From: sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Time and judgement
Date: 10 Sep 92 16:50:36 MDT
Organization: Utah State University

In article <1992Sep10.141103.1@wharton.upenn.edu>, 
 millerl@wharton.upenn.edu writes:
> In article <1992Sep10.153256.26698@news.columbia.edu>, 
 jhk6@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (John H Kim) writes:
>> 	Yes, there are some cases where the 5 second phase is unrealistic. 
>> But I think that for the vast majority of cases, it is more realistic and 
>> playable than a 1 second phase. 
> 
> I don't really agree, but if folx are bothered by combats taking too
> little game time then why not change perceptions instead of adding
> rules? When asked how long a X-round fight took, roll Xd6 for the
> answer. 

I have to agree with Loren, here. It seems that this discussion has gone 
from one of ``AD&D's time mechanics is more realistic than that of GURPS,''
to ``GURPS combat is too fast.'' That's the main complaint now, isn't 
it (seriously, correct me if I am wrong -- I've skimmed this thread at 
times and may have missed something)? 

If all you're looking for is longer combat (so it can be more realistic), 
why don't you just insert some rounds here and there (rounds that apply 
equally to both sides, so they can't favor one side) to make the combats 
longer? These extra rounds (call them ``lost'' rounds if you want), could
be inserted after the fight (like Loren's suggestion) to simulate the time
that can pass during a fight during which the combatants are not actively
thinking. Nothing would happen during them, so it wouldn't take extra time.
The fight takes 10 seconds of GURPS rounds, the GM rules (with dice or 
whatever, AFTER the fight) that there were 8 or so extra rounds in there 
somewhere during which the fighters couldn't actively do anything. But 
those rounds would be applied to the entire fight, after the fight, so it 
doesn't hamstring either of the fighters (like -- ``Okay, you can't do 
anything this round, flurry of combat you know. Meanwhile, your opponent
has HIT.'')

The problem I have with making the rounds longer in real time is that it 
would change a lot of other mechanics of the game. Like active defenses, 
RoF's, reload times, weapon-readying times, stunning and recovery times, 
health/recovery rules (how often do you roll?) and on and on. It's worse 
than simply having new rules to keep track of, you'd have to adjust other 
ones accordingly. And if you are like me, you would have to find a lot of 
them by playing (like -- ``Oh, yeah, I guess a five second round WOULD have 
that effect, wouldn't it?'').

I just don't see the big deal. What is so hard to swallow about short 
combats? Okay, so a fight takes 15 seconds of GURPS rounds, when in 
reality it would have taken a full minute (even tho no one here really 
knows how long a given fight would take). What is so horrible about that?
I consider myself a reality MONGER and I can deal with it.

Okay,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chadd VanZanten SL9B4@CC.USU.EDU  ``You know, I thought this was a
good idea but this is one weird mama-jama.''  -- TV's Frank, MST3K
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