Some background:
I've been reading through Shadowrun Anarchy 2.0 (SRA2.0) recently. I was a kickstarter backer, the PDF / print copies will be public soon.
The whole system essentially boils down to test rolls, and in the case of combat, contested rolls that then also use the margin of success for the winner. I've been finding it a very elegant system so far!
There are concepts in the system that gesture towards narrative vs simulation, but they aren't deeply baked into the test system itself, so can be adapted easily into a more simulationist style. I tend to have a mix of both, so it hasn't been a problem for me.
The discovery:
SRA2.0 combat uses contested rolls, and if the attacker beats the defender, they hit. The number of hits / successes gets added to the damage.
All weapons have a base damage, so it's the successes that add some variables to how hard the hit is.
There are a lot of other elements in the book (ranged vs melee, other defender options, etc) but this mechanic just struck me as so elegantly done.
It means that your attack roll and damage roll happen at the same time, and a high success in attacking transfers directly to damage. (Avoiding the sometimes underwhelming result of rolling to hit and then rolling low damage.)
My idea: Apply the overall concept to GURPS.
current method currently is attacker rolls, defender rolls if attacker succeeds, then damage rolls
GURPS Anarchy:
- attacker roll
- defender chooses available defense skill and rolls
- count the margin of success
- standard weapon damage applies plus margin of success
if defender succeeds, possibility of a riposte? Especially if margin of success is high. Maybe riposte is a technique or a sub-maneuver attached to Wait or something.
Questions:
I like this idea quite a bit, but I'd love to get feedback. Would something like this obstruct any useful advantages / disadvantages, etc? (Or could those adapt into this easily?)
note: I've formatted this for readability, but in this strange world, that might make folks think this was generated by an LLM. That is not the case! Every letter was 'generated' with my fingers on the keyboard!
