Optional rules that I use in games

Optional rules that I use in games

I've noticed that the list of optional rules that I give to my players is almost always the same. This is a low effort post, but I will list the rules here and provide comments on why I am using these rules.

First, I'll say that I'm usually striving for heroic realism. Nothing too gritty, but not very cinematic either. I actually find that using some of the "realistic" rules often allows for cool feats for the characters that would be impossible in a cinematic game. For example, removing an enemy's armor by cutting the straps - isn't that great?

 - Accumulated Wounds and Last Wounds (p. B420)

This rule, I feel, makes things better with only a marginal increase in bookkeeping.

- Additional Hit Locations (p. MA137)

Additional hit locations are always fun, especially couples with partial armor covering.

- Bleeding (p. B420)

Bleeding makes First Aid more important and also makes enemies with low ST more dangerous if they have non-crushing weapons.

- Damage to Shields (p. B484)

Shields are very good in GURPS. Making them breakable adds a lot of depth, decreasing the benefits of having a shield, increasing the power of high ST and high damage weapons, and making differences between various shields more pronounced.

- Changing Posture in Armor (p. B395)

Makes heavily armoured and lightly armoured fighters slightly different. It's a small rule, but it's a nice one.

- Expanded combat options from Martial Arts

I don't hate fun.

- Extra Effort in Combat (p. B357), plus options from Martial Arts

Makes FP much more relevant to those who do not have any way to spend them on supernatural abilities.

- Penalized multiple Active Defenses

This rule is crucial to make high active defense scores less valuable. In addition, it makes low ST enemies more dangerous, as they can "tank" your active defenses for a more powerful attack to slip through. This small rule increases the tactical depth.

- No harsh realism for unarmed fighters (p. MA124)

Monks and other unarmed combatants are my guilty pleasure. Even with heroic realism in mind, they usually are subpar compared to armed fighters, so it makes no sense to make them even worse.

- No harsh realism for ranged weapons (p. LT75)

Again, ranged combatants usually have it rough on low TL battlefields, so I think it is fair to not impede them further.

- Blunt Trauma and Edged Weapons (p. LT102)

Makes high ST and weapons with high damage bonuses better, and makes armor better too. It's a great rule.

- My Armor Doesn't Fit! (p. LT103)

Makes Armoury in adventuring situations occasionally useful!

- Multiple Rapid Strikes as per p. MA127

While rarely relevant, this is a cool option for high skill fighters.

- Survival Rules from DF16

I'm not playing DF, but this book is a godsend.

- No Chambara Movement, Attacks, Defenses

That's too cinematic for my tastes.

- No Technical Grappling

While I love Technical Grappling in a conceptual sense, I found it too complex and slow in play. Grappling comes up very often in my games and, honestly, I've never had any problems with the default grappling system. If I had to use an alternate grappling system, I'd go with FDG - I like that one.

- Banned advantages: Gadgeteer, Gizmo, Gunslinger, Heroic Archer, Heroic Thrower, Foresight, Rapier Wit, Serendipity, Social Chameleon, Weapon Master

These are way too cinematic for my tastes. Also, I have some gripes with Weapon Master. Peter Dell'Orto has put it into words more elegantly than I would ever be able to in this post. In addition to those issues, I feel that Weapon Master makes encounter balance much more difficult. Generally, you know how much damage a fighter can do on average, but Weapon Master creates an entire new category to take into account. An armored enemy with a certain level of DR might be impervious to a fighter without Weapon Master, but the same DR might be almost unnoticeable by the fighter with Weapon Master. This isn't cool.

- Cinematic Weapons: Barbed Chain, Double-Ended Sword, Double-Headed Axe (p. LTC2-17-18)

I loved those in D&D, and they do not seem overpowered or anything like that.

- Spiked Plate (p. LTC2-18)

Same as above.

- Damage to Weapons (p. LTC2-22-24) and Damage to Armor (p. LTC2-25)

These rules add a lot of bookkeeping, but also add a lot of depth to armor and weapon choice. I wouldn't use these rules in normal games, but since most of my games are play-by-post, the added bookkeeping is not that big of a deal.

- Alternative ST system

I have tried playing with the default ST system, with the reduced swing one, and KYOS, and I liked them all. Since most of my games are low TL, I prefer using Reduced Swing Damage, but for Ultra-Tech games I prefer using KYOS.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything.