It’s a barbarian! It’s a superhero! It’s a robot! It’s, well, pretty much whatever you want it to be, because it’s a character for a game you’ve found on StartPlaying Games called GURPS!
What You'll Need
GURPS allows for virtually infinite options when it comes to character creation, so you’re going to need the GURPS Basic Set: Characters book. You’re also going to need a character sheet. One can be found in the back of the rulebook, or on the SJGames website.
You also need to know what setting you’re playing in. The setting is going to affect what Attributes to emphasize, what Advantages and Disadvantages to choose, and what Skills you pick. It wouldn’t do to make a high-tech space-faring cat-folk pilot if you’re playing in a Conan-like fantasy world. Or maybe it would, because this is GURPS! So ask your GM.
Character Points
Your GM will tell you how many character points you can use to buy Attributes, Advantages, and Skills. This number varies depending on the kind of game you’re playing. A low-powered game where you play ordinary people might only have 75 character points available, whereas if you’re playing the hero of some Norse saga, you might get up to 500! The average is between 100 and 200 points. You get more by lowering your Stat scores and by taking Disadvantages. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Attributes
There are 4 basic Attributes in GURPS: Strength (ST), Dexterity (DX), Intelligence (IQ), and Health (HT). You automatically start with a score of 10 in each of these. However, you can raise these scores at the cost of 10 character points per level for ST and HT, and 20 character points per level for DX and IQ. Or lower your Attribute scores to acquire more character points to spend: you get 10 character points for each level you lower ST or HT, and 20 points for each level you lower DX or IQ.
While allocating points, keep in mind that the range for ‘normal’ humans is 8-12. You can get above 20, but that’s deity-level, so you’d best ask your GM if that’s okay. If you’re going the other way, you can’t go lower than 1.
Are you a Conan-like barbarian in a wild-and-lawless fantasy world? Better spend some points for ST and HT, and maybe even DX. Are you that cat-folk pilot in a chrome-plated stellar empire? Raise that DX and IQ.
Secondary Characteristics
The next part of the sheet to fill in is your Secondary Characteristics: Hit Points (HP), Will, Perception (Per), Fatigue Points (FP), and Basic Speed. From those, we’ll also calculate Dodge and Basic Move (which is different from Basic Speed).
Your character’s HP is the same as your ST, so that’s easy. Your Will and Per are both equal to your IQ, and your FP is equal to your HT. But Basic Speed requires that you add your HT and DX together, then divide by 4. When you write this number on your sheet, keep the remainder–don’t round it up or down. If you’re in a gunfight, that fraction could be important!
On to Dodge and Basic Move. Your Dodge score is your Basic Speed without the fractions (round down, not up) +3, and your Basic Move is your Basic Speed (again, no fractions). Thus, if your Basic Speed is 5.75, your Dodge would be 8 and your Basic Move would be 5 yards/sec.
You can put the calculator away for now.
Go ahead and jot down the damage you can do unarmed or with melee weapons. This is based on your ST. The book has a chart. Under Hand Weapons (page 2 of the character sheet), write Unarmed on the first line and then write down your Thrust and Swing damage (separated with a “/”) that you got from the book.
Traits, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Quirks
Moving on to Traits, Advantages, Disadvantages, and Quirks. You can gain extra character points by taking Disadvantages, but your GM will probably put a limit on these–usually ½ the character points you started with. So if you started with 150 character points, you can take enough Disadvantages to gain another 75 points to spend.
The books have pages and pages of Advantages and Disadvantages to choose from, so start browsing! Now your character can really come together. Think about what kind of person they are, what kind of world they live in, and what kind of upbringing shaped them into who they are today. Or, y’know, pick the stuff that sounds cool and work out the backstory later!
Traits
Speaking of backstory, find out from your GM what your game’s Technology Level (TL) is and write that down on your sheet. Depending on the setting, this could be anywhere from the Stone Age (TL 0) to the Robotic Age (TL 10) or beyond (TL 12+). TL is important for determining your place in society, and what Skills and equipment will be available to you.
While we’re here, jot down your primary language. You get your native language for free, but you can become less proficient in it if you want to for roleplaying purposes.
This also isn’t a bad time to choose your Wealth, Reputation, and Importance. How rich you are, how well-known you are, and what your social standing is are all traits you can put character points into in order to raise (or become worse in so as to gain more points). Is your character a near-broke scoundrel who wanders the space lanes, or are they a Status 8 god-king lording it over everyone else? You’re only limited by the number of points you have to spend!
Advantages
Now that we’ve taken care of those bits, let’s pick some Advantages. You can choose Disadvantages first, but it’s easier to pick out the Advantages you want and then see how many points you’ll need to make up the difference.
By now you have a concept of who your character is, so it’s time to put that into mechanics. Advantages give your character the edge in combat and in life. Does your cat-folk pilot need Combat Reflexes and Danger Sense? Maybe even some Luck? Probably. What about that barbarian? Does she need Hard-to-Kill and Night Vision, and perhaps Speak With Animals? Oh yeah!
There are so many Advantages to choose from that you shouldn’t have any trouble at all finding the right ones for your character concept. So many will tempt you, in fact, that you’ll now need to stock up on…
Disadvantages
GURPS is all about balance, so to get all those cool Advantages you want, you’re going to have to deal with some negatives. Time to pick some Disadvantages.
It’s probably a bad idea for your cat-folk pilot to have Bad Eyesight. Maybe, though, they have a Code of Honor that demands they behave a certain way, even if it causes trouble. Maybe your barbarian is Bestial and has Bloodlust, or is Oblivious and a Total Klutz! Or all of those?
Quirks
Quirks are low-impact personality traits that give you 1 character point for each one you take and also create some good roleplaying opportunities, like if your barbarian talks to her battle axe, or your cat-folk constantly combs his whiskers.
Skills
The GURPS has lots and lots of skills to choose from. Most have prerequisites, though, and more than a few have TL requirements, so keep those in mind as you’re choosing. The level of difficulty of the Skill and how good you want to be at it determine how many character points that skill costs. Don’t worry; there’s a chart!
As with Advantages and Disadvantages, you’ll want to keep your character concept in mind here. That Barbarian likely isn’t going to be well-served by having a high Social Sciences or Musical Composition score, but being very good at Tracking and/or Stealth? Almost certainly. Your cat-folk pilot needs some Vehicle Skills and Piloting for sure. Criminology? Less likely.
Equipment
We’re almost ready for adventure! Now: gear. Maybe your barbarian doesn’t need much— leather armor and an axe might do; but your cat-folk pilot is going to want to have more material goods than that.
Your character’s starting wealth is based on the setting’s TL, as is the type of equipment generally available. But once you know that, it’s off to the market! An axe here, a blaster there, and you’re set! Write the details on your character sheet, and you’re ready to play your GURPS game at StartPlaying Games!
Wrap-Up
Don’t have the time to make a character from scratch? Head over to http://jamesturneronline.net/gurps4e-character-builder/ and use their quick character builder, or download an automated character sheet from https://gurpscharactersheet.com. You’ll be playing in no time!
C. Patrick Neagle is a writer, podcaster (The Gothic Podcast, currently in its 6th season with Ghost Hunt TV), and professional gamemaster currently living just outside of Portland, OR.
