Post originally by Rev. Pee Kitty at 2004-10-15 10:01:38
Converted from Phorums BB System

<I>Rob Davies wrote:
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Does this 4e pair of books really break any of the more useful (to me) rule supplements like Martial Arts, Robots, Vehicles, etc?</I>

Most of the "crunchier" books are not going to carry over well from one edition to another -- which is sort of the whole idea. (If they did carry over, then that would mean very few rules had changed, which wouldn't really justify a whole new edition of GURPS.)

Martial Arts is still useful, IMO; its main function was to introduce 'maneuvers' (which are now a core part of 4E, as 'techniques') and then provide a list of martial arts styles and the skills that you need to master those styles. That hasn't changed in 4E (though a few of the techniques have changed, certainly). All of the Chambara combat rules are now superceded by the more integrated 4E combat rules which allow for the same thing in a high-powered game. I'll still be using my MA/3E as a reference until MA/4E comes out next year.

Robots and Vehicles are way changed. The former is not a big deal -- 4E provides EVERYTHING you need to build a robotic character with points, etc., so only the "realistic robots as equipment" angle is going to need a lot of tweaking. Vehicles have changed quite a bit, really. The new system gives them ST and Payload; MR has been replaced by a Handling stat, and hit points and damage are very different (quadratic, really) in the new 4E system.

There's no reason you can't continue to use the old vehicle stats and rules (for turning, pulling Gs, etc.) until Vehicles/4E comes out -- the resolution systems will integrate into 4E just fine. But you will need to adjust their HP and weapon damage, using the 4E vehicles as a guide. A tank with 100 HP and a 60d cannon might have 40 HP and a 25d cannon in 4E, for example.

Hope this helps!

PK