Radical House Rule - GURPS 3D

JazzJedi · 11-30-2017, 07:13 AM

I'm just soliciting some feedback here on what people think of the following house rule. It does require the use of a calculator when gaming. Use 3d6 for all damage rolls and use a damage multiplier for weapons. To convert a dice expression to a damage multiplier just divide the dice of damage by 3 and round to two significant digits. For d+1 use +0.25, for d+2 use +0.50, and for d-1 use -0.25. Example, 3d-1 is (2.75/3) = x0.92. The benefit of this system is that the bell-curve for damage rolls is consistent and balanced at all levels of damage, from the extreme small scale to the extremely large.

I also give all characters and objects a Wound Multiplier (WM) which is equal to their 10/HP, round to two significant digits. So a character with 14 HP has a WM of x0.71. A vehicle with 60 HP has WM x0.17. Multiply any penetrating damage by the object's WM to determine the number of Wound Points (WP) the character takes (two significant digits again). I use a different term just to keep things straight.

The benefit of using a Wound Multiplier and Wound Points is that all damage is now scaled proportionally for all targets. I keep fractional damages. This effectively gives everything 10 HP, meaning that limbs are crippled with 6 WP of damage, a Major Wound requires 6 WP of damage, first death roll happens at -10 WP, and so forth. I find that this system also makes recovery from injury more consistent, and creates a single scale to evaluate the effects of damage.

I've playtested this system for a year or so, and it works pretty well, and doesn't slow down game play in the least - everyone has a calculator on their phone. But I'd be interested to hear if anyone has ever tried anything similar or what they think. I call this the GURPS 3D mod.

ericthered · 11-30-2017, 08:00 AM

I've normalized damage rolls in play before. I generally like to use (2d6-2)/5 rather than (3d6)/10 though: I like the spread of the damage. The players caught on to it pretty quick: It was on roll 20 so we just used the mathematical functions built in. It worked well enough. It made the damage much more variable, so they built in more contingencies in fights.

JackShadow · 11-30-2017, 08:34 AM

No real chance of me using this system any time soon, but I like the idea and will stuff it away for some mystical future use. :)

Thanks.

Say, it isn't that bad! · 11-30-2017, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JazzJedi

I also give all characters and objects a Wound Multiplier (WM) which is equal to their HP/10,...

I call this the GURPS 3D mod.

I think you mean "10/HP". :)

The name's kinda confusing; I thought this thread was about playing GURPS with elevation, or possibly in space.

Given a good dice-rolling app, it should be possible to roll this all in one go. So the math is quite a bit less of a problem than it would be just a decade ago.

JazzJedi · 11-30-2017, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

I think you mean "10/HP". :)

The name's kinda confusing; I thought this thread was about playing GURPS with elevation, or possibly in space.

Given a good dice-rolling app, it should be possible to roll this all in one go. So the math is quite a bit less of a problem than it would be just a decade ago.

Oops! Yes, this is what I meant. I will edit the entry. Thanks for the catch.

Anthony · 11-30-2017, 02:47 PM

If you're willing to deal with a calculator in play, might as well use an electronic dice roller.

11-30-2017, 07:13 AM	#1
JazzJedi Join Date: Dec 2014	Radical House Rule - GURPS 3D I'm just soliciting some feedback here on what people think of the following house rule. It does require the use of a calculator when gaming. Use 3d6 for all damage rolls and use a damage multiplier for weapons. To convert a dice expression to a damage multiplier just divide the dice of damage by 3 and round to two significant digits. For d+1 use +0.25, for d+2 use +0.50, and for d-1 use -0.25. Example, 3d-1 is (2.75/3) = x0.92. The benefit of this system is that the bell-curve for damage rolls is consistent and balanced at all levels of damage, from the extreme small scale to the extremely large. I also give all characters and objects a Wound Multiplier (WM) which is equal to their 10/HP, round to two significant digits. So a character with 14 HP has a WM of x0.71. A vehicle with 60 HP has WM x0.17. Multiply any penetrating damage by the object's WM to determine the number of Wound Points (WP) the character takes (two significant digits again). I use a different term just to keep things straight. The benefit of using a Wound Multiplier and Wound Points is that all damage is now scaled proportionally for all targets. I keep fractional damages. This effectively gives everything 10 HP, meaning that limbs are crippled with 6 WP of damage, a Major Wound requires 6 WP of damage, first death roll happens at -10 WP, and so forth. I find that this system also makes recovery from injury more consistent, and creates a single scale to evaluate the effects of damage. I've playtested this system for a year or so, and it works pretty well, and doesn't slow down game play in the least - everyone has a calculator on their phone. But I'd be interested to hear if anyone has ever tried anything similar or what they think. I call this the GURPS 3D mod. Last edited by JazzJedi; 11-30-2017 at 12:22 PM.

11-30-2017, 08:00 AM	#2
ericthered Hero of Democracy Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: far from the ocean	Re: Radical House Rule - GURPS 3D I've normalized damage rolls in play before. I generally like to use (2d6-2)/5 rather than (3d6)/10 though: I like the spread of the damage. The players caught on to it pretty quick: It was on roll 20 so we just used the mathematical functions built in. It worked well enough. It made the damage much more variable, so they built in more contingencies in fights. __________________ Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!

11-30-2017, 08:34 AM	#3
JackShadow Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Austin, Texas	Re: Radical House Rule - GURPS 3D No real chance of me using this system any time soon, but I like the idea and will stuff it away for some mystical future use. :) Thanks. __________________ John Buczek (aka JackShadow) john at catscradle dot us Message contents Copyright John Buczek or quoted author

11-30-2017, 02:47 PM	#6
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: Radical House Rule - GURPS 3D If you're willing to deal with a calculator in play, might as well use an electronic dice roller. __________________ My GURPS site and Blog.