Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - GURPS Overhaul

Varyon · 09-19-2014, 08:26 AM

It's been a while, but both Peter V. Dell'Orto and Douglas Cole have been looking at a rather impressive exchange of sword blows in GURPS terms, and I couldn't resist taking Doug's analysis and throwing it through my Initiative system. For simplicity, I'm assuming both fighters start at IP 100 and they both have Move 5 and Init 10.

Red starts with a Step and Thrust, which is going to have partial overlap - 40 IP for the Step, 60 IP for the Thrust, with the lesser cost halved, so end cost is 80 IP. White opts to Parry, for 40 IP. Red has IP 20, White has IP 60. 4 time steps later (400 ms), White takes a defensive stance and takes a swing, which would be worth 105 IP but he opts to take a -2 to damage to drop that to 95. Red opts to Parry, for 40 IP. Red has 20 IP, White has 5. 8 time steps later (1200 ms), Red takes a Committed Stance and swings at White, which would be worth only 52.5 IP but Red opts to go for broke and dedicate 91.875 IP (which we'll round up to 92) for a +3 to his attack. White manages to Parry, using up the full 40 IP so his Defensive Stance gets him a +1 to defend. Red has 8 IP and White has 45. 6 time steps later (1800 ms), he decides to capitalize on Red's greatly-reduced defense, going into a neutral stance and swinging for 87.5 IP for a +1 to hit. Red can't Parry or Retreat, so he's stuck using Dodge, at -2 for 20 IP. White successfully hits, but doesn't do enough damage to cause Shock. Red has 48 IP and White has 12.5. Red knows he has one chance to maybe reclaim his dignity before the round is called, so 1 time step later (1900 ms) he opts for an out-of-turn action, a swing that should cost 105 IP (for being out-of-turn). He drops this to 55 IP by taking a whopping -10 to his attack, but gets this to -4 by going Telegraphic and accepting a -2 to damage. White only has 22.5 IP, so he has to take a -4 to his Parry to drop it down to 20 IP. The Telegraphic Attack gets that to only -2, and he opts to take a knee (which probably shouldn't require any IP, and if it did would have perfect overlap with his defense anyway) for +2 to defend (as per Doug's suggestion) to bring it back up to his normal Parry. He succeeds, and wins the exchange hands-down.

How does this match up with the fight itself? We've got White taking his swing at only 400 ms rather than at 700, Red making his second attack at 1200 ms rather than 1000 or so, White making the fatal strike at 1800 ms rather than around 1600, and Red trying his desperation move at 1900 ms rather than 1750. All told, while the numbers don't match entirely, overall the fight fell into the rules fairly readily. I suspect I may be overcharging a bit for out-of-turn actions, but honestly that's more a game balance than realism thing.

09-19-2014, 08:26 AM	#11
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: GURPS Overhaul - Initiative It's been a while, but both Peter V. Dell'Orto and Douglas Cole have been looking at a rather impressive exchange of sword blows in GURPS terms, and I couldn't resist taking Doug's analysis and throwing it through my Initiative system. For simplicity, I'm assuming both fighters start at IP 100 and they both have Move 5 and Init 10. Red starts with a Step and Thrust, which is going to have partial overlap - 40 IP for the Step, 60 IP for the Thrust, with the lesser cost halved, so end cost is 80 IP. White opts to Parry, for 40 IP. Red has IP 20, White has IP 60. 4 time steps later (400 ms), White takes a defensive stance and takes a swing, which would be worth 105 IP but he opts to take a -2 to damage to drop that to 95. Red opts to Parry, for 40 IP. Red has 20 IP, White has 5. 8 time steps later (1200 ms), Red takes a Committed Stance and swings at White, which would be worth only 52.5 IP but Red opts to go for broke and dedicate 91.875 IP (which we'll round up to 92) for a +3 to his attack. White manages to Parry, using up the full 40 IP so his Defensive Stance gets him a +1 to defend. Red has 8 IP and White has 45. 6 time steps later (1800 ms), he decides to capitalize on Red's greatly-reduced defense, going into a neutral stance and swinging for 87.5 IP for a +1 to hit. Red can't Parry or Retreat, so he's stuck using Dodge, at -2 for 20 IP. White successfully hits, but doesn't do enough damage to cause Shock. Red has 48 IP and White has 12.5. Red knows he has one chance to maybe reclaim his dignity before the round is called, so 1 time step later (1900 ms) he opts for an out-of-turn action, a swing that should cost 105 IP (for being out-of-turn). He drops this to 55 IP by taking a whopping -10 to his attack, but gets this to -4 by going Telegraphic and accepting a -2 to damage. White only has 22.5 IP, so he has to take a -4 to his Parry to drop it down to 20 IP. The Telegraphic Attack gets that to only -2, and he opts to take a knee (which probably shouldn't require any IP, and if it did would have perfect overlap with his defense anyway) for +2 to defend (as per Doug's suggestion) to bring it back up to his normal Parry. He succeeds, and wins the exchange hands-down. How does this match up with the fight itself? We've got White taking his swing at only 400 ms rather than at 700, Red making his second attack at 1200 ms rather than 1000 or so, White making the fatal strike at 1800 ms rather than around 1600, and Red trying his desperation move at 1900 ms rather than 1750. All told, while the numbers don't match entirely, overall the fight fell into the rules fairly readily. I suspect I may be overcharging a bit for out-of-turn actions, but honestly that's more a game balance than realism thing.