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Old 09-13-2019, 09:06 AM   #1
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Noisy

Noisy [-2/level] is a mundane physical disadvantage. You make noise constantly unless you’re comatose, or switched off if you’re a machine. Other people are at +2 per level to perceive you via sound, and you’re at -2 per level to Stealth. This disadvantage appeared at GURPS 4e, as the opposite of the Silence advantage.

The reasons why you’re Noisy are up to you. You may be just clumsy and totally incompetent at Stealth, or you could be a machine with a noisy engine, a robot with noisy actuators, or suffer a Neurological Disorder that produces constant swearing. Constant talking short of Compulsive Behaviour, or carrying a boom-box would not qualify, since others can suppress those without actually incapacitating you, much though they might like to. You can’t take more than five levels of Noisy without GM approval, and each level gives -1 to reactions occasionally as you disturb people listening to music, or otherwise paying attention to sounds.

Noisy doesn’t see much use in GURPS supplements. There are limitations for a few powers with the same name, and a fair number of robots from various sourcebooks have it. There are quirk-level versions in Power-Ups 6, and it’s used in Sorcery: Protection and Warning Spells. But that’s about all.

I’ve never seen this disadvantage in use, but it has potential for characters with no subtlety at all. Has it made a stir in your games?
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