SPACE OPERA COMBAT SYSTEM (SOCS) -- SUMMARY

This is a summary of the Space Opera Combat game mechanics written by

Sean Barrett, found on pages 103-113 of GURPS Lensman. The summary
was written by Robert Kelk with Sean Barrett's permission -- any
errors should be attributed to Mr. Kelk, not Mr. Barrett.

SOCS is not a wargame in the way the Mass Combat rules are. Rather,
it is a system that allows roleplaying during space combat. The
emphasis is on space opera instead of realism -- maneuvers which make
sense in real life might not be allowed, while unrealistic actions
that are seen in space opera shows are encouraged.

People are divided into two groups: MAJOR CHARACTERS (who are
important to the plot, including all PCs) and MINOR CHARACTERS (who
aren't important to the plot). Minor characters rarely damage major
characters, unless it's important to the plot. Major characters get
to use manual overrides, while minor characters just die (although
minor "good guy" characters get to yell out "I'm hit, I'm hit!"
before they crash).

There are three main ship types: FIGHTERS (small spacecraft with
fixed-mounted weapons), CUTTERS (medium-sized spacecraft with limited
weaponry), and SHIPS OF THE LINE (large, heavily-armed spacecraft).
Unarmed ships are called Shuttles, Yachts, and Freighters,
respectively.

PRE-COMBAT GAME MECHANICS

Each ship has a Maneuver Rating (MR) that reflects its engine power,
structural strength, angular momentum, grav-compensator efficiency,
crew stamina, and other similar factors.

Each ship, except for fighters, must be divided into hit locations by
the GM. (Fighters are too small to have separate hit locations.)
Each weapon mount or turret is one location, each engine room, pod,
or nacelle is one location, and so on.

Each weapon has a Firepower rating (from GURPS Space), a range

(either "short" or "long"), and an Accuracy rating (bonus or penalty
to Gunner skill).

The range of available Firepower in the GM's universe must be divided

into groups. Only the first three are at all common:
COSMETIC damage blisters paint.
LIGHT damage causes its target to lose its next turn and all die-
roll bonuses, and starts some continuing damage.
HEAVY damage destroys fighters in one shot, and completely disables
other ships. Minor characters might die because of this level of
damage.
GREAT damage vaporizes its target. All minor characters die, and
major characters may also die.
STARK damage vaporizes its target, then atomizes the vapor.
Everyone dies.
(These descriptions assume no armor or force shields are present.)

COMBAT

Turns are usually 10 seconds long, but the GM can change this for his
campaign. All ships take their turns at the same time.
There are three ranges between ships:
SHORT RANGE allows all weapons to be used in combat.
LONG RANGE allows only long-range weapons to be used in combat.
OUT OF RANGE does not allow combat.

Fighters are at +0 to be hit. Smaller targets are at -1 or more.

Cutters are at +2 to be hit, ships of the line are at +4, large space
fortresses are at +6, and hitting planets is automatic, unless a
particular hit location is being targeted.

Snap shots are at -5. Aiming Bonuses (ABs) can be earned -- Position
AB (for all guns) is gained by the pilot, while Sustained Fire AB
(for each gun) is gained by the gunner. Some guns may not get
Position AB, if the ship does not have a superior position to its
enemy. Sustained Fire AB is gained at +1 per turn that the weapon
(not the ship) fires on a particular target.

The turn sequence is as follows:

Fire Phase:
1) All weapons fire and all ships dodge.
Maneuver Phase:
2) All pilots choose maneuvers.
3) Roll for maneuvers.
4) GM rules on the effect of maneuvers.

FIRE PHASE:
Gunners that can bring their weapons to bear on a foe can fire - roll
against Gunner + weapon Accuracy + ( total ABs or snapshot penalty ).
Failed rolls miss. Critical failures vary in effect, but are similar
to the Firearm Critical Miss table on page B202. Successful rolls
hit, and do damage according to the Firepower. Critical successes do
the same damage, but the effect is one level higher ("cosmetic"
becomes "light", and so on).

Dodges are rolled against the average of the pilot's Piloting skill
and the ship's MR. Success reduces damage by one level ("light"
becomes "cosmetic", and so on). Dodging has no effect on ABs.

MANEUVER PHASE:
Each pilot chooses one maneuver:
Fly Straight: No effect on Position or Sustained Fire ABs.
Maneuver Offensively: Possible only against any ship that doesn't
have Position AB on you. Sustained fire ABs earned by all of
your ship's gunners are lost, unless the pilot is the gunner
(which is usually the case only on fighters). Success increases
your Position AB by 1. Critical success doubles your Position
AB, or changes it from 0 to 2. Critical failure reduces Position
AB to 0.
Maneuver Defensively: All ABs earned by anyone on your craft are
reduced to 0. One enemy ship or weapon must be designated -
success lowers that ship's Position AB or gunner's Sustained Fire
AB by 1. Critical success reduces that AB to 0. Critical
failure doubles that AB.
Go Totally Defensive: As Maneuver Defensively (above), but against
all foes. Your ship's gunners may not fire at all in the next
turn.
Reversal: This defence, used against a foe who chooses to Maneuver
Offensively, tries to make his ship fly past yours. This cannot
be performed against a smaller ship type. All Sustained Fire ABs
 on both ships are lost. Both ship's pilots roll a Quick Contest
of ( Piloting skill + ship's MR ), but the attacking pilot
subtracts his Positional AB. The winner gets the effects of a
critical success on a Maneuver Offensively (for the attacker) or
Maneuver Defensively (for the defender) maneuver. If the
attacker critically succeeds and the defender doesn't, his
gunners automatically hit on the next turn. If the defender
critically succeeds and the attacker doesn't, the ships trade
places: the defender gets the attacker's Positional AB on the
attacker, and the attacker's Positional AB drops to 0. If either
pilot rolls a critical failure, the ships collide and are
destroyed.
Follow-the-Leader: The pilot files into an area full of hazards or
obstructions. Once inside the danger area, each pilot must roll
against Piloting + the ship's MR, minus whatever penalty the lead
pilot chooses (with GM's approval). Critical success adds 1 to a
chaser's Positional AB, or subtracts 1 from each chaser's
Positional AB if the lead pilot critically succeeds. Failure
lowers the chaser's Positional AB to 0, or each chaser adds 1 to
his Positional AB if the lead pilot fails. A critical failure
destroys the pilot's ship. Any chaser with a Positional AB of 0
has lost the lead pilot. Ships of the line may not "follow-the-
leader".
Unorthodox tactics: Only ships of the line may try a tactic that
seems suicidal, but actually relies on knowledge the enemy doesn't
have. The effectiveness of unorthodox tactics are proportional
to the amount of real danger the ship is in, and must be ruled on
by the GM.
Cutters cannot gain Position AB on fighters or dodge fighters'
attacks. Ships of the line cannot gain Position AB on Fighters or
Cutters, or dodge their fire.

Other maneuvers are possible - it is up to the GM to determine their

effects. New maneuvers that work have more spectacular (i.e. better)
effects than older, better-known ones.

Maneuvers are rolled against the pilot's Piloting skill + ship's MR.
The sole exception is "Go Totally Defensive", which is rolled against
Piloting.

THE FURBALL:
If there are more that a half-dozen craft in the combat, not paired
off into neat dogfights, then a "furball" has formed. Any critical
failure on a Piloting roll causes a collision with a random ship. A
perception roll (against Electronics Operation: sensors, Vision, or
another appropriate skill) must be made by any gunner AFTER making a
"snap-shot" attack - failure indicates the gunner fired on a friend.

SOCS IN LENSMAN

(This was presented as an example of SOCS as it applies to a specific

universe.)
All weapons are short range.
Firepower of 500 or less is light, 501-1500 is heavy, 1501-5000 is
great, and 5001 or more is stark.
Screens of Defensive Factor (DF) 10 or less are light, 11-30 are
heavy, 31-100 are great, and 101 or more are stark. Multiple screens
may be mounted on the same ship, if the weakest screen is farthest
out (and first hit).
A tractor beam must be anchored between two ships before they can
attack each other -- roll against Gunnery: tractors to establish each
lock. (This is necessary because of the nature of the inertialess
drive.) Ships can use tractor shears to cut tractor beams.
As defensive screens absorb incoming firepower, they gain Coruscation
Levels (CLs). They start at "none", and work their way up from red
to violet, then go to "black" or non-functional. When they burn out,
they provide a bit of protection -- every attack hitting that turn
does damage at one level lower than normal.

Both of the following tables are taken directly from GURPS Lensman,
page 113. The descriptions have been summarized.

MACRO BEAMS VS. SCREENS: Defense Factor

Light Heavy Great Stark
+---------------------------------------------
None ! Radiate Radiate Radiate Radiate
Cosmetic ! 0 Radiate Radiate Radiate
Firepower Light ! +1 0 Radiate Radiate
Heavy ! +3/Light +1 0 Radiate
Great ! Down/Heavy +3/Heavy +1 0
Stark ! Down/Great Down/Great +3/Great +1

0 means the screen does not gain or radiate any CLs. "+1" or "+3"
indicates the screen gains that many CLs. "Down" means the screen
instantly collapsed. A screen that gets only "Radiate" results
gets -1 to CL at the end of the turn.

NEEDLE BEAMS VS SCREENS: Defense Factor

+--------------------------------------------------
Cosmetic ! Light Heavy
Needle Light ! Light Heavy Great
Beam Heavy ! Light Heavy Great Stark
FP Great ! Light Heavy Great Stark
Stark ! Light Heavy Great Stark
-----------------+--------------------------------------------------
None ! Stark Heavy Cosmetic
Red ! Stark Great Light
Orange ! Stark Stark Heavy Cosmetic
Screen Yellow ! Stark Stark Great Light
CL Green ! Stark Stark Stark Heavy Cosmetic
Blue ! Stark Stark Stark Great Light
Indigo ! Stark Stark Stark Stark Heavy Cosmetic
Violet ! Stark Stark Stark Stark Great Light

Needle beams cannot change a screen's CL. To use this table, look up
the beam's Firepower at the top left, then read across to the
screen's DF. (If the DF is off the chart, no damage is done.)
Cross-reference the resulting column with the screen's current CL at
the bottom left. The result is what gets through that screen (and is
applied to the next screen in, if any).
(C) Copyright 1992, by John Aegard

Title: Variant Senses statistic.

Description:
Senses is a new attribute derived from IQ and HT and modified by
several advantages and disadvantages. To find a character's base Senses
score, add his or her IQ and HT scores, then divide the total by two,
rounding down.
Senses is used in lieu of IQ for sense rolls. For more information
see Sense Rolls, p. B92.
The following advantages and disadvantages affect Senses exactly as
described in the GURPS Basic Set.
Acute Hearing (2 points/level)
Acute Taste/Smell (2 points/level)
Acute Vision (2 points/level)
Alertness (5 points/level)

Blindness (-50)
Deafness (-20)
No Sense of Taste or Smell (-5)

New Disadvantages:

Oblivious (-5 points per level)

Each level of Oblivious gives the character a -1 to all Senses rolls.

Characters with any level of this disadvantage cannot take any of the other
advantages or disadvantages listed here except No Sense of Taste/Smell.

The following two disadvantages replace Bad Sight:

Nearsighted (-2 points per level @ TL5+, -4 per level @ TL4-)

Each level of Nearsighted, up to -5, gives a character a -1 to see things

further than 3 feet away. Half of the character's Nearsighted modifier
(rounded up) is subtracted from hand-to-hand attacks and all defenses.
Ranged attacks are at an apparent distance of +20% time the disadvantage
level. The -2 points per level is for a character whose vision is
perfect with TL5+ correction, only.

Farsighted (-5 points/level @ TL 5+, -10/level @ TL4-)

Each level of this disadvantage, up to -3, gives the character a -1 to

perform tasks requiring short-range manual dexterity only. The character
will also have some difficulty reading, especially small print. In
situations where time is critical, the GM may say that for each level of this
disadvantage the character posesses, the character takes 1/3 longer time to
read something. The -5 points/level cost at TL5 and above is only charged
if the farsighted character has perfect corrected vision.

Hard of Hearing (-2 points/level @ TL 6+, -1 point/level @ TL5-)

Each level of Hard of Hearing (up to -5) gives the character a -1 to hear
sounds. Before TL6, this disadvantage is worth a flat -2 points per level.
Characters at those tech levels may use ear-trumpets or the like to improve
their hearing; details are up to the GM. At TL6+, however, discrete personal
hearing aids come into use. If the character's hearing responds perfectly
to TL6+ mechanical aids, the -1 point/level charge is used.

Optional Rule: Corrected and Uncorrected Senses.

Players may choose to define two levels of a variable Senses disadvantage

for their characters. The first is the "uncorrected" level; the disadvantage
suffered by the character while not using technological aids like glasses,
contact lenses, or hearing aids. The second is the "corrected" level, for
characters who still don't have perfect senses even when corrected to the
best degree of which the local technology is capable. The points bonus is
the average of the two costs figured at the lower-tech rate.

New Skill: Observation (M/H)

This is the skill of using one's senses to their absolute best. It comes
in three variations; taste/smell, sight, and hearing. A character must
select one of these specializations each time he/she buys the skill,
although there's nothing that prohibits him/her from having all three.
When a character is actively using his senses, he will receive a bonus to
the appropriate senses role of 1/5 of his skill level. This bonus is only
applicable to situations where the character is concentrating on his senses.
For example, a character searching for traps, observing a supernova through
a telescope, or listening at a door may use this skill's bonus. A character
making a hearing roll to passively detect an ambush would not.

Justification:

Both physical and mental attributes needed to be taken into account for
sense rolls. As a pure game justification; HT needed to be made somewhat
more "important".

Oblivious is included for characters who are just plain "dense." It makes
nice companion disadvantage for Absent-Minded characters.

I felt that Bad Sight had to be broken down into something a little more
detailed. The rules for Nearsighted came from the GURPS Basic version of
the Bad Sight disadvantage and were varied slightly to reflect a variable
version of the disadvantage.

The points cost for Farsighted is derived from"[ uced Manual Dexterity
(a bastardization of the Aliens advantage) -3 x 10 = 30 points.

Hard of Hearing also needed to be broken down into a variable disadvantage,

in my opinion.

The suggested rules for uncorrected versus corrected senses came from several
people on gurps-ext. They add an extra bit of realism to the game, but also
extra detail. Obviously, not all people will respond perfectly to treatment.

The Observation skill was also a product of the gurps-ext crowd. I haven't
playtested the numbers yet, but they *look* okay.

Examples:

A warrior with IQ 9, HT 12 has a base senses of 10.

A sickly wizard with IQ 15, HT 9 has a base senses of 12.

The same fighter who has Oblivious -4 (-20 points) now has a senses roll of
6, and can have no further senses ads or disads save for Acute Taste/Smell.

The same wizard with Nearsighted-3 has a senses roll of 9 to see things
further than 3 feet away; has a -2 to hit in hand-to-hand combat and a -2
to defend against any kind of attack. He will cast his Fireballs at targets
as if they were 1.6 times the distance further away, for example, an attack
on a troublesome Dwarf 20 yards away will be treated as if the Dwarf was
32 yards away for range purposes.

The fighter with Farsighted -3 will have a -3 to his DX when performing

tasks which require manual co-ordination at a short range *only*. If he's
literate, the GM will double the time necessary to read anything at close
range (if the time is even a consideration).

The wizard with Hard of Hearing -3 will have a roll of 9 to hear anything.

Lefty Harrison, a gambler on the Missisippi river-boat "Lady Constance"

has Uncorrected Nearsightedness of -5 and Corrected Nearsightedness of -1.
His points bonus is [(-5x4)+(-1x4)]/2 or -12.

Lefty's also a sharp eavesdropper. He has an Observation/Hearing skill at

level 17. When listening to what's going on at the next table, he'll add a
+3 to his hearing roll.

Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 10:05:26 -0700 (PDT)

From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@iii.com>
Subject: Re: Regeneration for Robots

"Realistic" Living Metal:

> What would you give as a realistic power requirement for

> Living Metal? Likewise, how much would you increase mass for a
> "realistic" Living Metal?

It depends a lot on how optimistic your tech assumptions are; also, it depends
on how fast you want your living metal to regenerate, and on how tough you want
your materials to be. For example, for components which need to be extremely
hard, you don't want nanotech _inside_ the component (which will make it porous,
and thus weaker); as a result, this will repair itself somewhat more slowly. As
far as what numbers I might use, if I were in a game where any of this was a
factor:For 'biomechanical' structures, increase weight and volume for any
biological components by 100%, but do not increase hit points at all. Only some
components can be constructed as biomechanical. A biomechanical structure also
requires food -- power requirements are roughly 0.1 kW per ton of biomechanical
structure, much higher when engaged in damage control (for reference: with these
numbers, a human has a power requirement of 15 watts, which is roughly 300
Calories/day.). Biomechanical structures are not designed to handle electric
power, which means this power requirement should ordinarily come from a
bioconverter; however, you may also use a solar cell or built-in fuel cells (in
either case, add a requirement of 1 lb/day of raw biomass, more if repairing
injuries). For 'living metal' structures, increase weight and volume of all
living metal components by 50%, but do not increase hit points at all. The
maintenance power requirement for living metal is 0.01 kW per ton; living metal
which is engaged in damage control has highly variable power requirements
depending on the quality of the raw materials being used (for example,
constructing plastics out of CO2, water, and trace elements is possible, but
very expensive in energy terms). For ordinary damage control, assume about 10
kW per ton; for damage control where materials must be synthesized, leave power
requirements the same, but reduce the rate of repair by one or more orders of
magnitude.

From v03.n457 Fri Oct 3 12:08:23 1997

From: Tracy Ratcliff <tratclif@brutus.bright.net>
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 1996 04:59:18 GMT
Subject: Vehicles of *SCIENCE!*

Submitted for your approval: here are a couple additions for Vehicles 2. I'd
like to here some comments -- especially a cost for methane.
Bladeless Turbines

Nikola Tesla, in his pursuit of more powerful electical effects, also turned
his mind to the generation of elecricity. He spent years attempting to
perfect his bladeless turbine. Tesla claimed that his design was much
simpler, and more efficient, than bladed turbines of the time.

The bladeless turbine had a rotor made of stack of closely spaced thin metal
disks. Steam entered tangent to the outside of the disks and was exhausted
out the shaft. The steam turned the rotor by "adhesion" (a modern physicist
would call it boundary layer effects). The same principle could be used in a
gas turbine.

A bladeless steam turbine has the same statistics as a TL7 steam turbine (V83)
A bladelss gas turbine, like standard gas turbines, comes in Optimized,
Standard, or High Performance versions. An "early" bladeless gas turbine is
equivalent to a TL7 gas turbine. A "late" bladeless gas turbine is
equivalent to a TL8 gas turbine. In a universe where Tesla's ideas reached
production (such as Alternate Earth's Gernsback) an "early" turbine would
become available around 1915, and a "late" turbine around 1950.

Exotic Lifting Gases

The villains and heroes of steampunk and pulp fiction find the puny lift of
hydrogen too small to lift their Stratospheric Dreadnaughts, and must resort
to gases unknown to conventional science.

Kipling's Gas gives the lift equivalent to a vacuum of the same volume, the
most lift possible due to buoyancy. Doyle's Gas has a lift that is a pulp
staple figure, 10 times that of hydrogen. Burroughs' Gas is 1000 times as
efficient as hydrogen. Both Doyle's Gas and Burroughs' Gas must depend more
an anti-gravity effect than mechanical buoyancy.

Kipling's Gas 13.7

Doyle's Gas 1.48
Burroughs' Gas 0.0148

The cost of these gases is dependant on GM judgment. In the literature, a

gas is typically created either from a simple chemical process from sea
water, or from the atomic action of rare radium salts. The gases would cost
respectively $0.10 or $100 per pound of lift depending on the method. They
are typically non-flammable, but dramatic exceptions are possible.

One non-cinematic lifting gas not in Vehicles 2 is methane. Civil War

balloons were often filled with "town gas", a variable mixture of hydrogen,
methane, and other hydrocarbons. Methane-filled aerostats have been proposed
as a way of transporting natural gas from distant oilfields.

Methane 31.3 ?

Methane has the same chance of explosion as hydrogen (V183, V185).

Structural (Dis)Ads and Non-Structural (Dis)Ads

Copyright (c) 1996 by John Wood <john@elvw.demon.co.uk>

Structural
----------
Definition:
Advantages that cannot be added and disadvantages that cannot be removed
except via surgery or other high-tech/magical medicine (including chip
implants). Lost points in this category generally come through injury
or disease.
Typical examples:
Dwarfism, Double-Jointed, Eidetic Memory.

Behavioural
-----------
Definition:
 Advantages that can be instilled and disadvantages that can be removed
by intense effort. Lost points in this category generally come through
fright checks.
Typical Examples:
Combat Reflexes, Phobias, Addictions, Odious Personal Habits.

Situational
-----------
Definition:
(Dis)Advantages that arise from a person's position in life. These can
only be bought/bought off by changing the situation and paying the
points. Lost points in this category generally come through roleplaying.
Typical Examples:
Status, Wealth, Enemies, Social Stigma.

Personal
--------
Definition:
(Dis)Advantages that arise from a person's beliefs. Similar in effect
to Situational, but the character's outlook on life must change rather
than the "external" situation.
Typical Examples:
Code of Honor, Pacifism, Vow.

Right, that's my definitions. Here's how I'd group the (dis)advantages

from the Basic Set. When I've put things like "Most Mental Disads" it
means "all Mental Disads not specifically mentioned elsewhere". I've put
a query by choices I think are contentious.

Structural: Situational:
---------- -----------
Most Advantages Allies/Ally groups
Most Physical Disads Alternate Identity
Amnesia Any Rank
Appearance Clerical Investment
Blessed? Contacts
Danger Sense? Cursed?
Dark Vision Dependents
Dyslexia Duty
Extra Fatigue Enemies
Extra Hit Points Favors
Hard to Kill Legal Enforcement Powers
Healing Legal Immunity
High Pain Threshold? Patrons
Infravision Reputation
Jinxed Secret
Luck/Unluckiness? Status
Magical Aptitude/Resistance? Wealth/Poverty/Multimillionaire
Perfect Balance Zeroed
Psionic Resistance?
Psionic Powers? Personal:
Terminally Ill --------
Toughness? Code of Honor
Weirdness Magnet Honesty
Pacifism
Behavioural: Sense of Duty
----------- Vow
Most Mental Disads
Combat Reflexes Special:
Fearlessness -------
(Il)Literacy Age/Youth/Destiny:
Odious Personal Habits "do their stuff" whatever.
Primitive? Unusual Background:
Unfazeable only available at start whatever.
Will?

Attributes are a particularly troublesome case. I'd put them somewhere

between Structural and Behavioural, and charge double cost but allow them
to be increased through training.

And now...yet another addition! This was actually inspired by Curious,

when it hit me that there should be a difference between someone who
SOMETIMES lights fires and one who can NOT help lighting one...maybe you
don't have all-around Weak Will, but you just can't help that ONE
disadvantage...

Hard to Resist: -2 points/level

This special "add-on" disadvantage can be bought for any
disadvantage that can be resisted by making a Will roll. Every level
of Hard to Resist, up to a maximum of five levels, subtracts one from
every Will roll you make to resist the disadvantage. It also lowers
the "any roll of 14 or more always fails" limit by the same amount. A
maximum total limit of -10 points worth of Hard to Resist (-20 for
supers) is suggested; after that, buy Weak Will.
Example: John has Pyromania with three levels of Hard to Resist,
for a total value of -11 points. Any time he has a chance to set a
fire and tries to resist, he must roll against his Will-3, and any
roll of 11 or more automatically fails.

Since most people play Weak Will is -4 points/level (I have yet to find
anyone who, when they stop and think about it, feels that -8 p/l makes
ANY sort of sense), this is a pretty good point break, but the "Lowers
the 14+ limit" is a very big deal, and helps balance this out.

Subspace Warp Field Technology (TL Trek)

Copyright (c) 1996 by Dr Kromm <kromm@Hydro.CAM.ORG>

The emanations from any beam weapon, sensor, communicator or other

device that emits an "energy beam" can be encased in a "subspace
warp tunnel" and beamed out to mind-bogglingly huge ranges instantly.
Ignore obstacles altogether (you can scan through, past and into
anything but tetryon fields and ships with their shields up), and
multiply all ranges by 1,000,000,000. This modification multiplies
the cost of the technology by 1,000, but, oddly, has no effect on
weight, power or volume. It can be used only on a ship with a
working warp drive; without warp power, ranges drop to their usual
levels and the ship's commander must roll vs. Will or engage in
harassment of his engineering crew. A successful Will roll reduces
this to a bout of nervous tunic-tugging.

Warning: The strange interaction between subspace warp fields and

psionic emanations causes a weird version of the Observer Effect
to be actualized when SWFT is used on a sensor: the sesor can detect
anything, with almost no effort, *except for the one thing that
you're looking for!*

Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 17:03:44 -0700 (PDT)

From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@iii.com>
Reply-To: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@iii.com>
Subject: Sensors in GURPS
I've been experimenting on and off with rewriting gurps sensors in a way which
made more sense than what's in the standard rules; I'm not very sure of all my
numbers, but I decided to post this so comments can be made -- so please, make
comments ;). Much of the issue here was some straightforward reality checks --
I wanted to make it so you can see nearby stars, while spotting a person from a
mile away is pretty difficult even if you know where to look.

--0-2078917053-909187425=:31899
Content-Type: TEXT/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Description: sensor.rules.gurps

I can't make too many promises about the accuracy of these tables, they
are largely an attempt to generate sane results from the game system,
particularly in making sure that nearby stars aren't invisible, while a
person a mile away is hard to see. Ranges are based on the standard range
tables, but extended to ranges which might be interesting in space.

1) Converting Sensor Stats for these rules:

If scan is 0-20, do not adjust.
If scan is 20-36, halve and add 10 (round normally).
If scan is 37+, divide by 3 and add 16 (round normally).
Note that these are atmospheric scan values -- GT lists space scan
values, which are 6 higher. Subtract the +6 for space before converting.
For reference, eyes have scan 10. The relevant GT sensors are:
Cockpit/10: passive (29/2+10)=25, active(33/2+10)=27, radscan(29/2+10)=25
Cockpit/12: passive (31/2+10)=26, active(34/2+10)=27, radscan(31/2+10)=26
Basic/10: passive (32/2+10)=26, active(35/2+10)=28, radscan(31/2+10)=26
Basic/12: passive (32/2+10)=26, active(36/2+10)=28, radscan(35/2+10)=28
Command/10: passive (33/2+10)=27, active(36/2+10)=28, radscan(32/2+10)=26
Command/12: passive (35/2+10)=28, active(37/3+16)=28, radscan(38/3+16)=29

2) Determining 'signature'
* Visual signature is equal to size modifier, plus chameleon surface. In
space, the black paint used in stealth coatings acts as a chameleon
surface -- subtract (TL-4) for basic, (TL-2) for radical. Basic black
paint reduces signature by 3. A reflective or white surface adds 2.
* Radar signature uses the normal computations and _halves_ them -- thus,
base value is (size/2), subtract (TL-4)/2 for basic, (TL-4) for radical.
For convenience, assume Lidar uses the Radar signature. Note that a
ship currently _using_ active sensors has a signature of (scan-TL)
and can be detected by a radscanner.
* IR signature uses either the size modifier of the vehicle, _or_ a
function of power consumption and expected waste heat; this number is
usually significantly greater (and is, in fact, probably higher than
the numbers I use). In any case, emissions cloaking reduces this,
by (TL-4)/2 for basic, (TL-4) for radical. The major power users on
a ship are as follows:
Artificial Gravity: 1 MW per 50 spaces or fraction thereof.
Jump Drive: 10 MW per unit of J-drive. Not usually very relevant, but
important if a ship exits jump and then goes cold.
Manuever Drive: 1 MW per 10 tons thrust.
Weapons Fire: 16 MW for TL 10 laser, 18 for TL 12; 400 MW for bay
PAW/meson, 19000 for spinal PAW/meson.
Add up power consumption: signature is +8 for 1 MW, +9 for 2 MW, +10
for 5 MW, and +3 per *10. In situations where a ship's signature
_changes_, IR signature will drop by 1 per 10 minutes (2/turn); it
will rise essentially immediately (<1 turn). Add +1 to IR signature
per TL below 10 -- lower tech engines are less efficient (these
numbers assume about 10% heat emissions). A human has a base
emitted signature of +0.
Example: a TL 10 merchant (size +8) has around 600 tons thrust (60 MW)
 and 4 MW for artificial gravity. Signature is +13; drops to +9 if
not using thrust, +8 if all major power shut off.
Example 2: a TL 10 400tn raider (size +9) has 6000 tons thrust (600 MW)
and 8 MW for artificial gravity, but radical EM cloaking. Signature
is +10 with drive active, +4 with artificial gravity online,
+3 with all major power shut off.
* Natural Objects: generally speaking, the size modifier of a natural
object should be the negative of a range modifier equal to its diameter,
+2 (natural objects are generally spherical). Normal modifiers apply;
signature will usually be within a point of the size modifier.
A star has a visual signature of 76-1.2*absolute magnitude (70 for
sol).

3) Signature of 'Events':
Certain short-term events are reasonably likely to be spotted, most
notably weapons fire and jumping.
An energy weapon firing has a signature based on its power output --
use 10* its normal power requirement and compute based on that.
Specifically, this works out to +12 for lasers, +16 for bay weapons,
+21 for spinal weapons.
Nuclear weapons have a signature of +14 for 0.001 kT, and +3 per *10.
A starship jumping insystem has a signature of 17 + 3log10(# of J);
this works out to 5+(size*1.5), +1 for J-3 or higher, and lasts
for a minute (giving +2 detection).

4) Detection Process:
If this is initial detection, simply add up range, signature, and all
relevant modifiers; if the total is less than zero double the result.
Use this as a modifier for a sensor operations roll.

If this is _not_ initial detection, use the above process, but you can
usually assume that the bonus for field of view will be +5.

Special case: resolving the shape of an object is very different from

detection, at least in space -- it is, in fact, sufficiently different
to warrant a completely different detection process. For resolving the
shape, apply _only_ the following modifiers:
Time (maximum +2), Focus (maximum +2), Target Size, Range,
Intervening Atmosphere, -2 if using thermal sensors or lidar, -6
if using imaging radar.

Special case: objects which are quite near each other. Treat as per
resolving the shape of an object, but use the size modifier for the
distance between the objects.

What you roll will determine what information you get:

Success by 0-2: detection.
For optical sensors, gives direction and relative brightness.
For radar sensors, gives range and apparent signature.
For thermal sensors, gives direction and relative brightness.
For shape resolution, gives size and general shape.
Success by 3-5: recognition
For optical sensors, as above plus exact color.
For radar sensors, as above plus exact velocity.
For thermal sensors, as above plus temperature.
For shape resolution, gives sufficient information to identify a
class of vehicle or entity. Battle damage will be visible, etc.
Success by 6+: identification
For optical/thermal sensors, spectral analysis may be performed, and
a time-based brightness curve generated. For objects which have
known spectral lines, velocity to/away (to within 1 km/sec)
 may be determined.
For radar sensors, a time-based brightness profile may be generated,
allowing determinations about rotation and some sorts of shape
computation.
for shape resolution, gives sufficient information to identify a
particular vehicle or person.

4) Determine Range. This is an extended table of range modifiers, optimized

for space.
Range Mod Range Mod Range Mod
1000 miles -35 1500 miles -36 2000 miles -37
3000 miles -38 4500 miles -39 7000 miles -40
1 hex(10k mile) -41 2 hexes -43 3 hexes -44
5 hexes -45 7 hexes -46 10 hexes -47
15 hexes -48 1 light-second -49 2 ls -51
3 ls -52 5 ls -53 7 ls -54
10 ls -55 15 ls -56 20 ls -57
30 ls -58 0.1 AU -59 0.15 AU -60
0.2 AU -61 0.3 AU -62 0.5 AU -63
0.7 AU -64 1 AU -65 1.5 AU -66
2 AU -67 3 AU -68 4.5 AU -69
7 AU -70 10 AU -71 15 AU -72
20 AU -73 30 AU -74 45 AU -75
70 AU -76 100 AU -77 150 AU -78
200 AU -79 300 AU -80 450 AU -81
700 AU (.01 ly) -82 1000 AU -83 1500 AU -84
2000 AU -85 3000 AU -86 .1 light-year -87
.15 ly -88 .2 ly -89 .3 ly -90
.45 ly -91 .7 ly -92 1 ly (.3 pc) -93
1.5 ly (.5 pc) -94 2 ly (.7 pc) -95 1 pc -96
2 pc -98 3 pc -99 5 pc -100
7 pc -101 10 pc -102 15 pc -103

Initial Detection Roll:

Add up all modifiers; if < 0, _double_ (this is a hack -- an expert
operator (skill 18) shouldn't have 10x the detection range of a moderate
skill (skill 12) operator. This reduces it to about 3x, but the expert
will be much more reliable). Roll electronics/sensor operation at this
modifier.

Basic Table of Modifiers:

Modifier Visual Radar Thermal
Turn Length (the human eye is limited to a +2 bonus). Use the scan time or
the duration of the event being observed, whichever is _less_.
1 second -2 -2 -2
2 seconds -1 -1 -1
4 seconds +0 +0 +0
15 seconds +1 +1 +1
1 minute +2 +2 +2
4 minutes +3 +3 +3
15 minutes +4 +4 +4
1 hour +5 +5 +5

Limited Focal Area (the human eye is limited to a +3 bonus)

360 degree arc -2 -2 -2
180 degree arc (peripheral vision) -1 -1 -1
120 degree arc (normal vision) +0 +0 +0
60 degree arc +1 +1 +1
30 degree arc +2 +2 +2
 12 degree arc(1/5 range) +3 +3 +3
6 degree arc (1/10 range) +4 +4 +4
3 degree arc (1/20 range) +5 +5 +5
Location of target (use the best; not applicable to shape resolution)
On ground, daytime +0 -2 -2(2)
On ground, nighttime +0(1) -2 -2(3)
On ground, nighttime/vacuum +0(1) +0 +0(3)
Near ground, daytime +2 +2 -2(2)
Near ground, nighttime +2(1) +2 +0(3)
Near ground, nighttime/vacuum +2(1) +4 +2(3)

(1) assumes some form of night vision apparatus. Otherwise, apply

normal darkness modifiers.
(2) if has an emitted signature, give +1 if = size-1, +2 if (size),
+4 if (size+1), +6 if greater than size+1; this is in addition to
using emitted signature rather than size modifier. Reasonably
likely to be applicable to spacecraft. For reference, this gives
a +2 for spotting humans.
(3) as above, but add +1 to emitted signature when computing bonus.
-Silhoutte against space, nighttime +14(*) +8 +8
* assumes a truly dark sky. Near a city will be much worse.
-Silhoutte against space, daytime +2 +8 +2
-Silhoutte against space, vacuum +14 +12 +12
-near planet or asteroid -3 -3 -3
-silhoutte against primary * -8 *
Use the 'shape resolution' case, described above, but with a +2
bonus for anti-chameleon. You can only see an object against
a star by seeing black spot, and that's _much_ harder than seeing
an illuminated object against space.
-solar corona -6 -6 -6
Note that lighting modifiers will usually negate the vision mod,
and are reasonably likely to negate the IR modifier as well.
-target within inner zone +0 -3 +0
Target Behavior (only applies to initial detection)
Target moving against backdrop +2 +2 +2
Means 'moving by normal resolution of sensor in one turn'. To
determine this, take (range mod)-(size mod of distance)+scan.
For even the lowest-grade space sensors this means that an
object moving at orbital velocity around a planet an AU away
appears to be moving, so this modifier usually applies to detecting
ships.
Significant velocity towards/away +0 +2 +0
Assumes a doppler radar of some kind.
Intervening atmosphere (if -10 or worse vision is totally blocked)
Thin (per 5 miles, or to space) -0 -0 -1
Moderate (as above) -1 -0* -2
Dense (as above) -2 -1* -4
*Add additional -1 if going into space, due to layers in the upper
atmosphere.
Clouds (per 50 yards) -5 -0 -1
Gas Giant Atmosphere (choose X) -x -x/2 -x
Lighting
Brightness of Primary (X=Sig-70) +x(1) +0 +0(2)
Nearness of Primary (X=range+67) +x(1) +0 +0(2)
Shadow of Planet -12 +0 +0(2)
(1) only if silhoutted against space.
(2) modifier applies to signature based on size, but not signature
based on power consumption; max -6 if object is warm enough for
humans to survive.

Simplifications for space combat:

 In general, for space combat purposes, you will have a +12 for IR/radar
in space, a +4 for turn length, a -2 for 360 scan, and a +2 for a
moving object (negating this is quite hard, though not impossible), for
a total of +16 to scan; this gives a TL 10 basic bridge a 42 passive, a
TL 12 command bridge a 44. This allows a ship which is mostly powered
down to evade detection at reasonable ranges, but is significantly
better range than what GT normally gives.

Example:
For a human to spot alpha centaurus (signature +71, range -97), at night:
+10 scan, +71 signature, -97 range, +14 terrain, -1 atmosphere, total
-3, doubled to -6. Probably not going to spot it randomly. However,
scan a 30 degree arc (+2) and spend 15 seconds (+1) and you've got
a pretty good chance.

Example 2: for a merchant (scan 26 passive, net 42) to detect a pirate

with no drives, but running artificial gravity (signature +4) at half
the jump limit (2 light-seconds, range -51): total -5, doubled to -10,
virtually zero chance. The pirate, meanwhile, has a TL 10 command
bridge with scan 27, net 43, target signature +13, net +5 -- no problem.
If the pirate kicks in his drives signature jumps to +10, for a +1 to
scan -- depends on the alertness of the operator.

Inspired by some logic for G:Traveller repulsors, but aside from TL there's
nothing really non-GURPS about it in any case. Comments?

Repulsor Weapon System (TL 10 GT; TL 12 with regular GURPS)

A repulsor weapon is a gravmop variant -- any gravmop can be modified
to act as one if desired. It acts as a gravmop, with the following
modifications:

- Cannot do impaling damage

- RoF should always be 1
- Vacuum range is multiplied by 10, not 1 (probably should apply to normal
gravmops as well, mass (e.g. atmosphere) probably has some effect).
- Can be used as a pressor beam, if desired. Uses 1 shot per minute.
Base ST is equal to 4 * the # of dice of the beam (+1 per +1 damage)
- Can be _spread_. Normally has enough area to hit a size +0 object
(radius 1 yard). Divide damage by the desired radius. Cannot have
a radius exceeding the # of dice.
- If spread, base attack rolls on the size of the area being targeted
or the size of the object, whichever is more. The size modifier for
the area is 2 + <range/speed table for radius>.
- If spread, multiply damage (after DR) by 'effective radius'. This
distance is equal to whatever radius gives a size mod equal to the
size mod of the object. Multiply ST by the _square_ of this radius.

From v03.n1219 Fri Oct 3 12:24:41 1997

From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@iii.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 11:53:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: V2E: missile design

Hm...the rules for missiles in Vehicles make no sense; here's an attempt

at saner rules (consistent with other tech in Vehicles, and with normal
drag, etc); comments welcome.
Missiles: v0.1
Design Sequence: remove choosing spd; this is done later. No other changes.
Performance:
1) Determine I (total impulse, in G-seconds). This is equal to:
K*(2-log(10+P)), where P is the % of the missile weight which is payload,
and K is a TL-based constant (equal to 2.3*Isp, for those who wish to
invent their own rockets). Using Vehicles solid-fuel rockets, K is 70
at TL 3-4, 450 at TL 5, 550 at TL 6, 700 at TL 7, 820 at TL 8 (numbers
adjusted to assume a 5-10% propellant casing weight instead of 15%; at
15% TL 7 solid fuel rocket propellant has an Isp of 336, which is a bit
high)
2) For space missiles, choose G (acceleration, in gravities). E is equal
to I/G. 'Range' (guided range) is equal to 5.5 * I * E.
3) For air-based missiles, choose Spd. Spd cannot exceed 8 * I, due to
requirements for reaching full velocity. Spd is in yards/second. For
an air/space missile, see below.
4) Compute D (drag, in Gs), which is equal to 1 + (spd/100)^2/weight^(1/3).
If used in space, D will be the number of Gs of acceleration the missile
will have. Alternately, a space missile used in atmosphere will have
a speed equal to weight^(1/6)*sqrt(G-1)*100, which gives D=G. A guided
atmospheric missile may have fins; reduce D by 1, but D cannot be lower
than 1. Unguided missiles and air/space missile do not have fins.
5) Compute E (endurance), which is equal to (I-Spd/10)/D.
6) Compute 'half-damage' range, equal to E*Spd. This is the range at which
the engine burns out, and is thus usually the maximum range for guided
missiles. Accurate range may be much lower; compute Acc based on Spd.
7) Compute 'max' range, equal to 1/2D + Spd^2/(10*D).
8) All other stats are identical to Vehicles rules.

Example 1: TL 7 air to air missile, 190 lb (comparable to a sidewinder).

Payload: 21 lb warhead, ? lb IRH guidance (say, 8 lb). Payload 29 lb(15%)
I = 700 * (2 - log(25)) = 420. Spd = 900 (mach 2.5). D = 81/5.75 = 14.
E = (420-90)/14 = 24. Range 22,000 (12 miles).
Example 2: TL 8 unguided 15mm APEX rocket, standard warhead (gyroc). Wt 0.135.
Payload: jumbo 15mm APEX (0.54 lb, 40%). Explosive damage 1d+3.
I = 820 * (2 - log(50)) = 246. Spd = 425 (KE damage 8d). D= 1+18/.51=36.
E = (246 - 42)/36 = 5.7. 1/2D 2400, Max 2400+(425)^2/360=2900
Example 3: TL 8 air/space missile, 200 lb w/30 lb payload.
I = 820 * (2 - log(25)) = 490. Space: G = 10. E = 49. Range = 130,000
Air: spd=2.42*3*100 = 725. E = (490-72)/10 = 42. Range = 30,000 (17 mi)

Special rule: multi-stage rockets, late TL 6.

Simple computation tells us that the maximum total impulse for a TL 7
rocket is 700 (at 0% payload), which is insufficient to reach orbit. The
problem is, of course, that the weight of the rocket itself is considerable.
A classic solution to this problem is multi-stage rockets. A multi-stage
rocket is basically a light rocket which is a payload within a heavier
rocket; it can be implemented in that way, but a simpler method is as
follows: I = K * (1.8 - log(P + 2)); this is more or less correct in the case
where the secondary missile is 20% the mass of the primary. Note that multiple
stages are only efficient for P of 10 or lower. This approximation should
only be used for vacuum missiles, as the changes in drag after the first
stage is shed can be very important; if you want to build a multistage
atmospheric rocket design it as a heavy missile with a payload of a lighter
missile.

Special rule: orbital missiles.

By late TL 6, a multistage missile can reach orbit. In order to reach
orbit, you must have a total impulse equal to 810 seconds (for the earth),
plus enough to avoid hitting the ground (figure about 15%/(G-1)),
plus enough to reach the desired altitude (usually about 1 second per 5 miles
for low orbit, rather more complicated for high orbit; +335 seconds can reach
escape velocity, or any orbit), plus enough to punch through the atmosphere
(for a ground-based missile, figure 1000/(wt)^1/3 / (2+altitude in miles)).
In addition, you can gain some impulse from the rotation of the earth (about
40 seconds for an easterly takeoff from cape canaveral), and a fighter-
launched missile can add (speed/25) seconds. Thus, for example:

TL 7 missile, 1 million lb(500 tons), launched east to LEO (100 miles) from
cape canaveral at 3.5 Gs: I = 810 + 50 (gravity) + 20 (altitude) + 5(drag) -
40 (eastward) = 845; this is equal to 1.21*K, so we need a two-stage rocket,
where 1.8-log(P+2) = 1.21. Thus, P+2=10^(0.59)=3.9, so P = 1.9, allowing our
rocket to lift 9.5 tons. If we want a polar orbit, the loss of 40 seconds
of free impulse drops this to 3.5 tons; similarly, a 1 ton rocket will
suffer 40 seconds worth of drag, allowing it to lift about 8 lb...

TL 7 fighter-based missile, 1000 lb, launching from 8 mile altitude at

1400 mph, east, at 6 Gs: I = 810 + 25(gravity) + 18(altitude) + 10(drag)
- - 40 (direction) - 56 (speed) = 767 = 1.1*K. This is doable with a two-stage
rocket, 1.8-log(P+2) = 1.1; thus, P = 3, allowing a 30 lb warhead.

LINGERING DEATH
Copyright (c) 1996 by Harold Carmer <hal@buffnet.net>

In GURPS, the rule for death saving rolls is such that a person who
failed his health saving roll to avoid dying, expired on the spot. In
real life, this is not always the case. This "house" rule is designed to
add a bit of "realism" that may or may not be cinematic, and GM's are
warned that following these rules will extra dice rolling, and prolong
combat in some cases.

When to roll for Lingering death situations:

The GM or player rolls for lingering death whenever a death saving roll
has been failed as per the normal rules in BASIC SET page 126. Instead
of dying, the character is allowed to roll again versus death. A second
failure means the character expires on the spot as per normal GURPS
rules. However, if the second roll succeeds, make note by how much it
succeeds...

Made it exactly: Character rolls versus HT every HT seconds with a -1 per

successive roll until they fail it - expiring then.

Made it by 1: Character now has HT/1d6 hours to live, then roll as per
above...

Made it by 2: Character now has HT+1d6 hours to live, then roll as per
making it exactly...

Made it by 3: Character now has HT/1d6 days to live, then roll as per
making it exactly...

Made it by 4: Character now has HT/1d6 weeks to live, then roll as per
making it exactly...

Made it by 5+ Character now has HT/1d6 months to live, then roll as per
making it exactly...

Critical success: Character now has HT/1d6 years to live, then roll as
per making it exactly...

One thing to remember about lingering deaths is that the damage done
will kill due to organ failure. As such, sudden infusions of HT via
healing spells or healing done the natural way one day at a time, will
not save the victim. The only way such a victim can survive is if a
Competent surgeon looks at him (TL 5+) or a Regeneration type spell is
used. Even then, if a person is slated to die prior to the 30 days it
takes for normal regeneration to work as per GURPS MAGIC, the character
still dies.
At the discretion of the GM, characters who are living on borrowed time
may be required to lose Stat points off of HT, ST, and/or DEX due to the
severity of the wounds that caused the condition to exist.

Multiple Lingering death rolls:

The GM may only allow one lingering death roll to be made, or he may
allow as many lingering death rolls as that character is destined to
make. An example of when this might happen is when a HT 14 character is
in a battle, suffers a sword stroke to his chest that causes a death
saving roll to be made. With all the rotton luck in the world, the
character rolls a 15. He manages to succeed in averting a quick death,
and is destined to live another 4.6 days (HT/roll of 1d6 - in this
example a 3) due to rolling an 11 on his lingering death save. His
friend, casts a series of Major heal on him and brings him back to +5
HT. Shortly thereafter, the unlucky man gets into another overwhelming
battle, and is forced into another death saving roll. Feeling cursed by
the gods, he again fails his death saving roll, but makes a lingering
death roll, but this time by 5+. He is still slated to die from the
earlier wound in a little under 4.6 days. Had he made his lingering
death roll such that he only had hours to live, then that wound is the
one that will kill him - since he now has two wounds effectively shutting
down his "system".

Healing while under the the lingering death sentence:

When dealing with characters who manage to survive long enough that it
takes days to die, roll versus HT-4 to see if the character begins to
"heal" normally. Despite the "healing" process, the character will still
die at his appointed time barring miricles, magic, or high tech trauma teams.
Once he gets to at least 1/2 HT in hitpoints, the character will heal
normally...

These rules are not "polished" by playtesting. If you run into

problems, please email me direct at Hal@buffnet.net, or send me postal
mail at:

Harold Carmer
155 Harris Court
Cheektowaga, N.Y. 14225

From v03.n902 Fri Oct 3 12:09:16 1997

Date: Tue, 08 Apr 1997 00:16:03 -0700
From: "Christopher M. Dicely" <cmdicely@ccnet.com>
Subject: Vehicles Jumping and Turret Traverse (was Hmmm, trivial vehicles
questions?)

>When you install a turret, how fast does it traverse?

Well, the only rule I can find is that sensor-only turrets traverse their
full arc once per second (personally, I'd use this as 360 degrees/sec to
allow limited rotation turrets to get two sweeps, if it mattered) on p. 168,
with the implication that other turrets are slower.

Lacking anything else, the rules on p.42 of Vehicles, 1st Edition are fairly
usable.
>
>Secondly, were the jumping rules for vehicles left out of the second
>edition or moved to some obscure sidebar?

They appear to have been left out. You can try the following, results are
not guaranteed (comments welcome from all quarters!)

Jumping
Vehicles moving on the groundmay "jump" under certain circumstances:
vehicles with legs may choose to do so rather freely (see below), other
vehicles will do it when they become airborne as the result of climbing
a ramp or driving off of a cliff. A vehicle that does either of those will
be airborne, and be treated as a flying vehicle, with the following special
considerations:
1) a vehicle that came off of a ramp will devote (S/0.9) percent of
its speed to climbing, with S being the slope of the ramp in degrees. A
vehicle
that came off of level ground (a cliff for example) will be in level flight
(initially).
2) if the vehicle does not have wings, a lifting body, or adequate
aerostatic lift to fly normally, it will be treated as having an infinite
stall speed (i.e., will be treated as if it had a stall speed and was below it
on each turn that it remains airborne).
3) A vehicle lacking an aerial motive system may not choose to accelerate
while in the air (it may *automatically* accelerate from diving).
Additionally,
such a vehicle is treated as having a top speed of zero.
4) A vehicle that has neither an aerial motive system nor wings, rotors,
or a lifting body may not choose to decelerate, although it may do so
automatically due to climbing or exceeding top speed (and its *easy* to exceed
a top speed of 0, yes?). Such a vehicle also may not maneuver in the air.
Note: the landing from a jump by a vehicle with neither wings, rotors,
lifting body, nor adequate aerostatic lift will *always* be a crash, except
for
water landings (see VE156). A crash by a vehicle whose speed is less than 1/3
downward should be treated as a sideswipe (divide damage by four) with damage
split evenly between any underside assemblies (wheels, skids, etc.) and any
excess damage applied to the underside of the vehicle. Any other crash is
treated as a T-Bone with the ground, applied to the front of the vehicle
(ouch!).

Jumping with Legs:

Vehicles with legs can jump as above, but have special benefits. First,
a legged vehicle can enter flight on any turn by applying acceleration
vertically.
Each mph of speed gained this way costs 2mph of acceleration. Second, a legged
vehicle may make a hazard control roll to land on its legs even if the landing
would be a T-Bone with the ground -- it still takes full damage, split between
the legs, but can make a *second* hazard roll to retain control (otherwise the
vehicle falls). A 2- or 3- legged vehicle failing the first hazard roll lands
on a random side, roll 1d on the following table:
1-2 Front
3 Left
4 Right
5 Top
6 Back

Jumping with (Thrust-based) Aerostatic Lift (Jump Jets!):

A vehicle that can activate an aerostatic lift system to jump
can jump into the air by applying vertical acceleration. The maximum
vertical acceleration that can be applied by such a vehicle is 20mph/s
times [(static lift/loaded wt) - 1]. This should only be treated as a jump
if the burst of acceleration is applied for a single turn, otherwise the
normal flight rules for aerostatic lift vehicles ought to be used. A vehicle
can combine vertical acceleration from jump jets with that from leg
drivetrains for more powerful jumps.

Copyright (c) 1995 by <jonathanh@revolution.co.uk>

I am reminded of a one-off scare-the-hell-out-of-the-players weapon I designed

for a Cyberpunk game. Imagine a cheesewire garrot using a couple of metres of
monowire between the handles. The handles are short and heavy. Now each handle
is set into a hemisphere of that type of super bouncy plastic/rubber that they
make toy balls from, the wire protruding from the centre of the flat face. Wind
the wire up and place the hemispheres together to sandwich the wire coil, then
load the whole thing into a air-powered grenade launcher. Fire between the
closing doors of an elevator for predictably hilarious results. Obviously, any
confined space will do but it was a lift compartment in my game. It's hopelessly
impractical for anything other than dramatic murders but the possibility of
having a bouncing slice'n'dice launched at them concentrates the players' minds
wonderfully.
Grotesque-Weapons-R-Me
J.L.H.

From: Anthony Jackson <ajackson@iii.com>

Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 12:23:19 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: Ducted Fans/Cerablate Armor [Kromm]

Christopher M. Dicely writes:

> Don't forget, there are *also* going to be plant noises, which will vary
> considerably from, say, using batteries to using an internal combustion
> engine.

I didn't, though I'm not certain of my numbers. Its a reasonable

simplification to say that noise signature is just whichever is larger, though.

Here is the 'audible signature' extract from the work I have been doing on
sensors; comments are welcome, of course

Basic signature: equal to the greater of drivetrain noise and engine noise
(except under rare circumstances, these will be the largest signature). Note
that a signature of +0 means 'reasonably detectible at 100 yards'; this means
that a normal human has a audible signature of well under zero (visual
signature is zero). A signature of +0 is equivalent to 100 dB at 1 meter.
Modifiers: -(TL-4) for basic sound baffling, -(TL-2) for radical.

Engine Noise: equal to 2log10(kW) TL plus: battery, fuel cell, bioconverter: -4

nuclear power plant, MHD turbine, most exotic power plants: +0 any IC except
diesel, turbine: +2
any diesel: +4

Drivetrain Noise: equal to 2log10(kW) - TL plus:

flexibody, wheels: -2
tracks: +2
any other drivetrain: +0

Reaction engine noise: equal to 2log10(thrust in lbs) plus K, where K is:

1: TL 9 reactionless engine. 2: jet. 3: chemical rocket. 4: TL 7 fission.
5: TL 8 fission, ion drive 6: fusion, antimatter thermal.
K is also roughly 2log10(specific impulse)-2.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 09:19:04 +-1000
From: Alan Atkinson <ackslog@beyond.net.au>
To: "'GURPSnet-l@io.com'" <GURPSnet-l@io.com>
Subject: New Adv & Disadv (long)

Hey all,

Over the time I have had GURPS, I have worked out various advantages, etc.
when there wasn't one to fit the bill. Some have been superseded, others
(I feel) are still valid.

Please feel free to look and tell me what you think.

Mundane Advantages

Artistic Ability
2/5 pts/level
The character is a prodigy, gifted beyond his years in the arts.
In the Basic Set, a dispensation is given that the player can pay any
number of points into an 'artistic' skill without it counting toward the
'age' total, to simulate high levels of talent. Characters taking this
advantage are no longer eligible for that dispensation.
For 2 points per level, this advantage improves one artistic skill
by the number of levels. This skill is to be chosen by the player at
character creation.
For 5 points per level, all artistic skills that the character
makes any effort to improve are similarly enhanced.

Chambara Fighting Style

25 pts
Prerequisite: Karate skill at 15+
You are "in tune" with the mystical forces governing the arts of
hand-to-hand combat. Using a readied, balanced weapon, you can make one
additional attack and parry per turn for every 3 points of skill over 12.
Your Wild Swing [see B105] is at a -5 hit penalty, but is not
limited to a maximum attack roll of 9.
If you have Combat Reflexes, you can sense a surprise attack from
behind. As such it counts as coming from the side, not the rear, making
the active defense penalty only -2.
Your typical defense is to Dodge by jumping. A DX (or Jumping or
Acrobatics) roll is required. If successful, you have double your normal
Dodge defense against that attack. If the roll fails, you get only the
normal Dodge defense. On a critical failure, you fall. Each attempt to
Dodge by jumping means the fighter may make one fewer attacks on his next
turn.
You may also Evade in close combat, passing through a foe's hex,
by Jumping. This tactic also requires a successful DX (or Jumping or
Acrobatics) roll and costs 4 Move points. If the roll fails, the attempt
to Evade failed. If the roll succeeds, the you are at +5 on the Contest
of DX to Evade (see p B113).

[This gives the fighting abilities of TbaM without allowing access

to the Cinematic skills.]

Firm Footing
2 pts/level
You are very sure-footed; each level reduces unfavourable terrain
modifiers by 1. This can be inborn, or it can be a result of training.
For instance, 2 levels of this ability are included in the martial arts
style Pentjak Silat.
High Technology Special Limitation
For half cost, the tech you get still works - but it isn't
reliable. Either it's not fully charged, or experimental, or worn out -
or just plain shoddy work. In addition, you will be working off
current-TL defaults.
You will not be able to significantly improve the quality of
workmanship, but lots of practice will improve the skill above default
level - if the device doesn't fall apart first.

Zeroed: redefinition.
This advantage costs nothing below TL7, as many people were effectively
Zeroed through lack of accurate record-keeping and electronic computers. At TL7,
the cost is 5 points, as the databanks, though in existence, are rarely as
comprehensive as those at TL8+. Above TL7, of course, the cost is 10 points.

Super Advantages

Danger Perception
50 pts
Like Danger Sense, but better. Every time you are in immediate
danger, the GM rolls against your IQ. If he succeeds, you gain not only
an awareness of danger but also a crystal-clear, three-dimensional mental
image of the dangerous item or individual regardless of range. Only
obvious physical details are included; if the sniper who has a rifle lined
on you is also wearing a balaclava, then you won't recognise his face.
Direction and distance are not indicated; a roll on Intuition is required
for each such detail. (If the danger is not obvious, then an Intuition
roll would be needed to give some hints here, too.)
Special Enhancement: If the source of danger is within the range
of the character's perceptions (including any unusual senses that the
character may have), then the character's attention is automatically
focused upon whatever he can perceive of the danger. This could be
helpful, or it could be problematical; so it goes. +20%.

Swallow Anything
5 pts
Your throat and stomach are tough and flexible, so you can
"swallow anything one inch smaller than a kitchen stove" and regurgitate
it at will later. This would probably be most useful as a party trick or
in a comedy campaign.

[Derived from the ability of the Venerians in Lensman (page 45),

and also of the Netherpunks from Creatures of the Night (page 89).]

More Super Advantages

Ablative DR (Instant)
5 pts/level
This ability is identical to the super advantage Damage Resistance
with the Ablative limitation; however, the regeneration time for this DR
is 1 point per second. All DR-based enhancements available in Supers are
applicable with this advantage.

Amorphous
varies
Your vital areas are decentralised. For each level, any damage
multipliers that are incurred by body location are reduced by 1, to a
minimum of base damage.
 At level 1: HT rolls resulting from vital-area damage have a
bonus of +5. Any "automatic" stun or knockout results resulting from a
vital-area strike is put to a roll vs HT. Twice normal damage is required
for a "crippled" or "disabled" result. Damage cutoff, if different from
'body' damage, is reduced to a maximum of HT x 2. 10 pts.
At level 2: All HT rolls other than those resulting from "Body"
damage have a +5 bonus on top of the Level 1 bonus. Crippling requires HT
damage. Damage cutoff goes to a maximum of HT x 1.5. 25 pts.
At level 3: No HT rolls need be made for other than normal "Body"
damage. No bonuses arise from damage to any special area. No area can be
disabled, other than appendages that are specifically amputated. Damage
cutoff is as per "Body". 50 pts.
At level 4: This level allows any body parts or organs that are
amputated or cleanly excised to survive and continue working as if they
were still attached to you. The removed part must be cleanly cut from the
body for this advantage to work; if it is torn away, a HT roll must be
made or the part is dead. The removal causes HP damage and this can be
healed, but the point of removal does not heal over, nor will it bleed.
In fact, through some mystical agency, your blood, and anything else that
travels through the body, will travel from your body through the removed
part and back to your body, even if separated by a great distance.
You will not automatically know where your lost body part is, nor
can you make it perform anything other than normal involuntary functions.
Pain, however, can still be felt if the part is being mistreated.
At least 90% of an organ must be intact in order for it to work;
there is almost no minimum size for a limb or part thereof. Removed parts
cannot be subdivided; they will die and the character will lose the
benefit of having that body part or organ.
If the body part is bound or sewn back into place (or, in the case
of an organ, placed into the cavity in the body), it will reattach itself,
taking just as long as it would to heal the original wound that caused the
loss of the body part. During this time, it will continue to function
normally.

Note: None of the advantages of the previous levels apply at this

level; if you want them, you must buy them separately. 100 pts.

Special Enhancement: Hyper-Amorphism. For the first level, gain

the advantage Double-Jointed. For the second, gain the Flexibility
super-advantage. For the third level, not only is Flexibility gained, but
any appendage or sensory organ may be absorbed into the body and
re-extruded at any time; if it is forcibly removed, it may be "regrown"
immediately. Finally, for the fourth level, you may use the senses and
control the voluntary actions of any amputated body part; range is 2 to
the power of (HT; Will bonuses count) in feet. +40%.

[I derived this advantage from the Enterprise Fish from War

Against the Chtorr (page 40), and added the 4th level from the abilities
of Darklings and Dusklords from Creatures of the Night. When I designed
it, I didn't know about Injury Tolerance.]

Body of Lightning
7 pts/level
Your body continually generates high-voltage electrical current,
from which you take no damage. Any unshielded operating electrical or
electronic device which you touch is treated as the subject of a
successful Surge attack of a Power level equal to your level of Body of
Lightning.
Your body is naturally conductive: you are immune to as many dice
of electrical damage as you have levels of Body of Lightning. Any damage
exceeding this is halved. You disrupt the local magnetic field; radius of
disruption is determined by the Size table at an effective power level of
2 less. Within this range, radios will buzz with static and TVs will snow
up.
You take an extra 50% of damage from attacks based on water or any
other conductive material, and from magnetic-based attacks.
The current does damage to anything that you touch - or anything
that touches you. For each two levels of Body of Lightning, you do one
point of damage to anything that touches you. Any damage that penetrates
(0 or more points), is doubled for knockback purposes; minimum knockback
is one yard. For each 7 levels, you do 1 die damage (through damaging
electrical arcs) at a distance of Body of Lightning level in inches.
Surge effects are as above.
If you and another person are touching a conductive material
simultaneously, you are liable to do damage as per touch. Your effective
level in this case is reduced by distance as according to the Speed/Range
table.

Special Limitation: You can only assume your Body of Lightning

outdoors during a thunderstorm: -60%.
Special Limitation: You can only assume your Body of Lightning
after being struck by lightning or charged with electricity yourself:
-75%.
Special Limitation: You cannot switch out of Body of Lightning;
this would be a terrible disadvantage for anyone in a technological
campaign. -50%.

[Is this too complex? If so, how would you do it?]

Burn Reduction
10 pts/level
You are greatly resistant to damage caused by chemical or energy
burns. The damage from any burning attack, after DR is penetrated, is
divided by (level + 1).
Thus, with one level, all damage is halved; with two levels, all
damage is divided by three. Determine vital-area multipliers before
rounding down. If the final damage falls between 0.5 and 1, increase to
1.
Relevant types of damage include acid, lasers and electricity, and
the like - as well as extremes of cold. Physical attacks, such as
bullets, hand-to- hand attacks, grenade fragments and ice particles will
do normal damage.

[This is a companion ability to Damage Reduction (below)]

Damage Reduction
10 pts/level
You are greatly resistant to kinetic damage. The damage from any
kinetic attack, after DR is penetrated, is divided by (level + 1).
Thus, with one level, all damage is halved; with two levels, all
damage is divided by three. Determine vital-area multipliers before
rounding down. If the final damage falls between 0.5 and 1, increase to
1.
Relevant types of damage include bullets, hand-to-hand attacks,
grenade fragments and the like. Energy or chemical attacks, such as
lasers and electricity, or acid, will do normal damage.

[I got this from War Against the Chtorr, derived from point values
given on page 74.]

Dramatic Costume
5 pts
Prerequisite: Costume
You can exert a minor subconscious control over your costume's
movements to suit the image that you wish to portray; such control will
take up no actions or effort. Capes will flare dramatically or gather
closely around the wearer, cowls will cast a dramatic shadow over the
wearer's features or the nearest wall. Tight-fitting costumes will
strategically emphasise pectorals and other physical attributes. Your
costume will never wrinkle, twist, tangle or ride up embarrassingly.
This gives a +1 reaction modifier when dealing with people who
care about such dramatics (cameramen, other flashy heroes), a +1 bonus to
Performance skill and, with an IQ roll, a +1 bonus to Cloak skill.

[Derived from - and an addition to - the Costume advantage. A

'must' for every flashy hero.]

Filtered Senses
10 pts +2 pts/level
You have the capacity to filter out excessive sensory input.
What would normally be a painful, numbing, deafening, blinding or
nauseating overload of your senses is merely very noticeable without being
overwhelming. Each level after the first allows you to simultaneously use
this advantage for another sense; you cannot use it at all without taking
the first 2-point level.
The game effects are that you suffer no penalties to do with
sensory overload, including the shock effect of wounds. Due to the fact
that you are aware of all inputs to that sense (that you are normally able
to detect), you effectively gain a free level of Acuteness to the current
filtered sense.
You never suffer from afterimages, temporary deafness, or any sort
of sensory distortion caused by overload. However, if you are exposed to
a potentially damaging sensory overload (such as staring unprotected into
a supernova), you will still damage your neural receptors.
Special Enhancement: For an extra 5 points, your nerves will
regenerate at the same rate as you regain HT.
Special Limitation: For half level cost, each level can be set to
filter a specific sense.

[Derived from High Pain Threshold and Polarized Eyes, but for all
senses.]

Inertialess
250 pts
You negate all inertial forces acting on your body. No amount of
changing acceleration or angular velocity has the slightest effect on you,
or any part of your body. However, whatever angular velocity you possess
when you activate this power will come back into play when you deactivate
it.
This is a very 'cinematic' ability, ignoring certain physical and
physiological laws of nature. At default level, this includes only your
own body; to possess an inertialess costume, you must take the Costume
advantage.
Your maximum ground movement is limited to 3/4 Basic Speed, unless
you have more than three legs or the Clinging super-advantage (with the
Instantaneous enhancement). In this case, you have a level of Super
Running and can start and stop on a dime; in addition, your Dodge is equal
to your maximum Move score in any type of applicable movement. If you
possess Flight, you can instantly go from zero to max speed and decelerate
just as fast. Collisions will not harm you; you will simply stop. If you
have Amphibious, you gain a level of Super Swimming.
You can fall any distance without harm; you attain terminal
velocity instantly and land with no impact whatsoever. If you happen to
be falling from orbit, your speed will regulate according to the density
of the atmosphere that you are falling through and you will take no air
friction damage.
You cannot leap unassisted into the air at all. If your weight is
at any time not over your centre of gravity, you fall to the ground. Any
Knockback scored upon you is exactly equal to the foe's reach and is
likely to also be a Knockdown; the Recoil penalty of powers or hand-held
weapons is doubled. A bare-handed blow does no harm to your opponent.
Energy attacks do full damage to you; however, most energy weapons
(blasters excepted) hit you with so little force that air friction
prevents knockback. If any outside force is acting upon you, and friction
and gravity (and whatever powers you have) are not enough to stop you from
moving, then you will move. Anyone attempting to move you with
Telekinesis has an effective extra level of Power for the purpose of
determining the speed that he can move you.
You are incredibly easy to Teleport; as you have no mass, even a
psi who can only Autoteleport will be capable of taking you along by
touching you. You can 'hitch' a ride with any Exoteleporter, as you won't
cause him any extra effort to 'port. The only type of Teleporter who will
not be able to transport you will be one who cannot carry anything, not
even clothes.
If you are unbraced, then normal physical attacks will not harm
you, as the blow will simply push you aside harmlessly (and probably knock
you over). If your body is so braced that it can recoil partially but not
entirely from a physical blow, then Crushing damage is halved, Cutting
attacks do base damage and Impaling blows are treated as Cutting attacks.
Should you be braced solidly or for some reason be unable to be pushed out
of the way, then all attacks do normal damage.

Special Enhancement: For a 10% enhancement, the character can

render up to (HT) pounds of equipment inertialess at will.

Note: Any attempt to hurt someone by swinging an inertialess

weapon (other than a weapon that does damage simply by touching you) is
essentially useless; thrusting weapons are similarly handicapped unless
Impaling, and then they only do base damage. If attempting to use an
inertialess missile weapon, then a firearm will fail to fire [see sidebar,
LENSMAN, p 79] or a crossbow bolt will fall to the ground. If you throw
or drop something while it is inertialess, it will regain its previous
angular velocity about a turn after it leaves your hand.
Instantaneous (+20%): If this is taken with the above
enhancement, then missile attacks that would otherwise damage you (see
above) are rendered inertialess (and thus useless) as they touch you.
One second after they cease to touch you, they regain all angular
velocity, as above.
Special Enhancement: You do not retain any angular velocity; nor
does anything else you render inertialess. When you restore your inertia,
your angular velocity remains the same. +100%.

[For an in-depth look into the effects of lack of inertia, refer

to LENSMAN, pp 70-79]

[Not for use in the Lensman universe - but quite useful (and
occasionally frustrating) in a Supers game. Foreshadowed by the Flight
enhancement {Suffers No G-Forces In Turns} used by La Fusionne in the IST
book (page 106).]

Partial DR
varies
This is DR designed to protect against damage to a specific part
of the body. Multiply the penalty to hit that part of the body by 10% and
reduce the final DR cost by that much.
Example: Nightstalker wishes to have 10 DR on his Vitals. This
area is -3 to hit, so the cost of 10 DR (30 pts) is reduced by 30%, to
give a final cost of 21 pts.
[This, as well as Partial PD, is designed to simulate armor
plating (or similar) on part, but not all, of the body.]

Partial PD
varies
As for Partial DR, but use the cost for PD instead. With the
example above, if Nightstalker wanted PD 2 on his Vitals as well, the cost
would be 50 pts, reduced by 30% to give a final cost of 35 pts.

Disadvantages

Physical

Asthma
-10/-15/-50 pts
In general, the asthmatic character finds extreme difficulty in
breathing under certain circumstances. The three types of asthma are
Stress, Normal and True.
Stress Asthma: -10 points. When the GM rules that the character
is under stress, he takes 1d Fatigue every minute and must cease all
activity (or take 1d Fatigue per turn). Every minute he can try a Will
roll to snap out of it. Only then can he begin regaining the Fatigue.
Normal Asthma: -15 points. This can be triggered by a common
substance (pollen, dust, smoke, etc.), heavy activity, or even a certain
time of year (to be picked by the character). When it strikes, the
character loses 1d Fatigue and makes a HT roll less the amount of Fatigue
lost. On a critical success, nothing else happens. On a success, 1d more
Fatigue is lost. On a failure, 1 point of HT is lost. On a critical
failure, 1d HT is lost and the character stops breathing.
True Asthma: -50 points. This is actually a disease where the
lungs are slowly liquefying. Your lungs are filled with liquid. You must
regularly have them pumped out or you drown. You cannot do any heavy
lifting (more than Light Encumbrance) or fast movement (more than 1/2 base
Move). ST and HT cannot exceed 10.
The only way that a character with Normal or True asthma can
participate meaningfully in a game is to have a personal physician
constantly on call. In later TL games, a character with Stress or Normal
asthma can get by with a ventilator ($2.50, negligible mass & volume; HT
roll) and/or a Nebuliser ($300, 5 lb, .125 cf, requires negligible
building power; HT+5 roll). These require a prescription. True asthma
can be 'cured' by having the diseased sections surgically removed (at TL7+
only).

Increased Vulnerability
varies
A vital area of the character's body is visibly larger than
normal, reducing the penalty to hit. The cost for this is -5, multiplied
by the called-shot Crushing damage multiplier for that part of the body
and the amount by which the hit penalty is reduced.
Commonly targeted body-part values:
area Mult To Hit
Brain: 4x -7
Vitals: 3x -3
Throat: 1.5x -5
Head *: 1x -5
Nose: 1x -6
Groin: 1x -3
Eyes: 1x -9
Other areas can be rendered 'vulnerable', depending upon the
player's imagination and the GM's judgement. In general, only allow it
for areas upon which a called shot would be more than usually effective.
Just remember that the vulnerable area is significantly larger!
As a guideline, reduce Appearance by the number of levels that the hit
penalty is reduced by.

Note: These bodily modifications are not overtly damaging to the

character's health - unless someone targets them, of course! If such is
not the case, a case of Terminal Illness [see SUPERS, p 21] may be
indicated.

* If a character's Brain has Increased Vulnerability, then his Head must

have the same level or higher, at half disadvantage cost. The reverse
does not apply.

Motion Sickness (adjustment - from a person who used to suffer)

For -5 points, characters can learn vehicle skills, for there is
now a +3 bonus to the roll if you are controlling the vehicle (that is,
driving or steering it; working the rigging does not count - in fact, on a
rolling sailing vessel, it could make it much, much worse [GM's call]).
The roll is made (HT) minutes after the journey starts; on a critical
failure, the character will vomit continuously - or attempt to do so -
until the journey is halted. All rolls are at -5. On a failure by 1 or
more, the character will vomit for (30-HT) seconds; another roll must be
made every HT minutes. He feels queasy and miserable; rolls at -2. On a
success by 0, the character does not vomit, but feels queasy and must roll
again in HT minutes. Rolls at -1. On a success by 1 or more, the
character feels fine but still must roll again in (HTx2) minutes. On a
critical success, the character need not roll again; he is safe for the
duration of the journey.
For both levels, there are medications that can alleviate this
condition. These must be taken HT minutes before the journey starts, to
have full effect; they will generally make the person drowsy, reducing
all rolls by the bonus they give to the Motion Sickness roll. That is, a
pill that gives a +3 bonus will also reduce your other rolls by -3.

[The original Motion Sickness was too sweeping, and didn't allow for
people who sometimes don't suffer from it.]

No Sense of Touch
-20 pts
Your tactile sense is entirely absent. You can do nothing "by
feel"; even if you are watching what you are doing, the GM may exact a DX
penalty for lighting conditions or intricate tasks. This disadvantage
normally includes a High Pain Threshold; it is possible, though
improbable, to be only able to feel painful stimuli. In such a case, the
disadvantage is worth -30 points.

[This is taken from the Lensman Martians. I can't imagine anyone

taking the -30 point version.]

Mental

Adventure Magnet
-10 pts
You attract excitement and adventure - you just can't get away
from it. This is not Weirdness Magnet - the adventures you go through may
be perfectly mundane, but they are frequent. Events never pass you by -
even if you only enter the city once a year, the first convenience store
you enter is almost certain to be the site of an armed holdup.
Nothing lethal will happen to you, at least not immediately, and
occasionally an adventure will lead to greater things. But most of the
time it will be quite inconvenient. People who understand what an
adventure magnet is (and that you are one) will react to you at -1. The
exceptions will be thrill- seekers and reporters, who will follow you
around!

[A minor version of Weirdness Magnet, without the weirdness. I'm

considering a 5-point version as well.]

Cathexis
varies
The character has formed a strong emotional bond to an object,
type of object or person that he has encountered or used at least once.
He may consider this bond to be "love" (not necessarily reciprocated!) or
that the object of his cathexis is "lucky" for him.
This is essentially a specific form of Obsession, with elements of
Delusion. The character idolises the object of his cathexis (although the
idolisation may not be recognisable as such, depending upon the
character's personality) and will resist being separated from it. Other
mental disadvantages may be induced or triggered if the character loses or
is forcibly separated from the object of his cathexis.
-1: Essentially a Quirk. The character has some small object (a
coin, a flower) that he is constantly playing with or wears prominently.
In the case of a person, it may be a girlfriend to whom he constantly
writes - or whose photo he always carries.
This isn't especially noticeable unless the characters are cooped
up together for a long time. Nor is it inconveniencing, unless the
characters have to "go undercover" and change their entire methods of
dress and behaviour. If the necessity for this is explained to the
character, he will probably submit with bad grace and temporarily acquire
another quirk such as Irritable or Constantly Counts Change.
-5: Minor. This is slightly more inconveniencing. The object of
cathexis plays more of an active part in the game (such as a gun he always
has on him, or a girlfriend he's always bringing over), and has more
chance to cause problems.
Nearly every party has secrets they'd like to keep secret, or
missions they have to go on where guns are a no-no. Unfortunately, the
character can *not* see any problem with Julie being in the room when
Wonder Whatsit takes his mask off, or with going through Customs with his
favourite Walther PPK in his back pocket.
Unless the other characters remember to keep a close eye on him
and present some very persuasive arguments, the character will see nothing
wrong with what he is doing. Only a successful Intimidation, Fast-Talk,
Pick Pocket (if applicable), Diplomacy or Sex Appeal (once again, if
applicable) roll, best coupled with particularly persuasive roleplaying
(for a GM bonus), will cause the character to relent. All such attempts
have a penalty of -2.
-10: Major. Rather inconveniencing. The object of cathexis is
more important to the character than almost anything else. In addition,
it will be quite conspicuous and may be, on occasion, rather inconvenient
to have around.
Should anyone attempt to separate him from it, regardless of
reason or reasonableness, any but the most sublime diplomacy will result
in a bout of Bad Temper. Any attempts will have a penalty of -5.
-15: Severe. Very inconveniencing. The character probably owns
something, like a car, that he won't go anywhere without, and spends all
his time (and money!) fixing and tuning.
 This is fine and dandy in downtown LA, but if the party has to go
somewhere that it can't, like the jungles of South America, he will move
heaven and earth to find a way to bring it. Failing that, he will acquire
Chronic Depression or something similar. But if there is any possible way
to bring it, no amount of persuasion will budge him.
If the object is stolen or damaged (or the party forces him to
leave it behind) then he will probably go Berserk. In the case that the
object (or person) is threatened by danger, the character will utterly
ignore any threat to his own well-being in order to save it.

[I once read a book called "The Road Less Travelled", on psychology and
the problems that psychiatrists have. The above is what I got out of it.]

Code of Honor
var
Vigilante's Code: Protect the innocent, punish the guilty, avoid
unnecessary damage. -10 points.

[I think we made this up for a game and I kept it]

FNORD Magnet
varies
This is related to Weirdness Magnet, but it is more focused - and
*much* more silly.

FNORD, FNORD Everywhere

-1 Quirk: Everywhere you go, you encounter the word FNORD. It
may be a typo, an accidental arrangement of letters, a baby's innocent
fingerpaint scrawl, anything - but it will happen.
-5: As above, but words actually rearrange themselves to spell
FNORD.
Example: You might suddenly notice that your neighbour is driving
a FNORD Fairlane. You quiz him about it, and he insists that it's been
spelt that way all the time. Checking the encyclopaedia, you find that
the inventor of the moving assembly line was Henry Fnord.
The more attention you pay to this, the more you notice it. If
you don't pay as much attention, the really big changes will quietly alter
back to FNORDmal and it will happen less often - but it will happen.
Example 2: The reverse may apply: Leafing through the
dictionary, you glimpse the word FNORD out of the corner of your eye, but
however you search for it from then on, you don't find it.
GM's: pick any word that contains the letters F, N, O, R or D,
singly or in combination. Then superimpose the word FNORD over the
appropriate letters. Become more blatant as the character becomes
increasingly paranoid.

My Budgie's Plotting to Destroy the World! (He might succeed, too!)

-10: You are constantly being approached by agents of an unnamed
conspiracy. They don't want to recruit you - they are convinced that you
are already part of it! Whatever you do is "recognised" by them (only one
appears at any one time) as the preset signal for an exchange of
information. No matter what you say or do, this will be what they expect
of you. Either they will rattle off a nonsense phrase at you, or even
give you a slip of paper with the coded message, or they will wander off,
muttering over and over to themselves a seemingly-innocuous phrase that
you said to them. Any attempt to follow will see them slip around a
corner and (gasp!) disappear.
If you attack the agent, you will find no ID on him and the body
will shortly thereafter disappear. In addition, if you do not then buy
off the points, an agent of an opposing (and equally cryptic) conspiracy
will turn up, congratulating you on being such a successful double agent!
 Messages will give you no hint as to what's going on; they will
include such gems as:
"It's on."
"Tell A to inform B that it's OK to get the donuts."
"FRAZZLE FRAZZLE FRAZZLE."
"Fraternity; Notoriety; Omnipresence; Recklessness; Duty."
-15: As above, but wherever you go, conspiracies also spring up
out of nowhere. Aunt Edie's Sewing and Macrame Club will suddenly decide
that it would be a good idea to overthrow civilisation and will not only
evolve overnight into a full-blown secret society with secret code-words
and the like, but also mysteriously acquire an impressive arsenal and the
skills to use it (but not necessarily well)! This has great comedy
potential - and is also a great way to bring a Dependent into play.
-20: The lot. Go for it.
And what's the explanation? Is the character suffering from a
complex series of delusions, or is the entire world conspiring against his
very sanity? That's for the GM to decide. However, if the character
ceases to react to this without paying off the points, inform him that he
is now clinically insane and replace FNORD Magnet with a Delusion of GM's
choice and equivalent value.

[A truly nasty thing to do is to bring this in as a Secret

Disadvantage...]

Thoughts? Criticisms?

GURPS-Nut

4 Color Genre Rules

Remember, these rules may be silly compared to the real

world, but they are matters of life and death in the four
color world. Rules may be repeated in additional sections
if germane to the topic.

=============
4CGR v1.0
APRIL 8, 1998
=============

GENERAL

G1 If it looks cool but is realistically impossible, it

still probably works.

G2 Powers used in unison are more effective than

powers used singly.

G3 Bigger is better for most purposes. A computer

the size of a building is better than a computer the size of
a room. Likewise, a hero's base of operations is better if it
is bigger.

THE WORLD

W1 Super Tech, Ultra Tech, Hyper Tech, Future

Tech, and Magic Tech have little or no impact on society.
W2 Supers seldom appreciably alter the course of
world history, such as getting involved in wars, political
crises, economic conflicts, human rights abuses; thus,
the Allies win WWII, the Cold War still happens, the US
still gets pushed out of Viet Nam, the Oil Crisis still
happens etc.
W2.1 At most, supers seem to have a moderate impact
on their surrounding area, their "turf". Often, heroes (i.e.,
the ones who would have their own titles) all claim some
city as their base of operations, and become protectors of
that city.
W2.1.1 If supers do not select a base of operations city,
then tend to congregate in Manhattan.
W2.2 There are thousands of parallel worlds where
everything is almost like the campaign universe, except
that what people know is different or what people (esp.
supers) believe is different. ("Oh, no! I'm in Parallax
Land, here Spiffy Man is Evil!")
W2.2.1 Time-travel works. Paradoxes happen, and are
almost always either repairable or they split off alternate
timelines.

W3 Magic Works. Mages produce big splashy

effects, make things, or mind control people. They don't
generally do handy, useful sorts of magic.
W3.1 Costumed heroes and police will ignore
perfectly sensible advice about magic or demons from
non-costumed mystics ... even if they know they are
facing supernatural powers.

W4 Psionics Work. They generally have visible

pside effects.
W4.1 Telepathy is very rarely turned to assist public
mental health initiatives or determination of guilt in the
legal system.

W5 Certain religions are still listed as 'mythology' in

the world ... despite the fact that major figures from that
religion are interviewed on the evening news.
W5.1 The gods of those religions (be they actual
deities, space aliens, whatever) don't seem particularly
concerned with the impact or effects worship of them
incurs upon the world.

W6 There is Absolute Good and Absolute Evil.

Please do not confuse them.
W6.1 Shades of gray can be polarized down to one or
the other after suitable angst and mayhem.
W6.2 Heroes don't kill. They always try to knock them
out and incarcerate them (after a fair trial).
W6.2.1 Heroes will make every attempt to save the life
of anyone and everyone, including their arch-villains.
W6.3 Good tends to be beautiful and Evil tends to be
ugly, but that's not a truism.

W7 Some people in the world may insist supers are

"a hoax".
W7.1 Despite the fact that everyone knows supers
exist, civilians often mistake super-activity for a bunch of
Hollywood guys filming a movie.
W8 When two previously unintroduced heroes (or
hero teams) meet, they inevitably fight until they realize
that they're on the same side.

W9 All surfaces have handholds and projections

which can be used by supers with climbing or swinging
powers. All buildings in a city are sufficiently tall enough
that swinging from building to building is a viable means
of transport.
W9.1 Buildings are made of a material that is hard
enough to stop bullets, but soft enough that a hero's
arrows / boomerangs / grappling hooks/etc. will dig into
the surface.

W10 Tricky hi tech gadgets are likely to be easily

taken out by well-placed fist, power blast, or judo-thrown
thug, or the judicious use of a water hose, fire
extinguisher, or fireman's ax.

W11 Crises are covered by news crews so that a hero,

wherever he may be in the city, is given fair warning
even though he may be miles away. Said crisis will still
be in force when the hero arrives and all heroes arrive at
the scene at the same time, even if Quickman was only a
block away and Ponder the Stone guy had to take a bus
from Queens.

W12 A part of your origins story, you can gain

incredible combat skill with just a few months of
training.
W12.1 You can gain skill over time by training,
especially if you have fancy training facilities.

W13 Exposure to radiation, toxic chemicals, cosmic

rays, super-technology, or similar hazards does not
poison you or give you terminal cancer. Instead, you
might gain new super powers!

W14 Control of (or manifestation of) inherent

superpowers always comes at or after puberty. There are
no pre-adolescent supers. Super-powered space aliens
raised as human or mutants with super powers were,
apparently perfectly normal (or mostly normal) children
without any special powers.
W14.1 Super genes, once 'enabled', express themselves
immediately, regardless of what sort of morphological
change it might cause.
W14.2 In cases where heroes (and offer villains) suffer
loss of powers, they go out and find new ones or find
some other way to fight crime.

W15 Unless it suits the purposes of the writers to do

so, super-heroes never age beyond the peak of their
physical ability.

W16 Underage supers are completely unhampered by

parents, school, truant officers, etc. They are always
model students who cause no "normal" discipline
problems for their parents/guardians. ("Sparrow, you
took the Ratmobile without my permission! Next
weekend, you're grounded!")
W17 Unless it suits the needs of the writers, underage
supers never age beyond 16 years old and they never
graduate from high school, in spite of being model
students. Nobody ever seems to notice this.

W18 If you don't see a body, they're not dead.

W18.1 Even when you see a body, there's a good
chance the super is not 'permanently" dead.

W19 Heroes never sell out and cover their spandex

with endorsements. "Captain Sputnik, brought to you
from McDonald's".

W20 America has a disproportionate number of

supers. There aren't the masses of supers you'd expect in
India and China. You get as many supers out of one
major American city than you do out of entire other
countries, or even continents!
W20.1 Those rare non-American heroes will have
quaint "ethnic" or "national" themes. Kaptain Kenya
from Kilimanjaro with his tribal ancestor powers and
spear of zebra summoning, and all that. They'll live in
quaint, anachronistic, Hollywood versions of their home
societies, in which they enjoy status as "the national
hero".
W20.2 Asian heroes -- or villains, or normals, probably
cats and dogs -- will know martial arts 95% of the time
and have motives related to "my father's honor" yada
yada.
W20.3 There are a few European heroes, but they tend
to spend all their time in America.

W21 There is a soul, or a spark, or a spirit, or what-

have-you. Consciousness is NOT a purely biochemical
function. Thus, being turned into a man of stone, or
shrunk to the size of a mouse, or even transformed into a
plant or living glass statue or any other form which
simply *does* *not* have a single neuron anywhere
within it does not alter your consciousness. People of
'living sand' or 'sentient metal' or 'solid sound' are still
self-aware beings.

PHYSICS, SCIENCE, & TECHNOLOGY

P1 Forget all the physics you ever learned and think

back to the way you thought that matter and force worked
when you were a kid. If you get too hung up in thinking
about mass, density, ground pressure, etc., you start to
lose the comic book feeling.

P2 A larger super (unless specifically described as

being super-light) will tend to be stronger than a smaller
character. However, they will tend to be slower.
P2.1 Big objects hit harder than small objects, in spite
of their actual mass.
P2.2 Weight and size are directly related. A boulder
the size of a car is just as easy to pick up as a car, because
it looks roughly equally impressive on a page. The fact
that the boulder probably weighs 5x as much is ignored.

P3 Things can be lifted using super-strength do not

necessarily crumble under their own weight.
P3.1 Any flat surface can support any amount of
weight -- thus, Superguy can pick up a tank and carry it
along a normal paved road without being driven into the
ground.
P3.2 Super-heroes can ignore leverage, unless it is to
their advantage. Super-villains can ignore leverage
unless it is to their disadvantage.

P4 Momentum in not conserved. You can stop on a

dime or corner on a dime even if you're running at the
speed of light.
P4.1 Supers traveling at high speed ignore the effects
of friction.
P4.2 The speed of light is a guideline, not a law.
P4.3 If you can exceed the speed of light you can go
back in time.
P4.4 Only the speed of objects relative to a rest state
matters, not the speed relative to you. (So punching a
wall at lightspeed doesn't hurt, and you can still breath
when running at 12,999 kps)
P4.5 Fast objects hit harder than slower objects, in
spite of their actual force.
P4.5.1 Applying strength while moving is more
effective than having firm footing and leverage.
P4.6 If a falling person is caught from any height and
at any speed neither party takes any damage.

P6 Solid objects can be "vibrated" through.

P6.1 Solid objects can be bashed through without
necessarily harming the basher.

P7 Technology works better if it's big and

impressive.

P8 Any thing or class of things can be considered a

form of energy. Cold, darkness, speed, animal qualities,
etc. are just a few examples.

P9 Any energy expenditure needed for a

superpower doesn't need to come from metabolic sources.
Supers running at lightspeed don't need to eat any more
frequently than normal humans.

P10 No matter how much energy you might expend

in the course of your super-hero / villain actions, you
never lose any fat mass or gain muscle mass or
endurance.

P11 Research into the hows and whys of super-power

generally come to naught. And even if they did come to
something, recall Rule W1.

COMBAT & DAMAGE

C1 Life is resilient: you can take a lot of damage

before crippling or dying; little non-powered guys can
take a punch from big brick guys without being splattered
across the walls.
C1.1 The member of the team who is artificial - be it
robot, cyborg, golem, artificial construct, etc. - will
always be the one to have limbs blown off and otherwise
get mangled, because this way the writer/GM gets to
have gratuitous dismemberment without true "gore", plus
the artificial character can easily be repaired, and so the
damage isn't permanent.
C1.2 Recovery from life-threatening damage or
crippling can be fairly quick.
C1.2.1 Regenerating supers' personalities may remain
intact after massive brain trauma, up to and including the
near-destruction of all brain tissue.
C1.3 Guns, fire, weapons and explosions aren't nearly
as lethal as they are in real life.
C1.4 Unconscious people are never at any serious risk
of dying as long as they're not threatened by some other
factor (like being in water, in a burning building, etc.)
Unless it's important to the plot, they always wake up a
few hours later with bruises and a bad headache.

C2 Supers nearly always close to melee if they are

at all capable of doing so.
C2.1 Even supers with ranged powers are no
exception to this; they stand off at range and use their
powers for awhile, but are always swept up into the hand-
to-hand. (Crouching behind a rock and sniping from a
quarter mile away isn't very heroic.)
C2.2 Guns tend to be used at short range.
C2.3 After a weapon is empty of charges, the enemy
often throws the weapon at the super. Just in case, I
guess.

C3 A super can gain incredible combat skill with

just a few months of training.

C4 Applying strength while moving is more

effective than having firm footing and leverage.

C5 Collateral damage from a fight can destroy a

city block but incur no casualties.
C5.1 Buildings are made of a material that is hard
enough to stop bullets, but soft enough that a hero's
arrows / boomerangs / grappling hooks/etc. will dig into
the surface.
C5.2 No one cares at all about any sort of property
damage.
C5.2.1 ...unless the writer/GM wants to make the
characters' lives miserable by having them sued for the
cost of all the repairs...
C5.2.2 Supers might be covered by a blanket insurance
policy that limits their liability for any injuries or damage
to property caused by their actions.
C5.3 Innocent bystanders always disappear or escape
if both sides in a super battle wish it to be that way.

C6 Cars never explode unless they are crashed at

speed.
COSTUMES, HEADQUARTERS, & SECRET
IDENTITIES

S1 People with super powers almost always design

a costume and adopt a "code-name", rather than use their
powers to get ahead in the real world.
S1.1 Often, said costume is not negatively affected by
the super's powers.
S1.2 Supers are more attractive and impressive when
in costume.
S1.2.1 Even if the super has appearance "defects"
(overweight, skinny, plain-looking), the costume makes it
all better, even if the costume doesn't lift, tuck, or hide
the "defect."
S1.3 Domino masks and the like give the hero
glowing, white eyes.
S1.4 Heroes never sell out and cover their spandex
with endorsements. "Captain Sputnik, brought to you
from McDonald's".
S1.5 No one ever tries to make bullet-proof spandex.

S2 Nobody recognizes you in your Super Identity,

unless you wish it; otherwise, they have to see you
change into your costume, or they see you at close range
in super combat.
S2.1 Generally, each super only has one individual
seeking their secret identity, and these searchers are
usually easily distracted.
S2.3 In general, knowing a super's secret identity is a
death sentence: the holder of such information tends to
die rather quickly if not an ally of the super in question.

S4 Supers are usually engaged in employment that

allows flexible working hours, allowing the hero to slip
out for five minutes at 9:46 in order to deal with a super
crisis. Failing that, crises only occur during lunch or
after normal business hours on weekdays
S4.1 Underage supers are completely unhampered by
parents, school, truant officers, etc. They are always
model students who cause no "normal" discipline
problems for their parents/guardians. ("Sparrow, you
took the Ratmobile without my permission! Next
weekend, you're grounded!")

S5 A super's base always has a distinctive, unusual

decor which is in keeping with the super's powers and
costume. Alternately, poorer supers hide out in low-rent
apartments.
S5.1 No self-respecting super will run his operations
out of a suburban split-level ranch house.
S5.2 A super's base of operations is better if it is
bigger.
S5.2.1 The more cool stuff (equipment, trophies,
vehicles, etc.) in your base, the better.
S5.2.2 Heroes tend to have one, large, permanent base,
which may be either secret of public. Villains tend to
have many, scattered, smaller, secret bases. In some four
color universes, you can't walk 2 blocks in Manhattan
without passing a dozen.
S5.3 If you have fancy training facilities, you can
gain highly-complex skills in a short period of time.
S5.4 Cops, security guards, rental agents, social
workers, etc. never bother to check up on suspicious
activity originating from the locations of hidden
sanctums.

THE LAW & LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

L1 Super-vigilantism is accepted, in some cases

encouraged.
L1.1 Many universes have no particular sets of laws
to deal with super-powers and super-powered individuals.
Most mundane laws are stretched to provide coverage.

L2 Despite the prevalence of super-powered

criminals, the police in the big city are seldom better
equipped than those in the real world, i.e. pistols and
truncheons.
L2.1 Police departments may field a "super squad"
which uses ultra-tech weapons, but even then normal
humans armed with super tech can't take out the average
super.

L3 Supers are almost never get called into court. No

matter how much damage they do, no matter how many
people they beat up, or how crucial they are to a
prosecutions case, they are never named as witnesses or
defendants in a case.
L3.1 If they are named as such, they are allowed to
testify without revealing their secret identity.
L3.2 Supers never have to worry about civil suits for
their actions.
L3.3 Supers never have to worry about actually
collecting evidence that a crime was committed, even if
they're sworn police officers. Tying up the thugs and
leaving them unconscious at the "scene of the crime" for
normal police officers to find later is sufficient.

L4 Escape proof prisons never are.

VILLAINS

V1 Villains are often mentally deranged. No matter

how desperately they need it, they never receive the
necessary pharmaceuticals and therapy to cure their
madness. Super heroes with mind control or healing
powers never think to use their powers to permanently
cure mild-mannered Dr. Myron Cilia of the delusion that
he is actually the Slime Mold, terror of Saprophyte City!
V1.1 However, villains don't need psychological
motivations to be evil, sometimes they're just mean,
nasty, or greedy.
V1.2 Most villains are in the villain-racket not just to
be evil, but to make money fast, to match wits against a
worthy opponent, fight for a cause outside the law, or to
show off.
V2 People with super powers almost always design
a costume and adopt a "code-name", rather than use their
powers to get ahead in the real world.
V2.1 Villains often pick green, black, and purple for
their costumes.
V2.2 Villainesses always reveal more leg, and more
cleavage, than heroines. They also have sillier
headdresses.

V3 Villains hide out in low-rent apartments or dens

of ill-repute in the seedy part of town, secret high-tech
bases, or abandoned buildings.
V3.1 There always seems to be an abandoned building
(or building complex) that perfectly suits the villain's
motif and motives in the area. It's always ready for
immediate occupancy, and, if necessary, can be tooled up
for immediate production of whatever fiendish device the
villain had in mind to make.
V3.1.1 Real estate agents, businesses, etc. never seem
overly concerned about things like credit history, past
criminal record, contracts, bondability, etc. of the leasee.
("I'm sorry Punster, but we checked your
records and they show that you're been unemployed for
over 15 years. Furthermore, you have an extensive
criminal record, including several sentences for Fraud,
and several periods of incarceration in a hospital
for the criminally insane. We think that you're a bad risk
for sole ownership of "Fun World". Frankly, we were
hoping for a corporate client with a solid management
team.")
V3.2 Cops, security guards, rental agents, social
workers, etc. never bother to check up on suspicious
activity originating from these locations.

V4 Villains will not kill a hero. They will Lock

him in an "escape-proof" prisons and/or deathtraps,
which the hero may routinely escape via some flaw in the
villain's schematics (because criminal geniuses usually
employ stupid henchmen to build their machinery) or
through spectacular ingenuity.
V4.1 Villains of the appropriate sex often form a
romantic attachment to the hero.
V4.2 The *real* reason for the villain to capture the
hero is to give the villain the opportunity to share the
details of his "master plan" or justify his actions before
the hero.

V5 If captured by the heroes, villains may repent

their evil ways, at least temporarily.
V5.1 No matter how heinous their crimes, super
villains are never sentenced to death by the courts.
V5.2 Criminal trials for super-villains are so speedy
as to be non-existent. Either that, or they beat the rap
entirely and are back on the street the next day.

V6 Escape proof prisons never are.

V7 If you don't see a body, they're not dead.

V7.1 Even when you see a body, there's a good
chance the villain is not 'permanently" dead.
V7.2 When the dead villain - whose remains were
never found, or able to be properly identified - does
return, he's always better than his last incarnation. He
has always spent his time licking his wounds, reviewing
his gadgets, improving his powers, updating his
strategies, etc.. He always comes back better. not better
enough, mind you, to actually defeat the heroes, but
better than he used to be.

--
Rage
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/5751/index.html
"Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three."

> Does GURPS deal with "Drive-By"s anywhere? .. Gangs performing a

> Drive-by .. - How should I handle that?

A drive-by is not a good use of ammo (firing from inside a cramped,

moving vehicle at moving targets) , but it gets people killed. Try
this:

(1) Decide how many people can fire from the vehicle (2 for most
cars, 3 for a large one).
(2) They fire for 2-3 seconds at full RoF. Bang bang bang.
(3) Roll 6 or less per bullet for hits, or just assume that 9.3% of
the bullets hit (round up).
(4) Divide the "hits" randomly among the possible targets.

E.g., Damon and Duke cruise past in their Buick and fire their
MAC-10's (RoF 12) at Jose, Ramon and Oscar for 2 seconds. 2 guys x 2
seconds x RoF 12 = 48 bullets. To avoid rolling lots of dice, just
assume that 9.3% of the total hits, or 5 bullets. The GM labels Jose
as "1-2", Ramon as "3-4" and Oscar as "5-6". He rolls 5 dice and gets
1,2,4,5,6. Jose and Oscar have to Dodge twice, Ramon once. Any failed
Dodge is a hit. Roll randomly for hit location.

From: CraigR <caroth@iu.net>

Subject: Re: Tugging on Superman's Cape (was Point Justness)

'Nother idea_____________________________________________

In another idea, what about a damage divisor advantage:

DAMAGE DIVISOR
by Craig Roth <caroth@io.com>
Cost per level is as per raising attributes, doubling after
character creation.
The first level of this advantage divides the damage taken by the
individual by 2, damage is rounded to the nearest point. Damage is
subtracted from external DR (armor, etc.) first, then divided with this
advantage, then applied to integral DR (personal toughness, etc). Each
additional level adds 1 to the Divisor. Radiation PF is 10 per level.
Limitation: The above cost assumes protection from "everything". The
cost is modified as follows if taken against specific attack types. (The
catagories are on the Defense Table, p.CI49)
Common: 80%
Occasional: 60%
Rare: 40%
Very Rare: 20%
Comments? Has somebody already come up with this? It seems like I've read
about this somewhere before.

HT: _______; 1/2 HT: _______; 1/3 HT: _______

1) Base-Damage: bullet, crushing, cutting >= 8, 16, 24, ... points? ->
Knockback!
2) Hit Locations: (if nothing special, cutting: Damage*1.5, impaling: Damage*2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
BRAIN: -7 to hit, DR2, swing: miss by 1 hits torso
3-4 Damage*4 (regardless weapon type!)
even exactly 0 -> HT-roll -> Knockout?
> 1/3 HT -> Stunned!; > 1/2 HT -> Knockout!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
EYE: -9 to hit
- > 2 blinds the Eye and impaling or missile damage over 2 hits Brain.
Stunned!
with Helm: -10 to hit and only impaling or bullet attacks can hit the eye!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
HEAD: -5 to hit, swing: miss by 1 hits torso
5 even exactly 0 -> HT-roll -> Knockout?
> 3*HT -> Blowthrough at 3*HT! (double this for Beam, Fireball or
Lightning!)
Criticals go to Critical Head Blow Table, B202
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
NOSE: -6 to hit, miss by 1 hits head
- (HT-1)-roll -> Stunned?
High-Pain-Treshold: (HT+4)-roll; Low-Pain-Treshold: (HT-1-per-damage)-roll
if even the normal HT-roll is failed -> Knockout!
> 3*HT -> Blowthrough at 3*HT! (double this for Beam, Fireball or
Lightning!)
Criticals go to Critical Head Blow Table, B202
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
JAW: -5 to hit, miss by 1 hits head
- (HT - max(2, damage))-roll -> Stunned?
if even the normal HT-roll is failed -> Knockout!
> 3*HT -> Blowthrough at 3*HT! (double this for Beam, Fireball or
Lightning!)
Criticals go to Critical Head Blow Table, B202
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
THROAT (Neck): -5 to hit, miss by 1 hits torso
- crushing: Damage*1.5;
cutting, impaling: Damage*2
> 1/3 HT -> Stunned!
cutting: >= HT -> HT-roll -> Decapitation...!; (helpless: no HT-roll?!)
TGM: *no Knockout?*
TGM: *no Blowthrough?, esp. impaling?*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
r.ARM: -2 to hit left (shield, far) ARM: -4 or -2 to
hit
8 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
6:left > 1/2 HT -> Crippled! Stunned! Blowthrough at 1/2 HT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
TORSO: impaling, bullet: > 1*HT -> Blowthrough at 1*HT!
9-11 (double this for Beam, Fireball or Lightning!)
TGM: *no cutting-Blowthrough!?*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
VITALS (Torso): -3 to hit, miss from impaling or bullet by 1 hits torso
17-18 Vitals may only be attacked by impal. or bullet attacks, or Punch, Kick
(cr)
crushing: even exactly 0 -> HT-roll -> Knockout? (Punch or Kick)
impaling, bullet: Damage*3 (instead of *2);
> 3*HT -> Blowthrough! (double for Beam, Fireball or Lightning!), cr:
1*HT?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
KIDNEYS: -4 to hit, only from behind, miss by 1 hits torso
- Kidneys may only be attacked by impal. or bullet attacks, or Punch, Kick
(cr)
crushing: Damage*1.5
impaling, bullet: Damage*3
crushing: even exactly 0 -> HT-roll -> Knockout?
TGM: > 3*HT -> Blowthrough! (double for Beam, Fireball or Lightning!), cr:
1*HT?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
HAND: -4 to hit left (shield) HAND: -8 or -4 to hit
7 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
50%-50% > 1/3 HT -> Crippled! Stunned! Blowthrough at 1/3 HT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
GROIN: -3 to hit, miss by 1 hits torso or leg (50%, 50%)
- (HT - 1-per-damage)-roll -> Stunned?
if even the normal HT-roll is failed -> Knockout!
High-Pain-Treshold: roll at +5;
Low-Pain-Treshold: double penality from damage
impaling, bullet: > 1*HT -> Blowthrough at 1*HT!
(double this for Beam, Fireball or Lightning!)
TGM: *no cutting-Blowthrough!?*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
r. LEG: -2 to hit left (far) LEG: -2 to hit
13-14 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
12:left > 1/2 HT -> Crippled! Stunned! Blowthrough at 1/2 HT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
FOOT: -4 to hit (50%-50%)
15-16 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
50%-50% > 1/3 HT -> Crippled! Stunned! Blowthrough at 1/3 HT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
3) single wound > 1/2 HT -> Stunned! + HT-roll -> Knockdown? (when applied?)
4) HP <= 3: 1/2 Move and Dodge

@A-HEAD:MANEUVERS

@C-HEAD:What is a Maneuver?
@Normal:A maneuver is a specific use of a skill
that can be studied on its own, but which isn't complex
enough to be treated as a skill in its own right. For
instance, kicking is a specific use of the Karate skill
and not a separate skill, but one could practice kicking
to eliminate the -2 that applies to kicking attacks;
thus, kicking is a maneuver based on Karate.
In game terms, a maneuver defaults to its
prerequisite skill, and can be improved from the default
by spending character points. Given the number of tasks
possible with any given skill, this may sound as though
it adds a great deal of complexity, but it doesn't. You
never have to improve a maneuver, or even write it
down! Maneuvers are simply normal uses of a skill that
any practitioner will have some ability at; that is
why maneuvers (unlike skills) are always bought from a
default. Only those who specialize in certain uses of the
skill and improve their defaults have to enter maneuvers
on their character sheets.

@C-HEAD:Creating Maneuvers
@Normal:The lists of Acrobatics (p. 00) and martial arts
(p. 00) maneuvers presented in this section are tiny
subsets of all the possible maneuvers that one might come
up with. If a specific feat can be carried out at a
penalty to some skill, then that feat can be made into a
maneuver and the skill penalty bought off by someone who
specializes in it. Players and GMs alike will want to try
their hand at designing "signature" maneuvers for
characters, such as a Rappelling maneuver based on the
Climbing skill for their commando character, or several
different pitches based on the Throwing skill for their
star pitcher.
To translate a maneuver into GURPS terms,
decide on the following six things; the Kicking maneuver
(p. 00) will used here to illustrate the process:

Name: First, a maneuver should have an intuitive

name that describes the feat it represents. E.g.,
"Kicking" is short and to the point; it describes the act
of attacking with the foot instead of the hand.

Defaults: A maneuver always defaults to one or more

skills, an attribute, or in some cases, another maneuver
(a special exception to the Double Defaults
restriction on p. B45; see the sidebar). The default
penalty is just the skill penalty to perform the feat.
There can be more than one default, but when figuring a
maneuver from default level, always use the best default.
E.g., Kicking defaults to Brawling-2 or Karate-2,
because to kick someone, you would normally have to make
a Brawling or Karate attack at -2.

Prerequisites: Anyone can attempt a maneuver at its

default, but the prerequisites must be known at 12 or
better to actually improve the maneuver beyond this
level. Normally, the prerequisite skills are the ones to
which the maneuver defaults, but others are possible.
E.g., Kicking has the prerequisite of Brawling or
Karate. Anyone can kick at Brawling-2 or Karate-2, but to
raise the maneuver above this level, the Brawling or
Karate skill must first be known at 12+.

Difficulty: Once the prerequisites have been met,

a maneuver may be improved by spending character points,
just like a skill. The costs for this can be found on the
Maneuver Cost Table, below. There are only two
difficulty levels for maneuvers: Average and Hard. Hard
maneuvers have more serious consequences on a failed die
roll, and are more expensive to improve. E.g., since
you can fall down on a failed kick -- a serious problem
in combat -- Kicking is treated as a Hard maneuver.
Note that some maneuvers are listed as having
Special difficulty. This means that they
cannot be improved. Maneuvers like this include
punching with Karate (called "Hand Strike" in Martial
Arts) and the Judo Throw.

Maximum: Many maneuvers cannot be improved beyond

a certain point relative to the skills they default to.
This is the case for maneuvers that are closely tied to
the base skill. More specialized or esoteric maneuvers
may have a higher maximum, or none at all. E.g., since
it isn't likely that someone would be better at kicking
than they are at punching, the Kicking maneuver cannot be
improved above the skill it is being based on (Brawling
or Karate).

Description: This outlines the specific effects of

the maneuver, the emphasis being on how the maneuver
differs from the usual use of the skill that it defaults
to. E.g., the description of Kicking indicates that it
does more damage than punching, and that the attacker has
to make a DX roll to avoid falling down on a failed
kick.

Note that if a maneuver has many alternate defaults

and prerequisites, it may require specialization to just
one of those skills. Such maneuvers will generally
indicate this with the statement, "Must specialize."
Example: The Feint maneuver (p. 00) can be
purchased for any Combat/Weapon Skill, but only affects
feints made with the weapon(s) that it was purchased for.
If you knew Axe/Mace, Broadsword and Knife, you would
have to learn Feint (Axe/Mace), Feint (Broadsword) and
Feint (Knife) separately.

@C-HEAD:Learning Maneuvers
@Normal:Maneuvers are improved from their default values
according to the table below. Note that most maneuvers
that default from Mental skills will be Average, while
most reasonably-complex, Physical combat maneuvers will
be Hard.

@D-HEAD:Maneuver Cost Table

@Normal:
Average Hard

Default 0 points 0 points

Default+1 1/2 point 1 point
Default+2 1 point 2 points
Default+3 2 points 4 points
Default+4 4 points 6 points

Further increases cost 2 points per level.

 When the controlling skill goes up, any maneuvers
that default to that skill will increase as well, just as
for skills that default to other skills (see p. B44-45).
As mentioned above, some maneuvers can be improved
beyond the level of the controlling skill, while
others cannot be improved beyond the level of the
prerequisite.
Depending on the difficulty of the maneuver and the
type of skill it is based on, it may cost as much to
increase a maneuver by up to 6 levels as it would to
raise the whole underlying skill by only one! This
makes it possible to create "one-trick" characters -- but
it will usually be more cost-effective to divide points
relatively evenly between skills and favored maneuvers.

***SIDEBARS***

@SB-HEAD:Double Defaults and Maneuvers

@Normal:Normally, a skill cannot default to another skill
known only by default (see p. B45). However, maneuvers
are not really skills, and are an exception to this rule.
Provided that both maneuvers are based on the same
underlying skill, a maneuver can default to another
maneuver known only at default.
Example: Kicking defaults to Brawling-2 or
Karate-2. Since Jump Kick is based on Karate and defaults
to Kicking-2, it also defaults to Karate-4. However,
since Jump Kick is a Karate maneuver and not a Brawling
maneuver, it does not default to Brawling-4.

@SB-HEAD:Maneuvers and Non-Combat Skills

@Normal:The term "maneuver" was used in GURPS Martial
Arts (where these rules originally appeared) to
denote a specialized combat move. While this is fine for
combat-related feats, it sounds odd when used to describe
other activities -- especially those that default to
mental skills! Some people may find the following more
intuitive: maneuvers based on physical skills that are
unrelated to combat are called techniques or
feats and those based on mental skills are called
methods or procedures. Note that in all
cases, the term "maneuver" is also correct. Unique terms
may also be used to describe the maneuvers associated
with specific skills.
Example 1: GURPS Cyberpunk lists a
number of attack and defense programs for netrunners that
default to the Computer Hacking, Computer Programming and
Cyberdeck Operation skills (see pp. CY89-92). The GM may
decide to treat these as maneuvers, but in this setting,
they could just be called programs.
Example 2: In GURPS Mage: The
Ascension, mages learn special fields of knowledge
called Spheres. Specific spell-like effects are
treated as maneuvers that default to Spheres, but in this
setting they are called rotes (p. MTA88).

@SB-HEAD:Maneuvers and Optional Specializations

@Normal:Maneuvers and optional specializations (see p.
B43) are two different ways of representing the fact that
in real life, some people will train to become especially
good at one aspect of a skill. In GURPS terms, an
optional specialization is chosen when you want to focus
on a specific body of knowledge covered by a more
general skill, while a maneuver is learned when you want
to focus on a specific technique taught by a skill.
In other words, one reflects theory and the other,
practice.
When a skill has been learned with an optional
specialization and is also being used as the basis of
maneuvers, maneuvers can default to either the general
skill or the specialized skill, but the player must
specify where the points are being spent. A general
maneuver describes the technique as it applies to the
entire body of knowledge covered by the skill, while a
specialized maneuver will only cover that technique as it
applies to the specialization.
Example: A character with Chemistry-15 takes
the optional specialization of Organic Chemistry at 20,
which means that his general Chemistry skill is 14. If
the GM rules that Synthesis is Average maneuver that
defaults to Chemistry-2, then the character has a default
of 18 in Organic Synthesis, but only a 12 in all
other forms of synthesis. If he decides to improve his
default, then he must specify whether the points are
being spent on the general or specialized maneuver.

@SB-HEAD:Maneuvers and Familiarity

@Normal:At the GM's option, the maneuver rules can also
be used to handle skill familiarity (p. B43) for
technical skills. The character uses familiar equipment
within his specialization at full skill, but uses
unfamiliar equipment at a skill penalty of -2 to -4. With
this system, the use of an unfamiliar item of equipment
becomes a new maneuver, defaulting to Skill-2 to Skill-4.
It can be improved to a maximum level equal to the
underlying skill. This allows a character to "buy"
familiarity with a wide variety of equipment.
Most familiarities should be treated as Average
maneuvers, unless the equipment in question is
especially odd. Note that when these rules are
being used, characters receive only one familiarity for
"free," regardless of skill level, and must buy any
others. For firearms, which usually have a -2
unfamiliarity penalty, full familiarity would cost 1
point per added type. For the fencing weapons (rapier,
smallsword and saber), which usually have a -4 penalty,
full familiarity would cost 4 points per type.

[This is the first draft. Comments may be sent to

Summers@alum.mit.edu]

While Compendium I and II are good books, they brought in a

number of rules that some found to be either unrealistic or
unbalanced. Part of the problem was that many of these rules were
play-tested only in specific genres as part of a world book. Some
of these genres include a view of what is realistic that is a more
liberal and/or reflects (not surprisingly) a generally favorable view
of how effective the "cool" techniques of those settings are. Also,
Martial Arts introduced a set of mechanics that handled combat at a
more detailed level than in Basic. While that was certainly
appropriate to the genre, it created a system that had different
levels of detail for different combat techniques.
The compendiums are being, rightly so, mentioned as books that
people should buy to get rules that were previously scattered among
numerous books. However, I also usually warn people about the
concerns mentioned above (if only so they can judge for themselves
wether to use them). It occurred to me that giving advice to look
out is incomplete unless you also give advice on what to look out
for. Thus I decided to write one person's take on where the books
need to be changed to keep them realistic and balanced. These
comments are based, in part, on discussions on the GURPS mailing
list, but are certainly not complete and can't possibly include all
views on the issue.

Those wishing to make comments can contact me at;

Summers@alum.mit.edu

Compendium 1...

ADVANTAGES;
Damage Resistance - This one is too cheap when compared to extra hit
points. It has been argued that extra hit points also apply to
things like poison, Death Touch, etc. that are not protected by armor
(and hence DR). However, it is my experience that the "average PC"
gets hit multiple times (saving a hit point per point of DR every
time) before they get damage that by passes armor once. It has been
mentioned that this is strictly a supers/racial advantage and others
should use Toughness. That is a good idea, though I would charge 7
or 8 points for it as a racial advantage (I don't know about a Supers
camaign).

Extra Fatigue - Some find 3 points/level too cheap. Primarily due to

it use by mages. You could note that it as more useful to a mage
than advantages that give a +1 reaction, a +1 to senses, a sense of
fashion, or a level of Hard to Kill (all 5 points/level), but one can
make up his or her own mind. In the end, however, the main thing a
GM should be aware of is that fatigue is a major limiting factor for
magic. When the spells in Magic were created, mages needed to raise
ST to get more fatigue. While an Extra Fatigue advantage was needed,
to reduce this cost all the way down to 3 points/level (or even 2
points/level if one applies the "magic only limitation") makes
fatigue a lot cheaper and magic more powerful. (Also, one advantage
before was that you didn't have mages who were _always_ weaklings or
always strong. With 3 points/level, there will be a significant
incentive to always play a weak mage.) I would recommend 5
points/level and not allow any significant limitation for magic use
only (magic use is already the primary point cost driver). I would
allow a -80% limitation, "doesn't apply to magical fatigue" for
campaigns that use fatigue but don't have magic.

Gadgeteer - While not unbalanced, this is a bit cinematic,

particularly when allowing the production of high tech devices,
unless the GM is strict. In reality, it is pretty hard to whip up a
nifty gadget (particularly higher tech ones) like that. New devices,
even prototypes, don't come out of a few weeks in the lab.

Manual Dexterity - This should definitely not be applied to combat

skills (which is what I think was intended, but this is worth
reinforcing).

SKILLS;
Body Language - There have been a number of complaints about this
one. One is that it duplicates psionic powers at a much lower cost.
Another is that it really messes up feinting. There already is a
roll to spot feints (the feint roll :-) and this one gives you a
duplicative one. It is also uncontested (you make by 3 you stop the
feint no matter how good it was) so that even the greatest weapon
master of all time has a hard time feinting you. Finally, it cheaply
adds an unnecessary and inflating bonuses to defenses (which are
already inconveniently high). Trying to spot what kind of attack is
coming as soon as is possible is a fundamental part of defense and
should be covered by high skill.

Boxing - This is a bit unrealistic with respect to fighting against

armed men. See the comment regarding Judo (below, under
"Maneuvers").

Katana - When used one handed, the Katana does a point more damage
and you don't have to ready the sword every time you swing. When you
use it two handed, you still do one more point of damage and you
also, when you are lightly encumbered or less, get a 2/3 parry.
Additionally, a Bastard Sword requires you to learn two different
skills to be used with one or two hands while the Katana one requires
one. On top of all this, the katana costs $100 less. (This is
covered in excruciating detail, since was the subject of a number of
heated discussions, in the file katana.objections)
One alternative would be just to use the stats for a Bastard
Sword. However, some feel it should be more balanced than a Bastard
sword. An alternative is the katana uses the Broadsword skill one
handed and the Bastard sword skill two handed (you could make up two
new separate skills, but I don't really see any reason). The katana
is said to be bit better balanced than a Bastard sword, so it does
one point less damage two handed and does the same damage one handed
but, unlike a Bastard Sword, it doesn't need to be readied. This is
still a little generous (it beats the bastard sword in the role it
was designed for since loosing the ready is more important than a +1
to damage) but not objectionably so.

Main Gauche - The 2/3 parry comes from a fencing style. This skill
should only be used (or at least give the 2/3 bonus) when fencing (ie
using a fencing weapon) and I would make if P/H like other fencing
skills. Also, it is not clear why you lose the -1 to parry that a
knife has. Getting better at knife fencing by training is already
covered by higher skill level.

Parry Missile - This is cinematic skill. Parrying a thrown rock is

tricky (harder than baseball since it is coming right at you, jamming
you up, and you can get it while it goes by you). Parrying an arrow
is nigh impossible.

Monowire - These are cinematic. Besides the fact that a monowire is

impossible to make by today's standards and is clearly significantly
higher than TL 8 or 9, it is not clear that they would even be
effective. It can be argued that a wire that thin can pass trough a
material without causing any significant disruptions (since bonds are
broken at the molecular level and simply reforming behind it and the
channel is so thin as to only kill off a few cells). This should be
reserved for campaigns that are cinematic or in which monowires are a
part of the genre convention.

Short Staff - The 2/3 parry seems excessive, especially when compared
to a shortsword. The apparent justification is that you hold it in
the middle (so it is balanced and light), in which case this needs to
be made clearer in the rules. One can see this giving some advantage
to parry (as good as a staff is debatable, but not clear enough to
constitute an objection). Then, however, we need to drop the damage
down from sw+1 and sw to maybe sw-1 to reflect that one will do less
damage when you hold it in the middle. (You might leave the Jo stick
at sw+1 but drop the 2/3 parry, but either it is light enough to be
easily moved one handed or it is heavy enough to do broadsword
damage, but not both).

Throwing Stick - The base damage is as much as broadsword and seems

excessive.

Tonfa - This is another case where a 2/3 parry seems to have been
given out much to casually. Holding against your arm will lose as
much in reach as it will gain and it is not clear why the parry
should be any better. The main advantage would utility in close
combat.

Military skills - Unless you are running a very military oriented

campaign, you are not going to need skills that narrowly defined. I
personally would keep just Forward Observer, Naval Tactics, and Naval
Strategy.

MANEUVERS;
One problem here is that many of the maneuvers exacerbate a
problem with Judo parries. The idea is that, without a hard object
that you can use to interpose in front of an attack, you are not
only no worse off, but you are at a bonus. This is unrealistic based
on both the physics of the situation and that even black belts are
wary of armed men (or that nobody ever saves "big bucks" by raising
forces of unarmed men). The fact that a failed parry hits your arm
means little since you are going to get hit anyway (often in
locations that are much worse).
This wasn't a big problem until a bunch of new maneuvers came
out to incapacitate one's opponent with martial arts. The resulted
in a situation where the best person to stand up against a knight
wasn't another knight (who has to get by high defenses and punch
through heavy armor with his weapon) but an unarmed man (who can
generally take out any armed man in a round or so). It is also
unbalancing because martial artists have a number of other advantages
(not needing expensive equipment, no being able to be disarmed,
having extensive options to disable without killing, etc.). The
recent suggestion that a Judo parry is a sort of special dodge is
inconsistent with how Dodges are handled, provides no clear rationale
for the 2/3 bonus, and is inconsistent with the fact that some
maneuvers clearly assume that after a Judo parry you are in contact
with your foe (like arm or wrist lock). [Note: this only summarizes
the arguments surrounding this issue for which discussions have been
particularly extensive...]
One suggestion is... Parring weapons do not provide the 2/3
bonus (except maybe for close combat weapons like knives, make your
own call). Swung weapons are parried at a -4 (except for close
combat weapons such knives which are at a -2). Parrying thrusting
weapons is at a -2 for normal weapons and a -1 for close combat
weapons. It is also recommended that Dodging swung weapons is at a -
4 if you want to close into close combat (since dodging a swung
weapon forces you back).
Also, when a GM is coming up with maneuvers of his own, he
should be aware that, since maneuvers start at 1/2 or 1 point per
level, he is letting the character start along the easier
"beginner's" part of the learning curve again. This doesn't really
seem appropriate for maneuvers that extend a subset of an already
learned skill. Also, the scope of a maneuver has to be significantly
lower to justify a 2 point/level maximum progression.

Regarding Specific maneuvers...

Arm Lock - The defender should be allowed to resist with his weapon
skill. Also, I personally don't agree that one should be able to
grapple specific parts of the body at no penalty. Finally, I would
not have a cumulative penalty to break free. At most I would say
that after the first three failures, one can only try every 10 rounds
or so (to reflect the time it takes to figure out a new tactic or for
the foe to become slightly complacent).

Close Combat - One problem with balancing unarmed combat is the

immunity to attacks in close combat. It is not that hard to hit legs
with sword or to conduct a wrap around shot with many weapons. I
would reduce the penalty to a -2 to -4 (though I might also drop
damage to 1/2 damage).

Disarming - see Arm or Wrist lock.

Dual Weapon Attack - This is should be labeled cinematic. GURPS

already allows you to attack once a second which, for most types of
melee, is already at the upper end (mostly because PC's don't take a
moment to collect their thoughts the way a real combatant would).
There are exceptions, but they are just that, exceptions. If you
watch more skilled fighters, they don't attack more often, they
attack more effectively. When you attack more than once a second you
simply don't have time to consider what you are doing tatically and
tend to flail away.

Hit Location - You really can't train yourself to hit one location
more accurately without being able to hit other things more
accurately, which is almost the definition of high skill (there might
be an exception in martial arts where set combinations seem more
important, but I wouldn't use it outside of fights between martial
artists). Hitting one location in battle is different enough each
time that you can't learn to hit it by rote. What you do is just get
better at hitting any location better, no matter what it is. This
maneuver has, in fact, been the basis for critism of GURPS as
allowing some to make a character being a "specialist in lopping
hands off".

Horse Archery - Shooting an arrow off a galloping horse just seems

too difficult to justify being raised at 2 points/level (let alone at
the 1 point/level for the first level). I would either just have the
player raise skill level or make it a maneuver that goes up at
4/level (for even the first level).

Jump Kick - It's mentioned that this maneuver is discouraged in real

world training. However, the disadvantage that causes this to be
true isn't clear. For an attacker with decent skills, the odds of
falling are slight, especially compared to the utility. The roll to
fall might be made harder. Also, I would give the attacker at least
a -2 to -4 to subsequent parries.

Spin Kick - This a lot to do in a round (spin around, feint, and

attack) and skill be able to defend normally. I would have the
person be at penalties to defend or have to make a skill roll to
recover before the next round.
Compendium II (some points, like the stats for a katana, are covered
above)...

Basket Hilt - This is a lot smaller than a Buckler (which is usually

thought to be about 12" across), which only gives PD 1. I would
restrict it to providing PD and DR for the hand.

Dau - Giving the weight and damage, it should need readying.

Cloak - The main problem is how do you block swung attacks with a
cloak? The only way, esp for high swing, is contact with the cloak
around your arm. This is consistent with the skill being used in
fencing which concentrates on thrusting techniques. Thus, damage to
penetrate should be applied on almost all swung attacks (esp against
non-fencing weapons).

Katar - It not clear why it does so much damage (the force behind the
thrust is the same, regardless of how it is held) or how you parry
with it (unless there is some additional cross bar between the hand
and blade).

Knife Wheels - Again, compared with a Buckler, why do they get PD 1

(see basket hilt). Also, like the Katar, why do they do more damage?

Slashing Wheels - Again, why PD 1 when compared to a buckler?

Flight - This appears to be listed under cinematic rules but it is

not clear if they are intended to be cinematic. Actually, the rule
seems too harsh a species that was born to fly. In fact, it is
harder for a creature born to fly to fight than for someone on a
galloping horse. A mode of location you were born to should be
easier than one you had to train at (and which you are also
controlling another creature at the same time). I would not give
species that are born being able to fly, and don't have the Cannot
Hover limitation, penalties to attack or parry (wether they are
using a weapon or not). I'm not sure I would give any flyer that can
hover a penalty.

1) Base-Damage >= 8, 16, 24, ... points? -> Knockback! 1/2

HT: ________ Actual HP:
2) Hit Locations: (if nothing special, cutting: Damage*1.5, impaling: Damage*2)
1/3 HT: ________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
BRAIN: -7 to hit, DR2, swing: miss by 1 hits torso
BRAIN
3-4 Damage*4 (regardless weapon type!)
even exactly 0 -> HT-roll -> Knockout?
> 1/3 HT -> Stunned!, > 1/2 HT -> Knockout!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
right EYE: -9, -10 to hit left EYE: -9, -10 to hit
r.EYE l.EYE
- > 2 blinds the eye > 2 blinds the eye
impaling or missile hits brain impaling or missile hits
brain
Helm: only impaling or missile! Helm: only impaling or
missile!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEAD: -5 to hit, swing: miss by 1 hits torso
HEAD
5 even exactly 0 -> HT-roll -> Knockout?
Criticals go to Critical Head Blow Table, B202
> 3 * HT -> Blowthrough! (double this for Beam, Fireball or Lightning!)
(max. 3*HT)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOSE: -6 to hit, miss by 1 hits head
NOSE
- (HT-1)-roll -> Stunned?
High-Pain-Treshold: (HT+4)-roll, Low-Pain-Treshold: (HT-1-per-damage)-roll
Blowthrough? (like Vitals?, Head?!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAW: -5 to hit, miss by 1 hits head
JAW
- (HT - max(2, damage))-roll -> Stunned?
Blowthrough? (like Vitals?, Head?!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THROAT (Neck): -5 to hit, miss by 1 hits torso
THROAT
- crushing: Damage*1.5; cutting, impaling: Damage*2
> 1/3 HT -> Stunned!
>= HT -> HT-roll -> Decapitation! (if >= 2*HT, or bleed 1 per turn ?!);
helpless: no HT-roll?!
Blowthrough? (like Vitals?, Head?)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
right (weapon, near) ARM: -2 to hit left (shield, far) ARM: -4, -2 to hit
r.ARM l.ARM
8 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!) impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
6:left > 1/2 HT -> Crippled! Blowthr.! Stunned! > 1/2 HT -> Crippled!
Blowthr.! Stunned! (max. 1/2 HT each!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TORSO: nothing special
TORSO
9-11 > HT -> Blowthrough! (double for Beam, Fireball or Lightning!)

--------Vitals:-Vital-Organs-may-only-be-attacked-by-impaling-or-bullet-
attacks!------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
VITALS (Torso): -3 to hit, miss from impaling or bullet by 1 hits torso
VITALS
17-18 impaling: Damage*3 (instead of *2); crushing: even exactly 0 -> HT-roll ->
Knockout?
> 3 * HT -> Blowthrough! (double for Beam, Fireball or Lightning!)
(max. 3*HT!)
--------Vitals:-A-Punch-or-Kick-to-the-Solar-Plexus-or-the-Groin-may-be-played-
as-a-crushing-attack-to-the-vitals ...------------------------------------------
-
KIDNEYS: -4 to hit, only from behind, miss by 1 hits torso
KIDNEYS
- crushing: Damage*1.5, impaling: Damage*3 (like Vitals!)
> 3 * HT -> Blowthrough! (like Vitals!?)
max. 3*HT!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
right (weapon) HAND: -4 to hit left (shield) HAND: -8, -4 to
hit (or on 8) r.HAND l.HAND
7 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!) impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
> 1/3 HT -> Crippled! Blowthr.! Stunned! > 1/3 HT -> Crippled! Blowthr.!
Stunned! (max. 1/3 HT each!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GROIN: -3 to hit, miss by 1 hits torso or leg (50%, 50%)
GROIN
- (HT - 1-per-damage)-roll -> Stunned?
if even the normal HT-roll is failed -> Knockout!
High-Pain-Treshold: roll at +5; Low-Pain-Treshold: double penality
from damage
Blowthrough? (like Vitals?)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
right (near) LEG: -2 to hit left (far) LEG: -2 to hit
r.LEG l.LEG
13-14 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!) impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
12:left > 1/2 HT -> Crippled! Blowthr.! Stunned! > 1/2 HT -> Crippled!
Blowthr.! Stunned! (max. 1/2 HT each!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
right FOOT: -4 to hit left FOOT: -4 to hit
r.FOOT l.FOOT
15-16 impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!) impaling: Damage*1 (not *2!)
> 1/3 HT -> Crippled! Blowthr.! Stunned! > 1/3 HT -> Crippled! Blowthr.!
Stunned! (max. 1/3 HT each!)
3) if Damage (after hit location modifier, but without blowthrough rules) is >
1/2 HT -> Stunned! and HT-roll -> Knockdown?: you fall down!

Contacts Variable
Listed below are some sample contacts with their base costs.
Contacts can be of various types, which must be defined (criminal/street,
police, business, government, etc.) and specified. Base costs can be further
modified by Frequency and Reliability.
Type of contact Eff. Skill Cost
Poor 12 2.5
"Connected" 15 5
"Expert" 18 7.5
"Guru" 21 10
Reliability: *3 for complete, *2 for good, *1 for normal, *0.5 for
unreliable.

Eidetic Memory 5 points/level (max 10)

Ignore old version of this advantage. The new version of this
advantage will simply have the following three effects: First
of all, add the level of the advantage directly to IQ when
rolling to see if you remember things. Secondly, if you have
at least 5 levels, you can "memorize" texts to perfection by
reading through them (as well as having perfect recall of any
conversiation or song or whatever you decide to pay the
necessary attention to, and so on). If you have the max 10
levels, you can memorize not only texts, but also pictures
etc. by just glancing at them (this includes looking at a page
of text and then "reading" it from your memory of what it
looked like). Perfect reproduction of remembered pictures
will require that you have the necessary skill as an artist.
Thirdly, this advantage adds to some Skill Bases; it is of
course noted in the Skill Bases chapter where this applies.

Eidetic Sense of Smell 20 pts.

Bunnies only.

Extra Limbs Varies

"Default" is 2 walking limbs that can kick, plus two manipulating limbs.
An extra arm is 20 pts; 10 if short or no-attack; 5 if both.
Extra ST costs 30% of normal for one arm, 50% for only one pair.
Extra DX costs 60% of normal for one arm, 80% for only one pair.
Extra Flexibility costs 10 for one limb, or 20 for all; +30 for a
constriction attack.
Extra Reach costs 10 pts for each meter.
"Arm that can kick"="Manipulating Leg": +10 pts.
3 or 4 legs: 10 pts.
5 or 6 legs: 20 pts.
7 or more legs: 30 pts.
"Cannot Kick" (global effect): -10 points.
Strikers: Useless for walking and manipulating. Base cost 10 pts each,
can buy extra reach, ST, DX, flexibility, etc. Clumsy strikers are 1 pt
cheaper per -1 to hit.
Spear: Does thrust+2 Impale damage, limited to one direction (normally
front).

Flight Varies
40 for gliding; 50 for gliding w/thermal climbs; 60 for winged flight;
70 for very small wings; 80 for wingless (psionic, magic, jet, whatever)
flight; -9 if cannot hover (not for gliders, who can't hover anyway).

High Technology 40/100/200 pts.

Anyone 4 or more TLs over normal is ridiculously powerful, so this
advantage only has three levels. It assumes, of course, that the
character has reasonable access to the higher technology.

Hyperactive Metabolism 60 pts.

Includes 2 levels Increased Speed and -40 Increased Life Support.

Hyper-Reflexes 30 pts.
Costs 2 fatigue per second; gives +2 to all combat-related skills and to
all defenses. Can also be used at half-strength.

Hyper-Strength 60 pts.
May increase ST by 50% at a cost of 2 fatigue per second. Can also be
used at half-strength (25% ST increase).
Improved G-Tolerance 10/20/30/40/50 points
Increments are the same as before: .3/.5/1/5/10 gravities.

Increased Speed 50 pts/level.

This adds 1 m/s per level to Basic Speed.

Independently Focusable Eyes 30 pts/level.

Each level allows one additional focus point; can't have more focus
points than eyes.

Literacy Varies
This depends on the campaign background. If illiteracy is the
norm, this is a 20-point advantage. If literacy is the norm,
illiteracy is a 20-point disadvantage. There is also "partial
literacy", which allows you to read simple texts only -- this
is the default in some settings (in which case literacy is a
10-point advantage and illiteracy a 10-point disadvantage); or
if literacy is the norm, it is a 10-point disadvantage (vice
versa if illiteracy is the norm).

Longevity 1 point per level (max 20)

This now adds directly to Health only for the purpose of
resisting the effects of old age.

Luck 30/60 points

This works as before, except that 30-point luck is applicable
once per game day, and 60-point twice per game day.

Lycanthropic Dominance 70 pts.

Obviously only for contagious lycanthropes.

Magery 10/20/30/45/60/80/100
This adds its level minus one to Magical skill base. (The 10-
point version is "level zero" Magery, which allows one to cast
spells that don't have Magery as a prerequisite, if the GM allows
this). Note that each further level of Magery is equal to a "half-level"
of Magery under the old rules, so a spell requiring Magery under
the old rules will need 30-point Magery now, a spell requiring
Magery II will need 60-point Magery now, and a spell requiring
Magery III will now need 100-point Magery. The GM can allow
further levels of Magery above the 100-point version; this
will cost 25 points per level. Limitations that affect cost:
One-college or Solitary Magery is 2/3 of normal cost, Aspected
Magery (Sun, Star, or Moon) is 1/2 of normal cost. It is possible
to buy "mixed levels" of Magery (some normal, some limited), in
which case the limited levels add to the normal ones in those cases
where they apply.

Magic Resistance 2 points/level

This advantage can be combined with Magery. It will, however,
subtract its level directly from your Magical skill base. It
will also subtract its level directly from the effective skill
of anyone casting spells targeted at you (but not if a spell
causes a physical effect over an area that happens to include
you, nor against Missile spells, magical weapons, or indirect
magical spying etc). It cannot be combined with Magic
Susceptibility.
Mindlink 2 pts/level.
Each level adds +2 to skill and +1 to Power.

Mindshare Varies
Cost depends on exact type, extent, and limitations of the mindshare
medium.
Type: Hive Mind (40 pts)
Racial Memory (80 pts)
Global Consciousness (120 pts)
Medium: "Normal" telepathy (-10 pts)
Non-instantaneous (-10 pts)
Non-telepathic (-20 pts) (i.e. radio or laser)
Jammable non-telepathic (-10 extra pts)
Range: Touch (-30 pts)
~1 km (0 pts)
~100 km (20 pts)
~1000 km (40 pts)
Planetary (60 pts)
 Interplanetary (80)
Interstellar (100)
Universal (120)
Drones: Mindless (-20 pts)
Self-maintaining (10 pts)
Self-defending (30 pts)
Sentient (50 pts)
# of drones: (log N -1) * 20 pts, where N is number of drones.

Non-Reciprocal Damage 60 pts.

For creatures with multiple forms; damage does not carry over between forms.

Oxygen Storage 56 pts.

Lasts for up to an hour.

Pheromone Control 50 pts.

Anyone breathing in the 'contaminated' air will perceive the character as
two levels more attractive, and must roll vs. Will-6 or suffer from
Lecherousness for the duration.

Pressure Support 10/20/30/40 pts.

The levels are: 5/20/100/whatever atmospheres.

Reciprocal Rest 30 pts.

For creatures with multiple forms; non-active forms are considered to
be resting.

Recovery 20 pts.

Reduced Sleep 20 pts.

Regeneration 50/100/200 pts.

Levels are 2 hp per day/five minutes/second.

Regrowth 40/80 pts.

Levels are small appendages/organs (like fingers or eyes), and
large appendages/organs (like arms or intestines).

Reproductive Control 5 pts.

Reputation Varies
This will add to Reaction rolls and to Effective Skill in a
few cases. It can be purchased in levels; each level has a
base cost of 5 points, up to a maximum of 8 levels. However,
the cost can be decreased by applying the following
limitations: If it only affects a large group of people (on
the order of 5% to 50% of the ones you're likely to meet),
halve the cost. If it only affects a small group of people
(on the order of 1% or so), divide cost by 3. If it only
works half the time, halve cost. If it only works rarely (13
or less on 3d12, about 1/6 chance), divide cost by 3.
Negative Reputation is also possible (this would be a
disadvantage), and one character can certainly have several
Reputations (in which case modifiers will be cumulative up to
+ or - 8).

Resurrection 300 pts.

Modifiers to cost: -30 to -90 if it can be suppressed (stake through the
heart, etc) but will happen when the suppressing circumstance is removed.
-30 to -90 if (some) damage carries over. -15 to -75 if certain things can
kill permanently. -60 if it happens as reincarnation in a somewhat different
form.

Skin types Various

Some examples:
Spiny fur (PD2/DR2; 1d12-4 Imp in close combat) 70 pts.
Carapace (PD4/DR4) 116 pts.
Fur or Scales (DR2) 8 pts.
Heavy Fur/Thick Hide/Thick Fur (PD2/DR2) 58 pts.
Armor Plates (PD4/DR6) 124 pts

Temperature Tolerance 0.5 pt/level

Normal temperature tolerance is a 25 K interval (centered where you
like for a nonhuman race); each level of this advantage increases
the interval by 1 K in one direction.

Time-Jumper 200 pts base.

Cost is adjusted as follows: Carry nothing -10. Carry up to IQ kg: 0.
Carry up to 2*IQ kg: +20. Carry up to 3*IQ kg: +40. Carry up to 5*IQ kg:
+60. Carry up to 10*IQ kg: +100. Drift: -30. Limited Range: -20.
Stunning: -20. Uncontrollable: -20. No Concentration: +30.
Minimum cost is 120 pts.

Toughness 10/20/35/50 points

This is now available in 4 levels -- max DR 4 for a human.
Note that this is replaced by DR advantage for metahumans (who
must pay Unusual Background if they're in the same campaign
with normals, anyway).

DISADVANTAGES

Planetbound -10/level.
Level depends on time you can spend off-planet, as follows:
2 years, 1 year, 3 months, 1 month. Modify by frequency of
HT loss after time runs out: 2/day: *2, 2/week: *1, 1/week: *0.5

Speech Impediment -20 points

Replaces Stuttering. Can be any sort of speech impediment, as
long as it's severe enough (a slight lisp, for instance, will
not be a problem for most people). Reaction rolls are
penalized by -4 in most situations.