Maybe it's just me, but the one thing that I want to see in a set of game rules, to make them really come alive for me, and really make sense, is long-form examples. It's not enough to just give me a sentence or two of example - I want to see the whole scenario play out.
Runequest has used the sort of example system throughout it's existence, at least from 2nd edition, back when I was a youngster, through to the current sixth edition, and it really makes the game work for new players. You're not just given abstract ideas to work with, but real situations, battles to be fought, enemies to be evaded, traps to be sprung and the like, with examples of the math behind the rolls, the results of those rolls, and the way that the game plays out because of it.
GURPS occasionally has these sort of long form examples, but not nearly often enough for my taste. Yes, you can find some details of a few fights in the combat rule section of the Campaigns book, but not with enough detail to really help to internalize the whys and wherefores of the decision-making process for the players.
You can find examples online, if you look, but they are limited to merely mechanics as well. The Mook is my go-to site for new players who want to understand what the combat rules can look like in play, for example, but even there it's very generic, very simplistic, and not terribly useful to a new GM looking for how the game can not just work out mechanically, but can really model fast and furious combat that feels realistic and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
So, I've decided to start putting together examples of combat as they play out, with scenarios that make sense in a larger context. Some I'll steal from other games and play out using GURPS rules (hello, Runequest - can I borrow those ideas?) and others will come from my own fevered imagination.
Anyway, look for those in the next few days, here, post by post.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Nicks, Grazes and Flesh Wounds
So, you all know that I love GURPS like a fat man loves fried chicken [Full Disclosure: I am a fat man; I adore fried chicken] but my love is not blind. There are issues with the best-written set of rules, and GURPS is not immune.
One of my biggest peeves is actually an artifact of a design decision from when the game was created. GURPS is designed to only require six-sided dice, and this leads to things like increasing number of dice to represent more powerful weapons - seems logical. If a .38 bullet does 2d damage, and a .44 Magnum does 3d, then of course a 5.56mm does 5d and a 7.62x51mm does 7d.
But there's a side effect to adding more dice - a rapidly increasing "damage floor" that doesn't reflect reality of bullet wounding. If the shooter rolls a hit, and the target fails to defend, he's going to take at least 7 points of damage from a 7.26mm bullet. There's no mechanism to do less. Any hit to the torso does 7 points on a really, truly terrible roll, and only goes up from there. So what if the bullet only grazes the target, or punches through and through?
There is no mechanism in the rules for this, but that just means that we need to start talking about house rules. Here's a set that I propose to give real flexibility, regardless of the type of attack.
If an attack roll successful and the defense roll is only just barely successful (rolling exactly the number needed), the attack does 1d of damage, with a maximum damage of the number of dice of the attack. Thus a flesh wound of this type from a .380ACP round does 1-2 points of damage, while a 5.56mm bullet does 1-5 points.
If an attack roll is just barely successful (rolling exactly the number needed), and the defense roll fails, the attack does exactly 1 point of damage. This is a graze or a nick.
If both attack and defense rolls are just barely successful, rolling exactly the number needed, no damage is caused to the target, but any secondary effects that require nothing more than touch can take effect (electrical damage, contact poisons, etc) and as a special effect clothing might be slashed or torn.
This can be applied to any attack, even swords and bows, to keep axes and crossbows from doing 6 or 7 points of damage at a minimum.
Thoughts? Does it pass the smell test? Does it feel realistic?
One of my biggest peeves is actually an artifact of a design decision from when the game was created. GURPS is designed to only require six-sided dice, and this leads to things like increasing number of dice to represent more powerful weapons - seems logical. If a .38 bullet does 2d damage, and a .44 Magnum does 3d, then of course a 5.56mm does 5d and a 7.62x51mm does 7d.
But there's a side effect to adding more dice - a rapidly increasing "damage floor" that doesn't reflect reality of bullet wounding. If the shooter rolls a hit, and the target fails to defend, he's going to take at least 7 points of damage from a 7.26mm bullet. There's no mechanism to do less. Any hit to the torso does 7 points on a really, truly terrible roll, and only goes up from there. So what if the bullet only grazes the target, or punches through and through?
There is no mechanism in the rules for this, but that just means that we need to start talking about house rules. Here's a set that I propose to give real flexibility, regardless of the type of attack.
If an attack roll successful and the defense roll is only just barely successful (rolling exactly the number needed), the attack does 1d of damage, with a maximum damage of the number of dice of the attack. Thus a flesh wound of this type from a .380ACP round does 1-2 points of damage, while a 5.56mm bullet does 1-5 points.
If an attack roll is just barely successful (rolling exactly the number needed), and the defense roll fails, the attack does exactly 1 point of damage. This is a graze or a nick.
If both attack and defense rolls are just barely successful, rolling exactly the number needed, no damage is caused to the target, but any secondary effects that require nothing more than touch can take effect (electrical damage, contact poisons, etc) and as a special effect clothing might be slashed or torn.
This can be applied to any attack, even swords and bows, to keep axes and crossbows from doing 6 or 7 points of damage at a minimum.
Thoughts? Does it pass the smell test? Does it feel realistic?
Dungeon Fantasy - GURPS does D&D
GURPS is designed from the ground up to realistically model the world - whatever that world happens to be. It may be full of unrealistic things, like magic or psionics or cartoon physics, but the core rules are based on a solid understanding of how the world really works, and the game is designed to leverage that understanding.
That said, even the hardest-core GURPS player occasionally wants to go into a dungeon, find some monsters, kill them, and take their stuff - the core of what most D&D campaigns are, and have been, since I've been gaming - ever since '79. One of the real powerhouses on the GURPS authorial staff, Shawn "Dr. Kromm" Punch, took this idea and ran with it, initiating a line of PDF products under the Dungeon Fantasy label.
If you're the kind of person who hasn't ever played a more nuanced sort of game, where social interaction is important, and the reasons for things happening have some sort of internal consistency, these books can read as being a little condescending. But for those of us who have had that richer, more nuanced gaming experience, they work, almost offering absolution for playing a game that might not, technically, still be role-playing, but is definitely a chance to have fun.
Dungeon Fantasy has proven to be so successful that they've released fifteen(!) supplements, a published adventure, and a Monster Manual-like tome of beasties for your players to confront. Now, you're saying to yourself, "I spent a good deal of money on the basic rules set, now you want me to buy seventeen more books? Is this Amway?" Let me try to calm your fears.
First, GURPS is, if nothing else, intensely modular. You can get into Dungeon Fantasy with nothing more than the first book - Adventurers. If you're not interested in some or all of the other books, skip them. I actively avoided the book on Ninja - I didn't like them in my D&D, I don't need them in my Dungeon Fantasy.
Second, these are released as PDFs (though some can be purchased as printed softcovers), through the Steve Jackson Games website (http://e23.sjgames.com) for $7.99 each. Not exactly a pricy option for each of these, though of course they do add up if you have OCD and must have the whole collection. Don't judge me!
Finally, these sorts of books are really not adding very much in the way of new material. What they're doing is using the rules - the tool kit - from the Basic Set to build up some examples, be they templates or lenses to apply to characters. You could "reverse engineer" these ideas all on your own, without spending one red cent, with little more than the basic rules in front of you. There's literally nothing keeping you from playing a D&D-styled game with just those two rulebooks. The value-add is that someone (in this case an expert in the game) has done the heavy lifting for you, and made it easy for you to sit down and build a character in under ten minutes by selecting a proper template and making a few simple decisions about the kinds of skills you want, from a predetermined list, and what sort of weapons you intend to carry, and for wizards and clerics, what spells you have access to. And then you're on your way.
So, if you're new to GURPS, I can say that these rules are going to make your life easier if you choose to play a dungeon delving game. If you have some hard core D&Ders in your group, it might be just the thing to get them to give the system a try - it will short-circuit the "making characters takes too long" lament so common to newcomers to GURPS, and it provides a comfortable, familiar style of play with which to learn the rules. And then, as you get better and better with the rules, you can start adding in additional modules and optional rules. Some of your players won't even notice, but others will start to see the elegance of the system, and you may wind up with some converts on your hands.
That said, even the hardest-core GURPS player occasionally wants to go into a dungeon, find some monsters, kill them, and take their stuff - the core of what most D&D campaigns are, and have been, since I've been gaming - ever since '79. One of the real powerhouses on the GURPS authorial staff, Shawn "Dr. Kromm" Punch, took this idea and ran with it, initiating a line of PDF products under the Dungeon Fantasy label.
If you're the kind of person who hasn't ever played a more nuanced sort of game, where social interaction is important, and the reasons for things happening have some sort of internal consistency, these books can read as being a little condescending. But for those of us who have had that richer, more nuanced gaming experience, they work, almost offering absolution for playing a game that might not, technically, still be role-playing, but is definitely a chance to have fun.
Dungeon Fantasy has proven to be so successful that they've released fifteen(!) supplements, a published adventure, and a Monster Manual-like tome of beasties for your players to confront. Now, you're saying to yourself, "I spent a good deal of money on the basic rules set, now you want me to buy seventeen more books? Is this Amway?" Let me try to calm your fears.
First, GURPS is, if nothing else, intensely modular. You can get into Dungeon Fantasy with nothing more than the first book - Adventurers. If you're not interested in some or all of the other books, skip them. I actively avoided the book on Ninja - I didn't like them in my D&D, I don't need them in my Dungeon Fantasy.
Second, these are released as PDFs (though some can be purchased as printed softcovers), through the Steve Jackson Games website (http://e23.sjgames.com) for $7.99 each. Not exactly a pricy option for each of these, though of course they do add up if you have OCD and must have the whole collection. Don't judge me!
Finally, these sorts of books are really not adding very much in the way of new material. What they're doing is using the rules - the tool kit - from the Basic Set to build up some examples, be they templates or lenses to apply to characters. You could "reverse engineer" these ideas all on your own, without spending one red cent, with little more than the basic rules in front of you. There's literally nothing keeping you from playing a D&D-styled game with just those two rulebooks. The value-add is that someone (in this case an expert in the game) has done the heavy lifting for you, and made it easy for you to sit down and build a character in under ten minutes by selecting a proper template and making a few simple decisions about the kinds of skills you want, from a predetermined list, and what sort of weapons you intend to carry, and for wizards and clerics, what spells you have access to. And then you're on your way.
So, if you're new to GURPS, I can say that these rules are going to make your life easier if you choose to play a dungeon delving game. If you have some hard core D&Ders in your group, it might be just the thing to get them to give the system a try - it will short-circuit the "making characters takes too long" lament so common to newcomers to GURPS, and it provides a comfortable, familiar style of play with which to learn the rules. And then, as you get better and better with the rules, you can start adding in additional modules and optional rules. Some of your players won't even notice, but others will start to see the elegance of the system, and you may wind up with some converts on your hands.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Welcome!
Some folks were complaining that there's nothing being written about GURPS anymore. And I spend way, way too much of my time thinking about the system and about ways to use it, to keep all of that in my head any longer.
So I ginned up an email address and a blogger site, and will set to work writing, hopefully daily, about the ins and outs of my favorite game system, GURPS.
If you're new to the system, let me break it down a bit.
Generic Universal RolePlaying System. Man, that's terrible. Even the developers agree, though - it was an internal code name, a temporary name they assigned to the rules while they were looking for something better, and over time it just stuck. But it is descriptive. You can play any kind of game (sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, etc) and in any world or universe (from fiction, from a RPG company, or from your own fevered imagination) with the same system, every time. Master GURPS and you never need another game system, no matter what you choose to do with it.
So that's what we'll be talking about here. Rules questions and clarifications, examples of play, recommendations and reviews - all about GURPS.
So buckle up!
So I ginned up an email address and a blogger site, and will set to work writing, hopefully daily, about the ins and outs of my favorite game system, GURPS.
If you're new to the system, let me break it down a bit.
Generic Universal RolePlaying System. Man, that's terrible. Even the developers agree, though - it was an internal code name, a temporary name they assigned to the rules while they were looking for something better, and over time it just stuck. But it is descriptive. You can play any kind of game (sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, etc) and in any world or universe (from fiction, from a RPG company, or from your own fevered imagination) with the same system, every time. Master GURPS and you never need another game system, no matter what you choose to do with it.
So that's what we'll be talking about here. Rules questions and clarifications, examples of play, recommendations and reviews - all about GURPS.
So buckle up!
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