Re: Coming back to DnD

On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 13:10:16 -0700, Bruce Grubb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Courtney Love) wrote:
>
>> Rupert Boleyn [EMAIL PROTECTED]  wrote:
>> 
>> >Nope. Points earned during an adventure are spent on things done
>> >during the adventure. If my character used no skills, advantages, or
>> >attributes other than Broadsword, the points pretty much have to go
>> >there unless you're going to force me to put them into ST and DX on
>> >the grounds that they're used while swinging a sword, and in that case
>> >unless the game runs for some time you may as well simply not given
>> >them to me - ie been a bastard.
>> 
>> This is one of the reasons that GURPS is not as much fun to actually play
>> campaign-style as D&D.  The PCs are pretty much at the GM's mercy when it 
>> comes to the type of adventures they have.  If you have shoot-em-ups you
>> only get to improve your combat skills, by the book.  

If you only have shoot-em-ups, what's the use of other skills?
Although of course even in shoot-em-ups you can adopt strategies
that make "non-combat skills" more important.  For example if you want
to concentrate on traps skills then you can come up with a plan that
involves luring attackers into a trap and be sure to set up an
improvised alarm every time you make camp.  If you want Architecture
skills you can announce at every turn that you are using your 
Architecture skill to search for secret doors and rooms.  If you can't
create such opportunities because the GM is being a jerk, then
the skills won't be of any use to you once you get them higher,
either.  

>
>WRONG 'By the book' (Basic Set sidebar pg 82 in fact) there is the 
>Improvement though Study option. "This improement does *not* depend on the 
>actual play of the character."

Of course that relies on a campaign that gives your character
significant amounts of downtime.