Monday, July 28, 2008
Basic Principles and Game Mechanics
GURPS uses six-sided dice only. To figure combat damage (and several other things), the ldice+adds system is used. If a weapon does l4d+2L damage, this is shorthand for lroll 4 dice and add 2 to the total.Likewise, 3d-3 means lroll 3 dice and subtract 3 from the total.If you see just l2d,L that means lroll two dice.For really huge numbers, dice can be multiplied. l2d10L would mean lroll 2 dice and multiply by 10.
Hellboy Role Playing Terms
Like any hobby, roleplaying games have their own unique language. To help you understand the concepts and terms used in this game (and other RPGs), we'll start with a few definitions:
Roleplaying Game (RPG): A game in which the players take on the personalities of imaginary individuals, or characters, in a fictional or historical game world, and try to decide and describe those characters would act.
Game Master (GM): The referee, who chooses the adventure, talks the players through it, and administers the results.
Character: Any being (person, animal, whatever) played by the GM or a player in a RPG.
Non-player Character (NPC): Any character played by the GM. The GM may control many characters, major and minor.
Player Character (PC): Any character played by one of the players. Typically, each player controls a single character.
Stats, or statistics: Numbers rating a character's abilities, used to determine what each one can and cannot do.
Party: A group of PCs taking part in the adventure.
Game World: A background for play; the setting for an adventure. A GM's own fantasy creation or a published setting created specifically for gaming are both examples.
Adventure: The basic unit of play in a RPG, sometimes called a scenario. An RPG is never over until the players want to end it, but a single adventure will have a beginning and an end. It may last through several sessions of play, or be done in a single evening.
Encounter: One scene of an adventure. A meeting between the player characters and one or more NPCs.
Campaign: A continuing series of adventures. A campaign will usually have a continuing cast of player characters, and the same Game Master (or team of GMs). A campaign may move from one game world to another, with a logical reason.
Race: The species to which you belong. Nonhuman characters (elves, dwarves, halflings, or Martians, for example) are common in some RPGs. In the world of Hellboy, most characters are either human or unique supernatural beings, rather than members of clearly defined nonhuman races, but it's possible that characters will encounter such beings, or entities such as types of undead which can be treated as races for game purposes.
Roleplaying Game (RPG): A game in which the players take on the personalities of imaginary individuals, or characters, in a fictional or historical game world, and try to decide and describe those characters would act.
Game Master (GM): The referee, who chooses the adventure, talks the players through it, and administers the results.
Character: Any being (person, animal, whatever) played by the GM or a player in a RPG.
Non-player Character (NPC): Any character played by the GM. The GM may control many characters, major and minor.
Player Character (PC): Any character played by one of the players. Typically, each player controls a single character.
Stats, or statistics: Numbers rating a character's abilities, used to determine what each one can and cannot do.
Party: A group of PCs taking part in the adventure.
Game World: A background for play; the setting for an adventure. A GM's own fantasy creation or a published setting created specifically for gaming are both examples.
Adventure: The basic unit of play in a RPG, sometimes called a scenario. An RPG is never over until the players want to end it, but a single adventure will have a beginning and an end. It may last through several sessions of play, or be done in a single evening.
Encounter: One scene of an adventure. A meeting between the player characters and one or more NPCs.
Campaign: A continuing series of adventures. A campaign will usually have a continuing cast of player characters, and the same Game Master (or team of GMs). A campaign may move from one game world to another, with a logical reason.
Race: The species to which you belong. Nonhuman characters (elves, dwarves, halflings, or Martians, for example) are common in some RPGs. In the world of Hellboy, most characters are either human or unique supernatural beings, rather than members of clearly defined nonhuman races, but it's possible that characters will encounter such beings, or entities such as types of undead which can be treated as races for game purposes.
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