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Old 01-22-2008, 03:13 AM   #41
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

If we talk about how the WWII line could have been organised with regard to vehicles, IŽd have suggested that no specific vehicles should have been included nor a vehicles design system.

I would have liked write-ups of generic vehicles, as far as that is possible, that is, a light tank, a medium tank, a heavy tank, an APC, a scout vehicle, an artillery piece, a fighter, a bomber and so on.

There could have been short note on how to tweak them to match specific vehicles, although these might have been reserved for national sourcebooks. So would the design system have been included in a book like Motor Pool.

With this data - and a short and playable combat system, people could have jumped right into the action without the GM reserving hours to design specific vehicles.
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Old 01-22-2008, 07:51 AM   #42
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Part of the joy for many WWII buffs is in comparing hardware from different countries and companies, and in that regard I think the core book had a good list of a few classic vehicles (such as the Sherman, T-34, Panzer IV and Tiger tanks). When I first got the book I spent months poring over and savouring the equipment and vehicle lists like some kind of fetishist, and I loved the wide and varied armoury section listing all the quirks of the weaponry of different nations. I even got a perverse kick out of writing up equipment lists for the latest character creation program and being sure to include the various types of field caps, etc, with their marginally different weights.

I suppose with general write-ups, there would still have been room for the 'tweak' rules you spoke of, and with those tweaks (a few paragraphs each, I imagine) you could still have listed all the same vehicles that were actually included. With the generic vehicle templates, the vehicle design system would have been made even more transparent, which is good for anyone hoping to design vehicles themselves. I would still have been slavering to buy the nation specific books, which is good for marketing. If there could have been the general 'light tank, medium tank, etc.' rules as well as the same number of vehicles listed by means of 'tweak' notes as are in the rulebook now, then I would agree with you, that would have been a good way to go.

The 'tweak' rules, so gamers can see examples of the different historical vehicles with all their idiosyncracies, would still have been vital, I think. WWII buffs tend to be an exacting bunch. Obsessing over the differences in hardware between countries is half the fun.
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Old 01-22-2008, 07:58 AM   #43
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Quote:
Originally Posted by AmesJainchill
I hope this was a sarcastic comment.
I wouldn't say sarcastic, precisely, but certainly tongue-in-cheek.
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Old 01-22-2008, 08:07 AM   #44
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard
I wouldn't say sarcastic, precisely, but certainly tongue-in-cheek.
Made me laugh!
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Old 01-22-2008, 01:09 PM   #45
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

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Originally Posted by Sadurian Mike
Lend Lease started in October 1941 (though it had been approved in May that year). That is 2 years (a third of the war) of home-brewed equipment in use before the US started helping out...

I accept that conventions like US spelling and the US-style $ are going to be in a US-written book; you have to choose some standard presentation and your native one makes sense. Coverage of WWII, however, is a different matter.
To say that the Allies relied entirely on home-brewed equipment is incorrect. Early in WWII the US policy was "cash and carry". That is, combatants had to buy the equipment, and ship it themselves. The French bought Curtiss model 75As "Hawks" and Douglas DB-7s. The Hawk, an export version of the Army's P-36 fighter was in use defending France prior to the 1940 invasion. The British bought Grumman "Martlet" aka the F4F-3 "Wildcat", Curtiss Kittyhawks (P-40s), Martin Marylands and Baltimores, and Douglas DB-7s, and which they called the "Boston." For the most part French DB-7s were taken over by the British, though a few did see action in France.

Add to the above the numerous small arms, and other war material bought from American manufacturers.

Many of these contracts were superceded by Lend-Lease.
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Last edited by flyingwombat; 01-22-2008 at 01:13 PM. Reason: clarification on DB-7
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Old 01-22-2008, 02:57 PM   #46
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Don't get me wrong, I like to have an excessive variety of gear! Sadurian Mike, have you checked out Brandon Cope's site on the GURPS Webring?
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Old 01-23-2008, 12:19 PM   #47
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard
I wouldn't say sarcastic, precisely, but certainly tongue-in-cheek.
So it wasn't meant seriously. Thank you.
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Old 01-23-2008, 01:04 PM   #48
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Quote:
Originally Posted by flyingwombat
To say that the Allies relied entirely on home-brewed equipment is incorrect. Early in WWII the US policy was "cash and carry".
Sure, and the US used Spitfires and Mosquitos, the Mustang was built to a British specification, the 57mm AT gun was the British QQF 6dpr, and the Soviet T-26 (and Polish 7TP) were modifications of the the Vickers 6 tonner. Extend that and you have countries all over the globe using each other's gear.

However, I did not assert that the Allies relied entirely on home-brewed equipment. I was pointing out that Britain, Poland, France et al. were not using Lend Lease equipment from the start of the war through to Oct 1941 (and then only a small percentage for a long time). The French and English tanks were exclusively their own, yet no French or English tank (or anything else) appears in the core book. Obviously countries used foreign equipment (or close copies), then as well as now. This is not a reason for not including home-brewed equipment in a book supposedly covering the entirety of the war, though.
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Old 01-23-2008, 01:06 PM   #49
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard
Why? None of them won the war.
Well we couldn't. We didn't have a big enough film industry to cope.

;)
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Old 01-23-2008, 01:07 PM   #50
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Default Re: The continuing life of the GURPS WWII line

Quote:
Originally Posted by ronom
Don't get me wrong, I like to have an excessive variety of gear! Sadurian Mike, have you checked out Brandon Cope's site on the GURPS Webring?
Not yet, but I shall; certainly go there now. Do you have a URL?
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