03-19-2015, 05:17 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Combat Writ Large
All Hail the mighty Kromm!
I can't find the Pyramid thread for todays issue, so I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm only a few pages in and I'm THRILLED to BITS. The Combat Writ Large article fills in a whole bunch of little vague areas regarding large combatants that are very close to my heart. So very happy.
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All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
03-19-2015, 05:23 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Houston
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Re: Combat Writ Large
Couldnt agree more! It was excellent!
I must admit though that it was not what 'pulled the trigger' on my purchase. What sold me was Rice's Article as Encounter balance has long been an interest of mine. THeres still alot of great stuff to go (Bought it on my lunch break) and Im looking forward to Dan Howards Loadouts. Nymdok |
03-19-2015, 05:35 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Combat Writ Large
I confess I've had the benefit of reading the drafts of that one :D
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All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
03-19-2015, 08:58 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Re: Combat Writ Large
Likewise, and I have to say, this is worth the money by itself. I need to check out the rest of the release, but go buy it just for CR's and worry about the rest laster! Do it!
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03-20-2015, 03:55 AM | #5 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Combat Writ Large
Neat article.
I'm still puzzled by the fact that Combat At Different Levels applies to different height from SM. It's weird for the same thing to essentially provide both a bonus and a penalty for the same thing. It also seems nasty towards horizontal, slithering/rolling/etc. characters. I'll need to re-read Big Swings, it seems a bit confusing. Close Approaches is now official, yay. Rebalanced parry mass ratios are nice. I'm glad Kromm cleared up the ambiguity about grappling and SM (confirming that the bigger fighter enjoys +Abs(Difference) to the rolls to hit with a grapple, not just after the grapples), but I'm puzzled by the fact that the smaller fighter apparently also enjoys +Abs(Difference). Barely Hanging On is a neat way of preventing elephants from tail-locking whales. |
03-20-2015, 06:27 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Combat Writ Large
I'm only partway through and already getting tons of red flags that the nominally "outsized" article has lots of stuff that feels like it breaks down as it departs from Size +0.
A 30 yards humanoid (Size +7) is 15 times the height of a 2 yards human, and thus over three thousand times its volume and mass, as far as I can tell. This puts it at about 500,000 pounds. (15x15x15x150 lbs.) The article recommends a ST stat of 150, giving it a BL of 4,500 lbs, and making its weight well over BLx100. There will be no carrying the bride at that giant's wedding. There's other stuff, but I have to go. |
03-20-2015, 06:36 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Cumberland, ME
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Re: Combat Writ Large
Quote:
(Using the guidelines provided by Mr. Stoddard above would result in a 500,000-pound giant having ST 159.) Edit: Another citation for established GURPS ST-calculation. |
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03-20-2015, 07:42 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Combat Writ Large
Quote:
There's no requirement that a creature be able to lift itself with its own ST. Body weight is not subtracted from Basic Lift; creatures always manage to hold themselves up (somehow); ST is lifting capacity on top of supporting yourself (assuming that needs active ST at all). The square-cube relationship between ST (cross-sectional area of muscle) and weight (volume) is realistic. 100' foot tall humanoids are not -- possibly for this very reason alone. Bigger, stronger creatures change their shape, geometry, internal anatomy. If you want fantasy giants to carry their brides, then you just give them enough ST to do so, possibly also decreeing that they're lighter. It's the same way dragons manage to fly, not to mention the fact that magic works. Once the setting postulates giants, you've already moved beyond the realm of applying a simple scaling law over a wide range of size. |
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03-20-2015, 08:01 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Combat Writ Large
Quote:
Real animals don't exactly fit the square-cube law, because bigger animals need more massive limbs and thus have greater muscular cross-section; compare the legs of a spider, a gazelle, and an elephant. But bigger animals can lift smaller fractions of their own body weight, and conversely for smaller animals.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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03-20-2015, 10:24 AM | #10 | |||||
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Combat Writ Large
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That's why giants typically have crazy scaling in fantasy. Usually, they're much lighter than cubic scaling would suggest, which allows them to wrestle and throw each other around like humans, despite this being utterly unrealistic for creatures of their size. It also lets them walk down human highways and stand on the decks of human ships without their ground pressure leaving them knee-deep in gravel or sinking the ship.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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fantasy, giants |
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