Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc,rec.games.frp.advocacy Subject: GURPS Supers Gripes (was Re: GURPS recommendations needed) Summary: Expires: References: <377ag2$mt@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca> <37abso$rfh@illuminati.io.com> <1704D12EB9S86.NCCUT132@TWNMOE10.Edu.TW> Sender: Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: Columbia University Keywords: Cc: Hmmm. Well, I was asked. No, really... This is a listing of problems I had with _GURPS Supers_, in reply to a request by Brian Phillips. Brian Phillips wrote: >Could some of the GURPS Supers bashers please spell out exactly whatever >the hell is wrong with the rules as they stand now rather than giving us >these blanket "it sucks" statements. Well, I'll try to oblige... -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- (1) POINT COSTS: -> The "Armored Creampuff" syndrome: Since DR costs considerably less than Hit Points, this leads to many cases where either you can't hurt an opponent at all, or he dies real fast. The sample characters all reflect this. -> Imbalance WRT Psionics and Magic: GURPS Psionics is neccessary to represent many essential powers in the setting and genre, but the 2nd Ed superpowers are much weaker than their psionic equivalents. (Psionics get many powers together, while superpowers must be bought up individually). Using Magic is pretty much optional, but it is suggested as an option. Mages on 300+ points yields some very strange results. Some spells are pointless (ie. missles), while others are devastating if you buy up your fatigue for them (ie. Enslave). -> Broken Dodges: Dodges are either devastating or worthless in the system, depending on if you use the Contest of Skills optional rule. No medium option is provided. The cost of added Move/Dodge may be massively mispriced, depending on which optional rules you use: Extra Actions from Move makes it much more powerful; Dodge Contest of Skills makes it much less so. In general, the optional rules screw up how the point costs work, and no warnings are given concerning this. -> Equipment: The use of equipment generally messes with balance. Especially with the inventing rules for ultratech equipment, gun-toting multi-millionaire characters can rapidly get out of hand. -> Other Guffaws: In general, detailed balance seems broken. Laser gets impaling for free compared to other attacks. Stacking the "Continuous" and "Rapid Fire" enhancements leads to much more devastating and controlled attacks for the same points. (Note: this is done by buying up skill in addition - with +5 skill you will hit with a full burst when you only hit with one shot before.) I couldn't tell you other minutia from memory, but the powers are full of them. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- (2) OTHER RULES AND MATERIAL In general, the book tries to cover everything from four-color comics to "realistic" superpowers such as _Wild Cards_. As a result, I think it does all of them poorly. First of all, the mechanics are complex and horribly disorganized. Between all of the various options, it is difficult to tell anything for certain. Various Basic Set rules are overturned, but there is no central listing of this. A classic IMO is the ridiculous rules for "Ice Damage", which give laughable results if you actually try them. Not enough thought is given to the effects of various optional rules, such as handling of Dodge as a Contest of Skills mentioned above. -*-*- Its handling of four-color is simply unworkable, IMO. The mechanics are way too complex for the fast-and-loose action required. The Stun rules are generally poorly handled, IMO. The pure stun option is simplistic even for most four-color (only hurt if you want to), while the other options are of higher calculational complexity - again bad for the option. -*-*- The realistic side suffers mainly from balance, disorganized rules, and source material (see below). -*-*- In general, I think they would have done much better to release _Supers_ as a rules-oriented supplement like _Magic_. Then they could take the space to rewrite the rules they needed to (including reference charts!), and develop more balanced "packages" of optional rules. It could have a short section on how to create characters from various fictional sources: from Marvel to Wild Cards. The IST world would be a supplement to itself. And for a _decent_ realistic world (see below), they should rerelease _GURPS Wild Cards_. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- (2) SETTING: This is a fairly personal opinion, but I found the IST world a morass of contradictions. While claiming to be `realistic', it wallows in all of the superhero cliches. It is certainly a more socially aware comic book world, with attention being paid to politics, fashion, and entertainment. Still, these are not exactly new in comic books (cf. X-men and others). In particular, the sample characters all seemed direct from four-color. They are just as cheesy (if not moreso) than their mainstream counterparts - complete with skintight suits, cheesy themes, and racist characterizations.