Creating Cursed Items

[u/Key-Pickle-3687]

Hey Y'all, I'm going to be gming a campaign in a short while for the first time and I'm wondering if you have any tips on creating cursed items or other types of macguffins with clear downsides.

For some background, the campaign will be mostly realistic (being based in 1950's New York) with a Persona-series like other world which warps and affects the real world in subtle ways. The items will be mostly mundane while in the real world, but will gain powers while in the other plane.

The thing is, the more "cinematic" powers are easily able to be handled through flavor and a bit of mechanical and story based handwaving, but Gurps being Gurps, there seems to be a million different ways to make the actual mechanical effects of them.

My current plan is to make items that when used in the designated way grant their wielders a set of Advantages and Disadvantages. The point cost shouldn't matter since there's no reason to charge the players for an item I'm giving them, but should I still design the abilities with the logical limitations? Preparing for when an item gets stolen, should I mark down that the Advantage has the "Can be stolen" and "Breakable" limitations? Is there a reason to beyond just wanting to make sure everything goes as by the books as possible? (Thinking about it, this could be handled pretty easily with an Item template that just has every limitation like that listed already.) The players probably won't have access to the exact descriptions of these so I'm just wondering what you guys do with GM only stuff.

Also, are there any interesting limitations to make traits partially nullifiable?

I'm also barely versed in how psionics and spells interact with item creation so should I look into those or is my advantage idea good enough. I do know that those are more meant for players wanting to create items. (Some spells do have unique effects that advantages can't cover completely so I shouldn't wholly shut them down though.)

Also, if you have any supplement books to recommend for this it would really help.

[u/Ozymo]

If you aren't charging points then it's equipment. You can give it whatever stats you like and, for more abstract effects, simply describe what it does. You don't need to build it with advantages and disadvantages unless that makes things easier.

As for supplements, GURPS Fantasy has a section on magical items, if I recall.

[u/wallingfortian]

The Hex spell (Magic p.57) prevents the victim from removing an item. It also prevents the item from being destroyed. Making a Hexed item transferrable would require Password (M p.68) spoken by the wielder. A custom variant Password might not even be a word, such as getting someone to willingly, if unknowingly, take the cursed item.

Probably not what you were after, but there it is.

[u/Key-Pickle-3687 → u/wallingfortian]

Not exactly what I was looking for, but its something I'll keep in mind. I was talking with a friend about how I'll handle the transferability and he suggested something like this flavor wise. Might fit well with a "binding" or "attuning" mechanic I thought about adding for some items.

[u/Boyboy081]

Cursed items are one of the things that Gurps is funny about, because *technically* a curse is a good thing that should cost points. Why? Because you can trick an enemy into using a cursed item.

So if you had two swords, one that had +2 to damage and one that had +2 to damage and drove the holder mad, it would actually cost more than the one which was purely positive.

So if you want to make cursed items that are "Relatively" cheaper than uncursed ones, you'll have to first make a clear line about if players can foist their cursed items onto others. If you have curses that only the players will have to suffer, you can allow curses to give discounts.

That said, whenever items are important to a campaign, I suggest reading Gurps Meta-Tech. That's the book's whole theme.

[u/Key-Pickle-3687 → u/Boyboy081]

Transferable curses are definitely a fun idea. I'm planning to make the found cursed items relatively nefarious and clearly dangerous to the party, and later on allow players to custom create items through their points. (I'll have to think about how I'll handle them creating something that's meant to be dangerous to carry) The found ones will be free due to being an unknown and uncontrollable risk to have around.

A few of the items I've planned could be foisted onto another since their activation condition is explicitly wearing them, but it would be difficult to do so. Creating a distinction between "bound" and "unbound" items would fix the problems that could arise with transferring curses. Bound items cursing only the binder and Unbound ones affecting anybody touching them. So a hot potato would still be possible and be a different type of tool in their arsenal.

I'll deffo read through meta-tech. Thanks!

[u/mbaucco → u/Boyboy081]

You could fix that by doing the old D&D thing where you cannot remove or give away an object once you have touched it.

[u/BigDamBeavers]

I'd start by asking why the item is cursed. Was it designed as a trap. Was it an enchantment that went awry? Was it a punishment placed on someone for a crime? Sometimes the better part of a piece of equipment is it's story, and your cursed item should match it's story.