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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 6082518" data-attributes="member: 85870">Well that's the thing, it's not like the three main participants (the GM and the two power-gamers) aren't experienced in other systems. They've all at various points played D&D 2e, 3e, Pathfinder, White Wolf / Vampire, Amber diceless, etc. I even GM'd a short lived Savage Worlds campaign (their comments: "Yeah, it's okay, but it's basically GURPS Lite, and if I want GURPS, I'll just play GURPS").From the GM's perspective, I think he actually really likes GURPS because it's "simulationist." He likes the sense of "realism" that brings, lets him do the kind of world-building he really likes. The problem is it then forces the two players to power game to the hilt so they can get into combat all the time and not die outright in Round 1. Oh, and another thing--the two players are constantly trying to get the GM to allow more "gonzo," "heroic" skills and options, because that's the kind of "cinematic" flavor they're going for, when GURPS works best in "gritty" mode. It's a total clash of playstyles---GM simulationism, players gamist, where I'm stuck in the middle wanting a simulationist / narrativist blend. I just can't figure out why they're so attached to this system that seems to be putting each other's creative agendas in constant opposition to each other. For example, I can see GURPS really, really shining when you approach it as being as "gritty" as its default mode assumes. Suddenly you'll go much, much farther in avoiding combat altogether. You'll sneak in, you'll talk to people to glean information, you'll find creative solutions to avoid combat altogether. Suddenly your game becomes much more like a medieval episode of "Burn Notice," and not Rambo. This kind of thing forces you to approach your character's actions as if death truly DOES await around every corner. This makes for interesting set-ups where you're looking for actual PLOT PROTECTION from the PLOT ITSELF ("Yeah, you could kill me....but do you really want to deal with the consequences?"), and not just because your character has lots and lots of hitpoints, etc. And that style of play sounds like a lot of fun to me. What doesn't sound like fun is watching two power gamers eke every last bonus out of a system so they can be "uber fighters" in a system that treats combat as a necessary, yet preferably avoidable component.</blockquote>

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