I wrote The Last Gasp after musing about how tired I was after 30-60 seconds of working a large banana bag in class, as well as how quickly one can get fatigued while sparring and fighting. What if, I mused, every time you rolled the dice it used up a resource? Would that lead to more lull-and-flurry type activity in what is otherwise more or less continuous second-by-second action in GURPS combats?

TLG is one of those articles folks either love or hate, which seems right to me. If you want this effect, you really want it. If you don’t care, or think combats are just fine as they are, it’s pointless bookkeeping and it sucks.

Anyway, Kalzazz, who occasionally graces this blog with fight-tests and other commentary, had heard both pro and con about TLG, and decided to take it for a test drive. His and his players’ styles tend to what I’d call “alpha-strike heavy,” in that they’re frequently dealing with such high power levels, damage totals, and sheer wow-factor that the question of why you’d try and charge Superman an AP cost for his heroics surely comes to mind. Even so, he gave it a tryout.

Below are his comments.

The First Grasp Of The Last Gasp

Aya, “Hello! Aya your Friendly Ravenfolk Reporter from Woden Wedsnesday News! Tired of heroes never stopping to catch a breath? Tonight we try . . . . The Last Gasp!”

One of my online friends on The Last Gasp asked “What’s That?”

So I explained it! “Its an optional fatigue system for GURPS to in theory encourage lulls and pauses and improve player agency by giving another resource to play with.”

They replied “I remember last time I played GURPS I found it hard to find a reason to do much other than let loose with a machine gun every turn.”

Then I asked if I could quote them, as I think that reply is exactly what Doug intended to address!

And that was the framing device for messing around with The Last Gasp, an article from way back in Pyramid 44, often mentioned, but never before now was I able to really set to trying it out with the help of boon companions/guinea pigs.

So using my much beloved Gazebo map I use for lots and lots of fights, we picked two lucky contestants.   

1. Daigan Kelso, a Psi Wars Mystic Tyrant Apprentice, with a lightsabre and battleweave (iteration 5, so flat DR 20 and Flexible).
2. Tandi (short for Tandloes, which Google assured me is Swedish for Toothless, she is named after a distinguished ancestor), a ‘Swedish House Gecko’ in human form from a Hidden Magic Pirates of the Caribbean game, armed with a pair of seaxes (long knives) and whats armor?  Also with Delusion ‘I am a Master of Drekistyl Streithkidni’ (which at some point I determined meant ‘Dragon Style War Skill’)

Both of these characters chosen by virtue of being conveniently to hand and armed with melee weapons, what more could you ask for?

And that is the introduction, on to the actual action!

Starting positions 

Tandi had 15 FP, 16 AP (she didn’t have many skills or advantages for AP)

Daigan had 12 FP, 17 AP (many relevant skills/advantages)

Tandi won init, so, she spent 10 AP and 1 FP two fast draw her two knives (2 AP), move and attack (7 hexes and 1 facing change, it did take some doing to find the route to best minimize facing changes along the way, normally you move into any 3 of your front hexes with every step, so this was noticeable as a change) and 2 AP for a Dual Weapon Attack.  And 1 FP on Heroic Charge.

She got a crit, Daigan used luck, not a crit.  Then bombed her parries, and got whacked for 2 knockback and 7 total damage in 2 hits (the 20 DR battleweave from Iteration 5 was nice, so it stopped the first knife blowing doing 18 clean for 1 blunt trauma and 18 knockback, the second knife blow 24 cut, so 6 after armor).

Rolling her HT saves to avoid AP loss, at -1 and -4 (shock penalty per blow) Daigan lost 4 AP and 2 for her two parries.  And she got knocked back 2.  But avoided Knockdown and such to ring out.

Daigan has lost 6 AP, so is at 11.  She steps back and swings.   Tandi can’t retreat.  Looking up, Acrobatics does not cost AP.  -1 AP for both of them.   So Daigan 10, Tandi 5.

Tandi then steps and attacks, Dual Weapon Attack, so down to 3 AP.

 

Daigan retreating parries, she cuts one of Tandi’s knives in half, but takes a hit for 4 more damage (penetrated armor so no knockback) so 4 damage.  Fails HT save for AP loss, so loses 7 (-1 retreat, -2 parries, -4 damage).

Daigan decides to All Out Defend (+2 to Parry) and doesn’t KO.

Only having 1 knife left and not wanting to Attack into that Parry, I decide to have Tandi Evaluate.  For the first time I think since when Technical Grappling very first came out.  Tandi rolled so so, regained 1 AP, back to 4.

Daigan AOD again.  Still at 3 AP.

Tandi feinted!  Down to 3 AP  Tandi crushed the Feint!

Daigan AOD again.  And she stepped so she was no longer next to the edge of the Gazebo, Tandi was really ticked off as going for a Ring Out was totally my plan!

No Guts, No Glory Right?  Tandi burns 2 AP (going down to 1) and All Out Attack, flat of the blade!  

Daigan does a Retreating (1 AP), Acrobatic, Parry (1 AP) down to 1 AP (Note – and she did AOD, so both of those should have been free.  OOPS!  My bad!).  It doesn’t help!  She gets hit for 3, fails her HT save vs AP damage and goes down to 2 AP in arrears. She burns a FP to get 6 back, so 4 AP, 11 FP.

Tandi rolled 1 less damage than she needed for a ring out!

Daigan made her HT save to stay conscious, and then stepped and telgraphically (even with her -3 shock penalty) stabbed Tandi in the vitals for 46 points of Tight Beam burning, Armor Divisor 5.  Tandi took 90 damage, and she only had 1 AP left.  So she had to spend 12 FP for 96 AP, going up to 7, for -4 DX/HT and 40% strength at 3/15 FP!.   She made all her HT saves for Death x3, KO, Major Wound (even with -5 for Vitals)

“Impressive, most people do not withstand a lightsaber through the heart.”

“T told you . . . I am a . . . Master of Drekistyl Streithkidni!”

And then her next action she failed her KO check.  THUD.

So I had skimmed the article earlier today when it got mentioned in Discord, so I was already primed and ready to go, for the most part it was fairly easy and understandable, and I had no difficulty keeping the AP scores of the two combatants in my head..

The first player, who hadn’t cracked the book (had gotten the Pyramid for Abstract Wealth, not The Last Gasp) before game start had a harder time following.  And considered it “Far. Too. Much. Book. Keep. Ing.”   The other player was lost and wanted a Cheat Sheet to help.

It did take longer than I would have liked, but that was more due to reading the rules to figure out WHAT to Bookkeep rather than the Bookkeeping itself to me.

I am not sure how much impact it had on this simple duel.  It seemed neat, but both combatants had surplus AP and FP right up until the very end.   The biggest driver of the stalling with AoD and such was 1 character did not want to attack into getting their weapon parried by a lightsabre, and one character really wanted them to.

I am certainly interested in trying it again, it did give feels of extra player agency and involvement! 

It also worked easily enough using two random characters that were not designed with The Last Gasp in mind.

 I am hoping to see if can get the two players earlier involved in the ‘called on account of boredom’ duel to try that same duel under The Last Gasp, maybe they would have more fun?

The fight did last 5 rounds.

1 AP per damage seemed harsh, particularly for things like Silverback Giant Apes or Elephants who have far more HP than AP, it feels like it should be divided by healing multiplier perhaps?  But that is wild speculation off a grand total of seeing it in play once.