Discuss away...
fnord's alias
Politics. It can seriously mess things up.
They have been sending through scouting forces, that will come out in the briefing.
Final version of Dawn Svenssen, only missing portrait.
Final version of Laine Horatio, only missing portrait and general description.
To All on Armor, Encumbrance and Move :
The armor layout is common to everyone. This includes the helmets, the tactical vest, and everything. Anything that uses locations (such as bullets or arrows) use the armor in that location. Anything that isn't specifically targeted (spell, wind, shotgun blast) uses your torso armor (12/5*).
Encumbrance and Move : Encumbrance and Move on sheets is based off you having your full kit on you (rifle, pistol (if you have one), pack, rucksack, etc). It does not include Sniper Rifles (for the sniper). That would not change it, since you'd have replaced the M4 with the assault rifle usually. If you want to carry both, it will push you up into the next level.
If you are just carrying your armor and weapons, then the encumbrance weight drops to 30lbs (if you don't have a Sig Sauer), or 33 with a Sig Sauer. If you have a bowie knife, add 1.5 lbs. This would normally be the situation if you're driving around in a HMMWV or APC with your packs and extra kit in the vehicle.
Darn, ok, I'll fix it tomorrow
Final version of Laine Horatio, only missing portrait and general description.
I'll find a portrait later in the day, something that looks like my alias. What kind of text would you have me write for the General description?
Just so we are on the clear
Four/five character sheets later and finally, something that I can work with. It can only get easier from here, maybe. Time to give the enemy the bird.
@Nadezhda - I do need at least some background on why a native Russian speaker is in the US National Guard. Probably something about immigrating as a teenager or something.
@Laine - Dark haired, brown eyed, with a scar and a glint in his eye. Tall red-head with green eyes and a wicked sense of humor. Short average looking blonde with blue eyes and dishwater hair. For example.
Ok I just wanted to hear if it were our appearence you wanted
Snickers...Morton. Morton! Morton...
@ mdt
I was wondering if you could put a few examples of how we do the rolling of skills and stuff.
Just so us new people can see how it's done in practise before we start to really need them.
Hi Laine,
All rolls (except damage) are 3d6 against a target number. You want to roll low.
A 3 is always a critical success, an 18 is a critical failure. A 17 is almost always a failure.
On 3d6 the average is 10.5. There is a table around someplace with the chance of success as you move through the bell curve.
Since skills only succeed on a 16 or less, many people think that raising a skill to 16 is sufficient. This is not the case as modifiers will change the effective target number. Having a skill higher than 16 increases the chance of success when it hits the fan.
So, on to a sample of rolling. You had to drive to work this morning, that's routine so you probably won't need to roll for it. You're now checking over your gear and an officer walks by and sees your non-regulation boots and starts throwing a hissy fit. The GM suggests you try giving an explanation of why you're allowed to wear them and make a diplomacy, fast-talk, or savoir-faire (military) roll.
You decide savoir-faire would be the best because you know that boots are commonly allowed and since you're police and not military you shouldn't be held to the same standards. Ouch, since you don't have any social skills and had to go with the default of IQ-4 you would have failed this roll, even if the GM liked your argument and gave you bonuses. The officer tells you to get regulation boots and walks away to harass someone else. Up to you what you do with it.
Later you're walking on patrol when a lion bursts from the tall grass and is heading straight at you. It's currently 50 yards away. Fortunately you were holding your M4 cradled in your arms. You can ready it and aim or shoot from the hip.
A) You decide to just shoot, full auto. At 50 yards you have a -8, the lion is moving at a speed of 12 (4 yards/second) for another -2. At full auto you get a +3 to hit. With a skill of 15-8-2+3 you needed an 8. You're wild spraying didn't hit the charging lion.
B) You realize you have a couple of seconds before the lion is on you, you swing your rifle up to ready (round 1), then aim (round 2) for 2 rounds (round 3-4). The lion continued to move and is now only 10 yards away at a speed of 18 (6 yards/second). -4 for distance, -6 for speed. But you get +4 for the weapon accuracy, and another +1 for aiming the second round and +3 for firing full auto for a modified skill of 15-4-6+4+2+3=14 . You succeeded by 4. Since the M4 has a recoil of 2, you had two full multiples of the recoil, therefore 3 shots hit.
Since the lion doesn't know what a gun is, it didn't get to dodge.
,,
The lion's fur counts as DR 1. The three bullets do 20-1, 21-1, and 11-1 = 49 damage. The lion had a health of 15, this takes it to -35.
The lion now needs to make a HT roll at -2 to not fall unconscious, assuming it also makes two HT roll to not die.
Safe to assume that lion collapses in the dust at your feet.
Keep in mind that GURPS combat is not like D&D. You can't! shrug off wounds and keep going. Players will need to think about the combat before they get into it. It is a lot more lethal. You won't be taking multiple hits from a knife, sword, or pistol and still be fighting like it's a flesh wound.
In this example you hit 3 times out of 15 shots fired on full auto. And it was enough to take down a full grown lion.
Well I think that's probably pretty accurate to what would happen in real life.
Take a look at these examples.
It's kinda like Ironclaw in a way, I think, that when you get hit, you have the chance to go into shock. Which is never good, as I witnessed a dual-wielder start parrying and swingin' their swords around four guys and he got hit once. Once was enough to keep him in shock forever throughout that battle, just because he didn't build any resolve whatsoever.
Slight correction to the Lion above :
1) Lions have a Size Modifier of +1, which means it's +1 easier to hit a Lion than a human. Therefore, the first attack needed a 9, not an 8.
2) Speed penalties only apply to things using the High-Speed Movement rules (p 394 of the main book). In general, living organisms don't use those (although some of the faster ones like cheetah's and such do). A Lion, having a speed roughly equivalent of a man, does not, so there is no speed penalty. Additionally, speed something moving straight toward you is often discounted (IE: It's easier to shoot something moving head on at you than something moving at a 90 degree angle). However, if we were going to include the speed, you add the speed and distance together, not as separate penalties. So distance 10 + speed (Note that Speed increases by 20% per turn spent sprinting, not by 100% of speed) so the lion's speed is 6 + 20%*6 = 7.2 + 20%*7.2 = 8.64 = 18.64 for a modifier of -6 total. So the final target number would be 15-6+4+2+3 for 18.
3) If the lion could dodge, he'd roll 3d6 attempting to dodge with a target number of his dodge attribute. So, he successfully dodged one of the attacks. He's still down from the other two that hit.
To make things easier in a PBP environment, when you roll an attack, also roll a Dodge for the target, immediately after the two hit and before you roll damage, then roll damage. That will make things easier on me, and I'll do the same. Example :
On a related note, the GM is rusty and had to spend 20 minutes looking up things over lunch. :) So please those who have experience with the system, call me out on things I miss.
My knowledge of Gurps is very little in size, but once I get the hang of it, I can make corrections. But I have no books, and no experience, so I will likely make the most mistakes. I hope you're all prepared for that.
I'm looking for a quick reference chart in public domain.
The character sheets have the range/distance table on them. :) But yes, there are other tables that are a pain to keep track of.
Ranged attack modifiers (may have some overlap with above)
Piercing Damage Codes and what they mean :
pi- damage is halved after armour
pi damage is as rolled
pi+ damage is increased by half after armour
pi++ damage is doubled after armour.
OK, what am I missing that Morton is funny?
Absolutely nothing. But I find it to be a very amusing last name. Thankfully, my character is "No Jokes, Just Birds." so the funny last name will never be in an in-character moment.
Thanks I think I understand it, we'll see how good when we need to start doing a few rolls.
I have a security clearance, not sure if that means "secret or higher"
Security Clearance is kind of fuzzy with GURPS.
Basically, 5 pts gets you access to a narrow range of secrets on a 'need to know' basis (which would count for this meeting).
I just use my question to ask around instead. Didn't quite catch I wasn't with them.
One of the things I wanted to get in my equipment load out was a few M-MPIMS, a M186 some M112 with dets.
Claymores, detonation rolls, and C4 bricks, for the uninitiated. :)
Stuff like that is dispensed to the Squad, not individual soldiers. When you leave through the portal, you'll get those as part of your squad kit. I'll be putting all the squad kit on a seperate character sheet and putting a link to it on the game page. That way if we have character churn it's not lost.
Sweet, explosives!
That's why i'm a combat engineer, we get to build with bombs!
I should trademark that.
We build with bombs!
I can put it on a t-shirt.
That can be our squad shirt during off-duty. That'll be an interesting reputation to create.
Ok, anything else that I should add to the Squad equipment. (Note, asking for input from people who've actually been in the military!). I think I got most of it covered but...
2 vehicles
2 heavy weapons (on vehicles)
.50 Ammo for M2Hb
5.56x45mm NATO ammo (for M249 and M4A1)
M112 C4 Bricks
M186 Demo Roll
M18A1 Claymores
Grenades (Concussion and Frag)
Mini Grenades (for grenade launchers)
Gas Masks
MREs
M249 SAW (AKA FN MINIMI)
M2HB (AKA Ma Deuce)
Under-Barrel Grenade Launchers (x2) for M4A1
Per my understanding :
Everyone is not issued UBGL's, only a couple of people per squad.
Two MRE's is generally what you need per day.
Dotting
One vehicle should have a .50, the other should have a mk 19 (40mm belt fed grenade launcher).
The bottom of my character sheet has a loadout that I copied from the 'net (link included).
It divides an equipment load iinto fight load, approach march load, and emergency march load. We'd likely be deployed with something like the full kit, expected to drop the last pack at camp, or leave on the vehicle, drop the march kit when combat is eminent, and likely keep the first two at hand nearly all the time.
Besides my axe, what kind of heavy weapon can I carry around? Huh? :)
An m249, or a mortar.
Speaking of which, since we can cram gear into two vehicles, a 40mm mortar would be a good option.
And some recon drones. Heck I'll take civilian models with a night vision camera.
Daniel can man the 50 cal on one vehicle, or hopefully drive, if needed.
One vehicle should have a .50, the other should have a mk 19 (40mm belt fed grenade launcher).
The bottom of my character sheet has a loadout that I copied from the 'net (link included).
It divides an equipment load iinto fight load, approach march load, and emergency march load. We'd likely be deployed with something like the full kit, expected to drop the last pack at camp, or leave on the vehicle, drop the march kit when combat is eminent, and likely keep the first two at hand nearly all the time.
They're having supply problems on the grenades and mortars (because CA is having to foot the bill for most of this) so for now, your vehicles have an M2HB and a mounted M249. Timm also has an M249 to carry around, with a tripod mount (or just in his hands, due to his bulk). So that reduces the ammo you need to carry.
As far as your kit on your sheet, I believe I captured that with what I put on everyone's sheet :
Backpack, Frame
Ballistic Helmet/Visor
Tactical Vest
Boots
Canteen
Compass
Heavy Flashlight
First Aid Kit
Personal Basics (socks, shorts, ID tags, etc)
Radio Headset (in helmet)
1 man tent
10 yards of nylon cord
Some people have other stuff (armoury kits, left at base or in the jeep).
Recon drones will be going in, but they'll be handled out of base. The lead humvee has a 25 mile range radio. Before you leave the valley, they'll have set up a relay station on the ridge line leading out of it. You also have a comms officer.
Lead HMMWV is an OHE M1114 configuration, four passengers (Driver, Comm, port rear passenger, starboard rear passenger) and one gunner (in the cupola with the .50 cal).
Secondary HMMWV is a MSG GMV, with a Driver, starboard forward passenger, and one gunner (in the cupola with the mounted M249).
While it's not preferred loadout/setup, it's doable with the resources they have.
Those without security clearance should all be at the Barracks with Laine and Corporal Johnston.
BTW: You should all be nervous at this point. I took my wife and mother to see King Kong last night, and had all sorts of marvelous ideas. :)
Gosh, I hope its giant gorrillas.
Ok, anything else that I should add to the Squad equipment. (Note, asking for input from people who've actually been in the military!). I think I got most of it covered but...
2 vehicles
2 heavy weapons (on vehicles)
.50 Ammo for M2Hb
5.56x45mm NATO ammo (for M249 and M4A1)
M112 C4 Bricks
M186 Demo Roll
M18A1 Claymores
Grenades (Concussion and Frag)
Mini Grenades (for grenade launchers)
Gas Masks
MREs
M249 SAW (AKA FN MINIMI)
M2HB (AKA Ma Deuce)
Under-Barrel Grenade Launchers (x2) for M4A1Per my understanding :
Everyone is not issued UBGL's, only a couple of people per squad.
Two MRE's is generally what you need per day.
Would we have some tool kits and maintenance gear? What about shovels and entrenching tools, etc?
Ok, no word from Gobo, so I'm going to open up the recruitment to a few other people. If he turns up, if we have an opening, he can take it. Otherwise, we'll have an NPC or two.
Would we have some tool kits and maintenance gear? What about shovels and entrenching tools, etc?
I believe your tool kits and maintenance gear is covered as several people have Armoury (small arms) and Armoury (mechanic) and Armoury (vehicle armor) kits.
Entrentching tools are a good catch though!
Is it too late to add some personal gear?
Not if you hurry. :)
If we don't get any takers for the game, we'll go forward with our NPCs and breach the gate tomorrow.