Newb question about movement/posture

[Studlybob]

I'm sorry if this obvious somewhere in the books but I've spent about 2 hours trying to find an answer and I just can't. Please help.

Let's say I have a character with a speed/movement of 5. He is standing up. Straight in front of him, 3 yards away, is a barrel. He wants to run to the barrel and crouch behind it for full cover. He's afraid someone will start shooting at him next round.

He moves forward 3 yards to the barrel taking up 3 of his 5 movement. Can he still crouch this turn? Or does he have to wait for next turn? Why either way?

What I can't figure out is how changing posture (in this case standing to crouching) works at the end of your movement. I found in the book where it says what the additional movement cost is to move WHILE crouching but that would mean he crouches over and then starts moving. It seems silly in this case for him to crouch before he moves. He'd rather just run forward to the cover and then crouch so he has better cover.

Thank you

[zoncxs]

It is a free action to end your turn in a crouch.

You can then, on your next turn, move in the crouch position or stand up and move, the standing up part is considered your "Step"

[Ulzgoroth]

Changing posture in general is a Change Posture maneuver...a whole maneuver of its own, so you can't do it as part of a Move maneuver.

However, there are some exceptions. You can (per Basic Set p. 364) crouch at the start of your turn as a free action, or rise from a crouch at any time. (Crouching actually never uses the Change Posture maneuver, I think.) But that doesn't cover what you're doing here. Per p. 368: "you may not move more than a step and then crouch at the end of your movement to avoid attacks – not in one second!"

If you want to run behind cover and get down right away, you're going to have to go at it a different way. You certainly can Dodge and Drop behind the cover once you're attacked, but you won't get the full benefit of the cover for that first attack. You almost certainly should be allowed to drop to prone as a free action...but the Basic Set doesn't particularly support that, and Tactical Shooting only seems to within an optional restricted dodge rule system.

[sir_pudding]

There's also what it says on GURPS Martial Arts p.98 which allows free posture changes as part of certain Reach C attacks.

I really thought that somewhere it specified explicitly that diving prone at the end of a Move was a free action besides Restricted Dodge Against Firearms (which, BTW, was in Martial Arts long before it was in Tactical Shooting) but I can't find it now. It certainly implies it, since you can dive prone as part of a dodge. At any rate, it is something that you probably ought to allow, and I think the absence of any explicit mention is merely an oversight.

[Erling]

As per Basic Set RAW, no, you can't crouch after running 3 yards. However, as sir_pudding has mentioned, there is a rule that allows you to assume another (lower) posture in the end of you movement as a part of Move and Attack, Committed Attack or All-out Attack maneuver at the cost of 1 additional movement point. With a bit of tinkering it can be transformed into posture change as a part of Move maneuver of even as a part of Step.

Among very few things which I don't really like about GURPS are rigid rules about postures and movement. I always houserule it and let characters change posture at a cost of movement points (much like in many tactical games, both video- and tabletop).

[JoelSammallahti]

Originally Posted by Erling

Among very few things which I don't really like about GURPS are rigid rules about postures and movement. I always houserule it and let characters change posture at a cost of movement points (much like in many tactical games, both video- and tabletop).

Agreed. Not only rigid, but also kind of inconsistent: you can run, punch and kneel all in the same turn, but not run and crouch. But you can stand up from a crouch and run, that's fine. :/

Also, you can't pick stuff up from the ground from crouching, you need to be kneeling, crawling, or lying down. Remember that the next time you pick a sock up off the floor. And no bending over, either, there's no such posture: to pick that sock up, you need to first kneel on this turn (which you can combine with running, as long as you hit somebody on the way), then take the Ready maneuver to actually pick it up, and you can stand up with a Change Posture on your third turn.

EDIT: The above turn count is erroneous. My bad!

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by JoelSammallahti

Also, you can't pick stuff up from the ground from crouching, you need to be kneeling, crawling, or lying down.

You can ready a weapon in one turn from a crouch with a DX or Fast Draw-3 roll (Martial Arts p. 104).

Remember that the next time you pick a sock up off the floor. And no bending over, either, there's no such posture:

You can also bend over to pick it up, that's just a variation on the two Ready manuevers, but in combat you probably shouldn't. I know in the Corps, I had "bending over to pick up stuff" totally replaced with "squat or kneel to pick up stuff", and I usually still squat rather then bend over to pick things up.

to pick that sock up, you need to first kneel on this turn (which you can combine with running, as long as you hit somebody on the way), then take the Ready maneuver to actually pick it up, and you can stand up with a Change Posture on your third turn.

No, it only takes two turns. First turn step to assume a low posture, ready to pick it up, second turn step to stand and ready to ready the weapon for fighting. For a sock, you don't even need that second ready, just any maneuver that allows a step.

[JoelSammallahti]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

No, it only takes two turns. First turn step to assume a low posture, ready to pick it up, second turn step to stand and ready to ready the weapon for fighting. For a sock, you don't even need that second ready, just any maneuver that allows a step.

You're right, Martial Arts does fix the sock thing. By Basic Set, my rant is still correct.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by JoelSammallahti

You're right, Martial Arts does fix the sock thing. By Basic Set, my rant is still correct.

"You can switch between kneeling and standing (only) as the “step” portion
of any maneuver that allows a step – you don’t need Change Posture for that. This is instead of using the step to move. Thus, you could go from prone to kneeling with a Change Posture maneuver on one turn, and then stand up in place on your next turn by taking a maneuver that allows a step."

Basic set, p364.

[JoelSammallahti]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

"You can switch between kneeling and standing (only) as the “step” portion
of any maneuver that allows a step – you don’t need Change Posture for that. This is instead of using the step to move. Thus, you could go from prone to kneeling with a Change Posture maneuver on one turn, and then stand up in place on your next turn by taking a maneuver that allows a step."

Basic set, p364.

I stand corrected! :D