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Old 07-21-2010, 10:39 AM   #5
Kromm
GURPS Line Editor
 
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
Default Re: Standard deviation on Stat distribution?

Canonically, the game system attaches no statistical meaning to attribute scores beyond your odds of success when you try to roll under them on 3d. Within the population of the game world, these scores are dramatic descriptors only. In some campaigns, any score under 12 makes you a putz among adventurers, who are off on their own little curve separate from the rest of the universe. In others, everybody is a horror victim with scores in the 9-11 range. Both could take place in the same world . . .

But FWIW, "Every +N to GURPS attributes represents a sigma!" is a bit of an urban myth akin to "GURPS IQ is just the standard test score divided by 10!" Lots of gamers spout this stuff, but SJ Games has never, ever agreed. In fact, we've often disagreed. Despite the system's reputation for realism and popularity with simulationists, the numbers are and always have been assessed in the service of drama.
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