Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Basic] Advantage of the Week (#31): Cultural Familiarity, Cultural/Xeno-Adaptability

Otaku · 02-04-2017, 05:03 PM

Last Week: Contact Group, Contacts
Next Week: Damage Resistance, Nictitating Membrane

One of the things I contemplated while I was on hiatus was if I should strictly adhere to the alphabetical order found in the Advantages Trait List (p. B297-298), and as you can tell by today's entry not covering Courtesy Rank, I decided to allow the defining trait (the one that will be among the tags for search purposes) to be the main determinant of order. This also pushes Rank bad to be closer to things like Reputation and Status. So with this note out of the way, we'll move onto our actual subjects: Cultural Adaptability, Cultural Familiarity, and Xeno-Adaptability.

Basic

We begin with Cultral Familiarity (p. B23), a Mundane, Social Advantage presented in the Social Background (p. B22-25) section of Characters, and costs 1 or 2 CP per culture. I was a bit surprised: even though Cultural Familiarities has its own section on the character sheet shown there, Cultural Familiarity is not explained in GURPS Lite. As the name suggests, this trait reflects your knowledge and understanding of a particular culture, including many aspects of communication and etiquette. All characters start with their Native Cultural Familiarity for free, but others must be purchased. Mechanically, if a character unfamiliar with the relevant culture attempts to use a Skill with a significant cultural component, that character will suffer a -3 penalty to those Skill rolls. The text provides us with a long (but not exhaustive) list of affected Skills: Carousing, Connoisseur, Criminology, Dancing, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Games, Gesture, Heraldry, Intimidation, Leadership, Merchant, Poetry, Politics, Psychology, Public Speaking, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Sociology, Streetwise, and Teaching.

GURPS uses pretty broad definitions of culture; real-world examples given in the text are East Asian, Muslim, and Western. This is further emphasized by the cost; the 1 CP version is for Cultural Familiarities belonging to your own race (or a similar one), such as all I just listed. The 2 CP cost is for cultures that are truly alien. Still, this can add up in your typical fantasy campaign, which brings us to our next trait: Cultural Adaptibility (p. B46) costs 10 CP. It is still a Mundane trait, though it is cinematic and as such unlikely to be available in a realistic game. It also counts as a Mental trait rather than a Social one; all cultures of your race are familiar to you. Xeno-Adaptibility (p. B46) costs 20 CP and takes it one step further; your character is familiar with all cultures in your game world, even those of other races! These traits can be essential for particular, archetypal characters and even in a setting where they don't save any CP, still save you tedious record keeping.

Other Supplements

GURPS Powers does a little with these traits, explaining what kinds of powers suits them, and using them in an ability or two. GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks brings up something from GURPS Martial Arts called Style Familiarity. It is a Combat Perk that functions as an Unusual Background and has several benefits, making me wonder if I am reading it wrong as it seems to exceed what you normally get for a Perk. If I do understand correctly, it includes some niche aspects of Cultural Familiarity (namely those pertaining to the martial arts style in question). In Power-Ups 3: Talents, Cultural Adaptability is presented as a potential prerequisite trait for the Cultural Chameleon Talent, while Xeno-Adaptability serves the same purpose for Alien Friend Talent. Other than Xeno-Adaptability, the other two also come up in Social Engineering, though not as much as I expected. I am not complaining, but worry I missed them in the text (I am still not very familiar with it).

Other Supplements that reference Cultural Adaptability, Cultural Familiarity, and/or Xeno-Adaptability will be added as they are brought up in the discussion, but these are what I could quickly find before posting.

Useful Links

Cultural Familiarities - I am pressed for time and have not finished the thread, but it contains a very useful Kromm quote here.

Questions

How have Cultural Familiarities been used in your games?
Has anyone ever taken Cultural Adaptability or Xeno-Adaptability? If so, how did it work out?
Anything you like about these traits?
Anything you don't like about them?
Anything you might change or, conversely, think is just right as is?

02-04-2017, 05:03 PM	#1
Otaku Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: South Dakota, USA	[Basic] Advantage of the Week (#31): Cultural Familiarity, Cultural/Xeno-Adaptability Last Week: Contact Group, Contacts Next Week: Damage Resistance, Nictitating Membrane One of the things I contemplated while I was on hiatus was if I should strictly adhere to the alphabetical order found in the Advantages Trait List (p. B297-298), and as you can tell by today's entry not covering Courtesy Rank, I decided to allow the defining trait (the one that will be among the tags for search purposes) to be the main determinant of order. This also pushes Rank bad to be closer to things like Reputation and Status. So with this note out of the way, we'll move onto our actual subjects: Cultural Adaptability, Cultural Familiarity, and Xeno-Adaptability. Basic We begin with Cultral Familiarity (p. B23), a Mundane, Social Advantage presented in the Social Background (p. B22-25) section of Characters, and costs 1 or 2 CP per culture. I was a bit surprised: even though Cultural Familiarities has its own section on the character sheet shown there, Cultural Familiarity is not explained in GURPS Lite. As the name suggests, this trait reflects your knowledge and understanding of a particular culture, including many aspects of communication and etiquette. All characters start with their Native Cultural Familiarity for free, but others must be purchased. Mechanically, if a character unfamiliar with the relevant culture attempts to use a Skill with a significant cultural component, that character will suffer a -3 penalty to those Skill rolls. The text provides us with a long (but not exhaustive) list of affected Skills: Carousing, Connoisseur, Criminology, Dancing, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Games, Gesture, Heraldry, Intimidation, Leadership, Merchant, Poetry, Politics, Psychology, Public Speaking, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Sociology, Streetwise, and Teaching. GURPS uses pretty broad definitions of culture; real-world examples given in the text are East Asian, Muslim, and Western. This is further emphasized by the cost; the 1 CP version is for Cultural Familiarities belonging to your own race (or a similar one), such as all I just listed. The 2 CP cost is for cultures that are truly alien. Still, this can add up in your typical fantasy campaign, which brings us to our next trait: Cultural Adaptibility (p. B46) costs 10 CP. It is still a Mundane trait, though it is cinematic and as such unlikely to be available in a realistic game. It also counts as a Mental trait rather than a Social one; all cultures of your race are familiar to you. Xeno-Adaptibility (p. B46) costs 20 CP and takes it one step further; your character is familiar with all cultures in your game world, even those of other races! These traits can be essential for particular, archetypal characters and even in a setting where they don't save any CP, still save you tedious record keeping. Other Supplements GURPS Powers does a little with these traits, explaining what kinds of powers suits them, and using them in an ability or two. GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks brings up something from GURPS Martial Arts called Style Familiarity. It is a Combat Perk that functions as an Unusual Background and has several benefits, making me wonder if I am reading it wrong as it seems to exceed what you normally get for a Perk. If I do understand correctly, it includes some niche aspects of Cultural Familiarity (namely those pertaining to the martial arts style in question). In Power-Ups 3: Talents, Cultural Adaptability is presented as a potential prerequisite trait for the Cultural Chameleon Talent, while Xeno-Adaptability serves the same purpose for Alien Friend Talent. Other than Xeno-Adaptability, the other two also come up in Social Engineering, though not as much as I expected. I am not complaining, but worry I missed them in the text (I am still not very familiar with it). Other Supplements that reference Cultural Adaptability, Cultural Familiarity, and/or Xeno-Adaptability will be added as they are brought up in the discussion, but these are what I could quickly find before posting. Useful Links Cultural Familiarities - I am pressed for time and have not finished the thread, but it contains a very useful Kromm quote here. Questions How have Cultural Familiarities been used in your games? Has anyone ever taken Cultural Adaptability or Xeno-Adaptability? If so, how did it work out? Anything you like about these traits? Anything you don't like about them? Anything you might change or, conversely, think is just right as is? __________________ My GURPS Fourth Edition library consists of Basic Set: Characters, Basic Set: Campaigns, Martial Arts, Powers, Powers: Enhanced Senses, Power-Ups 1: Imbuements, Power-Ups 2: Perks, Power-Ups 3: Talents, Power-Ups 4: Enhancements, Power-Ups 6: Quirks, Power-Ups 8: Limitations, Powers, Social Engineering, Supers, Template Toolkit 1: Characters, Template Toolkit 2: Races, one issue of Pyramid (3/83) a.k.a. Alternate GURPS IV, GURPS Classic Rogues, and GURPS Classic Warriors. Most of which was provided through the generosity of others. Thanks! :) Last edited by Otaku; 02-14-2017 at 04:55 PM.