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Old 07-26-2010, 08:01 AM   #1
mmeloche
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: at the bottom of a very large coffee cup
Default Keeping the story alive, despite combat

In GURPS, as opposed to Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, I have a problem keeping the story alive. Most of the time I'm unable to resist some kind of combat, which basically kills the story for my players who are unused to GURPS.

I've seen "Combat Lite" used by my GM, and it's done a great job of keeping the flow and in a very cinematic way.

I see two ways to make this work:
  1. Not asking the player's to list a "maneuveur", instead saying what they do
  1. Give player's a limited time to declare their action - 10 seconds?

Basically, this is me realizing that in order to not lose my players, I need to make the combat more cinematic. Any advice on how to do that, and avoid my game become a more complicated game of chess?
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Old 07-26-2010, 10:32 AM   #2
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: Keeping the story alive, despite combat

Both popular suggestions, though (1) is generally more appropriate for people that aren't familiar with the system. You might search for past threads on speeding up combat ("making combat faster", etc). You can avoid many of the detailed options until you become familiar with the rules.

Also, remember that combat can also be described in an entertaining fashion, not just recitation of maneuvers and addition of modifiers.
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Old 07-26-2010, 11:46 AM   #3
Kale
 
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Default Re: Keeping the story alive, despite combat

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
Also, remember that combat can also be described in an entertaining fashion, not just recitation of maneuvers and addition of modifiers.
I agree; it's all in the GM's description. When a PC attacks an enemy I'd never say "you shoot the bandit", I'd say something like "Your arrow thunks solidly into the bandit's side. He clutches at the shaft as he sags to the ground."
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