Experimenting with a logarithmic, 'wound level' type system for GURPS

[Anthony]

I'm not yet entirely happy with the results (the way armor works is more complicated than I really like), but I'm at the stage where I'd like to at least see comments -- is this a good idea at all, how can it be better, etc. So, please comment. Find it here.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'm not yet entirely happy with the results (the way armor works is more complicated than I really like), but I'm at the stage where I'd like to at least see comments -- is this a good idea at all, how can it be better, etc. So, please comment. Find it here.

Sorry. Too complicated.

I did try looking at weapon damage for concrete examples and it appeared that a 3D attack (like a SMG) had the same penetration mod as a 5D Assault Rifle. The Assualt Rifle just had a bigger wound mod.

Maybe I've misunderstood (which is a criticism all in itself) but this looks like a real problem. I'm not sure what problem you're trying to address with this feature.

[Dustin]

I definitely see the benefit of a system like this for vehicular combat, especially in science fiction settings where you might have tiny fighter craft mixing it up with mecha and city-scale starships.

I like the ladder effect of cumulative wound levels, that's interesting enough that I'd like to pull it out from the rest of the logarithmic structure to make it usable in a human-scale game (like TL3/4 fantasy or modern espionage) where the logarithmic scale isn't necessary.

Given that this system is perhaps more likely to be used for damage to vehicles and ships, it might be worthwhile to add what the wound levels look like for a vehicle (with B554-5 in mind for effects of major wounds on body/hull/wings/turrets etc).

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Sorry. Too complicated.

I did try looking at weapon damage for concrete examples and it appeared that a 3D attack (like a SMG) had the same penetration mod as a 5D Assault Rifle. The Assualt Rifle just had a bigger wound mod.

Huh. I have no idea how you even got that interpretation, though obviously there's something unclear. A 3d SMG is 20[+0], a 5d AR is 27[-1]. If you totally ignore the 'statting it up' rules, how complex is the basic play part?

[cultureulterior]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'm not yet entirely happy with the results (the way armor works is more complicated than I really like), but I'm at the stage where I'd like to at least see comments -- is this a good idea at all, how can it be better, etc. So, please comment. Find it here.

I think it looks great and makes a lot of sense.

[dataweaver]

What's the reasoning behind the table in step 4? And do you perhaps mean "modify wound" rather than "modify penetration"?

What do you mean by "basic wound level" in steps 8 and 9?

[gjc8]

I like the way wounding works.

The penetration versus armor table is a bit ugly to be consulted each time an attack is made, and then you end up dividing by 5 to get the wound level at the end. Perhaps penetration values are overly granular?

There are some odd breakpoints, due to the way your bonuses work. As far as I can tell, an impaling wound to the vitals or brain can only come in at level 3 or 6, going straight from painful but non-debilitating to unconscious, skipping the major wound and 1/2 move stages.

And speaking of impaling wounds the brain, this system favors impaling wounds to the brain and neck compared to vanilla GURPS, by granting both bonuses in places where impaling doesn't get a special wound multiplier in the vanilla damage system. I'm not sure if that's a feature or a bug.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

What's the reasoning behind the table in step 4?

It's due to the interaction of integer math and logarithm. Basically, the penetration scale is 10^(p/30), so if you have a penetration 30 (10 pt) attack hit against armor 29 (9.26 pt), the remainder is 0.74pt, which is penetration -4 (total reduction of 34 in penetration). It's really just 'hide the math in table lookup'.

Originally Posted by dataweaver

And do you perhaps mean "modify wound" rather than "modify penetration"?

I don't think I do.

Originally Posted by dataweaver

What do you mean by "basic wound level" in steps 8 and 9?

The wound level calculated in step 7.

Originally Posted by gjc8

The penetration versus armor table is a bit ugly to be consulted each time an attack is made, and then you end up dividing by 5 to get the wound level at the end. Perhaps penetration values are overly granular?

Maybe, but without that you either wind up with extremely high randomness, or you have to be rolling something like 3d/5 at some other point. There's a certain virtue to the armor levels being 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, etc, and the damage levels being 1d-2, 1d-1, 1d, 1d+2, 2d, 3d, 5d, 7d, etc, though, I definitely considered it.