Standard Operating Procedures

[Bramble Thorn]

Because some of the always carry things seem to narrow...

SOP: Locked-In Loadout

You have a number of items (that do not weigh enough to drop your encumbrance level below No Encumbrance) that you always take when you outfit yourself for the day.

This is a realistic perk, and if you are the sort of person who never forgets his Wallet, Watch, Keys, Pocketknife, Pen, etc, you have it.

You can Modify your Loadout at any time by informing your GM ahead of time of the new Loadout and updating your Character Sheet accordingly.

Unlike some narrower perks that are only in effect when they benefit you, this can bite you in the ass. If you add a holdout gun with full ammo to the loadout, there is a chance you might have inadvertently brought it somewhere it can get you in trouble. For example if you are going for a appointment in a high security courthouse and did not specifically say you were leaving it behind, you need to pass a IQ roll to say you left it out today when you think of the implications of being found with a gun in a search.

Also be careful at American airports if you commonly carry a water bottle or first aid kit, you rebel you!

[Klark]

Offer Surrender: At the beginning of combat, you always offer your foes a chance to surrender. The offer is both reasonable (future as PoWs or hostages, handing over their arms and armor, etc.) and sincere (no killing them if they throw down their weapons or enslaving them when you promised freedom!), and tailored slightly to the foe (appealing to an orc's sense of honor or a cowardly bandit's desire to live). If neither the GM nor the plot dictate their reaction one way or the other, the GM might make a reaction roll or suitable influence roll on your behalf.

[Xplo]

Originally Posted by Klark

Offer Surrender: At the beginning of combat, you always offer your foes a chance to surrender. The offer is both reasonable (future as PoWs or hostages, handing over their arms and armor, etc.) and sincere (no killing them if they throw down their weapons or enslaving them when you promised freedom!), and tailored slightly to the foe (appealing to an orc's sense of honor or a cowardly bandit's desire to live). If neither the GM nor the plot dictate their reaction one way or the other, the GM might make a reaction roll or suitable influence roll on your behalf.

That's not a Perk.

In fact, considering that it makes ambushes against intelligent foes utterly impossible, and surrenders initiative, as well as saddling you with caring for and guarding whoever accepts (at least until you can offload them somehow) it's probably worth -10 as a Vow or Code of Honor in any game where combat can be expected.

You can use those points to buy yourself a positive Reputation, I guess.

[Bramble Thorn]

SOP: Definitely Duplicated Data Dump

Once Data comes into your hands, it is hard to get it out of your reach. You have a habit of making backups, and backups of backups. Both new and archived versions, Both on cloud and offline.

If you could have made a copy, you did make a copy. And you kept it.

If your computer or blog or whatever is hacked/corrupted, you have a recent (less than 24 hours old) clean copy.

If your cameraphone you caught the police officer beating down the suspect and planting drugs on is confiscated as "evidence" you have a app on it that surreptitiously uploaded it to a secure server as it was taken. And the mini sd card you palmed as you handed it over.

If you present a black mail photo to a mark and it gets ripped up, OF COURSE you have copies.

If your apartment is ransacked, whatever data was taken, you still have access to. If the break-in in was a ruse to change or plant data, you have a baseline to find out what was changed.

If your company fires you while you are out lunch, shreds your office and tries to use you as a fall guy in a coverup, you ALREADY made copies of the pertinent memos and reports MONTHS ago.

If there is a Time Traveling Identity Thief impersonating you, you have the bills and receipts to data mine to see he is pretending to be you at the St. Louis Six Flags Saturday July 18, 1987. And paid for a fish and chips by credit card there at 2:33 pm. (Now all you need is a Delorean)

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Yes. SOP Crash Time is something almost any soldier of any area can understand. "Get your sleep when and where you can, kid."

SOP: Cover the S's when ever possible, too,

[Klark]

Originally Posted by Xplo

Considering that it makes ambushes against intelligent foes utterly impossible, and surrenders initiative, as well as saddling you with caring for and guarding whoever accepts (at least until you can offload them somehow) it's probably worth -10 as a Vow or Code of Honor in any game where combat can be expected.

You'd have both. SOP simply makes a specific action your default, or "exempts you from having to tell the GM that your PC is doing something that’s second-nature for him." It's only meant to be a time saver and insurance against the player's Absent Minded disadvantage as far as I can tell. Also nothing in the perk's writeup says you can't tell the GM you AREN'T doing your normal action.

[Keiko]

Originally Posted by Klark

You'd have both. SOP simply makes a specific action your default, or "exempts you from having to tell the GM that your PC is doing something that’s second-nature for him." It's only meant to be a time saver and insurance against the player's Absent Minded disadvantage as far as I can tell. Also nothing in the perk's writeup says you can't tell the GM you AREN'T doing your normal action.

If it works like Instincts in Burning Wheel (IIRC) then the responsibility is sort of inverted. The player has to make a conscious effort to tell the GM they're not following their SOP if the situation is such that it could be disadvantageous.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by rust

The way the standard procedures for such situations and the use of the re-
levant gear are designed, you can only infect yourself in this way if you com-
pletely ignore them.

As someone who spends a lot of time in bio labs, I've got to tell you...a lot of people do not pay attention to what they're doing with their hands. Gloved up and using sterile procedure to work with cell cultures? You still scratch your scalp and rest your hand against your clothes. Obviously, this is Doing It Wrong, and I hope places with higher hazard ratings manage to drill this stuff out.

I'd be disinclined to make a SOP perk of not making such mistakes, because it's pretty narrow and in most games such mistakes would probably only appear as part of critical failures, but if someone really wanted to spend a point on never failing to take appropriate care there...

[Silvermane]

This is one I came up for my Hitman.

A plan to kill everyone you meet
-Vince pays attention to small details and habits that people have, in case he needs to off them later. You know when someone is distracted if you've gotten the chance to watch them.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

I'd be disinclined to make a SOP perk of not making such mistakes, because it's pretty narrow and in most games such mistakes would probably only appear as part of critical failures, but if someone really wanted to spend a point on never failing to take appropriate care there...

I'd roll it into the "don't have to declare" SOP:

HazMat PPE
You instinctively use the correct PPE for a specific kind of hazard and you use it correctly. If there's any question about whether you have the correct mask, gloves etc. you have it. Furthermore even on a critical failure on a Hazardous Materials roll you never accidentally expose yourself to the hazard. You must specialize by Hazardous Materials specialty.