How balanced is GURPS?

[Gamer23]

@Nanoboy

In general I'm spending more time on thinking about ways how to keep my PCs alive without making it too obvious for them to realize, than thinking about ways to keep my NPCs alive...

That the PCs wax the NPCs if they have the edge is pretty unsuprising, but there are times where the NPCs attack the PCs, in that case they usually can decide on location, time and have often the advantage of suprise.

However, if it's sword vs sword it's a very differnt story than gun vs gun.

But what kind of setting are you playing ?

greets
g23

[Stephane_Theriault]

Originally Posted by Kromm

After 26 years of GMing and 20 years of GURPS, I still sometimes fail to realize that some players don't "get" why they should [...] never turn their back on a foe

You didn't have someone in mind when you said that, did you? :) It was a miskate on my part, true, but it all came about because one of us decided to *retreat* and let Vinz deal with those three demons by himself...

I swear, Rufus the Chicken S**t dies next week.

[Rasmus Wagner]

What the others guys said. Also, numbers are very, very important. A sword-and-board man can hold his own against 2 inferior opponents for a while, until they outmaneuver and flank him. Greatsword Man is in trouble with even 2 inferior opponents.

[nanoboy]

Originally Posted by Gamer23

In general I'm spending more time on thinking about ways how to keep my PCs alive without making it too obvious for them to realize, than thinking about ways to keep my NPCs alive...

That the PCs wax the NPCs if they have the edge is pretty unsuprising, but there are times where the NPCs attack the PCs, in that case they usually can decide on location, time and have often the advantage of suprise.

However, if it's sword vs sword it's a very differnt story than gun vs gun.

But what kind of setting are you playing ?

greets
g23

Fantasy. We're using the Yrth setting from GURPS Fantasy for 3rd Ed. It's mostly low tech weapons, but recently in the campaign, gunpowder has been introduced in the hands of the orcs. The dwarf in the party has managed to figure out how it works after receiving help in figuring out the composition, but I digress.

What I originally meant was that I have to make superior characters-- points-wise-- to mount an honest threat to the PC's. That said, a lucky hit will ruin their day... but not much more than that, given magical healing. Bear in mind that my players are all very intelligent. They are all MIT students, save one who is an MIT graduate.

Truth be told, in fantasy setting combat, magic plays this sort of x-factor role. Shape-changing and the like can play unexpected roles depending on what situation unfolds.

[Anthony]

I don't believe I've ever seen a RPG where you don't have to take fairly careful account of the capabilities of the PCs to create a fair fight. Even in D&D, which is really designed around combat, two parties of the same size and average level can vary significantly in capabilities, and the same encounter will be much more dangerous for one party than another.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Ellie the Technomancer

You didn't have someone in mind when you said that, did you? :) It was a miskate on my part, true, but it all came about because one of us decided to *retreat* and let Vinz deal with those three demons by himself...

I swear, Rufus the Chicken S**t dies next week.

Actually, I did have someone in mind, but it wasn't you . . . it was Mike/Rufus, when I said, "stay at most a second's run from their allies." He was about three seconds away. Still, I have to admit that I was surprised to see you guys split up in a 9 vs. 5 fight! I thought for sure that you'd go for local strength and all go pick off an enemy on your flank.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Rasmus Wagner

What the others guys said. Also, numbers are very, very important. A sword-and-board man can hold his own against 2 inferior opponents for a while, until they outmaneuver and flank him. Greatsword Man is in trouble with even 2 inferior opponents.

It depends on relative mobility. I've seen high-Move, high-Dodge GURPS warriors with two- and three-yard greatswords and pole weapons prevail over hordes of foes armed only with one-yard shortswords simply by backpedalling every few turns, always stepping back after an attack, and always retreating when attacked. We plan to give long, two-handed weapons a further boost in Martial Arts, too, to represent the fact that they can deny a huge swath of space to attackers unwilling to step into nine feet of whirring log or crowbar.

[Anthony]

One of my favorite GURPS fights ever involved a single villian swordsman/mage (in the 400 point range) against four PCs (in the 200-300 point range, though they'd started around 150). A single swordsman with an enchanted vampiric bastard sword, able to maintain a move of 8 in enchanted plate mail, and with the Might and Dexterity spells he had, more than a match for any of the PCs...

I still had to use careful tactics, and in the end they trapped him in a corner and took him apart, but it was an interesting lesson in tactics.

[Gaming_Bird]

Originally Posted by Kromm

We plan to give long, two-handed weapons a further boost in Martial Arts, too, to represent the fact that they can deny a huge swath of space to attackers unwilling to step into nine feet of whirring log or crowbar.

Who else immediately thought of the Dynasty Warriors series of videogames when reading this?

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Kromm

We plan to give long, two-handed weapons a further boost in Martial Arts, too, to represent the fact that they can deny a huge swath of space to attackers unwilling to step into nine feet of whirring log or crowbar.

Cool. My recent, albiet limited, experience is that they don't have the authority in GURPS that I think they deserve. Maybe I've been running D&D with longspear wielding ogres too long, but the ability of truely big weapons to deny space is a very important part of their usefulness, IMO.

So, is there to be an option to make sweeps or area attacks with them, like RuneQuest let its giants?