GURPS (4th ed.)-Big Lizzie.pdf

B IG

L IZZIE TM

Written by W.G. ARMINTROUT

Edited by JASON “PK” LEVINE and NIKOLA VRTIS

Illustrated by SCOTT COOPER, PAT ORTEGA, and LOSTON WALLACE

Maps by J. DAVID GEORGE and GABBY RUENES

An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS ®

STEVE JACKSON GAMES

Stock #37-1102

Version 1.0 – April 2010

C ONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . 3

Alternate Settings ..............3

Recommended Reading.........3

About the Author...............3

T HE C HASE .................10

Planned Encounters ...........10

Exhausted Horses .............10

Spooking Horses ..............11

Accelerated Recovery ...........11

If Outlaws Are Outlawed, Only

Outlaws Will Be Outlaws .....12

B AT G ULCH ......................12

C AVE M AP ......................13

Attacking Father MacDermod ....13

T HE L INK P OINT .................14

Random Encounters...........14

P ARTING W ORDS .............15

4. C HARACTERS . . . . . . . 16

H UMANS AND H UMANOIDS ......16

The Outlaws..................16

The Hairies ..................16

Father MacDermod

and the Aztecs .............17

Donna Nesbitt................17

The Posse ....................18

B ESTIARY ...................19

Bat .........................19

Bat Attacks ...................19

Big Lizzie (“Big Lizard”) .......19

Big-Neck Whale...............19

Croc ........................19

Dragon......................20

Trampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Duck Mouth..................20

Great Snake..................20

Gull.........................20

Horse .......................20

Jawbone.....................21

Mammoth ...................21

Other Dinosaurs ...............21

Snarler ......................22

Toe Ponies ...................22

Turtle .......................22

1. S ETTING U P . . . . . . . . . 4

R OMANCE P OINTS ..............4

The Love Table .................5

Winning the Hand

of Donna Nesbitt ............5

2. N ARRATIVE . . . . . . . . . . 6

When Love Is Not Enough .......6

Restating the Goals.............7

Getting There..................7

3. L IZARD B ASIN . . . . . . . 8

The Terrain ...................8

Tracking......................8

L IZARD B ASIN .....................9

For some time he stood thus, literally aghast at the

magnitude of his discovery.

– Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth

About GURPS

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Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the

GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that

begin with B refer to that book, not this one.

C ONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

A LTERNATE S ETTINGS

Although this adventure is designed as a western, it could

be set in any time or place as long as several factors are kept

in mind:

•ThePCshavefew,ifanypowers;anyextranormalabilities

that the heroes have are limited in effect and range.

•The PCs have minimal armor.

•ThePCsareridinghorses,notmotorizedvehicles;ifwalk-

ing is preferred, then the outlaws must be on foot, too.

•There is a hill or bend that could hide the location of the

anomaly’s entrance.

•The starting town is small.

With these essential features in mind, the adventure can be

adapted with little modification to take place in Victorian

England or modern Colorado.

This is not a western adventure John Wayne or Jimmy

Stewart would have taken part in, nor is it like anything Louis

L’Amourwilleverwrite.Ithasmoreincommonwith...well...

Ray Harryhausen. The Father of Dynamation (and Super

Dynamation, Super Dynarama, and Dynarama). The talent

behind Jason and the Argonauts,

The Mysterious Island, One Million

Years B.C., and the Sinbad saga.

And The Valley of Gwangi.

You see, there are dinosaurs

here. Neanderthal men. Plus a few

Aztecs. And one eighth-century

Irishman . . . riding a wooly mam-

moth. But don’t have this supple-

ment in sight! Don’t tell your

players! As far as they are con-

cerned, this should be a standard

westernrompinpursuitofthebad-

men and kidnapped school marm

Donna Nesbitt. Your players will

comeridingtotherescue...

. . . and that’s when you spring the dinosaurs on them!

This1980s-styleadventureisintendedforfourtoeight150-

point PCs. The lethality is largely dependent on the number

and type of dinosaurs that the party faces, and is thus control-

lable by the GM. Although specific roles are provided for this

scenario, premade characters are not, so the GM should allow

time for character creation before the adventure.

Thisadventuremayseemeasyatfirst.Itisn’t.Whilenotreal-

istic, these cinematic “Hollywood” dinosaurs are very deadly

creatures.Thepossemaykillseveralwithoutincident–goodfor

them! However, when one of the fearsome beasts finally gets

through...well,someonewillbedeadorhurting.OnePCgone

means a fraction of the firepower is gone, leading to more

dinosaursgettingthrough...TheGM,however,isfreetotinker

withdinosaurhitpointsifhesodesires.

This adventure may take several game sessions to play,

depending on whether the players have spent any time with

western games and on how “efficiently” they play. If a shorter

adventure is needed, cut Encounters #4 to #10 (pp. 10-11),

throwing in two more dead horses (their riders eaten) at

Encounter #11 (“Jaws”).

R ECOMMENDED R EADING

Someweaponsprovidedtotheadventureparticipantscanbe

foundin GURPSHigh-Tech, thoughplayerswithonlythe Basic

Set should be able to make adjustments relatively easily. For

ideas on running “lost world” adventures, check out GURPS

Lands Out of Time. Thosewhowanttorecreatecombatscenes

will find the following Cardboard Heroes sets handy: Fantasy

Set 6 – Monsters I (forNeanderthals), Fantasy Set 4 – Animals

(for representing dinosaurs and other creatures), Fantasy Set

13 – Dragons (as an approximation of larger critters), and

Cowboys and Indians (foritsselectionofgenrefigures).

A BOUT THE A UTHOR

W.G. (Bill) Armintrout began his game design career in

1978 with the publication of Hot Spot, a Metagaming

microgame. In addition to his freelance work, he has worked

for Steve Jackson Games, Bard Games, Origin Systems,

Electronic Arts, Turbine, Psygnosis, Vicarious Visions; design-

ing, developing, and programming board games, RPGs, com-

puter games, and video games. He currently is the proprietor

of The Miniatures Page ( www.theminiaturespage.com ), a

website for miniature wargamers.

GURPS System Design STEVE JACKSON

GURPS Line Editor SEAN PUNCH

Managing Editor PHILIP REED

e23 Manager STEVEN MARSH

Page Design PHIL REED and

JUSTIN DEWITT

Art Director WILL SCHOONOVER

Production Artist NIKOLA VRTIS

Prepress Checker MONICA STEPHENS

Marketing Director PAUL CHAPMAN

Director of Sales ROSS JEPSON

GURPS FAQ Maintainer –––––––

VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO

Additional Material: Lizard, Sean Punch, and David L. Pulver.

The “Utah Team” Playtesters: Brent “Valdessnado” Anderson, David “Chinese” Chadwick, Mike “Niles” Chadwick, Rich “Grimble” Davis, Tracy “Trapper” Dustin,

Shane “Smithie” Dustin, Mike “Zebedian” LaGrow, Alex “Zeke” Orton, Alethea “Walton” Potter, David “Zirk” Potter, Eric “John-boy” Swallie, and Mike “Doc” Wedemeyer.

GURPS , Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid , Big Lizzie, e23, and the names

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I NTRODUCTION

C HAPTER O NE

S ETTING U P

Inanutshell,thesituationin Big Lizzie isthis:Amangycol-

lection of outlaws holds up the Nobles (Arizona) bank, taking

ashostagelovelyDonnaNesbitt,darlingoftheregion.Ahastily

organized party of townsfolk and a rancher family set off in

pursuit. As the outlaws head south toward Mexico, they and

their pursuers blunder into an interdimensional region where

dinosaurs still walk.

Theadventureisintendedforbrand-newPCs;eachindivid-

ual takes a role appropriate to the adventure (the Doctor, the

Eldest Bother, the Gambler, etc.) from the list provided on

p. 18. At the GM’s discretion, existing PCs may be used, but

each should assume a role appropriate to a frontier town and

beworkedintotheadventurebackground.(Notethatthetown

sheriff dies in the opening sequence, but someone could play

the sheriff’s deputy.)

The heroes’ party should consist of about eight people; if

there are fewer players, the GM can run some of the remain-

ing roles as NPCs or allow players to play two PCs each.

Alternatively, the GM can increase the heroes’ power level and

havethembettersuppliedfromthestart–agroupoffour,300-

point“actionheroes”withtwicethesuppliescouldsurvivethis

scenario with a little luck. If none of these suggestions fit the

gaming group, it’s easy to scale back the difficulty of this

adventure by making the dinosaurs less aggressive and having

the group face fewer Hairies near the end.

The GM may randomly choose roles for the players – 12

roles are given, so not all will be used – or he may wish to

describe them and have the players pick. Note that there are

two PC groups – the Family (four Brothers, Father, Grandpa,

and the Cook) and Townsfolk (Blacksmith, Gambler, Store

Owner, Trapper, and Doctor).

Once this is accomplished, and eight roles have been

assigned or chosen, the subsequent steps are:

1. Naming. Players must name their heroes. Family mem-

bers(theCookandGrandpaexcepted)mustchooseacommon

last name.

2. Character Creation. Character stats are assigned now. If

desired,PCsmaybethesamesexastheirplayers.Simplyalter

the sex of the role as appropriate – Father becomes Mother,

Brother is Sister, Store Owner is addressed as “Ma’am,” etc.

Each male PC except the Cook now determines why he

loves Donna Nesbitt, the town’s school marm, a matter that

willshortlybecomevitallyimportant.See The Love Table (p.5)

for instructions. The Cook and female PCs need not roll. For

the female heroes, Donna is the best friend they have in this

world. The Cook, meanwhile, knows that his employers adore

Donna, so he too is devoted to seeing her safe.

3. Equipment. Eachroledescriptiononp.18liststheequip-

ment that each hero is carrying at the moment he is involved

in this adventure. The GM may also approve other gear if he

desires – bear traps for the Trapper, for instance.

Donna, where can you be? Where

can you be?

– Ritchie Valens,

“Donna”

R OMANCE P OINTS

Romanceisattheheartofthisadventure.Thatiswhatkeeps

the heroes in pursuit of the outlaws, goads them into fighting

dinosaurstheycouldeasilyoutrun,andmakesthingsfun.

The GM awards Romance Points secretly during the

game, to male and female PCs alike. He does not tell a player

that he has just won Romance Points, but silently adds them

tothatplayer’stotal.Atconvenientintervals(afterabattle,or

at the end of a session of play), the GM updates the players

on their comparative standings in general terms, such as “the

Blacksmith is going to get some attention for dropping that

bat, but Grandpa is still number one . . .”

Romance Points are granted for a variety of reasons.

Killing a Dinosaur: Worth 20 Romance Points or the

Encounter Number (from one to five on the Encounter Tables,

p. 15) times 10, whichever is greater. (For encounters with

ranges, use the first number in the range to determine the

number of points received.) At the GM’s discretion, if simulta-

neous killing shots take down a creature, everyone making the

shots get the points.

Major Wounds : Any single shot that causes in excess of 1/2

of the dinosaur’s HP in damage but does not kill a dinosaur is

worth 15 Romance Points.

Each Shot: Each successful shot at a dinosaur is worth 5

Romance Points.

Running from Battle: In any battle in which some of the

heroes run away from a dinosaur, the PCs who do not run

receive double the fight’s normal Points.

Wounds: Each wounded PC receives 20 Romance Points.

Death: A hero who is killed receives 50 Romance Points.

S ETTING U P

The Love Table

For each male PC (one at a time, in any order), roll a

die. On a 1-3, roll a second die on Column A of the Love

Table (below); on a 4-6, roll a second die on Column B.

Read the text to the player, then write the name of the role

nexttotheentrytomarkitasused.Amarkedentrycannot

be reused – if one comes up again, reroll it.

You have loved the school marm, Donna Nesbitt, ever

since . . .

Role Column A Reason

_____ Youfoundoutthatthosebrothersofthatranch-

ingfamilywereafterher.You hate thosebroth-

ers.(IfthisisgiventoaFamilymember,it

referstotheothermembersofthefamily.)

_____ That night at the Settlers’ Ball when you kissed

her and she slapped your face. You like a

woman with spunk.

_____ You first saw her with the school children, and

realized what a marvelous wife and mother she

would make.

_____ You saw that marvelous shoulder-length chest-

nut cascade of hair, and dreamed of its fresh

clean scent.

_____ Yousawherstepdownfromthestagecoachon

thedayshearrived,andyounoticedshehadthe

mostbeautifulpairofanklesyou’deverseen.

_____ You heard an angel singing, and then realized as

you passed the schoolhouse that it was Donna’s

sweet voice singing to the children.

Role Column B Reason

_____ That rattlesnake ventured onto Main Street and

Donna drilled him with her lady-sized der-

ringer. You have to admire a gal that shoots

hard and straight.

_____ That night at the Settlers’ Ball when you passed

out on the steps of the schoolhouse. In the

morning, you dimly remember Donna throw-

ing a blanket on you where you lay. Thinking

about her, you haven’t touched a drop since.

_____ The children talked you into fixing the fence of

the schoolyard. Donna thanked you for your

kindness, and her smile dazzled you with its

radiance.

_____ You realized that Lionel Nesbitt is the wealthy

financier driving the railroads through the

Territory, and that Donna must be his daughter.

_____ That night at the Settlers’ Ball when you

danced with her, and felt her warm and

graceful in your arms.

_____ You learned of her love for poetry and for art, so

different from any of the other women you’ve

known on the frontier.

Expertise: Whenever someone successfully uses one of his

skills (such as when the Trapper tracks, or when the Doctor

heals), he receives 20 Romance Points.

Tokens: Donna drops “Tokens” behind her as the adventure

goesalong.WhenaTokenisencountered,itisfoundbyoneof

the heroes with the three lowest Romance Point totals (roll

randomly). That person receives 20 Romance Points.

Naming: Wheneveradinosaurtypeisencountered,thePCs

must give it a name. (The GM may let the heroes choose their

ownname,orhemaysimplyinformthemthattheyhavegiven

it the name provided in Bestiary, pp. 19-22.) One of those with

thethreelowestRomancePointtotals(randomlychosen)may

name the dinosaur, and receives 10 Romance Points.

Miscellaneous: The GM should award Romance Point

bonusesinunitsof5,10,and20foranythinghefinds“roman-

tic” or otherwise impressive to Donna. After the adventure,

she’ll talk to everyone in the rescue party, and thus find out

about practically everything they’ve done.

Examples include:

•SingingalovesongtooraboutDonna

aroundtheeveningcampfire(20Romance

Points to the first player to do so).

•Yelling“ForDonna!”whilecharginga

Big Lizzie (10 Romance Points).

• Naming a lake after Donna (5

Romance Points).

The GM may also give Romance Point

penaltiesforanythingoffensivetoDonna.

This includes attacking fellow party members, unnecessary

attacks on passive dinosaurs, and so forth.

W INNING THE H AND

OF D ONNA N ESBITT

When the adventure is over, each man (except the Cook, if

he’s male) gets his chance to propose to Donna Nesbitt, while

thewomen,theCook,andanyonewhodoesn’twanttopropose

get the opportunity to influence Donna on behalf of a living

hero or someone back in town. (The Cook should try to

encourage Donna to marry one of the Family members.)

Proposals or persuasions are taken in Romance Point order,

highest score going first. The hero makes an appropriate

Influenceroll(p.B359)orEnthrallmentskillroll(p.B191-192)

against Donna’s Will of 12. On a “Good” reaction or better,

Donnadecidestomarrythathero(orthepersonbeing

suggested). The GM may give a small bonus to

someone with a particularly high Romance Point

total – perhaps even a penalty to the person with

the lowest total, if he gets a chance to go. On less

thana“Good”reaction,thenextPCgetshischance.

Deceasedheroesstillgettheirchancetowinthe

woman’sheart;Donnamaychoosetopineawayfor

his memory rather than marry someone else.

Donna may choose not to marry anyone.

There’sonlyaslimchanceofthat,butloveisnoto-

riously fickle.

S ETTING U P

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