06-15-2021, 04:39 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Apr 2020
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Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
So, I was thinking up some basic characters and I opened up Intolerance and the prices just seem... really wonky?
So, for example, Intolerance (Men) is -5 Disadvantage but Intolerance (Non-Natives) is -10 Disadvantage, even though it would be a strange country indeed where non-natives made up half or the more powerful share of the population. Or take religion, Intolerance (Christians) in modern America is -5 Points and Intolerance (Non-Christians) is -10 points but Christians make up a (much) larger share of the population. I think the categories work well for class - Intolerance (Upper Class) applies to a smaller group, but they have all the power in society, and Intolerance (Lower Class) applies to a pretty broad subsection of society even if you have power over them. But it's much worse if you take, say, "Non-Lower Class," easily worth an extra five points if you're picking fight with the middle classes (or with both the bosses and the bottom). So I kind of think it's a wonky trait, but I'm not quite sure how to fix it - It seems like you'd want to go in and work out some way of assessing both the power/size of the constituency against which you're prejudiced, but the point spread isn't really big enough to do that in any kind of detailed way. |
06-15-2021, 05:40 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
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06-16-2021, 08:33 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
Intolerance's pricing is meant to be based on how large the group you're intolerant of is. "Anyone different from me in [category]" is assumed to be markedly larger than "Anyone who is [specific sub-category]." There is perhaps a system-gaming issue if the player creates a character who is in a high-majority group and hates everyone outside of it when compared to a character who creates a character who hates said high-majority group. One solution would be to increase the value if the hated group is extremely common. Another solution is to treat intolerance of the majority group as being more socially acceptable than intolerance of minorities.
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06-16-2021, 09:04 AM | #4 |
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Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
Yes, the pricing assumes "All of set A except for a single element corresponding to people similar to me" is almost always going to be bigger than "A single element of set A." For instance, if A = {a1, a2, a3, a4} and I'm characterized by a4, then Intolerance of {a1, a2, a3} spans more space than Intolerance of {a1}. That's why it's -10 points rather than -5 to -1 points.
If you manage to engineer a situation where this produces weird results, well, fix it. This most often comes up when A = {a1, a2} and I'm characterized by a2; then both forms of Intolerance amount to Intolerance of {a1} and should both be worth -5 or -10 points (as the GM prefers). It can also come up when one element is huge relative to the others, and we're comparing two different people completely. For instance, if A = {a1, a2, a3, a4} and I'm characterized by a4, which is far larger than all the other elements put together, then my Intolerance of {a1, a2, a3} might be less relevant than someone else's Intolerance of just {a4}. In that case, the GM might have to flip the pricing. But it's key to realize that those last couple of situations are extraordinary. Usually, you'll have enough elements of approximately equal importance to use the pricing in the rules.
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
06-16-2021, 09:57 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
You know it's pretty reasonable incidentally for Intolerance to actually give you a reaction boost with people who share your Intolerance.
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06-16-2021, 10:22 AM | #6 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
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06-16-2021, 12:05 PM | #7 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
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06-16-2021, 03:13 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Apr 2020
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
I don’t know - Intolerance is pretty nasty. The average result of contact is, basically, “Immediately begin plotting hate crimes.” Even in Dixie-1 Confederacy, that would be decently debilitating. Now, sometimes that means Klansmen joining a group, but unless you’re actively investing in such contacts even other Intolerant characters will find you difficult to work with.
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06-17-2021, 06:09 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
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Unless you're referring to something specific in the GURPS rules for Intolerance (GURPS Disadvantages are often fairly extreme cases), but I don't recall reading anything like that in it.
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06-17-2021, 07:33 AM | #10 | ||
Join Date: Apr 2020
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Re: Intolerance's Pricing System is Weird
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