GURPS OLD WEST: Intimidation and the Movies

[Kromm]

You could do worse than to add +|Bulk|/2, rounded down. Tiny holdout pistols (Bulk -1, so no bonus) would simply enable Intimidation; most ordinary pistols (Bulk -2 or -3) would give +1; the most monstrous pistols (Bulk -4), shorter shotguns (Bulk -4 or -5), and period carbines (Bulk -5) would give +2; and most period shotguns (Bulk -6) and rifles (Bulk -6 or -7) would give +3. I would actually add in the extra -1 to Bulk for a bayonet here – it could push a Bulk -5 carbine up to Bulk -6, for +3. I would also give period explosives, Gatling guns, etc. +4. To remain true to genre, the other guy's weapon ought to penalize you . . . "Mine is bigger than yours" fits the spirit of things. Thus, a holdout pistol (0) vs. a typical shotgun (+3) would give you -3, while a rifle (+3) vs. a six-shooter (+1) would give you +2.

You could get all fancy with this, working out a similar scheme for melee weapon Reach (polearms get +3, spears and greatswords get +2, most one-handed weapons get +1, and little daggers get 0). Thus, you'd get +2 to intimidate with a spear (Reach 2) vs. fists (Reach C), +1 with a spear vs. a saber (Reach 1), 0 with a spear vs. another spear, or -1 with a spear vs. a halberd (Reach 3). I would treat the modifier as a flat 0 if the other guy has ranged and all you have is melee, though. With any of these melee weapons, you'd have -1 to intimidate vs. a six-shooter, while if you had the pistol, you'd have +1 to intimidate someone with any melee weapon, however scary.

All this assumes that relative capabilities are clear to everyone. Something that the other party doesn't even recognize as a weapon wouldn't give any modifier until it showed its true colors. If it proves destructive beyond all reasonable expectations, like a phaser or a light saber, it would grant the same +1 to +4 extra that supernatural powers give, unrelated to visible weapon size. Thus, a little Bulk -1 phaser set to "dematerialize" or a Reach 1 light saber might still give +4 even if the other guy is behind a Gatling gun, once he has seen the phaser make someone go away or the light saber chop bullets out of the air and cut a horse in half.

I generally agree that skill 11 doesn't cut it, though. My rough rule is that if you intend to win fights via Intimidation, then you want Intimidation at roughly the same level as typical combat skills in the setting. Yes, this does mean that high-DX, low-Will warrior types will have to invest a lot more in a Will/A skill than they would in a DX/E skill to be effective. So it goes . . . being scary isn't the same as being a good shot.