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Old 04-13-2018, 01:55 PM   #1
johndallman
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Join Date: Oct 2010
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

Cursed [-75] is a supernatural disadvantage, notionally mental. Things go badly for you: anything that’s bad for the party gets you first and hardest, and anything good misses you out. You have lots of bad luck, and never any that’s good. The GM should make sure that the world is bad to you, because you’re cursed. Buying this off is not merely a matter of coming up with 75 points. You also have to find out who or what has cursed you, and deal with that.

This isn’t quite as bad as being quadriplegic [-80], or the worst level of Terminally Ill [-100], but as a voluntary part of character design, it seems to be for players who want to portray a tragedy of their own. I’ve only known one player who wanted it, and as the GM I refused, because it’s a spotlight-hogging trait.

Cursed is more useful as a tool for offsetting the point cost of supernaturally acquired advantages, such as vampirism, or for representing really bad critical failures with magical abilities, via long-term effects. There are helpful suggestions for things to do to Cursed characters scattered across GURPS supplements: assume any matter of chance will go wrong for you. Horror has an Affliction of Cursed; it shows up in the Madness Dossier around reality shards, and likewise in Infinite Worlds. Psi-Tech has a machine that can strip Luck and inflict Cursed, although not permanently. Thaumatology suggests Cursed as an implementation of the “evil eye” and Ritual Path Magic has ways to do that.

What have you done with Cursed?
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Old 04-13-2018, 02:06 PM   #2
Anthony
 
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Default Re: [Basic]Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
I’ve only known one player who wanted it, and as the GM I refused, because it’s a spotlight-hogging trait.
It doesn't have to be. Cursed (nothing you do will ever be relevant) seems like a perfectly fine -75 point curse, and is the ultimate anti-spotlight.
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Old 04-13-2018, 02:20 PM   #3
johndallman
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Default Re: [Basic]Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

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Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
It doesn't have to be. Cursed (nothing you do will ever be relevant) seems like a perfectly fine -75 point curse, and is the ultimate anti-spotlight.
My players are far too ingenious to confront with a challenge like that.
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Old 04-13-2018, 03:00 PM   #4
RogerBW
 
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Default Re: [Basic]Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

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What have you done with Cursed?
I've never used this one. Even the character slated to die by the end of the session didn't have it. I've seen characters with Unluck, but not this.

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Cursed (nothing you do will ever be relevant) seems like a perfectly fine -75 point curse, and is the ultimate anti-spotlight.
Challenge accept—

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My players are far too ingenious to confront with a challenge like that.
…oh.
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Old 04-13-2018, 03:21 PM   #5
vicky_molokh
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

OP, I have a request: please insert spacebars between the right bracket and the next word so as to facilitate search engine operations, as apparently not all searches correctly split words like that. I mean starting from the next thread.
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Old 04-13-2018, 03:42 PM   #6
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

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What have you done with Cursed?
The obvious thing I've done with curse is with my supervillain Strega. She Afflicts it on opponents. Because, you know...curse.
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Old 04-13-2018, 04:16 PM   #7
A Ladder
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

I've had one player take it on one character.
It went...poorly for that PC (but great for the player). He died by the end of the session (to much laughter).

It was really fun for me as a GM. Anything bad that I could think of happening to the party happened to him and the player couldn't complain *cackles maniacally*.

I would only recommend it to players who enjoy their characters getting plagued by bad die rolls, poor tactical choices, failure, negative bias and unfair circumstances. If the player is used to playing a light hearted, comedy-of-errors sort of game this disadvantage can fit nicely.
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Old 04-18-2018, 08:48 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

I've also seen this taken once, in 3E. It was a 100+40+5 point game, so the PC with Cursed got an extra 35 points, huge. The Cursed PC got fatally struck by lightning in his first adventure. Oops.

(It wasn't quite a "rocks fall you die" hose job; the adventure involved crossing a field during a lightning storm, and there was a small chance of getting struck, but Cursed influenced the dice a bit. First, instead of picking a random PC at risk, Cursed protected the Cursed PC's allies by volunteering the Cursed PC as tribute. Second, Cursed added some kind of negative modifier to the die roll. Third, the player rolled poorly. Fourth, everyone laughed.)
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Old 04-18-2018, 11:16 PM   #9
mr beer
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

Never had anyone take it...I think you'd need to be ready to play Paranoia but while everyone else is playing something else. I'd let a player take it though, at least once, just to play it out.
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Old 04-18-2018, 11:23 PM   #10
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Cursed

My first GURPS character had that. He also had Unkillable 3. Made for an interesting balance.
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