HJRP 6-20
Jul 15, 2015 5:57:58 GMT -8
Post by Probie Tim on Jul 15, 2015 5:57:58 GMT -8
Apologies for bringing up another old episode, but as I chew through the backlog sometimes I have comments which do not justify an entire Gibbering Gamer post. This is one of them, and it's about Central Casting.
My old GURPS GM loved to use the Central Casting books for character generation, and one time we used them for a GURPS game he was setting up in the world of HARN. So we started going through the Central Casting system, and I rolled a dwarf. No problem. Then I roll to discover that I get a new professional skill! Awesome, until we rolled to discover I was a paper-maker. Yup, I made paper. Eh, ok, I can deal with that. We keep rolling, and I get ranks in my professional skill. Then more ranks in my professional skill. Then, surprise of all surprises, I get more ranks in my professional skill! Damn, this is one pro paper-making dwarf!
Feeling a bit concerned, the next roll broke up the monotony: I got a new hobby skill! I'm just about to let loose a sigh of relief when the next roll tells me that my hobby skill was cartography. Then I rolled some more professional skill ranks, and then a few hobby skill ranks, and then I was done.
All told, several hours of dice rolling and converting left me with a dwarven paper-maker who drew maps for fun. No survival skills, no weapon skills, no attribute raises, no advantages or disadvantages. Central Casting - a system which is supposed to create full, rich, detailed characters - left me with the most mechanically boring character I've ever played.
I'm sure that my experience was a fluke. In fact, I know it was... the other players wound up with rad characters (one had a GURPS starting value of over 200 points because of all the stuff Central Casting dumped on him). But that doesn't change the fact that every mention of Central Casting brings to mind a boring, milktoast, dwarven paper-maker which makes me run for the hills.
My old GURPS GM loved to use the Central Casting books for character generation, and one time we used them for a GURPS game he was setting up in the world of HARN. So we started going through the Central Casting system, and I rolled a dwarf. No problem. Then I roll to discover that I get a new professional skill! Awesome, until we rolled to discover I was a paper-maker. Yup, I made paper. Eh, ok, I can deal with that. We keep rolling, and I get ranks in my professional skill. Then more ranks in my professional skill. Then, surprise of all surprises, I get more ranks in my professional skill! Damn, this is one pro paper-making dwarf!
Feeling a bit concerned, the next roll broke up the monotony: I got a new hobby skill! I'm just about to let loose a sigh of relief when the next roll tells me that my hobby skill was cartography. Then I rolled some more professional skill ranks, and then a few hobby skill ranks, and then I was done.
All told, several hours of dice rolling and converting left me with a dwarven paper-maker who drew maps for fun. No survival skills, no weapon skills, no attribute raises, no advantages or disadvantages. Central Casting - a system which is supposed to create full, rich, detailed characters - left me with the most mechanically boring character I've ever played.
I'm sure that my experience was a fluke. In fact, I know it was... the other players wound up with rad characters (one had a GURPS starting value of over 200 points because of all the stuff Central Casting dumped on him). But that doesn't change the fact that every mention of Central Casting brings to mind a boring, milktoast, dwarven paper-maker which makes me run for the hills.