Tilting at Windmills, Savage Worlds Plan of Attack

In my previous discussion on this topic, I mentioned my intent to rework the absolutely abysmal equipment section included by default. I set out to make some vaguely simple rules for assembling weapons and armor within the way the system works, only for it to swiftly balloon in complexity and still not feel detailed enough. Still, it was handy trying to use the default system to be reminded why this is so important, but that also set a timeline on it;

I need a list. I know what the outputs of the various gear generators SHOULD be, and have a convenient list of everything ever in GURPS to reference for relative power and effectiveness of things. I have some real world measures of effectiveness (A single shot from a pistol is 85% survival rate, a stab from a large knife has the same wound characteristics as an FMJ pistol bullet, etc).

The reasons for making a gear list are twofold; the first is simple expedience. An incomplete gear creation system doesn't help my games queued up waiting on equipment that isn't awful and random. The second is to mine trends out of the completed chart, to make sure that the generator can craft all available options.

This is simultaneously a simpler and greater undertaking, as it will no doubt develop into a book not dissimilar to the GURPS Tech books, albeit a short and brief one.

Wish me luck.

Miscellaneous Monday: BAG DAY

Tax season is once more upon us, and I'm maybe in position to actually pick something new up finally? It's been a long, long time since I acquired anything new. At present I have a few thoughts in mind for what to snag if it's in the budget after trying to pay down all my bills.

Option 1: Cheap Pocket Pistols
I'm signed up with Operation Blazing Sword, although I haven't been contacted for training as of yet. The areas I operate in have people with fancier qualifications (which I honestly should go for myself) and/or areas that are just kinda empty. At any rate, if I have someone come to me for training, and they have specific want to defend themselves, my typical advice of "Glocks are the honda civic of guns; a little spendy for brand name but you know they're boring, practical, and reliable" isn't of much help to those without the ~$600 for a new Glock. My remedy for this is to buy a grab-bag of cheap stuff, Hi-point (maybe with carbine), kel-tec, etc. Stuff around $200 or less. I can get two for the price of something nicer, but I get the benefit of being able to give a true recommendation of stuff based on my own experience with it.
Cost: ~$200xQTY

Option 2: 10mm Auto Glock
Glock now has the G40, 10mm auto with longslide and 15 in the mag. This gun makes me suspicious that Glock has been peering into my brain. I want two of them, but one will suffice for not-stupid purposes (I have no dominant eye, right eye aligns with right hand, left eye with left hand, which means that I can dual wield effectively and even aim two pistols down sights at once with a little coordination). Non-stupid purposes include cold weather carry after I pick up a new long-coat, and carry up north in bear country.
Cost: ~$600

Option 3: PLR-16 or other piston drive intermediate-rifle caliber pistol.
I've long had a fondness for giant rifle-pistols, which seem to have picked up the moniker of assault pistols by people that hate black guns. I've discussed my fondness for stupid guns before, but now I actually have a specific purpose for it and some advancements in technology make it only ridiculous, not stupid (mostly). I've got armor that mostly serves as exercise weight, and would like to pair it with something stronger than my Glock 26 if I need gun and don't have time to get the AR-15 out of the gun locker. The smaller size means it's more easily stashed with the armor, possibly even strapped to it in a holster, widespread reflex sights make it easier to aim, and SBR 5.56 now exists tailored to optimizing in short barrels to get the power to the bullet instead of blinding/deafening/setting-on-fire everyone in the vicinity because only half the juice went into the bullet. No pistol brace, probably a pull-sling style notstock.
Cost: ~$400?

Option 4: Bulletproof coat or vest
BulletProofEveryone has some nice looking coats with NIJ IIA or IIIA inserts. I want armor, even though I'm good at avoiding being stupid places doing stupid things with stupid people. If nothing else, I miss the bonus strength and fitness from carrying a heavy backpack everywhere. This was going to be a birthday present to myself already, but wasn't in the budget. Specifically, the Logan overcoat, which includes protection for the upper leg. Alternatively, they have a nice looking softshell, or I might just snag a low profile vest that fits under my loose work shirts.
Cost: $379 (IIA) or $429 (IIIA) for the Logan, $200-600 for vests

Option 5: Expand/improve rifle armor
I have a nice basic plate carrier with curved front plate and flat back from AR500, but it's just not up to snuff. The carrier doesn't hold tightly enough for me to move vigorously in it, which I would expect to do if I actually were to NEED the armor, and also need to do for workouts while using it as an unnecessarily badass weighted training vest. Furthermore, I want to add an abdominal armor panel, side panels, and make some custom DAP panels that hold the curved 6x8 panels along the outside of my upper arms. Picking up a helmet also seems useful, I may just snag a military surplus steel one because the good ones have similar protection against handgun rounds and lack of protection against rifles, and it's $25ish for a surplus steel helmet vs. $180 or so for a PASGT.
Cost: Varies with panel/carrier.

Option 6: Assorted accessories
This probably still includes a surplus helmet, because cheap, but also handles things like getting some much needed glass for the rifle (currently uses BUIS as main sights), a replacement stock to balance the weight out, some new P90 mags for the AR-57 upper I bought ages ago and immediately lost mags for in a series of moves between apartments, possibly stuff to build a second lower so the AR-15s and AR-57 can be their own separate guns (putting the regular carbine stock on the AR-57 because it's not going to sell for anything and no point leaving it un-attached). Alternatively, buy a second lower with the Magpul UBR attached. I could also do with a proper fighting knife, a grappling hook because reasons, trauma kit stuff, and the like.

Meatspace shindig

Freshly returned from my college gaming convention, it was nice to see the folks who really got me into tabletop gaming, as well as hang with my pal who actually introduced me to GURPS.

We tried running some Savage Worlds as things were wrapping up, and when it came to character creation and gear stats, it was gratifying to have everyone look at both and complain about not having enough points to do what they wanted, and general exclamations of "What the hell?!" on the gear listing, which makes my tilting at windmills of trying to rebuild the entire equipment section because the devs did it wrong.

My next step for that is to pause trying to MAKE gear creation rules, and just make gear with the stats those rules should be able to give it in terms of price/performance and still having those things tied to game mechanics in a way that mostly makes sense. Those windmills aren't going to stab themselves.

Friend of mine also took up coding recently, and occasionally asks for suggestions. I'm working out  GM's Assistant tool that can help with generating town populations (stores, storekeepers, and important NPCs, as well as general feel of the town/district), adventure seeds, and names for organizations and establishments, along with convenient storage for relevant information.

Stat-this Sunday: S333 Volleyfire

A new thing, since I'm working on building a bunch of equipment in Savage Worlds, plus GURPS stats for things McThag hasn't yet gotten to.

The Volleyfire is a strange beast. If a player brought it to me I'd accuse them of trying to game the system to maximize effectiveness, but the way it works honestly DOES make it pretty good for what it sets out to do in being a great novice defensive handgun.

What it is:
An 8 shot .22wmr revolver, that fires 2 shots per trigger pull. It has a two-finger double-action-only trigger, passable sights

Stats:        Damage   Acc   Range     Weight   RoF   Shots   ST   Bulk   RCL   Cost   LC   Notes
S333          2d pi-      1    ~100/1000 1.13/.07   6#     8(3i)     9      -1        2      $369  3       [1]

Note [1]: Always fires 2 shots as a High Cyclic Controlled Burst (simultaneous shots).

2d pi- is an approximation, based on not having stats for a .22wmr in High Tech, but being able to approximate based on its listed muzzle energy in relation to other cartridges. Final stats are likely to be within +/- 1 of 2d.

Acc 1 is due to the exceptionally short pocket sights, and based on other pocket pistols like the Walther PPK.

Now we get into the real fun of it.
First, 3 trigger pulls per second average gets 6 shots, qualifying for a +1 bonus to skill for shots fired. Because of HCCB rules, RCL is 1 similar to a shotgun with buckshot; multiple projectiles are leaving the muzzle(s) before any recoil can throw off the aim, therefore it is recoilless. Further, with practice at fast firing, 4 trigger pulls per second can be reached with no particular detriments (at 5 and 6, recoil increases substantially).

Normally double action revolvers inflict a -1 penalty to skill for heavy trigger pull, the two-finger trigger mitigates this.

On top of all this, I can all but guarantee that this gun will be sold with an integral or add-on laser sight (+1 to skill). Additionally, most .22wmr ammo is hollow point, which raises it from pi- to pi (removing the 0.5 wounding modifier)

So what you have is a gun with no (functional) recoil, probably +2 skill, +3 with an All Out Attack. That gives your typical barely-trained concealed carrier (default skill, defaulting to DX-4, with average DX 10, skill 9 on AoA) a decent chance of scoring a hit, and the slightly better trained one (1 point in Guns (Pistol), DX level of 10, 13 with AoA) will average 3 hits if he fires 6 rounds! With someone more capable, with a Professional level of Guns (Pistol) 12, Fast Firing, and a properly tricked out gun, a total skill of 15 all but guarantees a hit, and on average will score 5 hits! In the hands of a Gunslinger with a bit more skill and their permanent aim bonus, landing all 8 shots in a turn is quite possible.

http://www.stdgun.com/s333-volleyfire/

Tech Tuesday: I Want A Smartgun

I want a smartgun. No, not the pieces of shit everyone's always pushing for full of extra failure points of electronics and rings or fingerprint readers and whatever. I want a smartgun that counts the rounds in the magazine, that tells you if the magazine isn't seated properly, warns you of a jam in case you don't catch it under stress, a gun with an integrated light and/or laser from the start instead of some flavor of aftermarket finagling. The Taurus Curve had the integrated-from-the-start light/laser combo. Now, while it's currently an aftermarket change, there's a slide replacement that adds ammo tracking (with proper magazines) and similar.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/01/24/shot-2019-radetec-smart-glock-slide/

The video also includes a shot counter, and a traditional smartgun of the "only shoots for some people" variety. Politicians trying to force the latter style of smartgun on everyone aside, I'm not wholely opposed to the concept of the safety smartgun for those who seek it, but I want it to be an OPTION for those who want it.

In the future, it'd be nice to have it able to sync to smartglasses, if it can do it securely, or failing that perhaps a smartwatch. Screens are getting smaller, lighter, and sturdier, but the ability to confirm your weapon's status without actually looking at the thing. That would also be able to warn you it's trying to come loose in the holster, if such sensors are equipped. An integrated camera for AR aiming integration, or the ability to aim without exposing anything but your gun and hand, could be useful if the rest of technology is up to the task, but nothing else springs readily to mind that isn't potentially a detriment. Much of scifi has the ability to change fire modes and such, but that introduces a point of failure if software hitches or gets hacked.

Tilting at windmills: Savage Worlds

Assorted musings and updates forthcoming now that I kind of have time/motivation/topics to blog again.

But this is not a post about those. This is a post about Savage Worlds, my continued fondness for it and gripes against it.

Main mechanics-wise, I have actually relatively few issues. Much of my efforts lie with the equipment being fairly clearly made either by those unfamiliar with actual equipment, or completely focused on game balance things. The latter isn't always bad, but there are ways to balance things in a vaguely realistic manner.

First, enemies gain an attack of opportunity on you when you leave melee engagement (as with most tabletop wargames, melee is counted as both participants actually moving and circling and such per a fight, even as their markers remain stationary on the board), and there's nothing you can do about this without an Edge for it (or two, if you want to be able to retreat from multiple opponents). This puts reach weapons at a large disadvantage, as the only method to gain back their reach advantage once enemies close the gap is to either force them back with a Push (contest of STR that leads to a 1" push per level of success), or move back and give free attacks. This all is pretty readily fixed by adding a 1" step, equivalent to the D&D 5 foot step, or GURPS 1 yard free step. Now you can either shift while remaining engaged, or disengage slightly. It'd consume all of your movement (normally 6" unless modified by something like a leg injury), but perhaps you can roll your run d6 to get another 1-6" away. Simple, easy, and makes combat more dynamic. One and done.

Second, Hunger ticks way too fast and will kill you in a day if you're unlucky. Suffering ill effects from hunger fairly quickly is legit, but it being lethal immediately is not. Default rules have your first hunger roll made a day after the missed meal, and every 12 hours thereafter. Additionally a -2 penalty for having less than half of the food needed. Average vigor is d6, roll of 4 is needed if you have more than half the daily food, 50% chance, with 8 rolls needed and 2 per day. This leads to an average survival of 5 days. This is maybe acceptable if you're constantly pushing and burning energy, but most survival situations indicate that three weeks is more average with no food, or a month with at least some. With a roll period of 24 hours while conserving energy, you get 9 days. Two days to a roll, 17, which is close to the 3 weeks assuming energy is being conserved and the body can go into energy saving mode.

Third, thirst is... I think thirst is actually ok. You get a day without water before your first Vigor/Con/HT roll, at -2 if you have less than half needed. After that you make the same roll every 6 hours. Once you get a full amount of water you recover fatigue levels until you're full, one per hour. A typical person can live for about 3 days, which is 4 failures total. An average person has a d6 vigor, and needs a 4 if they have at least some water, so 50% chance, meaning on average they'll last 8 rolls, 4 per day, to get the target of 3 days on average.

But, there's a problem with both of these: Fatigue levels are all cumulative. Take a fatigue level from bumps and bruises, one from missed sleep, and a bad roll for a missed meal and drink, and you drop dead in a day. The fatigue penalties being cumulative (-1 to all rolls per level of fatigue, up to the 3 before they knock you over incapacitated) sounds right, but it shouldn't be able to incapacitate in conjunction with other stuff.


The final issue I have is gear. Savage Worlds is fairly generic, yet has a surprising amount of depth, and this extends to the gear. What I don't care for is the $500 standard starting wealth, and somewhat arbitrary costs and weights for weapons and such (many weapons and vehicles likely to be issued by a government don't even include a cost, as if mercenaries would be somehow uncommon in the violent pulp worlds the system exists to portray!). GURPS breakdown of fairly standard costs with progressively more wealth as the world advances seems fairly nice, particularly given how much stays the same as time passes (DR2 modern race leathers are not dissimilar from a DR2 leather jack in price or overall weight). Adjusting starting money and reworking prices/weights is one thing, but my inclination is to make a simple weapon-crafting system to arrive at any desired weapon, fantastical or realistic. Gear, and methodology for making sure it's properly balanced damagewise, swiftly ceases to be as simple, and warrants another post.