>Hi Hal
Hi Mike :)
>I could see some bonus but not half, otherwise the first thing you're
>taught about surviving a firefight wouldn't be taking cover. I'd almost
>think that it's assumed that this is what's happening and can be covered
>by being able to "Dodge" bullets. You're not actually dodging around
>each individual bullet as you are making yourself harder to hit in
>general. Even if you give some bonus, it would really only be relevant
>against one opponent, or a small group of closely grouped ones.
>Otherwise turning to make yourself smaller to one just leaves you
>exposed to another.
That is why I more or less intend to go with adding a simple enough
"stance" modifier. Someone who is behind a wall and firing around the
courner gets the "cover" bonus based on how much the building covers the
target. This would be one "minor" thing as GM to consider when a player
takes a shot during the street fight. And, as you noted, such a person who
is partial profile to one shooter might be full target from someone
shooting from another location. I'm going to go with your assessment that
the bonus, if any, shouldn't be the FULL bonus as might be given under a
"target is covered by intervening objects". I might make it the normal
bonus -1 such that a 50% profile covered which (if I recall correctly) is a
-4 to hit - changes to a -3 to hit as a "Stance modifier" if the firer is
in a perfect "narrow" profile (ie turned sideways to fire stance).
Part of the problem in any game system is that at the precise moment of
shot, the target might turn sideways, or if in a sideways stance relative
to the shooter, turn full broadside on. Someone who isn't familiar with
firing at a target that is below them may often pick an aim point that
insures that their shot will end up at the feet of their target instead of
even close to hitting their target. There are more than a few "variables"
in shooting that can make it nearly impossible to create a viable *AND*
fast simulation of shooting a gun at a moving target.
One thing I rather liked about PHOENIX COMMAND rules for gun play was the
maximum accuracy of a round. After a certain point, it didn't matter how
good of a shot you were - the inherent accuracy of the round itself (or gun
delivery system) makes it a lottery effort to nail the target you're aiming
for. GURPS unfortunately, doesn't seem to have the ability to simulate
this. Another issue I have with GURPS weapon accuracy values is that some
bullets will take a second or more to reach their targets. You're not only
trying to hit the target where you think he will be when your bullet's
trajectory will match your target's movement - you're also trying to
predict your target's movement 1 or 2 seconds into the future AND get your
bullet's trajectory to intersect with the target. Looking up the stats on
the .44 Smith & Wesson American shell, circa 1869 or so, the Muzzle
velocity (at the barrel) is (depending on the bullet weight) between 227
yards per second and 270 yards per second. As the same round was used in
both pistols and rifles back then - this implies that anything outside of
227 yards or 270 yards (again, depending on bullet weight used) - the
bullet takes at least 1 plus second to hit its target. The .44 Smith &
Wesson Russion rounds however, had muzzle velocities of 231 to 250 yards
depending on the bullet weight. One "round" had a muzzle velocity of 300
yards per second! (It seems to be a major anomalty however, as the bulk of
the velocities listed were around 700 fps)
Can GURPS be improved or tinkered with? For certain. Do I like being able
to input actual data from various gun data books or cartidge books and
making it compatable with GURPS? For SURE! Until David Pulver prints out
his GURPS VEHICLES design system for use with GURPS 4e, I suspect that I
will be limited to using mostly GURPS 3e rules for this or perhaps a
modified 3e to 4e kind of kludge. Ultimately? This has to be fun for ME
to run rather than be something that benefits SJGames to the extent that it
hooks players for their 4e system. As has been noted in other posts, there
aren't exactly a lot of books that support GURPS 4e for the OLD WEST genre ;)
Hal
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