Using props as if they were real

WaterAndWindSpirit · 12-24-2017, 04:18 AM

Hello everyone!

So I'm brainstorming an Urban Fantasy setting, and after watching a Persona 5 LP I wondered how to stat the power to warp reality to the point you can use props as if they were real.

Basically, you need to make an IQ roll based on the realism of your prop (using a toy Super Soaker as a real gun would be at -10 to your roll (in addition to the disbelief penalty, see below) to use it for a limited duration as if it were real, while using a toy water gun to shoot acid would be at -3 (a Super Soaker isn't able to hold acid), while using an incredibly convincing airsoft gun (or a real gun with an empty mag) would have no penalty), and everyone who see what's up with your prop (someone realizes you are holding an airsoft gun or has been counting your shots and knows you have ran out of ammo long ago, or is knowledgeable enough in chemistry to know your super soaker can't hold acid) can oppose you by disbelieving it unless they willingly suspend their disbelief (that is, if one of your friend knows that you're using your power but lets you do this because it suits them, no disbelief penalty), giving you a penalty. You still need whatever prop you plan on using (no conjuring a gun or wrench out of thin air), and they don't perform better than the real deal (an airsoft FN P90 (or a real FN P90 on an empty mag) acts as if you're using a real P90 (or as if you actually still had rounds in your mag), a plastic wrench from a toy tool belt for kids acts as a real wrench, and so on).

mr beer · 12-24-2017, 04:23 AM

Sounds like Snatcher with limitations.

WaterAndWindSpirit · 12-24-2017, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr beer

Sounds like Snatcher with limitations.

Yeah, sounds like it, thanks! :)

Anaraxes · 12-24-2017, 06:00 AM

Another approach to consider would be a Modular Ability (to be able to simulate anything the prop suggests), but with a Limitation that it can only be configured to abilities that do what the particular prop does.

Strictly speaking, Snatcher creates an item, and so you'd be stuck with two (the Airsoft gun and the real one that it's a copy of). But for game purposes, I'd just overlook that entirely, and say that this ability just transforms the prop into the real thing for the duration, back into the prop when it expires.

This will occasionally raise some questions to be prepared to answer. The gun will probably get heavier. One of those World of Warcraft or anime prop swords will get ridiculously heavy, probably unusably so. (Which is one place where an MA might have the occasional edge over "real" item creation; it's doing the damage while you continue to wave your foam bopper around, rather than being gifted with some 50-pound lump of steel with an edge.) So you might ponder whether you're Snatching something real, or have to reach to some distant enough universe to find some super-magi-tech sword with built-in antigravity impellers to let you lift and swing it like the characters do -- naturally, bypassing all those universes where the characters themselves manage simply because they are super-strong. You don't want to Snatch Voltron's sword.

WaterAndWindSpirit · 12-24-2017, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

One of those World of Warcraft or anime prop swords will get ridiculously heavy, probably unusably so.

You would take the Disbelief penalty to your IQ roll anyways, so it's probably a bad idea even if it doesn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

So you might ponder whether you're Snatching something real, or have to reach to some distant enough universe to find some super-magi-tech sword with built-in antigravity impellers to let you lift and swing it like the characters do.

The ability as I've described it doesn't snatch an item from another world, it's just Faerie magic ( http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...ie+magic+dream ). The way P5 protagonists use airsoft guns in Palaces just seemed perfectly in line with Faerie magic.

PTTG · 12-29-2017, 10:51 AM

Love it. As for swinging empty air like a wrench, I imagine a skilled enough mime actor could pull it off, for one swing or thereabouts. Not frequently, but in extremes...

thrash · 12-29-2017, 02:54 PM

Serendipity plus some level of Cosmic, to have the prop switched with the real thing "by accident"?

starslayer · 12-29-2017, 03:40 PM

Reality Manipulation (From GURPS: The Weird), with limitations based on 'belief', perhaps by taking 'glamour'

OR

Use spells as advantages to turn the phantasm spell into an advantage.

12-24-2017, 04:18 AM	#1
WaterAndWindSpirit Join Date: Oct 2014	Using props as if they were real Hello everyone! So I'm brainstorming an Urban Fantasy setting, and after watching a Persona 5 LP I wondered how to stat the power to warp reality to the point you can use props as if they were real. Basically, you need to make an IQ roll based on the realism of your prop (using a toy Super Soaker as a real gun would be at -10 to your roll (in addition to the disbelief penalty, see below) to use it for a limited duration as if it were real, while using a toy water gun to shoot acid would be at -3 (a Super Soaker isn't able to hold acid), while using an incredibly convincing airsoft gun (or a real gun with an empty mag) would have no penalty), and everyone who see what's up with your prop (someone realizes you are holding an airsoft gun or has been counting your shots and knows you have ran out of ammo long ago, or is knowledgeable enough in chemistry to know your super soaker can't hold acid) can oppose you by disbelieving it unless they willingly suspend their disbelief (that is, if one of your friend knows that you're using your power but lets you do this because it suits them, no disbelief penalty), giving you a penalty. You still need whatever prop you plan on using (no conjuring a gun or wrench out of thin air), and they don't perform better than the real deal (an airsoft FN P90 (or a real FN P90 on an empty mag) acts as if you're using a real P90 (or as if you actually still had rounds in your mag), a plastic wrench from a toy tool belt for kids acts as a real wrench, and so on). Last edited by WaterAndWindSpirit; 12-24-2017 at 04:38 AM.

12-24-2017, 04:23 AM	#2
mr beer Join Date: Mar 2013	Re: Using props as if they were real Sounds like Snatcher with limitations.

12-24-2017, 06:00 AM	#4
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Using props as if they were real Another approach to consider would be a Modular Ability (to be able to simulate anything the prop suggests), but with a Limitation that it can only be configured to abilities that do what the particular prop does. Strictly speaking, Snatcher creates an item, and so you'd be stuck with two (the Airsoft gun and the real one that it's a copy of). But for game purposes, I'd just overlook that entirely, and say that this ability just transforms the prop into the real thing for the duration, back into the prop when it expires. This will occasionally raise some questions to be prepared to answer. The gun will probably get heavier. One of those World of Warcraft or anime prop swords will get ridiculously heavy, probably unusably so. (Which is one place where an MA might have the occasional edge over "real" item creation; it's doing the damage while you continue to wave your foam bopper around, rather than being gifted with some 50-pound lump of steel with an edge.) So you might ponder whether you're Snatching something real, or have to reach to some distant enough universe to find some super-magi-tech sword with built-in antigravity impellers to let you lift and swing it like the characters do -- naturally, bypassing all those universes where the characters themselves manage simply because they are super-strong. You don't want to Snatch Voltron's sword.

12-29-2017, 10:51 AM	#6
PTTG Join Date: Feb 2011	Re: Using props as if they were real Love it. As for swinging empty air like a wrench, I imagine a skilled enough mime actor could pull it off, for one swing or thereabouts. Not frequently, but in extremes...

12-29-2017, 02:54 PM	#7
thrash Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: traveller	Re: Using props as if they were real Serendipity plus some level of Cosmic, to have the prop switched with the real thing "by accident"?

12-29-2017, 03:40 PM	#8
starslayer Join Date: Dec 2006	Re: Using props as if they were real Reality Manipulation (From GURPS: The Weird), with limitations based on 'belief', perhaps by taking 'glamour' OR Use spells as advantages to turn the phantasm spell into an advantage.