Saturday, August 26, 2017

Dungeon Action

By Timothy Ponce

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is all about killing monsters and taking their stuff. It thrives on tactical decisions, die rolls, and letting the chips fall where they may. But what if a gaming group thirsts for more thrilling, movie-like action? Such games can benefit from more abstraction, fast-and-loose gaming, and typically, more social situations. Thankfully, GURPS already provides a line that covers this style of play!

GURPS Action explains how to run games straight out of the movies, but its core assumptions include a modern setting decidedly not suitable for most Dungeon Fantasy, and much of its advice applies only to handling technology absent in traditional fantasy – dungeon or otherwise. By combining parts of both sources that best suit fantasy action adventures, this article provides the best of both worlds: a framework for handling social and urban mini-adventures as preparation for the primary dungeon delve, and it does so with style.

This article heavily references GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: DungeonsGURPS Action 1: Heroes, and GURPS Action 2: Exploits, and access to the entirety of both entire lines is highly recommended.