And a happy GURPSDay to you and yours!
I have a convention coming up next weekend that I’m still furiously prepping for, but I wanted to make a quick post to heap much-deserved praises on the GURPS Calculator web app. It really is 9.1 kg of awesome in a 5.8 kg sack, and I wholeheartedly suggest you check it out for streamlining your games at the table.
I reviewed a version of this when it was still in its infancy as an Android app (and have reused some of that here), but the app today has many more features and has grown tremendously. The fact that the Calculator is now a web app instead of an Android app cannot be helped, but that really is the only drawback — you must have an active internet connection to access the Calculator (though it works fine on desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone).
Once you’re at the site, you’ll see a navigation bar at the top of the page.
Starting from the right, the first item is a super basic dice roller labeled “Roll 3d!” This is extremely handy when you’re using the Calculator for other things but just need a quick roll. There are no options, no frills, you don’t need to navigate to another page… just tap the button and it rolls 3d6.
Next is a drop-down for “Settings,” letting you do things like change your password, change the color scheme (though I personally prefer the default “Cerulean”), choose whether to use optional rules from Matrial Arts, things like that.
And then, under “Tools,” is where the magic happens. It’s glorious.
And, finally, the “Characters” drop-down actually lets you import entire characters into the Calculator from the venerable GURPS Character Sheet character builder which, among other things, allows you to roll against any skill, attribute, attack, or defense at the click of a button. For example, all three shots from this RoF 3 pistol successfully hit… rolled and penetrating damage has already been calculated for each hit:
As you can see, the GURPS Calculator puts a huge number of options at your fingertips. I love it, my players love it… and who knows, maybe you’ll love it too! At the very least, it’s worth a peek… I suspect you won’t be sorry. (If you do love it, the creator has a Patreon account… and it’s close to unlocking support for importing GCA character files!)
Happy GURPSDay!
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