So, I was playing my GURPS: Star Frontiers game with GURPS skills, then I went off on a side track generating OSR monsters as collections of wildcard/bang! skills (B175), and I wondered...
What if I played GURPS: Star Frontiers with just the original skills of that game, but converted into wildcard skills? Let's also ban all traditional GURPS skill purchases and just use these for the game. If we need a new skill, it has to be a wildcard skill and bundle up a bunch of areas of expertise into a like-themed package.
So here we are. Now, the hardcore optimizers are going to cringe hard at a few of these, since wildcard skills default to a tripled Very Hard skill point cost, and some of these will clearly be cheaper bought the old way. But I have to tell myself, this universe is what it is, and since there are fewer skills, these skills cover everything and the kitchen sink.
I know, Thrown Weapons! is the exact same Thrown Weapons DX/Easy skill as GURPS, but this does not require a specialty. I have to tell myself that once these spacers start throwing things, they know how to throw just about anything. The point cost difference is huge, but this is pulp space adventure, so if you know how to toss grenades, spears and knives are not that far off.
Yes, these cost a LOAD of character points. In our sample spacer above, he is a 250-point character easily, and in basic GURPS I could get an 18- in a few of those for 250-points, but I am barely scratching a 14- for one of them. As a referee, if I were playing this game as a few one-shots, I'd award 5-15 character points per session, just because the point costs are so high. Also, a 500-point or 1000-point character will be far less powerful in this universe than in others, which allows for tight, specific optimization.
Adjust your perception of point values in this game!
A 250-point character in a wildcard skills game will be more like a starting-level character than an experienced hero. A 500-point character will be closer to that mythical and capable space hero that we have in our imaginations.
And I know what you are thinking: with skills this expensive, raising base attributes is a bargain. True, so putting an attribute cap on characters to realistic values, or limiting the number of increases to three or six points above the starting value, may be what you do here.
Or just give them a maximum budget on total attribute spending and leave it at that. Since my space pilot is already at 150 points of attribute spending, I'd set a hard cap at 300-400 points total and let them play in that budget.
Then again, to raise a science-type skill in Star Frontiers to its maximum level of six, it took 105 total XP to get there, and that is at 3-7 XP per session, so about 21 sessions of play at 5 XP per night. In GURPS, getting a wildcard skill to attribute +6 will cost 96 character points total, so that 5 XP rate for a longer-play campaign seems right, but that average is still above the suggested GURPS rate of 2-3 per session (B498).
Keep that in mind: a 96-point Attribute+6 skill will match the Star Frontiers "level 6" skill in Star Frontiers. In basic GURPS, blowing 96 points on a skill is almost unthinkable. Throwing 96 points into Beam Weapons/TL10 in GURPS is going to give me a DX+25 skill level, for a 39-minus success chance. In this game, it gives me a DX+6 skill level, for a 20-minus total, which feels better for a more experienced spacer. Throw a few more points of DX on him, and we will be in the 22 to 24-minus ranges, which feels like high-level play.
Then again, we have to buy far fewer skills in this game, and they do much more. We completely lose our ability to optimize, though.
For new players and fast advancement, I would lean more towards my 5-15 CP rate. This is why having a hard cap on attribute spending is a plus. Pretty soon, you will need to balance your spending and invest in skills.
Given all those drawbacks - the higher-point characters, the lower total skill values, and the CP inflation - is it worth it? Well, for one, we are only dealing with a skill list eighteen entries long. My space pilot only has 10 skills.
For new players, this will be a lot easier. This is almost like a Shadowdark mod for GURPS that strips the skills down to the basics, defines a tight sandbox, and disallows the traditional skill-list choices and fine-tuned optimization. I almost get the shakes when I deny myself hardcore character optimization in GURPS; it is so addictive.
But for a new player? Yes, this works well. This almost works as well as Shadowdark does in introducing a new group to GURPS instead of that game. Limiting the massive skill list of GURPS opens the door up to new and casual players, and it also makes the chore of running a twelve-person starship crew when I play solo far easier and more manageable.
For fun, I raised my space pilot to a 1000-point character, and what surprised me is that he feels far more balanced and playable than a traditional GURPS character at this power level. Sure, his skills are all pushing 20-minus, and he hit that 300-point attribute cap, but he is not wildly out of control in a few skills that would make him overpowered and head-shotting all his foes. It feels strange to see a playable 1000-point character for sure, but note that 630 points are tied up in skills at a 3X multiplier, so you could divide that point total by 3 or 4 to get a rough approximation of normal-game GURPS power level, so he feels more like a 750-point character in total power (minus a few superpowered skill ratings he would have from hardcore optimization).
Limiting a game or genre to 12-20 wildcard skills feels like a viable way to play GURPS, once your perceptions are adjusted on character points and spending. Note that here, five of these are starship skills from Knight Hawks, so our original list is closer to that dozen "sweet spot" for a focused design. The moment you go above 20, you start to lose the simplification and streamlining, and you are likely better off with the standard GURPS skill list.
But for new players, or a solo game with a large crew I need to manage? This works very, very well, and it shows off GURPS's power and flexibility in game design. I can design a "Shadowdark-like" new player experience with just a dozen wildcard skills and nothing else, and still play the game rules-as-written.
Not bad, interesting, and it makes me see GURPS in an entirely new way.
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