04-07-2012, 08:41 AM | #161 |
Untitled
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: between keyboard and chair
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
That's because description is a special effect in GURPS. It doesn't matter whether somebody's got long legs or built-in rollerblades or a gait that doesn't bend the knees; they all give the same game-effect Move +1, and that's all that matters.
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Rob Kelk “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” – Bernard Baruch, Deming (New Mexico) Headlight, 6 January 1950 No longer reading these forums regularly. |
04-07-2012, 08:57 AM | #162 | |
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
Quote:
I'll keep playing GURPS up until it starts regularly employing transfinite and surreal numbers. But I refuse to attempt to roll ωd6. Or even 6dω.
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An ongoing narrative of philosophy, psychology, and semiotics: Et in Arcadia Ego "To an Irishman, a serious matter is a joke, and a joke is a serious matter." Last edited by Lord Carnifex; 04-07-2012 at 11:19 AM. |
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04-07-2012, 09:41 AM | #163 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
Conversely, having longer legs doesn't necessarily mean you move faster. Giraffes have longer legs than cheetahs. Even within a species, counting only leg length makes the huge assumption every other factor is identical. Usain Bolt has shorter legs than Manute Bol.
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04-07-2012, 09:52 AM | #164 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Mission Tx
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
I think this is the problem, these people may feel pressured or intimidated to get the correct value quickly and not to hold up the game. I think people can overcome this with practice. The problem is getting them to try. I believe the GM needs to keep the pressure down. I find this tough as I want to get through the combat before lunch ends so try to step it up some. I am trying to avoid this temptation.
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04-07-2012, 12:09 PM | #165 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
Well, to sort of stay on topic . . .
There are people out there with crummy math skills, for whom addition is faster than subtraction, both are faster than multiplication, division is nearly hopeless, powers are hopeless, and transcendental functions (trig functions, logarithms, etc.) are "stuff geeks did that I didn't understand." This makes anything that relies on fractions or percentages difficult, texts containing mathematical expressions frightening, and even table look-ups kind of scary. Probabilities are best left vague, not played upon explicitly. Then there are the people who have a PhD in mathematics or a physical science, who would consider all of the above trivial. Thus, audience selection is always an issue when deciding how much math to design into an RPG. For GURPS, we were already aiming fairly high with the concept: a single, unified tool kit for emulating specific genres and fictional tropes, for telling stories in worlds that exist only in the mind, while keeping a synthetic persona separate from your natural one. Thus, we aimed the math at the same general level of mental horsepower. That means we took "can do basic mental arithmetic (+, -, ×, and ÷) intuitively, without much regard for the specific operation" as given, and didn't dwell on it, and included things immediately upscale from that (%, √, etc.) without comment. If GURPS were a single-genre, intro-to-roleplaying kind of game aimed at total newbies to the hobby, we would have to lower the conceptual difficulty, and at that point we would probably lower the mathematical difficulty to match. It's a valid criticism that the two don't have to track one another, but we reject it. A game written to appeal to advanced roleplayers with bad math skills, or to people with excellent math skills but no grasp of role or story, would end up insulting half its potential audience by writing down to them. A game that maintains a consistent high level shows respect for their ability to learn and adapt.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
04-07-2012, 12:16 PM | #166 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
Are learning disabilities really that common though?
Not every game is playable by everyone, and that's not a bad thing. |
04-07-2012, 12:25 PM | #167 |
Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
Nothing Kromm mentioned is in the realms of learning disablilty level. Anymore than not being of an artist temetment is a learning disability. Most people can draw, and can make reasonable copies, but there a step up in compataces to take those skills as simple as you form letters in hand writing and make new images.
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04-07-2012, 12:36 PM | #168 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
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There's nothing disgraceful about it. But I won't call the disabled differently abled. My severe anxiety makes me mentally ill. It is what it is. |
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04-07-2012, 12:57 PM | #169 | |
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Mission Tx
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
Quote:
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Thank You, Torg Smith |
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04-07-2012, 12:59 PM | #170 | |
Dog of Lysdexics
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Melbourne FL, Formerly Wellington NZ
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Re: Is a 5th Edition coming soon?
Quote:
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