Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

I have a suspicion that it isn't in any rule book (an unfortunate oversight) and is from a clarification by the line editor.

This is the effect of several things. Firstly, the main rules being only able to be a certain size. Secondly, not all the rules for stuff even being invented at the time the core rules were printed. Thirdly, putting very niche rules in the books with the stuff to which they apply (and if you think 4e is bad for that, try 3e, or most other game lines by other publishers). And fourthly, you're looking to set up and run a game with very high detail around gunfights and injuries, and want outcomes that require the use of many of these optional niche rules.

One thing I'd do, once you've decided on all the rules you think fit your game is to go over them and ask yourself which ones can be dumped for being too fiddly or adding too much rolling for the value they bring, and then discarding those.

Not by default. To damage an eye you generally need to target the eyes, though a critical head hit has about a one in eight chance of turning into an eye hit.

Hitting the face for any damage at all forces a knockdown check (B420), and if it's a major wound it's at -5, so it has a very good chance of putting your average dude on the ground, ready for a good kicking.

They were very tightly woven compared to most kevlar, for one thing.

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

Aimed attacks with laser rifles. RoF10, Acc12, Rcl1. If an unaimed single shot would've hit, a full-RoF aimed attack will land all 10. If you want cinematic Space Opera games either throw out the lasers, or make sure the PCs and other major characters are in laser-proof armour.

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

Apologies if this has been mentioned before. From experience the most dangerous encounters are regular adventures (without magic, high tech armour, or superpowers) going against opponents with automatic weapons. In my games this most commonly occurs in fairly realistic historic war zones like the American-Vietnamese war. Assuming that type of scenario I employ the following:

Engagements typically start at beyond half dice range in open terrain (half damage) or in very thick cover for short range engagements making it difficult to score a hit. This has the added advantage of seeming realistic as the enemy wants to minimise their own casualties.

Use random hit locations for NPC fire. There is a good chance of striking a limb which is non-lethal.

Make realistic assumptions about enemy behaviour. The Viet Cong for example often used hit and run tactics, this greatly reduces the chance of character deaths. Looking at the American-Vietnamese war from an Australian perspective about 60,000 soldiers were deployed during the war and there were around 500 fatalities, not all of those were combat related. Sure the PCs might be exposed to more danger than the average soldier who might not even see combat, but even casualties amongst SASR soldiers was fairly low (I can’t recall the exact number). As GM I try to investigate the historic reasons for the surprisingly low casualty rate and make sure they are reflected in game.

Encourage PCs to take advantages like Luck and Danger Sense.

Encourage PCs to use reconnaissance and planning, and allow it to work well. Reinforce the idea that GURPS is not like those other games.

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

True, but they're not shotgun-style.

(Bonus: even if the PCs are wearing laser-proof protection, their equipment isn't and laser acc is so high it's practical for fairly ordinary shooters to do things like shoot somebody's gun.)

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

This is why we never use lasers as written. It's one of the strengths of GURPS that we easily overcame the issue by either using Blasters or just not using the "they all hit" rules. I don't doubt there are game where this works nicely, but not for us. Easy fix.

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

What 'they all hit' rules? UT laser rifles hit a lot thanks to generating excessively high bonuses on the attack roll, having a bit of RoF, and not having recoil. There's no special case there, the numbers are just extreme.

A lot of technologically advanced settings should not use the UT laser rifle, for sure.

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

Huh? I don't see how it implies that, since I don't. It just means I can't remember if there's a canonical order for DR loss vs. HP loss. (Or at least couldn't at the time. Turns out there is, and HP is lost first, so DR 6+ saves you from dying to the first shot.)

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

There is a thread around here somewhere that semi-reviews each issue of the Third Generation of the magazine (all 4e rules), so I'd read that thread to get an idea of which issues might be more useful to you before you just willy-nilly buy them all.


I mean, I bought them all*, but that's just me. Others might be more discerning with their money.


* I've also since purchased all the digital issues for the first GURPS mag, Roleplayer, as well the first gen Pyramid (3e rules), of which I already owned all the hard copies... so... I'm not as discerning. I'm still missing a good bit of the 2nd gen Pyramid, since I didn't have internet at the time... but if I ever get a time machine, I'll get that corrected as well.

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

Yeah, it sure would be sweet for them to sell an archive of v2.

Re: How to avoid killing your player characters as GM
 

This is what the groups I play in call the "death spiral", and it does mean that the way players should go about playing combats is different from D&D family games. Look at p. B380, "Effects of Injury".

1. If you have less than a third of your hit points left, your Move and Dodge get drastically reduced. If you're in a melee combat, you may want to carry on, but if you're in ranged combat, it's time to stop fighting.
2. When you're on zero or less hit points, you need to make a HT roll at the start of each turn to avoid passing out. It's definitely time to stop fighting.
3. When you're "fully negative", only then are you at risk of death. You won't die for certain until you're on -5*HP.
4. Few enemies will take the time to finish off a downed character when there are still some who are fighting.

So you need some teamwork. A party of characters needs to keep track of each other and be ready to react to someone going down. They need to accept that their fellows will stop fighting when badly injured. It's not cowardice, but good sense, and is the main reason Berserk is a 10-point disadvantage: it prevents you accepting that you're out of a fight.

It's easy to make GURPS characters fall over, but killing them takes quite a bit more damage.