[Speculation] GURPS 4.5e

[ErhnamDJ]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

A simple approach might be to create a new Limitation, e.g "Sideline-trait, -20%".

EDIT: In a way this is conceptually similar to Power Modifyers.

I don't know. Sometimes certain traits and abilities really are just never going to come up. Either you can let the players know that and keep the prices the same--in which case no one is going to take those, even if they make for interesting characterization--or you can lower the prices.

Look at what DF does for Unaging. Yeah, elves live a long time. So what?

And this comes up with other resistances too. If there's not going to be a whole lot of psionics, maybe lower the price of the resistance to it.

And if there are only three people in the world who can turn invisible, then maybe See Invisible isn't worth very much at all.

I'm just looking through the advantages, and I'm seeing all sorts of stuff I would change the price on in certain campaigns. If the entire campaign is going to be set in the desert, or on a desert planet, then how much is Speak Underwater really worth?

I guess what I'm saying is that rather than go the DF route, where some of these things just aren't allowed, I would prefer to still give the players the option, but to adjust the prices. We're playing pirates? Go ahead and take Tenure as a perk. If through some miracle you ever get back home, you can get your job back.

How much is Thurston Howell's money worth on Gilligan's Island? What's a GM to do in that situation? You tell the players going in that they are a group of castaways, and someone wants to play Thurston Howell. I don't know exactly what I would do, but it probably wouldn't involved dropping more than a hundred points on wealth.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

I don't know. Sometimes certain traits and abilities really are just never going to come up. Either you can let the players know that and keep the prices the same--in which case no one is going to take those, even if they make for interesting characterization--or you can lower the prices.

For this I would just use the 1/5th mechanic.
It stacks better with limitations, is simple math and ha a kind of precedence.
So your wealthy back home but it wont come up here so lets treat it a an alternative ability. If the campaign changes then you have to come up with the difference or maybe your other stuff becomes the AA.

[Hugin]

2 Column layout instead of 3.

more guidelines on adjusting the rules to run the game you want(complexity level, gritty-ness/cinematic-ness level, genre conventions in general) in a easy to understand easy to reference layout. E.g. "combat lite", "combat medium", or "combat advanced".

more newbie friendly.

show just how un-complex GURPS can be, with examples. Maybe start here and scale to more complex.

[joppeknol]

It should be easy to solve the <let's keep GURPS Basic Set generic> vs <Provide at least a setting example> if a digital-only format is chosen.

You make the basic set rules-only and /force people to buy/offer the incredible discount of giving freely/ a setting book with their purchase. This way people can still choose their favorite setting and you still support new Gurps players.

It might also be done with real books, but then it will probably get more expensive.

[LemmingLord]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

I agree with you, and like the idea of the GM adjusting the skill costs.

But this applies to every trait, not only skills. The game designer can't legitimately assume that the Invisibility advantage will be more useful than Charisma 2. But you have to make those sorts of decisions if you're going to be pricing traits.

I am with you too.

I think the biggest thing I'd like to see for a revision would be for the books to be VERY clear that they are toolboxes to create your own campaign book; then get into generic descriptions of what goes into making an advantage advantageous or a disad disadvantageous. The book could give examples of five common GURPS game worlds (feel free to take a page out of Disney and write so we want to buy those specific game books also for more details). Finally when listing advantages, disadvantages and skills there could be examples or alternate pricing on one or two game worlds (i.e. how disadvantageous is innumerate in cyberpunk versus Conan).

As a GM I would be particularly interested in what is under the hood for disadvantages... We have some hints... but something better written than what I've got below:

Disadvantages are based on four characteristics of inconvenience: severity, frequency, resistability and duration.

(I will use Cat Phobia as my example case):

*Severity: the base cost of a disadvantage should be based on how crippling it is when it strikes in the campaign in which you are playing.
Incapacitating, character is a hindrence for the duration meaning at least one other character will have to pick up the slack, carrying the character or performing first aid on them for the duration etc. (example: Crippling Pain, Epilepsy, Narcalepsy) Cost - X
Greatly Disadvantaged, character is greatly inhibited by a lack of sight or common sense for the duration (example: total blindness, suicidal fanatacism) . Cost - Y
Majorly Disadvantaged, character is majorly hampered by poor sight, physical weakness or bad decision making for the duration (example: alcoholism, bad sight, one arm, deafness). Cost - Z
Moderately Disadvantaged, character is impaired physically (but can compensate by taking more time) or mentally (but mental disadvantage is occasionally advantageous) (example: crippled limbs, one eye, hard of hearing, overconfident, honesty). Cost - a
Minorly Disadvantaged, character is impaired to a small degree in a narrow area of focus (missing digit). Cost - 1.
EXAMPLE: a phobia in any game world is likely to be at least a moderate level of inconvenience. In cyberpunk most of the cats you run into will be housecats and so the most like result will be you look silly. Still, since you could still roll badly and end up with additional mental problems, we will call it a moderate disadvantage for Cyberpunk. In Ice Age, the GM may exclude this phobia completely, unless he has decided that there are saber tooth tigers... in which case it would be a major intensity since the likely outcome of the phobia in an encounter with one will be uselessness and being useless is quite a disadvantage when facing a hungry predator.

Frequency: for most disadvantages, they are unlikely to be a constant nuissance. Frequency of appearance multiiples the point cost. Constant x X, Almost Every Adventure x Y, Often x Z, Fairly Often x 1, Quite Rarely x a. Example: in cyberpunk, there are cats crossing the street in most residential zones and infestation of cats in the delapidated cruddy side of town; so Often. In an Ice Age with saber tooth tigers, perhaps rarely would be best, but if your gm has them everywhere, you may want to ask for more points for pain and suffering!

Resistability: some disadvantages are resistable when they show up, that is to say when the disadvantage comes up for the character, the player rolls to see if the character is affected this time. The easier it is to resist the fewer points you get for the disadvantage. Never resist x1 (2 or less), resist rarely (6 or less) x X, resist fairly often (9 or less) x Y, resist quite often (12 or less) x Z, you resist almost all the time (15 or less) x a. Note that never resist is noted with a 2 resist value. Sometimes a character might get a large bonus in certain circumstances... if that would make their resistability greater than 3 they can resist. Example: How resistable such a phobia might be would be different per person and could fit any of these categories whether in cyberpunk or an ice age adventure.

Duration: most disadvantages strike, they strike for a certain duration. The longer the duration, the more the disadvantage is worth. For the rest of the adventure x X, For the rest of the scene x Y, Until trigger is out of the picture x Y, Roll to Recover Each Round x Z. Example: For either cyberpunkn or ice age adventures the affect should last until trigger it out of the picture.

[Anders]

A disadvantage that says "When exposed to X I suffer condition Y". E.g., if I smell asafoetida I suffer retchning. There's no such thing currently.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Hugin

Rework/rename "Karate", "Judo", "Sumo", "Boxing", "Brawling", and "Wrestling".

The only one that's odd in that set-up is Boxing. Brawling is unscientific unarmed striking, karate is scientific unarmed striking, and boxing is scientific striking-with-hands-but-not-feet-in-a-kinda-western-way. Judo is grappling plus throwing, sumo is grappling plus slamming, and wrestling is grappling plus. I know some people really want their names changed, but personally, unless you want to dig deeply into martial arts, these skills are good stand-ins for more complex styles (which is, IMO, the only real reason to keep boxing). And if you do want to dig more deeply into martial arts, then you already understand the differences, making renaming them redundant.

[Faolyn]

I'd place the spells in Magic in alphabetical order. Because man, it's impossible to find anything in that book without the index.

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

A disadvantage that says "When exposed to X I suffer condition Y". E.g., if I smell asafoetida I suffer retchning. There's no such thing currently.

That should be a variant on Weakness, replacing FP loss with any one of a variety of effects.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

I'd place the spells in Magic in alphabetical order. Because man, it's impossible to find anything in that book without the index.

Yes but we do have the index :) And also the spell chart.
I like them organized as they are where its simple to more complex within each college. Easier to work on building your mage that way.