[High-Tech] How far can a shout be heard?

[makke]

Hi folks,

this came up recently in one of my campaigns:

The situation:

Imagine two people, A and B, on a meadow standing roughly eight yards apart. Suddenly A shouts "Abacus!" at B.

As far as I can say there is not a single modifier applicable in this situation. Therefore, according to High-Tech p. 158, B has to roll an unmodified perception roll to hear this shout - giving a normal person a rather remarkable 50% chance to entirely miss someone standing in a distance of eight yards shouting at the top of his lung!

I guess there should be some kind of bonus for the flat surface and the silent surroundings but I'm not able to find any such modifiers in the books - has this really been missed or is it just me being unable to find them? :)

In case this is really an oversight... has anyone a good houserule for situations like this one (like +4 for complete silence, +2 for no barrier in between etc)?

Thanks in advance,
Markus.

[Anders]

"Routine" task +4?

GM smacking the player repeatedly over the head screaming "sometimes good rules give bad results and that's why we have a GM to make common-sense rulings"?

[vicky_molokh]

I asked a similar question a long time ago, something along the lines of 'what is the hearing equivalent of the In Plain Sight Modifier'.

[doulos05]

This falls under the Task Difficulty Modifiers rules. The situation you're talking about most clearly matches the description for Automatic:

"A task so trivial that GMs should waive the need for a success roll except under extraordinary circumstances. Example: A Driving roll to start a car."
GURPS Campaigns p.345

Incidentally, when a roll is required, it is at a +10 for the Task Difficulty Modifier. That means that an average person still has a 4/216 chance of failing and a 1/216 chance of critically failing, but it's because of that fact (or rather because of the artifacts in the task resolution system that cause that fact) that they say "Just don't make them roll."

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by campaign p358

The GM may make this roll easier or harder, depending on the loudness of the sound, surrounding noises, etc.

I would also go with the 'common sense, no roll needed'.
But in case a roll was wanted:

some rules for background noise and identifying sounds are in Gurps Mysteries p48.
In the case described, a 'generous' bonus is obviously in order.

Gurps Mysteries have an unusually quiet area at +4
but -1 for the light vegetation damping the sound,

You can also add:
+1 for the shout being 'at the top of his lung'
+1 for the sound being directed toward him,
+1 for the shout being his name or something that attire attention.
+4 or more for doing nothing but standing there listening
(having your clothes on fire is only -2 for distraction, so doing nothing is definitively good for a nice bonus)

So, that's a +10 bonus for being called by someone at 8 yards in a silent meadow while doing nothing : hard to miss, and qualify for 'automatic, no roll'.

A 'lesser' shout at 8 yard, neither especially loud, nor distinctive nor directed at him, among minor background noise would be at unmodified per to be noticed while being busy doing something. Not totally unbelievable if a bit low.
I know I have missed people calling me from the other side of the street because I was distracted. My hearing is neither bad nor good, so my ear undoubtedly processed the sound, but my brain did not. A Gurps per roll cover both.

Hope this help

celjabba

[thulben]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I asked a similar question a long time ago, something along the lines of 'what is the hearing equivalent of the In Plain Sight Modifier'.

Interesting, but not useful. What kind of answer did you receive?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by thulben

Interesting, but not useful. What kind of answer did you receive?

Now that I've had time to find the thread, here it is, with replies.

[Flyndaran]

Shouldn't there be a big difference between hearing that someone shouted, and actually understanding what they shouted?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by makke

Hi folks,

this came up recently in one of my campaigns:

The situation:


As far as I can say there is not a single modifier applicable in this situation.

Sure there is. The loudness of the noise. Anything louder than conversational tones should have a positive modifier.

[Maz]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

[...]

So, that's a +10 bonus for being called by someone at 8 yards in a silent meadow while doing nothing : hard to miss, and qualify for 'automatic, no roll'.

This.

Remember that the default situation in GURPS is "an adventuring situation". Very likely a combat situation or other action-scene such as a chase.

It's in those situations where it's logic that you use the default modifiers. If it's any situation where you or the players stop and think "why do I even have to roll" its probably because you shouldn't.