Experiences with running "level 1 to level 20" campaigns, using DFRPG

[RogerBW]

As the GM in question (I don't read this forum section often), I'd say that the levers I have to scale with are very different. Numbers of individuals count much more in GURPS than in That Other Game. Most of the time a reasonably competent monster, and pretty much any PC, can be counted on to hit, so what matters is reducing defences, whether by piling many on one or by going multiply-Deceptive on the attack.

Of course Other Game is basically a Lanchester-style formula: I will do X damage per turn against your hit points HY, you will do Y damage per turn against my HX, if HY/X is less than HX/Y then I will win. (It's simpler than Lanchester because losing hit points doesn't impair ability to fight.) In GURPS, usually the first side to take HP damage is the side that's going to lose - so the party can have an exciting combat encounter and still be at full HP, and that doesn't mean it was a walkover.

Another thing that running this game is bringing home to me is that GURPS doesn't have a lot of one-off powers. In Other Game a combatant might only be able to their big attack sometimes, either explicitly N per encounter or because it costs some resource, but in GURPS the fighter can keep on doing double-deceptive cut to the neck all fight long – and the wizard can keep spamming the same spell as long as their FP hold out (or stick to 0-FP-from-high-skill spells), rather than having to switch to whatever they've got left in their memories. So the progress of a combat encounter tends to be "home in on the most effective attack, then keep doing that". And for me the second part of that, the dice exercise, is boring to both GM and players if it takes too long.