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Old 02-06-2020, 02:34 PM   #1
Anders
 
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Default A Books advantage

I like the Library or Books merits from the World of Darkness games. I'm thinking of remaking them for GURPS. So far I have thought of this:

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Reskinning Contacts. A book is a Contact, a library is a Contact Group. Frequency of Appearance represents how likely it is that you have a book on a given subject. Skill is how good the book is. Reliability is how reliable the book is. Books cannot contact the authorities or the enemy, but they also cannot be bribed for better reliability. These two features are considered to even out.
Does anyone have any other bright ideas?
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Old 02-06-2020, 02:42 PM   #2
whswhs
 
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Default Re: A Books advantage

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Does anyone have any other bright ideas?
I bribe my library to give me better information regularly. Amazon has been very helpful.
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Old 02-06-2020, 02:54 PM   #3
malloyd
 
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Default Re: A Books advantage

I think it's a matter of what the books or library do for you.

If it doesn't do anything, it's free color. Your "standard of living" can includes some "useless" books as part of your entertainment expenses if you want.

For useful libraries, the core rule in GURPS is it gives you a bonus to Research rolls, depending on how big it is. If anybody can access a particular library, that's free. If you have access to one that most people can't get into, that's probably a Perk, or a Patron. If you own a library that just equipment, pay the cash price of the books. If you've memorized it or otherwise loaded it into your head, it's still "equipment", but you can't lose it, so buy it as Signature Gear rather than with cash.

If you don't have to make the Research rolls, then yeah, it's a de facto Contact (Librarian).
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Old 02-06-2020, 03:55 PM   #4
CeeDub
 
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Default Re: A Books advantage

I agree with malloyd. Either pay a cash price, if the books are readily available on the market (or a higher price if they are out-of-print collector's items) or consider them a part of your lifestyle (if that is high enough to warrant a personal library). However, in WoD, the merit is independent of Wealth, so if you want to handle it the same way in GURPS, either convert CP to cash, or buy the books as Signature Gear.
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Old 02-06-2020, 05:23 PM   #5
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: A Books advantage

I think that a library could be modeled as a Signature Gear (though it is likely immobile) or as Contacts (in the form of librarians). Alternatively, it could function as a limited Talent (a specific library is probably a -80% limitation).
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Old 02-06-2020, 11:12 PM   #6
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Default Re: A Books advantage

I'd go with a Library Advantage as the baseline, and would probably use a limited version of Contact (not Contact Group) to represent it: limited in the sense that it can only give you information, never favors.

Alternately, present Library in a manner roughly analogous to Wealth or Status: Wealth has to do with the physical resources you have at your disposal; Status has to do with the social resources at your disposal; and Library has to do with the information resources at your disposal. That is, it's not about having access to a building or room with books in it; it's about having information at your fingertips.
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Old 02-07-2020, 05:06 AM   #7
Anders
 
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Default Re: A Books advantage

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Alternately, present Library in a manner roughly analogous to Wealth or Status: Wealth has to do with the physical resources you have at your disposal; Status has to do with the social resources at your disposal; and Library has to do with the information resources at your disposal. That is, it's not about having access to a building or room with books in it; it's about having information at your fingertips.
I like this idea. Now to convert it to a playable advantage. Hmm... Meditate upon this I shall.
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Old 02-07-2020, 08:05 AM   #8
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: A Books advantage

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I like this idea. Now to convert it to a playable advantage. Hmm... Meditate upon this I shall.
In some settings, at given levels, a character's Cost of Living expenditures could include the provision of a library, or an online library.

Another way to build an Advantage of it would be Modular super-memorization with time and access limitations.
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Old 02-07-2020, 08:18 AM   #9
Anders
 
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Default Re: A Books advantage

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Another way to build an Advantage of it would be Modular super-memorization with time and access limitations.
I thought about that. It didn't fit because you get e.g., Occultism, forever as long as you don't study something new.
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Old 02-07-2020, 08:21 AM   #10
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Default Re: A Books advantage

Well, that would be where “time and access limitations” would come in.

But frankly, I think that a variant of Contact fits better mechanically; it's just that your information source doesn't (necessarily) have a mind of its own. That, and use it as a Complementary Skill for any Research that you do.
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