Reality-testing / Playtesting the Guns Default . . .

Icelander · 02-24-2016, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Maybe. But if you take it to the opposite extreme, postulating that a person who picks up a non-Art, non-Sports pistol for the first time in one's life is supposed to have a skill at DX, you have pretty much stepped into a system that is nothing like the way GURPS Defaults works (and the intent was to reality-test the latter).

Performing a simple task like shooting at a firing range at DX after having learnt the basics of how a gun works* is not the same as being able to use it in a real firefight at full DX or IQ.

On the other hand, a lot of police departments spend much less than 200 hours on training officers to use firearms. I don't have a problem with saying that 1-2 point in Guns (Pistol) can easily result from a lifetime of familiarising through media, several serious lectures on how real guns work, as opposed to fake ones, and a day or two at a firing range.

Actually, a lot of combat skills in GURPS are more about attitude than anything else. The mechanics of Brawling, Knife or Guns aren't complex. The reason most people are bad at violence is that they don't know how to deal with adrenaline, fear, rage and the mental block against hurting others that most civilised people seem to have. GURPS treats these as physical skills, but in reality, a lot of taks that fall under them depend on being mentally able and willing.

A person with a sensible attitude toward weapon safety and a pragmatic ability to hurt others when necessary will probably not require all that many shooting lessons and self-defence courses before he can function at DX to DX+2 with a wide range of weapons, as well as Brawling and simple grappling moves. It costs a lot of points in GURPS, but it's not really realistic to have it take a long time.

*However that was done. Compared to many people throughout history, modern boys who consume Western media and play with toy guns know an astonishing amount about military weapons and have plenty of experience in pointing guns.