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Old 03-16-2018, 03:10 PM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

Compulsive Behaviour [-5 to -15] is a mundane mental disadvantage with a self-control roll (SCR). It appeared at GURPS 3e, and had more behaviours added in various supplements until it was cleaned up and made into a toolkit at 4e.

You feel compelled to do something, frequently. You have to do it at least once a day, and at every further opportunity, unless you make an SCR to resist. You also need to make an SCR to embark on any journey or situation where you won’t be able to indulge your habit for more than a day. If you manage that, or are forced into it, you suffer from Bad Temper, with the same SCR as your Compulsive Behaviour, until you get to indulge again.

The base value of a Compulsive Behaviour depends on how much trouble it’s likely to get you into, and how expensive it is. It’s then adjusted by your SCR number in the usual way. Many of the example behaviours have rules of their own for cost-of-living increases, special reaction modifiers, incompatible disadvantages and the like. Basic has Carousing, Gambling, Generosity, Lying, Spending and Vowing, which cover the full range of base costs.

There are lots of new Compulsive Behaviours in GURPS supplements, and they’re a reasonably common option on published character templates. The Discworld RPG adds Barbarian Heroism, Neatness, and Risk-Taking, and Action has Brawling, Car Modification, Cleaning, Speeding, Thrill-seeking, Physical Fitness, Reaching “inaccessible” locations, and Using skills. AtE indulges in Gadgeteering, and Alphabet Arcane has Clothes Horse. Banestorm gives us Haggling, Hang Around with Wizards, Seek Vengence, and Tinkering, and Abdyos Climbing. Creatures of the Night provides Collecting Shiny Things and Vandalism; DF Allies can have Inventing, Playfulness or Pouncing, while Henchmen has “Commit gruesome murders on the sly” and Monsters includes Attacking, Flesh-eating and Killing. Fantasy adds Debating and Lycanthropy, and Horror has Answer Riddles, Attention-Seeking, Biblomania, “Count small objects,” Dirt-eating, Giggling, Murder, Prayer, Religious Observance, “Remain in tomb,” Ruining Funerals, Sobbing or Laughing, and Untie Knots. Madness Dossier saddles us with Meme-spreading, Talking Constantly and Writing, and Infinite Worlds has Checking Time, Siesta, and Superstitious Activity.

Locations: Hellsgate suffers from Assassination, Legalism/Judging and Snooping, Metro of Madness has “Wander through the station” and the Tower of Octavius has Gossip. Mars Attacks uses Attacking Humans, Martial Arts: Gladiators Fighting and Technical Grappling One Foe. Monster Hunters adds Hunting and makes a lot of use of Thrill-Seeking and Snooping, and Mysteries Detectives are almost obliged to have Heavy Drinker. Power-Ups 6 has several quirks that can enlarge or shrink Compulsive Behaviour. Compulsive Snooping in a Psis campaign earns its points, as would Compulsive Publicity-Seeking in Reign of Steel. Social Engineering has rules for bargaining vs. Compulsive Spending, and the effects of racial disadvantages on societies; Space has more on the latter, and Compulsive Playfulness. Supers villains may have Compulsive Rhetoric, to explain their plans, while Zombies act on Zombie Motivation, sometimes countered by people with Compulsive Survivalism.

I don’t tend to use this much on PCs, but I find it useful for NPCs who need motivation to do something extraordinary. What have you done with it?
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Old 03-16-2018, 07:00 PM   #2
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

I saw while searching stuff that a Pyramid article added Compulsive Sexual Activity. I'm sure there's more.

Also where would Hoarding fall on the points scale?
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Old 03-17-2018, 09:25 AM   #3
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

I love some of these on the list. I had to start looking them up to find them. So far Compulsive Assassination, Compulsive Ruining Funerals (what?!), Compulsive Pouncing, Compulsive Vengeance… I don’t have Action, but some things like Compulsive Car Modification just makes me smile.

From Pyramid there’s also Compulsive Scheming and Compulsive Sexual Activity.

Usually I limited most Compulsive Behaviours to the Ill-Advised Hobby quirk because it felt like cheating or free points to get [-5] from a trait or interest. For instance, quite a few of those items on the list represent drives characters of mine possess, but do not typically cause inconvenience for them. They’re almost part of the job description.

-Compulsive Physical Fitness suits almost any warrior.

-Compulsive Religious Observance goes along with almost any pious character. I hesitate to take it because it seems like just a lighter Disciplines of Faith, and I don’t like taking the [-5] for something that seems lighter than the existing [-5] disadvantage.

-Compulsive Bibliomania I like; it represents the wizard who seeks knowledge for its own sake, who would be interested in a spell because it is magical knowledge rather than because of any plans to use the spell for anything.

Of the main ones, I’ve had Compulsive Generosity for good guys. Compulsive Spending I use for characters who have simply gotten used to being wealthy and so don’t manage money very well. I’ve had a character with Urbex as an Ill-Advised Hobby, since wandering around isolated areas can invite the occasional trouble.
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Old 03-17-2018, 04:10 PM   #4
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

I'm currently playing a character with a Compulsive Behavior to put things in his mouth. His approach to the world is something like that of a crawling baby or shark - "What is this thing? I will put it in my mouth and find out."

He doesn't have to chew on them or swallow them (it's not actual pika) so he's not going to break his teeth, choke, or suffer mechanical damage to his digestive tract. He has Cast Iron Stomach and a high HT so he faces less threat from contaminated objects. But he does slobber on things.

A brief inventory of things that he been caught putting in his mouth so far in the campaign:
  • Rocks and stones
  • Sticks
  • Tools and parts a gadgeteer was trying to build with
  • Hats
  • coins
  • His entire coin purse

He just got a pair of goggles, which he will have in his mouth when play starts on Sunday.
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Old 03-21-2018, 04:56 PM   #5
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

Quote:
Originally Posted by Railstar View Post
-Compulsive Physical Fitness suits almost any warrior.
There’s one respect in which it would be very inconvenient indeed for a warrior: they frequently become physically injured, and Compulsive Physical Fitness could easily tempt them into resuming their exercise routine at a time when they *really* ought to be resting safely in bed. This could result lengthened healing time at best and outright reinjury at worst.
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Old 03-21-2018, 06:44 PM   #6
Flyndaran
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

I'd also think that compulsive fitness could cause other problems too. Needing to leave the group to go on a run, random encounters hitting when you're already down fatigue, and "making up" for lost work outs to the point of major fatigue or risk.
I don't have Action, so I apologize if I'm misinterpreting the compulsion.
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Old 03-21-2018, 07:57 PM   #7
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
I'd also think that compulsive fitness could cause other problems too. Needing to leave the group to go on a run, random encounters hitting when you're already down fatigue, and "making up" for lost work outs to the point of major fatigue or risk.
I don't have Action, so I apologize if I'm misinterpreting the compulsion.
There isn't much to interpret as the entire description is "clean-living jock".
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Old 03-21-2018, 09:49 PM   #8
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

That's exceptionally vague. What constitutes clean-living? What constitutes jock?
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Old 03-21-2018, 11:54 PM   #9
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
That's exceptionally vague. What constitutes clean-living? What constitutes jock?
Like most Compulsions created in the Action Templates it isn't given an actual description, just a one line use sentence:

"A reasonable choice would be a clean-living jock with traits such as Compulsive Behavior (Physical fitness), Intolerance (Nonathletic people), Vow (No alcohol, etc.), and Workaholic – but a troublemaking punk with disadvantages like Compulsive Behavior (Reaching “inaccessible” locations), Social Stigma, and Trickster would also work."

As such 'clean living' probably refers to the Vow... which further reduces our Compulsion here to just 'physical fitness enthusiast' as the other disad (Intolerance) covers a good portion of the negative stereotype of 'jock'.
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Old 03-22-2018, 06:41 AM   #10
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Compulsive Behaviour

Compulsive Behaviour (Physical Fitness) is never going to be more than a -5 pointer, but I think it can be made worth that. Spending slightly too much money on weights, athletic clothes, and gym membership (or, if the character is rich, a small army of personal trainers who keep cluttering the house up), wandering off to work out when not given anything else specific to do, whining when taken away from his regular exercise schedule, boring for his country on dietary issues, perpetually showing up wearing white shorts and singlet, disappearing from the party encampment to do isometric exercises somewhere picturesque... It'd be a lot of small stuff rather than anything big and catastrophic, but it'd be a perpetual license for the GM to say "Okay, the greeblies attack. Roll self-control not to be out of armour and posing at the time."
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