Re: (TFT) Crossbows Are Too Powerful ?

["Ty Beard" <tbeard@tyler.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "rsmith" <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>
To: <tft@brainiac.com>


> Hi Everyone,

> I agree, the ST needed to use a crossbow
> quickly in TFT require the user to cock the bow
> with brute force, thus prompting the high ST.
> Much weaker people can use crossbows using goat
> foots and cranequins (see Advance Melee).  The
> cost is that they may only be fired once per
> minute or so.

Interestingly enough, Steve Jackson is now in partial agreement with me on
the ST issue. In GURPS, a crossbow has a minimum ST of 7, while short bows
have a minimum ST of 7, longbows a minimum ST of 11. Crossbow damage is
higher -- +4 for crossbow, +2 for a longbow (versus TFT's 4 point difference
in average damage). I think that we can easily validate the damage by
looking at the kinetic energy generated by both weapons.

See http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite/gurpslit.pdf

Here you can also see the gaming absurdity of equating penetration and
damage. In GURPS, an M1 Garand does 7d+1 damage -- an average of 25.5 points
per shot. Few ST 10 normals in GURPs will survive a single hit from such a
weapon. A sci-fi blaster rifle does 12d damage (!).

On my website, you can see some of my attempts to create modern weapons
rules that decouple damage and penetration so that lightly armored targets
can survive.

--Ty Beard
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