03-24-2023, 10:25 AM | #41 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
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03-24-2023, 11:05 AM | #42 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
As with so many things, GURPS' reputation for complexity depends on the extent to which the GM and players want to make it complex.
At base, GURPS can be a very simple system with math that a reasonably bright 6th grader can handle. With a good GM and reasonably knowledgeable players, combat rounds take less than a minute to resolve. If the GM and/or players want to make it complex GURPS can devolve into an exercise which requires college level algebra and spreadsheets, where each combat turn takes 20 minutes to resolve. It's also important for rules- and math-savvy GMs to take on as much of the complexity as they can to keep things simple for players who dislike complexity/math. This is particularly true for "Crunch Heavy/Rules Lite" settings like Action or Monster Hunters. Use things like Loadout cards and crib sheets for common maneuvers to spare players from having to look up rules. If the players are cool with it, have the GM keep track of character ammo/equipment inventories, with the understanding that the GM will fudge things as necessary to keep the game moving. The GM should only make an issue of equipment inventories if its important to plot, character circumstances, or character concept. ("You're poor, so you could only buy 12 arrows. After you pull yourself out of the river, you discover that you have only 6 arrows left and no easy way to get more.") |
03-24-2023, 11:14 AM | #43 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
Sixth grade math is more than most RPGs require. The low end of math complexity is generally single digit addition, and very few RPGs involve fractions, percentages, non-integer multiplication, or integers with more than two significant figures.
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03-24-2023, 12:06 PM | #44 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
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03-24-2023, 12:11 PM | #45 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
No, but... I've had PC groups suddenly find they have to adjust their tactics when they realise that they don't have the ammo for their preferred one of 'hose everything down with full-auto laser fire until it stop moving'.
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
03-24-2023, 12:12 PM | #46 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
GURPS is a system that models all injury as generic hit point damage, despite the fact that in reality different wounds have very different profiles. It's perfectly reasonable to implement radiation as damage (or cyclic damage so it kills slowly), maybe with a box about "this is what radiation injury/death looks like".
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03-24-2023, 12:15 PM | #47 | |
Join Date: Oct 2007
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
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After that the majority of mechanical gameplay is roll 3 dice, add them up and compare the result with a number already on the character sheet. That should be early second grade stuff. If you include a modifier to the roll, you're talking late second grade/early third grade at most. Now, once you add in Enhancements and Limitations things do get more complex, but it still shouldn't be anything a 4th-5th grader can't handle. And it's still in the character creation stage, so that's at a point where tools (or other forms of help) won't slow down gameplay. The real complexity for a pre-teen would be organizing the entire process of creating a character. The math itself is fairly simple. |
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03-24-2023, 12:28 PM | #48 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
Pretty sure 'multiply by 1.5' (cutting damage) is 4th grade. In any case, there's a big gap between "math people can do if they have to" and "math people are actually willing to do".
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03-24-2023, 12:31 PM | #49 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
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But yes, for common 'realism isn't really on point' gaming approaches, radiation poisoning being basically just a source of tox damage would be quite sufficient.
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03-24-2023, 12:35 PM | #50 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Math, GURPS, and its reputation for complexity
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Now, there certainly is room for more in-depth and realistic treatments of these, like Basic Set's radiation rules, Bio Tech's rules for severe burns, or even my own alternate bleeding system (which tracks BP separately from HP, with effects at different thresholds that approximate the symptoms of the appropriate class of hemorrhage), for groups that want them. But as the default? And with the others being handled so simply, radiation kind of stands out like a sore thumb.
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