Explain to me why GURPS isn't broken.
I'm not going to lie, some parts of GURPS still confuse the hell out of me. Most of these issues I have is with skills. What is average level for a skill?
I always thought that a person who is "good" with firearms would have ~20 in the appropriate firearms skill, but I'm realizing that they might have a way higher score.
What would be an average skill level for an average person? Would the average marine have a 20 in rifle, or a 60? Would a boxer have 18 brawling or 90 brawling? I seriously have no idea how to gauge these numbers.
I am also very annoyed that anything you don't specifically state your character is proficient is is considered a weakness. Just because my character has never fired a gun before, should they really receive a default of DX-4? This means that if an average human has a 10 DX and has never fired a gun before, they have to roll under 6 to shoot an easy target at a close range. That comes out to a perplexingly low 9.3% chance of success. Some skills, such as diplomacy, have a default of IQ-6, which means that an average person must roll under 4, and only has a 1.9% chance of success.
Simply because I didn't spend valuable and limited points in a skill I didn't think was going to be useful, my character is completely inept in the art of speaking with others. The absurdity of this absolutely stuns me. I don't want to list every single skill my character has ever attempted, just to make an average human being who has a feasible aptitude to perform various basic tasks.
If I wanted to play as a normal human being, I would need to put points into drive, despite not being a good driver, despite not driving for very long, and despite the fact that the game isn't focused on driving cars, just to ensure that my character isn't completely inept when behind the wheel.