11-02-2019, 01:36 PM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2014
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Combat speed question
How is the speed of combat in DFRPG compared to regular GURPS? My group plays a regular GURPS game and, for me, the combat always felt very very slow. Is DRRPG much faster?
I do apologize if this was asked before. I searched the forums but did not find anything on this. If there is another thread on this topic that you know of please point me in that direction. Thank you! |
11-02-2019, 06:45 PM | #2 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: Combat speed question
Roughly the same. Though missing some options it might go a smig faster for your group if your group likes to get bogged down into the weeds of Techniques and options.
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11-02-2019, 09:38 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: San Rafael, CA
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Re: Combat speed question
Takes a focused group and a good gm to run fights quickly in any system with lots of options.
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11-04-2019, 01:19 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Ottawa, ON, CA
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Re: Combat speed question
This really is dependent more on the group than the system. I've had sessions of D&D and Pathfinder where people are fumbling their way through their action, taking upwards of five or ten minutes to figure out how many attacks they get, at what bonus, whether they want to use Power Attack or not, which feats apply, etc, etc. I've had sessions of GURPS where play takes less than a minute per player turn in a fight, frequently less than thirty seconds.
I've had the absolute reverse be true for d20 and for GURPS, though. It comes down to this: -do the players know their characters well enough to know which of the system's options are good choices? -are the players paying enough attention when it's not their turn, so that they can evaluate on the fly which of the good options is the one they want to use? -does the GM know the system well enough to wing it if a player wants to do something unfamiliar? When the answer to all of the above is 'yes', play goes quickly whether you're playing FATE, D&D, or GURPS. Even one 'no' can slow things to a crawl.
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11-04-2019, 02:25 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Combat speed question
I would say that overall the speed is faster, just because your scope is limited to the vagaries of GURPS and the complications that can be thrown into a fight, and playing characters with fairly high skills tends to cut down on indecisiveness about what action to take in a fight. Maybe you have one or two less questions due to the clearer cleaner representation of the rules.
However it's still GURPS, combat still has granular detail and lots of options, so it moves at the pace it moves. |
11-04-2019, 02:34 PM | #6 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: Combat speed question
Quote:
At FNORDCon earlier this year, I ran two games of DFRPG in my Nordlond setting. Both were 12 or 13 players. Half of whom had never played GURPS. It was light, it was fast, it was fun. But that's because for each person I tuned my questions of "what do you do?" to their experience level, and turns went boom-boom-boom. You have to be on your toes, prevent analysis paralysis by being forgiving and actually mastering the game (Sphynx: "If you want to GameMaster, you must first Master the Game." Mr Furious: "Don't you find these a bit formulaic?").
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11-04-2019, 09:19 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Combat speed question
This has been my experience too. As the group (and particularly the GM) gets more experienced, things move much more quickly. As Doug points out, a skilled GM can keep things flying even with a green group:
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It also depends on how much the group enjoys the combat mini-game. If they're into the second-by-second tactics, then I'm happy to luxuriate in bullet time. If a melee starts to feel like a slog, I'm happy to narrate the end of the battle and keep the plot moving. |
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11-07-2019, 11:15 AM | #8 |
World's Worst Detective
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Columbus, Ohio
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Re: Combat speed question
I've been rolling around an idea in my head, and it seems like it might be a success. Making people make Trademark Moves (p. 53) for their character seems like a nice way to greatly speed up combat. A generous GM might give out actual Trademark Moves for free while a stricter GM might have them just write them out for 0 points and no bonus. Because I would happily hand them out for free if it meant faster combat, I think I would also let them change them up between sessions.
I'd be willing to give away five Trademark Moves and suggest that everyone have two melee options (one safe and one risky) and two ranged options (one safe and one risky) with the fifth option being whatever they want. It'd be fun for players to name them, or, at least, I know my players would be all over it. At that point, even though it would no longer be the Trademark Move, it would be easier for them to make substitutions or add things on (e.g., "Well, this is usually a sword swing Deceptive Attack at -4 to the Neck at -5, but I want to do it with a sword thrust to the Vitals instead." "Okay," I'd say, "hitting the Vitals is -3 instead, so that's a total of -7. With that extra -2, you could also up your Deceptive Attack to give them -3 to defend for your usual -9 to attack." "That sounds awesome. You're the best GM in the world, Raekai.") I'd also suggest incorporating one All-Out Attack, one Deceptive Attack, and one Targeted Attack with suggestions for Dual-Weapon Attack or Rapid Strike if it fit the character. Now, that I've typed this idea out, I like this it more and more. Then, if I wanted to be really punishing, I could have a timer, and, if they player can't come up with a different move in that amount of time, they have to choose one of their Trademark Moves. But I'd keep that dark twist in reserve and maybe save it for something nicer—like giving a rushed and hectic edge to a chaotic battle. I hope that helps. Because I think that just helped me. (Don't look. I'm patting myself on the back.)
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11-07-2019, 01:16 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Combat speed question
It's going to depend significantly on enemy type and preferred tactics. GURPS is inherently a bit slower at attack resolution than, say, D&D, but may make up for this by requiring fewer attacks to defeat a foe.
To land an attack in GURPS is:
By comparison, in D&D the attack procedure is
Overall, you can probably resolve about three D&D attacks in the time required to resolve one GURPS attack, and something like five hits. However, GURPS combatants generally require fewer hits to disable, so for experienced players I'm not convinced that GURPS is slower than mid level D&D (level 1 D&D is super fast). |
11-07-2019, 02:09 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Combat speed question
Quote:
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