pretty fundamental feature of spirits, I anticipate more unhappiness when we get to spirits.
 
Sharrow said:
Shapeshifting remains a right pain in 4e. How it's done make sense conceptually, but the implementation is fiddly, and there are devils in the details. There are a couple of other advantages that are also just plain annoying to use. As Insubstantiality is one (possibly called something different in 3e) and it's a pretty fundamental feature of spirits, I anticipate more unhappiness when we get to spirits.
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haha! You may be right!
 
Mundane Disadvantages
These run a bit of a gamut. A lot of them come in a mild or severe form. they vary from things like Bad Sight and Bad Temper, to Code of Honour (which will constrain your behaviour) and things like Cowardice, Curious, Honesty etc. Illiteracy is also there.

There are some physical disabilities like Lame, One Leg, One Arm and One Hand of course

Personally I find the Advantages/Disadvantages a bit over the top at times. A modern revision of GURPS might usefully find a different mechanic, focussing more on roleplaying than mechanics.

Supernatural Disadvantages
You might be Bestial (thinking and reacting like an animal, and unable to use artistic or social skills), have a Dependency (mild or severe) on some sort of substance, a Dread (which keeps you from approaching the object of your Dread), or you could have a Vulnerability to certain attack forms (which will then do extra damage) or even a Weakness (where the mere presence the thing causes you damage)

Some odder Supernatural Disadvantages include:
  • Horizontal/Semi-Upright - Horizontal means you are on all fours, like a dog, and can only stand on two legs briefly, or use one limb for manipulation while standing on the other three. Semi-Upright is like a gorilla - you can stand upright to punch people, hold babies etc, but move on all fours or take a penalty on your movement
  • No Fine Manipulators - you have hooves, paws or whatever, instead of hands...
  • Short Arms...
  • Unliving - animated by supernatural forces instead of actually being alive, if you are reduced to 0 HP and fail an HT check you collapse as if dead, and can only be restored by some special, predefined condition (specific drug, bolt of lightning etc). Fall to -1 HP (or below presumably) and you die immediately...
  • Unhealing - you can't heal naturally, though first aid still works, as does magic or psychic healing. The lesser version allows you to recover HP in specified, unusual conditions (bathing in blood, while on holy ground etc)

Quirks
Minor self defined disadvantages worth 1 point each. You can have 5 of these.


Skills
There are a lot of these of course...

Just a reminder - most skills (but not all) have a default level based on one of your Attributes (usually at a penalty) - eg the Lockpicking Skill defaults to IQ-5.

Skill costs are variable - some are physical, some mental, and they can be easy, average, hard or (for mental skills) very hard. Some skills are different at different Tech Levels (TL), but in this game it's not likely to be as much of an issue as in a sci-fi (or worse, time travel) game...

Rather than try to detail all the skills, I'll pick out a few specific ones to comment on.
  • Carpentry - just.... why? Why not a more generic, customisable "craft" skill, if you have to have it all - or just have it as part of your background, because it doesn't seem very adventurous, or something that would be involved in a crucial roll... Ditto Musical Instrument (each instrument a separate skill)
  • Electronics and Electronics Operation are separate skills, which I think some would find an unnecessary division
  • There are six separate skills that can be used to influence people (Diplomacy, Fast Talk, Intimidation, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal and Streetwise)
  • There are multiple Weapon Skills - pistol, rifle, shotgun and light automatic are all separate skills...
  • Judo and Karate? - separate skills
  • Occultism - the academic study of supernatural practices and myths. Not the ability to use magic of course
  • Paraphysics - the scientific study of psychic powers and the paranormal in general - not the ability to use psychic powers
  • Psychic Skills - manipulating and controlling a psychic power - more on this later
  • Ritual Magic - understanding the purpose of magic rituals and performing them
  • Ritual Magic Paths - how to use ritual magic to achieve specific effects - more on this later as well...
  • Spell Throwing - used to hit targets with a missile spell
  • Thaumatology - the "science of magic"
  • Throwing and Thrown Weapon are separate skills...
  • Vehicle Skills - quite a few of these - Bicycling??
We have a box on Unarmed Combat and another on Tech Levels

The chapter rounds off with Equipment (mostly Armour and Weapons) (Hellboy's 1990s gun does 9d damage), Speed, Encumbrance and Movement and Character Improvement, and I'm not commenting on these as they're pretty standard fare.

Comments? Just too many (unnecessary) skills. In my book the Hellboy rpg was an obvious candidate for a really stripped down version of GURPS, and a drastically stripped down skill set would be part of that. Of course it's not too difficult to do yourself (I would reduce combat skills to unarmed, firearms and melee weapons, with martial arts being some kind of advantage enhancing your unarmed combat)

Playing the Game next time - and a quicker read-through
 
PrivateEye said:
Comments? Just too many (unnecessary) skills. In my book the Hellboy rpg was an obvious candidate for a really stripped down version of GURPS, and a drastically stripped down skill set would be part of that. Of course it's not too difficult to do yourself (I would reduce combat skills to unarmed, firearms and melee weapons, with martial arts being some kind of advantage enhancing your unarmed combat)
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Had the Wildcard/Bang! skills been introduced yet when this was published?
 
PrivateEye said:
I don't think so - but they probably came out after I last played GURPS so I'm not quite sure what they are...
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According to this wiki entry they're very broad skill archetype that you can purchase for more cinematic games. They cost a lot more, but they cover a wide range of individual skills, so you don't have to track and pay for all the individual skills associated with the archetype. So you might have Spy! at 15- or Scientist! at 16-.
 
Tulpa Girl said:
According to this wiki entry they're very broad skill archetype that you can purchase for more cinematic games. They cost a lot more, but they cover a wide range of individual skills, so you don't have to track and pay for all the individual skills associated with the archetype. So you might have Spy! at 15- or Scientist! at 16-.
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I see - I also see from following the links in the wiki that there are over 70 published Wildcard skills! Blimey!
 
Tulpa Girl said:
Had the Wildcard/Bang! skills been introduced yet when this was published?
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Only the first two Wildcard skills, Science! (introduced in GURPS Atomic Horror) and The Sword! (introduced in GURPS Swashbucklers 3rd Edition) had been introduced; the concept is one of those that were greatly expanded and modified in 4th edition. That said, Science! is absolutely appropriate for Hellboy-genre games, and I'm pretty sure the text spells this out at some point since it (unlike its little brother) was in the Compendium.
 
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The selection of skills for any given GURPS game was always one of the bigger decisions I made as a GM. I haven't played GURPS meaningfully since 3E. I played a lot of 3E - especially GURPS Supers.

Too many skills is definitely how I'd describe the average GURPS game. I like the concept of the Wildcard skills. That'd make a wonderful fit for a setting like Hellboy.
 
PrivateEye said:
I see - I also see from following the links in the wiki that there are over 70 published Wildcard skills! Blimey!
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They feature rather heavily in the stealth sequel to this book (and a few others), 4E's GURPS Monster Hunters line, and were given a book of their own as part of the GURPS Power-Ups line of supplements.
 
Davies said:
They feature rather heavily in the stealth sequel to this book (and a few others), 4E's GURPS Monster Hunters line, and were given a book of their own as part of the GURPS Power-Ups line of supplements.
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thanks!
 
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