Combat: Player versus Player

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Onkl

Hi guys

I like the way GURPS does combat very much and so I would like to play "Player vs Player" GURPS combat. We've tried to do this but failed miserably.

There are two main problems that come with this idea:

Visibility of the opposing forces
Maneuvers the OpFor should not know about (Aim, Wait...)

As far as I know, the only GURPS manoeuver which is supposed to be kept secret is Feint. Even though Evaluate, AoD, and Wait may look exactly the same, the rules assume that each fighter can tell the difference when their opponent does one. Two good ways of handling feints are to play online, with rolls hidden from the other player (so you declare "Attack (thrust to Bob's vitals), I miss" and send a note to the GM saying "I actually feinted, success by 3 on the Quick Contest") or to declare the Feint but roll for effect when you attack on a later turn.

Anything more complicated, like the awareness rules in GURPS tactical shooting, really requires a GM or a computer.

Here are some GM-less gladiator rules for GURPS 3e.

[PPoS]

Why not let the players write down, what their characters do on their turn, on a note and send it to you. Then, once everyone has done so, you can game out the results.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by PPoS

Why not let the players write down, what their characters do on their turn, on a note and send it to you. Then, once everyone has done so, you can game out the results.

Many wargames have GM-less plotted movements and tactical intelligence systems; you might want to buy or borrow up a second hand copy of STARFLEET BATTLES for example to get some ideas on how this is done.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

As far as I know, the only GURPS manoeuver which is supposed to be kept secret is Feint. Even though Evaluate, AoD, and Wait may look exactly the same, the rules assume that each fighter can tell the difference when their opponent does one.

That is correct. All maneuvers except for Feint are declared on execution and deemed known automatically to anybody who can see the fighter who takes them. This has been a core precept of the combat system since Man to Man. You always know when somebody takes Aim, All-Out Attack, Wait, etc. Feint can be tricky, but the method in paragraph 2 of Spotting Feints (Martial Arts, p. 101) works fine even without a GM. Indeed, my friends who played Man to Man ran many GM-free arena battles under the full GURPS combat system; only Feints needed a rules change, and that's the one we worked out.

[Fnugus]

Originally Posted by Onkl

...
Do you have a better way to do this than what I suggested?
...l

We did this a while back in a full day event we arranged for about 15 people. We had two referees, the rest were told to make up characters for "Arena Combat".

Beforehand we had designed a number of different arenas to battle in, which only we knew. Our solution to the problem was to have the team whose turn it wasn't leave the room while the other team moved. Then the referee would note down everything and set up the map to what the other team could see and bring them in to their turn. This took a while, but full combat actually began (all players visible) it sped up.