Make Animals Threatening [Basic]

[Sam Baughn]

Originally Posted by Kromm

The world average is TL4 or perhaps TL5; it's just that the world's cutting edge is TL8...

That seems unlikely to put the average human at TL 4 or 5. You can be decades behind the cutting edge and still in TL 8. Most of the world is fed from farms which use fertilizers, insecticide, and agricultural machinery. Most people have access to electricity, refined fuels, medicine which does more good than harm, and 'improved sanitation', none of which are typical of TL 4 and most of which were not widespread in the West until the twentieth century.
There's three-quarters of a billion people in Europe (almost all TL 8), half a billion in North America (more than half TL 8, the rest maybe 7), about 1.3 billion in China (most of them living in the most developed cities, which are nearly as advanced as the West, but with some well populated areas probably only TL 6-7), another 1.3 billion in India (also mostly in cities, which I'd say are mostly TL 7, but with significant patches of 6 and 8), probably another quarter billion in advanced South-East Asian countries (late TL 8) and a similar amount in Russia and other ex-soviet states (at least TL 7). Less advanced SEA places seem to be mostly 6-7, at least in the densely populated areas. Big chunks of the Middle East and Latin America are probably low TL, but most of the population is concentrated in cities where things are at least TL 6, probably more like 7 on average. Central Asia is patchy, but the really backwards parts are thinly populated. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where there really are a lot of people living low-tech lives, but even then the population tends to be concentrated in and around cities (which in itself should tell you that they aren't much below TL 5) which are at least industrialized, probably a patchy TL 6 (with outliers in both directions).
So nearly a third of the human race are TL 8, most of the rest TL 6 or 7, with a significant minority maybe TL 5, a small percentage TL 4 and an almost insignificant number TL 0. That puts the average person at around TL 6. TL 4 and below just don't sustain dense enough populations to make a big difference to the average.
Most of humanity lives in countries which have some nuclear power plants (or only avoids them for economic or cultural reasons, not because they couldn't build them), have at least the capacity to develop nuclear weapons, and have some form of space program, all TL 7 technologies. That doesn't mean that every part of the country is TL 7, but it does suggest a serious industrial economy.
As far as I can tell the global average HDI is 0.737, in the middle of 'high human development', with countries like the Ukraine (capable of manufacturing modern firearms, trucks, jet aircraft and spacecraft, surely at least TL 7), China (capable of manufacturing damn near everything, albeit only in the most developed parts), Mongolia and Suriname (with economies dominated by mining, probably TL 6) being around that level.
GDP per capita for the planet seems to be about $18k, compared to $40-50k for Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea, and $63k for the US. That's roughly consistent with a world average TL of 6, with about half as much money per person as TL 8 countries.

[AlexanderHowl]

Honestly, saying that the world average is TL6 is probably incorrect because the vast majority of the global population is familiarized with TL8 technology through the miracles of cinema and television. Even if they have never driven a TL8 car or used a TL8 firearm, they are capable of defaulting to TL8 skills without any penalty beyond the default. I have had friends who have done education research in rural Ghana, and the children there were familiar enough with computer technology that they were capable of helping them when they were having difficulty with their computers. I have had friends whose cars broke down in rural Argentina, and they were capable of getting back on the road after a couple of days when a local mechanic fixed their car.

If the children or the mechanic had been been TL6, they would have suffered a -10 to their skills (their default in the case of the children) when attempting to help in each case, which would have made it impossible for them to do anything useful (in fact, the children should not have had a default given that computers are properly a TL7 technology). In order to align with the rules of the GURPS system, they would have had to have been TL8, though they lived in impoverished areas. Just because people are poor does not make them primitive, it just makes them unfortunate.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Alden Loveshade

I know virtually nothing about the Cape Buffalo; will have to look that up.

You'll find a lot of hunting stories. The Cape Buffalo is the last of Africa's "Big Five" (cape buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion and leopard) that's not on the endangered list and very likely the one that has killed the most hunters.

The realisitic problems probably start with having to approach it closer than would be normal for man+gun v. animal. It's favored habitat seems to be full of big thorn bush sorts of things. It is also quite big and it's horns grow togehter over it's forehead making heads on shots more difficult.

However, once you get to the legends you'll hear that the Cape Buffalo _never_ goes down on the first shot and _always_ charges its' shooter.

I suppose its' HT might be a poitn higher than the average and/or it actually has Hard-to-Kill and Bad Temper seems quite likely. Legends would endow it with Berserk and Bloodlust too.

[Tyneras]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

You'll find a lot of hunting stories. The Cape Buffalo is the last of Africa's "Big Five" (cape buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion and leopard) that's not on the endangered list and very likely the one that has killed the most hunters.

The realisitic problems probably start with having to approach it closer than would be normal for man+gun v. animal. It's favored habitat seems to be full of big thorn bush sorts of things. It is also quite big and it's horns grow togehter over it's forehead making heads on shots more difficult.

However, once you get to the legends you'll hear that the Cape Buffalo _never_ goes down on the first shot and _always_ charges its' shooter.

I suppose its' HT might be a poitn higher than the average and/or it actually has Hard-to-Kill and Bad Temper seems quite likely. Legends would endow it with Berserk and Bloodlust too.

No Vitals or No Brain with Reflexive and Unreliable to represent bullets deflecting off heavy bone without giving them crazy levels of DR, maybe?

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Anthony

You can always give the animal rabies. Though that's likely either a moderate inconvenience (rabies shots or equivalent magic/tech available) or a death sentence (not).

It's not just that, though certainly that factor wouldn't be underestimated. It's also that the suicidal attack behavior I mentioned in a previous post does not need a magical/supernatural explanation in this case. If your setting is not horror but on the contrary any 100% mundane setting, you can't have a normal animal be somehow controlled by an enemy of the PCs, and incited to launch a kamikaze attack. But a dog with rabies may well do that, and is an entirely realistic threat.

[oneofmanynameless]

Originally Posted by Kromm

The issue with most fictional stories of this kind is that they're horror stories. The people being eaten, including the protagonists, are still somewhere between 0 and 25 points. Now this is largely due to being deliberately "kept down" by the story's author, who makes sure that all the characters are either truly helpless, functionally so because they're ordinary folks with desk jobs and no combat skills, or bundles of flaws who are taken while giving in to Addiction, Alcoholism, Lecherousness, etc. and not paying attention.

In the vein of treating man eaters as horror monsters, even for 100-150 cp heroes, you can give the animal stats 25-30% above the norm across all fronts, and then give it traits like Luck, Combat Reflexes, better skills, and traits like "Ghostly Movement" (Horror pg. 20), and terror (either for that nice creepy shot where you thought you saw it, or for roaring from afar in the dark). And then have them behave with unrealistically good tactics as though they're IQ was human or even better... Throw in some Escape for good measure.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Tyneras

No Vitals or No Brain with Reflexive and Unreliable to represent bullets deflecting off heavy bone without giving them crazy levels of DR, maybe?

Personally, I would shy away from using No Vitals or No Brain for something that does have those things (even if it might work in terms of game mechanics). In this case, I'm not sure it would fit in game mechanics, because not all effects are going to come through those bones.

Perhaps the higher DR that's given to human skulls could apply over their whole body. But I honestly know virtually nothing about cape buffalo, so don't know if that would apply or not.

[Kromm]

If all you want to do is represent "Nyaah! Ya missed all my vital spots!", Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction) is the way to go. A divisor of 2 turns a flesh-and-blood animal into what's functionally an undead monster or similar; 3 turns up the unrealism to make vitals hits largely ineffectual; 4 makes even skull blows weak (but about the only way to have a small chance of taking out the beast); and anything higher leads to Jason Voorhees beasties. Note that if you're a supporter of the many house rules for scaling damage type to target size, the smaller divisors could actually feel realistic to you on larger animals (though in real life, AK-47s bring down elephants with a burst or two).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Alden Loveshade

P

Perhaps the higher DR that's given to human skulls could apply over their whole body. But I honestly know virtually nothing about cape buffalo, so don't know if that would apply or not.

Cape Buffalo hide probably is DR1 and might be DR2 with a 3 to 4 pt Skull (Frontal at least) but for the rest of it just Berserk and a base HT of 12 might cover what's needed.

In legendary form at least it is a _very_ aggressive animal.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Note that if you're a supporter of the many house rules for scaling damage type to target size, the smaller divisors could actually feel realistic to you on larger animals (though in real life, AK-47s bring down elephants with a burst or two).

Even with variants, they'd bring down elephants with a burst or two; a typical 'injury tolerance levels equal to SM' winds up changing bullets required from 4 to 12 (divided by 3 if targeting vitals).