GURPS Hyboria - House Rules

Variations on rules or other "house rule" in play during GURPS Hyboria campaign.

Simplified Falling Damage

Rules/math on falling damage from GURPS 4th edition Basic p. 431 are not in play. See table in GURPS 4th edition Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons, p. 19 for simplified falling damage table. GM has also provided a copy of these in the player folder for use at table.

Realistic Foot Travel

• Speed in miles per hour equals Move/2.

• Adjust for terrain, weather, and roads; see p. B351.

• Apply the FP costs for an hour of hiking on p. B426. Extra effort (p. B357) works as usual.

Source: GURPS 4th edition Low-Tech Companion 2: Weapons and Warriors, p. 32.

Light Sources

• A light usually eliminates darkness penalties to combat and vision, for everyone, in a semicircle in front of the bearer.

• Candle: 1 yard; Torch, Lantern: 2 yards

• If the party has any area-effect source, vision and combat are possible at -3 out to triple the range of the best source; e.g., 6 yards if a torch.

Source: GURPS 4th edition Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons, p. 6.

Heroic Archer

Heroic Archer = Gunslinger, and Gunslinger is in the Basic set, so Heroic Archer is allowed.

How to Search a Room

Search skill is defined as "the ability to search people, baggage, and vehicles for items that aren’t in plain sight" (B 219).

Rooms are too big to search with a single roll against Search skill. Use separate skills for different types of searches, in addition to basic Perception for things sitting out in the open.

Examples:

• Architecture for hidden features of the room itself. Defaults: IQ-5 or Engineer (Civil)-4.

• Carpentry to notice something odd with the woodwork. Default: IQ-4.

• Criminology to find evidence left behind by a criminal. Defaults: IQ-5 or Psychology-4.

• Forensics to discover traces of blood, explosives, fibers, etc. Defaults: IQ-6 or Criminology-4.

• Masonry to identify unusual stonework. Default: IQ-4.

• Observation to "case the joint." Defaults: Perception-5 or Shadowing-5. (Remember: you always use Observation from a distance.)

• Tracking to pick up on footprints on the floor. Defaults: Perception-5 or Naturalist-5.

• Traps for traps and secret doors. Defaults: IQ-5 or Lockpicking-3.

Most room searches will be considered Easy or Very Favorable in terms of Task Difficulty, so will usually have an additional modifier of +2/+4.

Searching for Traps is considered Average difficulty (occasionally Unfavorable!) and will not receive any Task Difficulty bonus.