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To all the other "simulationists" out there...
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<blockquote data-quote="DarkAngel1979" data-source="post: 4153547" data-attributes="member: 63263"><p>In real life, knocking someone out is actually much harder than killing them. Or rather, knocking them out without the risk of killing them is almost impossible. Subdual or takedowns are easier.</p><p></p><p>As for GURPS, my experience is that it's a terrible system.</p><p></p><p>a) Combat is overly complex for no good reason (i.e. the complexity does not provide any gameplay benefits, just nebulous ideas of 'simulationism'). It's the sort of game that would only be really playable as a PC RPG.</p><p></p><p>b) It's a generalized point buy system. I consider levels-based systems to be superior from a gameplay standpoint, as they reduce the amount of powergaming allowable. If I go with a point buy system, it better be something in which the ability to min/max is curtailed a lot. Ex: WoD's system of freebies VS points that are dedicated to one particular category of character attributes is a good example of a less-crappy point buy system.</p><p></p><p>This feeds into the problem that GURPS takes an ungodly time for character generation. The reason for it is that choices in any part of character gen can affect all other choices in character gen, because the same generic points are used to buy stuff at all levels of character generation. This leads to an exponential complexity problem. Systems like WoD at least reduces the impact any decision you make can cause on other parts of your characters: attributes choices only affect other attributes, same thing with skills and ressources. Freebies are limited in numbers and are the only thing affecting the whole of character creation.</p><p></p><p>c) It's a generic system. Jack of all trades, master of none. Pretty much any system is superior to GURPS in its own genre. The only advantage of GURPS over a specialized/genre system is the possibility of jumping from one genre to another without changing system, and the only situations that would come into play is in time-travelling/dimension jumping games, or in groups where you change games/campaigns often enough that you would want to keep to a single system because otherwise you'd be learning a dozen (whereas in my experience most people play at most 3-4 campaigns at a time, and learning 3-4 systems is manageable).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DarkAngel1979, post: 4153547, member: 63263"] In real life, knocking someone out is actually much harder than killing them. Or rather, knocking them out without the risk of killing them is almost impossible. Subdual or takedowns are easier. As for GURPS, my experience is that it's a terrible system. a) Combat is overly complex for no good reason (i.e. the complexity does not provide any gameplay benefits, just nebulous ideas of 'simulationism'). It's the sort of game that would only be really playable as a PC RPG. b) It's a generalized point buy system. I consider levels-based systems to be superior from a gameplay standpoint, as they reduce the amount of powergaming allowable. If I go with a point buy system, it better be something in which the ability to min/max is curtailed a lot. Ex: WoD's system of freebies VS points that are dedicated to one particular category of character attributes is a good example of a less-crappy point buy system. This feeds into the problem that GURPS takes an ungodly time for character generation. The reason for it is that choices in any part of character gen can affect all other choices in character gen, because the same generic points are used to buy stuff at all levels of character generation. This leads to an exponential complexity problem. Systems like WoD at least reduces the impact any decision you make can cause on other parts of your characters: attributes choices only affect other attributes, same thing with skills and ressources. Freebies are limited in numbers and are the only thing affecting the whole of character creation. c) It's a generic system. Jack of all trades, master of none. Pretty much any system is superior to GURPS in its own genre. The only advantage of GURPS over a specialized/genre system is the possibility of jumping from one genre to another without changing system, and the only situations that would come into play is in time-travelling/dimension jumping games, or in groups where you change games/campaigns often enough that you would want to keep to a single system because otherwise you'd be learning a dozen (whereas in my experience most people play at most 3-4 campaigns at a time, and learning 3-4 systems is manageable). [/QUOTE]
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