As I mentioned previously, I've been playing Ultima IV - mostly when I'm watching the Olympics or killing time that I can't productively spend otherwise.
I learned a few things about gaming from it, including explanations for why things I did previously were good ideas.
Focus on the fun part - Ultima IV is an old-school RPG game; you have to buy food or starve to death. Pretty cool, huh? That's hard core old school.
But it also kind of sucks.
I remembered the food issue keenly from my Ultima III/IV/VI days, so the first thing I did this time around was go around solo and build up gold killing monsters so I could stock up on food. This leveled me up, but also distracted me from the main quest since my first priority was getting food. It didn't take long, but "get gold to buy food" is a recurring issue in the game, even if only a minor one later on.
The thing is, it's not fun to buy food or starve to death. The "challenge" of keeping a stock of food is merely expensive, discouraging you from amassing a full 8-man party until you've got piles of gold because of the expense of feeding them.
In my own GURPS game, I track food. But I also made an arrangement with my players to simply charge a bit extra for upkeep, which includes the cost of replacing their rations. If they have a couple day's worth, we know they won't starve in the dungeon, and they buy new ones and presumably eat the old ones. No one complains, and we avoid an issue that doesn't add much fun . . . while retaining the danger of lack of food if they get really stuck.
If it's not fun, ditch it entirely - aka The Wind, She Blows!
Sea travel (and balloon travel) in Ultima IV is influenced by the wind. Which mainly means you learn the Wind spell (and buy the material components to cast it) and save it for when you find a balloon. For ships, it just means lots of teeth getting as you try to sail directly into the wind and take extra game time doing nothing except pressing a direction button. Sure, you get a few more encounters because the wind pins you in close to the monsters. But that further eats into game time, and combat isn't especially interesting. So all the wind influence on the game does is slow down the fun bits (going places, talking to people, coaxing information out of them) and add more unfun bits ("Slow Progress!" as you hit buttons to no avail, or more useless fights.)
So what does this add?
Not a lot. If it only minorly affected sea travel, and majorly affected balloons, that would be fine. But all it really does is annoy the heck out of me when I want to go to some island city and do something and have a nice save point before I get back to work . . . and to do it takes hammering keys waiting for the wind to change.
It basically is extra detail that distracts me from what I want to do (explore, accomplish goals, talk to people) and makes me spend time doing things I don't (hitting buttons and waiting to do the exploring, accomplishing, talking).
Provide a way around bad stuff - In Ultima IV, swamps can poison you. Poison needs magic or expensive in-town healing to cure, which means for non-spellcasters swamp kills you and for spellcasters swamp costs you money in spell components. In Ultima VI, you could get special boots that avoided this. This was a good idea, because swamp squares in IV are just frustrating and annoying. Forcing a one-time cost to avoid the ongoing (smaller) cost of cures is fine with me, because it makes you find an in-game solution to the problem. Yet it makes the problem go away, so it's not an ongoing frustration. But in IV, it's just "stock up, mix Cure spells, and cast them in spades as you have to trek across swamps to reach game-critical areas." Bleh.
I haven't done something quite like this in my game, I don't think, unless you count orcs allowing passage into their dungeon areas. That's my players' doing, anyway. But yeah, if walking into area X causes damage and costs money to fix the damage, expect that area X is just marked down as "unfun, avoid unless you absolutely have to." A tradeoff (this makes area X safe, but it's not as good as other gear) is totally fine, and encourages choices and thought.
Anyway, besides remembering how annoying games without diagonal movement and weird rules are (fighters can use bow, but not magical bows . . . ), and having some fun finishing up a game I never did get to finish, I think I've learned something from replaying this old game.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
GURPS Video recommendation
I occasionally explain how GURPS does things, but I don't spend any time recording videos on the subject. If you prefer a video explanation of GURPS, thecheeseshop.org has you covered, along with video product reviews.
Recent ones include:
- injuries in GURPS
- a review of GURPS Tredroy
- a walkthrough of a GURPS combat
I haven't watched them all (I have watched the ones above), but what I have seen is good stuff.
Recent ones include:
- injuries in GURPS
- a review of GURPS Tredroy
- a walkthrough of a GURPS combat
I haven't watched them all (I have watched the ones above), but what I have seen is good stuff.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
How Mega Is My Dungeon?
Riffing off some recent posts I've read - how big does a dungeon need to be in order to be a "mega" dungeon?
First, I think it needs to be a . . .
Discrete Area. A megadungeon is a fundamentally interconnected underground area. I think if you blow that up too big, and spread out the connections too much, it goes from "megadungeon" to "series of dungeons" (Caves of Chaos) or "underground wilderness" (ala D1-2). Those are cool, and great campaign settings, but once it's "travel for a week to the next encounter" it's really just a wilderness game with travel via tunnels.
Second, size matters. I think it needs to be big enough to support:
Repeated Play - You need to be able to go back to this place over and over. It's not a question of "can't be cleared out" but rather of "supports continuous play." You should be able to use the megadungeon as the basis for many sessions.
Cumulative play - the play should be cumulative, too, in that what you do to change the environment changes the environment for future trips. Re-popping is your enemy. Restocking is your friend.
Diverse Challenge Levels - It needs to mix difficulty ratings within the same dungeon, all on a large enough scale that those challenges also take repeated play. There needs to be the risk of going into too dangerous of an area, but also both easy stuff and hard stuff mixed together so it can hold up to repeated play.
End Points, But No End - there needs to be things you can accomplish in it, that says you did more than farm gold and grind monsters. But not a single end point that finishes it as an adventuring environment. A dungeon often has an end (a demi-lich, say, or a boss fight with a dragon) but a megadungeon has accomplishments.
Even Castle Greyhawk (mark I) had an end point - the wizard down on level 13 you could meet. But it didn't finish the dungeon as an adventuring environment, since he wasn't a load bearing monster. It was still a place you (even the same PC "you") could adventure in.
Things I don't think matter so much:
Specific Room Count - I don't think it's worth getting hung up on room count. My first two-three levels could swallow most or all of Stonehell, but that's still a megadungeon. It's not the room count that matters. Lots of rooms helps, but there isn't a numerical threshold. Level count, either - Barrowmaze is one big level, and it's pretty mega.
Multiple Groups - doesn't matter if one group of players or one group of PCs do all of the adventuring. It's nice if the dungeon can handle more groups, but that's just a subset of repeated play, above. It shouldn't matter if it's the same group or not.
Game Mechanics - I don't play a class-and-levels game, so I have zero concerns with level advancement, appropriate treasure distribution, or challenge ratings by level. None of that defines "megadungeon" for me, and I think it's too game-specific to worry about those things . . . if you make them part of the definition of a "megadungeon" then you're limiting the definition by the game mechanics. The dungeon should be mega or not based on its non-mechanical features.
Factions - I also don't think factions matter so much. It's a nice feature, if monsters come in groups and you can negotiate with them or pit them against one another or something. But If you have a dungeon that meets the rest of the requirements above, does it really matter if there is only one faction? Moria was pretty megadungeonish, and what I remember was a bunch of orc-kind and a boss monster, and that was that. You could spend a campaign clearing out Moria without ever needing factions.
For me, it's the size (it's big, and can hold a wide variety of challenge levels) and scope (can handle repeated play natively) that make a dungeon mega.
First, I think it needs to be a . . .
Discrete Area. A megadungeon is a fundamentally interconnected underground area. I think if you blow that up too big, and spread out the connections too much, it goes from "megadungeon" to "series of dungeons" (Caves of Chaos) or "underground wilderness" (ala D1-2). Those are cool, and great campaign settings, but once it's "travel for a week to the next encounter" it's really just a wilderness game with travel via tunnels.
Second, size matters. I think it needs to be big enough to support:
Repeated Play - You need to be able to go back to this place over and over. It's not a question of "can't be cleared out" but rather of "supports continuous play." You should be able to use the megadungeon as the basis for many sessions.
Cumulative play - the play should be cumulative, too, in that what you do to change the environment changes the environment for future trips. Re-popping is your enemy. Restocking is your friend.
Diverse Challenge Levels - It needs to mix difficulty ratings within the same dungeon, all on a large enough scale that those challenges also take repeated play. There needs to be the risk of going into too dangerous of an area, but also both easy stuff and hard stuff mixed together so it can hold up to repeated play.
End Points, But No End - there needs to be things you can accomplish in it, that says you did more than farm gold and grind monsters. But not a single end point that finishes it as an adventuring environment. A dungeon often has an end (a demi-lich, say, or a boss fight with a dragon) but a megadungeon has accomplishments.
Even Castle Greyhawk (mark I) had an end point - the wizard down on level 13 you could meet. But it didn't finish the dungeon as an adventuring environment, since he wasn't a load bearing monster. It was still a place you (even the same PC "you") could adventure in.
Things I don't think matter so much:
Specific Room Count - I don't think it's worth getting hung up on room count. My first two-three levels could swallow most or all of Stonehell, but that's still a megadungeon. It's not the room count that matters. Lots of rooms helps, but there isn't a numerical threshold. Level count, either - Barrowmaze is one big level, and it's pretty mega.
Multiple Groups - doesn't matter if one group of players or one group of PCs do all of the adventuring. It's nice if the dungeon can handle more groups, but that's just a subset of repeated play, above. It shouldn't matter if it's the same group or not.
Game Mechanics - I don't play a class-and-levels game, so I have zero concerns with level advancement, appropriate treasure distribution, or challenge ratings by level. None of that defines "megadungeon" for me, and I think it's too game-specific to worry about those things . . . if you make them part of the definition of a "megadungeon" then you're limiting the definition by the game mechanics. The dungeon should be mega or not based on its non-mechanical features.
Factions - I also don't think factions matter so much. It's a nice feature, if monsters come in groups and you can negotiate with them or pit them against one another or something. But If you have a dungeon that meets the rest of the requirements above, does it really matter if there is only one faction? Moria was pretty megadungeonish, and what I remember was a bunch of orc-kind and a boss monster, and that was that. You could spend a campaign clearing out Moria without ever needing factions.
For me, it's the size (it's big, and can hold a wide variety of challenge levels) and scope (can handle repeated play natively) that make a dungeon mega.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
What I'm Up To Today and Recently
Besides work and shoveling snow and getting up early to watch Olympic hockey, what have I been up to?
Writing - Doug and I have been working on some projects together. Yesterday was Doug's turn to edit one of our projects. Today was my turn, so I spent most of my free time together reading, checking, revising, re-checking, etc. This involves a lot of re-doing all the math, re-looking up results, and checking all page refs. It's not bad, and I actually enjoy the process to a degree, but it's hard work and it's what, in my opinion, separates good execution from bad execution.
Doug and I also heard another silly thing we did is officially in the slushpile for Pyramid, which is good news.
Ultima IV - I've been playing this recently in my spare moments, after I remembered I'd gotten it for free from GOG. Good stuff. My cousin (player of Vade, Blackstar, and other PCs I've mentioned before on this blog) used to have this for either his Atari 800XL or Apple IIC, and I co-played it with him. Basically, my job was to navigate, advise, and write all of the stuff down. So I can coast a lot of memories, but I never did get to see the game get finished. The only Ultima games I played start to finish were III (my first) and VI (my favorite). I'm making extremely quick progress, mostly because I already know what I need to do (mostly) and how to achieve partial avatarhood in each of the 8 paths. Yes, Valor is easy and Justice is hard. But it's fun to re-live it, and sometimes I just need to interact with a screen and not write, read, study, or whatever. I'm totally cheating by using someone's complete map. I'm not translating the cloth map by hand again, that wasn't even that fun back in the day.
Reading - I'm re-reading the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander. Once I finish those, I have non-fantasy related things to read. But those books have some legitimately interesting magical items and cool bad guys (huntsmen, cauldron-born), and I highly recommend them.
Game Prep - I'm working my way through my Felltower stuff to make sure it's all prep'ed for next game, too. No major work so much as ensuring I wrote notes about what happened and adjusted the contents for the passed time. It's more tedious and boring than it sounds, but it makes for much more fun gaming sessions, so it's worth the tradeoff.
Writing - Doug and I have been working on some projects together. Yesterday was Doug's turn to edit one of our projects. Today was my turn, so I spent most of my free time together reading, checking, revising, re-checking, etc. This involves a lot of re-doing all the math, re-looking up results, and checking all page refs. It's not bad, and I actually enjoy the process to a degree, but it's hard work and it's what, in my opinion, separates good execution from bad execution.
Doug and I also heard another silly thing we did is officially in the slushpile for Pyramid, which is good news.
Ultima IV - I've been playing this recently in my spare moments, after I remembered I'd gotten it for free from GOG. Good stuff. My cousin (player of Vade, Blackstar, and other PCs I've mentioned before on this blog) used to have this for either his Atari 800XL or Apple IIC, and I co-played it with him. Basically, my job was to navigate, advise, and write all of the stuff down. So I can coast a lot of memories, but I never did get to see the game get finished. The only Ultima games I played start to finish were III (my first) and VI (my favorite). I'm making extremely quick progress, mostly because I already know what I need to do (mostly) and how to achieve partial avatarhood in each of the 8 paths. Yes, Valor is easy and Justice is hard. But it's fun to re-live it, and sometimes I just need to interact with a screen and not write, read, study, or whatever. I'm totally cheating by using someone's complete map. I'm not translating the cloth map by hand again, that wasn't even that fun back in the day.
Reading - I'm re-reading the Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander. Once I finish those, I have non-fantasy related things to read. But those books have some legitimately interesting magical items and cool bad guys (huntsmen, cauldron-born), and I highly recommend them.
Game Prep - I'm working my way through my Felltower stuff to make sure it's all prep'ed for next game, too. No major work so much as ensuring I wrote notes about what happened and adjusted the contents for the passed time. It's more tedious and boring than it sounds, but it makes for much more fun gaming sessions, so it's worth the tradeoff.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Heavier Crossbows in my DF Game
So you may have seen these in "action" in my most recent hireling post - my house ruled crossbow weights. GURPS Low-Tech covers crossbows in greater detail than this post does - you have rated strength and materials and a variety of implements to use with or to span crossbows. I wanted something simpler, so I updated a size/cost differential from my old GURPS game to the heroic scale of my DF game. If you want realism, go to Low-Tech. If you want heavier crossbows, with simple numbers picked out of the air that feel okay, this is for you.
First, use only the crossbows on the weapon chart in Basic Set. The rules below replace those in Low-Tech, and are not compatible. Combining them with get extremely odd effects.
Crossbows are available in four broad draw strengths:
Light Crossbow: ST less than 10, normal cost, 2/3 weight ($150, 4 lbs)
Crossbow: ST 10-18, normal cost and weight ($150, 6 lbs)
Heavy Crossbow: ST 19-28, +1 CF and +50% weight ($300, 9 lbs); Pistol Crossbows of ST 14+ use these modifiers.
Siege Crossbow: ST 29+, +3 CF and double weight ($600, 12 lbs); Pistol Crossbows of ST 18-20 use these modifiers.
All of these are changes to the base cost and weight.
Available accessories include those in DF1 (crossbow sling, brace, sight), Basic Set (goat's foot), and the stirrup and cranequin (from Low-Tech p. 79). No other accessories are available, regardless of TL.
New Prefixes
Composite Crossbow - A crossbow made out of lames of different materials for a better bow. +1 damage, +5x to half damage and max range. +9 CF. (Makes a normal crossbow $1500 but thr+5, x25/x30)
Steel Crossbow - A crossbow made out of metal instead of wood. +1 damage, +4 CF, +50% weight. Cannot be combined with Composite. (Makes a normal crossbow $750, 9 lbs. but thr+5)
Notes:
Light crossbows cost and weigh as much as pistol crossbows? - Yes, but they require two hands, yet have better accuracy. It's a tradeoff.
What's the Max ST of a crossbow? - I cap them at ST 40, which is 4d+1, because beyond that I think it's overlapping siege weaponry too much. I just say you've reached the limits of materials and size before you need a mount and a much larger bow, making it impractical for hand-held use. Pistol crossbows cap at ST 20.
Does this apply to prodds? - Yes.
So the most I could get is . . . - A ST 40 siege crossbow, made of metal, for $1,200 and 18 lbs. doing 4d+6 impale or 4d+6(2) pi, or more with Fine bolts and Puissance, or a ST 40 composite siege crossbow for $1,950 and 12 lbs, doing 4d+6 impale or 4d+6(2) pi, half damage range of 1000 yards!*
Enjoy.
* I did a guy just outside Felltower, once, at about 1,000 yards . . .
First, use only the crossbows on the weapon chart in Basic Set. The rules below replace those in Low-Tech, and are not compatible. Combining them with get extremely odd effects.
Crossbows are available in four broad draw strengths:
Light Crossbow: ST less than 10, normal cost, 2/3 weight ($150, 4 lbs)
Crossbow: ST 10-18, normal cost and weight ($150, 6 lbs)
Heavy Crossbow: ST 19-28, +1 CF and +50% weight ($300, 9 lbs); Pistol Crossbows of ST 14+ use these modifiers.
Siege Crossbow: ST 29+, +3 CF and double weight ($600, 12 lbs); Pistol Crossbows of ST 18-20 use these modifiers.
All of these are changes to the base cost and weight.
Available accessories include those in DF1 (crossbow sling, brace, sight), Basic Set (goat's foot), and the stirrup and cranequin (from Low-Tech p. 79). No other accessories are available, regardless of TL.
New Prefixes
Composite Crossbow - A crossbow made out of lames of different materials for a better bow. +1 damage, +5x to half damage and max range. +9 CF. (Makes a normal crossbow $1500 but thr+5, x25/x30)
Steel Crossbow - A crossbow made out of metal instead of wood. +1 damage, +4 CF, +50% weight. Cannot be combined with Composite. (Makes a normal crossbow $750, 9 lbs. but thr+5)
Notes:
Light crossbows cost and weigh as much as pistol crossbows? - Yes, but they require two hands, yet have better accuracy. It's a tradeoff.
What's the Max ST of a crossbow? - I cap them at ST 40, which is 4d+1, because beyond that I think it's overlapping siege weaponry too much. I just say you've reached the limits of materials and size before you need a mount and a much larger bow, making it impractical for hand-held use. Pistol crossbows cap at ST 20.
Does this apply to prodds? - Yes.
So the most I could get is . . . - A ST 40 siege crossbow, made of metal, for $1,200 and 18 lbs. doing 4d+6 impale or 4d+6(2) pi, or more with Fine bolts and Puissance, or a ST 40 composite siege crossbow for $1,950 and 12 lbs, doing 4d+6 impale or 4d+6(2) pi, half damage range of 1000 yards!*
Enjoy.
* I did a guy just outside Felltower, once, at about 1,000 yards . . .
Sunday, February 16, 2014
DF Felltower NPC: Larry the Crossbowman
No game this week, so it's another Felltower NPC this Sunday.
Larry the Crossbowman is based on 62 points and the extremely flexible Guard template from Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen.
However, Larry is old and hurt, and doesn't even reach the dizzying heights implied by 62 points.
For more pre-made henchmen from my game, check the DF Henchmen page.
Larry the Crossbowman
Larry is a professional heavy crossbowman. Better make that "extremely heavy crossbowman."
Larry is an old vet. He lost his best aimin' eye way back when he fought in a Cashamashian mercenary company serving in the Molotovian Troll Wars, but he's more-or-less figured out a way around that problem - he works for tips!
If he ever hits anything, it's going to die. Hasn't happened in Felltower, yet.
ST 12 HP 9 Speed 5.25
DX 11 Will 10 Move 4
IQ 10 Per 10
HT 10 FP 10
Dodge 8 Parry (Broadsword) 9
Crossbow (ST 36!) (12): 4d+3 imp or 4d+3(2) pi, Acc 4;
Light Club (12): 1d+2 crushing, Reach 1.
Small Knife (11): 2d-3 cutting Reach C,1; or 1d impale; Reach C.
Traits: One Eye; Reduced HP -3 (included above); Overconfidence (6); Weapon Bond (Crossbow).
Skills: Armoury (Missile Weapons, spec. Crossbows)-11; Brawling-12; Climbing-10; Crossbow-14; Knife-11; Stealth-10; Wrestling-11.
Gear: Boots (Feet DR 2); Clothing; Crossbow w/x3 cranequin (21 lbs) and rest; Nice Hat (with steel lining, DR 4); Hip Quiver w/35 normal and 15 armor-piercing bolts; Light Leather arms, torso, legs (DR 1); Personal Basics; Pouch.
Notes: One-Eye gives -1 to his melee weapon skills, -3 to missile weapon skills; included above. Aims first as much as he can for up to +6 to hit (Acc 4, up to +2 more for aiming); using the rest (Ready action) gives a further +1 for bracing. He can't use a sight because he's right handed and missing his right eye. Takes 72 seconds to crank his crossbow, plus 2 seconds to ready the bolt and load it, for one shot every 1:15!
His mini, which I'll add a picture of soonish, is a GW plastic peasant with a one-eyed head glued on, because a guy aiming with his eyepatch is amusing. I also use some variant rules for crossbow cost and weight by rated strength, makes his crossbow $600/12 lbs instead of 150/6.
Larry the Crossbowman is based on 62 points and the extremely flexible Guard template from Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen.
However, Larry is old and hurt, and doesn't even reach the dizzying heights implied by 62 points.For more pre-made henchmen from my game, check the DF Henchmen page.
Larry the Crossbowman
Larry is a professional heavy crossbowman. Better make that "extremely heavy crossbowman."
Larry is an old vet. He lost his best aimin' eye way back when he fought in a Cashamashian mercenary company serving in the Molotovian Troll Wars, but he's more-or-less figured out a way around that problem - he works for tips!
If he ever hits anything, it's going to die. Hasn't happened in Felltower, yet.
ST 12 HP 9 Speed 5.25
DX 11 Will 10 Move 4
IQ 10 Per 10
HT 10 FP 10
Dodge 8 Parry (Broadsword) 9
Crossbow (ST 36!) (12): 4d+3 imp or 4d+3(2) pi, Acc 4;
Light Club (12): 1d+2 crushing, Reach 1.
Small Knife (11): 2d-3 cutting Reach C,1; or 1d impale; Reach C.
Traits: One Eye; Reduced HP -3 (included above); Overconfidence (6); Weapon Bond (Crossbow).
Skills: Armoury (Missile Weapons, spec. Crossbows)-11; Brawling-12; Climbing-10; Crossbow-14; Knife-11; Stealth-10; Wrestling-11.
Gear: Boots (Feet DR 2); Clothing; Crossbow w/x3 cranequin (21 lbs) and rest; Nice Hat (with steel lining, DR 4); Hip Quiver w/35 normal and 15 armor-piercing bolts; Light Leather arms, torso, legs (DR 1); Personal Basics; Pouch.
Notes: One-Eye gives -1 to his melee weapon skills, -3 to missile weapon skills; included above. Aims first as much as he can for up to +6 to hit (Acc 4, up to +2 more for aiming); using the rest (Ready action) gives a further +1 for bracing. He can't use a sight because he's right handed and missing his right eye. Takes 72 seconds to crank his crossbow, plus 2 seconds to ready the bolt and load it, for one shot every 1:15!
His mini, which I'll add a picture of soonish, is a GW plastic peasant with a one-eyed head glued on, because a guy aiming with his eyepatch is amusing. I also use some variant rules for crossbow cost and weight by rated strength, makes his crossbow $600/12 lbs instead of 150/6.
Friday, February 14, 2014
GURPS 101: Avoiding Combat Analysis-Paralysis in GURPS
As Douglas Cole pointed out with our fighters in Swords & Wizardry, there aren't a lot of options to choose from. As a result, we don't spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do. Hit, not hit . . . what to hit what, who to hit. Not all that much turn to turn to decide about.
In GURPS, though, combat options are what it's all about. There are many things you can do, if only because combat is less abstracted and there are rules covering such a broad variety of options. You can try anything, and it sometimes feels like you should therefore try everything. Worrying about what option is right for right now can lead to that dreaded condition, analysis-paralysis. You can get so overwhelmed by choosing between things you can do that you don't just do stuff and get on with the fun.
Too Much to Choose From?
If you have a character with a sword, a shield, and pretty good brawling and grappling skills, you can find yourself thinking - you can cut, stab, bash, shield rush, slam, kick, pummel with the hilt. If you do any of those, you may need to choose a hit location. Any of those could be All-Out, Committed, a normal Attack, a Defensive Attack. Should you attack normally, or Telegraphic Attack, or Deceptive Attack; and what about Rapid Strike or Dual-Weapon Attack? Or you could feint, beat, try a ruse, or even just All-Out Defend. And next turn, it starts again.
So what to do?
Limit Your Own Options
Seems like a bad idea, but it's not. Look at that list above - are all of those solid moves in nearly all cases?
No.
Narrow it down.
Look at your skill, possibly at this analysis too, and decide if you should generally attack, Telegraphic Attack, or Deceptive Attack. If your skill is too low to reliably hit without Telegraphic Attack, do that. If you can take a Deceptive Attack and still hit most of the time, do that.
Make a basic decision and stick to that, most of the time.
Look at your weapon.
In fact, if you're just getting used to GURPS, don't go for the most versatile weapon. A simple cut-and-thrust sword is good - save the tricked out-dueling halberds for another time. Don't worry too much about slams and kicking and grapples just yet, because generally if you've got a weapon it is more productive to use it. Be aware they are out there as options, and bust them out of you need them. But don't go out of your way to give yourself too many options at first.
Limit Your Targets
Pick a couple of targets that suit your weapon, either for a baseline move or as a potential kill shot. You don't need to have a mastery of all possible outcomes with your weapon - it's sufficient if you have a pretty good shot you know will work, and fall back on that.
Find A Default Option
Most of the time, just using your highest-base-damage attack, without modifiers, aiming at the Torso, is all you need to get through most fights.
The Trademark Move in GURPS is a heck of a speed-friendly perk. Spend 1 point, outline a specific combination (all options chosen ahead of time), and get a +1 when you do that specific move. It's a nice little reward for speeding yourself up. It cuts the decision time down, because you know if you stick with your pre-decided move, you're more likely to hit.
Consider a backup, even if you can't or don't buy a Trademark Move for it. Just outline what you want to do and mark it down.
In either case, write it down on your sheet for quick reference.
Don't Adjust On The Fly
Stick with what you're doing until you've got some downtime to think about your choices. Sure, when the chips are down and you need to bust out a special move - do it. But save the analysis and worry for it really matters. Do it when you've got downtime, or when it's a nailbiter of a fight to the finish. Don't drag out fights by getting too wrapped up in all the stuff you can do, and just stick with a few moves that will win you most of your fights.
Those are just a few things you can do to make sure you're not overwhelmed by your options. GURPS gives you a lot of substantial, significant options to choose from. Pick a few, run with those, and adjust as you get more familiar with what's on the table. Odds are, though, you'll find you'll return to the basics over and over. I've been playing GURPS since Man-to-Man and most of the time my characters just whack the body with a high-damage attack.
In GURPS, though, combat options are what it's all about. There are many things you can do, if only because combat is less abstracted and there are rules covering such a broad variety of options. You can try anything, and it sometimes feels like you should therefore try everything. Worrying about what option is right for right now can lead to that dreaded condition, analysis-paralysis. You can get so overwhelmed by choosing between things you can do that you don't just do stuff and get on with the fun.
Too Much to Choose From?
If you have a character with a sword, a shield, and pretty good brawling and grappling skills, you can find yourself thinking - you can cut, stab, bash, shield rush, slam, kick, pummel with the hilt. If you do any of those, you may need to choose a hit location. Any of those could be All-Out, Committed, a normal Attack, a Defensive Attack. Should you attack normally, or Telegraphic Attack, or Deceptive Attack; and what about Rapid Strike or Dual-Weapon Attack? Or you could feint, beat, try a ruse, or even just All-Out Defend. And next turn, it starts again.
So what to do?
Limit Your Own Options
Seems like a bad idea, but it's not. Look at that list above - are all of those solid moves in nearly all cases?
No.
Narrow it down.
Look at your skill, possibly at this analysis too, and decide if you should generally attack, Telegraphic Attack, or Deceptive Attack. If your skill is too low to reliably hit without Telegraphic Attack, do that. If you can take a Deceptive Attack and still hit most of the time, do that.
Make a basic decision and stick to that, most of the time.
Look at your weapon.
In fact, if you're just getting used to GURPS, don't go for the most versatile weapon. A simple cut-and-thrust sword is good - save the tricked out-dueling halberds for another time. Don't worry too much about slams and kicking and grapples just yet, because generally if you've got a weapon it is more productive to use it. Be aware they are out there as options, and bust them out of you need them. But don't go out of your way to give yourself too many options at first.
Limit Your Targets
Pick a couple of targets that suit your weapon, either for a baseline move or as a potential kill shot. You don't need to have a mastery of all possible outcomes with your weapon - it's sufficient if you have a pretty good shot you know will work, and fall back on that.
Find A Default Option
Most of the time, just using your highest-base-damage attack, without modifiers, aiming at the Torso, is all you need to get through most fights.
The Trademark Move in GURPS is a heck of a speed-friendly perk. Spend 1 point, outline a specific combination (all options chosen ahead of time), and get a +1 when you do that specific move. It's a nice little reward for speeding yourself up. It cuts the decision time down, because you know if you stick with your pre-decided move, you're more likely to hit.
Consider a backup, even if you can't or don't buy a Trademark Move for it. Just outline what you want to do and mark it down.
In either case, write it down on your sheet for quick reference.
Don't Adjust On The Fly
Stick with what you're doing until you've got some downtime to think about your choices. Sure, when the chips are down and you need to bust out a special move - do it. But save the analysis and worry for it really matters. Do it when you've got downtime, or when it's a nailbiter of a fight to the finish. Don't drag out fights by getting too wrapped up in all the stuff you can do, and just stick with a few moves that will win you most of your fights.
Those are just a few things you can do to make sure you're not overwhelmed by your options. GURPS gives you a lot of substantial, significant options to choose from. Pick a few, run with those, and adjust as you get more familiar with what's on the table. Odds are, though, you'll find you'll return to the basics over and over. I've been playing GURPS since Man-to-Man and most of the time my characters just whack the body with a high-damage attack.
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