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Friday 15 December 2017

Bullet time


I hoped to have news today of Jamie's latest project, a book about the early years of Games Workshop, but it turns out I have no more info to impart than is already on the crowdfunding page, so instead I'm going to talk about a passage that caught my eye in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian:
"We rested our rifle barrels on the brimstone and we shot nine more on the lava where they ran. It was a stand, what it was. Wagers was laid. The last of them shot was a reckonable part of a mile from the muzzles of the guns and that on a dead run. It was sharp shootin all around and not a misfire in the batch with that queer powder."
These fellows are ordinary NPCs, which in GURPS terms might be 100-point characters. The highest that most of them would be in Guns skill is around 15-16, but we can assume the final shot that Tobin, the narrator, is talking about was made by the company's best sharpshooter. Let's say he has a skill of 22.

"A reckonable part of a mile" -- that's got be at least 1000 yards, which is -16 for range. And the last Indian shot was "on a dead run", and even though a component of that motion would be directly away from the shooter, it's got to be at least another -6.

So far our shooter needs 0 to hit. But he can aim for three rounds, which gives him the Accuracy bonus of the weapon (+3 for a Sharps .59 caplock) and another +2 for the extra rounds spent. Also he can brace the rifle for +1.

With an adjusted skill of 6 the shooter had a 9.3% chance of success (GURPS makes skill rolls on 3d6). I wouldn't take that shot myself. Ammo's too precious. But it was the last of their enemies and everyone's blood was up, so obviously our man decided to go for it.I bet the referee gave him a character point in Guns for that, too, which is pretty much useless at that level and in any case you learn more from failure than from success -- but hey, nobody turns down a CP, am I right?

But that's fiction, or it's gaming. How about real-life skills? I found this assessment of 1911 handguns. Now, those aren't rifles and they are from 60 years (a whole Tech Level) after the events of Blood Meridian, but still Mr Kolesar is getting a spread of 2 inches with his Colt at 50 yards. That would be good enough to ensure a face hit every time, which in GURPS terms is -5 and another -8 for range, so -13 overall. The Colt has Accuracy +2, so with three rounds to aim and holding it in both hands that reduces the penalty to -8. To hit pretty much every time means adjusted skill must be 17, so Mr Kolesar's actual Guns skill in GURPS terms must be at least 25. He's built on more than 100 points, I bet.

Incidentally, Tobin also says they didn't get a single misfire from a batch of black powder they just mixed up Captain Kirk style. They shot sixty-seven of their enemies and not every shooter can have been as good as that eagle-eyed guy who downed the last one, so let's say at least a hundred bullets were fired. This is the mid-nineteenth century and misfires occur on 16+ on 3d6 at Tech Level 5, so you'd expect four or five in every hundred shots. That must have been some magic formula.

Anyway, I recommend Blood Meridian. It's what you'd get if Michel Tournier and Lord Dunsany collaborated on a fabulist Western. And if that doesn't pique your interest, what would?

21 comments:

  1. I read it about 10 years ago on a course. Loved the landscape writing, the hard-as-nails existence, the matter-of-fact fights and shooting scenes, and the CMC's inventiveness. But got frustrated by the story and the violence...

    Now what you've done here I like very much. In a way, isn't much of RPGing about recreating or echoing the stories we admire, or creating new ones that satisfy in similar ways? Thinking about the dice-rolls you would need, the rules that should be/could be bent to create a satisfying outcome is, I think, a great way to refine RPG action. Nobody wants that final shot to miss - not the DM or the players - as long as it's a vanilla NPC that's running away, anyway. A piece of furniture, essentially.

    I wonder what other recreations of legendary / story events would help refine a set of rules to create these sort of moments? Could be a whole series.

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    1. As many previous posts have made clear, I'm dead against rules that aim to create "satisfying" stories. I'm much more interested in the way stories spool out of life's random events. Sometimes that last shot does miss, and there are consequences. For me the goal of roleplaying is to create an experience in the moment, regardless of whether that makes for a neatly packaged story when you come to look at it afterwards. For that matter, I don't even much care for stories that are neatly tied-up according to tropes and patterns. Give me the messy edges of a Kate Chopin or Adrian Tomine story over the fast-food formula of The Last Jedi, say.

      But everybody should game however they like, and I realize a lot of people do prefer group storytelling to in-character story creation (an important distinction).

      Btw... "CMC"?

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    2. My wife just pointed out that Mr McCarthy might be known in literary circles as "the CMC". Duh. I'll try harder in future :-)

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  2. Only part off topic this time, Dave! I'll look forward to reading the Games Workshop early years. I wonder if me buying Dragon Warriors from there thinking they were gamebooks will feature? No, that's silly, I think that was 1986. It may be worth me paying £400 just so I get to ask, "Ian, Eye Of The Dragon, how do ya pick 'em?", as I'm tucking into my pasta.

    I was flicking through my copies of Warlock magazine the other day. Does Jamie own the copyright to the column he did, Dave? Just thought they'd make an excellent feature on here for those that missed them first time around. I remember being gutted when I went to get no.14 and was told by the owner of a brilliant little shop called Amazing (pre GW opening where I live), that it had been discontinued.

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    1. Ah yes, Andy, those Warlock columns. I think I actually wrote half of one of those for Jamie, though only he can keep the flow of words coming in that unique style. In a way it was the prototype for the Dirk Lloyd books. He may own the copyright, and if so it would be a great idea to run them here -- or give them their own page in the sidebar, at least. But I doubt if he's kept copies.

      Your story about Warlock reminds me of going up to Dark They Were & Golden-Eyed in the early '70s. I'd bought the first four issues of Coven 13, and in the last one the editor, Arthur Landis, said they were having distribution problems so, "if you don't see us on your magazine stand, ask for us -- loud and clear!" And so I did, only to be told that the magazine folded after #4. My poor young heart brimmed with sorrow. But a few years later I agented Landis's Camelot science fantasy stories to Donald A Wollheim, at the tender age of 15 or so, thus repaying the debt.

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    2. Andy, Dave - I do hope that those supporters of the GW History about to tuck into their £400 pizza margheritas aren’t shocked to discover the whole thing is a Kamp Krusty- esque scam (The Simpsons, Season 4, Ep 1) “Sorry, Ian & Steve are Presenting this dinner.. what gave you the idea they’d actually be here ?” ; )

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    3. John, I can only say this:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMRUHGnN29s

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    4. Dave - thanks for being Frank ; )

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    5. I suppose they have form, John. "Presenting" Fighting Fantasy books 11 onwards being case in point.

      Dave, if Jamie does own the copyright and doesn't have copies, I'd be happy to copy the pages and send them to you, or type them up if necessary. One other thing I did spot when flicking through the magazines, someone named Alex Garland won a cartoon competition with their entry. I wonder whether it was "the" Alex Garland? I seem to remember reading somewhere he was a gamebook enthusiast (might have been in You Are The Hero), so chances are it was.

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    6. John, I never touched 'em. Also they were adults and it was consensual. Er... I'm off to rehab.

      Andy, he used to live around the corner from me (Alex Garland, that is, though Jamie did too) so if I see him I'll ask. Mostly I'll ask why he was reading FF and not Blood Sword and Dragon Warriors.

      If there are some Warlock PDFs online anywhere (surely there must be?) I could grab the text for Jamie. But if not that's a kind offer. First I suppose we'd best find out if he actually does have the copyright.

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    7. Sorry Dave, should have said Francis not Frank - but that would have cost me my pun, which was too heavy a price to pay !

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    8. So I realized, John. I was trying to come back with a Frank/Francis pun, or even an Urquhart one, but it was beyond me. I know when I'm whipped ;-)

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    9. No problem, Dave. Shout if required.

      Perhaps you should have funded Mirabilis like GW. £400 quid for Steak and Chips and consider sending your Doppleganger. If it puts lashings of mustard on, I'll know I've been swizzed.

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  3. Btw for everybody who does want to know more about Jamie's GW book, just wait till Twelfth Night and we'll reveal all.

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  4. I don't know about the copyright. I would have thought it was mine but I can't be sure. I wasn't paid for writing it, either, mind. But I can't see anyone complaining if we did post one or two up. Or if they did we could take 'em down anyway. Who would care though? It's only of nostalgic interest anyway. It was fun writing them though.

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    1. Sorry to be clear, I'm talking about the Warlock column, obviously and it would be good to get copies of them, thank Andy. I've got one or two Warlocks lying around somewhere but not all of them by any means.

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    2. No problem, Jamie. There's seven of them in total. Starts in issue six, you go missing in issue ten for some reason and Derek takes over in the last issue. I'll do them in a bit (if I can get my scanner working that is).

      That cartoon competition, Dave, looking at it again, it says Alexander Garland, aged 14 of London. Given the magazine was published in 1985 and looking at his Wikipedia page just now, I think it's gone from coin flip to long odds on that it was him.

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    3. The way copyright law works, the author automatically retains copyright unless they specifically assign it in writing to somebody else. So you definitely own the copyright, Jamie. Andy, if you can let me have scans of the pages I'll OCR them and run the columns here on the blog.

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    4. Have tried sending to your info@ address, Dave, but getting a message saying mailbox full. Must be all the offers you're getting for your new Gamebook!

      Re read the columns in full this evening. Without wanting to give any spoilers, "I am Dave Morris" and Jamie on the M5 were highlights.

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    5. Thanks, Andy. We get that message quite a lot. I'll get Jamie to clear the mailbox, then they should get through.

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  5. Just for the record for anyone remotely interested, it was two Orcs (probably) in a cave, one saying to the other "How can you stand there with one puny horn and your tusks growing downwards and call me ugly?". I'd be proud of that now, never mind at that age!

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