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| GURPS Lite, p28 |
Many games in the GURPS era quantify the physical properties of the real world in one universal chart expressing the natural world through a numeric modifier. Champions, Mayfair's DC Heroes game, and a few others do this (Ascendant, a newer superhero game today, also does this).
You will always stay on this chart when playing GURPS, and you need to become proficient in it to make the game work correctly. Sometimes, it becomes a real pain (space combat), but you don't want to break one part of the game to make another run smoother.
The chart doubles every two points, so a -12/+12 is 200 yards, and -11 is the mid-point.
Speed and range are added together to create the modifier. This can make a pretty tricky modifier, so if your "18-minus" archers get bored because they hit all the time, take another look at this chart.
A 1-yard tall goblin (-2 to hit), moving at a crossing speed of 5 at 10 yards (5 + 10 = 15, a -5 modifier) gives a total of a -7 to hit. This is like a goblin rubbing across a hallway ahead of the characters, and suddenly, that "sure thing" 18-minus shot becomes an 11-minus. It takes a skilled archer to pull off a quick crossing shot of a small goblin that is only visible for a short moment, and your fighter who just has a 12-minus skill is going to be in awe of your 18-minus elf ranger pretty quick if the shot hits.
If the elf sights in on the area and aims for three seconds with a longbow, they get a +5 to-hit, and the possibility of a called shot returns, or a sure thing if the elf wants it.
Moving targets are more challenging to hit! This chart separates the low-skill characters from the high ones and allows the characters with higher skill levels to shine. Also, faithfully applying ranged attack modifiers buffs melee characters and makes them viable. How?
Look at D&D in the above example. The goblin, AC 15, is the same target number for that 10-yard crossing shot as it is versus a fighter in melee combat. Both have to roll a d20, apply a similar +3 to +6 modifier, and have around a 50-50 chance to hit (or better). In GURPS, the character with the ranged attack has a more challenging time hitting at range than the melee character does up close.
Melee characters are at the most risk in GURPS, but since they are close, this is where the hitting and bloodshed happen. This is true in real life and should be in a fantasy game.
It seems strange to point this out, but this is how it is in reality. Look at gunfight statistics in the real world, and you will see most shots are misses. Guns need a lot of rounds because 90% of shots will be missed in a typical firefight. The more ammo you have, the more effective the weapon is in defense.
D&D gives ranged characters the same chance to hit as melee characters, a gross oversimplification that makes both attack types identical. This gives ranged combat a considerable power buff and weakens melee characters to uselessness. D&D needs to "invent" abilities for fighters to provide them with parity when, in GURPS, parity is built into the rules.
But our longbow user is not helpless. Aiming helps. Holding shots for a sure thing is what happens in real life. That goblin may not want to run up a hall with an archer looking down it to engage our fighter, and that could force a morale roll - monsters are not stupid and "run into fire" like they do in D&D. If the goblin tries to advance up the hall using a shield for cover, they won't be able to run, so the archer can have time to aim.
There is a game of tactics here, and the Size/Speed/Range Table plays into that.
Magic spells (DF Spells, p13-14) are subject to these same modifiers when making ranged attacks. There is a roll to "charge" the spell, which does not use the modifiers, and then the roll to make the ranged attack happens as usual (within 3 seconds). What is the moral of the story? You don't "really" have a magic missile spell if you buy it at an 11 or 13-minus since you won't be able to hit anything with it all that well.
Again, what is D&D? Magic missiles consistently hit, which is a massive buff to caster power, which is more than they already need. D&D casters have always felt that they were "too good to be here" and never had to consider tactics, aiming, setting up traps, and firing from cover.
In GURPS, casters need to know ranged combat tactics, and they need to play smart. You are likely more vulnerable to melee and a target of ranged fire (same modifiers as above). You can't just be a mage and ignore tactics like you are above them; you are a combat mage and need to get in the dungeon and play dirty. Playing a mage in GURPS is fun because you can't float above the fray like a superhero and feel immortal. You need to think, and you need to play for keeps.
Oh, and have fighters in the party; you will need them if your ranged attacks suck. In most cases, you just NEED them, and more fighters are always better.
There is a massive difference between GURPS games that use this table faithfully versus those that do not. If you do not apply these modifiers, the game gets too easy, and characters with 24-minus skills will aim at the vitals every shot and do maximum damage. That -7 penalty in the first example lowers our chance to a 17-minus, which is still near-guaranteed. But if we put a vitals shot on it, that becomes a 14-minus roll. A few levels of darkness may take another two points off that roll.
Suddenly, the "I am bored" player with the 21-minus vital shot per turn makes a 12-minus near 50-50 roll for that same vital shot at that goblin. If that shot hits, it is likely a kill shot. But in that situation, an archer as skilled as that can attempt these types of shots, where your average 13-minus "I just got the skill" character is still fumbling around with the arrow in a quiver (and a 4-minus chance to pull off the same shot).
You may feel bad applying heavy modifiers to starting characters, but applying them and sticking to the rules will improve your high-level play. You will realize why you fought so hard to become a specialist when you get there. I feel people soften the rules to make things easier on beginners, and this sabotages the high-level game when the modifiers are not applied faithfully "because we never really used them." Players whose character gets a 20-minus or higher skill get bored and quit.
The Size/Speed/Range Table is the heart of GURPS. It defines melee, ranged, and caster balance. It sets a contrast between high and low skill. This makes "low-level" characters hurt and "high-level" characters shine. Make sure all players have a copy at the table.
These will be the modifiers your characters will live and die by. This is like the "Shadowdark torch timer" that defines that game. How well you can play this chart will determine your character's fate in the game.
Print it out, laminate it, and take it everywhere you go.
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