"Less-lethal" Gurps

[SteampengMK-1]

Hello there, steampeng here.

I was wondering, is there a way to make gurps less-lethal, as in how to lower the damage of weapons so it isn't a grantee insta kill if it was aimed at a PC?

I know there was one pyramid article dealing with lowering gun damage, but are there other ways?

I thought about allowing PC extra HP from the beginning, at the cost of -HP
(Instead of an average of 10HP and -50HP, allow 30HP and -30HP)

I know most of gurps stuff is geared toward 'realism', but anytime there a "fantasy" set one can get for an RPG, it can't be that Realistically based.

[Lord Azagthoth]

Originally Posted by SteampengMK-1

Hello there, steampeng here.

I was wondering, is there a way to make gurps less-lethal, as in how to lower the damage of weapons so it isn't a grantee insta kill if it was aimed at a PC?

I know there was one pyramid article dealing with lowering gun damage, but are there other ways?

I thought about allowing PC extra HP from the beginning, at the cost of -HP
(Instead of an average of 10HP and -50HP, allow 30HP and -30HP)

I know most of gurps stuff is geared toward 'realism', but anytime there a "fantasy" set one can get for an RPG, it can be that Realistically based.

Allow a HT to absorb damage.

[Gollum]

Yes. If you want cinematic characters, the first step is basic attributes:

• high Strength,
• high Health.

Scores above 14 are amazing and effectively give amazing results on the game. Health 15 gives 95% chance of succeeding Health rolls to avoid death.

The second step, for a Less-Lethal campaign is extra Hit Points, as you noted it.

Also think about cinematic advantages like Hard to kill, Luck (which allows to roll again bad results), and so on.

And don't forget cinematic rules. Just go to Basic Set's Index and search for "Cinematic". There are several entries.

Note: in my humble opinion, with all that, you don't really need any house rule. But, of course, you can still add some if you want to.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Gollum

Yes. If you want cinematic characters, the first step is basic attributes:

• high Strength,
• high Health.

Scores above 14 are amazing and effectively give amazing results on the game. Health 15 gives 95% chance of succeeding Health rolls to avoid death.

The second step, for a Less-Lethal campaign is extra Hit Points, as you noted it.

Also think about cinematic advantages like Hard to kill, Luck (which allows to roll again bad results), and so on.

And don't forget cinematic rules. Just go to Basic Set's Index and search for "Cinematic". There are several entries.

Note: in my humble opinion, with all that, you don't really need any house rule. But, of course, you can still add some if you want to.

I'll note that none of that (except ridiculous amounts of HP and Luck to avoid being hit in the first place) really helps GURPS be less-lethal when high-tech weapons are taken into account, since one of the more common death conditions then is going down to -5xHP and automatically dying.

The Flesh Wounds rule, where you can trade 1 CP (or Destiny Point) to make it so you only take 1 HP of damage instead of what you'd normally take, is much more effective, though.

[whswhs]

Discussed at some length in GURPS Supers, in Chapter 7, I think.

The simplest method is to provide a campaign bonus of +2 or +4 for Hard to Kill for all characters. With no bonus, an average man has a 50% chance of dying at fully negative HP; with +2, it drops to just over 25%, and with +4, to just under 10%.

[Juca]

Well, in the past we toyed with the idea that you can make an HT test, and reduce the margin of success from the damage BEFORE applying damage multipliers. I don't remember that well, but I think that this HT test had a penalty of -1 for each 5 points of damage already dealt to the character...
It really worked for the bulky, naked barbarian type, so common in fantasy settings, I don't know if it can work well in modern/futuristic settings...

[lvalero]

In my DF, I use normal rules of death for negative HP for PC. But, for enemies, they are out of combat automatically when they reach negative points. In other words, all the enemies fails automatically all rolls to remain conscious and/or alive because of negative HP.

It makes Gurps much less letal and it allows for really epic combats!

[Gollum]

Cannon Fodder rules (Basic Set, page 417) may also be interesting for hordes of little creatures like Kobolds.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by SteampengMK-1

I thought about allowing PC extra HP from the beginning, at the cost of -HP
(Instead of an average of 10HP and -50HP, allow 30HP and -30HP)

It's simpler just to say you don't need to make HT checks not to die - that's all that amounts to really, since you still auto-die after the same 60 points of damage.

In a lot of ways it makes combat *more* lethal, because you can be a lot closer to automatic death before you start rolling for unconsciousness. Unconsciousness is a lethality reduction rule - it forces you to stop fighting before you are dead, and PCs are really bad at choosing other options for that like surrender or run away. If you are trying to avoid character deaths, do not make it easy to avoid unconsciousness.

And try to encourage surrender or run away as options - have the NPCs do it to demonstrate the option exists, let it work even if it isn't strictly logical, have lots stories and rumors about prisoners or NPCs who have been prisoners and been ransomed, give your cultures a formal ransom system (worked for Runequest) and/or a market for enslaved warriors, have even the villains react with disgust to PCs that kill prisoners. RPG fights are often to the death for lack of other options, so the more of them you have the better.

[Mr_Sandman]

If you want unarmored, non-super characters to reliably survive attacks with weapons that can bring them to -5xHP, they have to not get hit, or negate the damage somehow. To do that, you can use rules like Flesh Wounds and TV Action Violence, or allow buying successes on defense (with character points, or see Impulse Buys).