returning into clothing as a Naked Time-Jumper

[Plane]

Just watched the opening scene of 'The Time Traveler's Wife'. Seems like a clear example of someone with "Warp Jump" (B64/B98) since he leaps highway>home>highway and library>highway>library.

In either case he has the "Naked" limitation. On the return to the library, he appears a few yards away from his clothes, which could've either been the "Drifting" limitation on Jumper or a Critical Failure on his Warp roll, not sure which.

Given that a successful Warp roll takes you exactly where you want to go... if you specify the exact location you left from, at the exact moment you left should it be possible to teleport back into the clothes you left behind?

If you're a moment too late, gravity will have pulled your empty clothes to the ground, so you'd return standing overtop of them and need to put them on again. But if you return to the exact same moment/location that you left, shouldn't you actually just teleport back into your empty clothes?

Someone using Jumper (Time) alone might possibly be able to manage this too, but they would have to manually return to the same position/posture that they left in.

In either case, to be THAT exact seems like you're need a very good memory, since being off by even a couple inches might mean that instead of ending up wearing your clothes, you might end up phasing into them. Without that kind of memory, having some kind of aid (say, a photograph showing where/how you were standing) could give some kind of bonus to offset an inherently highly penalized roll to accomplish such a stunt.

Naked is still a limitation (you can't bring clothing from future into past, you can't bring clothing from past into future) but if someone could perfectly manage both space/time coordinates they should be able to re-occupy the clothing they're forced to leave behind before it collapses to the floor.

Is it necessary for there to be as split moment of absence between when you left and when you return? Or if you did a "perfect return" would it seem to observers like you never left? Or maybe like a millisecond of seeming invisibility/transparency that causes people to rub their eyes and figure they imagined it?

[Stormcrow]

This goes beyond the purview of GURPS rules and into the decisions of the GM in creating a campaign. If the GM wants Warp to be that precise, it is. Since Warp is a completely unrealistic ability anyway, there's no objective reality to base it on, no "correct" answer.

When I was running Continuum: Roleplaying in the Yet, I wouldn't have allowed such a maneuver to be done casually. It wouldn't be absolutely impossible, but it would have required very difficult rolls, and probably some technological assistance, to be that exact. But that's the nature of time travel in that setting.

(Interestingly, the Continuum rule book does describe a time traveler spanning out of her clothes as an alternative to removing them by hand, but never something like spanning into them without time for gravity to have moved them out of place.)

Except its never-finished sequel game, Narcissist: Crash Free, allowed fractional Span, and characters who had Span 0.1 to 0.3 were called blinkers, and were masters of spanning to within a nanosecond of when and where they left, but they can't span more than that. So while they can't span out of their clothes, they're able to span within their clothes, making them hard to hit with any kind of attack. Again, this is a quirk of this particular setting, not a general reality about time travel.

So decide how time travel works in your setting, and do that.

[ericthered]

I agree that the fluff behind the time-travel matters.

In many settings, I'd require the warp roll to succeed, and I'd probably require a body sense roll to get your body in the right position. If you can do it routinely, that just might be a schtick perk.

In others, I'd allow you to just return to the time where you were.

In yet others, I'd not allow it. you can't be that precise or whatever.

[malloyd]

Note that hitting the exact moment isn't the only sort of precision you need to pull this off. If you happen to have your arm positioned 5 degrees differently, or your feet placed to keep your balance on a surface that isn't sloped exactly the same as the one you are moving to, or your shoulders slouched a bit from exhaustion or whatever, then even if you hit the right instant and position, part of your body now intersects the location of your empty clothing.

You might be able to do it if you routinely assume a precise stance before you Jump, but absent some sort of ritual that always has you in the same position.... Seriously, how often do you even *remember* exactly how you were standing or holding your arms when you did something?

[Not another shrubbery]

Doesn't Naked mean naked whether moving from or to your starting point? That would seem to require a limitation to the limitation.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Doesn't Naked mean naked whether moving from or to your starting point? That would seem to require a limitation to the limitation.

It not actually about the nakedness. Its about not bringing along handguns, smartphones, and cigarette lighters. Returning to a location you've already stashed items doesn't violate that.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by malloyd

You might be able to do it if you routinely assume a precise stance before you Jump, but absent some sort of ritual that always has you in the same position.... Seriously, how often do you even *remember* exactly how you were standing or holding your arms when you did something?

I'd say you'd need something like Discriminatory Propioception to manage that, as well as similarly accurate time and spatial senses. Jumper is a superhuman ability, but it still follows human limits of use without other powers.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by ericthered

It not actually about the nakedness. Its about not bringing along handguns, smartphones, and cigarette lighters. Returning to a location you've already stashed items doesn't violate that.

Sure... Naked is an encumbrance limitation. Stashing items in places you frequent is possible for a Jumper just like it is for a teleporter. If time flow in a particular campaign setting is such that a Time Jumper with the Naked limiter can reliably jump back to their left behind stuff before anything could happen to it, then that seems like a good reason to limit the Limitation. They apparently are not being as hampered by it as a character with Warp and Naked is.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I'd say you'd need something like Discriminatory Propioception to manage that.

Or an oddity of jumper. I mean, "always returns to exactly when and where you came from, in the same position" isn't a ridiculous limitation on jumper, nor is being able to do that (without being required) as an enhancement.

[Taneli]

As an ability that they can do when they want to, I'd require two things:

1) Some way of being able to time their exit and entry exactly. As in, mad science -level atomic clocks or Chronolocation or similar.

2) Some way to remember exactly how your body was positioned at the time. Body Sense -roll with penalties for passed time might work, if nothing better is available.

Then again, it sounds like a fun ability that probably is not too game breaking, so I might allow a leveled perk, with first level allowing you to jump back to your previous exit, and each level thereafter increasing the back-memory by one. So, with level one you can jump back to your previous exit -position, while with two levels you could jump back to either of your two previous exit positions, and so on. All rules regarding your Warp-ability, etc are of course in effect.

Edit: Of course, if it came up in play that this was somehow insanely powerful, I might add a bit to the cost. X)