Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony
G/N/S theory has its problems, but this is a prime example where it describe something relevant, because that's basically a narrativist way of looking at PC death. By comparison - In Gamist play, the character dies because that's what the rules and the dice said happened. This can be modified or eliminated by choice of scenario and rules, gamist play likely insists on a chance to lose, but dying is not needed.
- In Simulationist play, the character dies because that's what would happen. Simulationist play is probably the most prone to highly mismatched fights.
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I had to read what you wrote like a dozen times to figure out what you're trying to say. And, I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure I got it now.
You're trying to break everything down into G/N/S and, really, that's just a fool's errand. The OP, it seems to me, was just looking to see how everyone else played. That indicates (and I could be wrong) that they're either a Neophyte GM, or just very new to
GURPS and is looking for how things are played.
Here's the big secret: "There's no wrong way to play."
There really isn't. If you're having fun, then, by all means, play the game how you choose. There aren't any
GURPS police to come and take your books/PDFs away when you're not playing it the way everyone else does.
All three aspects of G/N/S can co-exist comfortably. They do in my games all the time. Just because Death is off the table as a potential consequence (when
Dire Peril is not invoked) doesn't mean that the characters can't
fail at their tasks, or suffer permanent consequences for their foolish actions.
The unexpected killing of characters, in my opinion,
isn't fun. It pulls one of the players out of the game, and now they have to make a new character. Which they may not be ready to do. They're certainly out for the current session, and, depending on how long it takes for them to get another character ready and approved, may remove them from another session while the GM works them into the story. (YMMV, for certain games, like
Paranoia and
Murder Hobos, it's fairly easy. For other games, it can be quite difficult).
Where, if they're prepared and
want their character to die, forwarding the plot, then they're invested in the story, and are (most likely) already prepared with a replacement character. The GM has had time to think through the plot and can readily introduce the new character.