I posted an article here a few days ago about the Enthrallment skill and it’s subsection of skills. It was supposed to be a post about trying to get two PC’s into a persuasion situation and whether the GM should allow it to happen. I kept the post simple and wanted more discussion on the subject from varying viewpoints. I received a bit of discussion and decided later that I should post the scenario on the Steve Jackson Games GURPS forum. From these responses I became enlightened.
I was informed that the Enthrallment skill acted more or less like magic or psionics. It used Fatigue points and improved the skill checks for the specific skills. I was seriously humbled by not knowing the specifics of the skills.
I am going to read the GURPS Basic Set again from the beginning again. I have played and GM’ed the system since the late 80′s. I took a bit of a break during the 3rd edition. I want to approach this read from a new player and GM’s viewpoint. I feel like I have missed something within the system and want to acquire it. I think that over the years I have prejudiced the game to fit my own needs and have overlooked parts of the system.
Have any of you thought you knew a system and then later felt to need to revisit the rules again? Do you feel that maybe you have prejudiced the game to fit your needs?
I have revisited or re-read rules on many, many occasions – not so much because I felt a need, but because I love reading rules. There have been several times that I hit on an “Aha!” moment with a sudden insight or understanding that I had been misinterpreting a rule, or a set of rules. This has happened for every edition of D&D, from Basic, through AD&D, and on up to 4th Ed.
If by “prejudiced a game to fit your needs,” you mean to interpret rules to make the game better for you and/or your group, then I think nearly everyone has done that at one time or another – that’s how house rules are born!
I think that while prejudicing the game to fit my needs I glossed over parts of the system. I know that GURPS can require as much detail as needed for the adventure but over time I believe I have changed the flavor of the system. This was wholeheartedly unintentional. I can’t say that the games I have run in the past have suffered because of this. I am now feeling that it could have been better without the prejudice.