Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="uzirath" data-source="post: 7615569" data-attributes="member: 8495">I played in a great <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/dungeonfantasy/" target="_blank">DFRPG</a> game last night that highlighted some of the strengths of the GURPS tactical combat system. It was a scene in a bar where we were trying to impress a sea captain who we wanted to book passage with. One of our characters volunteered to engage in a drinking game against a regular, a massive dwarf. Each of them removed any weapons and received a large tankard of ale, filled to the brim. Then they faced off in a makeshift ring, the goal being to cause the other person to spill their beer before you spilled yours. The first empty tankard would lose. It was a remarkably fun scene, with the rest of the players acting as the audience (cheering and jeering) while the PC attempted various maneuvers to cause his opponent to slip up. It was the perfect scenario to drop into the "bullet time" of one-second turns, where every attack and defense mattered, feints were common, and hit locations were vital. The GM required DX checks after every maneuver, with applicable penalties depending on the circumstances. There were Will rolls to maintain composure after suffering insults from the other combatant (or the audience). Losing the checks made you spill beer portions equal to your margin of failure. (Each tankard had ten portions.) It was hilarious and tense. Our PC ultimately won the match by basically taunting his opponent into an all-out-attack (attacking twice). This nearly went badly because one of the attacks landed and our guy nearly spilled his whole tankard, but his countering kick (against a defenseless foe) knocked the dwarf's tankard into the roaring crowd. Even though this wasn't the most important narrative element of the session, and nobody's life was on the line, the stakes were real and the system delivered. We all agreed (players from a variety of other systems) that this was an example of GURPS at its best.</blockquote>

Verification