Gaming Ballistic - GURPS Content Posts

[DouglasCole]

This session was more or less an exercise in how not to tackle a super-genius super-soldier who has anticipated our every move. Fortunately, the Foresight advantage exists, and I had the Karma points to completely ret-con the situation to our advantage. So victory, but honestly we didn't deserve it from where I was sitting. This is also my 800th post on Gaming Ballistic

[DouglasCole]

After some discussions offline about how to get the most body-armor-defeating punch out of a pistol, I come to the realization that when comparing extreme bottleneck rounds like the .224 BOZ with saboted rounds like the very same cartridge launched from a 10mm APDS . . . you really want the APDS. In GURPS, anyway.

[DouglasCole]

"Don't kill him! If you kill him, he won't learn nuthin!" These words by the Riddler in an otherwise-execrable Batman flick are a bit of the polar opposite to how I felt things could have, or even should have, gone in our last Aeon game. I ponder the plot equivalent of the golden parachute.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

"Don't kill him! If you kill him, he won't learn nuthin!" These words by the Riddler in an otherwise-execrable Batman flick are a bit of the polar opposite to how I felt things could have, or even should have, gone in our last Aeon game. I ponder the plot equivalent of the golden parachute.

At least its a Supers game. In that genre its almost a staple to survive something you should not have.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Refplace

At least its a Supers game. In that genre its almost a staple to survive something you should not have.

That's an incredibly valid point, of course. And the "gee, this looks like stupidity, but it's all part of our plan!" is so in-genre it hurts. You see it all the time in especially superhero TV shows.

But being in the middle of the sausage maker was not fun.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

But being in the middle of the sausage maker was not fun.

You could also not take the ability that lets you retcon things. You packed a parachute; it saved you.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

That's an incredibly valid point, of course. And the "gee, this looks like stupidity, but it's all part of our plan!" is so in-genre it hurts. You see it all the time in especially superhero TV shows.

But being in the middle of the sausage maker was not fun.

Originally Posted by Anthony

You could also not take the ability that lets you retcon things. You packed a parachute; it saved you.

I agree with Anthony but the part that I'm sure hurts is as the Master Strategist you had to use it. I get that!
Better to have that parachute then not, but better still to not need it and get the glory (and satisfaction) of out thinking your foe.
That ability sits better with someone like Longshot then when playing Captain America.

[Christopher R. Rice]

His ability to use Foresight IS outthinking his foe - it's just not Doug himself Doing it. That's the whole point of metagame abilities.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

His ability to use Foresight IS outthinking his foe - it's just not Doug himself Doing it. That's the whole point of metagame abilities.

Exactly. My problem with how the stuff went down is we never discussed "making the vague plan that makes it feel OK to use metagame abilities."

We did the Foresight thing in the last game - we talked about the need for air support denial, we talked about the troops on the ground, we talked about the troops above us. We came up with a few plausible assignments as to who would do what. And when it all went down, we came up - retroactively, now that we had further details as to the full situation - with how we "planned" to stop it.

It was great, it worked brilliantly, and it did not damage immersion, fun, or sense of disbelief, because *we talked about it.*

This time, no one talked, no one planned. There was no sense of "OK, we know this guy is a super-genius, we know he'll use bombs, and we know that we've foiled his bombs more than once before, so he'll try and outwit us again with even more complex triggers." All of that we knew - but we never sat down to take the in-game time to discuss it. So there was no "cut scene" where a plan was formed (even if we didn't know what it was). People were just pulling Leeroy Jenkins all over the place, and when the final confrontation went down, there was no narrative reason for us to have ever had a plan.

THAT was what was unsatisifying. The group disunity and SQUIRREL! factor. Not the metagame abilities themselves.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I agree with Anthony but the part that I'm sure hurts is as the Master Strategist you had to use it. I get that!
Better to have that parachute then not, but better still to not need it and get the glory (and satisfaction) of out thinking your foe.
That ability sits better with someone like Longshot then when playing Captain America.

Sorry on this last one, but that's just not right. I was watching Ultimate Avengers with my daughter with the subtitle track on, and one of the points was that Captain America never goes into battle without at least three backup plans. He's the prototype for my character for a reason.