Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

Also a nice interesting idea, using AoA:Strong to work with a skill like brawling if I got you right... Seems to fit :)

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

This seems like a great place for Player Guidance or the Serendipity advantage. "None of my weapons can hurt this slug without it killing me. I make a run for it, but I want to use Player Guidance (or Serendipity) to find something that does".

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

One thing I do is turn the dials in a combat of gritty/realistic vs. cinematic/larger than life. Say I want to make bleeding relevant to a combat. I decide that the Bleeding rules are in effect until the end of the scene and suddenly a normally cinematic game becomes a bit more scary.

You can do this with any optional rule - even cinematic ones. It makes things a LOT more interesting.

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

For both of these, I feel like it might have a good idea to have a really simple table with some worked examples. Maybe a simple 3x3 grid where one side shows ST10, ST15 and ST20; and the other shows a wardrobe (~100lbs), a man-sized stone statue (~600lbs) and a mid-sized sedan (~2,400lbs). Like, a person with ST 10 can pick up the wardrobe over their head if they have four seconds to do it, can dislodge the statue with a running start and a good roll on DX, Brawling or Sumo Wrestling (the slam skills), and can push the car very slowly along a flat, level surface if it's in neutral. The ST 20 person can throw the wardrobe 12 yards for 2d-1 damage, break the statue off at the ankles and pick it up over their head, and can roll against Lifting to get two of the car's wheels off the ground (success by 4+ lets them roll it onto its roof). Figure out how the ST 15 person can interact with those things, and, when the situation arises in game, use the table to make a guess.

You could do something similar with falling-object damage. Dropping a wardrobe on someone from 10 yards is 5d. Dropping a car from 50 yards is 15d. You'd think multiplying the weight by 24 and the distance by 5 would... well, never mind the scaling, you've got some values, and if you interpolate based on them, you'll be close enough.

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

Absolutely. If you want this to be a normal occurrence, throw Serendipity at everyone.

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

I would be more inclined to allow Player Guidance as an option and make Destiny Points mandatory before I made Serendipity Points mandatory. Serendipitous-guy is much more niche, IMO.

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

Well, I got my estimate by thinking that I wanted the blow to knock someone unconscious. I usually have combats end when the antagonist goes unconscious, so that's good enough for my purposes.

However, let's say that you play a game in which you require unconsciousness checks. In that case, lethal damage is 60 HP for an average human (10 HP plus 5x10 HP below zero). 12d is about 42 damage on average - not quite automatic insta-kill, but pretty close and certainly enough to threaten death with all the saving throws and penalties required. So, if your mental image of the stone is "heavy enough to kill someone," then 12d is a fair estimate.

In my ballparking damage post, I used the GURPS log progression up to 15 damage. The next steps would be 20 damage (6d), 30 (8d), 50 (14d), and 70 (20d). Anything in the 30-70 range (or 8d to 20d) could credibly threaten death in a single impact.

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

That's what I'd do, yeah, particularly the Player Guidance suggestion. As an addition to that, you could consider a house rule of giving out some "free" player guidance for good Tactics or Observation skills. The way I'd work that is allowing characters to take a turn to roll Per-based Tactics or Observation (as a Concentrate maneuver). If they succeed, they get two free points to use for Player Guidance, plus one additional point for every 5 points of margin of success. The points have to be used during the combat or encounter, and they also go away if there's a significant change of scenery within the combat.

Compare that to the rule that allows an opposed Tactics rule before the battle to get your side re-rolls (Martial Arts, p. 60). That one has to be done before the fight begins, but it potentially gives a lot more "point-equivalents" (I think treating a use of Luck, which is what each re-roll effectively is, as worth 1 point is pretty reasonable), and they can be transferred to anyone on your side, too.

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

I'm reluctant to give out multiple point pools for impulse buys because it can get confusing quickly (so I have two Serendipity points, three Destiny points, two Wildcard points that apply, these unspent points, and now I get more points from just making an Observation roll?) and also this suggestion somewhat allows ordinary skills to replace Wildcard points.

Re: Rules and hints for improvisation and creativity in combat situations
 

This is true. I probably wouldn't recommend using my suggestion in a game that already used Impluse Buys otherwise.