For most my campaigns, player characters are built on at least 350 points. 50 points goes for expanded rules: skills like Dodge and Tactics, sub-attributes like Will and Perception, and advantages like Negative Encumbrance. 300+ points goes for attributes 13+, skills (my maximum number of CPs for buying skills is equal to character's age quadrupled) and mandatory advantages like Combat Reflexes and High Pain Threshold. This makes PCs one of the most desirable employees in the game world. If I want my players start out at the bottom of the barrel, I usually set a ceiling on skill levels, especially on Tactics skill, and available equipment.
Why I usually have so high Point Totals, it is because I want my players to have fair chance to survive of what I throw against them. My campaigns are frightening yet beautiful. Just a few battles, little calculation, and statistics show that small league street ops (150 points) will eventually lose - their lives. High Point Total lenghtens this inevitable faith, and makes long larger-than-life campaigns possible. A problem could rise, if players get too cocky and overconfident with their state-of-the-art armor and weapons - but my players have learned their lessons which they (un)fortunately forget from time to time. Beware of the old "Monty Haul" syndrome.
I personally dislike artificial cinematic rules. They do not pass my reality checks. That's why I give high Point Totals and use house rules, so my players can perform some stunts they have seen at movies - realistically. Some say that my Point Totals are for superhumans - I think they are for very talented, physically and mentally exceptional, highly trained, experienced individuals. This is also what I call Ego Trip.
There are countless times, when players announce that their characters will perform some action without blinking their eyes. Things like public speaking or performance, playing chicken in high-speed racing, autopsy, executing a prisoner, finishing a hostage-taker before he can kill and so on. Will checks with appropriate penalties are recommended, but one must look character's background, previous experience and mental condition (read Disadvantages).
Usually players themselves are sitting comfortably in warm room with some nourishments. Game Master's duty is to make players feel the same what their characters experience. See my Combat Stress rules, when for example next time one of the players is wounded, and still tries to continue the fight against all odds without any mind-blurring anger or paralyzing fear.
If you want gritty-realistic GURPS gunfight, read on. When shit
hit the fan (bullets starts to fly), non-hardened character must make a
Will roll not to take an All-Out Defense and run for cover (you don't lay
on the ground, you just don't hit the ground, you become the ground).
Penalties must be taken, when bullets come close. I read that it's like
doughnut shaped sonic wave rides the track of "laser beam" and
the edge of the doughnut brushes your face. It's like being brushed by
death as it death were a "she" with long hair.
When first hit by bullet, non-hardened character must make a Fright Check,
and hardened veteran must make a Will roll not to examine his wounds. Both
must make another Will roll to continue fight - if they are alive and
conscious.
Adrenaline makes you stronger and faster, but you also lose finger
dexterity - fine motor skills. Make a Will roll not to take penalties for
aim, reloading revolver or similar.
Notice that when players experience combat, adrenaline easily rushes in
their veins, and players usually become over-confident - especially when
they're winning. And if player want to slow down their hardened veteran in
some situation, that character must make a Will roll - for example not to
pursuit at full sprint his opponent straight into the darkness (dark
alley, forest), where he could be easily ambushed.
After it's all over, non-hardened character experiences Post-Combat Shakes
disadvantage (p. CI93) aka make a Fright Check.
And when players ask, is my character "hardened" enough,
I suggest following "Hard Boiled" -package. If the combination
of following advantages and disadvantages (count as positive) equals or
exceeds 15 points, you could define your character hardened:
Combat Reflexes - acquired by experience, not natural born (15 points)
Unfazeable (15 points or more by GM fiat)
Imperturbable (10 points)
Collected (5 points)
Composed (5 points)
Fearlessness (2 points/level)
Cool (1 point)
Fanaticism or Extreme Fanaticism (-15 points)
On the Edge (-15 points)
Bloodlust (-10 points)
Overconfidence (-10 points)
It is said that the man who strikes the first blow has run out of arguments. While this is true, it is also true that taking conflict to the physical level is fast, emotionally satisfying to the more primitive side of the human psyche, and usually final. As any game master knows, running a combat is the hardest task a game master has to deal with in any role-playing situation. So be prepared. The realism is good, unless it bogs down a game play. This could be a drawback that easily turns the game in to a wargame where players think minute or so their every action. I've noticed that when the game master and players know the rules, it is fast to play with almost any game system (expect Rolemaster).
Bullet (or beam) weapons are deadly, because they usually
cause more damage than their low-tech counterparts, and they are very easy
to use. So how to survive a firefight:
1. Shoot first. Don't let the enemy return fire. There is no such thing as
a 'fair fight'. Ambush. Honor is for bushi in melee.
2. Get concealment or better - cover. It makes you harder to hit.
Neglecting this gets a lot of people killed in real-life combat
situations.
3. Keep moving if you are against multiple opponents, expect if
you have an initiative and a magic bullet that kills everyone with one
shot. Although your accuracy is better when you're standing still, the
enemy also standing will eventually hit you - especially with automatic
weapons.
Cinematic rules
Players' will I
Players' will II
Physical conflicts
Grace under fire
"I think, so I
exist."
- De Carte