Looking at this thing, I just need to quote The Commitments:
"Jaysus!"
That's a big game.
OGRE
Hopefully this also frees up SJG staff for non-Ogre stuff, like GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
What do I roll in the open, what do I roll in secret?
I roll some of my die rolls in the open. Some of them behind the screen. Which ones do I roll where nowadays?
Generally, I'm pro-"fog of war."
What I roll in the open are generally rolls where the range is obvious, or at least easy to discern, and the results are concretely obviously to the players.
For example:
Damage Rolls - Mostly for the excitement and terror factor. I toss the dice over the screen, sometimes without even bothering to look. "Take that much, +4, cutting."
I think it's much easier to gauge how hard you got hit. "Man, that guy's got a lot of mustard on that punch, (but I got grazed/it didn't land square/I took all of that.)" Plus, it's not a terribly revealing number. Knowing your opponent does 1d+1 or 3d+4 or whatever doesn't really change too much - you have a rough idea already from how much gets past your DR. It's not often people will take a hit instead of trying to defend, so it doesn't change the behavior of the PCs.
It also helps keep me honest. I don't fudge die rolls often, if at all*, but I do get lazy about calculating damage. If I tell them the base roll and let them figure injury, that laziness is sidestepped. I don't need to ask their DR, do the math, etc.
Hit Location Rolls - Not always (because it's slower than if I dump the dice in front of the hit location chart) but sometimes I'll roll a random location in front of the PCs. It's not like you don't know the results when they happen.
Consequence Rolls - If reinforcements show up because of PC noise, say, I'll roll right in front of them. Same with most other "you caused this" kinds of rolls - traps they set off with a random number of strikes, falls into a pit with a random number of spikes, etc. - I roll in the open.
Unconsciousness checks by NPC allies get rolled here, too, because it adds to tension in a way that "He made it" or "he missed!" doesn't. They usually know the stats for their allies, anyway, since letting them know speeds the game.
What I roll in secret are things where the numbers aren't really obvious, and which easily can change behavior. Here are some examples.
Skill Rolls for enemies.
Knowing the skill of an NPC in GURPS tells you most of the things you need to know in combat. Knowing an opponent has Skill 15 tells you a remarkable amount about his possible defense rolls, what targets he can attack at what odds, the utility of your feint, how much Deceptive Attack is worthwhile, and more.
What I will announce is margin of victory or failure in a contest, if that matters (say, a PC Feints and makes his roll by 10. I roll for the NPC and make it by 4, I'll say "You win by 6.") That's laziness more than anything else, because now I no longer need to track the number, my players will do it. ("Don't forget, he's at -6!")
I'll also colorfully let you know how relatively good the guy is. "He's clearly very good." You'll pick up some numbers just based on what someone does. "He cchops at your neck and hits, Deceptive Attack -4." You already know he's got a 19+ skill, or 17+ and some variation of Targeted Attack, so use that knowledge wisely.
Some of this can be poo-pooed with "my players don't meta-game." But if they don't, they don't need the numbers. So it's better to keep them away from everyone - the ones who'll use them and the ones who won't. In my opinion, anyway.
Defense Rolls for enemies, for the same reason - you don't need to know what it is. If he barely succeeds, I might say so, but you're not getting numbers. They affect what you know you should or should not do - and I prefer to leave that up to player strategizing and cunning, not number-crunching based on raw data I feed you.
Resistance Rolls for enemies, for the same reason. Succeeded, failed, that's all you get to know.
Everything is done descriptively. You might know the guy is staggered by your hit, or that he's barely standing (or seems to be), or that he's really, really good at hitting your eyes while standing on bad footing. But I'm not rolling in front of you because it's too easy to reverse engineer the numbers. I give out lots of description but not a lot of crunchy hard numbers.
And those numbers are the GM's world, in my game. Your world is your PC, those damage dice tumbling over the screen, and what you see in your head based on the maps on the table, the minis on the map, and the descriptions I give out.
For me, that's where the fun is, not in knowing the stats of the bad guys. So I conceal all the rolls that might make them transparent to you, and, in my opinion, less interesting in the long run.
How about you guys? Are there rolls I make behind the screen you'd prefer to do in front of everyone, or vice-versa?
* Although I sometimes roll dice and ignore them entirely, to maintain the illusion that there is a chance even when there is a certainty. Hey, you don't always know there is a certainty.
Generally, I'm pro-"fog of war."
What I roll in the open are generally rolls where the range is obvious, or at least easy to discern, and the results are concretely obviously to the players.
For example:
Damage Rolls - Mostly for the excitement and terror factor. I toss the dice over the screen, sometimes without even bothering to look. "Take that much, +4, cutting."
I think it's much easier to gauge how hard you got hit. "Man, that guy's got a lot of mustard on that punch, (but I got grazed/it didn't land square/I took all of that.)" Plus, it's not a terribly revealing number. Knowing your opponent does 1d+1 or 3d+4 or whatever doesn't really change too much - you have a rough idea already from how much gets past your DR. It's not often people will take a hit instead of trying to defend, so it doesn't change the behavior of the PCs.
It also helps keep me honest. I don't fudge die rolls often, if at all*, but I do get lazy about calculating damage. If I tell them the base roll and let them figure injury, that laziness is sidestepped. I don't need to ask their DR, do the math, etc.
Hit Location Rolls - Not always (because it's slower than if I dump the dice in front of the hit location chart) but sometimes I'll roll a random location in front of the PCs. It's not like you don't know the results when they happen.
Consequence Rolls - If reinforcements show up because of PC noise, say, I'll roll right in front of them. Same with most other "you caused this" kinds of rolls - traps they set off with a random number of strikes, falls into a pit with a random number of spikes, etc. - I roll in the open.
Unconsciousness checks by NPC allies get rolled here, too, because it adds to tension in a way that "He made it" or "he missed!" doesn't. They usually know the stats for their allies, anyway, since letting them know speeds the game.
What I roll in secret are things where the numbers aren't really obvious, and which easily can change behavior. Here are some examples.
Skill Rolls for enemies.
Knowing the skill of an NPC in GURPS tells you most of the things you need to know in combat. Knowing an opponent has Skill 15 tells you a remarkable amount about his possible defense rolls, what targets he can attack at what odds, the utility of your feint, how much Deceptive Attack is worthwhile, and more.
What I will announce is margin of victory or failure in a contest, if that matters (say, a PC Feints and makes his roll by 10. I roll for the NPC and make it by 4, I'll say "You win by 6.") That's laziness more than anything else, because now I no longer need to track the number, my players will do it. ("Don't forget, he's at -6!")
I'll also colorfully let you know how relatively good the guy is. "He's clearly very good." You'll pick up some numbers just based on what someone does. "He cchops at your neck and hits, Deceptive Attack -4." You already know he's got a 19+ skill, or 17+ and some variation of Targeted Attack, so use that knowledge wisely.
Some of this can be poo-pooed with "my players don't meta-game." But if they don't, they don't need the numbers. So it's better to keep them away from everyone - the ones who'll use them and the ones who won't. In my opinion, anyway.
Defense Rolls for enemies, for the same reason - you don't need to know what it is. If he barely succeeds, I might say so, but you're not getting numbers. They affect what you know you should or should not do - and I prefer to leave that up to player strategizing and cunning, not number-crunching based on raw data I feed you.
Resistance Rolls for enemies, for the same reason. Succeeded, failed, that's all you get to know.
Everything is done descriptively. You might know the guy is staggered by your hit, or that he's barely standing (or seems to be), or that he's really, really good at hitting your eyes while standing on bad footing. But I'm not rolling in front of you because it's too easy to reverse engineer the numbers. I give out lots of description but not a lot of crunchy hard numbers.
And those numbers are the GM's world, in my game. Your world is your PC, those damage dice tumbling over the screen, and what you see in your head based on the maps on the table, the minis on the map, and the descriptions I give out.
For me, that's where the fun is, not in knowing the stats of the bad guys. So I conceal all the rolls that might make them transparent to you, and, in my opinion, less interesting in the long run.
How about you guys? Are there rolls I make behind the screen you'd prefer to do in front of everyone, or vice-versa?
* Although I sometimes roll dice and ignore them entirely, to maintain the illusion that there is a chance even when there is a certainty. Hey, you don't always know there is a certainty.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Felltower: Progress in 11 Numbers
Just some numbers for my GURPS Dungeon Fantasy megadungeon game, exploring the ruins of Felltower.
My megadungeon, in 11 numbers:
3 - deepest level plumbed so far
4 - total number of PCs killed
5 - deepest level heard of by the PCs.
6 - different levels or sub-levels visited (even if only briefly), including the surface ruins.
16 - total number of allied NPCs (hirelings, henchmen, recruited monsters) killed exploring Felltower
17 - sessions in the books (25 total, but only 17 in the megadungeon)
45 - approximate number of different kinds of monsters encountered (by race or species)
75 - approximate number of encounter areas explored on level 1
75 - approximate number of encounter areas explored on level 2
79 - number of different rumors heard
180 - approximate number of encounter areas explored overall across all levels visited.
Number of monsters slain and amount of loot retrieved? It was too hard to count, but plenty of monsters have been put down and enough loot has been garnered to keep them coming back.
My megadungeon, in 11 numbers:
3 - deepest level plumbed so far
4 - total number of PCs killed
5 - deepest level heard of by the PCs.
6 - different levels or sub-levels visited (even if only briefly), including the surface ruins.
16 - total number of allied NPCs (hirelings, henchmen, recruited monsters) killed exploring Felltower
17 - sessions in the books (25 total, but only 17 in the megadungeon)
45 - approximate number of different kinds of monsters encountered (by race or species)
75 - approximate number of encounter areas explored on level 1
75 - approximate number of encounter areas explored on level 2
79 - number of different rumors heard
180 - approximate number of encounter areas explored overall across all levels visited.
Number of monsters slain and amount of loot retrieved? It was too hard to count, but plenty of monsters have been put down and enough loot has been garnered to keep them coming back.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Interesting Black Company / Star Fishers crossover
I don't blog about fantasy fiction here, mostly because of my lack of interest in descending into the horror that is online lit crit. I like what I like, and that's enough for me.
Suffice it to say that I'm a big Glen Cook fan (my old pre-real name handle on the net was Toadkiller Dog, after his most amusing monster).
In the short story collection Winter's Dreams there is a short story entitled "In the Wind," in the Star Fishers universe. It's about mercenary glider pilots on a dangerous world (including the son of a character from the original series, von Drachau), protecting mining interests by conducting a war of extermination against its native fauna - lightning-bolt spitting sky mantas and big floating zeppelin-like tentacled "wind whales."
Black Company fans will immediately recognize those as two of the creatures that followed Old Father Tree to the Plain of Fear.
It's amusing to see this connection between the science fiction of the Star Fishers series (which has giant multi-dimensional space whales) and the gritty fantasy of the Black Company series.
Fun stuff. Dogfighting vs. lightning-firing mantas. Awesome.
Related Post:
Using Fantasy Monsters for Post-Apoc Science Fiction, and vice-versa.
Suffice it to say that I'm a big Glen Cook fan (my old pre-real name handle on the net was Toadkiller Dog, after his most amusing monster).
In the short story collection Winter's Dreams there is a short story entitled "In the Wind," in the Star Fishers universe. It's about mercenary glider pilots on a dangerous world (including the son of a character from the original series, von Drachau), protecting mining interests by conducting a war of extermination against its native fauna - lightning-bolt spitting sky mantas and big floating zeppelin-like tentacled "wind whales."
Black Company fans will immediately recognize those as two of the creatures that followed Old Father Tree to the Plain of Fear.
It's amusing to see this connection between the science fiction of the Star Fishers series (which has giant multi-dimensional space whales) and the gritty fantasy of the Black Company series.
Fun stuff. Dogfighting vs. lightning-firing mantas. Awesome.
Related Post:
Using Fantasy Monsters for Post-Apoc Science Fiction, and vice-versa.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
In Memory of Jack Vance: Laccodel's Rune
This magic item for GURPS is based on a magic item from Tales of the Dying Earth.
Laccodel's Rune
Also known as Laccodel's True Rune, this item is a copper bracelet of apparently middling value ($20). It weighs 1 lb., and is decorated with a stylized L.
The wearer is given Immunity to Magic while wearing it - no spells cast by another caster will affect the wearer. However, the wearer can use magic normally, including casting spells on himself or herself. In addition, the wearer can attempt to dispel magic by touch; treat this as Dispel Magic-25, FP cost 0.
Lesser versions exist as well:
Lesser Laccodel's Runes
Not the true Laccodel's Rune, but one of a number of copies. Takes the form of a copper bracelet of apparently middling value ($20), weighs 1 lb., decorated with a stylized L.
Laccodel's Lesser Rune: Gives the wearer Improved Magic Resistance 5 and casts Dispel Magic-15 on touch (by the rune or the hand wearing it) for a cost of 2 FP from the wearer.
Laccodel's Greater Rune: As above, but Improved Magic Resistance 10 and casts Dispel Magic-20.
Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Vance.
Laccodel's Rune
Also known as Laccodel's True Rune, this item is a copper bracelet of apparently middling value ($20). It weighs 1 lb., and is decorated with a stylized L.
The wearer is given Immunity to Magic while wearing it - no spells cast by another caster will affect the wearer. However, the wearer can use magic normally, including casting spells on himself or herself. In addition, the wearer can attempt to dispel magic by touch; treat this as Dispel Magic-25, FP cost 0.
Lesser versions exist as well:
Lesser Laccodel's Runes
Not the true Laccodel's Rune, but one of a number of copies. Takes the form of a copper bracelet of apparently middling value ($20), weighs 1 lb., decorated with a stylized L.
Laccodel's Lesser Rune: Gives the wearer Improved Magic Resistance 5 and casts Dispel Magic-15 on touch (by the rune or the hand wearing it) for a cost of 2 FP from the wearer.
Laccodel's Greater Rune: As above, but Improved Magic Resistance 10 and casts Dispel Magic-20.
Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Vance.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
My Modified DF Mook Rule
I mentioned a modified mook rule in my post on speedy GURPS combats. I didn't describe it, so I'll fix that here and write it up.
For those paying close attention, I mentioned this a while back on the SJG forums, where you can see other takes on the the "And Stay Down!" rule from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2, p. 27.
Briefly summarized, "And Stay Down!" has fodder drop from any hit that does damage, and worthy and boss critters stay up longer and/or get some HT rolls to stay conscious. That's a little too undifferentiated to me, and I feel like it de-values the high damage attacks of front-line fighter types by making a lucky tap from a weak fighter and a high-damage skull shot from a heavy weapon into effectively same thing. Knowing a monster is probably a mook, it means you're best bet is to use the lightest tap you can (a Defensive Attack with a thrust of a double-dagger weapon, say) to take something down.
I prefer people really open up on fodder and show their stuff, yet I want them unimportant NPCs to drop without dragging out a fight uselessly.
Here is my variation:
Unimportant NPCs automatically fail HT rolls to stay conscious, avoid stunning or knockdown, or to stay alive. This means that a wound that takes them to 0 HP or below will put them right down and out of the fight; a wound that cripples a limb or inflicts a major wound will stun them and knock them down.
(Clarification: Unimportant NPCs still get a HT roll to recover from stun, they just don't get one to avoid it in the first place.)
Special Cases: Some monsters come with special rules for staying awake - berserkers, for example, ignore knockdown and stunning, and do get to make HT rolls, no matter how "fodder"-like they are. Creatures with Hard to Subdue have it for a reason, and get rolls to stay awake. Hard to Kill means I make a death check to see if a creature is dead, even if it drops unconscious automatically.
Doesn't this mean a 2-point advantage like Hard to Subdue turns fodder into a potentially tough fight? Yes, it does. Hand out advantages that make weak monsters stand up longer with care - putting them on an NPC says you intend this guy to stand up and fight longer. It makes guys with those advantages and makes berserkers a really different fight.
Important NPCs use the full rules - they roll anything a PC would roll. These include named NPCs, boss monsters, singular monsters (if I put one chimera in a room, it's automatically a special chimera), etc. They don't have any automatic drop levels other than dying at -5xHP (unless they've got advantages that say otherwise.)
Also, NPCs might be special because of the situation. The goblin messenger who's running the alarm to the other goblins might get rolls because he's situationally important. The dinoman champion is special, even if his dinomen buddies are not. The one orc who happens to be wielding the magic sword from the treasure pile is special, no matter how weak he is.
I'll also rule on the fly that what was supposed to be a mook is an important NPC. If a fodder monster scores a critical hit, or somehow pulls off some amazing rolls (say, a great set of defensive rolls, or knocks a PC down), or otherwise shows his awesomeness, I declare then and there (silently, not out loud) that he's no longer a mook and gets to make his rolls.* This way any given mook can turn out to be important just because of what he does.
These rules apply to NPC hirelings, too, but not full-out Allies (you paid for them, they roll) or special NPCs.
This approach speeds up combat, especially with large numbers of fodder types. They don't last long if they fail to defend, but they're still touch enough that you need to hit them hard enough to take them to 0 HP or less. This lets you use them in larger numbers (fun!) without ending up with a lot of bookkeeping and rolling and status tracking (not fun!)
Coupled with the Untrained Fighters rules from GURPS Martial Arts p. 113, this makes a clear line between skill and lack of skill, toughness and lack of toughness, importance and lack of importance. It also rewards high-damage strikes and makes you use the skills you've got to dispose of the weak opposition instead of encouraging you to take out just enough to win.
TL:DR version: Don't roll HT to stay conscious for mooks; they just fail. If you give them a name or Fit or Hard to Subdue or something, you're saying they aren't mooks. Roll for them.
* This is the "Sgt. a Wood" rule. Sgt. a Wood is the name of a sergeant counter from Cry Havoc. We used it on a battlemap to represent a no-name NPC in a big fight in my old GURPS 3e game. Oddly, he fended off a much more powerful PC, hurt another one badly, and then started to escape when the fight went bad. A PC pursued him ("I'll show that guy!") and in the process got cut up, knocked out, lost a fine knife, and ended up losing out a lot in the subsequent game from trying to finish him. From then on, whenever I'd use that counter for an NPC they'd open up on him with maximum firepower and get him down ASAP.
Amusingly, one of my players made a military PC who was a sergeant, and named him Andy Wood. "Call me A. Wood."
For those paying close attention, I mentioned this a while back on the SJG forums, where you can see other takes on the the "And Stay Down!" rule from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2, p. 27.
Briefly summarized, "And Stay Down!" has fodder drop from any hit that does damage, and worthy and boss critters stay up longer and/or get some HT rolls to stay conscious. That's a little too undifferentiated to me, and I feel like it de-values the high damage attacks of front-line fighter types by making a lucky tap from a weak fighter and a high-damage skull shot from a heavy weapon into effectively same thing. Knowing a monster is probably a mook, it means you're best bet is to use the lightest tap you can (a Defensive Attack with a thrust of a double-dagger weapon, say) to take something down.
I prefer people really open up on fodder and show their stuff, yet I want them unimportant NPCs to drop without dragging out a fight uselessly.
Here is my variation:
Unimportant NPCs automatically fail HT rolls to stay conscious, avoid stunning or knockdown, or to stay alive. This means that a wound that takes them to 0 HP or below will put them right down and out of the fight; a wound that cripples a limb or inflicts a major wound will stun them and knock them down.
(Clarification: Unimportant NPCs still get a HT roll to recover from stun, they just don't get one to avoid it in the first place.)
Special Cases: Some monsters come with special rules for staying awake - berserkers, for example, ignore knockdown and stunning, and do get to make HT rolls, no matter how "fodder"-like they are. Creatures with Hard to Subdue have it for a reason, and get rolls to stay awake. Hard to Kill means I make a death check to see if a creature is dead, even if it drops unconscious automatically.
Doesn't this mean a 2-point advantage like Hard to Subdue turns fodder into a potentially tough fight? Yes, it does. Hand out advantages that make weak monsters stand up longer with care - putting them on an NPC says you intend this guy to stand up and fight longer. It makes guys with those advantages and makes berserkers a really different fight.
Important NPCs use the full rules - they roll anything a PC would roll. These include named NPCs, boss monsters, singular monsters (if I put one chimera in a room, it's automatically a special chimera), etc. They don't have any automatic drop levels other than dying at -5xHP (unless they've got advantages that say otherwise.)
Also, NPCs might be special because of the situation. The goblin messenger who's running the alarm to the other goblins might get rolls because he's situationally important. The dinoman champion is special, even if his dinomen buddies are not. The one orc who happens to be wielding the magic sword from the treasure pile is special, no matter how weak he is.
I'll also rule on the fly that what was supposed to be a mook is an important NPC. If a fodder monster scores a critical hit, or somehow pulls off some amazing rolls (say, a great set of defensive rolls, or knocks a PC down), or otherwise shows his awesomeness, I declare then and there (silently, not out loud) that he's no longer a mook and gets to make his rolls.* This way any given mook can turn out to be important just because of what he does.
These rules apply to NPC hirelings, too, but not full-out Allies (you paid for them, they roll) or special NPCs.
This approach speeds up combat, especially with large numbers of fodder types. They don't last long if they fail to defend, but they're still touch enough that you need to hit them hard enough to take them to 0 HP or less. This lets you use them in larger numbers (fun!) without ending up with a lot of bookkeeping and rolling and status tracking (not fun!)
Coupled with the Untrained Fighters rules from GURPS Martial Arts p. 113, this makes a clear line between skill and lack of skill, toughness and lack of toughness, importance and lack of importance. It also rewards high-damage strikes and makes you use the skills you've got to dispose of the weak opposition instead of encouraging you to take out just enough to win.
TL:DR version: Don't roll HT to stay conscious for mooks; they just fail. If you give them a name or Fit or Hard to Subdue or something, you're saying they aren't mooks. Roll for them.
* This is the "Sgt. a Wood" rule. Sgt. a Wood is the name of a sergeant counter from Cry Havoc. We used it on a battlemap to represent a no-name NPC in a big fight in my old GURPS 3e game. Oddly, he fended off a much more powerful PC, hurt another one badly, and then started to escape when the fight went bad. A PC pursued him ("I'll show that guy!") and in the process got cut up, knocked out, lost a fine knife, and ended up losing out a lot in the subsequent game from trying to finish him. From then on, whenever I'd use that counter for an NPC they'd open up on him with maximum firepower and get him down ASAP.
Amusingly, one of my players made a military PC who was a sergeant, and named him Andy Wood. "Call me A. Wood."
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
What's 100 points between friends?
Someone (Unachimba) asked about how I have wildly different point total PCs adventuring at the same time.
How does that work out?
Some of it is my game, some it is GURPS.
It depends what you buy.
In my current game, at this moment, we've got a 346 point knight on something like his 23rd or 24th delve next to a martial artist worth 251 on his 3rd or 4th. That's a 95 point difference. All Chuck Morris has purchased so far is Reach Mastery (Light Horse Cutter) for his polearm. Vryce has purchased Hard to Subdue, Hard to Kill, Luck, weapon skill, Armor Mastery, Armoury skill, Swimming, Sacrificial Parry, more HP, and who knows what else at this point.
Yet they stood shoulder to shoulder in combat all last session and Chuck Morris put down at least as many opponents as Vryce. Nothing one did overshadowed the other.
Why?
Vryce has mostly purchased things that will keep him alive, or helps his friends survive. He hasn't made himself, or really concentrated on making himself, so offensively powerful that the only way to challenge him is with dangers that would annihilate all the other PCs.
Had it been another PC, would it matter? Probably not. With a wizard and a second wizard, it only takes a couple spells the vet doesn't have to make you useful in ways the vet isn't. We've got two scouts and someone coming in soon with a third. I never hear one complaining the other is stealing his thunder, or is too powerful to adventure with. The fact that one is better than the other doesn't seem to make the weaker one less useful, just less powerful. Neither is outclassed clean out of utility on the adventure.
It depends on what you sell. By which I mean, as a GM, what do you make available for the points?
My game is pretty far from a freak show game, and I err on the side of caution allowing purchases of potentially game-altering powers and spells.
If it was "anything goes!" I'd have more of a problem. 100 points of "whatever you want" can get odd, fast, and put PCs who don't yet have the access to these powers or the points to buy them in a bit of a hole.
To put it another way, my game gets more cinematic by ramping up the level and breadth of fairly mundane powers. The skilled get more skilled, the strong stronger, the magically powerful more magically powerful. They don't get access to game-changing abilities.
To a lesser extent, what do you make available for sale? In my game, magic items are not all automatically available for purchase. You have to roll to see what's there, or more accurately, if the thing you want is there. So the experienced sorts don't have shatteringly powerful items that set a "must be this high to ride this ride" barrier to entry for new characters.
It's how fast you get your points. If I gave out 100 points in 20 groups of 5 over 20 sessions vs. 4 batches of 25 over 4 sessions, do you think it would affect what people buy? I think so. The urge to spend now on things that'll keep you alive until next session is powerful. So the guy 95 points more valuable doesn't have, say, Extraordinary Luck and Extra Attack 2 and 3 more levels of sword skill. He's got a breadth of abilities improved a bit and filled in gaps exposed by repeated exposures to a variety of dangers. So new guys can still pull their weight on adventures that challenge him because he's not as far ahead as raw point total might make it seem.
"A kid with a pointed stick can kill you in GURPS." That's as direct a quote as I can remember of what a friend of mine says pretty often. I'm still not sure if my friend was being derisive or not. Not, I think, since he's played GURPS for a long time and GMed it for years now as well. But he's not wrong. Given a sufficiently lucky/unlucky set of rolls, barring built-in immunity or built-in ability to recover from a given attack form, a kid with a pointed stick can kill you. A few 3s here, a few 17s or 18s on your part, and bam! it's new PC time.
This helps smooth out some of the differences between power levels. A critical head blow to your brand new DF PC is probably about as bad as a critical head blow to an experienced DF delver.
Some people might call this "swingy" as if that's a bad thing. It's not - it's exciting. A lot like MMA, where someone can dominate a fight but then make a single mistake and get knocked out, caught in a triangle choke, or power-bombed into defeat. It adds an element of risk and a thrill of uncertainty to any fight.
GURPS builds that in. A critical hit bypassing any defense roll, and may do other exciting things, too. A critical miss is always possible no matter how high your skill is. Using a skill in a combat situation always opens you up to failure, and using your head in order to minimize the number of times you need to take that risk puts a high value on clever play.
And that's why I think the nearly 100 point difference between the top point value and bottom polint value PCs in my game doesn't matter that much.
How does that work out?
Some of it is my game, some it is GURPS.
It depends what you buy.
In my current game, at this moment, we've got a 346 point knight on something like his 23rd or 24th delve next to a martial artist worth 251 on his 3rd or 4th. That's a 95 point difference. All Chuck Morris has purchased so far is Reach Mastery (Light Horse Cutter) for his polearm. Vryce has purchased Hard to Subdue, Hard to Kill, Luck, weapon skill, Armor Mastery, Armoury skill, Swimming, Sacrificial Parry, more HP, and who knows what else at this point.
Yet they stood shoulder to shoulder in combat all last session and Chuck Morris put down at least as many opponents as Vryce. Nothing one did overshadowed the other.
Why?
Vryce has mostly purchased things that will keep him alive, or helps his friends survive. He hasn't made himself, or really concentrated on making himself, so offensively powerful that the only way to challenge him is with dangers that would annihilate all the other PCs.
Had it been another PC, would it matter? Probably not. With a wizard and a second wizard, it only takes a couple spells the vet doesn't have to make you useful in ways the vet isn't. We've got two scouts and someone coming in soon with a third. I never hear one complaining the other is stealing his thunder, or is too powerful to adventure with. The fact that one is better than the other doesn't seem to make the weaker one less useful, just less powerful. Neither is outclassed clean out of utility on the adventure.
It depends on what you sell. By which I mean, as a GM, what do you make available for the points?
My game is pretty far from a freak show game, and I err on the side of caution allowing purchases of potentially game-altering powers and spells.
If it was "anything goes!" I'd have more of a problem. 100 points of "whatever you want" can get odd, fast, and put PCs who don't yet have the access to these powers or the points to buy them in a bit of a hole.
To put it another way, my game gets more cinematic by ramping up the level and breadth of fairly mundane powers. The skilled get more skilled, the strong stronger, the magically powerful more magically powerful. They don't get access to game-changing abilities.
To a lesser extent, what do you make available for sale? In my game, magic items are not all automatically available for purchase. You have to roll to see what's there, or more accurately, if the thing you want is there. So the experienced sorts don't have shatteringly powerful items that set a "must be this high to ride this ride" barrier to entry for new characters.
It's how fast you get your points. If I gave out 100 points in 20 groups of 5 over 20 sessions vs. 4 batches of 25 over 4 sessions, do you think it would affect what people buy? I think so. The urge to spend now on things that'll keep you alive until next session is powerful. So the guy 95 points more valuable doesn't have, say, Extraordinary Luck and Extra Attack 2 and 3 more levels of sword skill. He's got a breadth of abilities improved a bit and filled in gaps exposed by repeated exposures to a variety of dangers. So new guys can still pull their weight on adventures that challenge him because he's not as far ahead as raw point total might make it seem.
"A kid with a pointed stick can kill you in GURPS." That's as direct a quote as I can remember of what a friend of mine says pretty often. I'm still not sure if my friend was being derisive or not. Not, I think, since he's played GURPS for a long time and GMed it for years now as well. But he's not wrong. Given a sufficiently lucky/unlucky set of rolls, barring built-in immunity or built-in ability to recover from a given attack form, a kid with a pointed stick can kill you. A few 3s here, a few 17s or 18s on your part, and bam! it's new PC time.
This helps smooth out some of the differences between power levels. A critical head blow to your brand new DF PC is probably about as bad as a critical head blow to an experienced DF delver.
Some people might call this "swingy" as if that's a bad thing. It's not - it's exciting. A lot like MMA, where someone can dominate a fight but then make a single mistake and get knocked out, caught in a triangle choke, or power-bombed into defeat. It adds an element of risk and a thrill of uncertainty to any fight.
GURPS builds that in. A critical hit bypassing any defense roll, and may do other exciting things, too. A critical miss is always possible no matter how high your skill is. Using a skill in a combat situation always opens you up to failure, and using your head in order to minimize the number of times you need to take that risk puts a high value on clever play.
And that's why I think the nearly 100 point difference between the top point value and bottom polint value PCs in my game doesn't matter that much.
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