Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghostdancer
That's actually pretty cool. I know GURPS Social Engineering plays with adding Reputation modifiers to other things (or it was discussed in playtest at least) so I don't see anything off by that. Actually, that could work pretty well for some campaigns. It brings up some weirdness like why you don't have a secret in A, but not B, but that can be under rug swept for the most part.
|
Thank you for your feedback!
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2
Another advantage yes. Secret in particular...no. In a situation like that the location modifier would not be on the Secret itself, but on the disadvantage you get if the Secret is exposed. Reputation/Enemy. Even if being an alien on your homeworld is no big deal your homeworld is full of people who could potentially drop a dime on you with the authorities on the other world. And if adventuring happens on your homeworld then that means you will be making enemies on your homeworld. Secret applies just as much when you are at home as when you are away. Contrariwise if no adventuring happens on your homeworld, then it isn't really part of the campaign setting and had no point value.
|
The campaign will take place in both areas. An alien character would have to lay pretty low in one of the areas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GodBeastX
I personally feel Secret is a bogus disadvantage.
Take social stigma for being a monster.
To me the negative reputation is cause enough to become "Possible Death". We see in real world how intolerance levels have lead to deaths. Why do you need to flag a negative reputation with possible death?
Going through some very quick head math, all secrets and disadvantages to reveal secrets could easily fit into Negative reputation and help GM work it into a campaign alot easier and just have the person hardly recognized.
A bit of hand-waiving can have the roll to "Recognize" the individual simply be a roll to "Uncover" the secret.
Working example:
I'm a vampire, this would be Social Stigma (Monster), which is -3 reaction, maybe Social Stigma (Dead) in some cases for -4.
If people can't recognize me as a vampire, then you apply the modifier for frequency of recognition. So if it's 7 or less to identify me as a vampire, that's -5 disadvantage which makes way more sense.
Otherwise you have this going on which I have seen exploited to get points back:
A typical easily discernible Vampire is -15 points for monster, which means I risk death every day openly.
Yet someone who has a Secret that they're a vampire, gets -30 points because they MIGHT be lynched instead of the vampire who is ALWAYS lynched? Why do I get more points for something that doesn't always affect me versus someone always affected?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by GodBeastX
This also would halt the stacking negative points gained for keeping your monstrosity a secret. Things like "Pallor, No Pulsive, No Reflection, No Shadow" etc, don't suddenly turn keeping a secret of being killed turn into like -50+ points.
If you are keeping your obvious monstrous traits secret, this should be LESS negative points, not more!
|
My situation is a little bit different because I'm not comparing vampires to humans. These aliens look pretty close to humans. Also, what if the Secret wasn't related to race/species? What if the Secret is that I'm a magic-user? I have to keep that a secret or I'll have armed inquisitors at my door, ready to kill me. I don't feel like Secret is a bogus disadvantage (which is cool; people have different opinions!) because it can lead to Reputation and the Enemy disadvantages as well as Social Stigma and lost Advantages. Maybe a character's secret is revealed and he develops Paranoia, worrying that even friendly people are out to get him! Plus, it doubles the value of the Secret. So, if you have a -15 point Secret, you'll end up taking -30 points in disadvantages when your Secret is uncovered. That's a big deal. Enemy (Inquisitors) is not a fun thing to have.
Maybe Secret is just flawed. It might be better to build the disadvantages of what would happen if the secret were revealed, group those, and divide the point cost in half since they are secret. That's just reverse-engineering what Secret is. I think this might work because I think you're right, people have been killed over Reputations, Social Stigmas, and Intolerances! So, I could build characters with those (plus Enemy, most likely) and price it half-off since it's supposed to be a Secret (and then half-off again since only Area A cares about this stuff).