Character Creation: GUTS+

Why didn't the skeleton go to the horror movie? Because he didn't have the guts! 

The Game: GUTS+
The Publisher: Robbie Antenesse
Degree of Familiarity: None, but it's only 30 pages long
Books Required: Just the one

GUTS+ is yet another "universal" system without much to recommend it. That sounds harsh, but it's not really meant to be.

Games like this, and so many others I've read, I wish I could have had them when I was in high school or early college. It's not that lots of games didn't exist, but the internet didn't, meaning that games like GUTS+ weren't practical. The closest you really got was GURPS, and GURPS was an intimidating 300 page beast with a billion sourcebooks (yes, I'm aware that you don't need all or even any of said sourcebooks, but that's not the point). 

Meanwhile, GUTS+ is perfectly playable. It's not as simple as it thinks it is - I'll get to that - but I'm pretty sure that when we were playing TSR's Marvel Superheroes and occasionally trying to parse Palladium games or Bushido this would have been a nice change of pace. And more to the point, it was open in a way that most games weren't - GUTS+, like a lot of latter-day universal systems, leans into the "do what you want!" style of game design. 

Anyway, there's a perfectly cromulent sample situation in the GM section. To wit, we're on a space ship doing a supply run, the computer's AI has woken us up because there's a problem in the cargo bay ("one of the crossbeams has gone out of skew on treadle!"), and it turns out there's a little alien creature bouncing around eating through whatever it comes into contact with. It's not a million miles from Alien, or the Dread scenario "Beneath the Metal Sky". (Man, I should run Dread again.)

So let's make a character for said scenario! That means my basic setup is relatively realistic sci-fi, no magic or cyberpunk-level implants. I gotta say, the character sheet is on point. 

Well, in a scenario this like, I think it'd be fun to play a young worker on his first off-world run. Let's call him Carmine (he's Italian! Or space-Italian, I dunno). Carmine Buono has been working on the asteroid belt colony where he lives (where he was born, probably) for most of his life, and has been pushing for an off-world run for a lot of that time. Finally, they let him go - he's trained as a water miner (one of the things this supply ship is bringing back is water), so let's say he's trained in things like water purification, chemical analysis, and fluid dynamics. Good start!

Everything in GUTS+ is based on Qualities. The first four are Gumption, Utility, Thought, and Slyness, and the descriptions could use some work (Gumption is described as "go-getter-ness", which, c'mon, there are so many real words you could have used). I need to also add at least one custom Quality to reflect Carmine's particular skills or knowledge, and I can add up to three. And then I get 3 points to add into Qualities (they all start at 1). 

In play, we'd roll d6s equal to the Quality in question (there's some talk about adding Qualities together, but it's never really clear a) if that's standard or an exception or b) if you're limited to two). If you're doing a check, you're looking at the numbers being shown (1 is "negative impact," 5 is "success" - it's kind of similar to Forged in the Dark). If you're doing a contest, you add up all the dice and compare your total to your opponent's, highest total determines outcome. 

I said earlier that the system isn't as simple as it thinks it is. Right there, the game is using two different kinds of resolution. Being assisted by someone uses yet another, while if you roll doubles you roll more dice. None of it is complex, exactly, but there are a lot of discrete things to remember. And the optional magic system is the most detailed and elaborate thing in the book (which kinda makes me think that that's what the game should be about, but whatever). 

Anyway! Back to Carmine. I think his fifth Quality should reflect his training, so let's call it "Water Science" (I'm not calling it "Hydrology" because that's mostly concerned with water's movements, and Carmine's training is deeper but more specific.) I'll also give him a "Repair" Quality; I think Carmine might be or become a bit of a grease monkey. 

Three points to spread around! I think I'll put a point into Gumption, a point into Utility, and a point into Water Science. 

Next thing is just clothing and accessories, and I can kinda just pick these. Well, actually, the sample scenario wants me to pick a role and base inventory on that, but I want to customize a little more so I'm gonna use standard chargen. Carmine's wearing blue coveralls and work boots, he's got an anchor belt (no gravity on the ship), and he's got a bandana on his head. He's wearing a leather strap with a wooden cross around his neck (metal jewelry isn't allowed on the ship). 

And then inventory! I can have 5 things in my pockets and 5 things in a bag. Let's say Carmine's "bag" is his away kit, so it's got a water purification testing kit, an antidote injector, a level, a miniature microscope, and a stun gun (standard issue; never know what kind of wildlife you'll find). In his pockets, he's got an anchor line (there's no gravity in the ship), a pack of ginger gum, a hydro-meter (measures relative humidity in the air), gloves, and a sample collecting kit.

That's all the numbers-y stuff. Carmine is 20. He's got black hair and blue eyes, and he's a toucher - he taps walls and objects when he walks (or floats) by them, and his impulse is to reach out and touch people on the shoulder or arm while's talking to them, but he's trying to unlearn that. If he's nervous he talks loudly and gesticulates. 

And that's actually it!