04-29-2005, 12:55 PM | #11 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
Quote:
These guys can prevail when there's room to retreat and run away, they're facing attacks they can evade, and their foes either go down or run away if bloodied. However, when facing hordes of tough, strong foes in close quarters, they're in hot water. They're generally left hoping they get lucky before they get cornered and either take a hit or break a weapon. In close with tough guys, you need to fight fire with fire. You want the high-ST knight clomping around at Move 2 in DR 6 plate armor, hiding behind a large shield, with High Pain Threshold and lots of HP. Even if he takes a hit from behind, he can tough it out. And when he hits, it takes someone out. He's a shark, not a piranha. The moral? Match the foes to the kinds of PCs you have. However, most PC groups are mixed bags, and that complicates things . . . fights that are fair for the 150-point ST-and-DR guy won't be fair for the 150-point DX-and-Move guy, and vice versa. All you can do then is politely but firmly remind your players of tactics. Unfortunately, RPGs are a tactical nightmare, as they require combined-arms tactics that no one in the real world ever had to think about (where else do you see a karateka, a rapierist, a knight in plate, and a longbowman facing ninja archers covered by pikemen?). There will be errors that hurt or kill PCs. My personal solution is to make Luck a campaign advantage so that the PCs have an insurance policy.
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
|
04-29-2005, 01:20 PM | #12 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Austin, TX
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
Quote:
I will say this, consider a ghost. Given Insubstantial and Invisible, with some optional enhancements, you have 140pts before you even start making the rest of the creature. You have to get VERY creative with disadvantages. By GURPS standards, the little girl from "The Ring" is about a 300pt or more. |
|
04-29-2005, 02:02 PM | #13 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
Quote:
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
|
04-29-2005, 03:49 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Alameda, CA
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
Quote:
At any rate, matchups are pretty much hit-or-miss in my experience.
__________________
Fraser: "Could you elucidate, sir?" Welsh: "No, no. Not since the late sixties." Ray: "That's Canadian for explain." --- from "due South" episode Seeing Is Believing |
|
04-29-2005, 04:02 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Edmond, OK
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
As an aside regarding "balance," I have always considered the importance of the idea for RPG's to be different from other games. This difference comes from the fact that RPG's (in general) are cooperative, while other games are almost exclusively competitive. In RPG's balance applies more to a player character's usefulness in a campaign relative to the other player characters' usefulness. Monsters, evil ninjas, political rivals, and necromancers are all just story elements. That you beat to a pulp. When appropriate... Or not.
|
04-29-2005, 04:32 PM | #16 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Bakersfield, CA
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
Quote:
Thus, you have to play to the strengths and weaknesses of the players and their characters taken together. If you have a bunch of combat-oriented but inexperience players, you may have to play to their strengths to help them *discover* their strengths, before they're experienced enough to know how to deal with their weaknesses. On the other hand, if you have a bunch of Special Ops vets playing accountants, you may have to have quite a few more orcs than you planned to account for players who know exactly how to use their circumstances to their advantage. |
|
04-29-2005, 04:52 PM | #17 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
Quote:
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
|
04-29-2005, 05:19 PM | #18 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
The total ammount of points allocated is not a indication how powerfull a PC is in combat, just how experienced he is.
The number of points spent on the primary combat skills and related equipment instead tells you how well a NPC/PC can fight. Primary combat skills mean in this case: The skills that will be used in combat should be considered, not all combat skills of course. If your intention is to create foes that challange the PCs but does not kill them, use the PCs as guideline - but make the foes a little weaker. greets g23 |
04-29-2005, 05:30 PM | #19 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Edmond, OK
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
Quote:
|
|
04-29-2005, 05:36 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: U.S.
|
Re: How balanced is GURPS?
One thing that I have to point out regularly is that what GURPS is.
It is not solely a combat simulator. It is a role playing system. Sure, it does pretty good with general combat but don't try to use a tool for something its not intended for. 'Points' are a measure of combat ability or ability to magically toast something, or a guage of how bad your character will freak, or even how fast they will run screaming. To use 'points' for only a measure of combat ability only is not an accurate measuring guide. RH |
Tags |
gm advice, kromm answer |
|
|