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<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 243162" data-attributes="member: 1645">Not really.&nbsp; Compare a &quot;tough man&quot; competition to a professional boxing bout.&nbsp; The amateurs throw big bombs, generally miss, but often rock each other.&nbsp; The professionals throw tight, crisp jabs from a defensive posture, generally miss, and very rarely find an opening for a fight-ending overhand right.People enjoy watching unskilled fighters and mismatches because the fighters don't have sophisticated defenses.&nbsp; They go for blood, and they don't have the skill to protect themselves.GURPS actually emulates this fairly well.&nbsp; Two novices flail at each other, often missing, rarely blocking an accurate shot, while two expert fencers go at it forever before drawing first blood.&nbsp; As Psion pointed out though, if every combat is full of &quot;whiffs&quot;, it's no fun, and GURPS, as a game, falls apart at higher levels; experienced fighters never hit each other.&nbsp; An opposed roll (instead of two fixed-DC rolls) avoids this problem -- and some of its benefits.&nbsp; It doesn't stress the system to the breaking point at higher levels, but it also doesn't give the flavor of two novices flailing while two experts coolly defend every attack.&nbsp; It does avoid the &quot;lumberjack&quot; effect though.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 243162, member: 1645"] Not really. Compare a "tough man" competition to a professional boxing bout. The amateurs throw big bombs, generally miss, but often rock each other. The professionals throw tight, crisp jabs from a defensive posture, generally miss, and very rarely find an opening for a fight-ending overhand right. People enjoy watching unskilled fighters and mismatches because the fighters don't have sophisticated defenses. They go for blood, and they don't have the skill to protect themselves. GURPS actually emulates this fairly well. Two novices flail at each other, often missing, rarely blocking an accurate shot, while two expert fencers go at it [i]forever[/i] before drawing first blood. As Psion pointed out though, if every combat is full of "whiffs", it's no fun, and GURPS, as a game, falls apart at higher levels; experienced fighters never hit each other. An opposed roll (instead of two fixed-DC rolls) avoids this problem -- and some of its benefits. It doesn't stress the system to the breaking point at higher levels, but it also doesn't give the flavor of two novices flailing while two experts coolly defend every attack. It does avoid the "lumberjack" effect though. [/QUOTE]

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