GURPS I Did Wrong: Man-to-Man Edition

Just as a fun followup to yesterday's post, what did I do wrong in Man-to-Man, the original combat system-only release of GURPS?

Heh. I didn't do this wrong long. But I remember it distinctly.

Shock Penalties Are Forever - back before 4th edition GURPS, stretching back to Man-to-Man, shock was unlimited. You could suffer any amount of it, not just the -4 cap you can suffer now.

And in my first Man-to-Man game, I didn't think it wore off in 1 second. Oh no. You just kept it.

In very short order, Rogan the Reaver and Fiendish Frederick were limping around at 3-4 HP but with -8+ on all of their attacks. They couldn't hit each other until one or the other of us eventually got a good shot in and finished the job.

But woo, that was tough. Injuries were debilitating, and ever since the "Death Spiral" of GURPS hasn't seemed that bad. I had made it much, much worse. Getting hit wasn't just a sign you were losing, it was pretty certain you weren't an effective combatant anymore, either.