Pyramid, edited by Steven Marsh, is the monthly GURPS supplement
containing short articles with a loose linking theme. This time it's
another batch for the Monster Hunters setting.
Born to Be Wild (Christopher R. Rice) introduces some new
wildcard skills to Monster Hunters, and gives them extra benefits to
try to make them more worth the cost. I'm not convinced that it does;
wildcard skills always seem to me as though they really fit a
different sort of game, and running them side by side with normal
skills feels like putting D&D and RuneQuest characters in the same
party: it's a nifty gimmick but not really useful. Quite a few of
these new skills would be better covered, at least in the sort of game
I run, by Advantages or Talents.
An Irregular Sort of Terror (J. Edward Tremlett) looks into ghosts
in the Monster Hunters setting, with three new types (objects,
poltergeists and fetches), cultural variants, and traditional ways of
dealing with them. There are also plenty of new abilities for ghosts;
alas, not statted out as powers, but still useful for NPC spirits.
Eidetic Memory: The Dwyrm (David L. Pulver) starts as a pile of
handouts (or could be made into one with minimal work), legends and
reports about a new type of beastie that a monster-hunting team might
come across with a bit of work. This is then tied to a weird
phenomenon that's not obviously related. I'm not sure I'll use this
directly, but there are some excellent ideas here which may find their
way into my games.
Young Hunters (Liam Duncan) combines the monster hunting campaign
frame with a school setting (heavy on the metaphors). It's mostly
game-mechanical advice rather than giving ideas for plots and things
to throw at the PCs.
Random Thought Table: The Importance of Static (Steven Marsh) talks
about how to add chaff to a straightforward investigative plot:
occasional random NPCs should be oddly beautiful, or have a
distinctive personality, as well as the ones who have defined roles in
the plot.
I still don't really "get" Monster Hunters, but the articles that get
away from game mechanics have some useful advice to offer for other
sorts of game too. Pyramid 107 is available from
Warehouse 23.
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