Re: (TFT) TFT TM

[pvk@oz.net]

On Wed, August 30, 2006 2:36 pm, David O. Miller wrote:
...
> Ever play Chivalry and Sorcery then?

Nope, though it's on my list to browse the rules sometimes for neat ideas.

I guess "not complex enough" wasn't exactly what I meant, if that wasn't
obvious. I don't seek complexity for its own sake, but to overcome
dissatisfactions that I feel after mastering a game and becoming too aware
of the parts that don't make sense and start to seem very artificial. At
that point, it's too much for me like playing the game system using the
mastered tactics and less about people in a real situation coming up with
clever new tactics that work because they make sense.

For example, the IQ point limit on talents in TFT. Leads to characters
going to the Wizards' Guild to get their talents erased so they can make
room in their brain to learn more. A classically amusing quirk, but in the
end, not very convincing. GURPS seems a lot closer to a good model of
human skills, if understood and used properly. (Players can devote study
time or character development points to increasing any number of skills
from rudimentary levels to high levels, with effects from attribute levels
and aptitudes or ineptnesses.) Yet it too has its realism limits
particularly if "gamed" rather than used by players whose first goal is to
represent a character accurately. And at that point, I can come up with
some guidelines and even rules to improve that system so it's more
satisfying. Yet at the same time, it also starts to get a bit too complex
to deal with at least for most characters (where one doesn't want to spend
hours describing them perfectly).

If you have a really good and experienced GM who knows GURPS like the back
of his/her hand, then it can be used as a framework to keep everything in
proportion and making sense, only resorting to detailed stuff when it
matters.

Also, personally, I just love doing low tech combat in detail, and having
solid rules for weird situations and tactics when they crop up. So much
that I even get particular about the things that don't seem accurate
enough even with all the GURPS rules, or that I at least just want to
tweak by a point or two here or there, or add big new juicy critical
hit/miss tables, etc.

I like being able to kind of see what happened by looking at where the
bodies and weapons ended up lying around, and using the advanced bleeding
rules to triage the wounded and see who survives and how long it takes to
stabilize everyone using the people left who know how to stop bleeding,
requiring skill rolls with modifiers and time spend for each attempt to
treat each bleeding wound, and every few minutes of lying around bleeding,
etc.

TFT is still a sentimental favorite though, and has tons of good stuff in
it, and is of course great for initiating new players.

PvK
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