Savage Worlds: Adventure Edition impressions

Also known as "Tilting at windmills: now with shinier, newer windmills!"


Got my hands on a copy of SWADE (Savage Worlds ADventure Edition), which is effectively Savage Worlds 2nd Edition. Or, I think 3rd edition now maybe, Explorer's Edition might be 2nd. Anyway. SWADE is simplified compared to SWEX (Savage Worlds EXplorer edition), to a fairly significant degree for good and ill. They made a lot of minor changes and streamlining, a little bit of flavor is lost in the translation but it seems much more usable.

Character creation: You get a lot less points for skills, but they condensed skills a TON and it makes them actually usable. There's also an alternate rule listed in the book specifically for more modern settings, where extra skills in computers or driving are to be expected, which gives a handful of extra points under the assumption that experience and information to learn new skills is easier. Still a weird disconnect between high control stat and low skill, but the ease of buying up skills now that they're not so thinly spread makes it not too huge an issue, now manageable instead of almost crippling.

Hindrances can now be stacked in whatever order you are allowed to take them in, rather than ONLY getting 1 major, 2 minor. Can have 4 minor, or 2 major, or 1 major and 2 minor.

A few things that used to be equipment features are now perks, and conversely a couple things that used to be perks are now just flat rules for using certain types of equipment in particular ways.


Gear: gear lists are much improved, and are actually remotely functional now. Some things are still weird, there's a lot of room for improvement, and it's still all but impossible to own even the cheapest of vehicles even with the Wealth edges. Non-weapon/armor gear is almost nonexistent in scope or detail.


Skills Modifiers: Gone are individual tables per skill of bonuses and maluses, everything runs on a scale of -4 to +4 for good or bad and give some examples to help the GM with gauging what modifiers. GURPS style floating modifiers win again!


Expanded rules: There were add-on free expansions for handling quick encounters in SWEX, but now they're core book (everyone rolls once or twice to handle a particular task, rather than a whole series of individual tactical rolls. For taking care of side-missions or surprise detours that aren't ready for a full on tactical fight/exploration/etc). Hazardous conditions still have hunger and thirst kill you insanely quickly, even though they specifically mention the Rule Of Threes, which none of the relevant rulesets remotely approximate, as most will kill you in a day or two unless you have phenomenal stats and/or rolls. Chase rules seem like they work better now, a bit more complicated with a timeline of cards that's kind of hard to visualize reading but sounds like it would be really nice in actual use.


Tests/support: Now tests just take a skill or attribute and use it against the controlling attribute of the target, rather than having a bunch of skills and specific stats used to defend against them. Tests target the enemy and inflict assorted penalties. Support lets you use just about anything you can justify via roleplay to give a buff to an ally, so even if you're not well suited to whatever's going on you can almost always find a way to participate.


Powers: Core powers rules remain, individual details per each trapping are removed. There are still interactions with Trappings and things that might give a bonus or penalty, but it's far less in-depth in slightly disappointing ways. It's almost not worth it to get different flavors of a particular Power. All powers use Smarts for range, even the Faith powered ones, which makes Smarts arcane backgrounds flatly superior (but easily remedied by just making Faith the range stat for Faith powers), and all use the same table for magical backlash. Ranges are also fixed, rather than range increments per ranged weapons. Gadgeteering powers have their inventions that fire them exist in a weird limbo of sort-of existence, and nobody can make items usable by others without an edge for it. Powers are now super variable by default, with a huge array of extra boosts available to swiss army knife them to a slightly OP degree. More limitations are needed than the default 2 in the book.

Tilting at Windmills: Please Hold

Work has been eating basically all my time this whole year, along with getting back to the gym now that I identified the cause of some internal distress that was interfering (50% dairy by weight diet with randomly acquired lactose intolerance, woo!).

And now I've discovered there's a new edition of Savage Worlds, that might address *some* of the issues I had with 1e (namely, attributes not contributing to skills terribly much, and also gear, plus some new improved rules apparently). Going to grab ahold of that, do another First Impressions like I did for Savage Worlds Deluxe, and then determine what (if anything) is required to fix things.

As much work as I've put into this, having to not homebrew stuff is lazier. And, if they still didn't fix it, it'll still mostly apply probably with a few tweaks.

Tilting at windmills: A question of Savage Worlds probabilities pt1

Got busy and this project was nudged down the list by time and sleep deprivation, but it's still ongoing. With a Deadlands Classic: Hell On Earth game now joined, it seems a good place to examine things from for comparison. The company behind Savage Worlds I believe had little to do with Deadlands, but based their system on a much simplified version of it and purchased the rights to it, now sold as Deadlands Classic.

WHAT'S THE SAME?
Both Deadlands and Savage Worlds use D&D dice, from d4 through d12. Higher is better, and a target number system. Dice rolls explode in both systems if you score a max roll. Both use Edges and Hindrances to describe their system of advantages and disadvantages.

WHAT'S DIFFERENT?
Deadlands has stats drawn from a deck of cards for random generation, distributed into stats. Skills are based on the 10 parent stats, each point of skill nets you another attribute-sized die to roll during tests, which you take the single best result of. Savage Worlds, skills are capped by attributes, but gain no further benefit beyond cheaper advancement. Instead, Savage Worlds grants player characters a Wild Die, which is just a d6 unless they have a few high level edges that boost its power in some or all situations. In SW, Skills level from d4 to d12 just as attributes do.

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
The problems with Savage Worlds are at least twofold, possibly more.

The first problem is that high stats give next to no bonus to skills based upon them. A person who minmaxes with a d12 in a skill-controlling stat (dexterity or intellect) will spend exactly the same amount of points to get a wide array of skills to average level as a purely average competing character with d6 stats across the board. For a character to be remotely competent, let alone skilled, they must stay fairly laser focused on a few skills to be good at (at least with default 15 skill points). The wild die allows a d4-skilled character to still have a d6 available, but it's still sub-optimal and leads to a number of character concepts that simply can't properly be made because they require too broad of skillsets (My first experience was trying to port in a weird west bounty hunter, who had ranged skill, melee skill, a vehicle skill, with tracking and perception. In GURPS or Deadlands Classic, such a build was very doable, low investment skills had decent power even without the law of averages to help out if the controlling stat was good.

The second problem is somewhat subjective, the lack of a bell curve. Single die rolls have a flat probability, SW Extras get flat probability and named characters get the luck die for a weird bell curve. Having a bell curve is nice because it gives you some semblance of idea how you can expect to perform on a given roll; ie, average.

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
There's a few possible solutions. A simple one could just be to give more skill points starting. Giving everyone at least the same bell curve could be done by giving Extras an Extra Die, perhaps a d4 because fate doesn't give as much of a shit about them as the Wildcards, but still maybe a little. But that still doesn't solve the problem of attributes vs. skills disconnect.

What you could do is replace the wild die with an attribute die. Suddenly a high dex character can bring their natural aptitude to bear with only a little specific skill, while a high dex/high skill character is a true terror. Or, add the attribute die in addition to the wild die, or offer choice of best two out of three. Offering this same upgrade to the NPCs would be powerful, as they're not necessarily built the same way as players, and tend to just automatically have the required skills/stats they should for whatever place they'll be encountered in.


I think that's enough rambling on this for a single post, I'll finish it up with actual probability calculations and such in another post.

Budget wargaming: dollar store edition pt2

Now, as a follow-up to the last post, we get into 2x 35 packs of army men.

Pros: Models are much more detailed, and larger if you want a slightly bigger scale. Includes some specialty gear like minesweepers, flamethrowers, and mortars
Cons: Models are way bigger than the scale of most gaming terrain and anything else, and completely random. Where the 50 packs came with a squad of fireteams in each, this is just a grab bag. Maybe usable for decoration, or if you buy a vast quantity to hopefully random-chance your way to something resembling a distribution of units with which to assemble a team.

I had really high hopes for these, but they were dashed by the reality of opening the bags and actually getting a good look at the contents. There isn't enough consistency to get them for minis, whether for wargaming or as tokens for a tabletop game on the cheap. Also, they're way larger than most gaming minis and terrain so you can't mix them in with other stuff.

Verdict: Not recommended

Up next in part 3, we look at assorted creatures and dinosaurs, and then in part 4 we get to the point of all this!

Budget wargaming: dollar store edition pt1

As a lead up to an upcoming gaming convention several months ago, I went to the local dollar store for some figure for running some improv RPGs. Among them, I got 2x 50 packs of army men  25 per side per bag. I wasn't interested in the unbagging, but I was very interested in the unit counts.

Cost: $2 plus tax (two packs of 50)

I was surprised by how fairly uniform they were. 3 of each unit type, roughly.
12 riflemen (3 prone, 3 crouch, 6 standing)
3 pointing men with rifle (NCO?)
3 radiomen
3 shotgunners
3 bazooka troops

Image courtesy of google image search, from an ARMA forum

With 3 riflemen and an NCO, you get a fairly usable squad with 3 fireteams. The rocket troops and shotgunners don't fit anywhere, and either serve as their own squads with no NCO, or the fireteams get buffed up to 6 man teams, with one shotgun trooper and rocketeer each.

One of the tan armies is short one NCO, but all the others are full strength with one bonus unit, to make 25. Get a couple bags and extras will likely offset the occasional miss, riflemen seem to be the most common extras (which statistically makes sense).

Quality: Models are a bit unsteady, but partly my little not-very-stable personal table I'm using is to blame. The quality of the modeling is meh, but it's sufficient to tell who's what, which is enough. For $1, you really can't complain. The degree of completeness and unit distribution is far beyond what I was expecting for the price.

Playability: With a $1 tape measure/measuring tape or just a straight dowel for Line of Sight, $1 for half a dozen dice and a D6 tactics system, or possibly a coin flip system (in most tactics systems, a basic troop winds up with about 50/50 odds), or even no dicerolling at all to enforce tactics and maneuvering, you wind up with a remarkably playable small unit setup.

Cobbling together a WH40k style system and unit cards works well, can fit your entire army's statblocks on a single notecard. Savage Worlds has the roots of a functional tactics game that was made with/in it, but they never really finished it out properly, and it requires the hard-to-dollar-store D&D dice.

Up next, I bust out the premium $1 army men, which are 35 of a single color to a pack.

Interstellar Warfare Wednesday: Combat Droid Applications

As promised in my latest Sci-Fi Friday, I'm going to touch on the potential applications of combat androids as force multipliers, in local and interstellar conflicts. After all, losing a robot in action is far more palatable to the public than losing a living being, at least until such time as people have casual mind-backups for respawn.

As a preface, in the interests of minimizing human involvement even forces that don't make extensive use are likely to have AI/robotic assistance in vehicular applications, such as loader/gunner aboard tanks, subordinate to the commander and able to let any crewman aboard take direct control over the actual aiming. But that's not what we're talking about. We're interested in robot soldiers.

Let's look at the Atlas. It's more graceful and probably faster than many people these days, and in a few robotic generations will likely be more fluid and capable, perhaps with proper hands instead of grippers and problem-solving abilities. It probably won't be able to compete with a competent human for a while, at least until the line between humans and robots blurs, but even then the processing power to make a sapient is substantially greater in size, weight, and expense; Even once robots are people, we'll still have a lot of nonsapient bots that serve the all important role of a body to fill space, the boots on the ground needed to actually take and hold territory.

But how to use them?

The principle behind it is simple; Robots are minimalist to upkeep. When not needed, you can turn them off, and they take no power. Supertech batteries usually have little to no charge loss when not in use, so unless there's a major increase in technology you can just shelve them until needed. On a ship, they're cargo, with nothing but their own mass, their gear, and maybe some spare parts to worry about. They don't draw a paycheck.

The long and short of it is what level they are integrated into the military command structure, and whether they are integrated with human/sapient troops. The star wars prequels are famous for their Battle Droids, opposing the valiant (if ethically questionable) Clone Troopers. In the prequels, battle droids are frequently deployed anywhere from battalion to brigade, with whole companies seeming to be the smallest units seen. Because why not, droids are cheap, where a platoon of men would suffice you can just throw a whole company.


Possible deployments:

Fireteam Level: Human NCO of (Lance) Corporal rank or equivalent.
Robot troops hold duties equivalent to a Private or Private, First Class. This layout has the greatest integration of humans, with every small combat element having a human at the helm to guide it and make intuitive decisions. In games with a small team, this is the Player Character and their 3ish AI controlled companions. A particularly good example of this is Star Wars: Republic Commando

Squad Level: Human NCO of Sergeant rank or equivalent
Robot troops form fireteams in their entirety, with upgraded capabilities on the leadership bots managing each team. The Sergeant is close enough to handle individual management required to account for the lack of flexibility likely to hamper even the robot Lance Corporals. This layout is typical of real time tactics. The player character is still able and expected to wade into combat themselves and as such receives an avatar of some sort, but has control of 2-3 fireteams they can direct via real-time tactics interface, as well as their own more capable team to assist them. A particularly good example of this is Dawn of War 2

Platoon Level: Human CO (2nd) Lieutenant rank or equivalent
Robot troops fill the space of every level of NCO and the forces below them. Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do or die. Such a force will begin to be heavily inflexible, and/or highly dependent upon the problem solving abilities of the AI's operating the combat robots. You will tend to either see micromanagement by the CO to make up for the lack of capability or simple robot-wave style tactics used like a sledgehammer. This is about the highest level of real time tactics, and the player typically either has no avatar or they are a specialist super-unit too valuable to commit to any but the most pivotal battles as their loss is a game-over. Company of Heroes 2 is a good example, with a number of squads and fireteams at your command, able to manage some level of orders and objectives without major input from the player beyond a goal, although for gameplay purposes micromanagement of the fireteams gives best results.

Company Level: Human CO Captain rank or equivalent
A single human will control several platoons with AI Lieutenants, each controlling several AI sergeants, each controlling AI (lance) corporals in charge of fireteams. Function at this level is highly dependent upon the quality of the command AIs, and the individual robot AIs, requires inflexible and predictable tactics, or requires a significant amount of micromanagement by the human CO to jump between questions and firefights as they arise. This is typical of the RTS genre, which will involve not only managing training of troops, but usually the building and maintenance of bases.

At levels above this, changes are largely academic. Beyond platoon level, it becomes increasingly hopeless for the commanding officer to exert the degree of individualized control often seen in video games to respond to situations beyond the AI's capabilities.

It is of course possible to have mixed commands, with units anywhere from solely human for delicate operations to an entire throwaway battalion of robots to hurl into the caverns of the spacemonsters to try and root them out. A troop transport ship might have a substantial force of humans aboard, with large quantities of robots in waiting, to organically shift the force makeup according to the scale of the conflict required. Another option is to produce additional robotic troops on-site, using renewable bioplastics or materials harvested from asteroids or the combat zone. This requires only a capable robot factory. On vessels of sufficient size for some resource processing and a specialized factory to feed them into, it may be the norm alongside a small compliment of troops; Humans can do vital tasks, but as the scope of force required expands so too do robotic supplements to their numbers.

Odds are good, to avoid highlighting human officers AND keep costs down, such androids will be built to simply wear standard armor and use regular equipment. Spacesuits might be left depressurized, or only pressurized enough to not be plainly obvious, or even fakes to cut down on costs. Any weapons usable in spacesuits should be suitably functional to artificial troopers, even if their hands have less dexterity. If the suits are built-in/on, they'll need to be upgraded/altered any time the human crew suits change, assuming uniform spacesuits in military and paramilitary applications.


In fiction, the purchasable army is always the hallmark of the bad guys, like the Trade Federation. But, as discussed, there's a lot of potential for use bolstering the numbers of small forces or in places where literal force multiplication can make a world of difference due to ability to get that force to where it's needed.

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.

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/

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.

Savage Worlds: Ascended Miniatures Tactics

As I've delved into Savage Worlds and the benefits and issues therein, while simultaneously reading more on Warhammer 40k rules, it has solidified an inkling I had.

Savage Worlds developed in part as a miniatures tactics ruleset almost exactly like WH40k.

Where GURPS began as an exceptionally in-depth combat system that grew into an incredibly comprehensive, simulationist tabletop RPG, Savage Worlds seems to have gone the other direction, starting as a Fast Dice system with minimal bookkeeping to track character's vital details and adding options for elevating a simple tactics character to Roleplaying Character status. While I know the system evolved in part from previous games made by Pinnacle that work similarly, the incredible lack of alteration required to use Savage Worlds as a minis combat system is unlikely to be accidental.

In both WH40k and SW, typical characters (Extras in SW parlance) have 1 wound before being removed.

Most Named Characters (Wildcards in SW) have 3 wounds.

Both systems mitigate low "hit points" with a roll to wound based on the unit's toughness.

Both systems use a flat "to hit" roll based on skill for ranged attacks vs a fixed target modified by cover. Both systems utilize a simple comparison of melee skill to determine who can hit what in melee. Both systems effectively lock you into melee until one side retreats, AND consider pistols as a melee weapon in close combat. (WH40k locks you in combat, and a side failing the Leadership test to continue fighting is hunted and destroyed as they try to flee. SW grants the party not retreating a free bonus attack on retreating enemies).

Both follow the roll to hit, then to wound. Savage Worlds differs by adding a sub-wound level of Shaken that stuns a character if the to wound roll is only barely successful. WH40k has an extra roll for armor save, this is rolled into the To Wound in SW

Both systems permit a 6" move action and a single action on a turn. That run action is handled via a d6 roll for extra distance in both, barring special rules to increase die size. In WH40k, there's an alternative option to charge into melee which usually grants first-round bonuses for the fight, while SW permits you to run but incurs a -2 multi-action penalty to any further actions.

Both have morale/leadership rules to resist the urge to abandon the fight upon taking set numbers of casualties.

Both systems assign ranged weapon's reach based on kinematics (modified by accuracy or effective range, if relevant), rather than actual projectile reach. In WH40k, pistols and shotguns get 12" reach, rifles get 24", stuff like LMGs get 36". In SW, pistols and shotguns (non sawn off) get 12", rifles get 24", and LMGs get 30". In WH40k that's all the range you get, in SW you get two additional range bands (doubling each time) with a -2 and -4 range penalty.

Both systems modify odds similarly. WH40k uses differing success numbers on a d6 (2+, 3+, 4+, etc. 1 always fails), savage worlds instead keeps the target number (mostly) the same and uses progressively larger die type (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12).

LEGO for Gaming: Near Official Support

So, Lego has a thing where you can propose sets. If you can garner support for your idea, it may become an official set.

Someone proposed a Dungeon Master pack, with all the stuff for a D&D style fantasy dungeon crawl. Skeletons, goblins, witches, and wights, with a few valiant heroes to face them, it's a set designed to give all the props and pieces you'd want for high fantasy.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/165437

It already has a fair amount of support. Like most LEGO set lines, if it does well it will likely expand. This is one of the few predominantly scenery sets that isn't a castle or a city, and therefore appeals to me super hard for the possibilities

I hope that it gets support, and they do expansions and variations, such as a cyberpunk business sprawl, navigable spaceship interiors, Victorian streets, or prohibition speakeasy.

Crisis of faith

I've got a bunch of stuff to say on The Trumpening, Hillary's loss, assorted protests, and a great many other things. I just need to feel the desire to pound the keyboard into something resembling a post.

This, however is not that post.

This post is about GURPS (4e?), and Savage Worlds.

Specifically, I'm a big fan of generic systems. I'm also a fan of both systems that are fast and fun while offering depth, and systems that have the near infinite gritty crunch. This is GURPS appeal, in some ways it's actually a pretty simple system (when in doubt, roll 3d6 unless damage says otherwise), but it's got layers and layers of complexity to use or ignore as desired.

But it's still horrifyingly complex to the average player, and has a few things that could be tightened up, as I outlined a few of here.

Savage worlds fixes some of them, and maintains others at about the same level of broken. The weapon tables are balanced weird and a couple environmental hazards are wonky, but I've tried to run a game using Ultra-Tech, so...

Plus, the possibility of themed decks and dice and things, plus the freeform tabletop tactics nature of the system (similar to things like WH40k, made particularly apparent by how easily the system converts into a Miniatures Tactics game!) all have a certain allure.

I'm being tempted away from GURPS.

I'll still use it, probably. But GURPS 4e has been my go-to Favorite System for a while. And now it has competition. Some of it can be houseruled to bring up to ways I like doing things more. Some things require a pretty substantial mechanics change.

I can explain Savage Worlds to a potential player in 10ish minutes, start to stop. I can do similar with GURPS 4e. Except Savage Worlds doesn't cause them to run screaming away when they look at the actual rules.

If they ever make a GURPS 5e, I've no doubt it will bring me crawling back. But for now, it looks like I'm multiclassing with my systems.

GURPS Sci-Fi Sunday: Armor of The Future

In designing a near future military, it becomes vital to determine what is currently used, to gauge where the future is (presumably better, one would hope!). TL9 guns are generally assumed to be similar to TL8 weapons, differing with slightly increased damage due to improved powders, and lighter caseless ammunition (which has its own host of problems, but reduces the odds of FTE jams by having nothing to eject).

In the 1990s, a soldier or marine might wear the following
Fragmentation Vest w/ Plates. DR 5/2*, 9lbs, $3500 plus DR 25, 16 lbs, $350. Total DR 30/27, 25lbs $700
Frag Helmet DR5, 3 lbs $125
Boots, Jungle DR 3/2, 3lbs, $75

In 2010, a soldier or marine might wear the following
Assault Vest w/ Plates. DR 12/5*, 8 lbs, $900, plus DR 23, $600 OR DR 25, 8lb, $1000, Total DR
Ballistic Helmet, DR 12, 3lbs $250
Tactical Goggles, Nictitating Membrane 5 (DR 5 to the eyes) $100, Negligible Weight.
(OPTIONAL) DAP, DR 8/2*, 4 lbs, $100, protects shoulder and upper arm
Boots DR 2*, 3lbs $80, stealth +1 due to similarities in the modern tactical boot to running shoes.

The Trauma Plates listed in the box are SAPI plates, 4 lb ceramic plates rated to NIJ III protection (will stop up to 7.62x51 NATO ball ammo, 7d pi, 24.5 damage average). Modern plates may use ESAPI plates (rated to stop 30-06 AP, 7d+1 (2) pi-, 25.5 damage average for armor pen, 12 damage average to flesh), but aren't listed in GURPS. As the damage doesn't really change, a better way to treat them would be to add the Hardened modifier. Using stats available online, ESAPI plates are 5.5lbs, and are able to absorb the impact of basic armor piercing ammo (Hardened 1).

Not listed in GURPS are lightweight Plate Carriers with no inherent DR (but also nearly no inherent weight). Using stats available for plate carriers on the market, a plate carrier like the Scaleable Plate Carrier might be
1.5 lbs, possibly DR 1 (they're usually pretty sturdy fabric, but usually nothing bullet resistant).

From this, we get that the modern established military equips their troops with DR12 to the skull (pistol/frag rated), DR 23-35 to the torso depending on mission, and a nice set of sturdy boots. Gloves, deltoid and axiliary protection, and eye protection may be optional. Ballistic limb protection exists, but is very rarely used outside of guards and exposed turret gunners due to weight and cost.

So where do we go from here?

The first, most obvious place is Reflex clothing (DR 12/4*, weight 3lb, $450 for jacket (torso+arms) and 2.8 lbs, $280 for pants (legs+groin). This protects the vast majority of the soldier from non armor piercing pistol fire and fragmentation. Reflex gloves add 6/2*, neg weight, and $30 to the hands.
Total weight of giving the body some measure of damage resistance from the neck down is $760, 5.8 lbs with the gloves. This option may not always be taken.

An alternative full-body armor is available in:
Reflex TacSuit, 20/10* DR, 15 lbs, C/12hr power, $3000. Covers the entire body from the neck down, and provides climate control if you put on a sealed helmet or mask.
OR
Reflex Vacc Suit, 20/10* DR, 30 lbs, 2C/24 hr power, $12,000. As above, but vacc rated. Gives climate control, pressure support (10 atm), radiation protection PF 2, and vacuum support (with proper helmet), plus biomed sensors

Skinsuits may be issued by militaries facing hostile environments such as other planets or the void of space, as they give DR 2* and provide vacuum support and significant climate control. Skintight space undies.

On top of this might go a
Reflex Tactical Vest (18/7* DR, 9lbs, $900, plus 34 DR, 9lbs, $600 plates), total of 52/41 DR, 18lbs,
OR
Light Clamshell, 30 DR, 12lbs, $600
OR
Heavy Clamshell, 45 DR, 18 lbs, $900.

The reflex tac vest might be worn as standalone primary armor, with no armored BDUs. Light or heavy clamshell atop reflex BDUs gives troops good survivability, and still pretty cheap and light.

Limb armor is taken care of by reflex BDUs, but heavier armor might be desired. Based on the Light and Heavy Clamshell, Ultralight would offer 15 DR, 6lbs, and $300 for the torso. Using the armor creation rules from Ultra-Tech or Low-Tech you can make other armors from the torso armor.
To adapt torso armors into a full suit for use with the Ultratech rules, multiply cost and weight by 4.

Examples:
DAP, 20% cost and weight of torso armor
Arms, 50% cost and weight of torso armor
Legs, 100% cost and weight of torso armor
Full Suit (neck down, not including hands and feet), 255% cost and weight of torso armor

An average troop might add Ultralight or even Light clamshell DAP to their kit, or just have whole body coverage of clamshell armor, while special operations might layer it over a tacsuit for extreme damage resistance.

Special cases may even warrant the following
Combat Hardsuit, 50/30 DR (torso/everywhere else), 30 lbs, $10,000. Worn with a space rated helmet, gives radiation PF 2, biomed sensors, waste relief system, and climate control. Not vacuum/pressure rated, but can operate in other kinds of harsh environments
OR
Space Armor, 50/30 DR (torso/everywhere else), 45 lb, $20,000. Worn with a space rated helmet, gives radiation PF 10, Pressure support (10 atm), climate control, and biomed sensors

There are several options when selecting helmets, depending on environment.
Troops expecting to fight only in planetary environments may use the following.
Light Infantry Helmet, 18 DR, 3 lbs, $250 protects skull
Visor, 15 DR, 3 lbs, $100 (Protects eyes/face)
OR
Armored Shades, 10 DR, 0.1 lb, $100
OR
Air Mask, 10 DR, 1 lb, protects eyes/face, $100. Requires air tank
OR
Filter Mask, 10 DR, 3 lb, protects eyes/face, $100. Filters breathable but contaminated environment.
All may add $50 for a HUD, or integrate any passive visual sensors
OR
Combat Infantry Helmet, 18/12 DR (18 skull, 12 eyes/face), 5 lb, $2000, B/12 hr. Provides Sealed when worn with a combat hardsuit or tacsuit. Includes GPS, Hearing protection, small radio, infrared visor w/ HUD, and filter masks.

Troops that may be exposed to vacuum may use the following
Visored Space Helmet, 20/15 DR (20 skull, 15 eyes/face), $2000, 4 lbs. Incorporates small radio, IR visor, and hearing protection. Seals and provides vacuum support.
OR
Space Combat Helmet, 40/30 DR (40 Skull, 30 eyes/face), $3000, 7 lbs. Incorporates small radio, IR visor, and hearing protection. Seals and provides vacuum support.

Any suits without integrated boots receive TL9 combat boots
Assault Boots, 12/6 DR (underside/sides), 3lb, $150. Add +4 to hiking skill.


What do we get from all this?
Future combatants have more variation in armor for different applications. Heavy gunners, turret gunners, special forces, and so forth.

On average, a typical frontline combat troop will have 40+ torso DR, between 0 and 30 limb DR, 18+ skull DR, and at least heavy armored eye protection with a HUD to run assorted tactical programs. Armor weight, kept to a minimum, is lower than that of a modern TL8 combat load. However, taking advantage of the substantially more extensive protection possible may push the weight above that of a current fighter. However, ultratech suits like the skinsuit, tacsuit, combat armor, and space armor allow substantial amounts of gear to be done without, such as warm/cold weather gear and sleeping bags, and lighter/more compact foodstuffs, weapons, and ammunition. Due to easy accessibility, combat in differing environments and conditions.

Future combat is likely to involve major injuries to limbs, death of a thousand cuts with penetrating damage doing a few points of blunt trauma at a time through torso armor (or, knockout), or a showstopper with a lucky/skilled headshot. Armor piercing ammunition is all but mandatory between major armor issuing powers. The listed ultratech weapons do 6d or 7d for the average infantry small arms (21 and 24.5 damage, respectively), meaning 40-50 DR can soak an armor piercing shot without being Hardened.

Savage Worlds Deluxe: Explorers Edition First Impressions

I've long had a fondness for generic systems for as long as I've known of their existence. GURPS 3eRevised was my first, and then on to 4e. I've heard about Savage Worlds on and off, but never done anything, so I looked into a Test Drive demo-lite edition and was mostly impressed. I received the full deluxe explorer's edition for Christmas, and have been eagerly reading it. I figured it'd be nice to have something a bit less terrifying to new players than GURPS to run with.

First Impressions: It's fast and simple, and pretty cinematic. It is well suited to the task I envisioned for it, using it as a sub-system for my game's Ultra-Tech characters to jump in and represent the VR games they'll play on occasion for some variety from being space dickheads across the milkdromeda galaxy. It's quick and easy enough that I can let other people jump in as GM if I want to get in on the action (as one of their many crewmates).

Basics of the system are d4 through d12 for human stats, almost all things have a target number of 4+ to succeed. Every 4+ gets you a raise. d4 is below average, d6 is average, d12+ is ridiculously good.
D4 gives 25% chance of success, failing on 1-3, succeeding on 4 before modifiers
D6 gives 50% chance of success, failing on 1-3, succeeding on 4-6 before modifiers
D8 gives 63% chance of success, failing on 1-3, succeeding on 4-8 before modifiers
D10 gives 70% chance of success, failing on 1-3, succeeding on 4-10 before mods
D12 gives 75% chance of success, failing on 1-3, succeeding on 4-12 before mods
Beyond this you get a flat bonus of +1 through +15 depending on how ludicrous the stat is (Dragons and tanks get pretty beefy, for example).

Opposed rolls are direct, your stat vs the opponent's, whoever gets highest wins. Important Characters (known as Wildcards) get a free d6 roll on all stat checks, because They're Important.

Fighting doesn't have an opposed roll, instead you go vs. a Target Number (TN) of 2+half of their fighting skill. Fighting, unless using special rules that require more specialization by type, covers ALL melee, though there are penalties for unfamiliarity. Shields, cover, and maneuvers can modify this TN. Everyone gets a free shot at you if you try to leave melee, with no rules for breaking off safely. Having trained, this isn't quite accurate (D&D does it better, letting you take your 5 foot step out of reach and then running)

Shooting is just vs. a TN of 4, modified by cover. Some edges for being dodgy can give enemies a penalty to enemy rolls against you, but there's nothing you can actively do against a ranged attack on a successful roll, no agility bonus or anything. You want to keep your bits unshot, you keep behind cover. This is kind of similar to GURPS 4e Harsh Realism rules for guns, in that you can take no active defense against them outside of special circumstances. Still, it drives home the benefits of good armor and better cover, and keeps things moving. Much like GURPS, shooting more than a single round per turn tends to assume you miss a lot.

Damage is weird but minimizes bookkeeping. If you hit but don't get a raise on your damage (targeting their toughness+armor), the target is Shaken, and can't do anything until they manage to get their wits about them again. If you can hit someone for two Shaken results before they shrug it off, it turns into a wound or a fatigue level. Beating their toughness with a raise gives a wound. Anything that fails to shake/wound, is just lost. You connected but were deflected, managed to glance off armor, or whatever.

There's a lot of nice rules for handling chases of all sorts, Dramatic Situations (hacking, disarming bombs, etc), and even pretty quick-and-accessible rules for mass combat. There's something I've tried before that usually works decently for allies, where they're given to the players to keep them engaged (particularly if someone's character isn't present, or has been disabled).


Now, the downsides:
First off, the biggest disappointment is equipment. I know I'm jaded by the glory that is GURPS High-Tech 4e, but still. Deadlands, the precursor system to Savage Worlds, had REALLY GOOD weapon tables. Savage Worlds simplifies everything too much for my tastes. Basic Pistol is still 2d6, but it doesn't scale with actual power. A large man with a big sword (greatsword+d10 strength die) does 2d10, as does a flamethrower/firebreath, as does a goddamn .50 BMG. One of these things shouldn't be in the same neighborhood of damage as the others, even with the decent stack of Armor Piercing. Similarly wrong, .308 is given the same damage/range as 5.56 with just a hint more AP. On one hand, I know why: Melee brawls are cinematic and cool, and not having guns as brokenly overpowered as they actually are keeps close combat relevant. Still, guns are statted simply enough that it wouldn't be hard to whip up a "realism" table.

Next is some environmental stuff; Hunger and Thirst can both kill in a day if you have shitty luck with rolls. This is moderately OK with water, but pretty much inexcusable with hunger.

Final disappointment is the apparent power level. IRL I'm above average across the board because I farm character points like a tryhard. The average character is assumed to be trained-but-green. I'm not sure if I'd qualify for anything beyond Seasoned rank (the first rank above Novice, where characters start), but I can just barely approximate myself in my current out-of-shape-and-practice condition without further EXP. I'm not sure if this is a measure of them making some things worth way more points than they should be (Ambidexterity is a common offender: weapons-only ambidexterity isn't all that impressive, but most systems treat it as a Pretty Big Deal), me being overpowered because I train and study as a passtime, or the system being balanced weak.


At any rate; if you're interested, they have a test drive demo, and a free version modified into a Miniatures Tactical Battle game. The V6 test drive is the one I read, I'm not sure how it compares to the 2015
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/peg-lankhmar/Test_Drive_2015.pdf
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/peg-freebies/TD06.pdf
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/peg-savage-worlds/Showdown.pdf

GURPSplosions, Shotguns, and Specialty Loadings: Filling in the gaps

GURPS high tech has fairly extensive lists of specialty grenade and shotgun ammo, and different shotgun shell chamberings listed on rare occasion (the 3" magnum is listed only for the Banelli M1 Super 90, despite the fact that about half the guns on the list are now available in 3" magnum. That might not be their fault due to changes after the book was written, though).

On top of that, Ultra-Tech has a great many specialty warheads and loadings, and some of the numbers seem to work right and others.... not so much, at least not by comparison to the round they would scale from in High Tech. In some cases, optional warheads aren't available for things where they were in High Tech, or neither book features specialty rounds in calibers where they exist already

On top of that, lots of options are only given at one tech level or another, not showing anything for higher TL version (the HE Shotgrenade is listed only at TL7).

Still other options should probably exist but don't.

Anything that would be loaded with filler is going to be modified according to the following data.
Most TL7 explosive fillers are REF 1.4
Most TL8 explosive fillers are REF 2.25 (1.61x  the power of TL7 filler)
The listed TL9 explosive filler is REF 4, (1.78x the power of TL8 filler)

First off, some comparisons, using stuff as listed, then according to Adjusting Damage rules to double check the numbers.
40mm High Explosive. 
TL7 HE 40mm: 4d-1 [2d] cr ex
TL8 HE 40mm: 6d+2 [2d] cr ex
TL9 HE 40mm: 8d [2d] cr ex

Using Adjusting Damage rules to check
TL8 HE 40mm turns into 6d [2d] cr ex
TL9 HE 40mm turns into 12d-1 [2d] cr ex if starting with 6d+2 or 11d-1 [2] if starting with 6d

40mm Shaped Charge
TL7 40mm HEDP: 4d(10) cr ex + 4d+2 [2d] cr ex linked
TL8 40mm HEDP: 7d(10) cr ex + 6d [2d] cr ex linked
TL9 40mm HEDP*: 6dx4(10) cr einc + 4d [2d] cr ex linked
 TL9 lists Shaped Charge as an dual purpose round, rather than pure shaped charge, but much heavier on the shaped charge as you'd expect the 4d [2d] fragmentation effect to be closer to 8d, per HE.

This one's harder to convert using Adjusting Damage because there's more at play in the power of the shaped charge than raw explosive power, but lets just see what we get,shall we?
TL8 40mm HEDP turns into 6d+2(10) cr ex + 7d+1 [2d] cr ex linked
TL9 40mm HEDP turns into 6d2(10) cr ex + 11d-1 [2d] cr ex linked
As you can see, if you treat Shaped Charge as the next evolution of HEDP, things go screwy, with you getting half the listed shaped charge power, and nearly triple the HE blast. There's a High Explosive MultiPurpose warhead (HEMP), but it doesn't come until TL10 for reasons unexplained.

25mm HEDP vs. 25mm Shaped Charge nets similar results
TL8 25mm HEDP: 4d+2(10) cr ex + 3d-1 [1d+1] cr ex linked
TL9 25mm HEDP*: 5dx3(10) cr inc + 2d [1d+1] cr ex linked
Again, between TL8 and TL9, the fragmentation explosion drops, with a substantially higher power shaped charge.

Using Adjusting Damage rules from the TL8 25mm yields the following
25mm HEDP: 8d(10) cr ex + 5d-1 [1d+1] cr ex linked.

In both cases, the ultratech Shaped Charge is approximately 2x the shaped charge damage and 1/2 the fragmentation/dual purpose blast (but no less fragmentation effect). Given the easily acquired nature of DR at TL9+, this makes a lot of sense.

One thing Ultra-Tech DOESN'T have that High Tech does? A shotgun HEAT shell. High Tech has various HE and HEAT shells, but some are only one TL or another, and they vary in size
Based on my research, 3" magnum shotshells tend to have 1.5x to 1.67x the projectile load of a 2.75" shell, and 3.5" supermagnum shells have a full 2x (potentially even more, if you sacrifice some powder charge to drive it). Because the projectiles are approximately cylinders, and the diameter doesn't change, this makes it real easy to scale things up. Interestingly, 3" magnum has the same listed max chamber pressure as a 2.75" shell, but a heavier projectile or going beyond SAAMI spec can both boost power a bit.

Items marked with ^ are custom, made using Adjusting Damage rules.

18.5mm/12g HE
TL7 HE 2.75" shotgrenade: 4d(0.5) pi++ + 1d-1 [1d] cr ex follow-up.
TL8 HE 2.75" shotgrenade^: 4d(0.5) pi++ + 1d+1 [1d] cr ex follow-up
TL8 HE 3.00" shotgrenade^: 4d(0.5) pi++ + 2d [1d] cr ex follow-up
TL8 HE 3.50" shotgrenade^: 4d(0.5) pi++ + 2d+2 [1d] cr ex follow-up
TL9 HE 2.75" shotgrenade: 5d(0.5) pi++ + 2d+2 [1d] cr ex follow-up
TL9 HE 3.00" shotgrenade^: 5d(0.5) pi++ + 4d+1 [1d] cr ex follow-up
TL9 HE 3.50" shotgrenade^: 5d(0.5) pi++ +5d [1d] cr ex follow-up

TL9 3.00" shotgrenades have as much raw explosive power as a TL7 HE 40mm grenade, though less fragmentation effect.

18.5mm/12g HEAT
TL8 HEAT 3.00" shotgrenade: 1d(10) cr ex + 1d-1 cr ex linked
TL8 HEAT 3.50" shotgrenade^: 1d+1(10) cr ex + 1d-1 cr ex linked
TL9 HEAT 3.00" shotgrenade^: 2d-1(10) cr ex +1d+1 cr ex linked
TL9 HEAT 3.50" shotgrenade^: 2d+1(10) cr ex + 1d+1 cr ex linked

HEAT shotgrenades are simultaneously lackluster yet potent. They also don't maintain the effectiveness of other things in Ultra-Tech of being a little over half the effective power of 25mm warheads when customed up to TL9 versions. Still, they might warrant a single shot underbarrel shotgrenade launcher for a primary weapon, and offer enough power to potentially damage the joints and other weakspots of even a heavy combat walker, or power armor of all sorts.

18.5mm/12g Buckshot, all TLs
2.75" Shotshell: 1d+1 per pellet, 9 pellets per shotshell
3.00" Shotshell^: 1d+1 per pellet, 15 pellets per shotshell
3.00" Shotshell: 1d+2 per pellet, 12 pellets per shotshell
3.50" Shotshell^: 2d-1 per pellet, 9 pellets per shotshell
3.50" Shotshell^: 1d+2 per pellet, 15 pellets per shotshell
3.50" Shotshell^: 1d+1 per pellet, 18 pellets per shotshell

Additionally, buckshot rounds for 40mm are listed but lackluster in High Tech, and nothing is given for 25mm buckshot. Given stronger barrels able to withstand full pressure, TL9 buckshot grenades might look as follows. 25mm buckshot is based on the russian 23mm shotgun.

TL7 40mm birdshot: 1d-1(0.5) pi-, acc 2, 20 pellets per shot
TL8 40mm birdshot: 1d-1(0.5) pi-, acc 2, 50 pellets per shot
TL9 40mm buckshot: 1d+1 pi, 40 pellets per shot
TL9 40mm heavy buckshot: 2d-1 pi, 30 pellets per shell

Grenade Launcher Buckshot
25mm Heavy Buckshot: 2d+1, 12 pellets per shell
25mm Heavier Buckshot: 3d-1, 8 pellets per shell
40mm Heavy Buckshot: 2d+1, 20 pellets per shell
40mm Heavier Buckshot: 3d-1, 16 pellets per shell

Given the nature and easy availability of armor in the future, and even at TL8, buckshot loses effectiveness rapidly. A way around this is to use heavy flechettes, maintaining the number of projectiles but turning them into fin stabilized armor piercing darts.
Turn damage from pi to pi-, add (2) armor divisor, no other changes.

Depleted Uranium adds +1 per dart at this level, and optionally increases the armor divisor up to (3) if using my other homebrew rules.

Custom Depleted Uranium, based on Depleted Uranium from High-Tech and Armor Piercing Enhanced Penetrator from Ultra-Tech
Add Armor divisor of (3), +10% dmg, +30% range. Reduce damage type by one step if below 20mm. On penetrating hard armor with DR10+, add an incendiary [1d(2)] attack with fragments cycling every 10 seconds for 30 seconds. DX roll can brush fragments away if they're accessible.

18.5mm/12g Slugs, all TLs
2.75" Slug: 4d+4 pi++ (combines to 5d pi++)
3.00" Slug^: 4d+8 pi++ (combines to 6d pi++)
3.50" Slug^: 8d-4 pi++ (combines to 7d pi++)


I was going to add more to this, but I think that's enough for one post.

GURPS 5e hypothetical wishlist

Preface: GURPS 4e does a lot of things decently well, and Steve Jackson games seems to have kind of stopped caring about the system, so a 5e probably won't happen. Maybe these will develop into homebrew rules, or maybe I'll inspire someone to go "oh hey yeah that'd work" (unlikely).

First and foremost, is rapid fire rules. By my estimation, a trained gunman (Skill 13) at close range (2 yards, no range penalty) against an average size target that isn't dodging (ex, All Out Attacked, or just facing away), not aiming but with an all out attack and MAYBE mechanical assistance (for +1 from each), should have a reasonable chance of getting all rounds on target, at least from a RCL 2 weapon. All totaled, these conditions lead to an effective skill of 13+1+1+RoF bonus (+1 through +4 likely)

With RoF 5-8 (+1 bonus)
Skill 16, RCL2 gun. Against a stationary, non-dodging but threatening (no "quiet range" bonus) SM 0 target. An average roll of 10 will get 4 rounds on target. With RoF 5, a roll of 8 is required for 100% rounds on target. With RoF 6, a roll of 6 gets 100%, and a roll of 4 gets 100% with RoF 7. With RoF 8, rules as written you cannot get 100% on target without additional bonuses.

With RoF 9-12 (+2 bonus)
Skill 17, RCL2 gun. Same target as above, average roll of 10 still gets you 4 rounds, a slightly better roll of 9 gets you 5 rounds on target. On a roll of 3, you can get 8 rounds on target. Without additional bonuses, you cannot achieve 100% rounds on target.

With RoF 13-16 (+3 bonus)
Skill 18, RCL2 gun. Same target as first option, same average roll of 10 now gets you 5 rounds on target. On a roll of 4, you can still achieve 8 rounds on target. 100% continues to be impossible.

Make no mistake, 4-5 rounds on target is no slouch, and against bigger targets getting an extra round or two when you need that damage is easier. But it still seems off that it's literally impossible to get all shots on target.

Suggestions to fix: You get RoF/X shots on target per success. I'm unsure of where the best number for that is, but 5-10 seems accurate. Faster firing guns leave less room between shots, meaning it's easier to hit with more of them if you're on target


Decaying accuracy. When aiming at a specific hit location, if you fail to make the attack you miss, even if you were aiming at a location inside of another (such as the eye or vitals). If you miss by 1, you hit the torso, even if you're aiming for something in another body part, for example the eye (success by 9 over skill before hit location modifier), if just barely missed, should instead hit the face (success by 5) or skull (success by 7), but current rules say if you missed by more than 1, the shot sails past even if the shot was good enough to hit the face. Similarly, if you succeed by enough, ALL targeted attacks hit the same spot (ex, managing an eye shot with 3 successes hits the eye 3 times, rather than eye, skull, face, or somesuch due to recoil)

Suggestion to fix: Tables are bad, every table that must be referenced for regular play slows things down, so a scatter table isn't the answer. That also potentially leads to needing either several tables to avoid shooting someone in the face and having round #2 hit them in the foot. My idea is to have hit location decay by RCL. RCL 2 shot to the eye will hit eye, skull, head if you exactly make the shot for the eye and fired 3 shots. A shot to the hand will go Hand, Arm, Torso (or to the gun, it goes gun, hand, arm).

This would also likely serve to change how the Targeted Attack technique worked, as skill at shooting particular small targets is different from just base guns skill, but I'm not quite sure how to fix it. Easiest way would be to make Targeted Attack a Hard technique, that just buys off part of the hit location penalties for everything. Alternatively, it might need to be priced as a Wildcard technique for balance. Each hit location is still subject to the restriction on TA that you can never go below half penalty.
For example: 2 points (first level) in TA: Guns (possibly a specialization here), means you're at -1 to shoot limbs, a -2 for the vitals, -4 for face, -6 for skull, -8 for eyes, -7 or -9 for chinks in armor. another point means you're still at that same -1 and -2 for limbs and vitals, down to -3 for the face, -5 for the skull, -7 for the eyes, etc. You get very swiftly diminishing returns.


Next up is a minor tweak. Swords are assumed to be Parry 0, as are the vast majority of melee weapons. However, according to Low Tech Companion, everything else can have a guard added to it for a +1 to parry, which swords are exempt from. If swords are default, everything else (axes/etc) should be parry -1. Alternatively, parry 0 is the norm, and most swords with full guards should be +1. Mostly a minor tweak for internal consistency, and it makes swords actually worth their relatively extreme cost. Having trained with Parry 0 Tomahawk and Parry 0 Cutlass, the cutlass is FAR easier to parry with.


Weapon Skills: Having trained extensively with melee weaponry, martial arts, and a number of weapons both true and recreational (air guns, firearms, recreational laser weapons, nerf guns, and water guns, to name a few). GURPS has very little overlap between melee skills, despite all the old training manuals often recommending training in seemingly vastly disparate skills (Ex, learning epee as a precursor to everything from broadsword to quarterstaff). There's also only so many possible cuts using a one handed weapon, no matter the balance. Similarly, there are no defaults between any unarmed combat skills. The finest judo practitioner in the world, of masterful body control, is at no particular superior position to learn brawling than anyone off the street (assuming they aren't incompetent and unable to learn unarmed combat). Similarly, most guns use approximately the same skill. This is handled currently by very gentle defaults between them, but leads to oddities with weapons that do not fall cleanly into a category (Ex, does a glock 18 run on pistol skill when in semi-auto, and SMG in full? What happens if you add a stock, does it still use pistol or is it now rifle?).

Suggestion to fix: My suggestion is to treat them as overall categories with familiarities. One Handed Melee Weapon, Two Handed Melee Weapon, Unarmed, And Guns, or something to that effect. Balanced vs. unbalanced, vastly different lengths, things of that nature would all justify being different familiarities. Now you don't need learn a different skill, or have strange mismatches, when you switch a fire selector, or add a stock, or a grip, or anything else, to guns. Martial arts now default to one another, and even to other melee combat skills, meaning experience makes further learning more readily feasible (sort of clumsily handled using perks to adapt techniques for use with another skill. Skill at unarmed combat translates to both one and two handed swords, for example, albeit with a penalty initially).


Armor/Gear is slightly odd in how it's handled taking damage. Armor in particular. Shields tend to have moderate DR, and enormous pools of HP to soak up incoming damage that penetrates, allowing them to do things like absorb rifle fire but be gradually destroyed in the process. While certain armor is best handled as flat DR with no HP soak, such as thin leather, other armors (ex, kevlar vest) seem to lend themselves to a shield style, providing a bit of DR and a lot of bonus HP to the wearer. DR as written works well enough, and there are optional rules for armor damage elsewhere so this is idle musing on dealing with the problem of a great many hits either doing nothing to armor, or punching through and potentially absolutely ruining the wearer. It adds complexity to track gear HP, which would require a different character/gear sheet that I still need to take a crack at.


I'd like for Basic Set to include stuff for gear of different sizes, partially included in the various Tech books, but expanded on the most in Low Tech Companion 1, at least to a limited extent. It's not really a universal system if you can only find gear for SM 0 yet the options are there to be +/- 1 SM right at the start. I'd also like to see the various Power Ups books updated with stuff from books published later (ex, Gun Fu has a number of realistic perks that are greatly desirable for a trained gunman), and consolidated into a Basic Set book #3, for gritty details.

Similarly, I'd like a book for Making Things. Mostly it would be Low Tech Companion 1 rules, extended forwards to allowing high tech and ultra tech armors and such. 4e used player stats to build robots, but there were no rules for making a robot and pricing it beyond things listed. A Points-to-Money conversion ratio, possibly with modifiers (size, complexity, etc) seems like a pretty decent way to allow you to build anything as stats, and then convert into an approximate market value. While I have some qualms with Spaceships, its rules allow for fairly quick but still in-depth building of a great many things, and I believe could be expanded for general vehicles to some extent.


Speaking of money, money is incredibly powerful. I've heard it repeatedly mentioned that the single most effective superpower is Money and High TL (McThag first raised this problem/loophole/etc to my attention). At any level where you can conceivably buy something with money instead of points, you should ALWAYS do so unless you have a very good reason. Ex, 32 points for the implant 9mm SMG in basic set, vs. 3 (2 for extra arm (weapon mount, -80%) and 1 for Payload so it's not just bolted to the side of your arm) and $500ish bucks, a small fraction of starting wealth at that stage. The idea behind having money completely separate is because of the love for infinite worlds style campaigns, with gunslingers out of time, dimension hoppers blending in, and so on and so forth. This unfortunately doesn't quite work as well as it seems at first glance. For example, past about TL6, nearly everyone without a good reason has access to "Immunity (Polio)", and so on. Accounting for all the vaccines and things adds up to a not insignificant amount of points for free to the average high tech character. At ultra-tech, buying augmentations and implants gets confusing because sometimes they cost money, points, or both depending on when or how you get them.

Proposed fix: This one is actually a fairly simple one for something with so much complexity, and ties into the starting wealth available.  My proposal is that there be a conversion factor between points and money, with points specifically allotted to "wealth" use. Probably based on TL, this would for example make a TL9 SMG purchased with points or money equally balanced, or DR from armor vs. DR from points). To make it fair, a given campaign would come with however many points are assumed to be the baseline TL, with characters starting at TL0 and purchasing up to campaign TL (or having bonus points to justify being equally badass with less from lower TLs). Mutants and Masterminds does something similar, with everything costing points based on effect (for example, Batman/Ironman and Superman/Hulk are both top tier characters, with the same amount of points. In GURPS, Batman/Ironman would probably be 500ish with some wealth and high TL, and Supes/Hulk would just be a bajillionty points because he apparently has approximately infinite ST/DR/HP/Laser eyes/etc). Essentially this would remove the Wealth advantage/disadvantage, and instead turn it into a per-point-invested thing. It also helps with inventing, bodymods/surgery, and so forth, having money interchangeable. Robots are incredibly hard to deal with on sale price for ones outside of the listed examples, but if points and money have an easy conversion factor, it's a lot more doable.


Also needed are just a few rebalances; Magic has some powerful applicability at higher TLs in making/breaking things (glitch and repair are both mighty powerful, used inventively), but it's essentially worthless to use magic for anything directly offensive. Meanwhile the reflect missiles spell is utterly ruinously broken at high TLs as written. Just including a couple of basic bits of magitech in the base book could substantially solve this problem. At TL5, a magic gun/gauntlet/whatever boosts effective magery by however much, adding Charge Powerstone and making it an entry level spell rather than one requiring massive Magery to reach to the base book to make it more readily apparent that a bunch of small cheap powerstones can be used like ammunition to fire off spells, and so on.

Innate Attack also seems to be something in desperate need of some balancing, as implanted weaponry purchased via the advantage instead of Extra Arm (weapon mount)+Payload is vastly more expensive. Adding Strength Based (from GURPS Powers, allows you to have an innate attack include the user's strength similar to Claws) helps somewhat, but it's still expensive. This may be fixed with the above wealth modification.


Fear Checks. GURPS fear checks have always been kind of weird, because they're only for the super bad things, except not. Any failure, because of the second 3d6 roll+degree of failure, leads to generally moderately severe results. The fix, other than minor rebalancing of the table (giving the option of acquiring a quirk OR some minor negative effect, as with changing/removing/optioning away the fear-barf), is actually quite simple.

Suggestion to fix: Degrees of fright check. Creep, Spook, Fright, and Fear. Creep checks just use Degree of Failure on the table, for stuff like empty abandoned houses, eerie stuff, and minor things where only the most cowardly of characters are likely to do more than hesitate. Spook checks are minor fright checks, and you roll 1d6 on the table, plus DoF. This is for things deliberately unnerving or frightening, enough that the GM might want to see who hesitates or reacts, a bit more strongly than a creep check. Fright checks are for jump scares, and actual frightening things, at 2d6+DoF. Fear checks and beyond work as normal, and are for the major scares, at 3d6+DoF or more (Terror checks, or whatever they get named, could be 4d6, or so on, to handle mindbendingly horrific things)

Saturday musing: There's no tanking in D&D

Proof that I'm actually not dead! Had this half done for ages, now it's as done as I care about.

Or, RPGs in general. This post rises from a chat a while ago, and the relative benefits.

To those unfamiliar, the term tank in games is primarily associated with MMOs, and refers to a character with tons of health, armor, or dodge chance who often includes some manner of aggro mechanic to make enemies pay attention to them despite not necessarily being the largest threat.

D&D 4e and 5e add in tank mechanics, allowing such things as granting disadvantage on attacks against other party members, getting free punish attacks if they target anyone else, or such things. Still, the builds that allow such things are often rather specialized, so you MUST build for the tank. You can't have a big generally beefy dude do it, he must use specific weapons and shields and such.

D&D particularly needs such mechanics because every turn allows a full movement and an attack. In theory, attacks of opportunity are supposed to discourage enemies from simply walking around the pointman of the party to conveniently go straight for the squishiest, most not-obviously dangerous party members, but in practice it's darn simple to avoid this, hence why at least some semblance of aggro mechanic options were added.

It got me thinking; What about other systems?

GURPS makes repositioning for attack a lot harder in melee, you have to either spend FP, move and attack as an all-out, or do a wild swing and probably miss. It also features sacrificial parries, and after all out attacks if made to get a proper attack in, the punish that comes after is a massive threat unless the aggressor is very heavily armored. Further, there's rules for blocking enemies from moving past. Defenders can also hold action to get a swing at anyone trying to get past. There's no aggro mechanic in GURPS, but due to the system it's not super necessary.

Shadowrun allows move and attack as well, though they're substantially more restrictive than in D&D. Still, most shadowrun combat happens with boomsticks and cover, rather than melee brawls. Melee fights have the Intercept action, allowing a fighter to prevent someone from moving nearby or pulling back out of melee. Given that the biggest, tankiest people (trolls) have bonus reach in which they can stop people, this makes tanking reasonably doable. There's also a decently large penalty for attacking on the run to try to get around bodyblocking allies.

Deadlands is similar to Shadowrun, but the time period means combat goes to melee a lot more readily. When the highest magazine capacity around save for crazy steampunk portable gatling guns is around 10, they run dry quick vs. hordes of undead and the like. Still, gunfights mean you take cover, and unlike many other systems, Deadlands has extensive rules for staredowns, intimidation, and the like during battle. Running to try to close distance imposes a BIG disadvantage, similar to GURPS and Shadowrun. Other than that, there's not much to stop the badguys from just going around the tanky folks, though.

Savage Worlds, the evolution from the Deadlands system into a simpler, more generically applicable system. In the quickstart, everyone trying to pull back from a melee gets hit by an attack of opportunity, just like D&D. I've currently only got the quickstart rules, but the full book is promised to have a bunch of extra modifiers and special attack types that are no doubt similar to those in Deadlands.

GURPS Space: I just want to build stuff

I'm glad I've been paying attention to Erin and McThag on their Traveller Tuesdays, even though I'm not setting the system in the Traveller universe (that would be far too simple and make too much sense).

Got a setting I've mentioned before knocking around, that of the Moon Marines (actual military title pending, but they're space marines who's primary base is on Luna). Given that most campaign ideas revolve around the party actually playing moon marines and romping around the universe breaking things, or playing the security/away team for an exploration/free trader ship, gear's going to be a thing. In this setting, humanity is also substantially more militarized than most of the galaxy (everyone else hit the point where war became too horrible to contemplate and actually stopped, or are super honorable/gullible, or can't utilize the FTL system without crysosleep because they get incredibly nauseous and/or horny, and other such things), which means their ships need to be durable and such, and at least the basics of a space-military need to be determined. In attempting to pick out various units for this approximately TL9 setting, I made a discovery;

Ultra-Tech, which I've glanced through before, is kind of terrible if you're actually trying to use it for things with any depth. Also, approximately half of TL9 is just stuff that we have today at least as prototypes, although it was still futuristic when it was printed. Also also, basically the entire conventional guns section is errata'd, and a great deal of other stuff. It mentions that spaceships are a thing that exists, and kind of sort of gives some examples, sufficient as long as it's merely a setpiece for the party to glance past on their way elsewhere.

Spaceships has some nice depth with reasonable simplicity, but a couple things that seem off. I can't tell whether armor and weapons are balanced, or if weapons are overpowered. Damage comparison between the 100mm cannon in spaceships and ultratech are kind of weird (the warhead and projectile impact damage seem to be switched, approximately, although the damage in the table may be meant for beam weapons or just an approximation with guns using the warhead table exclusively). Decade scale makes things weird. Assuming medium or secondary batteries are "standard", it takes approximately 2 of your available 6 systems per section of the finest armor available to be able to soak an average hit, except not once warheads, armor divisors, and weapon velocity (if applicable) are factored in because those do a bajillion times more damage than it's possible to have your ship block even if every system is nothing but the finest of armor.  Hooray Errata, the entire warheads table was off by a factor of 10 or so. Something still seems vaguely off, I may boost armor in some way, simplest way seems to be to treat armor as one unit and extra stacks reduce G-force.

GURPS Traveler seems decent, other than being for a specific setting. It offers better ability to armor up a streamlined ship and such, at cost of marginal requirement for calculations.

I've even busted out GURPS Vehicles to look at that for comparison


I'll probably just wind up building the ship in every system and bashing them together until I get something I'm happy with. Then I just have to fill it with crew, because it's small enough and going to be the main setting enough that it's probably a good idea to have at least a name and basic personality for every crew member.

Murderhoboing along

Things Players Do that Real People Never Would

I've run into other players that behaved in a manner that made me curious how they functioned in the real world, they were so poorly able to function in a simulated/imaginary one.