If you had to make GURPS combat run faster, what rules would you remove?
Not add, but change to another official rule, or rip out entirely?
I have a list myself, but I want to get some ideas from my readers before I reveal my plans.
Okay, okay, I'll give a starter. Range bands instead of per-hex range penalties.
You're next, what's on the chopping or changing block?
Almost everything I'm doing for Mission X right now has to pass the "is it faster to the table or at the table" test. I feel like the two big bits of activation energy for playing GURPS of any stripe are the time it takes newcomers to get to actually playing the game, and the action economy overhead because of option and modifier overload.
ReplyDeleteIt is a huge change, but dropping active defenses would be a big gain. I haven't run the numbers, but convert everything into a 'deceptive attack' that reduces the defense to 9 (which is not rolled). All-out-defense is -6 to attacks.
ReplyDeleteSo you'd take the defenses of a character or monster, figure out the penalty it would take to drop it to a 9 defense, and apply that as a penalty to the hit roll? Basically, AC for GURPS?
DeleteMovement that isn't the Move action. No Move-And-Attack, no step and attack (or step twice and Commited Attack), no retreat, no side-step etc.
ReplyDeleteIs this to speed up the decision-making process? I could see it slowing down actual mapped combat as everyone takes 1-step moves most of the time, effectively telescoping out the amount of turns that go by because everyone is moving more slowly.
DeleteDecisions and rules referencing mainly – additional movement per maneuver is a bit of a mess.
DeleteI'd have to see if lots of 1 hex moves is an actual problem in game play, once ranged combat, cover and time-sensitive objectives are around. A lot of "arena problems" aren't that common in "real" scenarios.
Never mind that this started with range bands, so simplifying melee movement might be one of the next steps anyway.
A less intrusive approach might just be every maneuver allowing a single step or introducing a move-and-attack that isn't a wild swing (similar to other RPGs).
For speed, I'd take an axe to actions and combine as many as possible. Then I'd drop hit locations, deceptive attack, telegraphic attack, etc. At best, I'd allow them with a power-up. Same goes for other finicky things, like Retreat, that can eat time. Also, range bands for the love of the good god. I'd even consider going full Action and dropping the tactical map.
ReplyDeleteI think play speed is inversely proportional to the number of options players have. One, they never know the rules and two, they will ruminate on every possible option before acting
One possible consequence of ditching Deceptive Attack is that you get a higher whiff factor - you can't overcome high defenses with high offensive skill, you need to just swing and hope for a critical hit / critical miss. It would dramatically speed up decision making but might result in max-defense builds being the best way to design a PC.
DeleteGood point, and that would cause combat to drag out because no one is hitting anyone.
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