02-09-2018, 04:02 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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02-09-2018, 04:02 PM | #12 |
President and EIC
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
"This is an interesting thread," said Steve, interestedly.
I am too close to both of them to value my own opinions very much! |
02-09-2018, 04:08 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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I am curious - were there any decisions you made with GURPS that were motivated by a desire to separate GURPS from TFT? |
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02-09-2018, 04:20 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Arizona
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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02-09-2018, 04:22 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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I seem to recall that a lot of time passed between the announcement of GURPS and the publication of Man to Man. And a fair amount of time between Man to Man and full blown GURPS. This implies that Steve took a lot of time to polish GURPS and “get it right”. From what I infer from articles in the Space Gamer, ITL was a much more rushed project. Also, GURPS was explicitly a universal RPG. Just guessing, but I imagine that this required far more robust testing of the mechanics than a fantasy only RPG. It really wasn’t the game I wanted to play, but it’s obviously a strong design. And while the number of “splatbooks” exploded when the d20 OGL arrived, through the late 80s and 90s, GURPS provided a huge resource of supplements that could be adapted to any RPG. Oh, and Steve brought back the Third Imperium...a personal thanks for that. To this day, my GURPS supplements are a valuable resource. But I digress. |
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02-09-2018, 06:35 PM | #16 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon, USA
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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There's also a general rule for rounding of fractional values: below .5 rounds down, above .5 rounds up, and .5 exactly rounds in the character's favor. So characters get the benefit of hitting different breakpoints. Dexterity 13 is a breakpoint for stat rolls, but for combat it's just shy of hitting one, so Dexterity 14 is more common. But sometimes someone will go Dexterity 15, in order to go before all the folks who went with 14. 23 is an even better breakpoint; it's both a combat value (DEX/3) and stat roll (DEX/5) breakpoint. But again, that makes 24 a tempting target, to go ahead of the 23's. And 25 to go ahead of the 24's. And so on. Quote:
Fuzion was not well received by the general Herodom, but not for anything to do with the system. Fuzion has often been called Hero Games' New Coke; it's a decent system, fixing a number of problems people have had with Champions and the HERO System over the years, but it was a Big Announcement at exactly the wrong time, and as a result it didn't really get a fair shake by Hero gamers. All of that is to say... applying math to a stat value to get a roll works for Champions, but people who dislike the system hold the quite reasonable position that having to do extra math to play a roleplaying game can be a barrier to entry. Not much of one by itself, but with Champions especially, it's one of a number of them that add up.
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02-09-2018, 06:44 PM | #17 | ||
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Tyler, Texas
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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02-09-2018, 06:58 PM | #18 | ||||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Hillsboro, Oregon, USA
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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GURPS first edition's character creation wasn't anywhere near as complex as GURPS' is now; it has evolved over the years. The GURPS system of advantages with modifiers (enhancements and limitations) was most likely directly influenced by Champions, as it first appeared in GURPS Supers (in a somewhat different form in that book's first edition, but more like its current implementation in its second). That particular subsystem is no less complex in GURPS than it is in Champions and Hero, but I think GURPS is generally a good bit less complex overall, and that subsystem isn't ingrained into GURPS the way it is in Champions. (Edit for clarity: Advantages existed in GURPS from the beginning, but enhancements and limitations came along with GURPS Supers.) Quote:
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02-10-2018, 12:45 PM | #19 | |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
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TFT, skills (properly, Talents) adjust the dice thrown GURPS, skills increase effective attributes |
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02-10-2018, 01:28 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
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Re: TFT and GURPS - where is the line between them?
Many talent related modifiers adjust the attribute. E.g., Thrown Weapons, Missile Weapons, or the penalty for not having a weapon talent.
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