[weevis]

Originally Posted by Mathulhu

Don't allow super memorization (or what ever the 20 point advantage is) and do allow the version with Chip Slots

If I read it right, the Chip Slots and Super-Memorization are the same point cost actually -- implying the same capabilities.

Now that I think of it I used to play Cyberpunk back in the day with chip slots. It did have a very different "game feel" because at an earlier Cyberpunk-ish tech level even though information seemed plentiful, those skill chips were not necessarily plentiful. GURPS 3E Cyberpunk p. 40 said they cost $2,000-10,000 per character point. I remember buying them as equipment during character creation and then I'd just have whatever chips were in my pocket for the whole campaign. In a William Gibson novel didn't a character insert a chip (biosoft) for Spanish just so that he could order breakfast, then he took it out again? That was awesome.

But the fact that chips must be scarce and "reference materials" are plentiful is purely a prejudice I bring to the Basic Set rules, I think. If you read the rules the two are not too different. The book -- somewhat arbitrarily -- says that chips cost $100-$1000 per CP, while "the GM determines" the cost of reference materials. Chips take 3 seconds to insert, super-memorization takes 1 second per CP. Not very different.

My original question was not about pricing the advantage, but I'm not sure if this is priced well for sci-fi. Computers, databases, networks, etc. play a big role in most sci-fi settings. In many game worlds it does seem that my intuition (and Mathulhu's) are likely to obtain: that little plastic chips are harder to find than reference materials because plastic things are physical and have to be transported physically. The point cost looks like it depends on availability; note that if ("your abilities are actually computer programs") and cost $100/CP this makes the advantage more expensive.

In sci-fi super-memorization seems more similar to "skills as computer programs" than it does to chip slots. I'm not sure of the in-game difference between a 1 second/CP "download" vs. a 1 second/CP "super-memorization of e-books and YouTube videos." The additional expense of "computer brain" seems to depend on the possibility to link downloadable skill programs with Telecommunication to produce downloadable abilities, but in fact super-memorization could also be linked with Telecommunication to produce downloadable reference materials. The physicality of a plastic chip implies to me that this makes skill harder to obtain unless there is a convenience store for biosofts on every corner. But that is not the way it is priced in the Basic Set.

Maybe "super-memorization" was envisioned as a way to provide a fantasy (not sci-fi) modular ability. That would explain the pricing because in low TLs you would guess that books ("reference materials") would be more scarce than high TL future software that does not need to be physically transported. Not sure. But at high TLs now books don't need to be physically transported, so Super-Memorization's effectiveness improves in most sci-fi settings, but the price is still lower than a "computer program."

Originally Posted by Mathulhu

Chip Slots...fits what I imagine the campaign to be, much better

For this game I don't see a campaign fit problem either way. I talked it over with the player and we're going to go with Unusual Background ("experimented on self with a secret military mind-enhancing biotech drug regimen"). We're at TL11^.

Originally Posted by Mathulhu

I think the player will be happier with the slightly cheaper but more interesting chip slot method.

Yeah unless I'm missing something (which is certainly possible) they're the same cost.

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P.S. I realize I'm discussing a very minor point difference. This isn't a big deal or anything.