Yesterday I posted a long gripe about us forgetting modifiers in play - I, the GM, and they, they players, forget to apply modifiers.
The session in question, I mis-remembered, and then mis-wrote down, and thus mis-ran, the rules for ice.
But that same session, I told the group repeatedly they had a -2 to attack and a -1 to defend . . . yet looking back on some of the rolls, it seems pretty clear some players didn't always apply the -2 to attack and it's possible once or twice the -1 to defend didn't come up, either.
Similarly, when I call for Stealth or Climbing rolls, it's fairly common for people to a) not subtract their encumbrance level, per the rules, and b) not know offhand what their encumbrance is. I say fairly common, and I really mean always. If I don't bring it up, it doesn't get applied.
I don't really expect them to do my job for me. However, I am GMing for 7-9 players and 10+ characters most sessions - 7-9 PCs, plus one PC has a henchman, and another PC has 2-5 skeletons and often a skull-spirit (A DF Toxic Skull) under his command, too. I have to run all of the foes that such a large group encounters. Running 5-20 foes on top of ensuring that 7-9 PCs and 4-7 player-controlled NPCs are being run correctly, at all times, is too much.
What I'm asking is just a subset of the following, all of which I really do need in such a large game:
How to be a Helpful GURPS Player During Combat
How to be a Helpful GURPS Player During Combat II
They're generally good at some of that. Everyone knows their cumulative defensive penalties, even if we can't go a session without, "Hey, (GCA/GCS) has my (Dodge/Parry/Block) wrong!" (It doesn't.) The mages always know how much their spells cost and how many spells they have up - almost all of the questions about cost come from other players ("It'll cost me 3 to cast, 1 to maintain." "No, you get -2 to both because of skill 20, so it's 1 and free to maintain!" "I counted that already.") We do get some issues with area spells, as people sometimes multiply the cost post-skill reduction instead of pre-skill reduction. Everyone knows their basic skill, damage, how to calculate a Deceptive Attack, the penalties for hit locations, and those things.
Generally, though, for those areas we're okay. They'd remembered and done properly.
But some things, no so much.
In combat, to this day most of my players can't tell a Wild Swing from a Move and Attack, and every session we've had someone think they can Move and Attack and still parry and retreat. That's a big issue because if I catch it, they're automatically thinking or saying, "I wouldn't have done that, then." If I don't, it's a free pile of 9s to hit the enemy on the full run with no downside.
Nobody knows their large-area DR. I get that it's variable, but having a basic "large area DR front" and "large area DR back" note on your sheet can't be too hard. Round up or round down? I wouldn't need to answer that if you wrote it down.
Out of combat, I don't think anyone really knows the basic bonuses and penalties for skill we use regularly - Stealth, Climbing, Survival, First Aid (but everyone remembers they get a bonus from something, usually something they don't actually have), and Swimming especially.
I'm not actually asking for mastery of the rules. I'm asking solid familiarity of the rules in general as they apply to your PC, and any specific numbers as they apply to your PC. If you have a skill, know its default bonuses and penalties for your equipment. You don't have to police each other, but you can help each other . . . just do as much to play your guy as written. The GM can't GM as effectively if you can't hold up your end of the game's details. We're playing a detailed game, and the players love using those details, but it's overwhelming for the GM given the sheer size of the game right now and all of the other issues going on (interface management, for one.)
And I'll conclude with a note on DF. I say this again, because it's true - this is especially important in DF. We have guy with Parry and Block in the high teens and low 20s, so they're succeeding 98.1% of the time even when prone, on ice, and attacked with a Deceptive Attack. People have so much DR that 3d attacks aren't a lethal threat, just a threat to hurt them sometimes. People start with 305 points worth of abilities and grow into 500+ points worth, with access to special abilities. They have all of that to face dangerous threats. It hurts the game if those characters also get to ignore penalties because people just can't remember. It also slows the game down as I end up having to double-check numbers constantly. It's less fun that way. And fun is the only reason to do any of this.
Further reading:
Building a Better PC
I occasionally forget DF can actually hit decently high power with float like a butterfly sting like a bee moments instead of float like a sloth sting like a featherduster
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to make an expanded version of GURPS Combat Cards that includes common non-combat tasks and non-injury status effects.
ReplyDeleteThat would be useful to have.
DeleteMay I suggest using a laptop? A few excel sheets can already help enormously. You could build up a table of terrain-based modifiers, just build it as you encounter those terrain types, and if you plan to adventure in icy caverns, sand dunes, swamp or whatever special terrain, just highlight those lines in the table before play. That will help a lot in not forgetting those modifiers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, computers are very good at keeping track of numbers of arrows, rations, remaining hit points, temporary afflictions and all that kind of stuff. A couple of excel macros can already go a long way, but with a decent scripting language (like perl or python) the sky is the limit. Of course it takes preparation to get things going, but the savings in playing time can be huge and the accuracy in following the rules will improve a lot. And you will need someone with skill in computer programming.
I'll have to leave that to one of my players - I'm no longer able to code nor do I have the patience to really set up an excel sheet to do all of this. But it's an idea that one of them might decide to run with. Thanks for that.
DeleteFor area spells, I suggest writing the cost down as, ie. 2r-1, meaning 2 times radius minus 1 for reduction. Or 2B-1, for Base Cost.
ReplyDeleteIt can actually be handy for Regular spells, too, when SM modifications come into play.
As for area DR... well, I usually write down everything that's on the character sheet template -- and I haven't seen any with such a field. Maybe ask your players to add such aa field, if it really comes up frequently?
Also, are you sure that your players love the details? I came to conclusion that if my players liked them, I wouldn't have to remind them of encumbrance every single turn. And as the details actually drive me as a GM, I stopped running games.