AN E23 SOURCEBOOK FOR GURPS

STEVE JACKSON GAMESStock #37-0308 Version 1.0 October 2008

Written by SEAN PUNCHIllustrated by JOHN HARTWELL and DAN SMITH

ACTIONEXPLOITS

2TM

CONTENTS 2

CONTENTS

Additional Material: Shawn Fisher and Hans-Christian VortischPlaytesters: Paul Chapman and Steven Marsh

GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Exploits, e23, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license.

GURPS Action 2: Exploits is copyright 2008 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this material via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage

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INTRODUCTION. . . . 3About the Author . . . . . . 3About GURPS. . . . . . . . . 3

1. CHALLENGES, NOTHEADACHES . . . 4

BASIC ABSTRACTDIFFICULTY . . . . . . . . 4

How BAD Is It? . . . . . . . 4From BAD to Worse. . . . 4BAD Guys . . . . . . . . . . . . 5BAD Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

COMPLEMENTARYSKILLS . . . . . . . . . . . 5

TEAMWORK!. . . . . . . . . . . 5Got You Covered . . . . . . 5Pulling Your Weight. . . . 5

2. THE BASICS. . . . 6GETTING THE BALL

ROLLING . . . . . . . . . . 6The Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Assembling Kit . . . . . . . . 6Targets and

Locations . . . . . . . . . . 7Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Bullets, Beans,

and Batteries . . . . . . . 7SQUAD SOP. . . . . . . . . . . 8

Communications . . . . . . 8Formations . . . . . . . . . . . 9Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Subtlety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9The Cell Phone

Problem . . . . . . . . . . . 9Staying Alert . . . . . . . . . 10Go-To Skills . . . . . . . . . . 10

3. TRICKS OFTHE TRADE. . . 11

GATHERINGINTELLIGENCE. . . . . 11

Physical Searches. . . . . 11Audio Surveillance . . . . 12Visual Surveillance. . . . 12Bugs, Beacons,

and Wires. . . . . . . . . 12High-Tech Challenges . . 13Intercepts . . . . . . . . . . . 14Dumpster-Diving . . . . . 14Files and Records. . . . . 14

SOCIAL ENGINEERING . . 15Contacts and

Contact Groups . . . . 15Word on the Street. . . . 15Manipulation . . . . . . . . 15Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . 16Making Them Talk . . . . 16Fitting In . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . 17The Big Picture. . . . . . . 17Permission to Act . . . . . 17The Mission Plan . . . . . 17The Training Sequence 17How to Game

Fact-Finding. . . . . . . 17GETTING IN . . . . . . . . . . 18

Surveillance and Patrols. . . . . . . . 18

Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Climbing . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Parkour . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Fences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Locks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Security Systems . . . . . 21Barrier BAD-ness. . . . . . 21Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Safecracking . . . . . . . . . 22

GRABBING THE GOODS 23Finding the

MacGuffin . . . . . . . . 23Grand Theft Auto . . . . . 23Lifts and Pulls. . . . . . . . 23

Live Capture . . . . . . . . . 24DESTRUCTION . . . . . . . . 24

Arson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Blowing Stuff Up . . . . . 24Sabotage . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Setting Traps. . . . . . . . . 25

DECEPTION . . . . . . . . . . 26Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Cover-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . 26Fake ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Falsifying Records . . . . 26Fooling Polygraphs . . . 27Impersonation . . . . . . . 27Psy-Ops . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

GETTING AWAY. . . . . . . . 27PROVIDING SECURITY. . . 27

Watches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Bodyguard Duty . . . . . . 28Bomb Disposal . . . . . . . 28WMD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Checkpoint Security. . . 29Electronic Security. . . . 29Security Tools . . . . . . . . 30

4. ULTRA-VIOLENCE. . . . . . . . . . 31

Fight or Flight . . . . . . . 31CHASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Quarry and Pursuer . . . 31Rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Range Band Table . . . . . 31Chase Sequence . . . . . . 32Chase Maneuvers . . . . . 32Passenger Actions . . . . . 33Chase Rolls . . . . . . . . . . 34Multi-Party Chases . . . . 34Attacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Wipeouts . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

COMBAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Shooting

Made Easy . . . . . . . . 36

Cracking Skulls. . . . . . . 36Flashy Fighting. . . . . . . 37Sneaky Fighting . . . . . . 37Extra Effort Rules . . . . 37Cinematic

Combat Rules . . . . . 38Banter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Using Your Head . . . . . 39Standoffs . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Special Combat

Situations. . . . . . . . . 39

5. WHEN THINGSGO WRONG . . 40

MEDIC! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Outbreak! . . . . . . . . . . . 40Overdose, Poisoning,

and Venom. . . . . . . . 41REPAIRS. . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Its Better to Be Lucky . . 41CAPTURED! . . . . . . . . . . 42

Escaping Restraints . . . 42Escaping Prisons . . . . . 42

6. DIRECTING THEACTION. . . . . . 43

CAMPAIGN TYPES . . . . . . 43ASSISTANCE ROLLS

IN ACTION . . . . . . . . 44Ten Rules to

Use Sparingly . . . . . . 44DUTY IN ACTION . . . . . . 45ENEMIES . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Mooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Henchmen. . . . . . . . . . . 46Bosses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Other Enemies. . . . . . . . 46

AFTER ACTION . . . . . . . . 46Making Everybody

Useful . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

INDEX . . . . . . . . . 48

GURPS System Design STEVE JACKSONGURPS Line Editor SEAN PUNCH

e23 Manager STEVEN MARSHPage Design PHILIP REED

and JUSTIN DE WITT

Managing Editor PHILIP REEDArt Director WILL SCHOONOVERProduction Artist NIKOLA VRTIS

Indexer NIKOLA VRTISPrepress Checker MONICA STEPHENS

Marketing Director PAUL CHAPMANSales Manager ROSS JEPSON

Errata Coordinator ANDY VETROMILEGURPS FAQ Maintainer

VICKY MOLOKH KOLENKO

INTRODUCTION 3

An action movie is first and foremost a showcase for theheroes astonishing abilities. There might be calm before thestorm, emotional interludes, and slice-of-life moments, butwere holding our breath for the stunts and pyrotechnics forthe exploits. Without high-speed car chases, fights of all descrip-tions, and races against the clock to disarm bombs, hack com-puters, crack safes, and so on, action movies would seemstupid. Often they are stupid, but excitement forgives a lot!

Consequently, GURPS Action 2: Exploits cuts to the thrillsand ignores inconvenient realities. Its a collection of simplerules for resolving classic action situations without worryingmuch about minor details like human nature . . . or physics. Ifits possible on the silver screen and especially on the bluescreen thats good enough.

Players should be aware that the exploits described here aretailored to heroes created using GURPS Action 1: Heroes.While Exploits is by no means worthless on its own, it ofteninvokes assumptions and concepts from Heroes. Think of it asa sequel! Since a major goal of Exploits is to show how to usethe PCs abilities, the important skills, advantages, and evendisadvantages for each situation appear in boldface.

For the GM, Exploits is a guide to setting up action scenesto challenge the heroes. Its rules arent the official GURPStake on anything except over-the-top action. Feel free to usethem in a serious police procedural or a wilderness-of-mirrorsspy campaign but unless your cops can fire two guns whileleaping through the air, and your spies can save the world andbe back in time for tea, you might find these rules extreme.

ABOUT THE AUTHORSean Dr. Kromm Punch set out to become a particle

physicist in 1985, ended up the GURPS Line Editor in 1995,and has engineered rules for almost every GURPS productsince. During the GURPS Third Edition era, he compiled bothGURPS Compendium volumes, developed GURPS Lite,wrote GURPS Wizards and GURPS Undead, and edited orrevised over 20 other titles. With David Pulver, he produced theGURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition, in 2004. His latest creationsinclude GURPS Powers (with Phil Masters), GURPS MartialArts (with Peter DellOrto), and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1-4. Sean has been a gamer since 1979. His non-gaming inter-ests include cinema and wine. He lives in Montral, Qubec,with his wife, Bonnie. They have two cats, Banshee andZephyra, and a noisy parrot, Circe.

INTRODUCTION

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e23. Our e-publishing