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Old 03-23-2014, 02:09 AM   #1
ErhnamDJ
 
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I have my own blog. I'm posting stuff.
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Old 03-23-2014, 02:10 AM   #2
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Divine Favor Druid Abilities

Druid abilities for use with my favorite magic system, Divine Favor.
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Old 03-23-2014, 02:11 AM   #3
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GURPS House Rules: Skill List

My shortened skill list house rules with a brief explanation.
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Old 03-23-2014, 03:53 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ View Post
GURPS House Rules: Skill List

My shortened skill list house rules with a brief explanation.
This list is a very good one!

Everyone who knows me also knows that I use very few house rules (if any) and that I almost always support rules as written (because I find them very clever and consistent).

But I am often puzzled with official GURPS skill list. As you noted it, some skills are very detailed while others are very broad. For things like Housekeeping, this is not really important. Housekeeping is just a background skill or something that a character can take to be able to invite important non player characters at home without risking turning as red as a beetroot...

But for some others, this is very strange. Why does a scientist who takes Physics know all topics of this very wide science while an archaeologist will have to learn different skills for History? And why is a man who knows Saber so clumsy when using a cavalry saber (which requires the Broadsword skill)?

This sound strange, very strange, and eventually gives a very huge skill list which is not at all intuitive.
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Old 03-27-2014, 01:37 AM   #5
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GURPS House Rules: Hit Location Penalties

Something from my notes while I work on the familiarity penalties.
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Old 03-29-2014, 01:24 AM   #6
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GURPS House Rules: Influence Skills Examined

A brief explanation of why I changed the influence skills how I did.
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Old 03-29-2014, 09:21 AM   #7
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But for some others, this is very strange. Why does a scientist who takes Physics know all topics of this very wide science while an archaeologist will have to learn different skills for History? And why is a man who knows Saber so clumsy when using a cavalry saber (which requires the Broadsword skill)?

This sound strange, very strange, and eventually gives a very huge skill list which is not at all intuitive.
As a brief aside here, the reason is is that the fencing saber used with the Saber skill really is unrelated to all other weaponry, even its predecessor. Heavy cavalry sabers are basically just a Broadsword with a curve, so they use Broadsword. However, Kromm and others (as I recall) have stated that the inclusion of the Saber as a fencing weapon with its own special skill was a mistake and an anachronism - any such 'Saber' should be used like a curved rapier, with the Rapier skill. I'll find you the post if you really need it.

Aside from that though, I think you summed up the issue perfectly. I love how GURPS lets you represent anything under the sun and all, but I think a lot of the skill list was grandfathered in from 3rd Edition and they didn't consider which skills could be merged or rolled together. While I disagree with a few of Erhnam's proposed changes, (for instance, I like the diversity of having different classes of melee weapons with their own skills, with some exceptions like Polearm and Two-Handed Axe/Mace which I think have poor distinctions between each other) I think he has a very sensible method of rolling things like Falconry into Animal Husbandry.

I myself had a hard time learning all of the skills in GURPS purely because sometimes the leaps in logic required don't make any sense. I still don't fully understand how the writers intended me to use skills like Soldier, Leadership or Observation - I have my own definitions of those skills for use in my games, but it would be really nice if they were named more clearly or rolled into skills that explain them better.
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Old 03-29-2014, 05:42 PM   #8
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Quote:
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GURPS House Rules: Hit Location Penalties

Something from my notes while I work on the familiarity penalties.
I like, but I have the questions. Namely, how would you handle sub-locations?

Would you simply determine the size of said sub-location—like the shoulder, the chest, the ear, etc.—and assign it a penalty directly, or would you "Default" it off of the host location?

What about strikes to "veins and arteries"?

What about the random chance to hit the vitals on a torso hit, or a vein/artery on a neck or limb hit?

What about strikes to the spine, both deliberate/targeted and incidental (i.e. random chance from striking someone in the back)?
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Old 03-30-2014, 12:20 AM   #9
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Would you simply determine the size of said sub-location—like the shoulder, the chest, the ear, etc.—and assign it a penalty directly, or would you "Default" it off of the host location?
I'd figure out its size modifier and use that.

Quote:
What about strikes to "veins and arteries"?
I would try to figure out the size modifier of the area you could hit.

Quote:
What about the random chance to hit the vitals on a torso hit, or a vein/artery on a neck or limb hit?

What about strikes to the spine, both deliberate/targeted and incidental (i.e. random chance from striking someone in the back)?
That's something I've been thinking about. I think you might hit the vitals too often or not enough depending on the kind of game you're trying to run. I think we need different optional rules for different kinds of games.

If I was going for strict realism, I would probably separate the vitals into chest and abdomen, and give the chest vitals a chance to get a point of DR from the ribcage. Maybe a fifty percent chance.

For the incidental strikes, I think the incidence of vitals hits is too high. Maybe lower it to a 5 or lower on 3d6.

I'll have to think about the spine and the other new locations from Martial Arts. I was only considering the Basic Set locations.

I do have different rules for the neck. I'll see about incorporating the artery and the spine and writing those up.
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Old 04-01-2014, 03:04 AM   #10
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Sample GURPS Supers character: Donatello
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